The journey through a wormhole has always carried a certain risk. Occasionally, a molecule will fail to unfold in the correct manner, or an electron will resurface with the wrong spin. Machines can be built to tolerate such inconsistencies; but for the organic vessels of the human mind, these effects are more precarious. Coupled with the traumatic disconnection from the rest of reality, and the peculiar effects on human perception that arise when the laws of space and time are openly mocked, most people exit from a spacetime portal as another person, quite literally.
Usually people can recover from these effects by going on a solid drinking binge, or by undergoing other more or less equivalent psychological treatments. But there is a minority who can never fully recover from the mental trauma, who have irrevocably entered unpredictable mind-states. Some are obsessively wondering if they remembered to turn off the gas back home, knowing full well that by the time they can ever return to find out, their apartment may well be inhabited by an altogether new species (evolved, perhaps, to enjoy the atmosphere). Some take up live action role-playing or cricket, claiming it's a world sport. Others acquire more severe personality disorders and become outright psychopaths. Collectively, these symptoms are known as the Spacetime Cognitive Unsettlement Malady. The term describing the symptoms is also used informally in reference to the people afflicted with them. You never know what to expect from SCUM, but if you want to leave the conventional space lanes and travel to the realms beyond, you must be prepared to encounter them.
As you may know, the western exit of wormhole #8 is famed for its Space Bar, where eccentric travelers from all corners of the galaxy meet to exchange stories and bodily fluids. Telling the SCUM from the ordinary nutcases can be particularly difficult in this environment. This was also the scene of a particularly nasty SCUM incident very recently. Like most of the early portals, WW8 is powered by a local neutron star, and on this fateful day, there was a starquake: a sudden release of pent-up stress in the rapidly spinning star's inflexible crust. The resulting and unexpected increase in angular momentum triggered a corresponding spike in power output, which overloaded the wormhole stabilizers. The failover energy sinks also failed to compensate, as they were out of order; apparently, some of the recently arrived maintenance crew were afflicted with SCUM. All spare parts (and some that strictly speaking couldn't be spared) had been appropriated to construct a giant space fair, featuring an asteroid-sized Ferris wheel. When the power surge hit, the Ferris wheel set a new speed record, but that was of little consolation to the thousands of spacefarers who disintegrated along with their ships as the wormhole lost stability and its radius dwindled to zero.
Only a few of the very smallest single-pilot ships escaped, propelled by a spacetime shock-wave like wind-surfers ejected from a tornado. Gathering along with the other survivors in the Space Bar for some much-needed post-traumatic stress treatment, they quickly realized that the situation was dire. They had to root out the SCUM before they stood any chance of repairing the spacetime portal and regaining contact with the rest of the uncivilized world. What's more, they were almost out of ice.
Usually people can recover from these effects by going on a solid drinking binge, or by undergoing other more or less equivalent psychological treatments. But there is a minority who can never fully recover from the mental trauma, who have irrevocably entered unpredictable mind-states. Some are obsessively wondering if they remembered to turn off the gas back home, knowing full well that by the time they can ever return to find out, their apartment may well be inhabited by an altogether new species (evolved, perhaps, to enjoy the atmosphere). Some take up live action role-playing or cricket, claiming it's a world sport. Others acquire more severe personality disorders and become outright psychopaths. Collectively, these symptoms are known as the Spacetime Cognitive Unsettlement Malady. The term describing the symptoms is also used informally in reference to the people afflicted with them. You never know what to expect from SCUM, but if you want to leave the conventional space lanes and travel to the realms beyond, you must be prepared to encounter them.
As you may know, the western exit of wormhole #8 is famed for its Space Bar, where eccentric travelers from all corners of the galaxy meet to exchange stories and bodily fluids. Telling the SCUM from the ordinary nutcases can be particularly difficult in this environment. This was also the scene of a particularly nasty SCUM incident very recently. Like most of the early portals, WW8 is powered by a local neutron star, and on this fateful day, there was a starquake: a sudden release of pent-up stress in the rapidly spinning star's inflexible crust. The resulting and unexpected increase in angular momentum triggered a corresponding spike in power output, which overloaded the wormhole stabilizers. The failover energy sinks also failed to compensate, as they were out of order; apparently, some of the recently arrived maintenance crew were afflicted with SCUM. All spare parts (and some that strictly speaking couldn't be spared) had been appropriated to construct a giant space fair, featuring an asteroid-sized Ferris wheel. When the power surge hit, the Ferris wheel set a new speed record, but that was of little consolation to the thousands of spacefarers who disintegrated along with their ships as the wormhole lost stability and its radius dwindled to zero.
Only a few of the very smallest single-pilot ships escaped, propelled by a spacetime shock-wave like wind-surfers ejected from a tornado. Gathering along with the other survivors in the Space Bar for some much-needed post-traumatic stress treatment, they quickly realized that the situation was dire. They had to root out the SCUM before they stood any chance of repairing the spacetime portal and regaining contact with the rest of the uncivilized world. What's more, they were almost out of ice.
If you know what I mean.
I won't be signing up for this game because I'll have to go afk for long periods of time and that is really bad for a game like this. My only real suggest is not to make any one serect role too powerful because to much chould depend on one person. 
