The Nexus Triad

[Zyndell]

Pitch: Every wanted to explore the multiverse? Or have your own epic sci fi adventure? Welcome to the Nexus Triad. An interdimensional rabbit hole of ancient technology, phasing aliens and dark secrets. What caused an implosion at the quantum level that fused three universes? Can you hot wire a space yacht? How do you negotiate with incorporeal aliens? Is it safer to to jump or go down with a crashing ship? Where do find an alien Rosetta Stone? Go boldly in your favorite movie concept’s shoes or anti-grav boots.

Setting: The Nexus Bridge connects a planet, hollowed planetoid and a space station in three different universes. Creating a distorted landscape where the station infirmary opens to a cavern waterfall and ancient ruins, for example. The few people able to handle it, and certain equipment, can pass through the universal barriers with minimal side-effects.

Origin: The Triad Nexus was formed by a subspace quantum entanglement implosion causing Dyson Spheres, in three divergent universes, to briefly share the same space. Tethering the universes. And waking three ancient AIs powered by enclosed stars. They determined the cause was misused ancient technology. It needs to be found and defused.

Universe 1: Fleeing a dying sun, refugees on a failing generation ship salvaging a drifting spaceship activate an experimental wormhole. Learning why it was abandoned. Moments before being pulled through an unstable tear in time space. With no remaining options, they’re forced to colonize an inhospitable planet. Over time, they realize the wormhole researchers’ portable research had unforeseen consequences.

Locations:
• Lucanu Research Planet. Where the generation ship was forced to disembark. A result of portal research, it has caves and abandoned buildings with unusual energy readings. Similar to hauntings, mysterious people are seen, sometimes people disappear and a few return with no idea what happened, items are moved or vanish, etc. It has a moon that disappears and reappears randomly as it orbits the planet.
• Anselam Bazaar. A merchant colony for trade, barter and sale that’s been in constant use for more than a millennium.
• Shadow Ruins. A colony destroyed by unknown raiders said to be haunted by dark figures seeking revenge. Some scientists believe they are a form of alien life that doesn’t exist in the same way humans do. Others believe they are the manifestation of evil.
• Entia Crystal Caves. When attuned to a person’s neural energy, they reflect memories. For the willing, it’s a meditative and potentially therapeutic. Although it can cause hallucinations. Whereas the unwilling or unprepared, can find it traumatic.

Universe 2: Researchers excavating an ancient, alien city found powerful technology. Raiders attacked. The bombardment breaches centuries-old stasis, releasing liquid/energy beings from another dimension. They merge with small children, creating a symbiotic relationship. When the orphans are rescued by scavengers, the stowaways aren’t found. The kids grow up as the aliens learn how to communicate. They follow in their parents footsteps, researching ancient sites, motivated to rescue other trapped interdimensional aliens without questioning why they were imprisoned.

Locations:
• Origin Site 1 is the excavation site where ancient technology and the first liquid/energy beings were found. People with energy from the Triad Nexus trigger inexcessible, ancient computers with holographic technology.
• Nightmare Planet is considered cursed because three colonies, in different areas, disappeared without a trace. It has automated beacons advising entering orbit or landing. Cursed Ridge has earthquakes, and rock slides, but isn’t on a fault line. Haunted Caves causes hallucinations of an ancient city destroyed by fire raining from the sky. Memorable to the Lost remembers the hundreds that presumably lost their lives.
• Morenza Duval Station aka Safety Station is neutral territory. Corporations, colonial governments and more go there to safely negotiate. For the superstitous, those who enter negotiations in bad faith or are violent within it’s territorial space, will have extremely bad luck.
• Dark Tube is a spatial anomaly connecting incompatiable dimensions.

Universe 3: Hundreds of years ago, a disagreement over mining rights caused a regional conflict. An accident destroyed the primary source of the minerals used for medical equipment. Over time, the perceived cause of the conflict merged with the consequences and religion. A group of extremists, convinced the mines were destroyed to withhold sacred medicines in a genocide attempt, are on a suicide mission to regain their honor and their gods’ blessing. (AKA Their people are dying of a disease they don’t understand and can’t treat and have convinced themselves Others are to blame.)

Locations:
• The Sacred Mines is pilgrimage spot for a cultural shattered by the mine destruction and rebuilt during a lengthy war. Scans will show properties of the original minerals and possible explanations for the destruction.
• Temple of the Celestial Martyr. The site of the treaty that ended the war. It was partly destroyed by a meteorite that some believe was a sign of divine objection. Historical meteorite impacts have traces of the precious minerals.
• Reflecting Pools is a network of lava tunnels created by a long dormant volcano. Minerals similar to the mines allow for some sacred medicines. But some consider it dangerous or blasphemous to collect them because volcanoes are connected with an ancient god of death and death cults.
• Grove of Witnesses is a circle of stone statutes with unusual properties that attract lightning during storms and open portals. The energy infuses certain types of stone, altering the mineral properties.

Convergence (all 3 universes)
• Binary Energy Well. A space distortion caused by the gravitational effects of two nonstandard stars in the same system.
• Phasing. As a consequence of existing in all three universes, the implosion causes buildings to randomly appear and disappear among the universes.

Player Character Options
Humans: Most likely born near a location affected by the implosion or Nexus, they’re genetically adapted for crossing the Nexus Bridge.

Human Variations: Genetic adaptions and mutations caused by exposure to interdimensional energy. Any advantages or aptitudes to energies are balanced with equal disadvantages.
• Channon. Hundreds of years ago, military scientists combined human and predatory alien DNA to create super soldiers. After freeing themselves, they used the same techniques to reproduce and eventually created a society of mercenaries. (Fighters)

Example Backgrounds
• Selena’s pregnant mother landed among the Shadow Ruins out of desperation. Resulting in visions that drove her mother insane. Trying to understand the haunting legacy, she goes to the Entia Crystal Minds to face the visions. But seeing the shadows through her mother’s eyes causes a seizure. When wakes, she needs to find the Grove of Witnesses. The stones whisper to her, drawing her to the Nexus Bridge
• Leo formed a symbiotic relationship with a interdimensional being while traveling with his parents on a research trip. When the team was affected by an unknown illness, he disappeared. He reappeared after his mother’s death. Filled with grief, his father rejected him. Concerned for his safety, another survivor dropped him off at an orphanage. There he heard stories about convergences. It motivated him to follow in his parents footsteps.
• Aurora’s mother was exposed to exotic energy from a phasing moon. While recovering, she visited the Reflecting Pools for sacred medicines and dreamed of the Sacred Mines. Convinced it was a vision, she joined a religious order of healers. Years later, she witnessed something and fled with her daughter in the middle of the night. It wasn’t until her death, under unusual circumstances, that Aurora realized there was an actual threat. While fleeing an unknown enemy, her small ship malfunctions, triggering an ancient beacon and she’s pulled in by the Triad Nexus AI.

Aliens:
• Anian. Somewhere between an elf and a Tiefling, they are interconnected with the very fabric of the multiverse, creating an empathic link with interdimensional energies. Under the right circumstances, they can create portals. (Druids, magic users)
• Neidr. Sentient amphibians evolved from creatures similar to Komodo Dragons and salamanders. Their culture reveres exploration. Like urban explorers, they often trespass, resulting in conflicts. They have a reputation for killing humans because they defend themselves when attacked. (Rangers, rogues, scientists.)
• Sibr. (Aka Whispers.) Petite and human-looking, they came from a planet that was destroyed by a supernova. Their culture developed a preference for living underground. With an innate understanding of healing, and an a solid understanding of nanotech, they barter their knowledge and skills. (Clerics)

Classes: Futuristic versions of the classics. Fighters with genetic modifications or nanotech enhancements. Rogue gamblers at exotic casinos, thieves that steal spaceships or con artists that charm/lie and manipulate in eighteen languages. Clerics that heal with advanced tech or create medicines from materials from three universes. Druids attuned with universal energies. And more.

NPCs:
• Universe 1. Zech Anselam, physically enhanced with nanotech, and over two hundred years old, he’s the head of the merchant family that founded the Bazaar. Using it as a cover, he’s the head of a crime syndicate that employs a lot of Channon.
• Universe 2. Casm merged with an interdimensional being and became like a shadow using other dimensions to move between planets without a ship. They seek compatible candidates for more combined beings like themselves.
• Universe 3. Vy’Pryn, a Neidr elder and historian, coordinates with explorers to catalog technology discovers. She’s confident with enough knowledge and technology, they can protect themselves.

Plotlines:
Universe 1: Walking through Shadows
Heading for the Bazaar, a small ship crosses the Nexus Bridge encounters an interdimentional anomaly and falls into normal space above the Shadow Ruins. It’s pulled into orbit and crashes outside the colony. Attracting a phasing alien, they experience intense hallucinations. When their thoughts clear, they have to interpret the symbolic communication. Following the clues, they find ancient technology. If they can understand how it disrupts interdimensional barriers or how it’s affecting the planet, it will offer the first puzzle piece for understanding/explaining the Triad Nexus.

Universe 2: The Safety Dance
Trying to translate an ancient database, a meeting is arranged on Safety Station to negotiate access to a Rosetta Stone program. It’s a trap. A group of fanatics opposed to aliens uses an unaware courier to smuggle a weapon onboard. The PCs have to discover the weapon, protect the intended target and uncover who set them up. Or clear their name if the weapon detonates.

Universe 3: Steamed
Reflecting Pool minerals are worth a lot of money for people willing to risk the dangerous caves. While collecting minerals, the characters encounter followers of a death god. If they can talk them down, they can get more information about Sacred Medicines. Otherwise they have to escape with the needed minerals to fund exploring that universe.