A Galaxy Far, Far, Everway:

Heroic travel among the many Spheres of Space Opera

The Rules

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Fortune Deck

this is preliminary, but i thought i'd put it up anyway, in order to get feedback. in particular, you'll notice a couple of cards that have no meanings, because i'm not sure if they should be cards, and nothing came to mind for them. also, some of the card meanings are kinda close--too close? and are there meanings that ought to be represented by a set of game-playing/divinatory cards like these but aren't? card images that should be in a set of scifi tropes but aren't? double pipe ("||") is being used as an "or" when i have 2 different names or meanings for a card that don't seem to be something i can just amalgamate.

Some alternate groupings of the cards:

• Black Hole
• The Forces
  • Gravity
  • Big Bang
• Governments
  • The Colony
  • The Frontier
  • The Empire
• The Elements
  • Law
  • Religion
  • Trade
  • Science
• The Technologies
  • Bioengineering
  • Terraforming
  • The Starship
  • The Robot
  • The Net
• Space
  • The Ancients
  • Asteroid
  • Neutron Star
  • The Star
  • Wormhole
  • Gas Giant
• The Beings
  • The Alien
  • The AI
  • The Cyborg
  • The Clone
  • The Mutant
  • The Android
  • The Energy Being
• The Roles
  • The Outlaw
  • The Explorer
  • The Scientist
  • The Pilot
  • The Hacker
  • The Soldier
  • The Mentor
  • The Mystic

• Black Hole
• Transformations
  • Bioengineering
  • Terraforming
• Learning
  • The Mentor
  • Science
  • The Scientist
• Limits
  • Big Bang
  • Gravity
  • Neutron Star
  • Wormhole
• The Created
  • The AI
  • The Android
  • The Clone
  • The Cyborg
  • The Robot
• Space
  • Asteroid
  • Gas Giant
  • The Pilot
  • The Star
  • The Starship
  • Trade
• The Unknown
  • The Alien
  • The Ancients
  • The Energy Being
  • The Explorer
  • The Frontier
  • The Mystic
  • The Mutant
• Society
  • The Colony
  • The Empire
  • The Net
  • The Soldier
  • The Hacker
  • Law
  • Religion
  • The Outlaw

Oh, and it's not called the "Fortune Deck". We're not entirely sure yet, but clearly it needs a more-universal universal name, since technology and alien POVs mean it will often not be a deck at all, but some other physical manifestation. Perhaps "Gnospex", from the roots for wisdom and (i think) insight.

So far, we've posited several forms for the Gnospex on different worlds:

• a set of flat rectangular pieces of some metallic substance that have shimmery images on one side, with much the quality of a modern hologram or diffraction image. they flex somewhat, like cards, but won't tear or easily break. when held at the proper angle (which is designed to be when they are flat at the height of a typical table, less than an arm's reach away), they project a 3-dimensional holographic image into the space above them. the image of course appears upside-down when viewed from the appropriate direction.
• a small metallic ball, about the size of a large grapefruit. you roll it, and when it comes to a stop the clockwork mechanisms within it settle into a particular action (depending on orientation), and the ball opens to create a miniature stage upon which is enacted a short scene that depicts one of the 36 themes of the Gnospex. the endings of the plays determine the "orientation" of the "image".
• a series of indestructible metal rings, a few inches across, with rectangular crosssections. they can be stored on a cord or in a bag. they are utterly indestinguishable from one another, and when one is chosen it is spun on edge on any hard surface. this produces a series of musical tones, a simple tune or other pattern which conveys the meanings of the ring in much the same way that the image does on a card. likewise, the overtones and harmonies convey the interpretations and correspondences. the overall character of the music determines the "orientation", somewhat like the difference between major and minor keys in our music.
• a slate or tablet, sort of like an Etch-a-Sketch. the image area is a matrix of complex semi-organic molecules, all of which react uniquely to distinct artificial chemicals. it also contains a special atomic source and a series of chemicals that interact with it. the entire thing is shaken, and when it is then set level, one of 72 possible reactions (36 reactions, each of which has a handedness to the results) occur. this in turn triggers a chemical release which interacts with one of the types of molecules in the slate. the interacting molecules change color, and may even glow dimly, thus forming a pixelated image in much the way that an LCD does.