Star Wars: A Deathzap Story

The wife and I have once again found ourselves wandering around Disney World in Florida. Being away from the hobby table, once again has gotten me to think about my Deathzap setting.

What do people like or dislike about different fantasy/ sci-fi settings? What makes one setting successful and another fall by the way side? Why does Star Wars endure (despite now being a mostly mediocre property)? Why is 40k as popular as it is?

I’d have thought clear good guys and clear bad guys was a given. Star Wars seems obsessed with the Empire vs the Rebellion, the First Order vs the Resistance, the Sith vs the Jedi. 40k at a glance follows along the same lines, Imperium of Man vs everything else (although it is a little more complicated), but with the rise of the Primaris, 40k certainly seems to be softening the grimdark. Fantasy settings are generally split along lines of good and evil too, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia. Even Game of Thrones has its ‘big bad’ – the existential threat of the White Walkers. So maybe Deathzap could do with a little shake up, some ‘big bad’ to face up to, as the humans squabble and fight civil wars instead of facing up to the existential threat as a united whole.

I’ve had a few possible big bads on the back burner in Deathzap. The Khydran Enclaves:

The Void:

Or the Selenoids:

Another factor also seems to be time periods. 40k for the longest time was on pause, and I think that helped the setting grow in popularity. Before 8th edition 40k was always set just before the end of everything. Star Wars was on pause for several years, prior to the prequels, in the popular consciousness Star Wars was the Galactic Empire era, since then we’ve seen the Old Republic and the Clone Wars appear. With Deathzap’s history steamrolling forwards at the rate of knots, it’s difficult for me to really grasp any era. I think then, it’ll be a good idea to pause Deathzap’s history for a while so I can expand sideways rather than just speeding forwards.

The point I’ve chosen to stop at is 2150AC. The war for the planet Kannis and its moon Oltra still rages on even after 150 years. Although the conflict has changed. After the Second Global War began on the planet Jendar and the SynJen Alliance collapsed, only the ALL remained to face off against Mortan’s Men. It seemed the end was inevitable with Mortan’s Men lacking the numbers or the equipment to deal with the ALL. That was the case anyway until the Davian Supremacy united a group of Solar Raider Tribes and began fighting in defence of Kannis and Oltra. Soon the Hegemony of Synthos joined too, and the Supremacy of Kannis (SoK) was born.

On Jendar with the Second Global War stuck in a stale mate and the lines having moved little since the Collective’s invasion of Caerdonia, a ceasefire was declared so the Collective and House Baronor could discuss the new threat of the SoK. Prime Darrik June and Queen Arnya Baranor met and discussed forming the Jendari Defence Army. While the two powers would officially still be at war, they understood that a greater threat may need to be dealt with first before their war could continue. The Treaty of Cabolt is signed and the nation of Caerdonia is split into East Caerdonia under Collective control and West Caerdonia under House control.

Humanity looked as if it was to fall into another full system conflict, until the Selenoids began a full scale invasion of Kannis, Gnossos, Ashnyr and Jendar.

Up until now, Selenoids had only appeared in small raiding parties, now entire legions appeared through tears in reality. The Selenoid Wars had begun.