Stargate: Avalon

We started a new game this weekend. It was literally thrown together on the spur of the moment after seeing the premiere of Stargate: Atlantis and I think it turned out pretty well.

I wrote up a brief description of what we had so far to my buddy Ryan and I'll repost it here. Note that this may not completely jive with the Stargate SG-1 timeline, and it borrows a bit from Atlantis, but the storyline is pretty darn cool and I can't wait to see what Aaron comes up with.

It should also be noted that this is technically a reboot of our previous Stargate SG-1 game that had run one session before. Both of the PCs, and a few NPCs are being redone, and it shares little with our previous incarnation, but I think I'm going to enjoy this a lot better.

(Also please note that this email was written at work in about 15 minutes, so I apologize for any badly written words and lack of smartass tone).   :-)

Here is the email:

Earth, prehistoric times, even by the standards of the Ancients. Two races vied for control of the galaxy, the reptilian Da'argons and an unknown race known only as the Phoenix by the Ancients. Earth was a key battle point for both races in their war, and possibly used to store an item of great importance. Both races left this galaxy for another long long ago, but not before the Phoenix took under their wing the indigenous race of Earth, the Ancients.
 
Earth, 872 AD (Arthurian era). The Ancients had almost left this galaxy and Earth was in the chaos of the dark ages. The Phoenix returned to check on Earth and what they had stored there, and found the race they had once helped in a sad state indeed. The last Ancient of Earth, an entity calling himself Merlin, begged the Phoenix for their help in bringing Earth out of this dark age. Being a race of good, they decided to help as they may, and gave to Merlin a gift. A genetic device of great power that Merlin named Excalibur. A human compatible with it was found, a young man by the name of Arthur Pendragon. He came to know Merlin as a tutor and advisor, and the Phoenix that gave him the item as the Lady of the Lake. The lake was the gate to Avalon quite literally, and Merlin helped Arthur build his castle of Camelot where he would be safe from all attack...through the gate in the galaxy the Phoenix called home.
 
All went well until a rival of Merlin's surfaced...the Goa'uld underlord known as Morganna. She seduced Arthur, bore him a son, and when that son was old enough, infected it with her true offspring, the Goa'uld known as Mordred. Mordred was reluctant to do his mother's wishes, but she eventually manipulated and convinced him to tell Arthur about the affair his queen was having, and to take Camelot from him as he pursued her. Upon Arthur's return the two fought and Arthur killed Mordred, but the son had already fatally wounded his father. Arthur had his final knight throw Excalibur back through the activated stargate and a funeral procession arrived to bear him away to Avalon.
 
But Mordred's tale does not end there. He was resurrected by the healing power Merlin possessed and reeducated. Merlin took a chance that Mordred would have some of his father's blood within him and secretly taught him about his mother's treachery. In the end, Morganna was forced to flee Earth, and left her son to conquer it in her absence. Merlin also left Earth through the stargate, asking Mordred to bury it forever and protect it. Mordred fastened a Naquadah coverstone on the gate and built it into a table to keep it hidden. He buried it with his sarcophagus and other Goa'uld artifacts, eschewing all trappings of power to wander the world. Knowing that power would corrupt him, he kept himself away from it all for centuries, returning only to rejuvenate himself and make sure the artifacts were undisturbed.
 
Earth, 2004 AD. Season 8, and Season 1 of Atlantis. An alien probe of unknown origin has emerged from the moon's surface and set up a geosynchronous orbit around a point in Brazil. What appears to be a weapon is pointed down at the Earth. Despite unimaginable defensive systems that shoot down anything that gets close, enough investigation is done of the ground site to realize that the weapon is an automated defense system in case the cave below is breached. It is counting down from four years, and it is set to destroy the planet.
 
Professor Simon Cade, Physicist, Linguist, and the greatest Arthurian expert in all of England (and the Goa'uld once known as Mordred) is climbing the Swiss Alps when his satellite phone rings. It is someone he had set up watching Coldpound, England, the town outside of his cave, for signs of disturbance. He is cut off, and returns to Coldpound to find a military installation erected over the site of his cave. He uses his secret identity to insinuate himself into the military project and meets with American air force officers who know entirely too much about his people and the gate they have seen in x-ray scans they have taken of the table. It appears the SGC got an email telling them to look here for clues to stopping the alien probe. The email's source was never revealed.
 
In desperation, he gets to his ribbon device and makes himself known to the intruders. He tells them some of what the stargate was here for and who he is, and says he will help them in exchange for his life. He is also the only person with record of the address once used to get to Avalon.
 
In Brazil, a startling discovery is made. A genetic key is found implanted inside a control pedestal with what looks like a slot for a key that looks suspiciously the same dimensions as a sword. Mordred theorizes that Excalibur was keyed genetically to Arthur, and that his genetic makeup would be needed to unlock the panel and possibly deactivate the probe. A six-month search results in finding the one genetic match from Arthur and Mordred's line that shares Arthur's genetic code. A 16 year old boy by the name of Jonah Randall.
 
Cast:
Colonel Cole - Tough no-nonsense marine Colonel brought into the SGC and currently in command of both Brazillian and England sites. 30's female. Pretty, but hard.
 
Mordred/Simon Cade - Goa'uld. Possibly mutated to not crave power as much. Currently in an agreement to help the SGC save the Earth, possibly to save the planet, more likely to save his own skin. Black hair, trenchcoat, highlander like appearance.
 
Dr. Aziz - American born in Israel. Anthropology, Culteral and Linguistic expert. Beautiful woman of mid-20's. Brought into the England site without knowledge of what she was getting into.
 
Jonah Randall - 16 year old adopted high school student pulled from his life by the CIA because he is a genetic match to Arthur Pendragon.
 
Other cast (whose names I can't remember):
Comm/pilot officer - Southern boy. Laid back easygoing manner. Member of the SGC. Doctor/Genetics expert - older Scottish beauty with long red hair. "Drafted" at the same time as Randall into the program.
 
Others to come.