Universom

Universom - Other worlds, other galaxies is a range of roleplays published by Siroz and Thery-Bouchaud and This between 1987 and 1988 (it was the second range of Siroz after Zone). Each play is appeared as three small booklets surrounded by a cover acting as screen (illustration on a side, recall of the rules of the other): a booklet of rules of 9 commun run pages to all the plays, a booklet of 28 pages describing the universe of play, and a booklet of 28 pages containing a scenario.

The basic concept is of Laurent Trémel. Three plays left:

Silrin ;
Koros , with a supplement, Thryra ;
Berlin XVIII , which will have thereafter a version increased in the shape of a book with cover lasts and will constitute a play with whole share.

Whog Shrog was to be the fourth play of the range, but it will leave finally separately.

Universe

We describe the solar system of Altar here, commun run with Silrin and Koros. The universe of Berlin XVIII is described in the article which is devoted to this play. The planets are described in their order of distance of Altar and not per order of publication.

Koros

Koros is the first planet of the system of Altar. It is a giant planet (160 000 km of diameter, to compare with the 4 000 km of the Earth…) surrounded by twelve satellites. The age of kharenes, human, developed on most remote of these moons, Khara, the Moon Mother.

Year 0 of the Kharène calendar corresponds to the Iron Age, that is to say 18 000 years after the appearance of the man on Khara. The colonization of other moons started into 2248. The first contact with Thryrans was done into 4965 and the war started immediately. Barès, the second planet of the system, was colonized into 5064, and Silrin into 5139. This block is a military dictatorship since the destruction of the Lomortel moon by Thryrans into 9361. The time described in the play starts at year 9845 with the advent of king Verliz Sargh IV.

The Kharène block is under the cut of a military dictatorship, except for Silrin, colony independent, and of Khara which is under the cut of the priest of Elenkar, the creative god of the world. The priests maintain their independence thanks to their capacity mental and with the energy crystals, which make it possible to maintain a protective shield. The population carries out a soft and peaceful life, in the worship of Elenkar, the creative god. The supreme priest, Ion-Proha, are one millenium old and appear in the shape of a ball of energy.

The other moons were entirely urbanized and industrialized, their only goal is to support the effort of war against Thryrans. The citizens declining physically are eliminated, the life expectancy of the population is thus 45 years. The king is surrounded of the knights of Zerig, an order of elite to manners degenerated, which increases its capacity by absorbing drugs, in order to compete with the capacities of the priests of Khara; these drugs their make it possible to live approximately 350 years. The king resides on the moon Zerig Alpha.

The army and industry are entirely made up and directed by fanaticized women, the moon Zerig Oméga is an immense arsenal. The men (and their partners) are reduced to the row of slaves in the agricultural moons.

Silrin

Silrin is a universe created by Laurent Trémel and Nicolas Thery. Silrin is the third planet of the system of Altar. It is a neutral zone in the war which opposes two another planets, Koros and Thryra. Four species humanoïdes have cohabited there for 400 years:

the human ones, which is the descendants of the colonists of Thryra; some rebelled against the capacity and train the rebels, who live in the desert. The old colonial aristocracy saw it in the City, in opulence, idleness and obesity; it is a corpulocratie (the votes are balanced according to the weight of the person).
Keydils, of strange creatures similar to reptiles, provided with psychic capacities and having a strange philosophy for the human ones.
Celnaks, humanoïdes with the blue skin with the medieval technology, whose noble ones are winged. They have a religion polytheist, the first contacts with the human colonists gave place to legends forming integral part of their mythology (the human ones are not venerated for as much, only the acquired facts one a magic character).
Morkors, kinds of men prehistoric.

Thryra

Thryra is the last planet of the system. Located at 310 million kilometer of the sun, its days last 39 H and the year lasts 450 days. The temperature varies between -30 and +10 °C.

Thryrans are people of humanoïdes hairy. Although having a technology as advanced as kharenes, they have a social structure remained very traditional; the company is very treated on a hierarchical basis:

at the top is the dominant males with black peeling, they are the warriors,
then come the males to gray peeling, who are the engineers, technicians and working
the females and the children have a white peeling; the females are confined with the tasks domestic and subjected to the Mâle dominating;
all in bottom of the scale are the poulks , of the males to white peeling, which are the suffer-pains of all.

Thryrans do not have a religion, they are materialists. They live in called pyramidal cities aviarenk ; the political system is a democracy controlled by a rear-kar-vark (consul).

Year 0 of their calendar marks the construction of the first aviarenk , and corresponds to year 2815 of the calendar kharene. First Kharènes unloaded in year 2153 and tried to colonize Thryrans; those revolted and reflect in escape the colonists. Thanks to the Kharènes prisoners, they made an extraordinary jump in their technology, passing almost from the Middle Ages at the time post-industrial. They built their first spaceships into 3450. It launched the destroying raid on Lomortel, the capital of the republic kharene, into 6546, but in front of the losses undergone and frightened by the result, they décièdrent not to start again more of such action. In their calendar, Verliz Sargh IV was crowned into 7030.

Rules

The rules are of Laurent Trémel, Eric Bouchaud, Frederic Pannetier and Frank Bouchaud. It is a system with competences.

The character is defined by 10 characteristics: force , constitution , reflexes , skill , direction , intelligence , memory , logical , temerity (optional for the characters players) and will have . Each characteristic is determined by 2d8+2 (it thus go from 4 to 18). The maximum weight that a character can carry is equal to force × 7 kg; its IQ is equal to intelligence × 10. These characteristics are then modified according to the species and of the ethnos group of the character. One can also use an optional characteristic, the beauty (determined by 5d10); one defines the capacity to allure a person having the same guns of beauty ( a priori of the same species) by beauty × 2 %.

The physical determines the vitality of the character, his capacity to resist the wounds. Each part of the body has points of physical .

Competences are expressed in the form of percentages; to make a success of an action, it is necessary to make less than competence with 1d100. With creation, they are determined by the characteristics (for example, mechanical competence is the sum of skill + memory + direction ). The player has moreover 75 % to be distributed with its own way by groups of 5 %, to reflect its training, its initial experiment; only competences having been increased with creation can progress by the experiment, except if the character resumes studies or meets a Master. When the character successfully uses five times such a competence, this one progresses of 1 % (except competences of combat which progress all the ten successes).

For the engagements, the action is broken up into 4 seconds phases; the localization of the wounds on the body is taken into account. The competence of use of a weapon defines the chances of attack, and one divides it by two to have the chances of parade; competence combat body-with-body divided by two defines the chances of dodging. The damage inflicted by a weapon is represented by its factor of weapon (F). When a blow carries, this F is modified by a jet of dice, then multiplied by a coefficient according to the part of the body which is touched (the damage with the head is more serious than those undergone with the foot); the result is deduced from the points of physical of the part in question (a protection makes it possible to reduce the damage). If it is a member, an important loss of points can involve a temporary incapacity or final (paralysis), even an amputation; if it is a vital part (head, chest), an important loss of points can result in unconsciousness (struck, coma) or death.

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