The Century Project

[Abe Sargent]

Welcome Welcome!



I began this project 11 years ago. The goal was to create a dynasty that would be my magnum opus. My coup de gras.

Here's how it was going to work. I created a future science fiction universe set with a major character and set up. Then I would play through a variety of video games, set up by the chapters that I specifically wrote. With teh idea that you would okay these games at the same time, if you wanted, and be a part of this huge, cross-game, cross-platform, cross-genre epic space saga.

That was the goal.

I started, wrote the background info, and even knocked out the first few chapters. I wanted to have enough of a head start to ensure I had the momentum to succeed. But I haven;t touched the project in probably 4 years or so. So here it is. I wanted to post what I had, so you could have it and enjoy it at your leisure.

Here we go!


Welcome to 2133

[Abe Sargent]

What is The Century Project?



(Warning, these paragraphs contain spoilers for Star Wars, Star Trek: The Original Series, Babylon 5, Doctor Who Season 3, The Lord of the Rings, and more)

When you read this, you may have no inkling as to what is going on. That’s okay. For a long time, I’ve been frustrated at epic story lines in fantasy and science fiction where a small, underpowered group of white hats take out a massively huge and powerful set up of black hats with some version of essentially a Magic Potion. Luke Skywalker manages to defeat the Death Star with a minor design flaw. The Doctor overcomes The Master, who had been running the world for a couple of years, by using the Archangel Network, still left running, and getting all of the people in the to think about him at the same time. The super powerful Sauron and his empire are all destroyed by tossing his jewelry into a hot stove. Captain Kirk emerges from being very old to get the spaceship out of Romulan Space and away from more than ten Romulan ships by sending a message to Starfleet. It seems writers love to put their heroes in a place of danger so severe that nothing can get them out. Then the Magic Potion arrives and all are saved.


But what if you can’t? Life generally doesn’t work that way. We weren‘t able to win World War II by teaching Hitler the power of love. There was no Magic Potion. We had to do it the hard way. For years, I had a vision of a video game that wouldn’t pull this stunt. An epic plotline that would build, slowly. There is no glowing red button that you can use to blow everything up. There is a massive power, and you need massive power to match it. You need greater power. In Babylon 5, the power of the Shadows is matched by rallying various races together, adding the power of the First Ones and the Vorlons. Finally, the war is won by rejecting both sides and forming a uniting force of their own. There was no magic ship or space station which, if destroyed, freed the galaxy. There was no person to assassinate in order to save the world and end the threat. There is no code of honor that allows you to challenge the big bad in one on one combat in order to end the conflict.


The Century is born from the death of his world, from the destruction of Humanity. He has been given no assignments, he has no quest tree, and he is stranded in an unknown place. I envisioned a video game that would take him through explorations, adventures, and wars. I envisioned the video game with RPG elements for Karne, first person exploration, flying and fighting in various crafts, including space (which should feel and play different than dog fighting in atmospheres), real time strategy elements when needed, fighting simulations, and more. There are times when this game should resemble an RPG, times when it resembles Starcraft, times when it resembles Mortal Combat, times when it resembles Half-Life, times when it resembles Wing Commander, and times when it resembles lots of other games and genres as well. Knowing that this would not be able to be made, it just sat in my mind for a good long time. A story untold, but often thought of.


Then I realized that I could do the story. I just have different video games represent the various actions of Karne. I can have a dungeon explored in one, a map or mission in another, a stage in a third, and perhaps the occasional game done from beginning to end to expand the story. Once I came up with that idea, I began to put my plans into action. What disciplines would actually be in the 100? What was the timeline? What games would I use? As I fleshed this out, the idea of this Project became obvious.


The Century Project is designed to be semi-interactive. You can play along with The Century’s story as I do. You can load the games I play, grab the mods I have, and hopefully, sometimes, download the save file I used in order to play through that section of the game. You can play at my pace, or not. You can relax and take it slow. Feel encouraged to play just some games or all games. Or, just follow the storyline in screenshots and exposition. You determine your own level of involvement in Karne’s story.

[Abe Sargent]

The Timeline, Up Until Now


2028 - Spurred by a new technological boom, China lands a mission on the Moon.
2031 - USA lands its first mission on the moon in decades, in competition with the Chinese.
2032 - The Chinese announce a 5 year plan to land a mission on Mars
2039 - Delayed by two years, the plan finally succeeds when China lands three people on Mars
2040 - Early in the year, the US lands a mission on Mars as well. Various countries and corporations allied with USA and China gain various space technologies as China and the US begin to economize the space race in order to go faster. The various developed Asian nations begin to enter spheres of influence. Singapore and Pakistan fall under Chinese sway. United Korea and Japan are under US. China uses the space race as an excuse to invade and take Taiwan in one week, and the US is unable to stop it. Observers claim the Second Cold War has begun.
2042 - The European Union, not wanting to be left behind, begins funding and building a Mars program of their own. Several other nations ally with China or the US including some nations in Latin America splitting. Australia and New Zealand agree to assist the European Union and a launch site is built in the Pacific. Nations like Venezuela and Colombia ally with China, while Argentina and Mexico join the US.
2045 - China establishes the first permanent base on Mars.
2047 - The US does as well.
2048 - The European Union’s mission to Mars is put on hold when mechanical errors lead to an explosion in space after their shuttle was launched. Sabotage is suspected, but unconfirmed.
2049 - Africa and other nations, like Brazil, India and Russia and the Arabic nations of the middle east except for Turkey, who joined the EU plan - seeing themselves left out of the three way pie for space dominance, sign a treaty of alliance to explore new possibilities of joint space exploration. Russian experience and Indian technology and Middle East economic power join Brazilian industry. Africa contributes little to the project.
2052 - The EU finally lands a shuttle on Mars. Both US and China bases have more than 100 people in each. Land is being claimed quickly. The alliance of leftover countries has claimed land as well, but no one believes they have merit, since there is no presence on Mars yet.
2053 - US lands the first permanent military detachment on Mars. The human brain is mapped out so well that scientists now know where everything goes.
2055 - After many years of political infighting and failure of trust, the alliance of left over countries falls apart, with no base ever built. While a few nations get gobbled up by the three major alliances, the rest simply are unable to catch up.
2056 - With many nations once developing now close to developed, the number of nations purchasing large numbers of oil and needing vast amounts of plastic and fossil fuels is reaching an all time high. Production of many of these materials is dwindling. Nations that were once giant guzzlers of the world’s resources, such as the US and China, have switched over to much more economically friendly power supplies and infrastructures.
2057 - Cloning of humans is developed.
2060 - The EU finally establishes their first base on Mars. By now, each of the US and China bases are at over 1000 people.
2061 - The human genome is sufficiently developed that scientists can determine the hair color, eye color, potential diseases, and more of a child while in the earliest stages of the womb.
2062 - The first manned expedition to the Asteroid Belt is successful by the US.
2063 - With the economic benefits of decades of space research making the quality of life for the main nations and their economic benefactors massively better, the nations left outside the three alliances begin to rattle their sabers. The rift between the haves and the have nots is increasing massively. While fossil fuels and cars are the lifeblood in Africa, parts of Asia, the middle east, and some parts of South America and Russia, other nations have very developed economies. In America, a vehicle guides itself perfectly to the destination, while the passengers inside relax, talk to others, and work. Metal chip patches applied to the skin are methods of communication with anyone else who has one, and many are wearing the newest chip inside the ear itself, which provides perfect sound. Sounds inside the ear can be very quiet, and thus non-damaging to hearing, while providing a sound that sounds even better than reality. They are able to send frequencies for all media. The Internet has developed into a virtual reality landscape with people putting up castles, houses, disco clubs, and more. Users can enter these commercial places for money. The more money you have, the better entertainment you can afford online. Interface is done through neural connections in the patch or chip.
2065 - Several African nations have begun to be swallowed up by nearby nations. Three nations are annexed by militaries - Djibouti by Somalia, and Burundi and Rwanda by Tanzania and Kenya, respectively. The other major alliances do not care, and do not stop them.
2066 - The first mining colony is established on Asteroid 57842, otherwise known as Big Rock, by the Americans. The EU finally brings military forces to Mars. China launches a program to land on asteroids in the belt.
2068 - In the past three years, many more African nations have been gobbled up neighbors. The only nations left are South Africa, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Nigeria, Mali and Madagascar. The Central African Republic is still around as well, but it has changed its named to Aksum after annexing Ethiopia and South Sudan. The remaining 11 African nations now encompass major areas of the continent, and use bloody tactics to quell the many tribal and ethnic rebellions. Cleansing that makes Rwanda look like a baby bath begin in several countries. No one cares enough to tell them to stop.
2069 - After having no general meeting all year long, the United Nations is formally disbanded.
2070 - China establishes a mining colony on Asteroid 298364, otherwise known as Ganges. The USA has been prospecting many nearby asteroids and has mapped out locations of interesting minerals.
2071 - The US begins the terraforming of Mars by initiating the melting of the polar ice caps. China wanted to use another method, and there was a battle to see which one could start first. The US won, and now everybody must get behind their method.
2072 - After seeing the terraforming of Mars, the colonization of the asteroid belt, and more, a fleet of four Idraxian trader vessels arrives in the Sol system. There is a battle between the three powers to trade with the fleet, and the Idraxians solve the problem diplomatically by sending one each of their vessels to meet and trade with the three major alliances, and keeping the fourth one back. The Idraxians introduce humans to the idea that they are not alone. Wars on Earth stop virtually overnight, including the ethnic cleaning of Africa. The Idraxians trade the knowledge of hyperspace travel for a large quantity of the remaining nuclear material, fossil fuels, and precious metals in the ground as well as that already mined. With little raw materials left, the colonization of the asteroid belt begins to become a priority, as the alliances see mining the belt as the next wave of economic freedom.
2073 - The Second Cold War Ends, and the relations between the alliances warms.
2074 - After two years of reflection, a new religion is founded, the Church of the Sun. This church unites several faiths, and preaches new teachings in the wake of the alien visitors. The Idraxians arrive again for more trading.
2076 – After several incidents of the uncanny valley problem, the alliances sign an accord that neither they, nor their corporate allies, will continue to make robots that look like people. However, unknown to any others, SimTek continues research into making robots that perfectly resemble and act like people.
2079 - By the end of the decade, more than 10 additional mining colonies have been established by the three alliances in the Belt. Several asteroids have already been stripped clean by the nations. Sciences in things like Xenobiology and Astrogeology are becoming essential courses at many colleges and universities.
2084 - The first hyper drive engine is built by the US. They attach it to an explorer vessel, the USS Discovery, and send it out.
2086 - The Discovery returns and gives information about nearby star systems, mostly devoid, but they found more planets then had initially been suspected and discovered in many of them. They found no intelligent alien life. One system - Epsilon Eridani, had two planets that appeared to be stripped clean, however.
2087 - The Chinese launch their first explorer ship, the Zhang He. The US reequip theirs and send it back out again. Discovery is never heard from again.
2088 - The Zheng He makes contact with a group of Talasian monks. They return with the Talasians and Earth meets its second alien race. These Talasians are of a religious bent, and were on a pilgrimage, with a severely damaged ship the Zheng He helped to repair. They reveal various secrets about the nearby area, since the Idraxians would not give much information - they were traders and the price was too high. The Talasians tell of a major galactic power nearby Earth - the Concordat. The Talasians are viewed as prophets to the Church of the Sun. Several Talasians stay in the Sol System as missionaries and spiritual guides.
2089 - Scientists discover how to send communications through hyperspace, allowing ships and colonies virtually instant communication when within a few light years. With this discovery, production of explorer ships slows as it can be incorporated into them. Europe’s base on Mars developed a fault, and they all have to be evacuated to the US and China bases. Sabotage is suspected.
2090 - A group of Terrorists calling themselves the Prophets of God launch an attack on a grounded space shuttle in New Zealand and destroy it.
2092 - Another vessel is launched by the US alliance - The USS Victory, a ship with a more military bent. The first energy projectile is created in a lab setting , but it will take years of research to weaponize it.
2093 - The Idraxians return, with a huge fleet. They flee through the Sol system, and tell the Earthlings to prepare for the worst, but none wants to purchase the information as to who or when.
2094 - After a long stint, the Zheng He returns from its second voyage with many discoveries, including various industrial materials that puts China ahead in the industrial game. Invasive plants from other worlds begin to enter the Chinese ecology from damaged biospheres and hydroponics.
2095 - The Victory returns at the beginning of the year, damaged and defeated by a ship of unknown configuration. They refused communications contact and simply opened fire on the Victory. This was roughly 45 light years away in a system called Sirius Beta.
2097 - After two years of repairs, the Victory is ready to launch again. Two more vessels leave this year under the Chinese flag. The Liu Bei and the Shou Lung join the Zheng He in exploring the region.
2101 - Having developed much industry in the decades of federal contracts, several company consortiums begin completing merchant vessels. They move between Mars, the asteroids, Earth, and other alien outposts in the nearby area that the explorer vessels have found. Europe finally fields its first explorer vessel, the Cutty Sark, after they were set behind by terrorists. The Church of the Sun claims 500 million worshippers. Earth passed 20 billion people, and nations like the US have begun forced relocation programs to send people to states with fewer populations. With global warming a fact, states like Alaska are more comfortable, and Canada is making more of the world’s food than any other five countries combined.
2102 - A small colony of Galataches are discovered in a nearby system by the merchant vessel Enlightenment, and trade begins. The various alliances establish embassies on the colony world. Several diplomats and merchants are taken on Galatach ships to their home world and welcomed as envoys of Earth.
2103 - The terraforming of Mars is sped up by the introduction of nanotechnology drones, finally ready from the lab for work in the field.
2104 - After some smaller strikes, the Prophets of God manage to kill all of the merchants aboard a merchant vessel, land on a Chinese colony in the asteroid belt, and let loose a toxic chemical that kills everybody inside. After it dissipates, they raid the colony for supplies and weapons, and turn their merchant vessel into a space age pirate ship.
2105 - The nations left behind are now sufficiently caught up that they form a new alliance to explore the stars. Bases on Mars are now well over 500,000 strong, each, and growing daily. Tourism has caught on, and visiting and staying in Mars for one week costs around one month’s wage without regard for food and entertainment, in many countries.
2099 - With more and more hyper drive ships rolling off the spacedocks, China launches a manned mission to Callisto. Meanwhile, having discovered this plan, the US orders a planned mission to Ganymede. The Galatach government is taken over by a political party opposed to alien contact, and severs all ties to Earth.
2111 - After much research, another major medical breakthrough occurs. The genome is mapped so much that people can be given certain skills and abilities. Soon, instead of merely choosing a child‘s teeth and skin tone and hair and such, predispositions towards certain skills and intelligences can be chosen. The first manned mission to Mars succeeds by the fourth alliance of nations. The Prophets of God ship is finally destroyed by a combined taskforce of three Chinese ships.
2112 - Contact with the Concordat is made when a dark green vessel arrives in the Earth system. They issue a decree that many nearby systems have been claimed by them, and to stay away. They send a communication showing the borders of the Concordat, and leave.
2113 - The Fourth Alliance has established a base on Mars in the border between the US and China zones that were claimed. They choose to not press the issue diplomatically or militarily, and grant a 30 kilometer radius around the base to the fourth alliance. Nanotechs have accelerated terraforming by 30 years since being introduced in Mars. Ganymede and Callisto are both reached this year by the two alliances. Europe announces their intention to land and explore the dangerous Io. The other alliances secretly laugh. The Church of the Sun is now the third largest religion after Christianity and Islam.
2115 - The Prophets of God remerge with an attack on the European Mars base in the Madler crater. It fails after European Mars commandoes fight them off successfully. Another Talasian frigate arrives in system, and this is only the second time the Talasians have met with Earth. They seek a non-aggression pact with Earth, which is quickly signed by all four alliances. Africa is now fully developed, under the hands of the few remaining countries.
2116 - Merchants arriving at the Galatach colony are welcomed only by ominous silence. It is completely gone. Most believe that it was removed by the Galataches themselves, since their new party is in power, but some note the blast marks as possibly a sign of violence, rather than ships blasting off.
2119 - The Chinese introduce a new space faring vessel using all of the latest technology. It is much smaller than the first ships, packs the newly commissioned energy weapons, and has space for a crew of 10, plus cargo and supplies for long missions. The first of these is built just at the end of the year, and sent out. A small skirmish breaks out between two different colonies in the asteroid belt, but the two alliances quickly stop the fighting. Cryogenics is perfected after many setbacks.
2120 – After an explorer vessel of theirs enters a wormhole and transports a long distance away from Sol and arrives at the Vega system, a few European countries secretly fund a colony project to the second planet of Vega, where that ship has showed unusual readings. Seeing themselves behind the US and China alliances, this appears to be a perfect place to set up base and begin exploring and investigating what appear to be ruins of another culture.
2121 - A European mission lands at Io, and quickly takes off again after the environment is too hostile.
2122 - The Galatach send an envoy to Earth to ask for asylum. The Concordat has claimed their planets and is attacking them with great fervor. After some consideration, Earth declines, not wanting to foster bad relations with the Concordat. Secretly, both the Church of the Sun and the Prophets of God purchase the small Chinese vessels and send out colonization ships to see if they can establish new colonies abroad. Callisto is now a permanent base of China. Plans to set up one on Ganymede by the US are going along very quickly.
2123 - Unknown to Earth, a cloaked small fleet of Galatach vessels and people arrive from three different systems to colonize a few small colonies, sight unseen, on the outer planets and moons.
2124 - Plans for terraforming Callisto begin, Ganymede is now an American outpost. The moons are claimed in whole by China and America, instead of Mars that was split into several colonies.
2125 – The first asteroid mining colony of the fourth alliance is founded. A nearby Talasian Trading Post is invaded by unknown forces.
2128 – After the commercial success of their smaller craft, the Chinese begin working on an even smaller scout vessel with hyperspace capability, and space for a crew of three. There is little cargo space and cramped living space. The ships sports the best navigation systems available to make navigation very easy for anyone. Communications are also upgraded to the maximum level.
2129 – The number of people on Mars reaches 2,500,000. China has landed a small contingent on Europa and establishes a mining outpost.
2131 – A Talasian envoy arrives at Earth and holds a closed session with representatives from the four alliances. Secret information is conveyed, and the alliances step up the militarization of space. Nuclear missiles are made again for the first time in almost a hundred years, and added to vehicles. Each contributes to the joint development of combat satellites designed to deploy around a planet and protect it from a fleet. Energy weapon research increases massively. Many military and exploration vessels are ordered to return home and are refitted with better weapons, armor, and kept in system.

2133 – Before many of the preparations are complete, a Concordat military fleet arrives in the Sol system and announces that they have annexed the Sol system. All citizens of the various planets and asteroids are now citizens of the Concordat. They will be moved to new worlds as slave labor to mine and farm for the glory of the Concordat. Despite being outnumbered, the citizens of earth band behind the Indian Admiral Samir Wutari with the intention to fight. Samir uses the navigational thrusters on asteroids to make them missiles which hit several passing Condordat ships and declare war. A massive armada of hyperspace and intrasystem ships fly out of the asteroid belt and tear into the flanks of the Concordat fleet, who lose several ships. They turn and destroy the Earth vessels with the ease of advanced technology.



After crushing the fleet, the Concordat’s advanced weaponry begins to systematically destroy the outer colonies, before moving into Earth.



With most of their ships destroyed, the alliances of Earth joined together for one final plan. The Talasians informed them that the Concordat has been moving through the nearby systems and scouring their systems for life. Expecting they may be next, plans were set in motion for the continuance of the human species, but the Concordat arrived earlier than they expected. Only one of the scout ships has rolled off the Chinese assembly lines so far. The scientists have been hard at work making one last hope for humanity, but just one has been created so far. They genetically engineered a near-perfect human, strong, intelligent, nimble, and attractive. This male of mixed racial heritage is given the skills and knowledge of 100 disciplines. And a very long life, massively longer than a normal human’s. Because of the amount of space this information takes, the clone, nicknamed The Century, usually referred to as Karne (century in Swahili, pronounced Car-nay), has no additional information. He does not know about a family, friends, Earth, history, geography, astrogeography, or anything else. He simply knows these 100 disciplines. To help him, 2 mentors are sent along – a captain of a merchant vessel that was commandeered and now destroyed, and knows the various alien races and astrogeography nearby better than any other human, and a teacher chosen for her ability to teach and instruct perfectly. Both mentors can show Karne how to live and what to do. 1000 gemstone chits are sent along, since those are believed to be the basic unit of commerce in many regions of space.



The Galatach colonists reveal themselves and launch a counter attack against the Concordat, and deal a lot of damage to the fleet before they are destroyed themselves. In the meantime, a few civilian ships both Earth and Galatach manage to sneak away. Earth uses this opportunity to send out the scout vessel, but they fear sending it alone, so the decision is reluctantly made to send it with an escort of the remaining vehicles, knowing it makes the ships more likely to be seen. The scout ship is being sent to Talasian space to see if they will assist in Earth’s hour of need.



Unfortunately, the escorts do raise notice and the fleet is attacked by the rearguard of the Concordat, now near Earth as the fleet turned to face the Galatach attack. Their ships engage and destroy the Earth ships, who try to cover the escape of the scout ship bearing The Century in cryogenic sleep. There are not enough, and after quickly being destroyed, attachments of Concordat ships fire on the scout ship just as it enters hyperspace.



With a destroyed navigation system, the ship jumps into hyperspace, and heads automatically to a random point. The captain tries to get the scout ship back into its path, but she fails. The scout ship jumps out at an unmarked system and suffers more damage from the jump as the special coating on the ship to protect it from hyperspace is now fully decayed. The teacher dies in the turbulence.



The severely damaged ship’s sensors manage to scan the system and the captain finds a planet that appears to have a large amount of intelligent and developed life on it. Making for the planet, the battered scout ship begins to strip off parts in the sky, but the heat shield holds and the ship crashes into the ground. The crash batters the ship badly, and crushes the front section in, instantly killing the captain, but The Century’s cryogenic chamber protects him. Sensing an atmosphere that is breathable, appears to have no toxins, and low radiation, the chamber awakens The Century, and then turns off after he is fully awake.



Karne blinks away the first rays of natural light he has ever seen. He spoke with scientists before he left, briefly, but with no detail about what was happening, just tests to ensure that the knowledge they gave him stuck. He is in the crashed hull of a small scout ship that was once hyperdrive capable. He is on an unknown planet in an unknown system with unknown aliens on it. He has no mission dossier, no mentors, and no basic knowledge – just a perfect body and knowledge of 100 disciplines.



In fire and death, The Century is born.

[Abe Sargent]

Karne, The Century


Although Karne is in reality around one year old, he appears to be 30. Karne is a male. Like most of his generation, Karne is multi-racial. His skin tone is olive, his eyes brown with flecks of green, and his hair is a dark brown/almost black. His Bengali and Hispanic features tend to dominate his face, but he is a mix of many races. He stands 6 feet, 3 inches. He has no marks on his skin, such as freckles, warts, or birthmarks. He is very strong and very agile, with highly developed muscle tone. He walks with a litheness that belies his strength and size.

His D&D statistics are:

Strength 18, Dexterity 18, Constitution 16, Intelligence: 18, Charisma: 18, Wisdom: 6

(In so much as Wisdom demonstrates insight and the ability to make decisions, he is high. In so much as it represents common sense developed from a lifetime of memories, intuitions and experiences, it is massively low.)


His Fallout Stats are:

Strength - 10, Perception - 9, Endurance - 8, Charisma -10, Intelligence - 10, Agility - 10, Luck - 5

You get the idea. Maxed strength, dexterity, charisma and intelligence. Other changes are made based on the game system. Endurance and Constitution are the best that could be gained genetically, but additional protection in game stats are due to exposure to disease, immunizations, and other factors that are not completely understood by geneticists. Therefore, he has the maximum amount of healthiness that can be given.

Karne awakens on an unknown planet. The only conversations he had with the scientists that made him were about his condition and testing his knowledge. Although it took most of a year to grow him and install the 100 disciplines, he has only spent a fraction of that conscious and aware. The rest was spent growing or frozen cryogenically.

Due to his cloned nature, Karne will not age naturally. By altering his genes selectively, the mitosis process does not ruin DNA information and cause aging. He can still be killed by disease, poison, violence, radiation exposure, and so forth.

He begins at level 1, with Mastery knowledge of English.

[Abe Sargent]

The 100, Selection Process



The gene creation process works by taking the of a person’s current skill level, and copying that over to the genetically created clone. Knowledge of the brain is sufficiently developed that the essential parts can be selected. And thus, the person deemed to be the world’s expert on any given skill or ability would be the one used as a copy for Karne.


The decision to decide what disciplines and skills would be included was not easy. Every field wanted their own specialty to be involved. Members from all walks of life were on the selection council. Sometimes compromises resulted in these 100. Some were fairly easy to give out. Since clones with these skills were to be the last hope of Earth, finding the right mix of skills and specialties was needed. Would these people be assassins? Warriors? Scientists? Doctors? Mechanics? Engineers? Pilots? Diplomats? Without knowing the specific roles, they chose to include many different disciplines.

They wanted these people to be able to lead. It was quite clear that whether they led a research team, starship, troop of soldiers, or a diplomatic mission, everyone of these people would likely be a leader. Therefore, in order to be the best leader possible, experts in man management and administration were selected. After that consensus, the council began to work to ferret out other skills. Despite the physical status of the clones, as perfect bodies, they knew that they would not stay in such shape for long, so the discipline of the decathlete was added.

Choosing the medical fields to add was relatively easy. No one wanted one of these clones to die to toxins or disease, child birth would be obviously necessary to know and understand, and basic medical fields like dentistry, psychology and surgery were obvious additions. The final discipline chosen was plastic surgery, chosen more for the ability to add a degree of flexibility than anything else. The field had evolved to the point where people could change eyes, faces, hair, skin, height, and more. You could make one person look like a completely different one, and archaic ways of checking identity such as fingerprints and retina scans were easy to alter. Veterinarian was added to help with animals and Xenomedicine was the field of studying and working on aliens. Both should prove very useful out there.

A large debate was held over the primitive skills. Should they bother with skills like blacksmithing, making medieval weapons, primitive knowledges such as how to make clothes, how to tan hides, how to fight with ancient and archaic weapons, and more? If the group decided not to include these, then the clones would have more space for other knowledges. As they fleshed out the fields they realized that the space would be better served by having the clones able to thrive on low tech worlds, than having more limited fields of knowledge that were highly unlikely to prove useful.

Having the 100 disciplines include military ones was never in doubt. Clearly, the ability to be a sharpshooter with slug throwers like rifles, pistols, knowledge and ability with larger weapons like rocket throwers were never in doubt. Similarly, the knowledge of explosives was also freely given. After that, the debate moved to what other elements should be included. Military Engineering, which includes the use, knowledge and ability to get through defensive structures is quite useful. Tactical knowledge followed. Knowing the ability to use power armor was also deemed useful. Research showed that sniper skills were not picked up just by aiming a gun at distance and firing. Thus, the best Chinese sniper donated her knowledge for the project.

Fencer was given as a specialist, since the knowledge of using swords quite well was deemed useful alongside the general ancient weapons use. While one with this knowledge could pick up any ancient weapon and do well with it, they are a master of the quick and light sword, such a foils, rapiers, sabres, and epees. The stunsword used by police across Earth would also qualify. In addition to weapons, the best mixed martial artist of the day was used as the template for martial arts ability. Even without a weapon, a clone should have the ability to defend oneself.

Without knowing what environment one of these people might find themselves in, they were given a variety of skills to find food, survive the elements, farm, hunt, raise animals, and more. They know how to ride various steeds, including horses, and should easily adopt to any animals ridden in other planets, as long as those steeds resemble the ones trained on. After discussion, the council agreed that knowledge of swimming should be one of the basic disciplines, and this knowledge comes from an expert swimmer who can hold their breath for a long time and dive, or swim very long distances powerfully and ably against currents. Since the environment was not known, being able to survive long term without water or food like survival artists do was considered very appropriate. Similarly, knowledge of movement and survival in zero gravity, and in eva suits outside of vehicles in space was certified.

The piloting skills were obvious. Cycles, four wheeled, tanks, planes, space ships, space fighters, boats and submarines are easily seen as the 8 categories of necessity. If encountering a race where perhaps a unicycle is ridden or chariots are used or airships flown, then the lack of specific information will hopefully be helped a bit by the knowledge of these 8 things.

Once of the important distinctions made by this council was to have the ability to both repair and maintain things, and to make them. The ability to plan and design and build is included along with the ability to keep something up to snuff. Repairing things from low tech to high, from space to planets, and from mechanical to electrical was all important. Several engineering abilities follow, including a full knowledge of robotics.

In addition to man management and administration, several other people skills were considered and brought in. The ability to negotiate and find common ground was brought in with the great French diplomat Henri Tomas. Knowing the ability to work bartering and trading would be essential in another place. Knowledge of accounting was laughed at by the press and general public: “Here is what you need to survive; weapons, medicine, science, and accounting!” However, it was never really debated by the council and seemed an obvious choice to include. Understanding of how to use and manipulate legal systems, how to persuade people by speaking alone, and how to read someone immediately were all deemed useful. The last of the 100 disciplines debated was prestidigitation . While certainly useful as a skill, The ability to distract someone and to move things subtly was not nearly as obvious an inclusion as others. After 99 skills had been selected, everyone was arguing that their skill should be the 100th. It was a compromise between them all, since no one had been arguing for its inclusion.

Knowing how to enter something or someplace was considered essential to the Century Clones. Getting skills about how to pass by secure doors, hack into computers, infiltrate organizations, pretending to be someone else, knowing how to hide while not hiding, and other sources of information gathering were all added with little debate. Adding information about how to set and find traps was originally laughed at as Dungeons and Dragons in the 22rd Century, but realization of electronic and mechanical traps and mines was eventually added once military personnel explained just how common their use was. In addition, while Earth no longer used physical bonds to keep one captive, knowledge and skills on how to escape them was deemed appropriate. Similarly, full working knowledge of all things computers, including languages, technologies and artificial intelligences were added to the 100. Additionally, the ability to encipher and decode was also added.

The most hotly debated disciplines included were the scientific skills. No realm had a larger percentage of the 100 to themselves, and yet no realm had nearly the degree of contention. Knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology and geology were all obvious, but in what directions? Knowledge of stars, planetary bodies, weather, economics, mathematics, cybernetics, water, and more were all on the table.

The 17 that were chosen represent a lot of compromise. Genetics was the first field that everyone agreed to. It was its own field, it was not covered by any others, and it had obvious value. The next one agreed to was cybernetics, which is the study and understanding of systems, not the science fiction study of artificial intelligence or robotics. Insofar as those systems do include AI and robots due to their ease of study and examples, they intertwine. Again, due to its unusual nature as a field which didn’t cross into others on the list, it was chosen. Similarly, Mathematics fell next.

The debate was focused by looking at the various Extra-Earth skills needed next. The fields of Astrogeology, Xenozoology, Stellar and Galactic Astronomy were added next. 7 down, 10 slots left.

Astrophysics was the first general field that had the most votes. Soon Quantum Physics and Geochemistry followed. Then debates got worse as a deadlock between a score of fields occurred for the final 8 slots, and compromise occurred. Both Biochemistry and Inorganic Chemistry were brought in. Optics was added due to the increased emphasis on laser and energy weapons that had begun. Biophysics was agreed upon. With not much available for specialization, Botany was included, but more as a general field to shore up weaknesses (as was Inorganic Chemistry included more to shore up weaknesses). Due to the importance of fusion energy, and particle research on weapons that might be the next level of value (still decades away but promising,) Nuclear Physics was added. Finally, Oceanography was selected in a similar view to Botany. Psychology was added in the medical field, economics and astroeconomics were added in another section. While discussing Stellar Astronomy, it was realized that knowledge of astrocartography would be needed as well. It was put in another category as well.


In terms of languages, only the common language of the day, English, was taught. Reading and Writing was taught as well. Alien languages and other tongues were covered by the universal translator. Teaching languages would result in loss of other skills, and that was not desired by anyone. However, note that linguist skills have been added. While these clones should start life only knowing English, they can learn other languages very quickly.



The process for adding a discipline was quite easy. After learning about the brain, scientists discovered that people only used a tiny amount of memory for their field or discipline. They also learned that people had a certain amount of space in their memory, and going over that was possible, but made memory less and less reliable. Most of their brain and memory were devoted to things like what food they liked, the people in their life, hobbies, things they’d read or watched or done, class work they’d learned, and more. The human brain, daily, was adding a lot of stuff to memory, and the vast amount was not based on their field of expertise. What the scientist could do was make a copy of a given person’s memories, and then remove everything that is not directly related to their discipline. By doing this, they were easily able to fill up a cloned mind with 100 disciplines and skills, while also leaving lots of space for the new memories that would be made.

[Abe Sargent]

The 100:


Sciences: 17

Astrogeology
Astrophysics
Biochemistry
Geochemistry
Quantum Physics
Botany
Xenozoology
Oceanography
Nuclear Physics
Optics
Inorganic Chemistry
Mathematics
Biophysics
Stellar Astronomy
Galactic Astronomy
Genetics
Cybernetics



Medicine: 10

Dentistry
Pathology
Surgery
Psychology
Obstetrics
Emergency - First Aid
Veterinary
Xenomedicine
Toxicology
Plastic Surgery


Survival: 8

Wilderness Survival - How to find food, make shelter, etc
Swimmer
Medieval Survival - Long term survival techniques like how to make candles, clothes, etc
Steed Riding
Husbandry
Agronomy
Horticulture
Mountaineering - Includes Climbing, Spelunking, Rappelling, Exposure Resistance, etc.


Military: 11


Heavy Weapons Specialist
Small Arms Specialist
Riflery
Demolitions
Power Armor
Battlefield Tactics
Space Tactics
Sniper
Military Engineering
Fencer
Ancient Weapons (Training with weapons like spear, mace, etc.)



Piloting: 8

Driving, Motorcycle
Driving, Four Wheeled Vehicle
Driving, Tracked Vehicle and Armor
Steering and Navigation, Boat
Steering and Navigation, Submarine
Fighter Pilot, Conventional Fighter
Fighter Pilot, Space Fighter
Pilot, Space Freighters



Mechanics and Electronics: 10

Astech - Good at advanced military equipment such as tanks, fighters, etc
Astrotech - Good at repairing highly advanced equipment designed for space like stations, ships, satellites, and so forth, etc
Mechanic - Good at repairing lower tech, combustion engines, cars, jeeps, cycles, etc.
Medieval Engineer - Able to build medieval structures like houses, castles, and siege engines.
Civil Engineer
Astroengineer
Nanotechnology
Electrical Engineer
Blacksmithing
Radar/Sonar Operations


Physical: 6

Mixed Martial Arts
Endurance Art - Like David Blaine
Decathelete
Acrobat
Prestidigitation
Vacuum Movement


Computers: 6

Computer Operations
Computer Languages
Hacker
Robotics
Computer Engineering
Artificial Intelligence


Infiltration: 8

Lockpicking, traditional
Lockpicking, electronic
Ninjutsu
Escapology
Espionage
Infiltration
Mine and Trap Detection
Mine and Trap Removal and Avoidance


People: 7

Diplomat
Trader
Lawyer
Cold Reading
Oratory
Man Management
Etiquette



Specialist: 9

Astrocartography
Accountant
Administrator
Economics
Astroeconomics
Reading and Writing
Linguist
Cryptography
Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) - Such as in space suits and stuff

[Abe Sargent]

More on Languages:

There are 3+ levels of knowledge in a language:


Basic - This allows use of only the most basic concepts of the language. You can say what your name is, ask it, discuss being hungry, and so forth. Speech is halting, broken, and hard to understand at times. Karne will have this level of understanding about a language within 4 hours of study.

Proficient - This is roughly equal to the command a 10 year old has. There is a strong dialect, tenses are often misused, gender is lost, and words are often formed incorrectly. However, within this context, language has become pretty good. Karne will achieve this level after study of two days.

Expert - This is a dialect free version of the language, at a high school grad level. Analogies and context are understood, tone is mastered, and sentences are grammatically correct. Language is no longer a barrier in communication. Karne will gain this after a week of study.

Mastery - This is the highest level of understanding of a language. Mastery includes the ability to mimic other dialects, knowledge of archaic phrases and words, and is at the level of a brilliant writer or poet, who can spin the words into a beautiful cloth. Mastery cannot be achieved in a language by Karne’s understanding of linguistics.

If this is a language that is particularly easy to understand (like a trade language, or one in a family that Karne already has knowledge of) then time to learn is halved. If Karne has a universal translator, then time is quartered. If both, then he starts at Basic and he can learn Mastery in a week and Proficient is in 4 hours and Expert in a day. Some languages may be harder to learn or impossible to learn through a universal translator, forcing linguistics to be used.

Note that the knowledge these fields is equal to humanity’s knowledge in 2130. Discoveries made in the last years or not known by humanity are not known to The Century.

[Abe Sargent]

These were the games I was potentially expecting to use for the Century Project.



Possible Games List:


PC:


Startopia
Starship Tycoon
Fallout 3 Dungeons, and outside, Mothership Zeta; New Vegas
Might and Magic VI, the final dungeon
Master of Orion II
Starcraft
Enlightenus
Audiosurf
MUGEN
Spore
Star Chamber
Ur Quan masters
UFO Invasion
XCom
SimCity 4
Alpha Centauri
Armageddon Empires
Wasteland


GB:

Rebelstar
MechAssault: Phantom War
Advance Command


XBox 360:

Half Life - The Orange Box


Others?

Space Empires IV
Mechwarrior 4
X Com Interceptor
X Com Apocalypse
Command and Conquer
Fragile Allegiance

Mechquest?? Captain Space Bunny?
RPGs for dungeons?
Dark Orbit? Other online games?
Stalin vs martians



Contests - Arcomage, Culdcept, Galactic Bowling, Pazaak

Alpha Centauri
Command and Conquer
Creatures?
Earth Trilogy?
Space Rangers?
SPAZ?

[Abe Sargent]

Classification of Planets:


While many ways to classify planets, moons and large asteroids exist, when exploring, a way to classify the use humans could derive from a planet was needed. Saying that a planet was made of this rock and had such and such weather system and temperature and so forth was good, but a quick classification system analysis was very helpful. Here is the one created by the US Committee for Interstellar Exploration and adopted by the rest of the world.


Class A - These are planets in the beginning stage of forming. This class has four subclasses designated by number to signify what stage it is in. All of these plants have no value for life, minerals, water, or any other value to humans.

Class B - These are barren planets that have no redeeming mineral value, no atmosphere, no life, and so forth. Luna, Earth’s moon, and Rhea, Saturn’s, are prime examples of Class B entities, with no redeeming value.

Class C - These planetary bodies are also barren, but have great wealth in terms of minerals. They tend to be very hot, and this class has two subclasses. The first one is for bodies similar to Luna but instead having a large amount of mineral wealth, such as metals. The second is like Mercury, that have significant wealth, but also are lightning hot and hostile to life.

Class E - These planets represent gas planets. They are sub divided into 5 categories divided by number. 1 is the smallest and 5 the largest. Jupiter is an E4 and Saturn an E3. They tend to have large moons that may have a lot of mineral, water or other value to them. Class E planets are quite common.

Class F - These bodies represent ones that are quite cold and a long distance from the star(s) in their system. They are completely or virtually frozen, and rarely with water, but instead other elements, like nitrogen, methane and ammonia. They are literally dirty iceballs in space. They are different from a water world that is cold and has ice on the surface, because those worlds are habitable, just a little on the cold side, and have tons of H2O. These worlds, such as Uranus’s moon Titania, are quite inhospitable to life. Some of these bodies, such as Triton, can have vast resources under its nitrogen ice. Pluto is Class F. These are quite common.

Class G - The very rare Gaia Class planet is a hypothetical planet that is even more well suited for life than Earth. It would lack the extreme areas of polar ice and hot deserts, and encompass life throughout. It would have a larger percentage of land surface area to water for habitation. None have been met.

Class H - The harsh arid deserts of this dry planet are not impossible to live in, but quite difficult. With a breathable atmosphere, they have some life. Imagine Earth, but with maybe 25% of the total water content, and you have a Class H planet. They still tend to have small ice caps and temperature variation like other planets. They are actually fairly uncommon, despite common portrayal in media.

Class K - The Class K world resembles Mars, Calisto or Ganymede, in that it has water, an atmosphere, perhaps small levels of life, and has a lot of potential for terraforming. It requires a dome and suits initially, but that can be changed, often very quickly.

Class M - This is the rare Earthlike class of planet. It is hard to find, usually inhabited by natives or space faring people, and has a lot of value. Wars are fought over Class M planets.

Class O - This represents a planet that is exclusively or virtually covered in water. They are often teeming with life that is unlike land dwelling humanity. They can still offer food, water, a base of operations, certain minerals, and more. Class O planets have two subsets. The first one is for water in liquid form and the second, O2, for water in solid form covering most of the planet. They are pretty uncommon. Europa, prior to colonization, is a good example of an O2 body. (Please note that an O2 planet is not formed of ice anymore than an O1 planet is formed of water, it simply has a lot of ice on the surface).

Class Q - These are rogue planets that do not orbit a star, and thus never have weather, atmospheres, or water. They may have valuable minerals or other resources.

Class T - The toxic planet has a caustic atmosphere that eats away at metals and plastics, and usually is quite hot, with torrid storms. While it certainly could offer some value in various ways, in reality, it’s generally best to stay far away. Venus and Titan are good examples. These are uncommon.

Class U - These planets resemble Uranus and Neptune. They are a mixture of Class E gas planets, such as Saturn, and Class F ice ones, like Titania. They are fairly common. Since they tend to be smaller, they have fewer moons. The ice can be sieved off with the right tools, developed in the last few years by humans.

Class V - This is a planet ruled by volcanic and seismic activity, and the landscape is roiling. It may be rich in metals, precious minerals, and such, but it is quite hostile to life. Io is barely in this class, and many other planets and moons have been discovered that are even a greater hotbed of activity. These are fairly common.

Class X - In theory, there may be planets out there that defy classification in the normal system, due to unknown conditions. Those planets, if any exist, are proactively assigned the Class X. This is reserved for undefined planets.


Any classification type may have a small R above it to signify that this planet requires the use of a rebreather. Many atmospheres will support life, but are slightly off from a traditional Earth atmosphere. They require the use of a rebreather which goes over the mouth and alters the atmosphere to one fully fit to humans.

Note that this is a classification system for humans, not for other races. Also note that the inner classes are the good ones, and the outer ones at the beginning and end of this list are the bad ones. G, H, K, M and O are the only ones capable of sustaining a permanent base outside of a protective dome.

[Abe Sargent]

And there we are with the intro stuff out of the way! Time to stop the footsie!


How to Play as Karne

When you play a game as Karne, there are a few rules. You may pick up any items you come across in the game, but they rarely represent real items that Karne encounters. Feel encouraged to use those items to conquer the dungeon, space station, or whatever. However, when you leave, you will be informed as to what Karne actually found.

When playing as The Century, please use a realistic inventory system. If the game we are playing allows you to have 12 pistols, 10 rifles and 2 shotguns, don’t carry those around. If it allows you to carry three sets of armor, two shields, and four halberds, again, don’t carry that around. Karne may be a bit on the strong side but this should still be realistic.

You will be given instructions as to how to set up the game ahead of time.

[Abe Sargent]

The Beginning


Looking around the ship and the surrounding, The Century pauses. He looks back at the Chinese scout ship, the Tiāntáng de Yǒngqì, and investigated it. He discovered the dead bodies of the captain and teacher. He laid them aside and covered them with the broken plastic chassis of the front part of the ship. Both the physical structure of the ship and the engine quite damaged.

A quick inspection showed that the parts of the engine that enabled it to move through hyperspace were completely destroyed and unable to be repaired. The engine could be repaired, but without the advanced plastic alloys on the chassis, would not be space worthy. The only thing that the Tiāntáng de Yǒngqì would be capable of, with just parts for repairing, would be atmospheric flight. The nuclear power system is operational, but currently shut down. It could easily be brought back up with maybe an half hour of work.

It will take advanced electronics to repair the ship. It will also need some metal and basic plastics to get the base chassis back. With the damaged front, the front of the chassis will have to be bent back into shape, and that will require significant and detailed pressure from some sort of equipment.

He was in the foothills of an unknown range of mountains in the distance. The grass has a yellow-ish tint to it. It was not any grass Karne could identify. Bushes and shrubbery marked the landscape. There were no signs of civilization.

Further inspection of the craft turned up several items that could be of use. The small bag of 1000 gemstone chits which weighs very little, and took up no space, is secured. Karne knows their value in many space faring economies. They have a square cut in the center, and then eight cuts around it to make an octagonal shape. The other side is the same. They are about 1.4 carets in size, which is a universal standard.

After that, the only major items that Karne could find were pieces of plastic and metal that broke off from the ship. The major electrical systems were destroyed, such as the food maker. The cryogenic chamber is fully functional, and Karne believes that parts from it could be pilfered for the repair of the ship, but many more would still be needed. The universal translator was attached to the computer, and thus currently out of service, just like the rest of the main computer. One of the red lights on the side of the ship is on and detached. Since it has its own power source, and it is about 1.5 feet long, it can be taken and used as a light source. Despite it’s bulk, it weighs virtually nothing.

The rest of the items are collected and hidden underground behind a nearby boulder. A quick dig and dirt cover up the broken items. He can always return later to use them, and this will stop them from spreading, being exposed, or being stolen.

He moves the bodies behind nearby rocks and builds a quick cairn for them. None had any items save the typical space faring jumpsuit that Karne is wearing. It is a red and blue jumpsuit, with some parts in each color. He leaves the dead their clothes.

Finding food, water, and some basic tools are his first concern. While he can protect himself with his martial art skills, he will have difficulty killing animals and such without them. Using his survival skills, ideally he will find food, shelter and water, but his knowledge of what to eat will not apply to a new world. Basic rules, such as bringing water to 150 degrees for 25 minutes to remove pathogens and such should still likely apply.

The large sun has moved its way across the sky, and the day grows long. The first of four moons begins to peek through the sun lit sky. As Karne moves in the foothills, he makes a quick spear. He uses a rock to shave a staff to a point. He will harden it in fire if he gets the opportunity.

He comes across a cave. Looking around, he decides to move in. He has light, he has a weapon, and he needs shelter. He has no idea how long night is here, or how cold it gets. While his jumpsuit’s material should keep him warm if it gets really cold, it still should be uncomfortable. Plus, without knowing weather patterns, there is a possibly of a storm that could tear through his clothing. As such, he deems shelter to be of a higher need than in a normal place. This cave system looks deep, and there should be food in here too.

He moves into the cave, and with the light in front of him, he begins to hear something else inside. He moves in a little deeper.

[Abe Sargent]

The Cave (Set Up Instructions)

In order to play this, you will need to own Might and Magic VI. It’s a bit older, but I thought it would be fun to begin the campaign with a classic game. You need to create a new game from your M&MVI. You will be able to choose four characters in your party. Select a male knight as the one in front. The other three won‘t matter. Change the stats so that Karne, the male in front, begins with a 25 in 3 each stat save Luck, where 10 is the starting. In order to do this, you will need to reduce the stats of other characters. Begin with these skills: body building and spear. You should already begin with swords and leather armor.

Begin the game. You will be in front of a town. Equip the spear and leather armor, which represents the jumpsuit. Make no modifications to your party members.

Turn towards the west and walk along the road. When you see goblins, keep going forward and ignore them. Turn north after the town wall ends and follow the river to a bridge, cross the river and head west down a path into the mountain that has a building at the end. Skip past the goblins. Enter the building. You are in a room. Fight through the room and other connected rooms to the east and west. Allow your party members to die, save Karne.

Once you have cleared out the three rooms of the bats and snakes, the dungeon moves down and into a cave system, save the game, and that’s where we start. If your Karne is damaged, you can run back out and find healing at the temple, or rest away from anything. Your goal is to clean out the caves leading to the first large cavern, and then the cave leading to the second. Once you have cleared out the second cavern, this cave system is considered finished, (even though in the game it continues).

[Abe Sargent]

Karne enters the caves, but runs into some bats inside. After taking them out, he runs into giant spiders and bats after the cave widens. He begins to kill more bats and large spiders, but there are too many, and he starts to get injured. Before It becomes something serious, he retreats and regroups. He is not chased, and uses the opportunity to plan further exploring.





Beyond the newly killed spiders and bats the cavern widens and a large chamber with natural light and a central energy dispersal area looks back. This is an unknown phenomenon. On Earth, this would have been artificial, but here, it could be natural. There are exits from this giant chamber, and Karne decides to skip the scientific analysis for now to focus on exploring this cave and being safe.


Both exits lead to the same tunnel and Karne continues to explore. While the naturally illuminated cavern is a good spot to rest the night, the presence of giant spider creatures leads him to believe that further explorations are necessary for his safety.




Another pack of bats and some more of the 20 centimeter long spiders attack and he takes them down. The cave widens again into another giant cavern and snakes appear. They are fairly large. While they have a superficial resemblance to cobras, their coloration is different and they aren’t the same. They have two tails - a bit odd. All of the snakes are killed and Karne grabs the bodies of two and moves back to the first cavern.



After double checking to ensure that there are no issues with snakes, bats or spiders Karne moves to inspect the energy dispersal. It is occurring at a regular pattern, which is unusual. After inspection, it appears to be mechanical in nature. He can’t tell where the electricity goes, but the slot in the ground shows it is manmade. Or sapient-made rather.

The cobra-ish creatures are skinned and gutted. Exposing a flammable object to the energy discharge lights it on fire, and he has one burning quickly. He cooks the snakes, fire hardens the top of his spear, and drinks from a dripping wall to one side of the cavern, where water filtered and cleaned by the bedrock tastes clean.

He considers the planet he is on. There have been many theories explaining that under similar circumstances, similar evolutionary tracks may be followed at times. Clearly, this is a likely candidate for a Class M planet, and snakes, spiders and bats appear similar to those on Earth. The spiders were a lot larger, and the bats both larger and aggressive towards humans. The snakes were not exactly like those on Earth. There is differentiation, but also a lot of similarly. The rocks here are sedimentary ones, but the structure of one of the main ones is different than the ones he knows. Another is limestone, and that‘s an interesting fact. The planet has similar grass, but yellower, similar snakes, but with two tails, and similar rocks. In the area he has explored, it certainly is similar to Earth in some ways.

[Abe Sargent]

Karne has pondered his situation. The energy release was clearly artificial, thus indicating habitation of intelligent life. He had nothing but a light, a spear, some gems, and a jumpsuit. Sure, he could remember his life in the lab, it was not something that drove him. What should he do next? While he could not stay here, was his lot to make a house, hunt and fish, make his own clothes, and live in quiet solitude?

He felt a yearning to explore. Not just because he was on a new planet, and information was the key to survival. He might justify his need in those terms to another, but this was something deeper. He knew he was a clone, and that this desire was not given to him. Cloning always resulted in random feelings, personalities, and such. The technique was not perfect, and was not intended to be. He still had his essential human-ness.

Clearly, something had happened between him going to sleep and him waking in the destroyed heap of the ship. What was it? It must have been something. He could only guess, but it was clear that he was being sent somewhere. He recalled a conversation about the nature of his cloning. He was the first of a new wave of clones that would have the skills and abilities that he had. Were they spread throughout the galaxy? Were they a vanguard of scouts and explorers?

He considered and then dismissed that idea. It just didn’t seem likely. At the time of his last wakening, he was the only one still made, the prototype. If there were many others like him out there, then that would take a year at least, perhaps longer. He doubted they would have waited that long without a single defrosting.

The Century looked down at his weapon. He desired something more than a fire hardened stick. This was not his destiny, his fate. He did not know what had happened to send him here, but he knew it had to have been something very serious.

He left the cave and cut some branches from nearby bushes. He did not know the type, but he brought them back. He cut some chitin off the largest spider that he fought. He began to use the fire to straighten the wood, and then trimmed the bark. More sharpened points followed, and in a few hours, he had made a few long flexible darts. Two more hours passed and he used animal parts, water, fire and wood to construct an atlatl. He now had four javelin like weapons he could fling at a distance, plus his spear for close in combat. It was a beginning.

[Young Drachma]

WOW, this is quite the epic. Just stumbled into it, but entranced.

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

He left the cave and found that day was strong. The heat was definite, but not oppressive. The night had been roughly 10 hours long. He had awoken near mid day, and the combination of exploring, fighting, sleeping, building a cairn, and making weapons had kept his internal clock a bit off balance. He wasn‘t sure how long the day had been yesterday.

Now he moved off to explore. The light was still on, and would remain on for at least a few years. If he connected it to a electrical switch, he could turn it on and off again, but it was in a set on position when the Tiāntáng de Yǒngqì has crashed. Unlike US vessels, the Chinese prided themselves on their ships being able to take off and land on planetary bodies. The US vessels had been built for space in space, but even the largest Chinese vessels were built on earth and launched. Lights along the vessel were needed, and had self contained power sources. The result was the one split off from the ship that he carried. During the day it was a bit bulky, but he had tied a bit of vine around two of the broken parts and was carrying it slung across his back. The spear was tip up, and used as a staff, and the atlatl and javelins were at his side. The snakeskins were wrapped and tied around his right ankle, he had cooked the other snake and the meat was in one of them. He wore useful boots that would last a while. Finally, he had prepared a fire bundle with local items, and hopefully should be able to start a fire quickly on the next night.

As Karne moved through the foothills, he saw the land below him was forested. With mountains above, foothills to the left and right, and a forest far off below, he still saw no signs of intelligent life.

Two days passed and Karne ate a creature that appeared to be a furry snake like thing. It cooked well, and had no poison glands or anything that would denote bad meat. He drank at several streams he passed, and yet he still saw no signs of civilization, until he heard a noise from above him on the third day of his journey. It was a few hours after midday, and he had timed the days here at around 25 hours, and it must be summertime. Above him, he saw an unusually shaped aircraft flying in the distance. It was only in the sky for a short period of time, and it looked to be rising as it flew. It looked like it was shaped like a perfect aerodynamic foil. It left the sky for some other part. Now Karne knew a lot more about the land around him.

He had chosen to remain in the foothills due to the good views it had given him. He was attacked an hour later by a giant snake and he killed it from a distance with his now twelve darts from the atlatl and again gutted and ate serpent flesh.

Another day passed without incident. It was now five days since his crash, and he saw his third sign of civilization.


Karne spies a cabin among the hills in front of him, over a ridge. He cautiously approaches, and sees no signs of anyone around. After investigating, he knocks, and then announces his presence. There is no answer, and the door opens by pulling it open. It has no lock - it’s too primitive. Entering, Karne notes that there is not a lot of the usual things one might expect here. No food, no clothes, nothing ephemeral. This may be someone’s temporary abode, perhaps when the fish bite or It a certain season. Or, perhaps this was abandoned, either by choice or emergency. The only items Karne takes are a knife and canteen made from a gourd. Nothing else would make his survival more likely.

The cabin is one room, low to the ground, and The Century has to bend over inside. There are two bedrolls with straw and blankets on the floor. It’s still morning as the local sun is moving up from the horizon, and there’s no reasons to stay the night tonight. He heads back out.

Outside of the cabin is a trail. Karne takes it as it moves towards the forest. After an hour of moving, he sees the beginning of a large lake. Two more hours and there are other signs of civilization along the trail. It has begun to widen, and he has passed a campfire site and several shelters made of wood. The trail is winding towards the lake, and the trees from the forest have embraced it. He doesn’t recognize any of them, but one of the trees, fairly common, resembles the oak family pretty closely.

Another hour passes and the lake is just in front of Karne. It appears to have a number of large islands on it. As Karne approaches, he finds a small group of people that appear to have landed on the shore. Their boat is destroyed and they have very little in the way of items. Karne decides to help them survive, and learn their language and more about the place.

These people call themselves the Cetaxi. The Century stays with them for a week, helping them to make fire, make weapons and tools, and build some huts, so they can make this their new home.

[Abe Sargent]

Making a Village

In order to play this part, you will need the game Virtual Villagers: The Tree of Life. You can download it here for free: Virtual Villagers: The Tree of Life > iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac & PC Game | Big Fish You get it free for one hour, which should easily cover the goals here. My recommendation is to make your own villagers and skip the tutorial. Experimentation should give you a good idea where to put your people for value. Skip mothers and children, and focus on gathering, building, and so forth. You can figure it out from there.


Goals:

Make 15 knives
Build a fire
Gather 200 food
Build the two huts

[Abe Sargent]

The matriarchal society of the Cetaxi show Karne what mushrooms in the area are edible. In return, he helps them to make fire, and then knives, by taking bone from a giant fish skeleton on the lake’s beach, cutting parts for a knife, and then fire hardening the bone into a cutting device. He helps them to build the huts and gather food from the mushrooms, berries, and hard fruit in the area.

After a week with them, everything is set. They have shelter, food, tools, and fire - all of the ingredients for success. He has learned Cetaxi at the proficient level. They tell him that they live on a few of the islands in the lake, and that they were sent here by their shaman to help bring a tree sacred to the Cetaxi back to health and life. It sits above the village, and helping it is their ultimate goal.

The lake has several Cetaxi settlements around it in various places, but the islands are their true home. The ones on the coast tend to be settlements that have left the Cetaxi ways behind and embraced the ways of the past. The people fight against several large carnivorous beasts in the lake that will attack them, but all of hem are rare. One of them was spotted and they abandoned their boat and swam to shore while a beast tore into the boat, hoping to find one of the Cetaxi in it. These Cetaxi have no knowledge of this world beyond the lake and its shores. No other creatures visit it on this side, but there are rumors that the other Cetaxi settlements on the shores who abandoned the ways of the people have made contact with outsiders. Contact isn’t frowned upon, and strangers are welcome.

[Abe Sargent]

After further discussion, they talk about a taboo island in the lake, smaller, with ruins. It makes screeching noises during the day sometimes and they believe that these are the legendary sunghosts. Karne spent the last day fixing their boat, and will be taking it to Sunghost Island to explore it in detail.

The next day, The Century sets out on the boat. He arrives at Sunghost 2 hours later, and parks his boat. On the island he sees an old, corroded parabolic antenna which begins moving about ten minutes after he arrives. The old joins screech. This must be the source of the “sunghosts.”

Karne grabs his spear and begins exploring the island more fully. Behind some trees are signs of an old station. It may have been low tech, like radar, or used for astronomical purposes, or perhaps was designed to connect with satellites and spaceships. The door that entered the area is covered by rocks, since it was right under a hill. He explores, kills a giant rat, and then finds a place where the corroded wall was open by a large tree falling against it. Karne grabs his spear, and moves in.

[Abe Sargent]

Island of the Sunghosts


These ruins will be represented by Vault 92 from Fallout 3. It’s in an out of the way place and just one minor side quest takes you there, so it’s likely that any saved game you have from Fallout 3 will have Vault 92 fresh and virginal. If you’ve wiped it out, just load an earlier save.

For this, you will drop all items prior to entering the Vault. Feel free to leave them in your house. Weightless items staying with you are fine, such as medicines. You are only allowed to enter with a Knife and Pool Cue. (representing the spear). It doesn’t matter what level you are, because you will not be doing the full Vault. You will only be doing the top parts. Remember that any items you find in the Vault you can use in the Vault, but you will not keep them afterwards, so you can find a gun and use it under the rules (only if you want, of course).

You will enter Vault 92, and then save the game. You will need to fully explore and clean out the top level only - just the level with blowflys. It is not my expectation that you head deeper and clear out the mirelurks. Wear a quick jumpsuit of some sort with a DR 2 or 3 thing, and that’s good enough. Leave behind any companions you may have. (The sections that take you away from this level do not exist, you only need to clean out this one)

[Abe Sargent]

I need your help!

So I decided to crate the blog and website that I envisioned when I created this project a long time ago in my head. A lot of obvious names were used, so I created it around my name:

The Century Project – An Epic Sci-Fi Crossplatform Video Game Dynasty That You Can Play Along With!!!


I think it's ready for publication and marketing, but I wanted a few people to check it out first. See if there is any broken links, things that don't make sense and such. Is the format okay? Thanks!!!

EDIT - everything in the CenturyPedia should be active, but as we have not yet met any aliens, that section is not up and running yet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nothing obviously amiss that I spotted clicking around, unless you didn't intend for the /intro/ page to end cold without a navigation aid/button at the bottom (as exists on the /background-info page)

I will say that the intro page is so long that it might lend itself to either being broken into more pages or sectioned or something. And maybe add a duplicate nav-bar to the bottom. That might not be the greatest web design in the world but IMO would kinda beat the long scroll back to the top.

[Abe Sargent]

Good thoughts, thanks!!

[Abe Sargent]

In case you all care, I have now officially update that blog past this dynasty, and updated with the results of the Island of the Sunghosts adventure, moved to the next, the Three Brothers challenge with the game, The Nations, Gold,and then added some more stuff in the Centurypedia, including the bios for the Cetaxi race.

http://abesargent.com/intro/