From publisher blurb:
In the mid-21st century, the dream of faster-than-light travel was finally achieved. Suddenly the doorway to the stars was flung wide open. But the new frontier was colonized not as an organized, united effort -- it became a massive “land rush.” The Anisoi, debased descendants of a once-mighty empire laid low by a mysterious calamity, could only watch as the newcomers laid claim to stars they once strode like gods. Caravans, or “trains” of colony ships bring new inhabitants from Earth every year, but also bring the old afflictions of bigotry, greed, and xenophobia. Humanity’s future might not lie in whether worlds can be tamed, but whether human nature can.
Ad Astra is a campaign setting for 2D6-driven RPGs such as Cepheus Engine and the online Traveller SRD. It’s inspired by the original pitch for the World’s Most Famous Science Fiction Television Show (whose name rhymes with “car wreck”) to network executives, which was described as “wagon train to the stars.” Humans from Earth colonize a new interstellar frontier in caravans and colony ships reminiscent of the wagon trains of America’s Old West, encountering adventure, danger, and members of a once-powerful alien race all while dealing with their own flawed natures.