GateCrasher Science Fantasy Adventure
A Fudge based Role-playing game brought to you by Seraphim Guard!
(continued)
The Gate waited, ready to open at the right word.
It waited a long time.
Magic faded into history and became a childhood
myth. Humanity settled down to the mundane business
of developing technology and a world government.
Eventually, the World Federation colonized the Solar
System, fueling its growing civilization on the resources
of other planets.
One resource was iridium, highly prized for drugs and
computer equipment. In 2194 a prospector’s scanners
sensed an exceptionally large and pure iridium deposit
beneath Ganymede’s surface. The prospector — Bristol
Addams of Callisto — went to claim the lode, and discovered
a vacuum-frozen corpse crumpled on the largest
iridium lode he’d ever seen. The symbols scrawled across
the lode gleamed with impossible colors, a circle of light
that irresistibly drew Addams’ eyes.
Addams’ gloved hands brushed the runes as he said
“What the hell is this?” His suit provided enough conduction
for his voice to reach the runes, activating the
Gate.
“What the hell is this?”
Words spoken by Bristol Addams — one of which activated
the Gate
The prospector’s last words drifted with the magical
shock wave as it oozed out of Ganymede. Alien energy
poured out of the Gate, traveling at ten percent light
speed. Its impact felt feather-light and brick-heavy.
The initial blast of magic ravaged Ganymede, destroying
its civilization and most of its inhabitants. Secondary
effects shifted the orbits of Jupiter’s other moons.
Tertiary effects turned the sun momentarily mauve,
Earth’s skies yellow, and the District Advisory Council
of the World Federation into splendid specimens of
Equus asinus.
Then things started getting weird.
Children came home from school with horns and
hooves, or wings and halos. A spate of lycanthropy in
the Ceres region of the Asteroid Belt left entire asteroid
colonies bloody ruins.
The magical energy had unpredictable effects on
machinery. Whole provinces reverted to savagery. The
World Federation that had ruled most of the Solar
System crumbled under the onslaught, spawning dozens
of minor nations. It didn’t help that the WF administrators
remained asses.
Once the initial shock wave passed, most worlds
responded in the time-honored human fashion. They
went to war, fighting as their technology failed.
Spontaneous transformations continued everywhere.
People awakened to discover halos hanging over their
heads, or learned to fly and start fires at a whim. A fat
man and a legion of elves set up shop at Earth’s North
Pole, building toys and jet-powered reindeer.
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