Splintered Symmetry offers both a detailed and compelling setting in the main campaign and the freedom to create your own settings in a variety of genres. A key concept in the game is qi (pronounced "CHEE"), which comes in both positive and negative varieties. Positive qi is the power of life and light and creation and is naturally generated by healthy and flourishing living things. Negative qi is the power of death and darkness and is naturally generated by suffering and the decay of mortal life. In a cataclysmic event, half the Embodiments of Creation became divided and reality shattered into the splinters that make up the Reality Tree.
Each Splinter of reality has its own separate timeline, and each progresses along a unique path. This means there are an incredible variety of settings in which the game can take place, from medieval fantasy to alternative histories, from modern to cyberpunk to space opera. The main campaign takes place in an alternate version of our world in 2019, where the Shaolin monks introduced the world to magic twenty-two years ago. All was well until January 2010, when monsters started emerging during solar eclipses. The PCs are members of the elite MSWAT alpha team responding to magical threats.
