Miniature Monday - The History of the Battleground

Welcome back to Miniature Monday! This week, we're going to approach our resurrection of Trinity: Battleground from a different direction. We've spent quite a lot of time talking about who is fighting, and how they go about it, but we haven't spent much time discussing why. At the same time, we'll share the first samples of the scanned pages we're preparing for the rulebook PDF that will be part of our re-release.

The story of Trinity: Battleground truly begins in 1998, when a handful of humans were born possessing a unique genetic mutation. These Aberrants possessed a "Mazarin-Rashoud node" that allowed them to tap into the quantum realm to perform astonishing, some would say impossible, feats. Despite attempts to guide them on a more enlightened path, as more Aberrants appeared and their powers grew, they became lost in their newfound abilities. Driven to madness by hubris and a desire to replace humanity entirely, Aberrant factions rampaged across the globe and committed terror attacks of appalling devastation. Cities were laid to ruin, the global internet was destroyed, and swathes of vital farmland were reduced to blighted wastelands at the hands of of these monsters. After six decades of humanity's suffering at the mutants' hands, Chinese officials enacted a drastic solution. They established a small colony on Mars, and then delivered an ultimatum to the Aberrants of Earth. If they did not leave forever, China would use its orbital nuclear assets to destroy the entire planet. In the face of nuclear annihilation, the most powerful Aberrants used their warping powers to transport themselves and their followers to other worlds. However, that would not be the end of the Aberrant threat.

Decades passed as the Earth rebuilt and improved the technology to spread into space. Colonization started with the solar system, and slowly spread to a handful of worlds orbiting other stars. While this happened, the Psion Orders were founded in secret, training carefully chosen recruits in the use of Psi Powers without succumbing to the same taint as the Aberrants. Suddenly, after forty years of silence, the Aberrants attacked again. Twisted by their exposure to the void and their own strange powers, the creatures assaulted colonies and orbital infrastructure throughout the solar system before turning their eyes on Earth. In 2106 Psions openly engaged with the Aberrants for the first time on the grounds of the Sydney Spaceport. After the battle they revealed themselves to the public, and dedicated their Orders to protecting humanity from the Aberrant threat. Humanity had barely recovered from this revelation when they achieved first contact with three alien races, one of which were immediately hostile. Even in the face of this monumental discovery, the struggle against the Aberrants did not end. In 2114, earth's largest orbital station was destroyed by an Aberrant force. Its wreckage crashed to Earth, leaving much of Western Europe in ruins. In the aftermath of the station's destruction, it was discovered that the teleporting Upeo Psion Order had completely disappeared. With their loss, Earth had lost its ability to quickly communicate with or travel to its interstellar colonies.

The year is now 2120. Humanity has developed a new type of ship, the Leviathans, which are capable warping across interstellar distances faster than ever thought possible. It is time for humanity to return to its colonies, and the first one chosen for re-contact is the world of Khantz Lu Ge. Arriving at the planet, the expedition found a world torn apart by conflict, with two Aberrant factions fighting against the remaining colonists and each other. It is a world desperately in need of heroes, which is where the Psions step in. For the Aberrants, they accepted their banishment from Earth as a way to leave primitive humanity behind and achieve their destiny among the stars. Now, those same humans have refused to remain on their world and have expanded into the domain of their successors. It is time they were dealt with once and for all...