Variant Earth 13

Variant Earth 13 is (to be) a grouping of original campaign settings, which can be used in an interrelated fashion or all by themselves. The idea is to provide this material in support of the various customized rule systems provided on Technohol 13, either to be used directly by would-be game Judges, Narrators, Gamemasters, Plotters, or whatever - or to simply serve as example characters and groups when building their own.

From the past to the future, from the earth to beyond, Variant Earth 13 will encompass a number of settings and situations, each supporting at least one part of the custom character rules presented on the site. The ancient past setting will reference magical rules, whilst the far future one will heavily work with high tech goodness - and the modern day, heroic setting will include almost everything seen on the site!

This will take some time to manifest, however. While the extant Variant Earth 13 material has been upgraded for this new purpose, the 'modern day' campaign has a ways to go before it is complete. And work on the other two has yet to begin, really, aside from loose planning. Though of course, they'll be able to use information from the current work (and vice versa), once all three get rolling.

Thus far, I have completed the following Variant Earth 13 materials:

Agency 13: Agency 13 is a group founded by Mike 013, a member of the so-called Jensen Congress, on behalf of that organization. It is dedicated to a comprehensive study of events in his timeline, known as Earth 13 by the Congress, which is a nexus they believe either reflects or causes events in innumerable other timelines (they don't know which is which, yet).

Aliens: aliens, as defined by the people who keep track of such things, are any and all entities that are inhuman. Not mere modified humans, these are creatures - whether from our world or another - that cannot be classified as conventional human beings. They include everything from the undead to space aliens to entities from other planes of existence!

Corporations: while the vast majority of companies extant are perfectly normal, shilling ordinary products and services to the world in exchange for the highest profit margin available, these are the corporations who traffic in super-human affairs. Whether studying them, employing them or being owned by them, these companies are playing with fire - all to make a buck.

Cultists: though many religious groups are relatively harmless in the grand scheme of thing, they also lack access to ascendant abilities of one kind or another. The groups profiled here are those who not only have super-human operatives in their midst, but are so extremist or fanatical in the pursuit of their faith that they pose a risk to themselves and/or others.

Heroes: despite all the temptations of power, how easy it could make their lives, these people have opted to use their special gifts for the betterment of their fellow man. They're true rarities in the world, and are desperately outnumbered by the various self-interested entities that serve as their counterparts, but they continue to fight the good fight nonetheless!

Idealists: similar to cultists, idealists are people that cling to a certain belief structure, usually quite violently. These organizations differ from cults in that said beliefs are not based on religion in any form whatsoever, instead reflecting some philosophy or ideaology that they insist - sensibly or otherwise - is a (or the) secret truth of the universe.

Items: most of the potent and bizarre items scattered throughout Variant Earth 13 have been claimed by some agency or another. However, some objects of ascendant power are still 'at large', either in full or in part. Such items come from a large variety of backgrounds and power sources, and are ready to cause all kinds of trouble in the wrong - or even the right - hands.

Mercenaries: individuals who fall into this category are those who are primarily business-minded in their ascendant human activities. Whether they use their super-powers to make a mundane career easier or act as meta human guns for hire, mercenaries are individuals whose primary loyalty is to their bottom line... or possibly to their fellow mercenaries, if on a team.

Officials: groups under this umbrella are those which act with the official sanction of at least one government, and potentially more. Most of these groups are considerably secretive about their exact nature, or carry on missions whose goals and results aren't revealed to the public. Digging up information on their activities may be exceptionally difficult, due to their instituionalized secrecy.

Vigilantes: vigilante organizations are those that feel that they need to protect the world from something, or to change something that they perceive as horribly wrong. These groups are different than the heroes indicated above in that they often act in a clandestine fashion relative to the law, and often gleefully break it in the pursuit of their chosen mission!

Villains: outside of any agency or secret society, these are the really dangerous folks, criminals who're out to do whatever it is that they want to, with absolute disregard for the rest of humanity. Miscreants of this sort often use their impressive powers or technology to build and/or conquer crime syndicates and such, or are simply one step away from being classified as crazies.

Supplemental Materials:

Tales from Variant Earth 13: within this section of Variant Earth 13 you will find a variety of stories based on characters from the Variant Earth 13 timeline. The current goal is to produce four separate 'series' of tales, to give differing accounts of the Variant Earth 13 'experience'. Somewhat neglected with my other work taking precedence, the Tales are updated rather haphazardly. Sorry!

The Variant Earth 13 E Mail Game: for quite a while I ran a play by e mail game that, you guessed it, was the basis for the Variant Earth 13 series of campaign settings. Though the game is now inactive, and has been since my (formerly) bad health killed it, I have included all of the information for said game that I haven't lost to various hard drive failures over the years. Enjoy!

Interested in using Technoholic content in your own project? Please read this beforehand!