From: PERRY@taurus.dnet.ge.com
Subject: Shatterzone Info (long)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
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Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 21:20:15 GMT


As promised, here is WEG's Press Release flyer on the Shatterzone

-Brian Perry (perry@Taurus.dnet.ge.com)

===============================================================================



WEST END GAMES Proudly Presents... 

               SHATTERZONE
In November of 1992, West End Games releases the first of three full-length 
novels based on a science-fiction setting unlike any to come before.  The 
first novel, The River of God, will be followed closely by Sole Survivor in 
January '93 and Beyond the 'Zone in APril.  These novels will introduce a new 
universe where space is big, life is hard, and the adventure never ends.

THE SETTING:
   Far in the future of a universe not unlike our own, Shatterzone is a 
setting that combines all the best aspects of modern science-fiction and 
science-fantasy with an exciting history and flavorful environment.  Exciting 
adventure and deadly peril await all who enter there.

   The people of Earth have spread out from their tiny solar system over 
several centuries.  The number of worlds inhabited by their descendents is 
unknown ... and uncontrolled.  The Home World governments try to impose order 
on the people, but their sphere of control is severely limited.  They are 
dependent upon the good will, support, and resources of the corporations and 
Home World fleets.

   During the initial periods of solar and stellar exploration, the first to 
leave were men and women who didn't fit into humanity's social structure.  
These fringe groups - or "fringers" - took their chances with "blindflying" 
and "coldsleep" rather than face oppression or extinction at home.  Many were 
forced to leave while others fled.

   When the "Quantum Drive" - an engine that made interstellar travel faster 
than the speed of light - was discovered, space flight became cheap and 
relatively easy.  This brought the fringers back within the influence of the 
Home World governments they had struggled to escape.  Seeing space as a mere 
expansion of their territories, the nations and special interest groups of the 
Home Worlds began to strike out for regions never before explored.

   Conflicts arose, and bloody wars were fought in the vacuum of space and on 
distant planets.  This was the time of "The Secessionist Wars."  The Home 
World "loyalists" had a hard time fighting those who had gone before - 
especially since they spend at least as much time fighting each other.

   Now the newly founded Consortium of Worlds - composed of those who followed 
old Home World doctrine - established the Consortium Fleet.  Its job was to 
enforce the status quo and suppress "defiance" ... as defined by the Fleet.

   The Fleet was created to be independent of any government or corporation - 
it evolved into an autonomous entity devoted to keeping the trade lanes open 
and the fringers quiet and out of the way.  Paranoia and devotion to its own 
survival keeps the Fleet going, and its power makes it formidable.

   But soon, as humanity grew in population and pushed past its old solar and 
near-stellar boundaries, expansion into space became less a function of 
government and more an economic enterprise.  The corporations of the 
Consortium become monolithic MegaCorporations.  They grew out of the huge 
profits gained from stellar exploration and colonization, and they began to 
control the economies of the stars.

   One way the Consortium of Worlds and the Fleet initially kept control of 
the MegaCorporations and the colonies was by promulgating rumors of a possible 
alien invasion.  Fear of the unknown and the very real fringer attacks kept 
the loyal colonies in line ... somewhat.

   No alien invasion ever occured.  New alien species were discovered every 
few decades, and initial skirmishes were fought, but, in general, armed 
conflict was considered a luxury by both sides - and an expensive one at that.

   Almost without exception, aliens had been welcomed into the Consortium as 
potential markets.  Some of these species were populous enough - or cunning 
enough - to gain actual power in the Consortium and equal representation with 
humanity.

   The Glahn are the second mose populous species - after Humanity - in the 
Consortium and, at the time they joined, they controlled nearly as much space 
as the Humans.  They are a powerful voting block on the Consortium's Council 
Board.  The Glahn are a three-sexed species with a clannish culture and social 
structure.  Indeed, their way of life revolves around socio-biology.  At least 
as warlike in nature as Humanity, the Glahn have very strong rituals for 
etiquette and law, and their usual resolution of conflict is to either fight 
to utter annihilation or simply leave.  The Glahn are very good at judging 
whether or not they will emerge victorious from a situation - and if they 
can't win, they don't want to play.

   The third species of the Consortium's ruling Board is the Ishantra.  They 
are a species with a very small population and a curious history.  At one 
time, the Ishantra were a collection of many different species, all travelling 
through space for some unknown reason.  After many years of flight, their 
ships landed on a world that most of the species could survive upon.  Most of 
the Ishantra believe that they were fleeing some terrible cataclysm or 
Armageddon that destroyed their worlds.  A few have given the journey 
religious significance.

   Since very few members of each Ishantra species survived the flight and the 
resettlement, they knew they would all die out from inbreeding in a few 
generations - unlesss they did something.  Turning their technology inwards, 
they began to alter their genetic structure, finding commonalities that could 
be used as breeding factors.  Many of the individual species died out, but 
overall the new species - the "Ishantra" - survived.  To this day, most 
Ishantra breed by cloning and gene-splicing, even though over ninety percent 
of them are able to interbreed.

   New aliens have been encountered at the edge of explored space.  Although 
unrelated to each other, they all tell similar tales of fleeing a horror 
beyond the known universe.  Their stories seem impossible - but many of the 
aliens seem impossible themselves.  Lacking anything else in common they have 
been labelled "bolters" by the Consortium.

   Even among the strongest of these bolters, there are legends of a species 
so terrible and deadly that they drive others before them like dust before a 
whirlwind.  The bolters claim to have travelled great distances, having to 
cross a "river of rocks" which they could find no way around - the 
shatterzone.  They took their chances with this almost certain death rather 
than face ... the Armagons.

THE SHATTERZONE
   The only check on the Armagon tide, however, appears to be an effective 
one.  The "shatterzone."  Called the "River of God" by some and "the galaxy's 
largest asteroid field" by others, the shatterzone is more than both ... much 
more.

   Discovered by the Consortium only recently, the shatterzone seems to be a 
fantastic place where "light matter" collides and combines with "dark matter."  
It is a place of awesome change and violence, where the energy to create or 
destroy a universe is concentrated.  It is also a barrier between the 
frontiers of the Consortium Worlds and the rest of the Spiral Arm.

   Besides being a barrier and a phenomenon, the shatterzone is also a place 
of great profit and adventure.  Energy mining and conventional mining have 
turned the shatterzone into a treasure trove of uncountable riches.  Exploited 
by the MegaCorporations that employ most of the Consortium's work force - and 
by freelance treasure-hunters and prospectors - the shatterzone has become a 
way of life for many - those who wish to live off the 'zone, and those who 
would live off them.

SPACE IS BIG!
   The adventure in the Shatterzone universe does not begin or end with the 
'zone itself.  The shatterzone is only one part of the larger universe.  The 
Armagons, the Fleet, the colonies, the aliens, the bolters, the technology, 
the MegaCorporations, and all the other fascinating and exciting dangers and 
treasures are all just parts of the next great age of exploration.

   Welcome to the Universe ... the universe of Shatterzone.

AND THE ADVENTURE DOESN'T END THERE!
   Following the tradition of excellence, West End Games intends to release, 
in the summer of 1993, a ground breaking - ground shattering - new roleplaying 
game set in the Shatterzone universe.  After capturing the attention and 
interest of the reader, West End Games will provide the individual consumer 
with the ultimate adventure - in the great Shatterzone setting.

   West End Games will publish a complete roleplaying game system, fortified 
with many related products - sourcebooks, tech manuals, setting expansions, 
universe guides, adventures - and a complete line of ancillary products 
including additional novels, comic books, miniatures and more!

   Look for the Shatterzone novels starting in November 1992 followed by the 
release of Shatterzone: The Roleplaying Game, and other Shatterzone products 
beginning in the summer of 1993.

(c) 1992 West End Games, Ltd.  Shatterzone, 'zone, bolter and Armagon are 
trademarks of West End Games.  All Rights Reserved.


===============================================================================

The River of God - Greg Farshtey
   A group of five misfits - Marta, the hardened mercenary; Pelking, the 
promotion-hungry Fleet officer; Cooper, an ex-scout hiding a secret everyone 
knows; MacTaggart, the worn-out warrior looking for one last score; and Caj, 
the sociopath who just happens to be a technological wizard - trapped together 
by their own fears and desires.  No common goal, no teamwork.  Just survival.
   Their worst enemies are each other.  That is, until the encounter the 
Shatterzone.

Sole Survivor - Shane Lacy Hensley
   The shatterzone.  Huge, deadly, filled with mineral wealth.  Two 
MegaCorporations clash on the fringe of the shatterzone, locked in a struggle 
for the rich mining of the sector.  Fighting for profit first and survival 
second, they encounter unexpected danger from a third party...

Beyond the 'Zone - Ed Stark
   Written by one of the creators of Shatterzone, this novel takes the reader, 
for the first time, through the amazing and lethal shatterzone.  What lies 
beyond the edge of the universe... besides death?
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