Fading Suns 4 – Universe Book is a role playing game supplement published by Ulisses Spiele for use with Fading Suns 4. This is one of three core books for the system, the other two being the Character Book and Gamemaster Book.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $17.49 and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. The PDF has 126 pages with two being the front and rear covers, four inside covers having just a pattern, one the front matter and one the Table of Contents.
Alustro’s Journal: Ascendance is a short piece of in-universe fiction written in the form of a letter that essentially gives a bit of background to the current situation.
The Introduction explains that humanity went to the stars and spread out, culminating in science fiction’s fabled technological utopia. Then the stars began to fade and civilisation collapsed, leaving a new Dark Age. Civilisation has arisen since then, but now the majority of the population are serfs ruled by nobles, and the technology that was is no longer understood. After a recent war, a new emperor has arisen. It then explains that Fading Suns is a futuristic passion play, with a primary theme of questing.
It’s set 3,000 years in the future from the date of writing, or 5020, and the setting is the Known Worlds of the Phoenix Empire. Interstellar travel is through jumpgates, and after the Fall, many planets had their jumpgate connections sealed. Routes between worlds are fixed, and most worlds are ruled by a noble house, with some by the Church, a Merchant League guild or the Emperor directly. The barbarian worlds, former remnants of the Second Republic and some others, lie off the map, and there are alien empires on the borders, ranging from neutral to hostile. The three core books are explained, following by a brief look at roleplaying and what’s needed; the system uses a d20.
Chapter 1: History starts with Prehistory, which looks at the one or two alien races known collectively as the Anunnaki, one of whom left behind the jumpgates and both of whom had a technology level never equalled since, before seemingly destroying themselves in a war. The Cataclysmic Years looks at humanity, though records are scare from the late 21st and early 22nd centuries. Various catastrophes led to the creation of an alliance that created the First Republic, followed by the discovery of the jumpgate in the Sol System. There is also a timeline of major events.
Diaspora sees humanity spreading out to the stars through the jumpgate, during which time the Prophet and his disciples formed what would become the Church. Humanity then made contact with various alien species, which had a tendency to go as well as expected, including a major war. This then led into a new order. The Second Republic which followed was the height of human civilisation and, like many heights, led to a fall.
The New Dark Ages came after the Fall, with ten major noble houses gained the backing of the Church. The borders of civilisation shrank to the Known Worlds, and barbarian invasions came from the edges, eventually resulting in the elected leader of the Ten, the noble houses, uniting the Known Worlds against the barbarians. He was to become emperor, but died during the coronation, and lacked a blood successor, and no replacement was confirmed. This was then followed by an invasion by the symbiots.
The Emperor Wars was the fighting to create a new Emperor, which ended when the current one, Alexius, was crowned. Since then, things have mostly been at peace, at least compared to previous years, but trouble still lurks in and around the Empire.
Chapter 2: Society starts with The Nobility: Those Who Rule. This section looks at noble life, including as a child, courtly love, etiquette, with some listed for the great houses, duelling, the great houses’ approach to hospitality and the noble entourage. Royal Houses then looks at the five major house, giving a description of them, notes on some leading members, their primary worlds, roleplaying notes, favoured calling and stereotypes for the house. Minor Houses then gives a paragraph description of twelve minor houses.
The Priesthood: Those Who Pray looks at the Omega Gospels, the accepted writings of the Prophet Zebulon, and their teachings, Church law, including what is defined as sin, both petty and heretical, and the organisational structure of the Church. Major Sects & Orders looks at the five largest sects, in a manner similar to the noble houses, with a description, leading members, primary worlds or sees, roleplaying notes, favoured calling and stereotypes. This is followed by brief paragraph descriptions on four other sects, then a brief overview of pagans and two sects of such.
The Merchant League: Those Who Trade gives an overview of the League followed by details on guild life, the monopolies held, their relationship with the Vuldrok worlds, their presence on Imperial world, treatment of golems – robots and AIs – the guild Academy which is the only major educational institution not run by the Church, safehouses, piracy and stereotypes. Major Guilds covers the five major guilds in a similar way to the previous groups, with an overview, their monopolies, leading members, primary territories, roleplaying notes, favoured calling and character stereotypes. Minor Guilds again covers eighteen minor guilds in a paragraph.
The Other Estates then looks at the other major powers. This starts with The Phoenix Throne, covering the Imperial family, the Questing Knights and Cohorts of the Company of the Phoenix, the intelligence-gathering organisation known as the Imperial Eye and the voting sceptres used to vote for a new Emperor. Peasants briefly looks at the majority population of the Empire. The Vuldrok Star-Nation covers the barbarian worlds from which the Emperor’s wife came, with single sentence details on each of the six nations. The Kurga Caliphate is a human civilisation beyond the Empire. Lost Worlders are the bogeymen lurking beyond the locked jumpgates, which is likely an untrue depiction.
Alienkind looks at the non-humans of the Empire and beyond, with a brief sentence on seven types of aliens that will be covered in a future book, before starting with more detailed descriptions. Three major aliens are covered, giving a description of each, followed by details on their physique, leading aliens, homeworld, roleplaying notes and character stereotypes.
Chapter 3: The Known Worlds starts by looking at dayside and nightside jumps when it comes to navigation. Byzantium Secundus is the central star; travelling away is a nightside jump and towards a dayside one. Time can be tricky, as different worlds have their own measures, but lots of places have nuclear clocks keeping a common time. This is followed by a two-page jumpgate map of the Known Worlds. This shows the worlds and their connecting jumproutes, and the borders of territories outside the Empire. The Known Worlds are then each described. Each has its name, symbol – used on the map – and controlling entity, whether that be a noble house, a guild, the Empire or something alien, and then an overview of that world. Finally, there are some details on jumpgates and jumping between them.
Fading Suns 4 – Universe Book in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, but no deeper than the largest sections and chapters. The Table of Contents is deeper, but not linked. Navigation could be a lot better. The text maintains a two-column colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of colour illustrations, up to full page in size. Presentation is decent.
As might be expected, as this is one of three core books, it doesn’t stand on its own. There are also very few mechanical references; these are largely just notes on what the favoured calling of a particular group is. In theory, then, the Universe Book could be used with another system.
The book doesn’t describe anything in great detail, instead covering a lot of things in some detail. The largest groups are covered in the most detail, with only brief descriptions of others. The descriptions of the Known Worlds vary in length, but none are particularly long. They do generally hold enough detail to be useful but, of course, these are entire planets and plenty more could be written about them. Technology and various abilities are mentioned, but not covered in mechanical detail. Fading Suns 4 – Universe Book is a useful supplement for playing in the Fading Suns setting and it can be found by clicking here.
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