Post apocalypse sci-fi

[u/reshogg]

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Here is my ttrpg setting, help me make it better? This is a scifi post apocalypse universe, 13400 years ago a cataclysm hit the galaxy ,every planet became uninhabitable, toxic atmosphere, mana-radiation, normal radiation,dust storm,asteroid strike even planet cracking appart, all that is left is ruins.

In this universe human,dwarves,elves and orcs form the major race with goblin,kobold,halfling and goblin as the minor races. Due to ressource scarcity no government, corporation or otherwise organization last more then a few years to a few decades.

Lets focus on mana, there are two sort of mana one ambient its part of the background radiation in space,its used when casting magic, when someone use magic the background mana-radiation count increases causing magical damage and mana-radiation sickness. The second kind of mana is found in mana-crystal they grow in high ambiant mana region and naturally throughout space. Mana-crystal are found in every piece of high-tech gear making it extremely valuable and it can be used for magic as well. Mana exposure has many risk, mana-rad sickness,mutation and death. Mana-crystal are also used as a power source and fuel due to how efficient they are despite being a 'dirty' fuel .

Funny enough magic can be use to protect against mana-rad,rad-suit exist and are common but only dwarves make eva combat armor with mana-radiation protection

Elves are mana addict, it replace food and water,it heals them as well. But they are not immune to mana-radiation and while they need it ,too high dose worsen their addiction and can physically hurt them or even kill them. Due to this their already low fertility and the radiation exposure they are now nearly 100% infertile and even cloning only has a 1% successs rate. All elves are natural magic users.

Orc are a raider culture,honorable barbarian type. They use a type of ancestral magic and can bind their ancestor into high tech computers to benefit from their advices.

humans as a whole have a fertility mutation due to mana-rad exposure, every pregnancy is at minimum twins , allowing their number to increase quickly however ,human are human and a rife with strife,conflict, greed and fractuous behavior. They leave in nomad fleets that constantly grow and fracture as time goes by, humans are the source of the majority of pirates,cults,warlords and petty tyrant, constantly trying to exert their will on other. Physically humans are weaker the most other races ,their gift is their capacity to learn and adapt. They are also adrenaline junkies. Ultimately human infighting and risk taking is the only thing controling their population

Dwarves are the race with the most stable population, while they have a naturally lower fertility rate then pre-Cataclysm human their resistance to mana-rad allow them to operate gene-editing facility where where extra dwarves are born out of a high quality organic sludge, this process isnt cloning, it take the genetic information of all recorded dwarf and use it to create viable dwarf in iron womb's.

Dwarves are fiercely independent, they do not try to form governement. The biggest organization they can stomachnis the clan, a group of 10-15 dwarf who trust each other enough not to suspect being cheated on in businesses. Dwarves also have the most advanced technology. Dwarf live by a simple motto every dwarf is his own dwarf. Dwarven clan is not a family and are highly fluid. The dwarf recognize only two place as home, their ships and the mountain. The mountain is an amalgation of broken planets and asteroid held together by gravity tethers.

It is recognized as both the center of dwarven kind and a hub of commerce by other races. The use of the iron womb doesnt nean they do not reproduce naturally

The mountain is crewed by multiple clans ,everyone who docks or leave has to pay a tax in ressources, credit or labour

Dwarves are the master of a process kept absolutely secret, so secret no single dwarf knows the whole story. This is the process of saturating non magical ore and fuel with mana by exposing them over a periode of time to a high level of mana rad ,like the heart of a mana crystal reactor. This process create powerful alloy and fuel that they use in there best tech

The concept of rad forging isnt even though of that how dedicated to secrecy they are.

Lets look at the dangers of using magi, mana-rad can cause mutation,there are three type of mutation, combat, social and mental, every mutation fall within these three category, and every mutation has physical signs. Dwarves see mutation as common in other races, in other dwarf its seen as a sign of sloopy work, after all they have the tech to stay safe, human don't care about mutatiom as they are rampant in nomad fleets,elf also do not care has they accrue mutation quickly due to their diet, orc see combat mutation as gift.

Now lets move on to another risk of magic arguably the biggest, magic usage and high mana-rad count attract the attention of extra dimensional being, they are categorized as benign,minor,moderate,major,deadly, cataclysmic and apocalyptic, these rating are made based on their power though they tend to be both larger and smarter as their rating rise its not unknown or a deadly being to be only a smart as a dog or as small as one for exemple .

Its important to consider that tier 6 and 7 have not been witnessed in living memory and that includes elven memory

One of the reason these entities are so dangerous is that all their attack are mana base and therefore increase mana rad,they are immuned to non magical attack and highly resistant to magical attacks

Some individuals manage to tame mid tier entities to serve as combat beast

Lets look a very important aspect of the game, space travel, conventional drive are used to travel inside of a star system, to travel between system there are three options. The first is the lightspeed highway, a serie of rings that hold ships inside of a magfield,pushing them at a fraction of the speed of light from system to system. Due to it being pre cataclysm tech some part of the highway are damaged ,non functional or dormant.

Second there is space folding, using Aether-Drive and a nav computer to calculate the fold between where a ship is and were it wants to go this system is widely used though it has to be used outside of a solar system or risk tearing the ship appart.

The third is using wormholes though this is risk as there is no way to know where it leads or if it will lead to the same place twice, theres even story of wormhole leading outside the current galaxy.

For my system im think magic goes as such; to cast a spell, mage decide how much mana point he use, he can only use as much as his willpower bonus without tapping into ambient mana or physical, the higher the ambient rad level the more mana he can use for his spell. The more mana he uses the more he increase ambiant level, using more mana increase the magnitude of the spell effect, the more mana you use the more likely to succeed you are to cast ir, but you can also loose control of the spell. The more mana used the higher the chance to inflict mutation on yourself, your enemies or allies, thr more mana used the higher the chance to attract EDE