Wilding Road

Aldea was once a far flung colony of Earth. Humanity’s great civilization spread through the stars with the enormous warp gates built in orbit over planets. The people lived easy, carefree lives in a society fueled by clean, renewable energy and maintained by a benevolent AI known as the Overseer. Until the Collapse.

Something went horribly wrong with the gate in orbit, causing it to shatter and bring ruin to the world below. The lucky ones were able to escape and build a life on Aldea’s moon, Duru. However, not everyone was able to leave in time. Those left behind struggled to survive and what remained of the Overseer and Aldea’s infrastructure fought to return the planet to the garden it had once been.

Now, millennia later, all of that has been lost to myth, half understood by those that survived. Those that escaped to live in the sky, are seen as gods called the Ascendant. What humans were left call themselves the Descendant, and wait for the time when their gods will return to their ruins and bring with them gifts unknowable. The technology left behind is too advanced for the pastoral folk to fully grasp. Those that can access the invisible swarms of nano-bots refer to it as the Ambience, a latent source of magic. They see the Overseer and it’s countless drones as the wrathful guardian of Aldea in the Ascendant’s absence. The world is a place of wonder and mystery, the sparse settlements and cities kept apart by wilderness and the curious habits of Overseer drones.

Caravaners make a living by traveling between these pockets of society and civility. Bringing goods, services, or even passengers from place to place. But, the road makes for a hard life. Even with beasts and bandits, the Overseer is constantly on the look out for those that would disturb its work of returning Aldea to what it deems as perfect. So, Rigs must walk the line of being able to travel but go unnoticed by the world around them, lest they be discovered and draw ire.

Told using the Wild Words system, Wilding Road uses d6 dice pools to both build and play in a solarpunk sci-fi setting. Players make characters as well as a giant, walking vehicle called a Rig. They then use this rig to travel the world of Aldea, uncovering the secrets of the Ascendant and avoiding the dangers brought on by the Overseer.