Shaan is a role-playing game by Igor Polushin, published and distributed by Halloween Concept in 1996.
The main theme of the game is the anti-colonial or class struggle, through the metaphor of a planet aggressively colonised by a militaristic, clerical and economically liberal humanity.
The game is presented from an extraterrestrial point of view, on a planet far from Earth, Héos, that is being colonised by humans. Although published fifteen years earlier, Shaan is reminiscent of James Cameron's Avatar.
Ten races live on Héos, seven of them native to the planet and three others from other planets.
The word "Shaan" comes from a state of mind described in the game, a result of non-thinking that enables us to live our daily lives in harmony with ourselves, and therefore with the universe. This attitude advocates harmony, encourages openness to others and calms the body, mind and spirit.
source: translation of the french wikipedia page
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaan
This book contains:
- PC creation: 10 races, 10 nations and their ecosystem, 10 cults
- World description: description of Héos and the different factions, including some of the secrets like the "Shaan"
- Core rules
This book does not contain a description of the different magic systems that occur on Héos, those are described in another book, "Le Livre des Schèmes"