Maelstrom's Edge

"It is the Unknown Millennium and there are no more tendies."

– Pro Yankee

The Maelstrom's Edge setting depicts a far future frontier where factions fight for wealth, faith and survival as the inevitable doom that is the Maelstrom approaches

In the far future, humanity had colonized large parts of the galaxy's spiral arm. Then disaster hit. A violent explosion of energy known as the Maelstrom erupted at the heart of humanity's worlds, destroying the core of human civilization and expanding rapidly to threaten more worlds. The edge of the storm forms the frontier where Maelstrom's Edge battles are played out. On the edge worlds, those who have the means will have left. Those who remain are those trapped behind, including many stellargees from other now destroyed planets unable to go any further, but also those who see profit in the unstable situation these worlds find themselves in, as well as those who make it their mission to save as many as they can, be that physically or in spirit. The enormous movement of people, disintegrating governments and conflicting goals of those who remain inevitably lead to strife as the circumstances are exploited by the powerful factions at the Maelstrom's Edge.

Background

Maelstrom's Edge is a far future science fiction setting where a golden age of exploration and innovation has been ripped apart and humanity is on the very edge of annihilation. The Maelstrom, a gigantic apocalyptic explosion of dark energy, is rapidly expanding out from the heart of the galaxy, destroying everything it touches. As worlds and stars are obliterated from existence, those who have the means flee towards deep space, while those left behind fight for the chance to escape.

For millennia before this catastrophe, humanity spread across the galaxy at sub-light speed, painstakingly eking out an existence in space and on barely habitable worlds. Then the cybel network was discovered. A gossamer web of dark energy threads stretching between every star, the cybel network allowed humanity to colonise thousands of worlds across the galaxy's spiral arm. All the progress that the cybel network brought, the Maelstrom took away. The Maelstrom erupted from the centre of humanity's worlds a millennium ago, racing down the cybel tunnels, splitting them apart and spilling their destructive energy out into real space.

The Edge is a stormfront, light years wide, where real space meets the Maelstrom's tide of roiling, coruscating energy. The apocalypse is coming inexorably to every planet on the Edge. In the decades leading up the Maelstrom's arrival, every person is forced to make a choice about how they want to live the remainder of their existence. Unite or divide, give or take, love or hate. Those living on the edge are not bulletproof or elite. They are ordinary people caught up in a bewildering cataclysm, their only goal to survive as best they can.

The destruction wrought by the Maelstrom has led to conflict between many of the remaining organisations and governments. The competing corporations of the Epirian Foundation made their fortunes using advanced robotics and geo-engineering to alter worlds for colonisation. Now as the Maelstrom approaches, the Epirians are forced to abandon these worlds, using their enlisted soldiers and retrofitted robots to defend their interests.

Diametrically opposed to the Epirian Foundation's interest is the Karist Enclave, a secretive group of religious extremists. They believe that if you are mentally and physically prepared, the Maelstrom will not destroy you, but instead you will ascend to a higher plane of existence. The Karists use vials of altered cybel energy to 'commune' with the Maelstrom, achieving a trance-like state they associate with ascension.

The refugees, revolutionaries, pirates and mercenaries that are left behind on abandoned worlds are collectively known as The Broken. The Broken are led by King Bran the Broken, First of his Name. Poor humans team up with abandoned aliens, desperately swarming worlds near the edge as they try to survive as long as they can. Against the implacable onslaught of the Maelstrom, every dockworker, farmer, CEO and mercenary is faced with the same dilemma: what will you do to survive?

The Artarian Remnant are a faction.

The Hobby

The Tabletop

Maelstrom's Edge is a tabletop war game using detailed plastic miniatures that fills the gap between small scale skirmish games with several individual models per side and large scale war games with scores of models per side. With forces typically built from 20 to 30 models a side, Maelstrom's Edge is easy to model, easy to paint and easy to play. Forces consist of several small-sized units, which is why we call the game a 'squad-based skirmish game'. Because it is a miniatures game, you get to assemble and paint your own models to pit against an opponent on a table dressed up with terrain to form your battlefield.

Factions

Friends made along the way.

Epirian Foundation

The Epirian Foundation‘s robotics and terraforming technologies transformed much of the Spiral Arm. The Foundation took barren, lifeless worlds and made them habitable, exploiting the resources of rocks they couldn’t turn into homes. The Foundation itself was formed as a loose coalition of independent franchises, each specializing in their own unique technologies.

In battle, the Foundation’s greatest strength comes from their advanced robotics technology, and the neural links that their ‘handlers’ use to boost the effectiveness of their drones, bots and mechs. The fast-flying Firefly drones scout ahead of the main force of Spider drones, providing intelligence about the enemy and allowing flanking moves, while units like the Scarecrow Sentry bot and Hunter Warmech provide fire support. Supporting this army of artificial combatants are the multi-faceted Contractors, employees of the Foundation who function as mechanics, workers, and front-line soldiers, depending on the situation.

The Karist Enclave

The Karist Enclave are a secretive organization that operates on doomed worlds close to the Maelstrom’s Edge. The motivations of the Heirarchs who lead them are only guessed at by outsiders, but their missionaries can be found in cities all across the Edge, extolling the core belief of the Karist faith: that the Maelstrom isn’t the end of life, but the beginning of a new one.

Ascension drives all of the Enclave’s actions, from the missionaries who travel to doomed worlds to the soldiers who ‘liberate’ those planets viewed as essential by the Heirarchs. Whether that strategy is defined by the number of Karist believers on the planet who need to be saved or the resources that can be appropriated is a matter of some debate amongst critics of the Enclave’s operations. Whatever their motivations, the Karist Enclave is a growing force across many of the worlds threatened by the Maelstrom’s Edge.

The Broken

From the factories and the slums, the mining complexes and the farms of the galaxy come the Broken, a growing movement of citizenry angered by the lack of opportunity to escape the Maelstrom. They are a diverse mix of workers, aliens, and rogues left on doomed worlds by the ruling parties.

When the Broken arrive to do combat, it is rarely for a pitched battle. The Broken fight for their freedom, for resources, ships, and information, usually against a far better equipped and trained military force. In combat, the Broken rely on stealth, subterfuge, and sabotage, backed up by sheer weight of numbers to overwhelm their opposition. Although the average combatant from other factions may be disciplined and well equipped, they often also have a narrow mindset, molded by strict training. The strength of the Broken lies in the sheer variety of fighters from all walks of life, each bringing their own unique skills with them, honed through desperation and the need to survive. This gives the Broken a large amount of flexibility in how they can approach any goal.

Artarian Remnant

The Artarian Republic was situated in a string of systems stretching out from the edge of the Capital Worlds of humanity towards the vast undiscovered reaches of the Spiral Arm. They enjoyed the close links to the old, well-developed systems in the Capital Worlds, and room for expansion in the other direction. The Artarians harbored ambitions to accomplish what humanity had never managed to do – explore the other spiral arms of the galaxy. Their cybel gates and ships were more advanced than any other frontier empire, and their colonization technology was the envy of the frontier. The Artarians wanted more room to expand and saw no reason the cybel network couldn’t route around the galactic core to link other spiral arms. It was never established whether the Artarians managed this feat – there was significant opposition in the Senate to proposals to forge new cybel links near the unstable galactic core as it had never been done before.

When deciding upon military action the Artarians will avoid conflict wherever possible unless they know they have an overwhelmingly superior position with minimal risk. They will not use force against a world with enough military capability to defend themselves, preferring a more diplomatic approach. If cornered, they will fight with utter ferocity if they feel their ships are in danger. They can be defeated, but opponents will not walk away unscathed even if they outnumber them badly.

The Appeal

• No Games Workshop.
• No SPESS MEHREENS.
• Can fit a budget.

See Also

Warhammer 40,000

External Links

https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/