The one that I'm developing is... a bit weird, I guess. It has tech, psi, and magic thrown in, as well as the usual array of bad guys, some of which were leftovers from the previous 'Big Crunch', which they initiated.
Humanity exists in the thousands of planets, but here's the catch. They're(or we're) just an experiment carried out years ago by an obscenely advanced civilization, the first ones, that decided to carry out an experiment in determinism and free will. They created(or modified) hundreds of almost identical galaxies, with almost identical solar system in one spiral arm, and almost identical Earths existing in the hundreds, each with preset patterns and off kilter(that is, when conditions become such that calculations are thrown off) sequences. Remember, the universe was a much smaller place several billion of years ago.
A good number of the powers decided that they deserved to rule over everybody else, influenced by the wicked remnents of a previous universe. Then there was a huge war, the experiment was ruined, and the remainign first ones decided to head for what they perceived as heaven after banishing the bad guys to a tesseract, which was made to be as uncomfortable as possible, with fiery lava lakes, hot weather etc. Sound familiar?
Other alien races(2nd gen) came after the first race, and they took what they could of the first race's technology(plus psi and magic) and adapted it for their own ends. They went for their own goals. Some strived to create the perfect species(remember SC?). Others sought to expand their knowledge(Remember Haydon?). Yet others isolated themselves, not giving a damn about the rest of the universe.
Meanwhile, the bad guys haven't been idle either. They managed to create gates out of their tesseract prison, and started going after the 2nd gen races. A huge war ensued, and while the 2nd gen races survived, their power was largely broken. The bad guys start building up their forces again, seeking to claim the universe completely. Talk about grandiose nightmares.
All the time this was going on, the earths were left to their own devices...
Some earths develop space flight and limited FTL. ST, BT, Starfire, the Tower.
Some don't, and stay stuck in the medieval age. Erde, Titan.
Some became known as other worlds(major changes in the ice ages). No examples I can think of, yet.
Others expand throughout the stars and conquer the galaxies they are in. Eg. Renegade Legion, SW, Culture, W40K.
Humanity, along with a great deal of other spacefaring races, are now the 3rd tier of universe civilization. Nobody knew of the great plan once set for humanity, and even the 2nd gen races(when they could be found), had only the slightest inkling of it.
And then my story starts on an insignificant Terran Galaxy, populated by warlike humans who walk around killing each other in huge bipedal walking machines, who had expanded only 3000 light years from their home planet. They are politically fragmented, but their centuries of war had toughened them, which would be useful.
Because the great enemy is approaching their worlds. Thankfully for these humans, the fleet they face is the weakest in terms of tech and numbers...
(Hey, I have to even the odds a bit!)
Tech levels aren't too obscene for much of the story yet. Definitely not Culture level for 3rd gen races, but certainly for 2nd gen races, which won't appear so early. Artificial FTL travel and communications, a mix of modes from different series. Intergalactic travel(later on) via conduit points ala Starfire, but without interpenetration. Normal space drives are mostly reaction based, except for the more advanced races, who use reactionless drives. Most of them on the link here.
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?stor ... &chapter=2
Weapons taken from the whole gamut of space opera genres, but planet killers(Superlaser, Temblor Bomb, Sun Crusher types) are rare.
As for my characters, most of them start out as normal humans(that is, they're pushovers, albeit highly and not so highly trained pushovers), but as events proceed, they would discover that their true origins are actually a bit more complicated, and that they would develop abilities and skills that could effectively make them gods. They would need those skills to fight off the enemy commanders, which are the fallen first ones. But it's a long journey to omnipotence, with no guarantees they can make it that far. Heck, most of them might even have problems getting through their OCS courses!
I've already finished the first book of my story on ff.net. It's set in a familiar universe(Battletech) first, and would then crossover to other galaxies in time. The setting I've set out here is just the backdrop, to be gradually revealed over the next few books.
The Nice Guy