The TrekGate Chronicle evolved from the Virtual Madness Chronicle i was running for Mage The Ascension c.1994-97. TrekGate would be open to characters from most World of Darkness (WoD) games, and would be run off and on from c.1997-2015, and exists in a shared universe with other WoD Chronicles i ran, which i recently switched from referring to as "WoD4.x" to "Worlds of Darkness, Dungeons & Dragons" (WoDDnD), which you can learn more about the latter here:
https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27453&sid=0d1aa86935568d4e9724f49cb6d2c640
So how did Star Trek get into a dark horror fantasy game set in the late 20th & early 21st centuries?
It started with an adventure in the Mage sourcebook 'The Book of Chantries', which was designed as an open-ended story that could be incorporated into an existing chronicle or as the basis for a new one.
In it, a group of Technomancer Mages, all inspired by the same popular sixties' sci-fi show came together and created a Chantry/Space Station in orbit over Earth, where they where building the starship Endeavor.
BoS was published in Dec 1993.
The Technocracy sourcebook 'Technocracy: Void Engineers' (published 1996) revealed the Technocracy's aggressive expansion into space began in the mid 1800s. In the 1990s the Technocracy (main bad guys in Mage) had a proper fleet, and the Mages of the Traditions (the good guys & gals) didn't. Sure, some mages had ships, but they were all small, one-off designs, hopelessly outnumbered & outgunned. The only 'big ship' the Traditions had was the starship Endeavor.
In Virtual Madness, my players were all Mages of either the Virtual Adepts (hackers, revolutionaries & tech misfits) or Sons of Ether (Scientists, Action Heroes and oddball inventors from all sci-fi genres). c.1995/96 they wanted a ship of their own. And not unlike a certain Captain of note, their plan was to cheat: they would steal one.
After a few sessions hacking Technocracy databases and raiding Technocracy facilities, they learned when & where one of the Technocracy's bigger ships, a carrier-cruiser hybrid, would be. Long story short, they captured the ship, disabled the crew and all tracking systems & took it back to their chantry. After turning over the surviving crew to other chantries, they proceeded to cannibalize the ship for parts & materials to make a pair of smaller ships, the ≈170 meters long Defiant-class Defiant, and the ≈55 meter long Star Shadow (based on the Sea Shadow stealth prototype), with materials & parts left over (& saved for future projects....).
When TrekGate came together in 97-98, i made a big retcon: i made my 'Trek persona' of Commodore Joshua Daniel Sarvour an NPC, with his own Chantry/Shipyard, and concurrent with the construction of the starship Endeavor, Sarvour Shipyards was building the starship Constitution (Constitution-class), both having their maiden voyages in Dec, 1993.
By 1998 the Traditions had a small but growing Starfleet, which had a few non-Trek ships inspired by other franchises (notably Babylon 5, Stargate, StarCraft and Star Wars). My Starfleet drew much from Star Fleet Battles & FASA, but also fanon.
Due to the WoD events of 2004-05, the Atlantean Orders emerged as a bigger threat than the Technocracy & they had ≈75% of the Technocracy's pre-2004 fleet, whereas the Traditions' Starfleet only lost a few ships, leaving them in a better position relative to the Technocracy, than they'd ever known (for the most part...).
Factions in space as of 2020: (in order from largest to smallest)
Atlantean Orders Fleet (estimated strength ≈600-1,000 capital ships)
Traditions' Starfleet (restricted data; ≈500 capital ships)
Technocracy Fleet (restricted data; ≈400-500 capital ships)
Klingon Defense Force (Starfleet-allied) (restricted data; ≈50-80 capital ships)
Technocracy Rogue Fleets (restricted data; ≈50-250 capital ships)
Viper's Fleet (Starfleet-allied) (restricted data; ≈50 capital ships)
Independents (Starfleet-allied) (restricted data; ≈50 capital ships or less)
https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27453&sid=0d1aa86935568d4e9724f49cb6d2c640
So how did Star Trek get into a dark horror fantasy game set in the late 20th & early 21st centuries?
It started with an adventure in the Mage sourcebook 'The Book of Chantries', which was designed as an open-ended story that could be incorporated into an existing chronicle or as the basis for a new one.
In it, a group of Technomancer Mages, all inspired by the same popular sixties' sci-fi show came together and created a Chantry/Space Station in orbit over Earth, where they where building the starship Endeavor.
BoS was published in Dec 1993.
The Technocracy sourcebook 'Technocracy: Void Engineers' (published 1996) revealed the Technocracy's aggressive expansion into space began in the mid 1800s. In the 1990s the Technocracy (main bad guys in Mage) had a proper fleet, and the Mages of the Traditions (the good guys & gals) didn't. Sure, some mages had ships, but they were all small, one-off designs, hopelessly outnumbered & outgunned. The only 'big ship' the Traditions had was the starship Endeavor.
In Virtual Madness, my players were all Mages of either the Virtual Adepts (hackers, revolutionaries & tech misfits) or Sons of Ether (Scientists, Action Heroes and oddball inventors from all sci-fi genres). c.1995/96 they wanted a ship of their own. And not unlike a certain Captain of note, their plan was to cheat: they would steal one.
After a few sessions hacking Technocracy databases and raiding Technocracy facilities, they learned when & where one of the Technocracy's bigger ships, a carrier-cruiser hybrid, would be. Long story short, they captured the ship, disabled the crew and all tracking systems & took it back to their chantry. After turning over the surviving crew to other chantries, they proceeded to cannibalize the ship for parts & materials to make a pair of smaller ships, the ≈170 meters long Defiant-class Defiant, and the ≈55 meter long Star Shadow (based on the Sea Shadow stealth prototype), with materials & parts left over (& saved for future projects....).
When TrekGate came together in 97-98, i made a big retcon: i made my 'Trek persona' of Commodore Joshua Daniel Sarvour an NPC, with his own Chantry/Shipyard, and concurrent with the construction of the starship Endeavor, Sarvour Shipyards was building the starship Constitution (Constitution-class), both having their maiden voyages in Dec, 1993.
By 1998 the Traditions had a small but growing Starfleet, which had a few non-Trek ships inspired by other franchises (notably Babylon 5, Stargate, StarCraft and Star Wars). My Starfleet drew much from Star Fleet Battles & FASA, but also fanon.
Due to the WoD events of 2004-05, the Atlantean Orders emerged as a bigger threat than the Technocracy & they had ≈75% of the Technocracy's pre-2004 fleet, whereas the Traditions' Starfleet only lost a few ships, leaving them in a better position relative to the Technocracy, than they'd ever known (for the most part...).
Factions in space as of 2020: (in order from largest to smallest)
Atlantean Orders Fleet (estimated strength ≈600-1,000 capital ships)
Traditions' Starfleet (restricted data; ≈500 capital ships)
Technocracy Fleet (restricted data; ≈400-500 capital ships)
Klingon Defense Force (Starfleet-allied) (restricted data; ≈50-80 capital ships)
Technocracy Rogue Fleets (restricted data; ≈50-250 capital ships)
Viper's Fleet (Starfleet-allied) (restricted data; ≈50 capital ships)
Independents (Starfleet-allied) (restricted data; ≈50 capital ships or less)
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