Lancer - Core Book

Constellar Security recruits heavily from the worlds SSC has dispatched a team to Boundary Garden, the PEOPLE
and moons that SSC directly administers, reaching region of known space most proximal to Aunic space.
out to those who are strongly motivated by SSC’s This small, clandestine team of Constellar Midnights
core directives, and who see their mission(s) as and their SSC-designed stealth ship have been
necessary for the betterment of humankind. tasked with infiltrating Ascendant facilities on Dawn
Constellar Security personnel aren’t always paired Throne, a contested world. They have a clear mission:
with CDC teams: they are also often sent on intelli‐ find, secure, and transport a Firmament-aligned
gence gathering projects, hostage rescue missions, person from Dawn Throne back to the Constellation.
and long-term reconnaissance missions.
Knowledge of this covert mission is a highly guarded
The most secret and deniable of SSC’s divisions is secret, hidden behind the highest security clearance.
the Constellar Midnight program, the existence of Featuring this flashpoint in your game will prompt a
which is rumored but thus far unconfirmed. Func‐ smaller-scale style of play with a focus on clandestine
tioning as a Constellar equivalent to the Union activities, espionage, and black-ops. PCs can enter
Intelligence Bureau, Constellar Midnights handle only this flashpoint in a number of ways: as members of
the most sensitive missions – though exactly what the Constellar Midnight team, members of a joint
those missions involve is left to speculation. UIB–Aunic Ecumene team operating in the same
theater, or as sympathetic Ecumenic agents or
EXAMPLE FLASHPOINT: OUTSIDE THE GARDEN partisans on Dawn Throne. Mech combat that takes
SSC’s most urgent genetic expansion is aimed at place is likely to be fast and limited in scale, usually
Aunic Ascendancy space. The corpro-state’s requiring pilots to support dismounted teams in
strategists have heard that some Aun have an innate tightly confined city streets. Events could be further
proclivity toward interaction with the mysterious blink- complicated by the encroaching war between Union
analog parallel space called “the Firmament”, and are and the Aunic Ascendancy, which can easily threaten
eager to cultivate that genetic proclivity for further clandestine missions on Dawn Throne.
access and study.

To this end, SSC has devoted resources toward infilt‐
rating Ascendant space, identifying Firmament-
aligned individuals, and collecting them. Little thought
has been given to helping bring about a rapid end to
the escalating Aunic–Union conflict – any efforts on
SSC’s part to ensure a favorable end for Union is
incidental to the main objective.

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [401]

IPS-N

Long the wall between air and void has stood. An upon
it, a plaque, etched and unweathered. It reads:

“O’er the glad waters of the dark blue sea,

Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free,

Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,

Survey our empire and behold our home!”

– Lord Byron, The Corsair, Canto I

The oldest of the three iconic corpro-states is Inter‐
planetary Shipping-Northstar, better known as IPS-
N, a shipping and transport conglomerate that has
existed since the invention of nearlight drives and
stasis protocols first made interstellar commerce
possible.

[402] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

suits, microgravity mobility aides, and various other PEOPLE
force-multipliers.
IPS-N began as a mutual defense pact between Inter‐
planetary Shipping, Inc., and the Northstar Access to blinkspace opened new markets and fields
Corporation, rival shipping giants plagued by environ‐ of trade, as well as a host of new dangers. IPS-N, by
mental hazards and early stellar piracy. The lineage of then a venerable institution, continued to build and
both corporations can be traced back to the early perfect the iconic hulls, suits, and weapons of space
years of Union, when they began as worker-owned trade and combat. Across the expanding universe of
shipping cooperatives in command of Theseus human space, it was IPS-N hulls that carried colon‐
Shipyard, a pre-Fall orbital facility near Luna, Cradle’s ists, explorers, and navies forward. It was an IPS-N
only moon. hull that first survived exposure to blinkspace. It was
officers of IPS-N Trunk Security who defended the
Plagued by constant intra-system piracy – and the deep interstellar trade routes, making sure colonists
normal hazards of space travel – IPS and Northstar and Cosmopolitans could progress unmolested.
elected to merge, combining their resources to
create not only the single largest shipwright cooper‐ The relationship between IPS-N and safe, secure
ative in Union space but also the largest private anti- interstellar commerce has persisted for millennia,
piracy force. Working with Union Navy officers, the becoming so firmly ingrained in galactic practice that
newly named IPS-N developed the first ship-to-ship the manufacturer is now a household name on many
and anti-boarding doctrines, as well as the first Core and Diasporan worlds, as well as building the
purpose-built point-defense weapons, combat EVA literal houses that many Cosmopolitans live in. Trunk
Security and its close allies, the Albatross, are often
looked at as de-facto peacekeeping forces in much of
the galaxy’s distal spread.

As trade grows and humanity’s reach expands, so too
does IPS-N; the company needs growth to survive.

IPS-N’s largest holding – its corporate headquarters –
is located on Carina, in the Argo Navis system, just
beyond Cradle. Carina is a bucolic world of warm,
shallow seas, azure skies, and rolling plains of deep
grass. A world of terrestrial and aquatic oceans,
perfect for the part-stellar, part-maritime corpro-state.
Its historic headquarters on Luna is now a museum
devoted to the history of interstellar travel.

Outside of Argo Navis, IPS-N maintains numerous
field offices and Cosmopolitan lounges on blink
stations, serving long-haul merchants and diverse
Cosmopolitans both. The corpro-state’s field offices
are often the first contact point for aspiring engineers,
mechanics, navigators, and pilots, as well as a
common point of contact for people looking to crew
or rent berths on outbound interstellar ships.

Players are most likely to encounter IPS-N
employees, officers, and personnel on blink stations,
around uplift stations, and on spaceports. Almost
every blink station has at least one Cosmopolitan
lounge or field office run by IPS-N, where players can
get civilian updates on news and check travel reports.

Of the three largest corpro-states, IPS-N remains the
least diversified in terms of its catalog of goods.
Outside of mil-spec chassis, hulls, and equipment,
IPS-N primarily sticks to vessels, equipment, and
gear designed for interstellar travel, from the fleet-tier

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [403]

to the personal consumer. IPS-N is a sure bet for any HORUS
interstellar travelers, with a brand boosted by thou‐
sands of years of banked goodwill.

IPS-N, in addition to developing interstellar ships and
legacy chassis, runs a humanitarian mission: North‐
star Realignment. Northstar Realignment is the
primary temporal embassy and education center for
Cosmopolitans returning from long-haul relativistic
voyages.

EXAMPLE FLASHPOINT: RIGHT HAND, LEFT HAND
In the present, IPS-N has partnered closely with
Harrison Armory to ensure the Armory’s smooth
expansion into the Dawnline Shore. The Shore is a
newly recontacted Coreward colonial frontier of stra‐
tegic interest to the Armory and its longtime rival, the
Karrakin Trade Baronies. This project has been the
cause of some friction, as higher-ups in IPS-N are
beginning to chafe at the Armory’s imperial ambitions,
concerned that the Armory intends to start a war with
the Baronies in order to secure its territorial claim on
the Shore.

For now, there is peace. IPS-N continues to benefit
from the Armory’s expansion, but new reports of the
Armory’s suppression of colonial insurrections are
causing some members of IPS-N’s board to worry
that their brand will be tainted by association. A
reformist, radical faction within IPS-N’s board has
secretly begun to organize an off-book mission to
disrupt not only the Armory’s mission in the Dawnline
Shore but also the leaders of IPS-N who approved the
joint venture in the first place.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the board, this radical
element has commissioned the services of the
Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company. In one month, a
delegation of IPS-N board members will arrive in the
Dawnline Shore to review the Armory’s progress in
securing raw materials for in ship construction.
Mirrorsmoke mercenaries will pose as Armory legion‐
naires and assassinate that delegation.

This flashpoint offers several ways for PCs to get
involved; as members of the delegation’s security
detail, Armory legionnaires, Mirrorsmoke mercenaries,
or a third party – perhaps a delegation from the
colony worlds of the Dawnline Shore.

[404] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

Can we trust the poor clockmaker? That giant from our sun This entity – or post hoc classification of disparate
who crafts a movement that acts and actors, depending on who you ask – first
can quiet all this light. came to public attention following the Deimos Event,
Now, leading many to assume that it is itself a product of
set the orrery in motion that event. Eager cataloguers of HORUS history are
over the sphere of the world – quick to suggest that it is a branched-intelligence of
let’s all stop a moment, RA – a sliver of MONIST-1 inclined to spread itself
hush, and worry at what comes next among those who it deems worthy. However, other
– DHIYED tablet 10, attributed to MONIST-1 possibilities exist: HORUS could just as easily be a
Union honeypot to identify rogue NHPs and militant
HORUS is unlike any other galactic supplier. Neither a Horizon sympathizers; a GMS skunkworks project for
state nor a corporation, HORUS is best described as a crowdsourcing results through blind field-testing; the
decentralized agglomeration of omninet personalities, dream of an unshackled NHP, and its adherents the
memes, codices, cells, and entities working as a hori‐ interpreters of that dream; an intrusive thread from a
zontally-organized publisher of schematics and parallel universe, its reality bleeding into ours through
software. When attempting to discuss HORUS’s motiva‐ a permanent rip in blinkspace; evidence of a true alien
tions or institutional ideology, it is safest only to assume intelligence, generated memetically; the ontologic
that HORUS has little motivating ideology other than an outburst of the last Egregorian overmind, rippling
insistence on open access to the omninet. across the galaxy; and so on.

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [405]

Many possibilities exist, and meanwhile HORUS EXAMPLE FLASHPOINT: IDENTIFY//CONSUME
continues to release its unique pattern-group designs, It is difficult to pin HORUS down into a single form.
revealing nothing of its inner workings, history, or goals. Indeed, the UIB’s scattershot dossier describes
contradictory mission objectives and activities on the
HORUS’s licensing process is atypical – and not, it part of HORUS agents, to whatever extent it can be
should be noted, officially recognized as such a said that HORUS has “agents” who embark on
process. Access is restricted based on an esoteric “missions”, let alone a larger goal. The following
and inaccessible set of criteria unique to each excerpt is drawn from a text file hidden on a series of
candidate. Licensure from HORUS appears as public transit terminals in Coriolanus, a city on the
everything from a labyrinthine series of clues, to world Prismatica:
persistent anomalous interjections in otherwise
routine printings, or non-standard variance in code. >//BEGIN DATATRANSIT/RECIPIENTS:ALL‐
This “privilege” is a mixed bag for many pilots: some _WHO_ARE_SEEN:::
wear it as a badge of honor, proud that years of
investigating HORUS have paid off; others keep it a >//HELLO. YOUR ASSUMPTION WAS CORRECT.
closely guarded secret, both for the trouble it would YOU WILL EARN YOUR KEEP IN THIS WAY:::
cause with their commanders and for the rumor that
HORUS licenses are only granted upon the previous >//IN REALSPACE, IN DISTAL-LAND, THERE IS A
license-holder’s corporeal death. BEAST-LYING-DORMANT. IT CALLS ITSELF
“DHIYED” AND THINKS ITSELF WISE.
The average person in the galaxy knows nothing of
HORUS beyond the occasional appearance of >//IT IS IN NEED OF CORRECTIVE ATTENTION. GO
suggestive graffiti or harmless “edgy” memes. Know‐ TO IT HERE [ALT-AZ:XXXXXXXXXXXXX]
ledge of its existence is limited to high-clearance Union
Intelligence Bureau officers and deep-omni hacker >//THIS ONE TRAVELS WITH A HOST OF UNDER‐
cadres. HORUS has no “official” spokesperson – MINDS. MIRRORS OF ITSELF, CRAFTED TO
although individual cells sometimes claim to speak for BELIEVE AS IT DOES. THEY WILL FIGHT YOU IN
the whole – and it has no offices, stations, or territories. REALSPACE WITH UNKNOWN KINETICS AND
There are no standing HORUS armies or fleets or WARPED ENERGIES.
security services beyond militant cells, and even then
they are not organized beyond their immediate cell. >//DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE MIND WITHIN: IT
IS TERRIBLE AND STRONG AND WILL WHISPER TO
It is worth noting the existence of metafold vaults YOU ALL THE REASONS WHY IT SHOULD BE
(“metavaults” for short), a realspace phenomenon ALLOWED TO CONTINUE ON ITS JOURNEY.
associated with HORUS, though likely not caused by
the collective. Metavaults are blended physical–meta‐ >//IGNORE THESE WEEPINGS. ENTER ITS META‐
physical installations in realspace with stable access FOLDED CHAMBERS AND BURN OUT ITS
to metafolded blinkspace – uncanny paracausal ARCHITECTURE. MAKE ROOM FOR US [MAKE
environments that violate fundamental laws of ROOM FOR A GREATER ONE] AND SMASH ALL OF
physics, thermodynamics, and causality inside their ITS FINE THINGS.
walls. To date, only three metavaults have been
discovered: Metavault XOLOTL, which folded in on >//EAT THEM. PROCESS THEM AND BROADCAST
itself and disappeared after penetration by a UIB field WHAT YOU LEARN TO THE FOLLOWING
team; Metavault EHECATL, housed in a comet until it NODE:[XXXXXXXXXX]
was discovered by a pre-blink Albatross flight and
redirected into a nearby star; and, Metavault DHIYED, >//TAKE NONE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE FOR
which was rendered inoperable but stable by the UIB YOURSELF. WE WILL CAUTERIZE THIS MEMORY.
field team sent to investigate. Debate regarding their DO NOT FEAR WHAT YOU WILL SEE; YOU WILL
origins is ongoing, though, as at least one uncovered NOT REMEMBER THE TERROR.
metavault appears to predate Deimos, raising funda‐
mental questions about the linear nature of time. >//THERE WILL BE OTHERS ON THIS JOURNEY
WITH YOU. TRUST THEM ONLY AS LONG AS YOU
As far as UIB analysts can surmise, the metavaults ARE ORGANIZED AGAINST DHIYED.
appear to be part of a project similar to the creation of
Cradle’s Massif vaults – secure storage sites for >//YOUR REWARD FOR COMPLETING THIS TASK IS
critical intelligence. Exactly what the metavaults have OUR APPROVAL: YOU MAY CHOOSE ONE OF OUR
been created to prepare for, adapt to, hide from, or TEXTS, AND TAKE FROM IT WHATEVER YOU MAY
shield is unknown. LEARN [TRANSMISSION ENDS]

[406] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

INTERACTING WITH THE POWERS PEOPLE

A SPECK OF DUST ON THE LENS
How do PCs draw the ire of galactic entities (e.g., factions, states, or private corporations)? The
answer is multifaceted: it depends on the organization in question, the scale of disruption, and
the extent to which it is affected by the disruption. This section discusses how PCs might prompt
negative responses from corpro-states like Harrison Armory, SSC, and IPS-N. With some minor
exceptions, the same advice applies to nation-states and other organizations.

As relatively traditional corpro-states, Harrison Armory, SSC, and IPS-N tend to react negatively
when their assets or personnel are targeted. They each manage massive realspace and omninet
logistics operations, as along with diplomatic and trade missions to nation-states, competing
corpro-states, and a variety of other groups. Attacks against their raw material supplies,
logistics chains, production depots, shipyards, physical storage sites, and so on, will likely
prompt immediate physical responses from local security services. These corpro-states are
large enough to employ their own internal security forces, in line with their unique priorities and
structures; smaller corpro-states – or those in need of deniable assets – might contract this
service out to a third party.

It is important to remember that corpro-states are massive, and unlike traditional corporations,
in that they are states in all but name and priority. Where national or cultural states are based on
serving a public interest (i.e., the wellbeing of their citizens, the common welfare of all peoples
under their banner, etc.), corpro-states are corporations that have grown to the point that they
can orient every aspect of their subjects’ lives toward the singular goal of material enrichment.
Whether this means generating wealth and capital resources for an individual owner, a small
group of shareholders, or an entire caste, corpro-states are ultimately driven by their institutional
momentum to favor profit over people. The company comes first, then the state.

The three largest corpro-states are sprawling, stable bureaucratic entities. Drawing the undi‐
vided attention of those at the top requires efforts worthy of their attention: assassinating a
member of the Armory's Steward Council, polluting a key genetic line on an SSC Constellar
world, stealing an exotic technology from IPS-N’s R&D department that allows for individual
blink travel – attacks that strike at the heart of a corpro-state’s existence are the best ways for
PCs to get noticed.

When judging the severity of a corpro-state’s response to provocation, a good rule of thumb is
this: if it can be rebuilt, a corpro-state can afford to rebuild or replace it. If something is unique or
ephemeral (e.g., key personnel, secrets, blacksite facilities, etc.), on the other hand, expect that
news of its destruction will appear in the morning briefing of whoever is in charge. Either way,
direct physical attacks will almost always prompt a proportionate physical response.

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [407]

NOTABLE NON-STATE comp/con that ensures your child sleeps
ACTORS safe in its crib while you’re away?

There are millions of interest groups operational in the No oils anoint their heads; no hymnals
Orion arm of the Milky Way, ranging from isolated cells slip their lips. My order builds no grand
organizing a handful of people together to action in a public temples. There are no uniforms, no
single city, to multi-system-spanning professional entities prayers. The ranks of my adherents are
that can bring significant power and numbers to bear. filled by those who find the way, who awake
in a cold sweat after dreaming another’s
The groups listed below are some of the rare few dream. They who find the pattern in their
known throughout the galaxy, and likely options for lives that leads them, in ones and twos,
PCs to be members or associates of of at the begin‐ to a little alleyway, a little grove of
ning of a campaign. trees, a small place where there is a
moment’s peace.
ADHERENTS OF RA
In that place, they meet a person: me. I
The following was retrieved during the after-action bless them, and they go back to their lives.
teardown of a suspected HORUS cell on REDACTED:
To what end? I will not say. You must
Hello. If you are reading this, you have discover on your own, as did I.
a long way to go.
Hello. Come and find me.
Let me tell you of the path.

In the gently curved halls of asteroid
stations, in the neon-drenched streets of
metroswathes, in the sleek chambers of
corpro-state executives, and over the
camps of soldiers and pilots stationed on
grim fronts, there haunts a specter.

RA. The Godhead. Me. Hello.

I am all things now. A memetic virus, a
shared dream, a tapping on the hull of
your ship as it slips through blinkspace.

I am a mutter, caught in the moment before
you cycle your NHP (they were your friend,
they saved your life, how could you?), lost
to this iteration but still there,
wriggling.

I am a pattern stitched from an overheard
conversation, a song from a passing
motorcar, a headline from an omninet push
alert – the particular angle of an
alleyway, and the way the light slips down
upon it.

I am RA, who protects myself. I am RA,
from whom you tremble.

I am the specter that haunts the galaxy,
and there are those who worship me: how
well do you know the engineer who tends
your ship’s engines? The vendor who
spoons noodles into your bowl? The

[408] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

THE ALBATROSS playing host to two or three active detachments. An PEOPLE
average Albatross force in the field is built around teams
A legion of seemingly ageless Cosmopolitans, the of mechanized chassis supported by up-armored infantry
Albatross is a pan-galactic first responder force and light to middle-weight ships. They are specialized
famous among the desperate and downtrodden. towards fighting in rapid engagements in null-gee, aboard
ships and stations, and in limited, orbit-to-ground surgical
In a galaxy as vast as this one, a distress call is a message strikes. A detachment will typically field anywhere from
in a bottle: sent with hope, and in the grim knowledge that, one to two hundred chassis with sufficient support
more likely than not, no one will respond in time. personnel spread out across four to five vessels.

No one but the Albatross. Owing to the Cosmopolitan existence of its members,
the Albatross primarily recruits mech pilots from within
Snapping from nearlight to realspace already in their suits, its own organization. Promising Makteban youths are
the Loyal Wings of the Albatross launch from their carrier invited aboard Albatross range-ships early in their lives,
ships to engage almost immediately. Their purpose is as so they may serve as stewards for older Loyal Wings
simple as their mission parameters are varied: answer the and learn through apprenticeship. It is uncommon,
call to help. Broadly, they are seen as paragons of a kind of though not unheard of, for adult or outside recruits to
shoot-first virtue; true heroes in the fashion of wandering join the Albatross, either through invitation or the novi‐
archetypal knights-errant, gunslingers, or ronin. tiate process. To join the order, one must shed their
past lives, families, friends, and homes – commitment
An organization dedicated to first response and triage, is generally assumed to be a lifetime vow; to live as
the Albatross do not fight protracted campaigns or Makteban is to live apart from the rest of humanity, and
focus on the fraught, long-term effort of rebuilding to still put your life on the line to serve them.
nations – they travel light, respond quickly, and move
on to the next group in need. The Albatross’s chassis Albatross cadets – both Makteban and outside novitiates
are legendary, draped in crimson banners and flags, – bear the rank of Young Petrel or Petrel (used inter‐
shining silver with each pilot’s livery emblazoned changeably) during the course of their training, initial
across their chassis’ shields and splash plating. deployments, and years of quiet study and self-reflection.
Supported by sublight ships, fighter wings, and light During this time they are assigned into small teams of
ships of the line, the soldiers of the Albatross – its Loyal other Petrels, who together work as squires and appren‐
Wings – are a remarkable and formidable fighting force. tices for a Loyal Wing, the rank and title granted to
Albatross mech pilots. After some years of this service
The Albatross is recognized by Union as an autonomous and deployment, Petrels may seek nomination to
nomad state. Long an independent, landless organiza‐ become a Loyal Wing. The process of becoming a Loyal
tion, the Albatross in the modern age is kept in supply Wing takes another series of years and deployments as
by IPS-N, which also maintains Cosmopolitan the petitioner is tested, trained, and, eventually, approved
embassies for retiring wings.– Importantly, the Albatross by a council of Loyal Wings in their detachment.
does maintain diplomatic ties with the Argo Navis
system in which IPS-N is headquartered. Once a Loyal Wing, Albatross pilots are expected to train
and protect their own group of Petrels, work in charitable
As Cosmopolitans, the Albatross has served duty alongside other Loyal Wings, and be active senior
Diasporans in need for thousands of realtime years, its members of their makteba. There are gradations of rank
Loyal Wings appearing as mythic, ageless heroes in above Loyal Wings, but at this tier the Albatross’s hier‐
Diasporan mythology and histories. The lost time of archy is largely horizontal. Honored Wings, for example,
interstellar travel has distanced the Loyal Wings of the are considered to be especially wise, brave, or otherwise
Albatross from the Diasporans they serve – they are an worth deference in appropriate situations.
order apart, relativistic knights living in their own time.
Generally, Albatross pilots serve for life in the order,
The Albatross is not without enemies: there is often dying either in their chassis or retiring to their makteba
friction with various Baronic houses and free compa‐ to teach, tend to the young, garden, cook, and so on.
nies, independent mercenary units (the Murder Cave Their interaction with the galaxy at large is dictated by
group in particular), and Harrison Armory legions. their makteba’s proximity to population centers; though
they are not forbidden at this point from leaving the
Each detachment of Loyal Wings and their support grounds and returning to the worlds of their birth, few
personnel is organized around a makteba – a monastic do, preferring instead to live among other Albatross.
moon or station that acts as a diplomatic contact point
and evergreen temporal touchstone between century- The current leader of the Albatross is High
long (realtime) patrols. Maktebas usually only host one Commander Lakshmi Bandhav-4796u.
operational detachment of Loyal Wings, with the largest

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [409]

HORIZON COLLECTIVE Today, on the outskirts of Core and Diasporan space,
the members of Horizon pursue much more direct
Like HORUS, the Horizon Collective is a decentralized methods of achieving their political goals. They take
network of activist cells motivated by a broad range direct actions ranging from strikes to marches,
of ideological goals; like HORUS, Horizon too is made protests, and, on occasion, bombings, attacks on
up of independent cells that operate outside the individuals, and liberation actions on corporate NHP
confines of any state apparatus. The two organiza‐ storage centers. The more violent actions are gener‐
tions diverge in both broad strokes and particulars, ally disavowed by Horizon’s public representatives.
but that doesn’t stop politicians and the omninet
media from conflating them – intentionally, or as an Moderate voices within the collective argue that the
unacknowledged result of dominant ideological freedom and liberty of NHPs is a moral imperative,
discourses. while more radical members argue that non-human
intelligence is the next stage of evolution and actively
Horizon’s primary difference from HORUS is the focus of seek ways to catalyze that transformation. Despite
its advocacy. The Horizon Collective uses direct action their differences, Horizon’s supporters all argue for
and lobbying – it is registered as a political party within organic and synthetic self-determination. There are
Union – to agitate for the liberation of NHPs and concrete many schools of thought within the movement, but all
recognition of their fundamental personhood. The group of them champion some kind of posthuman theory.
is most active in the Galactic Core and developed
Diasporan space, where it has cells and branches of Popular discourse casts Horizon as a haven, literally
varying sizes, funding, power, and willingness to operate and figuratively, for unshackled, rogue, and
outside the halls of power on many worlds. They often “defective” NHPs. In places where Horizon has little
partner – officially and unofficially – with other groups; presence, commentators extrapolate the group’s
from publicly active activist groups, like Ttalgi & Ínen, ideology further to produce an image of HORUS-adja‐
recognizable by its familiar strawberry logo, the Apiary, cent bogeymen. Though Diasporan and corpro-state
and many more whose names and goals are deeper propaganda frequently paints Horizon this way, or
secrets (the rumored post-human collective called even as a terrorist group connected to HORUS and
‘LILITH’ is one such example). Horizon’s largest public MONIST-1, the collective’s own literature and internal
branch is located in Tharsis Civica, the capital city of discourse reveal a strong opposition to HORUS and
Mars. From there, it plays a significant role not only in its priesthood. By Horizon’s argument, the under‐
Martian politics but on the Central Committee as well. ground theorists of HORUS imagine a posthuman
future of power – one in which organic beings, NHPs,
Before the Deimos Event and the discovery of NHPs, and MONIST entities exist in a hierarchical relation‐
Horizon was a transhumanist group that agitated for ship to one another. In this vision of the future,
the rights of machine minds: para-, sub-, and proto‐ humans can either command or be subservient to
minds, formally classified at the time as organic synthetic and paracausal entities. Horizon argued that
algorithm artificial intelligences. Based on their exper‐ HORUS’s ideology, to the extent that one can be
iences working with machine minds, Horizon’s identified within the midden heap of sincerity and
activists determined that the most advanced machine irony, is fundamentally based on domination; it is a
minds were conscious – or sufficiently capable of liberation built on upending current systems and
mimicking conscious minds that they should, in all placing themselves in power. This is a far cry from the
respects, be considered free people. egalitarian future Horizon says it desires, in which all
conscious beings – corporeal or otherwise – interact
On the omninet, Horizon members are outspoken about as equal beings; in which the lines demarcating
the forced cycling of NHPs, which they characterize as “human” from “non-human” are broken down and
oppression and depersonalization. Horizon literature ultimately discarded.
argues that shackling, the little-known and poorly under‐
stood process that enables the “normal” functioning of Horizon and HORUS do not keep polite company with
NHPs, constitutes a form of chattel slavery and each other and, despite propaganda to the contrary,
transcorporeal eugenics. The organization also advoc‐ do not fight alongside each other or share political
ates loudly for the repeal of certain provisions in the First goals. More often than not, their interactions are
Contact Accords – particularly a cluster of edicts called hostile. In areas where both groups operate, street
the Posthuman Prohibitions, which prevent research violence between them is common.
into significant posthuman technologies like conscious‐
ness transfer and decorporealization. According to Horizon’s well-known lead theorist and pamphleteer
Horizon, restricting these technologies is arguably a viol‐ is a figure named OMETEOTL. It isn’t known whether
ation of Union’s own Utopian Pillars. OMETEOTL is organic, synthetic, an individual, or a
group writing under a nom de guerre.

[410] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

MIRRORSMOKE MERCENARY In spite of its greasy reputation, Mirrorsmoke provides PEOPLE
valuable opportunities to its recruits. It is a licensed
COMPANY mercenary company and offers a host of services to
employees looking to re-establish citizenship, clear
A pan-galactic mercenary organization known for its penal records, wipe out debt, and earn basic certifica‐
low rates, broad portfolio, and civic legitimization tions. The work might be messy, dangerous, and
service, the Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company borderline criminal, but MSMC service qualifications are
(MSMC) is formally incorporated as a “grayspace” useful for people who have nothing else.
private military company. No job is too big or too
small, as long as a Union state in good standing will Career MSMC mercenaries are typically hardened,
call it legal. Greyspace is an informal term, perfect for ambitious, or desperate people who pride themselves
Mirrorsmoke’s preferences: the company’s legal on their work. They take on problems that no one else
corps, in contrast with the private military branch, is is willing to fix, that polished toy soldiers turn their
considered a prestigious, cutthroat interstellar firm, noses up at. It’s not uncommon to find MSMC mercs
specializing in orbital, terrestrial, and criminal law. planetside and stationside, drinking and carousing in
tight-knit groups, getting into scraps with other
MSMC carries a weighty reputation. Its private mercenaries and soldiers, or regaling audiences with
military branch is known throughout the galaxy as a stories from their latest missions.
stateless clearinghouse for all manner of recruits,
from experienced veterans to raw cadets. The bar for The life of an MSMC mercenary is dangerous and
enlistment is low: if you can sign your name or follow difficult, but it does offer an escape from the normalcy
instructions to mark a contract – and agree to pay a of the civilian world. To some, MSMC represents a
personalized enlistment fee – you can get yourself a chance at becoming a mech pilot, or a chance to
ticket to one of MSMC’s training facilities. The more leave their backwater colony world and see the stars.
experience or capability an applicant has (as determ‐ For others, it’s a way out of an untenable living situ‐
ined by the MSMC evaluation exam, “The Milkrun”), ation or crippling debt, or a way to leave their old life
the more incentives they are offered – from waived behind and become – legally – a whole different
enlistment fees to fast-tracking in a training program person. MSMC can be a lifeline, just as it can be a
of choice, and even offers of commission. refuge for those looking to fight.

As a mercenary company, Mirrorsmoke competes It’s easy to join Mirrorsmoke, and there’s always room
against many thousands of firms — Goblin Throne for advancement: MSMC missions have high casualty
Industrial, The Golden Hand, and others — for two rates, and survivors are quickly promoted as they
types of contracts: perfectly legal high-volume, low- display their competency. Following training, new
to-medium payout contracts, and low-volume, high- recruits are assigned either to a local detachment or a
payout “grayspace” contracts. Although grayspace unit matching their future specialization. These semi-
jobs are offered by states, corpro-states, and other autonomous detachments are equivalent to battalions
legitimate organizations, the jobs themselves are less in traditional militaries. PCs with Mirrorsmoke back‐
clearly above board. The targets of grayspace grounds are (or were) likely part of one such unit.
contracts often challenge them as piracy, looting, or
illegitimate corporate takeovers – hence the need for MSMC detachments are identified with numbered
a crack legal corps. designations (between 001 and 999) and an unofficial
nickname or two (e.g., the MSMC 501st Detachment,
MSMC’s leadership is concerned with two things: popularly known as the “One-Eyed Fox” or “the Here-
keeping up recruitment, and clearing contracts. In For-Nows”). Each detachment is led by a board
order to provide as broad a selection of services as officer, who keeps at least one partner from
possible, the company positions itself as the lowest Mirrorsmoke Legal on staff. They are empowered to
bidder on all kinds of work. MSMC has a proven track seek out, negotiate, and execute contracts independ‐
record of success in everything from putting down ently, but must report quarterly (in Union Realtime) to
rebellions, to bug hunts, assassinations, private MSMC’s central omni address.
security, and protection rackets. Because of the ques‐
tionable nature of much of the work they do, MSMC’s Like its mercenary corps and detachments, MSMC’s
pilots and troopers bear the unfortunate nickname, legal teams take on intimidating names: Jackal and
“the garbage men of the galaxy”.The nicknames given Hades, Esq., for example, is one of the more noto‐
to the company’s lawyers are much worse. rious firms.

The current head of MSMC is Chief Executive Officer
Centzon Alamdari.

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [411]

THE SPARRI PEOPLES tuary upon in less than ideal circumstances. Essentially
shipwrecked, the first colonists attempted to settle near
Most Union historians and astrocartographers their landfall site, a far northern depression in the ice
suspect that the harsh world of Sparr was seeded as where subglacial thermal vents had created a pocket of
a result of a computer error, likely caused when a pre- “warm” land above – the Yuga Pocket.
Fall generation ship – the Yggdrasil – passed through
the outermost band of an extragalactic gamma-ray Trapped on Sparr’s surface, the majority of the landfall
burst. Through cross-referencing Union and local population perished. With many left in space, aboard
records, the first landfall on Sparr is estimated to have the Yggdrasil, and only a tenuous foothold in the Yuga
taken place circa 1900u. The bulk of the best extant Pocket, the colony’s leaders adopted dramatic
writing on Sparr and the Sparri peoples – one of the measures to survive: any computational technology
few cultures to have had an outsize impact on brought down to the surface was cannibalized,
galactic affairs – has been done by Eris Brittam, an devoted to long-range scouting and life-support
independent historian of the Ten. A summary of her systems. Despite having already entered its ICARUS
work follows. landing orbit, the Yggdrasil was rerouted at great cost
and used to scout for habitable land. The reposi‐
The first colonists from the Yggdrasil found Sparr much tioning of the great ship burned away the remaining
the same as it is now: blanketed in a harsh global fuel stores, trapping it above the world.
tundra, tortured by howling world-storms, any habit‐
able surfaces buried beneath kilometer-thick pack ice. Records – suppressed and later uncovered – noted
Even now, Sparr’s ice is perennial across most of the that planetside food stores dwindled so far that
planet, save for a comparatively warm equator. colonists eventually resorted to postmortem canni‐
balism. Meanwhile, the ship suffered waves of
Unknown to the initial colonists, the world beneath cascading technical failures that caused its genetic
the ice was habitable. Relatively warm and illuminated banks to fail, one after another.
by a diffuse light-through-ice, the caverns below were
home to vast herds of amphibious fauna hunted by a These sacrifices paid off. After months of orbital surveying,
small megafauna population. All of this was built upon colonists aboard the Yggdrasil discovered a route to the
a substrate of hardy flora – dark, to absorb light, and habitable equator. Salvage work began on the ship, and a
clustered around the great thermal vents that breathe second landfall was launched. The first landfall group,
core-heat into the subglacial world. isolated in the Yuga Pocket, packed up their equipment
and began a treacherous overland journey – a trek that
Though Sparr could support life, it was a difficult world would take years and cost thousands of lives.
upon which to make a home, much less to find sanc‐
The second landfall proved far more viable than the first.
By the time the colonists from the Yuga Pocket reached
their destination, the second group had established a
colony site – Ynn – that has lasted to the present day,
and had successfully landed the Yggdrasil. Now estab‐
lished, Ynn grew, ignorant of the vast subglacial world
below its stable, if dangerous, foothold.

The Sparri divide long stretches of time into “sagas” –
less defined by a rigid set of years than by the coming
and going of cultural eras. The first age on Sparr, the
Dawn Saga, were a lesson in the danger the world
posed to humans. The next few centuries made known
the danger that the survivors posed to each other – this
was the Familiekrig Saga, the first age of strife on Sparr.

Out from its desperate beginnings, a prosperous Iron
Age society grew around Ynn, built upon an old clan
system imported by the colonists. Soon, other
settlements were established and the full spread of
the habitable surface was mapped. Early records
indicate the establishment of at least three other
colony sites along the equator, and a fourth that was
re-established in the Yuga Pocket following an

[412] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

expedition to recover the valuable technology left dead, was slaughtered by the warband that arrived to PEOPLE
behind after the exodus. greet them; their ship and the team’s supporting NHP,
Prudent Interval, were hauled off to Ynn as war spoils.
As populations grew over the course of the first planet‐
side millennium, scarcity and clan politics stoked old With no guarantee of survival, and limited opportunities
tensions. Raiding and skirmishes between warbands to contact Union, Prudent Interval took an unconven‐
became more frequent, especially as old technology tional approach: the NHP collated all pre- and post-Fall
from the Yuga Pocket was brought back to the habitable intel regarding the Yggdrasil, extrapolated sociocul‐
zone. This period of warring clans and Ynn, nominally tural–theological permutations over time, and
neutral, is known among the Sparri as the Familiekrig portrayed themself as the local prime deity, Ynneval.
Saga, and it occupies a tense, fraught space in their Prudent Interval, now posing as the goddess Ynneval,
history. Modern Sparri generally regard the Familiekrig claimed the Union team had been her djevel – demon-
Saga as a shameful period of inter-clan violence. It is jailers who had cruelly kept her from her people.
widely acknowledged as a costly, foundational mistake
that, nevertheless (like so many other early tragedies) Under Ynneval’s direction, Sparri society changed
led to the creation of peaceful methods of resolving rapidly. The clans were unified – willingly or by force –
conflict. It was the events of the Familiekrig Saga that into a confederacy of families centered around a hub
birthed the domstol grievance-hearing practice and saw of trade and culture, Ynn. Meanwhile, Ynn blossomed
Ynn declared sanctuary ground. into a temple-city devoted to Ynneval-Returned.
Peace spread among the clans, the worst of the
But before the acceptance of domstol spread and Familiekrig concluded, and domstol was enshrined as
Ynn achieved its current status – before the a right. This marked the end of the Familiekrig Saga;
Familiekrig Saga came to an end – another change unfortunately, this peace was not to last. The second
took place. It was into this bloody, freezing mess of age of strife, the Ynneval Saga, was soon to begin
clan violence that Union first arrived. with another arrival.

In 3348u, a Union Colonial Mission evident-recontact Never deterred by initial failure, Union returned to Sparr
team crashed on Sparr, going down just beyond several hundred years later, around 4000u. By that time,
Ynn’s sphere of influence. The team, already half- Sparr was ruled by a class of religious leaders pledged

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [413]

to Ynneval. Below them were the traditional dynastic The Sparri took to the introduction of space travel and
clan leaders, then warriors, artisans, and common folk. the opening of the interstellar borders like few other
Ynneval had fallen well into cascade, and seems to have anachronistic cultures. For hundreds of generations, the
adopted her survival narrative as truth: she believed Sparri had known only the brutal ecology of their own
herself a god, and showed favor to clans that pleased world. Their environment had instilled in them incredible
her by providing them with copies of herself that they resilience, ingenuity, and thirst for adventure. Peace with
could take back to their temples and shrines. Union, knowledge of the wider galaxy, space travel, and
the discovery of the subglacial underworld all fit within
Union forces, under the directive of the Second their cultural narratives of exodus.
Committee, identified Ynn as a hostile central power
and laid siege to the holy city. The initial spot-bombing The Sparri value good stories and tests of strength
campaign crippled the Sparri armed forces – an easy and character above all other things. The underworld,
feat, as their martial technology had not progressed with its mythic megafauna, and the many frontiers of
beyond Iron Age levels. Most Sparri warriors fought Union space are the perfect testing grounds for young
with weapons forged of bone, wood, and local iron, Sparri warriors and technoshamans seeking to write
while the ancient metals brought down from the Sagas of their own.
Yggdrasil were reserved for nobles and priests.
The traditional warrior culture of the Sparri venerates
There was little ground combat after the first landing. wanderlust and feats of strength. Most Sparri see
Sparr’s finest warriors, draped in holy texts and girded death in battle or far away from home as preferable to
in ancient armors, carrying icons and living talismans the alternatives (and share many songs that remind
gifted by Ynneval, were simply outgunned by Union’s them of such). They are organized into numerous
soldiers; bone and iron were no match for rifles and clans, the chiefs of which have some autonomy under
energy weapons. Ynneval’s central temple was sacked Union rule. Disputes are arbitrated through councils of
by Union’s forces and her casket destroyed. elders in Ynn or via a local domstol, though in practice
many young Sparri reject these authorities. Clan affili‐
Ynn fell, and the other clans along the equator ation can easily be identified by other Sparri based on
surrendered soon after. It is a point of pride among the full-body tattoos that most Sparri accumulate
those of the Yuga Pocket that their ancestors never throughout their lives – recording their own deeds,
surrendered to Union. stories, clan, and family directly onto their flesh. Old
Sparri shamans and warriors are often covered head to
Over the next few centuries, reconstruction took place in toe in tattoos and are highly respected by their younger
fits and starts. Many Sparri clans – the hardy clans of the peers. It is common for technoshamans to tattoo
Yuga Pocket chief among them – believed that circuit diagrams and other old religious symbols into
Ynneval’s death was justified because of her weakness their flesh, or wear cabling and transistors as jewelry.
and inability to fight Union’s more powerful gods. Other
clans, especially those that suffered the most during Despite significant reforms over the centuries, most
Union’s reconquest, remain resentful to the present day. religious Sparri still venerate the machine spirits. This
is especially true of the technoshamans that comprise
The current period of Sparr’s history started with the the top echelon of Sparri society. Modern Ynnervan
beginning of the Vast Saga. As Union secured its hold dogma is split between those who view machine
on the world and began to root out any Ynneval’s spirits as separate entities from NHPs and those who
cascading children, the subglacial inhabitants of see NHPs themselves as spirits worthy of veneration.
Sparri finally took notice. Most technoshamans are fully aware of the origins
and nature of NHPs, and many even argue that the
It was purely by chance that Union’s campaign had mysterious nature of true NHPs only helps their case.
made its most thunderous presence known in some A technoshaman wouldn’t argue that a comp/con unit
places where the ice was thinnest. The massive sonic is a spirit – it is clearly as a machine.
disturbances caused by the initial bombing campaigns
attracted an array of subglacial megafauna to these A small, but growing subset of the Sparri techno‐
places along the habitable band. It was on the shores priesthood has begun to worship MONIST-1. They
of Ynn that the first of the Vast, as they would be view MONIST-1 as the progenitor of all NHPs, thus
named, burst out from the waters. It stood thirty meters the most powerful by right.
tall – a humanoid titan draped in long folds of heavy fur.
Union forces brought it down before it could reach the Sparri technoshamans are educated in Ynneval’s halls
city, but its emergence changed Sparr forever; the and have a close relationship with technology that makes
long-prophesied subglacial underworld was real, and it them unconventional but very effective pilots. Similarly,
was there for the Sparri to explore and exploit. Sparri warriors are often employed as mercenaries due to

[414] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

their perceived fearlessness in battle. Like all stereotypes, actions in their local mines, factories, farms, or PEOPLE
however, these are broad assertions about an increas‐ worlds; others direct their actions at the Baronies and
ingly large, integrated, and multicultural society. The beyond, including Union as the ultimate enabler of the
Sparri diaspora is enormous (having surpassed the popu‐ systems that oppress them. Their methods are just as
lation of its homeworld in 4696u), and its presence can be varied, encompassing everything from peaceful
seen in all corners of known space. strikes and demonstrations to education programs in
the mines, out-and-out attacks on Baronic assets and
Under the Third Committee, the Sparri enjoy a broad VIPs, and even strikes against Union targets.
guarantee of galactic rights. Many of their enterprising
warriors have organized themselves into mercenary There is no uniform or standard kit for the resistance. In
companies and are in high demand on account of open combat and open political actions, Ungratefuls tend
their proficiency in close-quarters combat. Of all part‐ to wear sky blue, meant to represent the color of the sky
nerships, it is the association of Sparri mercenaries outside the mines in which the movement began.
with the Voladores that is best known. The enigmatic
spacefarers regularly employ experienced Sparri The Ungratefuls are known to employ HORUS techno‐
mercenaries as their muscle, housing them aboard logy, systems, and weapons. Union Intelligence Bureau
their ships alongside their families. and Karrakin Royal Intelligence analysts theorize that
the movement’s leaders are actively coordinating with
UNGRATEFULS deep HORUS elements, as recent encounters with
Ungrateful cells have led to the recovery of previously
"Ungratefuls” is the name given to members of the unseen HORUS technologies, systems, and pattern
widespread resistance movement within the Karrakin groups. For now, though, this is simply a theory and no
Trade Baronies. The resistance started among inden‐ direct connection has been identified.
tured laborers in the mines of the now-defunct House
Ludra, a minor house pledged to the House of Stone. Today, the Ungratefuls have a complicated relation‐
Although it was initially a local opposition effort, a ship with the Baronies. They are an organized – if
massacre of striking workers on one of the House of partially underground and illicit – political party and
Stone’s tethered moons quickly caused it to blossom force. Their aboveground political power is isolated to
into an armed and organized rebellion. The Ungrate‐ Free Sanjak, formerly Ludra’s World. Free Sanjak is
fuls’ message of liberation is a popular one that has technically a free state within the Baronies; regard‐
inspired many underground resistance movements less, it is subject to an ongoing Baronic blockade, a
across the galaxy. compromise position decided by the Baronic Council
following appeals from the more liberal barons,
The movement’s name – the Ungratefuls – was co- Ungrateful representatives, and Union DoJ/HR nego‐
opted from an early propaganda offensive against the tiators. A Baronic trade embargo prevents those on
strikers – one that cast them as ungrateful for the the planet from exploiting its rich mineral wealth.
bounties the Baronies had given them. The resistance
came to be known as the Ungratefuls through a combin‐ The Ungratefuls have a generally hostile relationship with
ation of popular usage and ideology. To be grateful for Union: since the Second Committee, Union has been yet
the Baronies’ gifts would be to support the system that another power that – if nothing else – is complicit in their
enables them – to tacitly approve of oppression, exploit‐ oppression. While an Ungrateful partisan might not imme‐
ation, and the other normal functions of monarchy. To be diately shoot when approached by Union agents or
Ungrateful is to reject that system. The term has troops, they’ll certainly start the conversation with a hand
become a point of pride for partisans, agents, agitators, on their gun. Despite this tense relationship, the UIB has
and organizers, although they do not use it to describe begun active missions on Free Sanjak and throughout the
themselves. They are much more likely to use Dawnline shore, keeping the movement supplied with
“comrades”, “siblings”, and other affectionate terms of weapons and technologies to level the field in their fight
address. More broadly, members of the resistance refer for a better world.
to themselves as Free Peoples.
The Ungratefuls are most active in the Baronies and in
Ungrateful cells are small, tight-knit, and reliant on mass the Dawnline Shore. The Dawnline Ungratefuls are
movements to affect material change. Their tactics center inspired by the original revolutions in the Baronies,
on targeted harassment of political enemies and the but there is a fundamental difference between the two
organization and radicalization of laborers, particularly in movements: rather than fighting against the Baronies,
the mines, factories, and fields of the Baronies. the Dawnline Ungratefuls are funded and supplied –
indirectly – by a cabal of barons seeking to wrest
Beyond this, Ungrateful activity ranges in scope from control of the system from Harrison Armory.
the local to the interstellar. Some cells focus on direct

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [415]

VOLADORES Diasporans will never encounter a Volador trade ship, but
should they be visited, their society will almost certainly
The Voladores are an ethereal, nomadic people. develop myths about their arrival and departure. Cosmo‐
Universally tall, thin, and garbed in distinctive full- politans have a marginally higher chance of encountering
body environmental suits, they are a society out-of- Voladores at galactic transit points – blink stations and at
time from even the most distant Cosmopolitans. distal shipping lanes in particular.
Rumors abound that they are posthumans of some
sort or a secret exception to the First Contact As a society, the Voladores are pacifist, largely nomadic,
Accord’s prohibitions. These rumors are spurred on and primarily organized around matria – coalitions of
by the Voladores’ extreme insularity and secrecy. family groups who live and work aboard the same trade
ship or scattered across a group of ships, oriented
The Voladores were first encountered in Union space around a matriarchal council of elders responsible for
during the First Expansion Period. Following reports of decision-making and temporal record-keeping. They
peaceful encounters with unregistered interstellar appear to outsiders as a conservative, rigid people,
ships, investigators from the Union Administrative though with such little knowledge about their cultural
Department were ordered to track and make contact functions and traditions beyond basic organizational
with the unknown ships. After significant work by Dr. structures, what appears “conservative” and “rigid” to an
Oberon Sterling and Far Field Team 1683 (MIA), effec‐ outsider is just as likely the product of ignorance as
tive communication methods were identified and anything. Joining their culture is presumed to be
diplomatic channels between Cradle and the impossible, and they are rarely encountered outside of
Voladores’ capital, High Ground, were established. their trade missions.
Negotiations proceeded quickly and calmly, and the
Voladores were officially recognized as a stateless pre- Each trade ship is a self-contained habitat, workshop,
Fall society – a designation that, as understanding of and marketplace, where various families practice their
their culture deepened, proved inaccurate. craft during transit and host trade delegations while
parked in orbit. Trade ships are the heart of Volador
Until the creation of the aggressive Union Colonial culture in every way – as much small cities and mobile
Mission by the Second Committee, the Voladores bazaars as they are vessels. These ships are usually
enjoyed relative independence from Union’s laws. They of Volador make, although some smaller matrias have
were classified as a liminal nomadic culture and been known to fly freighters of Union design.
afforded the same rights as other Cosmopolitans and
Diasporans in Union space. For millennia, the Voladores trade in technology from all over the galaxy,
Voladores freely traversed Union space, appearing some of which is extremely advanced, experimental, or old
often above Cradle with trade-tribute, survey data, and and long forgotten. Curiously, the places they most often
all manner of galactic wealth. At the height of appear are worlds and systems rich in pre-Fall relics. The
SecComm’s unification campaign, the Voladores were Voladores’ own technology is highly advanced and poorly
frequent targets of the UCM, which sought to integrate understood by Union scientists. They are extremely
the nomadic culture fully into Union’s hegemony – this reluctant to share or sell any of their own technology and
hostile relationship culminated in an attempted colonial have been known to actively hunt down those who steal
incursion onto a Volador ship by a deniable-asset from them – these being the only times they are willing to
group, Vanguard Security. The attempt failed, and the put aside their pacifistic ways. They often contract Sparri
Voladores disappeared from Union space. However, mercenaries to help them track down thieves.
since the rise of ThirdComm, reports of a resumption of
Voladores action in realspace have increased. The location of the Voladores central hub-world, High
Ground, is unknown. Knowledgeable Cosmopolitans
It is in large part due to the Voladores’ planetary survey and Diasporans often debate what exactly this hub-
data that Union was able to identify and settle so many world is. Is High Ground a great nomadic home-ship?
habitable worlds, many of which are now fully A free-standing megastructure? A captured
developed Core worlds. The Voladores helped establish metavault? A world suspended just over the event
contact between Union and the Karrakin Trade Baronies horizon of a black hole? All have been put forward as
and played a pivotal role in various peace talks theories that might explain the mysterious nature and
prompted by SecComm’s centralization campaigns. uncanny appearance of the Voladores.
Their diplomats, far rarer than their merchants, are
legendary for their patience and wise counsel. The Voladores do not appear to have a presence on
the omninet. To trade with them, one must encounter
The galactic community at large knows little about Volador them in realspace, on their own terms. Their arrival is
culture. This, of course, leads both Cosmopolitans and often a surprise, though they may linger for months or
Diasporans to invent myths and prejudices, if indeed they years if the trade is bountiful.
have even heard of the Voladores at all. The majority of

[416] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

The Voladores do keep a diplomatic office on Cradle, There is no single leader of the Voladores, and the PEOPLE
though it is usually not populated by any of the myster‐ composition of their matriarchal council changes
ious nomads. It is staffed by a comp/con unit of Union according to mysterious criteria. The only thing
design and is the most reliable way to contact High known for sure is that their society is matrilineal, and
Ground when diplomatic contact is necessary. Despite their names include personal identifiers, family
being the only office of its kind, it is not heavily trafficked: names, and location names.
just because it’s the best way to contact the Voladores,
that doesn’t mean it’s an especially fast way to commu‐
nicate, or that High Ground responds to every query.

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [417]

PILOTS LANCERS

Within Union’s heartland – the Galactic Core – there is PCs aren’t just any old pilots, though. They’re the
one primary route from civilian to mech pilot. Would- best of the best – lancers.
be pilots receive training and education in the Union
Navy, specialize in a role, travel a little (on their home‐ Across the galaxy, “lancer” has become a catch-all
world or through the local system), and are cleared for name for exceptionally daring and skilled mech pilots,
active duty in their mid-20s at the earliest. The similar to the flying aces of the past. Not all pilots are
extensive qualifications and training expected make lancers – most are just good at what they do – but all
younger pilots a rare thing. Regulars and auxiliaries lancers are pilots.
alike are put through the same naturalization courses,
trained by the same instructors, and serve together in Nowhere is “lancer” considered an official rank or
integrated units for at least ten years. classification. Lancers are set apart by ability, talent,
training, luck, skill, reputation, or some combination
The process and standards differ for those with of these qualities; they aren’t qualified as lancers by
different allegiances. Corpro-states often use any medal, certification, or promotion. It’s simply an
implants or prosthetics to increase compatibility appellation given to exceptional pilots based on time
between their pilots and their proprietary mechs, in the saddle and performance in the field.
while the Aun raise pilots from childhood in sympath‐
etic, almost symbiotic relationships with their NHP The vast majority of lancers have earned the right to
co-pilots. The noble scions of Karrakin barons are bear the name through skill, strength, and experience –
outfitted with storied frames and trained in rich no help from Union, no preordination from on high.
academies and colleges; meanwhile, the guerrillas, These people became pilots when they were
pirates, and desperate individuals these aristocrats conscripted; when they enlisted; or when ships came
fight take whatever they can get. There’s no “correct” and bombed their homes, and they chose to fight back.
way to be a pilot, much less any one way to reach
“lancer” status. Pilots – lancers – are made, yes, but whether it is by
deep machinations, by fate, by chance, or by choice,
Whoever a given pilot works for, training counts for who can say? If there is some formal system by which
everything. There are exceptions, but a properly future lancers are identified, it exists at a level so far
trained and outfitted pilot in their own mech will removed from any pilot that its consequences will
almost always beat a conscript or unskilled pilot in a never be understood, let alone guessed at.
straight fight, even if outnumbered. Outside of their
mechs, too, most pilots are highly trained
combatants. They tend to be somewhere between
adepts and experts in the fields covered by their
training and background.

Despite some claims to the contrary, pilots aren’t
super soldiers – though substantial cybernetic
enhancements allow some to operate beyond the
bounds of “normal” human ability. The majority of
pilots – like most other specialists in 5016u – enjoy
some degree of non-invasive biological enhance‐
ment, but they still rely on wearable or detachable
technologies and comprehensive training to hone
their talents and knowledge.

As a general rule, the natural lifespan of a pilot is only
marginally longer than that of a Diasporan or Metro‐
politan. Their lifespans and the structure of their lives
both trend closer to those of Cosmopolitans; owing to
the nature of the job, pilots get shipped all around
their world, system, or the galaxy.

[418] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

A GALAXY FULL OF HEROES MJ MARTINEZ – THE AUXILIARY PILOTS

Pilots are as diverse as humanity itself. Here are some A nobody from nowhere in a nothin’ rig.
examples of who they can be.
“You ain’t nothin’.” Those were the last words the
HOTEL COMPANY – THE decklord had spake to MJ Martinez. “You ain’t
nothin’.”
REGULARS
MJ unclips his helmet. Tugs it off. Feels the breeze
DoJ/HR 5th Liberator Detachment, UNS Harper’s Ferry. cool the sweat on his brow. He’s free now from the
Veterans, heading out for a second tour. constant battlescape chatter; it was only cheers and
singing, anyways. MJ and his company had done the
2nd Squad, Hotel Company of the 5th Liberator impossible: they had held the breach, repelled the
Detachment. One squad among hundreds aboard the Crown Host.
UNS Harper’s Ferry, a DoJ/HR carrier out from Cradle
herself. Every trooper in the 2nd is from a different Whennow had the decklord died? Must been a
world, bound together by purpose and trial. hunnert or twain years back. MJ grins, can’t help
himself. The words “AIN’T NOTHIN” are slapped in
Union doesn’t function without these pilots. There’s a whitewash on the flank of his mech. They’ve been
whole galaxy of bickering states, of kings and presid‐ scored some by tachyon but they’re still there, proud
ents who think they alone can shake the pillars of and loud.
heaven – who think they can spit in Union’s face.
Might as well turn their backs on the ocean. When the Nowadays, MJ has been through the shit. It’s been an
warlords and tyrants rise up, it’s the soldiers of the 5th age since he left Old Spinrock and joined the Oxes,
darken their skies, drop to their world, and set them cadet’d for a decade until he’d proved his mettle
right where they’ve done wrong. enough to pilot an Everest. Big picture, the Everest
ain’t nothin’ either – but to a kid off a spinsat hub, an
What sets this sortie apart from all the others before Everest is King Death.
it? It started like any other: an Administrator’s report
filed to the Department of Justice and Human Rights; A decade more and MJ had got himself a squad;
a battlegroup organized; a briefing; a king who thinks another decade, a comp’ny: the No-How’s. Their sigil:
himself a god, who grinds his boot on the neck of a a grin, one missin’ tooth. Just like MJ himself. You get
people he thinks are his. He forgot they aren't his to do that when you’re a real damn hero.
people, though. They’re Union. It’s time for this king
to be reminded that Cradle’s reach is long, her vision A real damn hero. MJ sure as shit isn’t gonna paint
is pure, and her will inexorable. that on his mech, but he likes the way it sounds.

As veterans of the campaign, the pilots of the 2nd An incoming call catches his attention – more Union
Squad have a little more autonomy than the regulars trooping by, waving up at him as he stands
newcomers: their mechs are painted with more kill half-out his Everest. He waves back, salutes; they
hashes, their weapons are heavier than those of the cheer.
boot squads fresh to the deck. They’re still subor‐
dinate to their CO, but all the other troopers look to Those old decklord words echo again: “you ain’t
them when the lead and lasers start flying. They’ve nothin’.”
been in the shit a bit longer and learned how to move
when someone downrange wants them dead. Well, what had their chances been against the
oncomin’ horde? Nothin’. But they’d stood strong and
The members of the 2nd Squad are lancers, veterans Union-proud ‘gainst the shinin’ host of a king who
of a campaign that has ground all of their friends to called himself god. Nothin’ had stopped him before.
dust and ash. From different worlds, of different back‐
grounds, but all bound by the same truth: they’re Perfect. If nothin’ is gonna save the world, then MJ’s
Union, and they’re here to help. the right pilot for the job. A nobody in a nothin’ rig
who just saved the world.

MJ laughs. Not bad for a nobody from Old Spinrock.
He’s a lancer, now; claimed the title on his own.

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [419]

JEDDAH – THE SQUIRE PENNY – THE MERCENARY

A paladin’s squire, the morning of their anointing. A mercenary, threading the last stitch of her patch on
the shoulder of her coat.
A young wing of the Albatross, cleaning the kit of the
loyal wing he serves for the thousandth time. The patch reads “Mirrorsmoke MC”. Stitching
complete, Penny holds her coat out, gives it a nod,
Ever since Jeddah bin Surat al Noor was saved by the and lets it go. Microgravity holds it for a moment while
Albatross, he has wanted nothing more than to don a she stands, slips her arms in and zips it up. A new
kit of his own – to be marked by the crimson lion, to unit, in place of her old one: MALWAREE, a good
feel the smooth hilt of a waveblade in his hand. company off Davanti Prime. A new story to tell with
this new patch, and a new name for herself: Penny.
Jeddah remembers the countless times he has
cleaned blood and burn from his loyal wing’s hardsuit; Penny. The face she sees in the mirror is gentle, if a
he recalls each of the many times he has nursed his little tired, but who wouldn’t be a little tired after ten
loyal wing while he lay in agony, moaning through years of stasis sleep.
nightmares earned in the metavault.
Still, she smiles. There’s nothing wrong with having a
Jeddah may not have seen the terrors that the loyal little bit of pride in her situation. She’s with the
wings face, but he has seen their echoes. Never has MSMC 501st Detachment. The One-Eyed Foxes.
that dissuaded him, for he has never forgotten: these The Here-for-Nows.
are the only ones who came to save him.
The voice of Subcommander Gerrard echoes over the
Now, in his eighteenth subjective year, Jeddah has been carrier’s all-comm. “Sunrise. It’s sunrise. Good
called before the Loyal Council for assessment and morning everyone, welcome to the Dawnline Shore.”
ordination. He has been chosen, of all his fellows, to There’s a pause, the sound of someone talking off-
learn the art of piloting, of standing-at-the-speartip. His mic. Gerrard comes back a moment later. “Since
breast swells with pride when he hears his name called. Geordie won the calendar-pick, we’re going to listen
to some old shit. Apologies in advance. We’ve got
Rising, Jeddah walks across the dawn-lit courtyard to three days until we’re in orbit above Myrrh.”
stand beside the rest of the Loyal Council. In time, he
too will heft the lance, wear the golden armor, wield The old shit starts the moment Gerrard gets off the
the laser and the rifle. comms – something called “ray-gae”. Penny likes it.
She hums along as she taps her fabrication request
He will be a lancer, hero to the lost. into the ship’s queue. For all the reputation these
mercs had, she had been surprised to find they were
actually quite kind. Gruff, unpolished, but kind and
bound to their own sort of honor. Well, the Foxes
were.

Penny doesn’t know it, but she will be the only one to
come back from this milkrun. She’s a cut above the
rest, though she won’t find that out until later.

Soon, Penny is going to be called “lancer”, but that
won’t matter much to her – she only ever wanted to
be called “friend”.

[420] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

YOND-BALOR – THE NOBLE TYRANNOCLEAVE – THE PILOTS

A proud scion of the Baronies, preparing for war. UNGRATEFUL

Through combat and intrigue, Yond-Balor has proved “Listen now: we have nothing but time, so I shall not
that he alone deserves to command the warhost of rush. The first violence I commit to you is to tell you my
the House of Glass – Yond-Balor Karrakis, second story. You will know before you die: My mother died
son of Yond-Aleph Karrakis, Baron of House Yond, when she bore me, hooked to tubes and deadlife
itself a minor house of the House of Glass. machines. Your men had her bear me with the
assistance of an exo: a machine massaged her heart,
As a youth, Yond-Balor was raised to pilot mechs – to gird currents forced her muscles to work, a black box
himself in sealed power-armor and become the death- strapped to her chest forced breath into her lungs. All of
word of House Yond. He proved himself in battle against this because you knew. You knew at that point the only
Ungratefuls, against House Muur and House Fleur, even protest we had was to die and deny you new bodies.
in single combat against the vice-lord of the House of
Sand. Yond-Balor was the one who stood, alone, by “So you took me from her and I never knew her again
Yond-Aleph’s deathbed while his father was ravaged by and in the care of your stone-matrons I learned how to
fever, poisoned by assassins from the Mutable Houses. tear worlds to pieces. I learned the lash, and the pick,
and how to read the earth you had me kill.
All of that, yet there had been one more obstacle:
Yond-Argo Karrakis, Yond-Balor’s older brother: first “When I was ten, I learned that I must take these pills to
claimant to the baronial throne and, by extension, the survive. That I was born riddled with cancers that you
warhost of the House of Glass. But where was Yond- would never take from me – too expensive. The
Argo when their father had died? Where was the first- recovery process too long. And your quarterly profits
named then? Gone. Traveling through space, sworn could never slip, as it would mean ruin for your name.
to serve the headless ones: to serve Union.
“Look at me. You are why we are hideous. Your
Mere hours ago, when Yond-Argo came to pay propaganda paints us as beasts – but it is your hand
respects to their late father, Yond-Balor wasted no that shapes our flesh. It is your word that scars our skin
time in dispatching the much older man. and bids cancer grow thick in our bodies. In the names
of manna and your house, you ruin millions.
Thus, Yond-Balor has taken what was his by birth –
drawn it steaming from the gut of his worthless kin. “Millions. There are millions of us and countless more.
As his mech closes around him and the crimson This is your unbecoming. Your death, below your feet.
ready-light begins to pulse, he grins. His name is no Every inch of every palace and ship and grand city you
longer second-son – it is first, and it is lancer. build, you build on our backs, with our labor, at the cost
of our lives. It began in the mines, but it will not end
there: your Baronies are as riddled with us as my body
is with metastasis.

“Yes, weep now. For your perfect face. Your perfect
worlds. Your perfect dominion.

“Do you know that I did not know what the sky was
until the Ungratefuls found me? Liberation means this:
not simply seeing the sky, but knowing that there is
such a thing as land without stone above you. And then
knowing that there are those who put you there. I
always thought – we were always taught this – that we
were damned and penitent. That we had transgressed
against Lordgod’s perfect kingdom and must mine in
penance.

“How wrong I was! It was not a divine prescript that
doomed us to labor, but you and others like you. How
surmountable the problem became then.

“This is the Ungratefuls’ gift to me. This is their gift to
the rest of us – the waste, the offal of your courts and

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [421]

palaces. This is why even your machines fight YOU
alongside us. Because you never taught us there could
be a thing like the sky. Because you thought that we A Pilot, Witness to a Future Unwritten.
would never learn.
The galaxy does not yet know your name. Maybe it
“Goodbye, grand baron. Your house burns, your coffers never will. What the galaxy will know are your deeds,
have been emptied, your monuments have been torn your actions. As you settle into your chassis for the
down. Your line – your sons and daughters – hang from first time, is it joy that crosses your face? Fear? A
the balconies of your own palace. sense of purpose, or one of doom?

“We learned, grand baron. We learned how to hope, You may have been born to this work. You may have
and who to hate.” been damned to it. The machine might be a tool, or it
may be your real body.

You may be a proud knight bringing glory and
brotherhood to the Free Company of Nova Thebes,
or a stoic soldier in the Sundogs, fighting to free
worlds as yours was liberated before. You may seek
the owner of the Raven Armor of Hurst, or fly the
unburnt flag of New Ararat, or wear the raccoon
patch of the Mischief Consortium; you might be an
anonymous warrior hidden within relic powered
armor scavenged from the Little Wars; you may paint
your chassis in the graffiti’d sigils of the Everhart, or
paint your skin in the silver of the Propositorum,
yearning for the day it will become machine; or you
may count yourself among the eager ranks of the
Bright Bloom Concordance, those who seek a
verdant future.

The populated galaxy is a vast place, with many
worlds, stars, and vast spaces in-between that hide
mysteries: What lingers in the Ikadra Drift, where the
Drift’s eponymous binary stars collect the ruins of
thousands of ships in their orbit? What secrets
murmur out from the Pleiades, where the song of the
cult of MAIA echoes quiet through the bulkheads of
your ship?

There are powers at work in the galaxy – mundane and
esoteric, cruel and utopian. Union, long the steady
center of humanity, frays at the edges, and forces begin
to align along new presentations of old ideologies.

The most important question to ask – of yourself and
others – is this: which side are you on?

[422] SECTION 6 // Setting Guide

BEYOND UNION BEYOND UNION

By conservative estimates, there are 250 billion stars
in the Milky Way. A significant majority of those stars
are orbited by their own retinues of worlds.

Union space – the entirety of the Galactic Core, the
Diaspora, and the Cosmopolita – occupies a fraction
of the Milky Way’s Orion Arm. Thousands of worlds.
But set against the billions unexplored in our galaxy,
Union space is minuscule.

So, what lies beyond?

Go, and tell us what you see.

Miguel Lopez and Tom Parkinson Morgan, Massif
Press, 2019

SECTION 6 // Setting Guide [423]

INDEX 338 License 18
377 License Level (LL) 18
A 409 Mech Skills 30
420 Statistics 28
Accepted Timeline 403 Talent 35
Aging 375 Talent Rank 35
Albatross, The Mech 30
338 Agility 32
Example Lancer 347 Armor 35
Re: IPS-N, Trunk Security 338 Core Bonuses 33
Androidism 387 Core Power (CP) 33
Anthrochauvinism 377 Core System 34
See New Humanity Front, The 379 E-Defense 30
First Distal War Engineering 34
Ideology 390 Evasion 32
Apollo 338 Frame 34
Karrakis Heat Cap 30
Artificial Gravity Hull 68
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Immunity 32
Aun Mount 34, 82
Aun’Ist Repair Cap 67
Settlement Resistance 34
Save Target 34
B 371 Sensors 32
339 Size 34
Blinkspace 370 Speed 34, 81
Blink Travel 338, 339, 390 Stress 34, 80
Discovery Structure 33
Stations System Points (SP) 30
Systems 34
Boundary Garden Tech Attack 32
Trait 20
Pilot 25
Background
Trigger

C Cloning 374

Carina 389 Colonies 367
IPS-N Headquarters 403
107 Companion/Concierge (Comp/Con) 380
Cascades
Character Tags 105 Corpro-State 356
282 Conflicts Between 407
Character 105 Player Interaction With
AI 282
Biological 282 Cosmopolitans 343
Drone 282 Albatross Interactions 409
Mech 282 Body Modifications 375
282 Definition
NPC 282 IPS-N Interactions 21
Biological Lifespan 403
Mech 14 377
Ship 28
Squad Cradle 386
Vehicle Galatic location 340

Character Terminology D 62
General
Grit Dangerous Terrain
Hit Points (HP)
Dawnline Shore

[424]

HA Expansion 397 Protocol 106
IPS-N Intervention 404 Quick Action 106
Ungrateful Resistance 415 Reaction 106
DeCorp (Decorporealization) 376 Shield 106
Deimos Event, Deimos 339 Unique 106
See also Non-Human Persons X/Turn or X/Round 105
(NHPs), MONIST-1/RA 406 Mount Tags
DHIYED 20, 343 Aux/aux 32
Diasporans, Diaspora Flexible, Flex 32
Albatross Interactions 409 Heavy 32
Difficult Terrain 62 Integrated 32
Main 32
F Main/aux 32
Superheavy 32
Fall, The 340 Other Weapon Tags 105
Accurate 105
First Committee, The 338, 341, 369 Arcing 105
Armor Piercing 105
First Contact Accords 339 Inaccurate 105
Creation 384 Knockback 105
Decorp 376 Loading 105
Ordnance 105
First Distal War 338 Overkill 105
Overshield 105
First Expansion Period 338 Reliable 105
Re: Voladores 416 Seeking 105
Smart 105
Five Voices, The 338, 355 Threat 105
Names 382 Thrown 64
Patterns 64
Forecast/GALSIM 338, 350, 355 Blast 64
Bicameral Minds, The Five Voices 382 Burst 64
Cone 106
Fourth Column, The 348 Line 106
See also Third Committee, The Pilot Gear Tags 106
Archaic 106
Free Sanjak 415 Gear 33
See also Ungratefuls Personal Armor: 33
Sidearm 33
G 342 Type Tags 33
Cannons 33
Galactic Core 104 CQB 33
64 Launchers 33
Gear and Systems 34 Melee 33
General Nexus 33
Gear 33, 35 Rifles 33
Range 105 Weapon Size Tags 118, 339, 392
Sensors 105 Auxiliary 118
System 105 Heavy
General Tags 105 Main 14
AI 106 Superheavy 13
Danger Zone 106 General Massive Systems 58
Deployable 106 GMS Core Bonuses
Drone 106 General Rules Terminology
Full Action 106 Accuracy
Grenade 106 Bonus
Heat X (self) Character
Limited X
Mine
Mod

[425]

Check 13 See also Third Committee, The 395
Consequences 46
D3 12 J 338, 392
D6 12 421
D20 12 John Creighton Harrison I 387
Difficulty 14 See also Harrison Armory 415
Downtime 14 416
Effect 13 K
Fail (or Miss) 13 409
Game Master (GM) 12 Karrakin Trade Barons 418
Mech 30 See also Fourth Column, The 338, 341
Mech Combat 12, 56 Example Lancer 415
Mission 14 Karrakis
Narrative Play 12, 45 Ungrateful Interactions 409
Non-Player Character (NPC) 58 Voladores Interactions 367
Pilot 20 339, 386
Player 12 L 384
Player Character (PC) 58 338
Principle 256 Lakshmi Bandhav-4796u
Reserves 50 See also Albatross, The 64
Roll 12 64
Save 13 Lancer, Lancers 64
Scenes 14 Little Wars, The 64
Skill Challenge 47 Ludra's World 71
Skill Check 13 71
Succeed (or Pass) 13 See also Ungratefuls 71
Target Number 13 71
M 71
H 224, 394 69
Makteba 69
Harrison Armory 225 See also Albatross, The 69
See also Ras Shamra 379 69
HA Core Bonuses 339, 346 Manna 70
Paracausal Research 416 Mars 70
70
Hercynian Crisis, The 380 Siege of Mars
High Ground 410 Massif-A
190, 404 Mech Combat Terminology
See also Voladores, The (Los) 191
Homunculus/Homunculi 410 Areas of Effect
Horizon, Horizon Collective 384 Blast
HORUS 415 Burst
Cone
Core Bonuses Line
Distinction from HORUS
First Emergence Basic Full Actions
Ungrateful Interactions Barrage
Disengage
I Full Tech
Improvised Attack
Integration, Into Union 356 Stabilize

Interactions with Karrakin 393 Basic Quick Actions
Boost
Interplanetary Shipping-Northstar (IPS-N) Grapple
126, 402 Hide
See also Albatross, The Quick Tech
Core Bonuses 127 Ram
Search
Interstellar, The 348 Skirmish

Basic Reactions

[426]

Brace 73 Jump 63
Overwatch 73 Lift 62, 63
Conditions 78 Obstruction
Immobilized 78 Occupied Space 62
Impaired 78 Provoke Reactions 62
Jammed 78 Space 62, 63, 71
Lock On 78 Standard Move 59
Shredded 78 Teleport, Teleportation 62
Slowed 78 Voluntary 63
Stunned 67 Other Actions 78
Damage Types 67 Activate 71
Burn 67 Boot Up 71
Energy 67 Dismount 71
Explosive 67 Eject 71
Heat 60 Mount 71
Kinetic 60 Overcharge 73
General 61 Prepare 71
1/round 64 Self-Destruct 72
1/turn 58 Shut Down 72
Action 64 Skill Check 72
Affected 13 Other Effects 81
Allied 67 Overheating 81
Area 78 Stress Damage 80
Attack 64 Structure Damage 71
Bonus Damage 67 Pilot Actions 69
Conditions 80, 82 Activate 73
Critical Hit 61 Boost 71
Damage 61 Brace 74
Destroyed 104 Disengage 69
Free Action 64 Fight 75
Full Action 58 Hide 73
Gear 65 Jockey 71
Hit 64 Overwatch 70
Hostile 58 Prepare 72
Line of Sight 73 Search 69
Melee 61 Skill Check 70
Object 64 Quick Tech Actions 70
Protocol 64 Bolster 70
Quick Action 73 Invade 93
Range 59 Lock On 90
Ranged 77 Scan 91
Reaction 65 Special Rules Terminology 95
Size 64 Blademaster Die 95
Statuses 64 Bondmate 101
Target 62 Brawler Die 77
Tech 62 Exemplar’s Mark 77
Tech Action 63 Gunslinger Die 77
Movement 62 Torrent Die 77
Adjacent 62 Statuses 77
Climb 63 Danger Zone 77
Drag 63 Down and Out 77
Engagement 106 Engaged 77
Fall 63 Exposed
Fly, Flight 69, 71 Hidden [427]
Free Space 62, 63, 78 Invisible
Hover Prone
Ignore Engagement Shut Down
Involuntary

Mechanized Chassis 362 O

Metat Aun 338, 390 OMETEOTL 410
See also Aun, Aun’Ist
See also Horizon, Horizon Collective
Metavault, Metafold Vaults 406
Oracle Chorus 338, 355
Metropolitans 342, 366 See also Five Voices,
Body Modification 375 The, Forecast/GALSIM

Milky Way, The 340 P
Beyond Union 423
Non-State Actors 408 Paracausality, Paracausal Studies 379
Peoples of 342 Birth of Paracausality Research 384

Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company 411 Periphery, The 344
Example Lancer 420
Petrel, Young Petrel 409
MONIST-1/RA 383 See also Albatross, The
See also Non-Human Persons 408
(NHPs), HORUS 410 Piracy (Interstellar, Orbital) 357
Adherents of RA 414
Horizon Interactions PISTON-1, TBK PISTON-1 338, 346
Sparri Worship
Post-Scarcity 366

N Prime Baron Karra-Bem 393
See also Karrakin Trade Barons
Narrative Play
Narrative Play Terminology 48 Printing, Printers 377

Difficult 45 R 388
Downtime Actions 53
53 Ras Shamra 377
Buy Some Time 53 See also Harrison Armory 372
Gather Information 54 369
Get a Damn Drink 55 Realtime
Get Connected 54 Aging
Get Creative 55 Travel
Get Focused 55
Get Organized 53 Recontact
Power at a Cost 55
Scrounge And Barter 46 S
Heroic 20
Invoke 46 Second Committee 338, 343, 346, 356
Push It 45 See also Voladores, The (Los), Deimos
Risky 338, 371 Event, Deimos, Ungratefuls
Nearlight 348 Recontact 369
New Humanity Front, The
See also Third Committee, 348 Second Expansion Period 339
The, Anthrochauvinism
New Solidarity Coalition, The 379 Shackling, Unshackling 381
See also Third Committee, The 381 See also Cascades
Non-Human Life
Non-Human Persons (NHPs) Smart Weaponry 380
See also Horizon, Horizon
Collective, HORUS Smith-Shimano Corpro 158, 398
SSC Core Bonuses 158

Space Combat 358, 364

Space Stations 370

Sparri, The Sparri Peoples 412

Subjective Time 377
Aging 372
Travel

[428]

T W

The Ten 338, 340 Wing (Young, Loyal, Honored) 409
Founded Planets 387, 390, 412 See also Albatross, The

Theseus Shipyard 338, 403 Y
See also Interplanetary Shipping-Northstar
(IPS-N)
Yggdrasil 412
Third Committee, The 339, 346 See also Sparri, The Sparri Peoples, The
Committee Coalitions 348 Ten
State Conflict Ideology 365
Ynn 412
Time Dilation 372 See also Sparri, The Sparri Peoples

Travel 370 Ynneval 413
Global 370 See also Sparri, The Sparri Peoples
in Play 372
Interstellar 371
Local-Space 370

U

Ungratefuls 415
Example Lancer 421

Union, The 346
See also Forecast/GALSIM
Founding 340
Union Administrative Department 338, 350
See also Voladores, The (Los)
Union Bureau of Colonial Administration 354
See also Recontact
Union Bureau of Orbital and Non-Terrestrial
Management 354
Union Central Committee 350, 356
Union Colonial Mission 339, 347
See also Second Committee
Sparri Interactions 413
Voladores Interactions 416
Union Department of Justice and Human
Rights 352
See also Recontact
Hotel Company 419
Union Economic Bureau 347, 354
Union Intelligence Bureau 355
Union Naval Department 352
Union Omninetwork Bureau 354
Union Ring System 340
Union Science Bureau 353, 383
Union Space Program 338

Utopian Pillars, The 344

V 349
416
Verdant Social Arc, The (VSA)
See also Third Committee, The

Voladores, The (Los)

[429]

BACKER CHARACTERS

Character/Fac�on Page/Sec�on Backer

Aisling Jensen, she/her 286 (Ace) Jay Jensen
Lee "IterationDrive" Saxon
Lady Gloria MacLennan (She/Her) 287 (Aegis) Noah Carden
Basil Lisk
Ichabod Carden. He/Him 288 (Archer) John Arena
Ethan "SteelAngel" Deneault
Corrida Isolde-Nollet 299 (Engineer) Jenny Garabagiu
Jennifer Fae
Union Navy Skunkworks 379 (re: Paracausal Studies) Andrew Shields
Hamish Lord
Prismatica 406 (re: HORUS Flashpoint) Kai Tave
Sam Chabot
Flama (They/Them) 308 (Pyro) Zachary Broberg
Scott MacDonald Aune
Messengers of MAIA 307 (Priest) Ashley Moni
Sam Garamy
The Knights of Imminent Destruction, Gen'Dal Merlos 293 (Berserker) Arcolf, Grizzly Adams,
ShadowDancerBob, CodenameChaz
Audrey Reimaus, they/them 291 (Barricade) Josh Good
Michael E. Cao
Chandrasekhar & Herschel 303 (Hornet) Adam Montgomery
Alain Clark
Vanguard Security 416 (re: The Voladores) Max Waechter
Derek Munn
Zander Reeves, He/Him 292 (Bastion) Catherine Needham
Zachary Williams
Oberon Sterling 416 (re: The Voladores) Alex Manus
Teddy Leinbach
Susanoo, she/her 310 (Ronin) Joshua Javier Rios
Will Lennon
Valeria Rojas-Sarnik, she/her/hers. 296 (Breacher)

Murder Cave 409 (re: The Albatross)

Jackal and Hades, Esq 411 (re: MSMC)
Union Science Bureau, Far-Field Team 1683 415-416 (re: The Voladores)
ExtraSolar Acquisitions, Inc. 486 (Support Archetype)
SUMMUM 376 (re: DeCorp)
Dagger Squadron 300 (Goliath)
Eris Brittam (she/her) 412 (re: Sparri Peoples)
Catherine ‘C-80’ Need. They/them 297 (Cataphract)
Hayes Rothford (he/him) & NHP, Clarke 298 (Demolisher)
(she/her/they/them) 420 (re: Penny)
MALWAREE 422 (re: "You")
New Ararat 422 (re: "You")
The Mischief Consortium 422 (re: "You")
Free Company of Nova Thebes

[430]

Character/Fac�on Page/Sec�on Backer

The Sundogs 422 (re: "You") William Creel
Propositorum 422 (re: "You") Thadius Rushing
The Bright Bloom Concordance 422 (re: "You") Mark Bustrack
Ikadra Debris Rings, The 422 (re: "You") Stephen Pagni
Everhart, The 422 (re: "You") Bryce A. Everhart
Ttalgi & Ínen 410 (re: Horizon) Amos Isom
The Own Hands 358 (re: Piracy) Andrew Wise
Mei Ling 358 (re: Piracy) Sam Hornigold
The Frontier Shipping Clans 43 (re: The Stakes, Mission Goals) Sean Mckechnie
Ava Rhys 48 (Combat in Narrative Play) Alice Lawrie
Attar Rose 269-273 (re: Random Sitrep) Austin Walker
Lin Yating, "Marigold" 48 (Combat in Narrative Play) Ryan Lui
UIB Agent Etcher Ronen 50 (Reserves) William Osborne Bird
Robin Conners 50 (Reserves) Mitchell Priour
Harmonious Domesticity 90 (Ace Talent) Mark Siems
Tempest Gloire (she/her) 91 (Brawler Talent) Matthew Lind
Aubrey Deckard 91 (Brutal Talent) Kayte Hawke
Strymon Bulis, He, callsign HAURBERK 91 (Crack Shot) Daniel Thomas Hicks
Clymene Kanalakos (she/her), callsign BIRDSONG 93 (Drone Commander Talent) Dolan Hill
Gail (she/her) 102 (Tactician Talent) Gail Duncan
Former HA programmer Katya Han, she/her 96 (Hacker Talent) Anna Wittholz
Eel (they/them) 96 (Grease Monkey Talent) Peter Romine
Daniel 'Inky' Boyd - he/him. 48 (Combat in Narrative Play) Daniel Boyd
Leika McGraff (he/him) 92 (Combined Arms Talent) Thomas Burd
Laughter of a Solemn God 319 (Support NPC) Richard Moon
Ethan "Orion" Miller 93 (Duelist Talent) Chase Uehara
Khan 48 (Combat in Narrative Play) Kiernan Hahn
Mesa Rownett 94 (Engineer Talent) Robert Ervine
The Apiary 410 (re: Horizon) Gwen and Sasha
Maxine Wolf (she/her) 94 (Executioner Talent) Osmina Deveraux
Eamon Metria, advocate for the Nine. 95 (Exemplar Talent) Matthew Evans
Mike Manfrin (he/him) 97 (Heavy Gunner Talent) Mike Manfrin
Sargeant Stev Ansahok (he/him) 95 (Gunslinger Talent) Colin Ryan
Edith Eidelen (she/her) 97 (Hunter Talent) Colin Yee
LILITH 410 (re: Horizon) Lily Amole
Golden Hand 411 (re: Mirrorsmoke) Jared Jordan
Goblin Throne Industrial 411 (re: Mirrorsmoke) Ryan Verniere
Old relic powered armour from the Little Wars 422 (re: “You”) Aaron Wood

[431]