Setting Nugget. VALIANT: LOST EARTH (Patreon)

I've been picking at this for more than a decade.

VALIANT: LOST EARTH

You are the crew of The VALIANT, the last Star Dreadnaught, which was the oldest of the 12 massive starships that guarded the Blue Sun Empire from the Rhenz, a series of war machines built using Lost Earth technology from before the Exodus.

But the Rhenz successfully set the Blue Sun to emit radiation so powerful, no biological entity could survive for long within the system. Only because your old, partially malfunctioning ship was scouting the System Edge did you endure long enough to escape and (along with a rag-tag fleet of smugglers, pirates, miners, deep-space scientists, and religious extremists who also lived in the System Edge) decide to use the ancient Flux Drives (which only Star Dreadnaughts carry, but were designed to move fleets) to flee back along the route of the Exodus to reclaim Lost Earth.

Of course, a few Rhenz Factory Bases raided Flux Drives from the hulks of the other Star Dreadnaughts, and pursued you. As both sets of starships got further and further from the Blue Sun, jury-rigging was done, battles were fought, alliances made and broken, and nearly all hope extinguished.

But now you have found Lost Earth!

Which is ruled by kingdoms of an apelike species who took over after (most) of humanity left, and rule over the enslaved remains of Man. They see humans as servants, or devils, and have no use for talking machines. Most of the Revolved Ape kingdoms would prefer to crush the newcomers... but are dealing with a Zombie Apocalypse that came from nanite Lost Earth technology no one understands.

That apocalypse, in turn, triggered long-dormant Carnifex assassin-androids, that want to kill all non-mechanical creatures, zombies, revolved apes, and humans alike. And while the Carnifex seem to be an offshoot of the same Lost technology as the Rhenze, the two groups of death machines want to exterminate each other as much as they do the rest of you.

Also, it turns out there are a very few Human Remnant Cities, each in its own sealed, computer-run hidden dome. Built to protect humanity from whatever resulted in the revolved apes, the zombie apocalypse has the controlling computers trying to deal with the new threat. However, each City AI has gone far too long without repair or updating. One has decided to ensure interior seals can be maintained longer than programmed by lowering the population by killing off every citizen older than 18 (as it is required to protect minors). Another has put armed Court Bailiffs in charge of all aspects of government. A third is in pretty good shape, and has sent a single roaming explorer team out to try to figure out what's going on. A fourth has had a small military crew in cryrosleep for centuries, and is just NOW thawing them out,

Fuel for all the space travelers is exhausted. The Valiant Fleet landed (probably permanently) in the Seattle Sea. The Rhenze fleet has landed (probably permanently) into the remains of Old New York. Both fleets have left a tiny number of ships in orbit, to act as the only functioning communications satellites left in the world.

(Alien ships, with alien spores, can make for a LOT of weirdness on the surface of Old Earth! Art by Asanee)

And a ship of genuine aliens, the Kingmakers, that no one has ever heard of, just crashed in the middle of the US somewhere. Their work-slaves have escaped, their death-eggs have been scattered across the continent, and their hunter-slaves are tracking and killing everything that moves.

But the Kingmaker ship itself? It’s broadcasting an offer to ally itself with whoever comes and repairs it first…