Trinity: The Story So Far…

Spoiler Alert!

This section is intended for Storytellers only! It takes a revealing look behind the scenes of the Trinity Universe, exposing key plot points from existing and upcoming supplements.

Consider yourself warned!

Preface

This section outlines what we’ve come to call the "metaplot," the overarching storyline running throughout Trinity. The metaplot is epic in scope, giving you a clear idea of the direction in which we’re headed, but offers plenty of room to incorporate your own adventures into the greater story.

As with everything else in Trinity, you’re at liberty to follow as much or as little of the metaplot as you like. It’s simply a tool to help you create challenging and entertaining stories. It’s not some straightjacket forcing you down a predetermined course. Feel free to discard anything that doesn’t match your vision of the setting. You (and your players) determine the ultimate fate of the Trinity Universe.

Speaking of helpful tools, the details contained herein are covered in more depth in various Trinity supplements. We indicate which books tackle given topics so that you can easily hunt down the elements that interest you.

In the Beginning

Unknown to the populace at large, Aberrants (or "novas" as they were originally called in the early 21st century) and psions sprout from the same divergent evolutionary track. Aberrancy originates from the Mazarin-Rashoud node in novas. Psionic latency derives from the genetic sequence of psions – both products of human genes gone mad. However, the groups diverge wildly from that point. Aberrants manipulate "quanta," the fundamental force of the universe – nuclear forces, quantum energy; the building blocks of reality. Psions handle "psi," or subquantum energy, which exists between the known particles of the cosmos.

Quanta and psi function as polar opposites – not dissimilar to matter and anti-matter, except not as volatile (they disrupt one another, but don’t cause explosions). Aberrancy triggers more easily than psi does, but is much more rare. Theoretically, both potentials could develop naturally in humanity, with the race splitting into two sub-species over time. Reality isn’t so accommodating, though.

During the Aberrant Era, a number of novas lose themselves in their tremendous abilities. They draw upon their power without a care, not recognizing the danger until it is too late. The mutations and madness that result would (and does) kill a normal human. But these warped Aberrants are sustained by the very power that taints them, growing ever stronger as they become more crazed… and less human.

The Aberrant War

Conflict erupts as those novas who maintain control of their abilities try to restrain their mad siblings. Human groups aid both sides, but millions of innocents are caught in the crossfire. Finally, important individuals in certain nova groups, the Æon Society and in world government work together to find a final solution. The Chinese Ultimatum is the result.

The Aberrants are variously tricked, threatened, chased and dragged from Earth by Æon and its nova and government allies. A scant number of novas and Aberrants remain hidden on Earth. Some novas volunteer to protect the Solar System from Aberrant incursion as the conflict continues in space.

Unable to return to Earth, Aberrants and novas use their incredible powers to find and settle a few worlds in deep space. These planets serve as bases from which to launch their attacks on one another, and become home to many. The largest group of Aberrants denies its fate, though, and works ceaselessly to reclaim Earth.

This band is led by The Colony, a rival of Divis Mal himself. The Colony’s intensive breeding and sustained taint influence swells the ranks of the creature’s forces. It decides the time has come to return to Earth. Instead of trying to break through the quanta barrier the novas maintain around the Solar System, The Colony strikes at the guardians themselves. Scores of Aberrants surprise the novas and The Colony prevails.

The Colony learns from past mistakes, though. It wants to return home, but the victory won’t mean much if Earth is a cinder. The Colony also hopes to use its mutational ability (which it successfully passes onto some of its children, including Kali and Yog-Death; see Trinity: Battleground and Stellar Frontier for more on these two) to transform all of humanity into either full-fledged Aberrants or sub-Aberrant breeder stock.

The Colony plans to cripple humanity’s defenses while making sure that novas aren’t around to help. It sends forces to harry known nova worlds, keeping them distracted. Back in our Solar System, the Aberrants start to draw a noose around Earth, attacking orbital locations and near-space colonies. Once those are subjugated or destroyed, the Aberrants will concentrate fully on Earth without worrying about outside influence.

The Doyen

Unknown to human and nova, the emergence and manipulation of quantum energy is felt by a race of beings composed almost entirely of psionic energy. These beings, the Doyen, fear the disruption between quanta and psi, since it seems to threaten the aliens’ very existence.

Although powerful psi users, the Doyen consider themselves too highly evolved to take part in direct conflict. They instead search for another race to act as their agents and eliminate the nova threat. (Put another way, the Doyen are cowards who like to have others do their dirty work.) Pawns with the appropriate potential would receive the benefit of the Doyens’ societal evolution – psi use and biotechnology.

Some Doyen suggest using humanity as the best tool against itself. Other Doyen feel that such a course is simply too dangerous, since these same humans are the source of taint. After further debate, the Doyen split into two factions. One group feels that all humanity is essentially corrupted by aberrancy and should be utterly exterminated. This collection of Doyen searches space for another race to foster.

The remaining Doyen group assumes that humans on Earth purged Aberrants from our planet in an attempt to stay pure from the "taint" of aberrancy. This Doyen faction searches for the most appropriate humans to serve as their lieutenants in the struggle. Each of these humans will act as a proxy for the aliens, transforming others into active psions to take up the fight against corruption.

The Proxies

The proxy candidates are subjected to visions of the Aberrants’ impending return and told that they are chosen as humanity’s defenders – all manner of subtle noetic propaganda to ensure their compliance. Not all of the proxy candidates respond to this urging, but the Doyen find enough for their purposes.

On the Moon, the Doyen reveal the proxies’ roles as Earth’s "chosen defenders." The aliens use vague references and intentional omissions to give the proxies the impression that the Doyen are hard pressed elsewhere and can’t act directly in the impending struggle. The proxies must take up the banner against the Aberrants. The humans undergo psionic surgery that melds Doyen genetics into their human physiology. The proxies become potent psi users, one step removed from Doyen themselves. However, the aliens include a control factor in the transformation process, restricting the awakening of each proxy to one specific type of psionic manifestation.

Once the change is complete, each proxy receives a strange container that pulses with subquantum energy – a nascent Prometheus chamber. Each tank triggers psi in latent humans, reconfiguring the individual’s genetic structure so that she can channel psi. The psion remains human, but shares the proxy’s restriction to a single Aptitude. Paranoid as well as cowardly, the benefactors want the psions to rely on one another and not turn on their creators.

The Doyen are extremely long-lived and shape plans over vast stretches of time. They apply a similar approach with the proxies, directing them to amass their forces in secret for years before going into action. The proxies are granted knowledge of how to create biotechnology, as well as psi coordinates to habitable worlds that surround known Aberrant space. The latter essentially sets up a net around the Aberrants like the one The Colony creates around Earth! These worlds are supposed to be developed secretly into staging points from which to launch large-scale psion strikes.

However, the psi orders quickly grow impatient when Aberrants start attacking. Psions have power, why can’t they use it? Once Solveig Larssen orders her troops to publicly defend Sydney Spaceport, the other orders emerge from the shadows as well. The Doyen are shocked. The damage is done, though. The best the aliens can do is influence the proxies to keep the Doyens’ existence a secret. At the least, if Aberrants destroy the orders, the monsters won’t learn of the patron aliens.

The Æon Trinity

Æon is at the height of its power when the orders first form. Its extensive intelligence network learns quickly of the secret organizations. Seeing the potential inherent to the psi orders, the Trinity offers to help in their development and to coordinate efforts between the groups. Æon loses much of its direct control once the orders go public, but manages to maintain a great deal of influence over each order.

The Æon Trinity’s influence is felt throughout each Trinity supplement. The group has an active role in the Darkness Revealed adventure series and is covered in detail in the Trinity Players Guide and Trinity Storytellers Guide.

The Chitra Bhanu Purge

Unknown to even the proxies, the Chitra Bhanu Order is a test. Although the Doyen are masters of psi, they can’t focus Quantakinesis techniques. That potential is unique to – and exceedingly rare in – humanity. The Aptitude uses psi to tap quanta, duplicating many nova abilities (though at a much lower power scale). If psi can be manipulated to shut down quanta use (and thereby stop taint from spreading), the Doyen feel it’s worth the danger of exploring.

Though originally a latent with quantakinetic potential, Bhurano isn’t like the other proxies – she is possessed by a Doyen (like Robert Wei in Ascent into Light or Hampsah Cisse in Stellar Frontier). This alien poses as Bhurano to keep tabs on the chibs’ research and to monitor the other proxies. The proxies never know the truth… although Bolade Atwan, Rebecca Bue Li and Giuseppe del Fuego suspect something near the end.

"Bhurano" finally feels that the research goes too far – studies manipulate taint radiation, posing grave danger of increasing taint’s spread. The Doyen faction decides that the experiment must end.

The aliens use Telepathy to spread panic among the populace – including the psi orders – about the Chitra Bhanu. Æon tries to assert its influence, but the orders summarily block its efforts (at collective Doyen urging; this is an internal matter). The proxies call for an investigation that "Bhurano" resists at first, forcing them to demand one backed by force. Meanwhile, "Bhurano" betrays her followers: She restricts normal lines of communication, calls all chib psions who can be located in from the field, and insists that they welcome the other orders with open arms.

When the other orders arrive, the Doyen manipulators ignite the high tension into outright conflict. The Doyen-as-Bhurano allows the human form to be slain and slips away. This throws the rest of the order into panic and a massacre results. Only a handful of chib psions escape. The order's Prometheus chamber is dismantled and most of its parts are destroyed. The few remaining chibs go into hiding. Some meet with psions not loyal to the orders (or to Æon) and a few secretly join the Norça. (Proxy del Fuego witnesses the Chitra Bhanu fate. Though he doesn’t know the truth, he’s savvy enough to disguise his own order’s research into extinguishing taint, maintaining a cover of criminal activities to deflect suspicion.)

The Trinity Storytellers Guide takes a closer look at the Chitra Bhanu purge.

The Huang-Marr Conspiracy

A collection of individual Æsculapians and Orgotek personnel secretly begin research similar to that pursued by the Chitra Bhanu and the Norça. The Huang-Marr conspirators leave morality and conscience by the wayside, though, exposing psions and bioware to taint in hopes of creating more powerful weapons with which to fight Aberrants. The project is exposed, but the rogue psions’ efforts cast a shadow over all Gifted.

The Darkness Revealed trilogy and Shattered Europe cover the Huang-Marr conspiracy and its aftermath.

The Upeo wa Macho Disappearance

Cosmos-exploring Upeo come across Eden, a world inhabited by novas who fled from Earth with their followers after the Aberrant War. The two groups begin a dialogue. Eden’s novas are saddened to hear of the Aberrants’ recent attacks on Earth and gradually agree to aid humanity. They are reluctant to return to Earth uninvited, though, so the Upeo act as their liaisons.

Bolade Atwan tells her fellow proxies about Eden, but hatred and fear of Aberrants deafens her peers. Cassel and Bue consider the Eden encounter proof that it’s too dangerous for teleporters to wander the stars alone. The proxies demand that the Upeo place themselves under the other orders’ control.

Fearing a repeat of the Chitra Bhanu purge, Atwan sets about relocating the entire Upeo Order. Cassel, Bue, Solveig Larssen and Matthieu Zweidler marshal their own forces to Africa. The proxies keep the situation under wraps – not even their troops know the whole truth, only that the Upeo Proxy is under Aberrant influence and that the teleporters are to be held (using bioware dampeners that drain psi) "for their own safety."

Through moles in the Æon Trinity, The Colony learns that the proxies have been embroiled in secret meetings, and that all manner of psion combat forces suddenly converge on the Upeo base. Believing that the psions prepare for a massive attack against one of the Aberrant worlds, The Colony stages a pre-emptive strike. It orders an attack on the Esperanza. At worst, the diversion will occupy the psions long enough to warn the worlds. At best, the massive orbital station could crash into Africa and take out thousands of psions!

The Aberrant attack does surprise the psi orders – even the ISRAns, who sense massive subquantum flux but mistakenly assume it’s due to the Upeo. Atwan thinks the Esperanza attack is a ruse staged by the proxies to trap the Upeo. She comes to a difficult decision: It’s in humanity’s best interests for the Upeo to enlist the novas in the fight, and leaving now is the best (possibly only) chance the teleporters will have. Thus the Upeo vanish. Ascent into Light and Stellar Frontier explore the Esperanza tragedy in greater detail.

The Aliens

The Qin

One of the worlds the Doyen reveal to the proxies is home to the Qin, aliens recently subjected to Aberrant assaults. Aberrants there have nothing to do with The Colony’s forces, having stumbled across Qinshui entirely by accident. Still, revealing the world to the proxies suits Doyen purposes perfectly.

The alien benefactors once considered the Qin as their front-line warriors, but the slug-like aliens had already evolved to their fullest psionic capability. Any further development would have required genetically modifying each Qin as the proxies were – too involved an effort for Doyen interests. Even so, the Qin could serve as cannon fodder.

The Qin live in a kind of caste society, split into different "houses" with different roles in society. One house, Lle-ji, sends most of its influential members to Earth to act as diplomats. Once the Upeo vanish, these Qin are cut off from home. The power balance back on Qinshui shifts dramatically and just settles when humanity sends its jump ships to re-contact the extrasolar colonies. Political influence shifts yet again as the returning members of House Lle-ji make a play for leadership of all Qin. Deception, the second book in the Alien Encounter series, draws characters into this struggle.

The Chromatics

Meanwhile, the Doyen who consider all humans tainted search for their own warrior race. The most promising are the Chromatics. The race’s lack of societal advancement makes it the perfect tool. The Doyen lure a band of Aberrants to the world, then appear to the Chromatics after the Aberrants attack. Posing as the Chromatics’ "gods of light," the malevolent Doyen easily recruit the race into the conflict.

The Chromatics are especially useful since the aliens have a potent inherent capacity for Photokinesis. Yet the Chromatics need means by which to reach Earth in order to wage war against humanity. Doyen patrons use a human pawn to capture Upeo teleporters and human biotech designs (Stellar Frontier covers the details of this abduction) on the Chromatics’ behalf. Thus, this Doyen faction works directly with its agents more so than its counterpart does with humanity. The difference is dramatic. The Chromatics leap from a Bronze Age to a Space Age in a matter of years.

The Darkness Revealed adventure trilogy covers the first raid the Chromatics make on our Solar System. Invasion, the first book in the Alien Encounter series, covers humanity’s counterattack on the Chromatics’ homeworld and the discovery of the Doyen role in the affair.

The Coalition

On the surface, the Coalition is a mix of many different aliens. In truth, every Coalition race springs from the same genetic source, with different breeds or "phyles" created to fulfill various roles. The aliens are ruled by a dominant phyle that has the genetic capacity to bond to any other race through a kind of genetic virus. This explains why the initial encounter with humans is "equated with rape."

The Colony’s forces learn of the Coalition’s existence through its network of human pawns. It sends a band of Aberrants to the Coalition space ark shortly after the first jump ship returns to Earth with its remaining crew. A second human expedition to the ark occurs, as detailed in Trinity Field Report: Alien Races. Tragically, that expedition is also destroyed, though not before sending a datapod back to Earth – with the disturbing revelation that Aberrants and Coalition are breeding! Due to the Coalition’s accelerated gestation and growth periods, these hybrid beings will be a threat in a matter of months. Alien Encounter: Deception explores humanity’s efforts to learn the full details of the bizarre alliance.

The Future

The Trinity Universe grows ever more turbulent. The Doyen become an imminent threat to humanity. The malevolent faction stops at nothing to destroy mankind, while the proxies’ benefactors wonder if they erred in creating psions. The human populace grows increasingly concerned by rumors of psion corruption (the result of the Huang-Marr conspiracy, the truth behind the Upeo disappearance and the details of the Chitra Bhanu purge). The Colony diverts its forces from distracting novas in deep space to make a concerted play for Earth. The Coalition and its hybrid Aberrants arrive in our Solar System intent on conquest. The Qin must decide to stand with humanity against these threats or retreat to safety. The Chromatics struggle to decide their place in a suddenly huge universe. And the Æon Trinity must learn to consider humanity’s needs before its own.

In the end, Trinity is about humanity’s battle to be truly free of domination by outside sources, to become masters of our own destiny.