My table and I have been chewing through and enjoying the Dead Suns AP a lot since it came out, but they've mentioned interest in playing a homebrew next and taking on something with a more open feel. I'm into the notion too, so to facilitate it I've begun some work on savage ripoff of the Dark Sun setting into the Starfinder realm that I'm calling Burning Void.
Initially, an united galactic culture flourished with technology that rivaled the highest forms of magic. This place existed as a civilization that encompassed thousands of species and spread its reach across hundreds of stars. As the envelope of power and enlightenment challenged traditional thresholds of existential perception, barriers into unknown realms were shattered and god-like mystics arose within the spiritual connections.
The ascension of these eight powerful Mystic Lords soon led to the decimation of the galaxy surrounding the culture’s core words. As the Mystics grew their inconceivable power they consumed the majority of nearby matter to create ideal domains, molding surreal keeps modeled in their connection’s view of perfection. When finished, little else was left than a void thousands of light years across with a cluster of eight lonely stars near the center. The Akashic and Xeno Lords soon withdrew into their own personal obsessions while the Star and Devastator Lords continued to wage their own vastly different chaotic crusades against all who remained. The last frayed remnants of the prior civilization was reduced to a stalemate between the Empathic and Healing Lord’s followers and the Mindbreaker and Overlord cultists.
Strewn across the last eight stars, the wills of these eight Mystic Lords struggled within the confines of each other’s presence as both subtle espionage and outright occupation broke the last remaining threads of trust. All efforts were ultimately failing to decisively shift galactic control towards one of the Lords interests when the Devastator Lord completed the construction of his Technomantic Hypernovae. Since the explosion, the remaining seven star cluster has since been wreathed in the dust of the Mad Mystic’s Technomantic Radiation, which is commonly referred to as the Burning Void. The Healing and Devastator Lords were both declared dead and the Empathic Lord in hiding. The former armies of the Empathic and Healing Lords have begun to dissolve and lose their strength while the Mindbreaker and Overlord cults seize the opportunity to close their grip on the Lordless domains.
With the severing of spiritual boundaries some aspects of the former Universe mutated and magic now consumes matter when used (at the cost of x^x kgs where x = spell level). Due to its historical role, all public use of magic is heavily chastised. Rumors of evaporating structures, creatures, settlements, and even planets feed fervor among the common populace. Newly manufactured technology is extremely rare to find and free energy is almost never offered. When new functionality is needed, old technology must personally be recycled, modded, and combined. There is no galactic or even system wide networks of information, instead all computers are either existing completely isolated or as parts of small primitive networks. The majority of the populations are ignorant to wide swaths of history, science, and culture as few individuals often succeed in pilgrimages to the remaining database outposts. Radiation dust from the Devastator Lord’s Technomantic Hypernovae has spread across everything with the intent to end all life. Though the Devastator Cult's ultimate goal failed, it was successful in rendering all of the accessible material plane essentially inhabitable (almost everywhere is at minimum low radiation). All planar travel has been barred from the Material plane, how and by whom is an open mystery though Drift engines still function. At the onset of the galaxy’s destruction, some populations fled to the Drift and built what have since been named the Lost Colonies. They live protected from the Burning Void, but suffer erratically shorter lives due to a condition known as Drift Madness. Despite physically removing themselves from the Void and its war, the tensions and plots eventually followed into the Drift and have ensnared the Lost Colonies in the feud despite their best efforts.
The players would likely start in the contested binary star system and we'd just see what happened from there. I have write ups on the seven remaining star systems, each of the Mystic Lords with their followers, the new situations each species finds themselves in, and some other odds and ends, but thought I'd decrease the wall of content and get some overview feedback first. Hope you enjoy!
I'm always in favor of more homebrew than anything else. I tend to use modules as general guidelines or as something to throw into a campaign in progress.
Guided plays like the modules whilst fun, can also feel a bit stunted sometimes. I'd honestly like to hear more of your current idea.