first, I humbly present its TV Tropes Link. I'll admit I've been fascinated with it since I read it (after I got over the marketing copy). And I think the discovery, reaching and exploration of such an item could be a really interesting campaign.
Yes, the Spacers would have an edge, but could simply be out of range. Or too cautious. But, still…
The phases that come to mind would be:
- The Great Race as the branches of humanity compete to reach the Ship.
- Early exploration as the first explorers reach it and find a way inside.
- Conflict as its too big a prize to give up.
- Exploitation as the explorers and freebooters begin to control their prize and reap the rewards of doing so.
- The long galactic cruise as the Great Ship cruises among the worlds offering one of the safest ways to travel the stars.
- Repeat earlier phases as needed to keep people interested.
- Possibly the wreck of the Great Ship as an end.
- And there is always the question where did it come from? Who built it? And why?
Civilizations for this - almost any with good Stringtech, because the prize is valuable. Ones that immediately spring to mind are all the ones from Powder Keg, and more. To clarify, here's a list.
- Mechanicans
- Nanori
- League of Independent Worlds
- The Replicants
- The Union
- The Spacers
- Logicians
- Possibly the Stored.
Societies that can drive a lot of the early phases
- CAPP
- Darwinians
- Explorers
- High Society
- Hyperevolutes
- Roamers (maybe)
Anyway, as an infodump … I need a real keyboard and a word processor, because the different phases would require a different infodump.
I'll have to come back to this.
