《破裂疆》 The Fractured Frontier

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破裂疆是我即將發布的互動小說遊戲,《吞聲》,的世界設定,設定在《受死令》後犧牲的詭野西部世界。它的世界設定入門書 30 頁長,突破《降天下世》創的紙筆遊戲內容長度紀錄。它的模式類似《冥咒島》,是靈感來源於 OSR 的反正典跨系統世界設定,大部分的世界背景是按照隨機表產生出來的。差別是《破裂疆》不是純粹反正典,在最後面有個「被創造的歷史」的推薦部分。另外,它比《冥咒島》的結構更複雜,設計目標更費勁。

The Fractured Frontier is the setting for my forthcoming interactive fiction game, Swallowcry, set in the post-Sacrifice Weird West world of Soulslinger. Its setting primer is 30 pages long, breaking the record for analog game content length set by Felling Heaven, Felling World. Its format is similar to Hellsealed Isles, which is an OSR-inspired anti-canon system-agnostic setting, with the majority of its lore generated by random tables. The difference is Fractured Frontier isn't purely anti-canon, and includes a section of suggestions at the end titled “Generated History.” In addition, it is more structurally complicated than Hellsealed Isles, and is more ambitious in design.

目標是:用歷史唯物論創造一個反殖民主義的世界,但歷史不能特定到過分決定遊戲可能有的故事的地緣政治起源;把一切重要的歷史都放在隨機表的結構之中;不要讓反殖民主義變成隨便的被種族化的陣線、不要繞寫原民性,強迫自己和玩家完全面對它的存在;拒絕來自方便的答案—虛構現實的每一部分都需要嚴格的解釋。

The goal was: to use historical materialism to create an anti-colonial world, without making the history so specific so as to overdetermine the geopolitical origins of possible in-game stories; to put all the crucial history in the structure of the random tables; to not turn anti-colonialism into a vague racialized front, to not write around Indigeneity, to force myself and the player to confront its existence in full; to reject all answers of convenience—all parts of the fictional reality had to be rigorously explained.

一個一個來對付。關於歷史唯物論的世界建構,我已經在〈沒有任何人控制的地方或:我如何學會停止恐懼並徹底理解 TRPG 中的裝備單跟世界設定背景〉之中概述了一些基本想法。問題是從歷史唯物論的角度來看,每一個反殖民運動都是在對自己特別的狀況做出反應。沒有面對普遍帝國的普遍抵抗組織的普遍鬥爭。可是《受死令》就是有類似普遍帝國的概念—當時我是把每一個星球想像成國家,把生榮當作是唯一的帝國,剩下的行星當做是它的殖民地。

I'll address things one by one. With regards to historical materialist worldbuilding, I already sketched out some basic ideas in “Nobody's Place or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Grok Equipment Lists and Setting Lore in TRPGs.” The problem was, from the angle of historical materialism, every anti-colonial movement was responding to its own specific conditions. There was no universal empire against which a universal resistance carried out universal struggle. But Soulslinger did have a concept of a universal empire—back then I had imagined every planet as a nation-state, treated Vim'run as the sole empire, and the rest of the planets as its colonies.

在開發《吞聲》的過程之中,因為我很早就決定要挑戰寫更靠近傳統西部世界設定,而且要做美國平原印地安人跟台灣平埔族群的跨界歷史,選了族群和考慮玩家的角色之後故事的地緣政治範圍就縮小了很多。某些得到的結論:

In the course of developing Swallowcry, because I decided early on that I wanted to take on the challenge of writing a closer-to-traditional Western setting, with a crossover history of Plains Indians in the U.S. and Plains Indigenous peoples in Taiwan, after choosing the tribes and considering the player's role I was able to narrow down the geopolitics of the story by a lot. Some conclusions I arrived at:

  1. 至少要有四個帝國,一個是西班雅的類似物、一個是美國的類似物、有美國也必須要有英國的類似物、然後最後需要中國的類似物。There had to be at least 4 empires, a Spain analog, a U.S. analog, which meant there had to be a Britain analog, and finally a China analog.

  2. 生榮還是帝國之鄉,可是血星的自動殖民地在《受死令》中向聖榮帝國宣布的大戰可不是革命性的戰爭,而是為了要保護墾殖社會和白人至上主義奴隸制的反革命性戰爭。血星是美國,自動靈的歷史位置類似但不是完全像新非洲人的位置。Vim'run was still the home of empires, but the Great War that the Machine Colonies of Shahsin' declared on the Holy Empire of Vim'run was not a revolutionary war, but a counterrevolutionary war to defend settler-colonial society and white supremacist slavery. Shahsin' was the U.S., and the historical position of hauntaumatons was similar to but not exactly the same as that of New Afrikans.

  3. 因為聖榮帝國現在變成英國的類似物,可是本來我是把吞人想像成漢人的類似物,我決定把聖榮帝國跟羅馬帝國一樣分成兩個合作的半,西聖榮帝國是英國的類似物,東聖榮帝國是中國的類似物。在西方,吞人是白人的類似物,在東方他們是漢人的類似物。 Because the Holy Empire was now the Britain analog, but originally I imagined the Twun as Han analogs, I decided to split the Holy Empire into two cooperating halves like the Roman Empire, with the West Holy Empire being the Britain analog and the East Holy Empire being the China analog. In the West, the Twun were analogs for white people, and in the East, they were analogs for Han people.

  4. 刮膽是台灣、刮膽牢籠類似白色恐怖、東聖榮帝國類似戒嚴之下的國民黨、毛革類似共產主義者。 Gwahdyu' was Taiwan, the Caging of Gwahdyu' was like the White Terror, the East Holy Empire was like the Kuomintang under martial law, and Malga were like communists.

  5. 血星是美國被工業化的東海岸,送息是科曼奇地。 Shahsin' was the industrialized Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., Ehm'rah was Comanchería.

可是我認為紙筆版的破裂疆應該有更可變通的背景,應該能探索世界歷史中任何的反殖民鬥爭。所以與其把每個星球當作是真正國家的類似物,或是創造任何特定的虛構民族,我用隨機表的原先星球機率分布概述耐核系統的地緣政治:

But I believed that the analog version of The Fractured Frontier should have a more flexible backstory, that should have had the ability to explore any anti-colonial struggle in world history. So instead of treating every planet as a nation-state analog, or creating specific fictional nations, I used the probability distributions of original planets in the random tables to sketch out the geopolitics of the Nai'oh System:

雖然光民在舊刮膽有強勁的存在,他們原本來自生榮的殖民者。相反,在舊生榮的殭是被強迫移居的刮膽人。在舊送息的毛革是革命性的罪犯,但不一定來自舊送息。在舊血星的自動靈是買辦和被強迫勞動者,但也不一定來自舊血星。

Although Lumin have a strong presence on former Gwahdyu', they are colonizers from Vim'run. On the contrary, the Stiff on former Vim'run were forcibly displaced people from Gwahdyu'. The Malga of former Ehm'rah are revolutionary criminals, but may not necessarily be from former Ehm'rah. The hauntaumatons of former Shahsin' are compradors and forced laborers, but also may not necessarily be from former Shahsin'.

多數居住者的機率分布加上居民和恐怪的隨機表也展現出更多的殖民政治:

The population distributions of majority occupants along with the random tables for inhabitants and horrors also reveals more about colonial politics:

這也都只是上一半之中能發現的資料,幾乎是完全按照隨機表創造的世界背景。下一半是幫忙補充以上背景的建議正典。最特別的是玄風,在破裂疆末日後的超自然航天方式。這是怎麼發展出來的?在《受死令》之中,我有說心火是受到創傷的靈魂,但也有暗示它是核能的類比物。在為《吞聲》建構世界的時候,我決定把心火能變成經濟的反烏托邦基礎—法西斯資本主義者將會故意普遍化殘酷的壓迫為了榨取心火,而心火會是跟《異塵餘生》宇宙之中的核能一樣是普遍的能源。但問題是核子末日之後維持這種綱領的基礎建設都被毀滅,也殺不了足夠的倖存者來長期恢復犧牲前科技狀態需要的心火能。

And this is just the information you can discover from the first half, which is just lore almost entirely generated by random tables. The second half is a suggested canon that helps flesh out the lore from above. The most unique is The Weirdwind, the supernatural post-apocalyptic form of space travel in The Fractured Frontier. How did this come to be developed? In Soulslinger I mentioned that a spark was a traumatized soul, and also implied that it was an analog for nuclear energy. When I was worldbuilding for Swallowcry, I decided to turn spark energy into the dystopian foundation for the economy—fascist capitalists would purposely generalize brutal oppression for the purposes of extracting spark, and spark would be an energy source as general as nuclear energy in the universe of Fallout. But the problem was after a nuclear apocalypse all the infrastructure to sustain this kind of program would be destroyed, and there also wouldn't be enough survivors left to kill to recover enough spark energy to sustain pre-Sacrifice levels of technology in the long term.

沒有航天方式的話,大家就只能待在自己的行邑之中—對 TRPG 來說,特別是類似 OSR 的 TRPG, 這是完全不能接受的事。哪有設定在外太空的 TRPG 不給玩家航天的! 或許是一個共產主義的 TRPG。我認為其實在犧牲前的世界中,天舟是非常耗心火能的機械,需要定時的種族滅絕才能產生出足夠的能量。心火本來就是不可持續的燃料,法西斯資本主義者也就是被這一點吸引—低供給和高需求等於利潤。他們的計畫是強迫群眾依賴唯一被他們控制的資源來求生,群眾的起義也透過鎮壓被收復用來生產更多心火能。

Without a method for space travel, everyone could only stay on their own peh'rah—which, for a TRPG, especially an OSR-like TRPG, was completely unacceptable. What kind of TRPG set in space wouldn't allow their players to have space travel! Perhaps a communist one. I believe that even in the world before The Sacrifice, skyships were a technology with a heavy rate of spark consumption, which required regular genocides to produce adequate amounts of energy. Spark was always an unsustainable source of fuel, and that was exactly what fascist capitalists were attracted to—low supply and high demand meant profit. Their plan was to force the masses to rely on a resource under their exclusive control for survival, and the resistance of the masses was recaptured through repression which produced even more spark energy.

航天和其他高科技的工具本來就不是普遍的現象,而是主要為了殖民、軍事和資產階級利益被發展。它們和一切利用心火的科技再生產了以那些主宰和剝削為基礎的社會。來自非墾殖社會的原住民並沒有發展航天科技的希望,不是因為他們是「原始」,因為他們徹底明白了「文明社會」和「現代化」的意思—也就是再生產一個種族和生態滅絕的社會。所以要在反抗那些制度的世界中為航天的包含做辯護的話,我必須想想其他的辦法。

Skyships and other high-tech tools were not generalized phenomena, but developed primarily for colonization, military use, and the interests of the bourgeoisie. They and all forms of spark technology reproduced a society that was rooted in those dominations and exploitations. Indigenous people who did not come from settler-colonial societies never had the desire to develop technology for space travel, not because they were “primitive,” but because they fully understood what “civilization” and “modernization” meant—which was to reproduce a genocidal and ecocidal society. So if I wanted to justify putting space travel in a world that resisted those hierarchies, then I had to think of something else.

具有諷刺意味的是,天舟的靈感來源—老一套東方主義的科幻經典戰役設定《魔法船》(英文: Spelljammer)—也是為玄風賦予靈感。我說:「在每個行邑上有可能出現玄風,是能把捲入的生物和物品傳送到另外一個行邑的超能力龍捲和颱風。」許多在實際上的問題馬上出現。玄風跟真正的龍捲和颱風一樣激烈嗎?需要什麼才能安全搭乘?不同形類,不同體力和智力能力的安全物品需要有什麼差別?那些用品在末日後的世界多難得到?那將會判斷玄風的搭乘有多麼被普遍化。

Ironically, the source of inspiration for skyships—the stereotypically Orientalist and classic space fantasy campaign setting of Spelljammer—also inspired The Weirdwind. I wrote: “On every peh'rah there is the possibility of encountering The Weirdwind, supernatural tornadoes and typhoons with the power to send the beings and items it engulfs from one peh'rah to another.” Several practical questions immediately appeared. Were weirdwinds as intense as real tornadoes and typhoons? What did you need to ride it safely? What were the discrepancies in terms of safety materials needed by people of different forms, of different physical and mental abilities? How hard was it to acquire those supplies in the world after the apocalypse? That would determine how much riding The Weirdwind was generalized.

《吞聲》中有試圖回答這些問題,但《破裂疆》並沒有—反而,它給玩家考慮的問題還要更多!玄風不是好好待在一邊等你的現象,而是按照季節和圈段出現,每個行邑也都是不同。不同的行邑又有相反的自轉方向,導致相反的季節和圈段順序,需要轉換。最後,玄風不是可靠的航天方式,終點大部分是完全隨機的、再有可能的是同環原先星球的行邑、之後再有可能的是異環原先星球的行邑、最不可能的是到鄰近的行邑。要到某個行邑的話可能會需要類似魯布·戈德堡機械的旅程路線—但恰好就是 TRPG 的冒險傳統之中的最愛。

Swallowcry attempts to answer these questions, but Fractured Frontier doesn't—and it gives the player even more questions to consider! The Weirdwind is not a phenomenon that stays and waits for you, but one that appears according to season and cycle phase, which is different on every peh'rah. Different peh'rah also had opposite directions of rotation, which caused them to have opposite orders of seasons and cycle phases, requiring conversions. Lastly, The Weirdwind was an unreliable form of space travel, with the vast majority of destinations being completely random, the next likely being peh'rah from same-ring origin planets, the next likely after that being peh'rah from different-ring origin planets, and the least likely being adjacent peh'rah. To arrive at a certain peh'rah would likely require Rube Goldberg-machine-like routes—which is incidentally what TRPGs with a tradition of adventure love to have.

但是誰會在破裂疆冒險?在「心火」的部分之中,我有暗示是拾荒團,也諷刺地把拾荒團的三個基本角色命名為 OSR 的戰士、奇才(英文的 wizard 不只是指法師)、盜賊傳統三職業。之前我說拾荒者是大部分沒被付錢的流氓無產階級,但這裡比較專業化的零工拾荒團算是不穩定無產者(這也不是原創概念;相反,大部分現代 OSR 的玩家角色也是有不穩定無產者的預設)。

But who goes on adventures in The Fractured Frontier? In the section on spark, I implied it was scavenging parties, and even cheekily named the three basic roles in scavenging parties after the three traditional OSR classes of fighter, wizard, and thief. Previously I said that scavengers were mostly unpaid lumpenproletariat, but the more professionalized gig worker scavenging parties here are more like the precariat (this is also not an original concept; on the contrary, the majority of modern OSR player characters also have a precariat default).

然而,不同的角色會有不同常見的背景:

However, different roles will have different commonly-seen backgrounds:

那麼多混合階級利益展現出拾荒團的政治多樣性。有極端唯利是圖的團、只是希望能求生的團和傾向於解放的團。一定會是有錢的主顧偏右翼,因此能收到金錢的解放主義團非常少見,大部分其實會是為缺金融資本的人免費工作的互助團。這也就是我最有興趣探索的拾荒團種類。

The vast amount of mixed class interests reveals the political diversity of scavenging parties. There are parties that are extremely mercenary, parties that are simply trying to survive, and parties oriented towards liberation. Patrons which are always monied lean right-wing, so liberationist parties that can get money are rare, and the majority of them will actually be mutual aid crews that work for free to serve those who lack financial capital. This is the kind of scavenging party I'm most interested in exploring.

《破裂疆》的最後一頁是來自約瑟夫·康拉德的《黑暗之心》的格式化引文,描述殖民者對探險的視角:年輕的敘述者浪漫化地圖上殖民者非探索的空白空間,就像是 OSR 玩家看待未冒險到的空白六角格一模一樣。或許遊戲設計師和 GM 對世界建構空白畫布的態度也並不例外。我給了玩家許多空白空間,也有意地把其他空間填滿。最後我無法擺脫自己創造和引誘別人創造殖民黑暗之地的懷疑。

The last page of The Fractured Frontier is a stylized quote from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which describes the colonizer's attitude towards exploration: the young narrator romanticizes blank spaces unexplored by colonizers on a map, just as OSR players regard blank hexes yet to be reached by adventure. Perhaps the attitude of game designers and GMs towards the blank canvas of worldbuilding is the same. I've given the player many blank spaces, and have intentionally filled in others. In the end I cannot shake the suspicion that I have created and lured other people into creating their own place of colonial darkness.

但面對這種黑暗是每個創造者的責任。注定再生產殖民主義的程度由我們對再生產的容許來判斷。與其空想地跳過去殖民化的過程假裝在避開我們的歷史慣性,我們必須徹底去阻擋它製造的軌跡。未來沒有定局、末日只有在壓迫者的想像之中才是必然發生的事、而破裂疆的後末日不只是在指假設壓迫者成功破壞世界之後的生活,而也是在指現在如何廢除末日的理論。殖民和資本主義製造的種族和生態滅絕不是神話般的例外事件,而是平凡人造的現實。我們必須透過解放運動和行動讓壓迫制度設定為不可能的事變成可能的事,必須革命化所謂的現實性。《破裂疆》是我為想像這種革命創造機會的謙卑企圖。

But to face this kind of darkness is the responsibility of every creator. We are only as doomed to reproduce colonialism to the extent that we permit its reproduction. Instead of utopianistically skipping over the process of decolonization and pretending to avoid our historical inertia, we must thoroughly obstruct the trajectory it has created. The future is not foregone, the apocalypse is only inevitable in the imagination of the oppressor, and the post-apocalypse of The Fractured Frontier does not merely refer to a theoretical life after the oppressors have successfully destroyed the world, but also a theory of how to abolish the apocalypse today. The genocide and ecocide caused by colonialism and capitalism are not mythic and exceptional events, but mundane and man-made realities. We have to make what the order of oppression has made impossible possible through movements and moments of liberation, we have to revolutionize what is considered realistic. The Fractured Frontier is my humble attempt to create an opportunity to imagine this kind of revolution.