Babylon Omega | Setting & Lore | The Basics
What is Babylon Omega?
Babylon Omega is a setting I’ve been working on for a few years. It is inspired by a lot of different media, but I think it’s also got a pretty unique twist to it.
As this is just a basic breakdown so that others can see Just what it is, we’ll just do some bullet points here.
- This is a full world with hard science fiction, cyberpunk, maybe a little hope-punk or solar-punk, and some ‘digital’ fantasy elements
- It is a culmination of a lot of conspiracy theories ranging from
- The Nephilim (children of the Sons of God and Mortals)
- The Fallen Angels (who else would have made the Nephilim, aka the Sons of God)
- The Gap Theory (the belief that there is a missing bit in the Genesis in the Bible that tells of another world that was created and then destroyed before ours)
- Secret Societies, and many more
- Corporate Shenanigans (well it is cyberpunk)
The Big Twist - The Psi-Fi Network and the Digital Entities
Like a lot of cyberpunk inspired settings, the digital world is very important to everyday life. In the world of Babylon Omega, there is a world side network, known as LIMBO (an acronym they forced after the fact, Link IP Media Band: Open ), that has also been nicknamed the Psi-Fi Network (not to be confused with the cable tv network). Part of the Psi in that comes from the fact that almost everyone has a device to allow access to the Augmented Reality based network, in utero.
While this part is admittedly, pretty cliché, there is part that makes this a more unique part of the world of Babylon Omega.
There are naturally occurring Digital Entities in that world. There are a few ‘species’ including the “Machine Elves” who call themselves the ‘Dokkalfar’ after the Dark Elves of Norse Mythology. But there appear to be two main ruling classes of entities: the Deavas and the Asura.
The Asura claim to have once been Deavas, but they did something that got them knocked down the frequency chain, and are now closer to humans. The Daevas claim to serve the “Holy Host” and are, for all intents and purposes, Angels.
One aspect that will incorporate these Digital Entities is that they can bond or ‘mount’ onto a character and grant boosts or hardships based on what choir or type of angel they are.
We’ll get into more on these in a later post.
What System(s) Am I Using For This Setting?
Currently I am planning on doing two versions of the rules: Fate and Cypher System with some changes.
For Fate it is going to use a version with both approaches and skills, as well as skill modes, with a somewhat unique idea of using an aspect and one of the (3) skill modes to simulate the cybernetics installed into your character. The basic skill roll will be: what skill are you using + what approach are you using to do it + what cybernetics can help.
example: a sniper shooting a rifle to take out a target while in a hiding spot might use: Long Ranged Shooting (skill) + sneaky (approach) + targeting system (cybernetics) to determine their final bonus to their roll.
Having one of the Digital Entities hitching a ride will add additional aspect(s) and boosts/bonuses to certain types of tasks, determined by the type of entity they are.
For the Cypher System, it will have the standard types renamed for the setting (sneak peak: adepts are Code Slingers!), with everyone able to take abilities from a pool of abilities to simulate installed cybernetics (the cybernetic flavor and a couple of foci that have been reserved for everyone to use) but a couple of other changes will be implemented.
- a fourth (4th) stat for social aspects (called Allure), more to come later on that.
- Digital Entities will be played similar to the dinosaur companions in the Predation setting.
That’ll cover the very basics today, with more to come at a later time.