Driftbound is a gritty, dystopian science fiction RPG setting, a far future in which integrated technologies, evolutionary awakening, interstellar travel, and interplanetary terraforming are commonplace. Terrans have traveled across their planetary systems, explored vast sectors, and journeyed outside the bounds of solar systems into distant galaxies by traveling through dimensional rifts—colloquially called “drifts.” A drift is essentially what we might call a “wormhole,” though it is more accurately known as a “tethered singularity,” a convergence of dark matter and dark energy. In any case, drifts are fixed points in spacetime that connect two disparate parts of the universe. In the generations that followed The Great Cataclysm of Terran history, researchers exploring the cosmos discovered these pockets of spacetime and developed reliable technologies to scan and chart drifts in the surrounding space. History notes that it took decades of exhaustive theory, followed by multiple launched probes, deep space trials, and technology upgrades, until finally on 354.6.24 a pilot named Dax Prothal became the first terran“drifter”—the first person to jump successfully through a tethered singularity and back again. 

For over three millennia following those early days of exploration, terrans have continued to use drifts to expand into distant parts of this galaxy and several others. They have terraformed and colonized moons, established homes on other habitable planets, constructed sustainable starports, mined gas giants and asteroid fields for fuel and resources, and cataloged breathtaking stellar phenomena. But once the golden ages of the cooperative global coalitions began to wane, terrans did not emerge as a unified or utopian community. Within a few generations of accomplishing and expanding on their greatest technological achievements, territorial skirmishes became more commonplace as populations increased and resources grew scarcer. Terrans who wanted to claim ownership rights over numerous sectors and planetary resources banded together to form powerful corporations that maintain their jurisdictions through strategic positions and advanced military might. 

The main Driftbound setting takes place in the time after 3810.2.15, the date that began the Corporate Sector Wars, an official declaration of separateness and aggression following over a century of growing tensions between the three most powerful terran megacorporations—The IGC (Intergalactic Commonwealth, often just called “the Commonwealth”), The Bracken Sovereignty, and Jorn Biologistics Commission. Other smaller and well-established corporate groups exist, some of which act as subsidiaries or allies to the largest corporations, but the primary authority rests in these three large conglomerates. Most day-to-day terran activities throughout the known universe would continue without incident were it not for appropriations and border claims that often result in violent battles among these corporations along their disputed borders. And deep within any corporate claimed sector, military officials enforce sector-wide regulations with prejudice and punish espionage mercilessly. 

The Intergalactic Territories are vast. At present there are many long-standing starports, as well as earth-like planets, terraformed moons, orbital stations, junker depots, research stations, agricultural planets, cargo way stations, laboratories, and similar settlements throughout the known universe. Some terran colonies were established long ago, before the recent political struggles of the corporations began to take shape. Some settlers are only just embarking, hoping to find an untouched world they might explore and call home. It is within this immense and complex expanse that your characters’ many dynamic adventures will unfold.