THE AMALGAVERSE
PROJECT
Chronicles of Human
Space
Imagine a universe where you can be a Robotech
cyclone rider battling the Splugorth. Imagine a world
where your Valkyrie II is the only thing standing
between a peaceful colony and a Manhunter attack.
Imagine a world where all of the space titles from the Palladium Books©’
megaverse of role-playing games are combined into a workable, interconnected
universe. Where CCW Protector battleships could one
day fight alongside the SDF-3 and an ATPDS carrier against the Invid or the Splugorth. Where a battlefield is littered with the remains
of Marduk Battlepods and
Invid Shocktroopers, where the Southern Cross and the
Decahedron Compact scheme for a way to increase profits from illicit
protoculture smuggling under the nose of U.N. Spacy.
Now imagine yourself immersed in that world.
This is the world of the Amalgaverse.
What I have attempted to do is take the storylines of each
separate property and weave them into one galactic story of war, exploration
and adventure. I did this for several reasons, but primarily, when you have
traditionally played the various Robotech and Macross RPGs there is little room
for anything outside of the various wars. The Amalgaverse
concept allows for all the same (and some new) cool mecha, ships and character
classes, but now with the ability to play types of characters from other
science fiction epics, like Star Wars and Firefly, who have their own ships, go
their own way, and find their own adventures. The wars are now the backdrop.
Exploration, trade, and survival in a future dominated by protoculture-powered
war machines, the ever-looming menace of Invid and Manhunter
raids, and the mystery of what lies beyond the edge of known space are some of
the themes of adventures in the Amalgaverse.
Blending these titles was not easy. However, I found that
the solutions for putting them all in the same “universe” were in the original
source material for Robotech, specifically in the
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Super
Dimensional Calvary Southern Cross cartoons. In Macross,
after the first war, several massive ships were sent out to colonize space.
These Megaroad class vessels, like the one in the
poster above, were used to seed local space with humanity, to both explore the
universe and reduce the chance that humanity could be wiped out in one swoop,
which is what almost happened at the climax of Space War One.
In Southern Cross, I discovered an interesting fact. The
original series was not set on earth, but on a planet called Glorie. I’ve taken that and used it.
Here is, in a nutshell, how all these myriad universes fit
together. More detailed information can be found under the pages for each
separate government in the stars surrounding our Sun, known as Human Space.
The
story of the Amalgaverse
In 1999 a mysterious alien vessel breached earth’s
atmosphere. Damaged and out of control, it plummeted to the earth in a
controlled crash, landing on the small French atoll of Macross
Island, a former nuclear testing site. It came at a fortuitous time in human
history. The world was torn by a global conflict that seemed to have no end.
But “The Visitor” as the vessel was dubbed, gave humanity a new perspective on
the universe. The knowledge that we are not alone, and that space might be
populated with vast alien powers so nearby that one of their ships could
accidentally crash on earth galvanized the planet. War made way to peace and a
united earth government was formed.
The world’s top scientists labored for 10 years to unravel
the mysterious technology embedded in the space fortress, named the Super
Dimensional Fortress – One, or SDF-1. It was named thus because of its
remarkable long-range propulsion system, a spacefold
drive that could, scientists believed, teleport the vessel anywhere in the
galaxy in a matter of hours or days. The technology in the ship caused a
technological revolution on earth in space flight, energy manipulation and,
especially, robotics. The robotics aspect was so heralded by the media and the
military that it became known by the moniker Robotech.
However, there were two innovations that were truly at the heart of robotechnology; protoculture, a mysterious energy force
which the space fortress seemed to be able to generate in abundance; and reflex
weaponry, a curious melding of man, machine and energy that allowed hyperaccurate computations that allowed robot vehicles that
responded with nearly human grace, missiles that could evade enemy fire and
chase down highly maneuverable foes, and massive energy cannons that
disintegrate everything they touch.
However, mankind
did not get to enjoy these startling new innovations for long before war came
again. In 2009, shortly before the maiden voyage of the SDF-1, which was to be
the flagship of a new space defense fleet known as the Robotech
Defense Force, the alien race known as the zentraedi
appeared in our solar system, intent on recapturing the vessel, which,
unbeknownst to humanity, contained the last protoculture matrix in the known
universe. The protoculture matrix is the only way to derive protoculture from the it’s source, the Invid Flower of Life. A race known as
the Robotech Masters had brutally used protoculture
to rule an interstellar empire spanning more than a dozen star systems. Without
that matrix, their empire was doomed. So they sent their warrior race, the
giant zentraedi, to reclaim it.
The automated defenses on the vessel fired, destroying two zentraedi scout vessels, and so began the First Robotech War, also known as Space War One, with an
accidental fold attempt stranding the SDF-1 on the outskirts of the solar
system and it’s heroic efforts to return to earth,
harried by the Zentraedi along the way. In the end, earth culture began to seep
into the warrior lifestyle of the zentraedi, and the zentraedi high command deemed earth culture too dangerous.
The entire zentraedi fleet of nearly 5 million
vessels folded in and laid waste to earth’s surface in September of 2010, in what
became known as Dolza’s Rain of Death. Seventy
percent of the earth’s surface, and much of its population were destroyed in
minutes. The only saving grace is that zentraedi
bombardment tactics were designed for races that were expecting space war
tactics, which usually results in species living in fortified cities in coastal
regions or near resources. Humans did not live that way, and many major cities,
such as
A historical note: Fact has given way to legend in the
intervening years, and this victory is held up as nothing short of miraculous.
However, it should be remembered that Commander Breetai
of the Zentraedi commanded the Imperial fleet, one million warships, to Dolza’s 4,800,000 estimated vessels. Further, Dolza’s fleet was spread out completely around the planet
in order to bombard it and prevent the escape of the battle fortress. Breetai’s fleet and the SDF-1 were gathered in one
location. Much has been made of this battle, however, the mischaracterization
that it was just the SDF-1, a handful of zentraedi rebels against a fleet as numerous as the stars
is an exaggeration. It was a one to five ratio against an
enemy who was thinly spread out, leaving their command vessel sparsely protected.
A military victory, true, but not the act of pure genius it has been made out
to be.
After the destruction of Dolza’s
fleet, the SDF-1 landed on earth and reconstruction began. It was soon decided
that if mankind was going to ensure it’s survival,
then it must leave earth behind and spread out to the stars. Using the
remaining zentradi ships, and a captured, massive, Robotech factory satellite, Project Megaroad
was commenced. The Megaroad plan called for a series
of massive colony ships to be built and to spacefold
to star systems likely to be habitable (using old astrogation
records from the Zentraedi). After the destruction of the SDF-1 in 2012 by
rogue zentraedi, the first of these vessels folded
out for the Hyades Cluster. There were three megaroad missions in all, only one of which was deemed a
failure. The final spacebound mission was not a megaroad mission, but the launch of the Pioneer Fleet,
which was aimed at sending an envoy to the Robotech
Masters home planet of
Megaroad 1, along with a fleet of zentraedi
ships known as the New Texas Armada, made their way to the Lux
System and an earth-like world they named Terra. However, political infighting,
and the sudden degeneration of their protoculture supplies (the long trip had
caused the seeds of the flower of life to begin to germinate), the armada
dissolved into various factions, staking their claims throughout the Cluster,
which was rich with earth-like planets. Eventually, there formed two political
bodies: The Terran Government and the Exile Colonies,
who refused calls from Terra to unite under one banner. First contact with a
race called the Aglians led to what is now known as
Space War Two, and in desperation the Aglians created
a race of killer robots known as Manhunters to
contain humanity. But the Aglians erred and made the Manhunters too bloodthirsty and independent, and the Manhunters became genocidal. Peaceful by nature, the Aglians confessed to the people of Terra what they had done
and joined forces to stop this new threat. The New Texas Armada was reunited,
and Space War Two became the Unity War, which led to the creation of the Aglian-Terran Planetary Defense System (ATPDS), which soon
included several other alien species. The Exile Colonies would have none of the
Aglians or Terra, however, and formed the Decahedron
Compact.
Megaroad 2 was an independent mission launched by the Eastern Block
of Soviet Independent States, a communist regime that had arisen during the
reconstruction of earth, believing that a socialist system was what mankind
needed to come back from the brink of extermination. Not heeding the warnings
of the RDF, they launched their own colony ship, which disappeared and was not
heard from again for years. The survivors of this vessel have re-emerged
recently, with strange alien cybernetics, as devotees to a religion known as
the Holy Order of the Void.
Megaroad 3 was a joint mission between the EBSIS and the RDF, in
part to heal old wounds, to the 61 Cygni Star System
and a planet named Glorie. Upon a shaky arrival the
two factions split again with the EBSIS and the United Expedition Government
and its Army of the Southern Cross dividing the planet between them.
Unfortunately, it was here that the Robotech Masters
first discovered humanity and its use of protoculture. Believing Glory to be
the resting place of the protoculture matrix, they attacked and humanity was at
war again. The Southern Cross barely proved victorious, and when the smoke
cleared they held the secret to the creation of a new protoculture matrix, a
clone of protoculture’s discoverer, Zor, and a desire for Empire.
But in the intervening years all had not gone well on
earth. Shortly after the exodus of the Pioneer Mission, the Invid swarmed earth
in response to the call of the Invid Flower of Life, which had taken root in
earth’s fertile soil due to the lack of competition from native flora (much of
which had been made extinct by the Rain of Death). Generations before, the Robotech Masters had stolen the secrets of protoculture
from the peaceful Invid, a hive society species. Not only that, but they had
seized all of the flowers of life from their homeworld,
Optera, and had their Zentraedi fleet sterilize the
planet. The Invid were a species driven mad, and in their rage they scoured the
galaxy for the Robotech Masters and all traces of
them, and swore to destroy anyone using their precious flower of life and
protoculture. They did not care that earth was an unwilling part of this tragic
space opera. They housed the flower of life and they used protoculture, they
must be enslaved.
Having sent the
bulk of their military across the stars, the earth was ripe for invasion. What
was worse, the Pioneer Mission had arrived at
However, with the
Then, at the height of it’s power, and at a point where UN Spacy had the political clout to possibly force its
non-protoculture agenda, it was attacked again by a rogue zentraedi
fleet which had fallen under the power of a xenocidal
race known as the Marduk, who used music to enslave
the zentraedi and force them into a fighting frenzy.
During the short war, rebellion broke out among the Marduk
and earth was saved from destruction. UN Spacy and
the Marduk made peace, and the Marduk
departed for parts unknown with the rest of their species, but UN Spacy’s power was broken, and so was it’s hope of getting
the other human civilizations to agree with an all out ban on protoculture.
As if the universe were
not already complicated enough, dimensional rifts in the deep space have
brought the Human and alien governments of the orion
arm of the Milky Way in contact with the far more advanced civilizations in the
Sagittarian Sector, the Consortium of Civilized Worlds, the Transgalactic
Empire, the United Worlds of Warlock and the Splugorth.
Many are afraid of these powerhouses, but right now they lie on the other side
of the galaxy which humanity hopes will give it some breathing room while they
determine whether these new governments are friend or foe.
So here it is, 2116. The
And among it all, dozens of human colonies whose fragile
existence depends on trade, some legal and some illicit, and millions of humans
who ply the spaceways looking to make a living among
the chaos. Traders seek to earn a living shipping aglian
computers to earth, mercenary mecha pilots ply for action and a fat pay check,
smugglers seek to slip shipments of protoculture past UN Spacy
customs blockades, and bloodhood bounty hunters track
their foe from the rebuilt edifices of Tirol to the
steam jungles of the kirn homeworld.
It is the time of the free trader, the pirate, the
mercenary, the rogue, the scout and the scoundrel, as the massive armies for
once take a back seat. Humanity has caught its breath, and realized that the
stars are in their grasp. A thousand, thousand hands are reaching up, hoping to
claim a bit of immortality or a quick buck. The frontier is opening, the
potential for a big pay day is tempered only by the possibility of a quick
death. Space is for the bold, the brave, the quick of wit, and sometimes the
just plain lucky. Which are you?
© 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990
Kevin Siembieda; © 1995 Palladium Books, All rights
reserved world wide. No part of
this work may be reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means,
without permission from the publisher. All incidents, situations, institutions,
governments and people are fictional and any similarity to characters or
persons living or dead is strictly coincidental."
Palladium Books and Rifts are registered
trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books, Inc.
Glitterboys, the Consortium of Civilized Worlds, Splugorth, Transgalactic Empire, Mechanoids and the United Wizards of Warlock are trademarks
owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium
Books, Inc.
Robotech is a registered trademark owned and
licensed by Harmony Gold USA.
Macross is a registered trademark owned and
licensed by Big West.
It should be noted
that with the demise of Myrmidon Press (at least that I know of) I am uncertain
of the legal ownership of the Manhunter intellectual
properties. If you have information on this, feel free to contact me at jacksonsdc@comcast.net and I will
update the site accordingly. I like giving credit where credit is due.
This webpage is a not-for-profit, derivative work of the above
properties. It should not, in any way, be taken as an infringement on any of
said properties. Please feel free to contact me with any questions at the
e-mail address listed above.
Artwork on this
site comes from Palladium Books, screen grabs from the Robotech
DVDs by Harmony Gold USA and various internet sources.
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