Ghostly Rights Part 2

This is the most play I ever got out of a post idea. Ghost stories write themselves. My campaign design infographic generated some interest too so I'd like to get into that some more. If there's anyone out there better at doing infographics feel free to chime in



I've represented the major players as simple shapes on the board. Now if you want to add the factor of how populous or influential  a culture is you could relate it to the size of the shape. In the Example above the Red Oval Empire is the major player on this stage. Long thin stretchy shapes would represent lesser powers with a wider range of beliefs. A polity with worlds having the widest range of beliefs would be a diagonal line reaching across the graph. There are people who believe everything in this polity (The 'Murrican Diagonal).

If you want to take it a step further you could loose the smooth shape look and represent each polity by a group of dots, each dot representing a million, ten million or whatever people and their beliefs or each dot standing for one world's policies. So if the Red Oval Empire Acquired a planet of psionic nobles on the outs from the Gold Star Guild They'd get another red blob up near the top left.



The other point I'd like to make is that this is a very simple diagram for representing different cultures and does not address whether they'd play nicely. At face value the four corners empires would probably hate each other but external threats might make them cooperate (aliens are good for that.) Similarly just because two blobs are close to (or touching) each other on the map it doesn't mean they like each other. The Amber Diamond State could be plagued by civil wars or power struggles over whether NBEs or Psi Humans are superior. You can have strife within your culture or between formerly close neighbors.

Similarly the Grey Pentacle Cult(s) could be divided over whether to provide human (clone or organically grown) hosts or robotic shells for their incorporeal masters. The Red Oval Empire could be split over the right way to control their psis, android with a whip, drugs in their water or cybernetic implants.

My next thoughts are going to be on how each of these cultures will develop their own tech in keeping with their beliefs. A ship from the Grey Pentacle will not treat its spirit propulsion system the way one from the Red Oval Empire will. How do you provide luxury accommodations for a ghost?






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