The Setting
In 2036, an egotistical billionaire funded a manned mission to Mars, hoping to cement his legacy. The crew of that mission discovered an outpost of a long-gone alien civilization, one which they named the "precursors." The outpost’s technology, once reverse-engineered, transformed humanity. Hyperspace technology enabled faster-than-light travel through designated hyperlanes, planetary terraforming made hostile worlds habitable, medical advancements eradicated diseases, and genetic engineering allowed humans to adapt to new environments like high-gravity planets or underwater realms.
This technological boon came just in time, as Earth faced ecological collapse. Rising oceans and climate change-induced famines led to mass migrations, xenophobia, zoonotic diseases, and anti-refugee violence. Unfortunately for most of humanity, the billionaire prioritized profit over people, charging exorbitant fees for colony ship passage and leaving most people stranded on a deteriorating Earth. Minimal efforts were made to stabilize the planet’s environment, barely averting further decline.
Over the next 60 years, humans spread across the galaxy. The wealthy used genetic engineering to become "trans-humans," diverging so much they no longer saw themselves as the same species. By 2096, tensions escalated between two groups of trans-humans, leading to war between the colonies of Eden Prime in the Virgo system and Elysium in the Sirius system. Elysium conscripted Earth's poor into their army through the Wartime Active Recruitment Program (WARP), offering genetic treatments and a new home in exchange for military service. This model was adopted universally, leading to three major power blocs: the Sol Corporate Interests, the Roccan Alliance, and the Lokken Star Collective, with several independent buffer systems.
Synthesis
Kayden Reynolds, a poor man from Earth, lost his arm during a food riot and saw his future collapse until the Roccan Alliance offered him an experimental prosthetic limb that connected directly to his brain through a neural interface. Out of the 1,000 people who volunteered to take part in the program, he was the only survivor. Unable to pay for his treatment, he was conscripted into the Roccan WARP program. His neural interface allowed him to control technology directly, propelling him to the rank of lieutenant by 2134, leading a squadron in the Roccan-Lokken war. His squad was decimated by the mercenary "Black Company" just as a peace treaty was signed, rendering their deaths meaningless.
Disgusted by the pointless loss of life, Kayden left the military and moved to the free colony of Port Vega, a trading hub in the Andromeda system. There, he caught the eye of Selina Onassis, a trans-human manager at the Black Company, and Dawn Parker, a diplomat with the Port Vega government. Rejecting Selina’s job offer, he accepted Dawn's mission to investigate the space pirate Samuel Barbossa, who claimed to have found a new hyperlane leading to a habitable world.
Barbossa's claims were true, but he’d enslaved people to build his ‘colony.’ Kayden and Dawn killed Barbossa, freed the remainder of the captives, and stole a mysterious derelict spaceship linked to the precursors. Kayden connected to the ship using his neural interface, learning from the ship’s AI—whom they named Ali—that the “precursors” were made up of two rival interstellar nations: the Vrul Technocracy and the Holy Kel-Azaan Empire. He quickly took control of the ship and its resident nanobot swarm.
His joy in uncovering the archaeological find of a lifetime was overshadowed by the fact that his connection to the ship threatened his life unless he found a Vrul shipyard for repairs—something that was near-impossible. Moreover, their only copy of the hyperlane coordinates leading out of the system was damaged in the escape attempt, meaning that they’d be stranded there for some time. Dawn encouraged Kayden to beat the odds, and they began a romantic relationship.
While stranded, Kayden and Dawn helped the former captives establish a colony—one which they named “Sanctuary.” They discovered that the planet once held a splinter group made up of both Kel and Vrul who sought to achieve “Synthesis”—the blending of biological and technological advancements. Dawn was accidentally genetically altered while exploring a set of ruins, giving her the ability to move through solid objects and control creatures using pheromones. Together with the former captives, Kayden and Dawn recovered the hyperlane coordinates and returned to Andromeda.
Back in the Andromeda system, Selina, having learned of the Black Company's misdeeds, sought asylum. She was captured, and Kayden and Dawn mounted a rescue, exposing the Black Company’s crimes. During the rescue, they also freed Kayden’s former commanding officer in the Roccan Navy—Captain Ashley Brown. They returned to Sanctuary together, and Selina entered a romantic relationship with both Dawn and Kayden.
Selina also revealed that Malachi Black – the leader of the Black Company – held delusions of creating his own personal empire, using a Vrul shipyard he discovered to build a sizable fleet. Seeking allies for an assault on the shipyard, Kayden began to gather a fleet, starting with the genetically engineered slaves of the Black Company. Kayden, Dawn, and Selina also began a romantic relationship with the leader of these slaves—Anna Bedford.
Together, they defended Port Vega from a Black Company attack before launching their assault on the Black Company’s Vrul Shipyard in the Tau Ceti system. Kayden unlocked his own genetic enhancements, achieving the Vrul-Kel dream of Synthesis, becoming both stronger and faster. Dawn and Selina’s genetic enhancements were also further augmented, and Ali created an android body so that she would no longer be an incorporeal piece of software.
Infiltrating the Black Company's headquarters, the heroes defeated Malachi Black and destroyed the Vrul shipyard to prevent further misuse. With Ali’s help, they upgraded their ship and set off on new adventures. Months later, they ventured through a new hyperlane, encountering an alien ship from the "Kel Confederacy of Systems," marking the beginning of the next chapter in their journey.
Synthesis: Legacy
Kayden, Dawn, Selina, Anna, and Ali are shocked to find the Kel still exist after millions of years. Eager to learn more, they follow the ship down to an ancient Vrul outpost on an icy planet where they are informed that humanity cannot learn of their existence and they therefore cannot leave Kel space. They’re imprisoned by the Kel but use their abilities to escape, accidentally sending a signal into deep space in the process – one which summons a force which the Kel identify as being from the Vrul Hegemony.
The Vrul quickly arrive and begin attacking both Kayden’s crew and the Kel indiscriminately. Kayden’s use of both genetic and technological powers cause the Kel to recognize him as the “Asha’dara” – a prophesized figure in their religion who has achieved Synthesis. They apologize for attempting to imprison them, and together the group successfully fight back the Vrul attack.
Afterwards, Kayden interrogates the Kel leader – Elara Nerys – and her human aid, AJ Scully. She reveals that the Kel Confederacy was formed by survivors of the Holy Kel-Azaan Empire, just as the Vrul Hegemony was formed by the survivors of the Vrul Technocracy. Both empires were decimated by a mysterious force known as the Voidborn, and towards the end of the war the splinter group seeking Synthesis chose to go into cyrosleep in a secret underground vault rather than fight, with the intent of waking up once the Voidborn had retreated and believed they were all dead. Unfortunately for them, something went wrong with the cryosleep-reversal process and they ended up sleeping for 2.2 million years, awakening only a few hundred years ago to a galaxy they no longer recognized.
To make matters worse, many of the safeguards failed during that period, meaning that far too few of their people woke up to have the genetic diversity required to sustain a viable population. Desperate to not die out, the Kel genetically engineered the ‘xenocompatibility’ protocol; permanently and irreversibly genetically altering themselves so that every new generation would be exclusively female and able to reproduce either asexually or with other alien races. Moreover, it biologically forced Kel to mate for life, causing their bodies to adapt to their partners’.
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The Kel also forced this solution onto the Vrul as well, something that prevented them from being able to use most of their cybernetic technology. This caused a new schism between the two races, leading to a war which further decimated their already-depleted populations. Eventually the Vrul rediscovered a fleet of ships they’d hidden away and departed for deep space, leaving the Kel to slowly work through a ‘dark age’. When they finally emerged and took to the stars again their government became pacifist, swearing off using genetic engineering as a weapon. When they encountered the Vrul once more though, they entered into a ‘cold war’ of sorts, with each nation avoiding the other’s region of space. Additionally, when the Kel encountered humanity they saw the same warlike tendencies of the Vrul Technocracy and the Holy Kel-Azaan Empire and chose to hide from them – offering a life of luxury to any poor humans unfortunate enough to cross into Kel space in exchange for their silence.
At Dawn’s insistence, Kayden offers to build diplomatic relations between Sanctuary and the Kel Confederacy. Together with Selina, Anna, and Ali, they bring Elara, AJ, and the surviving Kel to the nearest Kel colony of Arcadia. Once there, Kayden agrees to submit to testing to determine whether he is their prophesized messiah while negotiating a trade deal between Sanctuary and the Kel. They’re shown around the idyllic colony by Elara, and each receive upgrades from the Kel genetic engineering labs: Kayden can generate and control small electrical fields, Dawn can turn objects around her incorporeal, Selina’s senses are further enhanced, Ali is given synthetic skin, and Anna is given a gauntlet which allows her to heal others.
Their tour is cut short when the Vrul attack Arcadia, using a series of ‘cocoons’ launched from orbit to transform the local wildlife into Vrul slaves. With the local forces overwhelmed, the Vrul fleet moves into orbit and begins landing troops across the planet. Kayden and his crew join the fight, and using a set of unconventional tactics they’re able to help turn the tide and send the Vrul into a retreat.
After the attack, Kayden is recognized as both a hero and the Asha’dara. He meets with the Kel military command and convinces them that they need to use genetic engineering as a weapon if they want to survive the conflict. He also becomes close with Elara, but the two of them are reluctant to enter into a romantic relationship without knowing each other better. Elara and her surviving crew are stationed permanently on Kayden’s ship as his official ‘diplomatic entourage’.
They return to Sanctuary to find it’s already under attack by more Vrul-augmented creatures. They fight back the attack on the ground before calling for help from their Kel allies, anticipating that a Vrul fleet will appear in orbit soon. They’re proven correct and ambush the fleet, destroying it before Kayden offers to act as a scout and venture into Vrul space to help plan a counterattack. Before they arrive, Ali uses her neural link with Kayden to download information about the Kel and the Vrul directly into Kayden’s brain, exploring his memories and becoming romantically close with him as she does.
When they finally arrive in Vrul space, they find a Vrul fleet mostly destroyed and slowly drifting towards the crushing gravity of a planet. They board a Vrul ship and fight their way to the bridge before encountering an ancient-looking Vrul sitting in a throne. Kayden connects to the ship and his mind is attacked by the Vrul, but with Ali’s help he defeats him.
Afterwards, Kayden and Ali interrogate the Vrul. He is an ‘executor’ – a leader of the Vrul fleet, and a survivor of the original Vrul technocracy who has been kept alive via the throne he is now sitting on. His mental state is quickly deteriorating, but in the short conversation with him Kayden discovers several key facts: that the mysterious attackers are in fact the Voidborn and not Vrul, that the Vrul have been attacked as well, and without an executor any remaining Vrul survivors will die with him. To make matters worse, Ali tells Kayden that the executor’s mental state is quickly deteriorating, and he will soon die from the strain. Kayden agrees to become the next executor, rescuing the surviving Vrul on the ships before retreating.
Once they are safely away, Kayden meets with the leader of the surviving Vrul – Mirana K’Lani. From her, he learns more about Vrul society. Since the schism they’d decided to live entirely on ships and space stations, something that has reduced their immune systems to the point where even the most benign of viruses and bacteria could cause them to be sick for weeks. As a result, they live entirely in their space suits, only taking them off in the presence of those they trust most. Additionally, the original Vrul executors installed neural interfaces into every Vrul born after the schism – something that forced them to obey every executor’s commands. This became problematic as the executors’ mental states gradually deteriorated, becoming paranoid and breaking off into a series of fleets – each of which was commanded by one executor.
Kayden is repulsed by the wholesale enslavement of the Vrul and commits to freeing them. In exchange, Mirana reveals that the Voidborn can be tracked using a powerful enough sensor array. Anna is inspired by this revelation, telling them that she grew up on Alpha Centauri Prime near the largest sensor array in human space.
Together with Anna and Ali, Kayden commandeers the array and tracks the signal to deep within Vrul space. As they’re leaving, the Voidborn appear in orbit and attack the fleet protecting the human colony. Kayden, Ali, and Anna use the chaos of the battle to retreat along with several civilians, including Anna’s family and Selina’s estranged family.
Once they are back on Sanctuary, Selina confronts her estranged family. They reject her and she sends them back to the Andromeda system, telling them that her real family is Kayden, Dawn, and Anna. Afterwards, Mirana teaches Kayden how to better control his nanobots, and together with the rest of the colonists they hatch a plan to attack the Voidborn stronghold. Ali’s android body is also upgraded, and she becomes physically intimate with Kayden.
Finally, Kayden, Dawn, Selina, Anna, Ali, Elara, Mirana, and their joint crew of colonists, Kel, and Vrul journey to Vrul space. They dock with a Vrul space station and send a message to the rest of the Vrul executors asking for help with the attack. The Vrul reluctantly permit them passage, but refuse to help Kayden – something which frustrates and disillusions Mirana.
Without the Vrul support they’re forced to change plans, choosing to plant an enormous bomb inside the Voidborn’s base of operations. They’re successful, but before they can retreat Kayden is confronted by an alien woman identifying herself as the Voidborn, claiming that the creatures they’d encountered up until that point were just her mindless thralls. She claims to have achieved Synthesis herself, and invites Kayden to join her as her slave. He rejects her and they escape, setting off the bomb and destroying much of the Voidborn fleet in the process.
While celebrating their victory back on Sanctuary, Kayden and Ashley kiss and admit to having feelings for each other. Before they can go any further though, they’re interrupted by a message from Earth: the Voidborn are attacking with an enormous fleet, and are being led by a woman calling herself their ‘Queen’. Kayden confirms it’s the same person that he saw in the Voidborn stronghold. Together with his Kel, Vrul, and human allies, Kayden resolves to take Earth back.