Encountering alien races is an incredibly important part of much of Sci-Fi. I would argue it is an attempt to answer to one of the greatest questions of the genre. As Arthur C. Clarke once said, “There are two possibilities: we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
First Contact, of course, features several times in the history of the Consortium.
This is because there are different ways in which first contact might go – I’m very cognoscent and aware that I must not waste time or encounters in the limited capacity that the timeline can offer me for alien races are encountered during the current timeline of the Consortium that’s been delivered.
The Eulutians offer technology and allegiance virtually freely to the Consortium. They are an example of an enlightened alien race, who believe that Humanity has potential and that there’s a chance that humanity may offer something in the future, in a sense that is somewhat similar to the Asgard in Stargate SG-1.
They give their technology relatively freely to the Consortium, offering lasers and various other pieces of technology that only they have ever been able to perfect to date.
The Ximians are encountered in 184CE, in what Consortium fans will undoubtedly know as the disastrous first contact that began the Bug War. Era: The Consortium handles this in a slightly interesting way: the consortium massively out matches the Ximians, technologically, but the Ximians are not afraid to use their numbers to their advantage. As a result, the Consortium suffers significant losses right from early on, and the War is really quite a struggle for many years.
The mechanics of this part focus on all-out war. Unit-based combat is offered in order to try to give an idea of what the experience might have been like.
We’ve also explored this concept in detail in the more recent parts of the Time Travel Campaign (You can find those on the Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SoV). If First Contact were to go wrong. I’d like to think that the Ximian War is something that is close to how it might look.
The third race encountered are the Vilithii. This is a case where Humanity is effectively uplifting a primitive race to their level of technology.
The mechanics here are all about these inexperienced Sentient Beings joining the consortium and political impact within the society that the Consortium has become.
Allowing them technology and thinking about the growth within that society, along with the deposing of Vilithii and destruction of their hereditary beliefs is the focus of this particular contact.
And finally, humanity encounters the Pliangrathilon. They are desperate when they arrive in the Consortium – they don’t know how to survive any longer their ship crashes.
They know the Eulutians from a previous contact with a different colony, but Humanity are strangers to them. When they arrive with a prophecy, predicting Humanity Ximians, Eulutians and the Vilithii along with two more races, there are questions.
All of these offer an opportunity to explore a different kind of story, a different kind of first contact.
I am happy to answer any questions that you would like to ask around these, so please let me know in the comments, or join the discussion on Twitter – @Shades_of_Venge.
I will see you next time!
– Ed
