The Backstory:
145,000 B.C.E.: The first human civilization arises on earth, becoming capable of interstellar travel within 21,000 years
110,000 B.C.E: The first empire, as it would later be called, collapses in upon itself in civil war. Countless trillions of sentient beings die, and millions of earth-like worlds are sterilized, in the ensuing chaos.
2,050 C.E.: The current human civilization recieves a binary message from the star Alpha Centauri A. When the message is finally deciphered, it depicts a solar system consisting of a small gas giant and what appeared to be an earth-like world. Also in the image was a pair of cat-like humanoids, one clearly male, the other clearly female, with the female pointing at the second planet in the system. Part of the message was not an image, but rather a reconstruction of their genetic code, which was similiar to the genetic structure of humans and that of a wild species of cat, F. Libyca. This turned humankind's view of itself on its head, as this evidence pointed towards the existence of an advanced human civilization prior to their own.
2,051 C.E.: The first human expedition to Alpha Centauri leaves the solar system onboard a spacecraft equipped with a solar sail. At the same time, a vessel departs from Alpha Centauri, carrying a group of "Katthara", as they would later refer to themselves.
2,094 C.E.: The Katthara expedition crew arrives in the solar system, and roughly three months later, the human expedition arrives at Alpha Centuari.
2,547 C.E.: The Katthara and humans have become close allies, but because interstellar travel is still absurdly expensive, trade is limited and each race is a minority in the other's system.
2,569 C.E.: Evidence unearthed on the Katthara homeworld (Called Bast by humans, after an ancient egyptian deity with a cat's head) suggests that the civilization responsible for spreading life to at least Alpha Centauri built a network of "Warp-Hubs" with one in each solar system, usually on the moon of a gas giant. A frantic search begins in the solar system, as whoever finds the hub would be famous beyond belief.
Basically, players take the role of a group of friends looking for this 'warp-hub', and can choose between the following races:
Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Terrans): Your basic garden-variety human, and the fourth strongest of the half dozen or so human subspecies.
Homo Sapiens Lunar (Lunars|Lightworlders): One of the first subspecies to branch off from Homo Sapiens Sapiens, they are taller and thinner than terrans, and suffer in earthlike gravity. While orginally confined to the moon, they can now be found on a number of low gravity worlds (Mars, Io, Ganymede, Callisto)
Homo Sapiens Cythera (Venusians|Squats): Terraforming Venus turned out to be too much effort, so the colonists instead adapted themselves. Shorter and stouter than terrans, they have to wear environmental suits in earthlike conditions.
Homo Sapiens Jovis (Jovians): One of the hardiest human subspecies, jovians have been engineered to survive levels of radiation that would prove extremely harmful, if not outright lethal to other humans.
Homo Sapiens Aquatis (Europans): Adapted to the frigid oceans of Europa, this human subspecies is the best at handling long period of zero-gravity, although they need an aquatic environment rich in ammonia and sulphur compounds.
Homo Felis Felis (Katthara): Katthara are humanoid feline creatures, with a digitigrade gait. They are extremely dextrous and make good engineers and merchants.
The rpg starts out in 'Tranquility City', A colony built up around the Apollo 11 Landing site. Anybody interested? I need 4-5 players.
Edit: Here's the signup format:
Character Name:
'Race':
Profession:
Appearance:
Age:
Personality:
Skills: