Story
Many plotlines revolve around the jobs Kaff Tagon and his mercenary crew have accepted, preferably involving as much brawn as necessary and as little brain as possible (although resident mad scientist Kevyn Andreyasn can pick up the slack if need be). Other times, the crew is swept up in a galaxy- or universe-spanning conflict.
In the distant future of Schlock Mercenary's setting, many changes have faced Terran society. Faster-than-light travel has been attained, alien races have been contacted, and technology has undergone radical improvements.
Alien species have varied from fairly humanoid to almost unrecognizable. There have been carbosilicate amorphs with no easily definable limbs or organs (the eponymous Sgt. Schlock), eight-limbed Gatekeepers, two-bodied Uklakk, and the unknowable Paan'uri, beings made of dark matter.
The number of sapient species descended from terran stock has increased as Earth's genetic engineers refined their craft. Enhanced chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, snakes and two species of sentient elephant now have citizenship. Genetic enhancement of the human population has resulted in the purple-skinned photosynthetic "Purps", along with more general improvements to the population.
Read more about this topic: Schlock Mercenary
Famous quotes containing the word story:
“A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“... if there’s a house, then there is a wall ... between them and the outside world. The ideal is to stay inside and to never have to go out, and the whole idea of staying home is really important. I think men do get out, but it is not glamorized the way it is here in America, where the big story is to ride out and go someplace and to travel.”
—Gish Jen (b. 1956)
“A bad short story or novel or poem leaves one comparatively calm because it does not exist, unless it gets a fake prestige through being mistaken for good work. It is essentially negative, it is something that has not come through. But over bad criticism one has a sense of real calamity.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)