c1anddsaddict wrote:
The contestants are all passengers on a shuttle to a densely populated planet, famous for being a transport hub (makes it open for wherever somebody wants to go, to fit in with their backstory).

However, on the way to this planet, they stop to refuel on an alien planet. The hand controlling this planet takes note, and soon, just after taking off, the ship is brought crashing down due to several inexplicable malfunctions.

The contestants find themselves trapped on a war-torn world, under the influence of a malevolent hand that enjoys creating strife. The contestants are faced with a choice: band together to survive, seek shelter from one of the many warring groups, or go it alone to survive until rescue arrives.

Feddlefew wrote:
Maybe "Shee collect samples of different creature populations to see how they're evolving, but something goes terribly wrong, leaving the creatures to fend for them selves on a ship filled with dangerous specimens."?

Mea wrote:
What did you have in mind for Survivor space?
* Misbehaving warp portals dragging creatures on & off the ship?
* An invasion of Banshee grendels or other dangerous creatures on an abandoned ship?
* Borg norns kidnapping various creatures to experiment on them & convert them to the Borghivemind & they have to escape & avoid capture?
* Curious creatures escaping their Hand's care & just getting loose on the ship?
* Demented hands or shee turning a ship into a potential death trap & dropping a pile of unwitting creatures into it to test see how dangerous the ship has actually become?
* An experiment from the shee labs has escaped & running amok on the ship & causing all sorts of trouble, & the contestants have to capture the experiment or fix the damage to the ship?

Grendel Man wrote:
The ship I keep imagining as an X-shaped thing that looks something like the Capillata. The legs of the X are terrariums - one is a Norn area, another is a Grendel area, and a third is an Ettin area. The final leg is a room analogous to the Workship as it's filled with warp portals, digital maps, etc.

What happened to the Shee piloting it takes off from Mea's malfunctioning warp portals. One day, they found an interesting planet and warped down to its surface...and never came back. When the contestants find it, the ship's still in good working order (thanks to the lack of atmospheric weathering) despite being abandoned.

The warp portal leading down the planet is still functioning, but it's turned off. The contestants have to find a way to turn it back on again.

As to what happened to the crew...I don't know. I'm leaning towards a natural disaster of some sort, similar to what happened to the Selenitic Age in Myst.