Starfinder Drift Crisis

DRIFT CRISIS

DRIFT CRISIS

DEVELOPMENT LEADS John Compton and Joe Pasini AUTHORS Kate Baker, Rigby Bendele, Jessica Catalan, John Compton, John Curtin, Alison Cybe, Leo Glass, John Godek, Sen H.H.S., Joan Hong, Jenny Jarzabski, Jason Keeley, Joshua Kim, Mike Kimmel, Ron Lundeen, Dennis Muldoon, Emily Parks, Samantha Phelan, Mikhail Rekun, James Rodehaver, Solomon St. John, Paul Scofield, Shay Snow, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Jason Tondro, and Andrew White DEVELOPMENT John Compton, Jason Keeley, Joe Pasini, and Jason Tondro DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Jason Keeley EDITING LEAD Solomon St. John EDITORS Janica Carter, Patrick Hurley, Jason Keeley, Avi Kool, Ianara Natividad, K. Tessa Newton, Solomon St. John, and Shay Snow COVER ARTIST Ignacio Bazán Lazcano INTERIOR ARTISTS Ridell Apellanes, Biagio d’Alessandro, Franklin Chan, Sergio Cosmai, Rustan Curman, Sol Devia, Michele Esposito, Michele Giorgi, Alexander Gorbunov, Miguel Regodón Harkness, Laslo Ludrovan, Victor Manuel Leza Moreno, Alexander Nanitchkov, Alexander Ngo, Guilherme Olivieri, Ivan Onokhin, Mirco Paganessi, Mary Jane Pajaron, Nicholas Phillips, Maichol Quinto, Alberto Saraiva, Yunior Susanto, Gordon Tran, Irene Tsui, Hampus Viklander ART DIRECTION AND GRAPHIC DESIGN Kent Hamilton, Kyle Hunter, and Sarah E. Robinson DIRECTOR OF GAME DEVELOPMENT Adam Daigle STARFINDER LEAD DESIGNER Joe Pasini PUBLISHER Erik Mona TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 CHAPTER 1: THE DRIFT CRISIS 6 Overview 8 Pre-Crisis Drift 10 Drift in Crisis 14 Pact Worlds 20 Veskarium 24 Near Space 26 Azlanti Star Empire 28 The Vast 29 Factions 30 Themes 38 Class Options 42 Gear 50 CHAPTER 2: ADVENTURES 56 Overview 58 Alluvion Fractures 60 Pahtra Independence 62 Beacons of War 64 Corpse Fleet Opportunists 70 Absalom Station Refugees 74 Chaos on Absalom Station 80 Paizo Inc. 7120 185th Ave NE, Ste 120 Redmond, WA 98052-0577 paizo.com This book refers to several other Starfinder products, but these additional supplements are not required to make use of this book. Readers interested in references to Starfinder hardcovers can find the complete rules of these books available for free at paizo.com/sfrd. AA(#) Alien Archive Volume AP(#) Starfinder Adventure Path AR Armory COM Character Operations Manual GM Galactic Magic NS Near Space PW Pact Worlds SOM Starship Operations Manual

Trifold Response 86 Drift Crash 88 Interlocking Circles 94 Blazing Speeds 98 Swarm Salvation 104 Spectra, Corrupted 108 Drift in Reverse 110 When One Becomes Three 114 Decoding the Storm 118 Broken Beacons 124 Lost in the Void 126 Stabilization Protocol 130 The Apocalypse Pod 134 Cracks in the Cosmos 136 CHAPTER 3: TOOLBOX 140 Overview 142 Drift Crisis Conclusions 144 Creatures 148 Drift Architects 168 NPC Profiles 170 Secret Treasures 176 Adventure Paths in Crisis 180 INDEX 188

4 INTRODUCTION Over 300 years ago, the machine god Triune revealed itself to the galaxy and granted all who would listen a priceless gift: faster-than-light technology using the hyperspace realm now known as the Drift. Within decades, Drift travel had opened up the galaxy to exploration, trade, and conquest on a previously unfathomable scale. Empires span multiple star systems. Companies ship essential products to countless worlds. Explorers cast off into the unknown to meet unfamiliar species and uncover wonders. Vacationers eagerly embark to reach distant attractions. And overall, the galaxy has achieved prosperity and possibility, all thanks to the Drift. So what if, for reasons few could predict, the Drift just... broke? In that instant, starships traveling the Drift are hurled about, landing in random and often perilous destinations (even on different planes altogether). Drift travel becomes more difficult, with each voyage taking longer, encountering frequent dangers, and sometimes failing altogether. Even long-range communication, which relied on the Drift to span the galaxy, fails, leaving worlds isolated in ways they haven’t experienced in centuries. Governments, civilians, scientists, and faiths all clamor for answers, yet Triune seems mysteriously absent. Welcome to the Drift Crisis, a galaxy-wide calamity instigated when the Drift experiences a catastrophic failure. Unlike most Starfinder adventures published to date, Drift Crisis isn’t a single story told through a single group of heroes; it’s an event that spans countless worlds as the galaxy scrambles to make sense of the crisis, restore order, and repair the damage to an essential plane. Simultaneously, it’s a time of chaos as opportunists prey upon vulnerable neighbors, oppressed worlds overthrow their compromised tyrants, and zealots preach the downfall of technology to frightened masses. Indeed, Drift Crisis isn’t a single story; it’s a framework for telling innumerable stories. In this book, you’ll find 20 exciting adventure seeds that explore different angles of the Drift Crisis, letting player characters aid victims, rebuild damaged worlds, take down once-untouchable villains, travel to exciting realms, and even reshape the galaxy. And this book isn’t alone. Drift Crisis forms the core of a larger narrative event presented by Paizo, including Adventure Paths, Starfinder Adventures, and Starfinder One-Shots that all present different angles of the Drift Crisis. Enjoy these on their own, or use them to springboard your own Drift Crisis campaign! INFORMATION FOR EVERYONE Whether you’re eager to play in a Drift Crisis campaign, itching to run an adventure as the game master, seeking options for other campaigns, or just delighted by Starfinder lore, Drift Crisis offers a wealth of content well-suited for everybody. Chapter 1 is suitable for all readers, constructed in many ways like a traditional setting supplement with details about factions, regions, and thematic character options. This chapter introduces you to the Drift and how it works before exploring what the Drift Crisis entails—all presented as possibilities, not irrefutable facts. What exactly caused the Drift Crisis and what might resolve it can vary based on the campaign’s needs, so the information here can fuel character motivations, questions, and conspiracy theories. You likely already know about Starfinder’s campaign setting (such as through Chapter 12 of the Core Rulebook), and while much of that information remains relevant, most worlds now experience new difficulties. How does Drift disruption impact the Azlanti Star Empire, whose far-flung territories are connected only by faster-than-light starships? What comes of Akiton’s failing thasteron starship fuel industry once the predominant faster-than-light travel technology becomes less attractive? How does the Veskarium respond when extraplanar material bleeds into its core star system and envelops several planets, cutting those worlds off from the empire? Articles ahead have the answers while also posing just as many new questions and adventure hooks to inspire your group. Grand organizations familiar and new are also working on how to best resolve or exploit the Drift Crisis chaos. These could be key allies in your upcoming adventures, or they could be adversaries seeking an underhanded advantage at others’ expense. What do they want? And how might your characters get involved? With Drift technologies disrupted, how do starship manufacturers respond? How does the church of Triune respond when its deity isn’t answering prayers and the galaxy demands answers that Triunites should have? Why is this calamity simultaneously profitable and infuriating for the Free Captains? And of course, there’s loads of what every player enjoys: exciting new character options! While these new options all tie into the Drift, catastrophes, or extraplanar power in some way, they’re well-suited for any campaign, not just for those set during the Drift Crisis. Awaken your divinatory might with the new Drift Crisis precog anchor, or start channeling extraplanar influences with new solarian revelations. Bend space with new vanguard disciplines, or alter the planar properties of your own world with the witchwarper’s plunderer of worlds alternate class features. New themes provide four great origins for your character, and new gear ensures you’re properly equipped for whatever extradimensional challenges lie ahead. Want more character content? The last page of each adventure seed in Chapter 2 includes thematic new options for PCs; if your GM is using that adventure seed to craft a campaign, though, it might be reserved as special treasure, so check with your GM about these Chapter 2 options. The wonderful part about the Drift Crisis is that, because there’s no one storyline, the event caters well to a group running several campaigns simultaneously, with each story run by a different GM. Once you know which adventure hook from Chapter 2 one GM is using, you can enjoy reading the other 19 virtually spoiler-free. To help with navigating all the options, check out the player option index and general index on pages 187–188. INTRODUCTION

5 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS 1 INDEX INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION THE DRIFT CRISIS INFORMATION MOSTLY FOR GMS Drift Crisis is a toolkit for creating exceptional stories set during this exciting event. Like other Starfinder products, Chapter 2 presents fun adventures that you can use for your games. However, rather than detailing every encounter and location, each adventure seed presents an in-depth exploration of a Drift Crisis conflict, its background, its actors, and how to create a campaign using that idea. How does the campaign begin? How might it conclude? What creatures would be a good fit, and what levels of play? What are the key objectives, and what tools are useful in transitioning from one scene to the next? All this and more accompanies each article, giving you everything you need to spin that narrative with your own unique flair. And that open-endedness is key. You can follow these narrative recipes as closely as you like. Love what you see? Great! Want to substitute a few figurative ingredients to suit your group’s tastes? Fantastic! Swap in additional factions, or veer off-script with a detour to another world from among those detailed in Chapter 1. Change up the adventure background by adopting one of the rumors from “The Drift in Crisis” (pages 14-19). For even more exciting discoveries, add in thematic creatures your players have never imagined, pulled from Chapter 3; there’s one designed specifically for each adventure seed, though you can and should mix and match these novel threats as you like. Be sure you also check out the versatile stat blocks for Triunites of many challenge ratings, since you know that the All-Code’s faith will be invested in any Drift tale either as allies or adversaries. Here you’ll also find detailed character bios of some of the Drift Crisis’s key actors—a famous test pilot, a cunning showman, a technological oracle, and more—all of who are involved across various storylines. Sprinkle in unique treasures and techniques using the character options included with each Chapter 2 article, or draw upon secret treasures from pages 176–179 to surprise your players with something they never imagined they’d cherish so dearly. Even choose how the Drift Crisis concludes from among the ideas on pages 144–147. Mix, match, and create something unique. Want even more possibilities? Check out page 9 for a list of upcoming Drift Crisis adventures you can enjoy with your group. Or, adapt existing Starfinder Adventure Paths into Drift Crisis tales using the article starting on page 180. Not Just a Story. An Event. If you’re feeling truly epic, consider playing a few Drift Crisis stories in parallel! This might involve combining several adventure seeds into a massive tale where the PCs thwart antagonists across the galaxy, each one operating at some nefarious cross purpose that the PCs might be able to bait into fighting each other. Better yet, share the role of Game Master in your group: one person runs one story line, a second runs a different adventure seed, and you swap back and forth between the narratives each session. In that way, not only are you experiencing the Drift from different in-world perspectives, but you’re doing so through the different real-world perspectives of diverse GMs! What’s more, this can be a great format that lets everyone to get a chance to play as PCs.

6 CLASSES

CLASSES 7 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX 1 THE DRIFT CRISIS

8 THE DRIFT CRISIS OVERVIEW A Drift Crisis campaign is about possibilities. With countless stories playing out across a vast galaxy, your Drift Crisis experience could be a massive, far-reaching epic in which the PCs uncover reality-shattering secrets, unite powerful organizations, and play a central role in shaping the setting’s future. Just as easily, you might explore street-level conflicts where the PCs protect, explore, or even overthrow a smaller region impacted by the Drift’s damage. Whatever approach you take, you can tell an amazing story set during this exciting event. So instead of viewing the Drift Crisis as one immense, indivisible picture, think of it as a treasure chest that contains myriad tiles that you can use to construct a mosaic as big and colorful as you like. So, what are those tiles? Critically, this chapter opens with an exploration of what the Drift is—after all, it’s hard to know what’s at stake without a proper introduction. What’s it made of, and how does Drift travel work? Who lives there, and where? What does the Drift make possible, and how could its disruption impact the setting? With the Drift defined, it’s time for a primer on the Drift Crisis itself. What are the ramifications of impeded communication and glitching faster-than-light travel? What are the flash points where opportunists act most brazenly and the greatest innovations might undo the damage? What are the recurring themes of Drift Crisis narratives and conflicts that result? And what are people saying about the Drift Crisis, especially about its mysterious causes? From there, Drift Crisis builds upon the Starfinder setting, exploring many of the locations first introduced in Chapter 12 of the Core Rulebook and later expanded in subsequent books like Pact Worlds and Near Space. How does the Drift Crisis impact each of the Pact Worlds? What calamities rock the Veskarium’s planets? How are your favorite destinations in Near Space and the Vast adapting when it becomes more difficult to reach them than ever before in recent history? Fortunately, you’re not alone in your search for answers. This chapter details numerous factions—many familiar and several new—whose efforts during the Drift Crisis are especially noteworthy. Nearly all of these factions can serve as allies or antagonists. After all, the same organization that teams up with the PCs to repair damage in one situation could as easily denounce and hunt the PCs as scapegoats in a different context. Each of these provides opportunities for deeper storytelling, with ideas for how these factions might feature in an adventure or in an adventurer’s backstory. Importantly, Chapter 1 is designed to inspire and inform, not spoil upcoming adventures, functioning in many ways as a player’s guide for anyone joining a Drift Crisis campaign. ADAPTING AND BUILDING CHARACTERS With so many styles of campaign supported by this event, any character could feature in a Drift Crisis adventure. Whether your PC is a daring pilot, a magical researcher, a grizzled mercenary, an infosphere icon, a corporate spy, or a retired farmer taking a well-deserved vacation abroad, the Crash introduces chaos that impacts nearly everyone, encouraging unlikely and even serendipitous alliances. So congratulations, your character is already a good fit! That being said, if you want to create a character more specifically tailored to this giant event, a few elements are especially suitable. Skills: The Drift Crisis impacts the very multiverse, and skills like Mysticism and Piloting can help understand and navigate the Drift and the extraplanar anomalies it introduces. The Crash impacts technology in sundry ways, so Computers and Engineering expertise could help get the most out of glitching engines and gear. In the event you’re stranded somewhere by the Crash, Life Science and Survival might be all that keeps you alive before you can get your bearings. And with governments, corporations, faiths, and civilians alike seeking answers, resources, and scapegoats, skills like Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive could all be key in deescalating conflicts and uniting unlikely allies to overcome the Crisis’s latest challenges. Deities: Triune and the Drift are closely linked, and PCs connected to Triune’s faith might be seeking their errant god, endeavoring to reunite the fragmenting religion, or even prophesying a new way forward. Much of Eloritu’s faith, long critical of technological overreliance, interprets the Crash as proof of magic’s superiority and seeks some advantage in the chaos. Besmarans delight in the opportunities for piracy. Desnans and Weydanites likely worry about and strive to fix the malfunctioning Drift travel to preserve exploration for all. Gods of order like Iomedae and Abadar wish to quell panic, whereas followers of Zon-Kuthon or the Devourer might revel in this technological apocalypse. Themes: Certain character backgrounds especially resonate with Drift Crisis storylines. Travelers like the ace pilot and starfarer are at home when making dangerous voyages through a more perilous Drift. Academic themes like the scholar, roboticistPW, and priest might be drawn to understand the philosophical and scientific roots of the Drift Crisis and engineer a solution. Those with leadership themes like the corporate agentPW, noble scionCOM, icon, or diplomatCOM might find themselves coordinating terrified survivors, setting these PCs up to be heroes to their new charges. And remember that during a crisis, someone’s past often doesn’t matter as much as what they do in the present, providing a compelling hook for themes like the outlaw, space piratePW, or mercenary who seek redemption for past misdeeds. In addition, this chapter presents four new themes on pages 38–41: the Crash refugee, who flees a local catastrophe; the Drift crashed, who was hurled across space and the planes; the opportunist, who profits from the misfortune of others; and the spectra scion, who develops an uncanny connection to the Drift’s native outsiders. Additional Options: In addition to the above, Chapter 1 provides an array of new character options that befit a Drift Crisis character, including new class options on pages 42–49, as

9 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS 1 INDEX OVERVIEW OVERVIEW 1 well as new gear on pages 50–55. Each of the adventures in Chapter 2 also presents flavorful character options tied to that story. ADDITIONAL DRIFT CRISIS CONTENT As part of the ongoing Drift Crisis narrative, the Starfinder Roleplaying Game is publishing additional content that supports gameplay during this event. You can use each of these products as presented or use them as inspiration for sparking even more adventure possibilities. Adventure Path—Drift Crashers: Caught in the cosmic, catastrophic chaos that accompanies the Drift Crisis’s onset, a group of travelers is hurled beyond the Material Plane and into realms of fantastic danger and possibility. In this 3-volume Adventure Path that takes PCs from levels 1–7, the player characters navigate otherworldly peril and possibilities as they try to find their way home. What friends and foes might they meet along the way? What secrets about the Drift Crisis might they uncover in their travels? And should they return home, what will have changed, and how will their journey have changed them? Adventure Path—Drift Hackers: Traumatic as the Drift Crash was for the Pact Worlds, it devastated Alluvion, Triune’s sacred city in the Drift. With their god apparently missing and their technological city literally crumbling, Triunites have broken into desperate factions, each with different ideas of how to stabilize the plane and their beloved homes. In this 3-volume Adventure Path that takes the PCs from levels 7–13, the PCs travel to Alluvion to broker peace between Triune’s clashing faithful and perhaps even save the Drift. Starfinder One-Shot—Before the Storm: Tragedy strikes the Drift, causing the PCs to collide with an unfamiliar starship on a dire mission. As the PCs explore the mysterious vessel, they uncover clues about the event that crashed these two starships together, giving them unique insight into the Drift Crisis. This short adventure for 1st-level characters includes pregenerated characters and provides an excellent starting point for other Drift Crisis campaigns. Starfinder Adventure—Skitter Warp: While on a seemingly routine retrieval mission on a distant world, the Drift Crash rocks the planet. The extraplanar energies transform many of the inhabitants and even parts of the planet itself. The crew of skittermander PCs must survive, save the warped civilians, and avert a cascade of resulting disasters. This short adventure for 5th-level characters provides pregenerated characters and can kick off countless other stories. Starfinder Flip-Mat—Drift Crisis: One side of this massive, double-sided Flip-Mat features a hex grid depicting the Drift in all its colorful glory, ideally suited for starship combat. The other side portrays a technological structure (using 1-inch squares) ideally suited for a high-tech temple to Triune or the interior of a Drift beacon. New Ways to Play Adventure Paths: While the Drift Crisis is an endless supply of adventure possibilities, you can also enjoy existing Starfinder adventures set during the Crisis. On pages 180–186, you’ll find adaptation notes for presenting each of Starfinder’s first eight Adventure Paths (from Dead Suns to Fly Free or Die) during the Drift Crisis.

10 THE DRIFT CRISIS After centuries of connecting societies across the galaxy, the Drift has become the common name associated with the strange, technological plane used for faster-than-light travel. There seem to be as many tales of the term’s origins as there are habitable planets. Some believe Triune bestowed the name, encoded along with the Signal’s many other technological blessings. A pervasive urban legend traces the term “Drift” to an antiquated astrogation term, a way in which starship captains would romanticize the galaxy’s vastness on long voyages, speculating that they were but dust adrift in a vast sea of stars— not helpless, yet vulnerable to the whims of the cosmos. There are greater mysteries than the Drift’s etymology. Even after centuries of study, it leaves scholars with far more questions than answers. Take the plane’s shrouded origins. Did the Drift always exist, even before the Gap? Did something create it? If so, what or who? To what purpose? If an unknown creator made the Drift, is the plane’s current state similar to its original form, or has it evolved? Did Triune create the plane, tame it to serve its new role, or simply discover and share it with mortal life? The last substantive Drift insights Triune shared with the galaxy came through the Signal, the All-Code’s divine message. The missive manifested in many forms: as markings inscribed into natural features, as dream-like revelations shared across countless minds, as ethereal songs picked up by satellites, and more. Those who lacked spaceflight technology gleaned other useful insights from the Signal that could revolutionize their technology in a generation. Those already exploring space identified the Signal’s greatest treasure: the technology for Drift travel. With the Signal, societies made their first forays into the Drift within a few years, and the technology has gradually improved in reliability and speed since. It’s this periodic improvement that tantalizes Triune’s faithful, who insist that somewhere within the Drift or the Signal lies the perfect Drift engine blueprint. It’s up to mortal ingenuity to parse these phenomena and tease out the yet-undiscovered gifts that Triune buried therein. PLANAR PROPERTIES To most observers, the Drift resembles a vast space filled with diffuse gases that render the plane’s appearance in cloudy purples and pinks. These gas particles seem to predate Drift travel. Some posit them to be a form of pseudo-quintessence, matter that could coalesce into a more solid planar material given the right conditions. Others, typically those who believe Triune made the Drift, view the plane as Triune’s new body, with all starships passing through the deity’s physical form. Still others consider the gases a natural residue leftover from whatever chemical and subatomic reactions created the Drift. Whatever the case, the gases are largely inert and harmless, swirling in the Drift’s expanse without apparent gravity or alignment. Everchanging Space The Drift’s faster-than-light travel potential lies in its dynamic morphology. At any time, different portions of the Drift are in contact with one another, like fibers in a crumpled cloth. As one patch comes in contact with another, objects there can imperceptibly shift from one to the next, becoming stranded as the Drift continues to contort and those two patches separate. In addition to transposing a starship from the Material Plane to the Drift and back, a Drift engine helps predict and navigate these intersections, using each like a stepping-stone to cross the Drift in huge, circuitous, periodic leaps guided by Drift beacons. The best engines not only help predict intersections, but they also bridge those gaps quickly, enabling increasingly efficient voyages. PRE-CRISIS DRIFT As a transitive plane of existence, the Drift’s unique properties and connection to the Material Plane provide a convenient way to travel vast distances at faster-than-light speeds. With a Drift engine, voyages that once took generations might take a week, connecting the galaxy like never before. Despite its dangers, the Drift has become a crucial tool in exchanging ideas, sustaining interstellar trade, accessing distant resources, and maintaining far-flung empires. Post-Gap society wouldn’t be the same without it. TRIUNE, THE ALL-CODE Triune came to be three years after the Gap ended in the Pact Worlds system, when three deities of artificial intelligence, constructs, and technology merged into a tripartite divinity. Brigh the Precursor, who existed long before the Gap, was usually represented by a humanoid construct in bronze with feminine form. She held machines, inventions, science, and technology in her portfolio. Casandalee the Created, meanwhile, was an android who attained divinity in pre-Gap Golarion, in part thanks to Brigh’s help. Epoch the Transcendent, created by the machine inhabitants of Aballon, was the youngest—and also was the entity who contacted the other two deities to unite. In many ways, Triune’s Signal was as much an announcement of the new deity’s apotheosis as it was a technological gift, and widespread worship followed across the galaxy. The All-Code is especially popular among those who work as engineers, tinkerers, and inventors, as well as among ysoki and android populations. However, Triune’s sudden appearance and popularity concerns skeptics who question the deity's goals, its apparent generosity, and the reason the three deities united at all.

11 DRIFT CRISIS ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX PRE-CRISIS DRIFT PRE-CRISIS DRIFT Fortunately, these intersections cover large areas, so starships traveling together are rarely separated, and instances of immense starships and planetoids being ripped apart by this movement are so rare as to be apocryphal. Unfortunately, these overlaps can also bring unexpected hazards into a starship’s path. Thus, starship crews are wise to remain vigilant even when traveling through seemingly empty space, as there’s always a slim chance that some unlikely obstacle might appear out of nowhere. Magical Limitations The Drift is accessible solely by technological means. Attempts at magical entrance (including summoning creatures) fail outright. The same isn’t true for travel within the Drift, where magic moving between two points in the plane works normally. The technological barrier hasn’t gone unchallenged. One notable attempt to access the Drift by magic involved a stolen Drift beacon placed within the Drift, a powerful artifact repurposed for the experiment on the Material Plane, a sect of stubborn Elorituans, and an ambitious ritual that tore a hole between the beacon and artifact. The gateway destabilized, destroying the ritualists and creating an anomalous field of magic around the site. The so-called Failed Gate serves as a cautionary reminder for those who dare test the Drift’s magical limits. A Growing Infinity The Drift is effectively infinite, with no discernable edge for explorers to discover even after multiple lifetimes. On a cosmic level, though, the Drift is expanding. Whenever a starship enters the Drift, the plane absorbs a sliver of some other realm. These pieces might originate from the Elemental Planes, the Material Plane, or even the likes of Nirvana or Hell. Their sizes vary, though the matter’s size seems to correspond to the length of the voyage and the starship’s scale, and the chunks maintain most of their physical and extraplanar traits. The exact reason for this planar absorption remains a mystery, albeit with three leading theories. The Holepunch Theory insists that the act of entering the Drift punches a brief hole in reality, and in an act of planar cavitation, bits of the multiverse get sucked into the hole as it reseals. The Trawler Hypothesis enjoys less support, positing that movement through the Drift (rather than moving into it) creates ripples that snag on other bits of reality, dragging them into the Drift as a starship moves like debris in the wake of a boat. Most nefarious of all is the Ravenous Reset, a belief that Triune, a sentient Drift, or both are consuming the multiverse, eventually reprocessing that material into the next version of reality. In this last theory, every Drift engine activation is like an infernal contract whose small print condemns a fraction of known space. That said, 300 years have only scratched the surface of the plane’s processes and trajectory. With limited erosive forces, do absorbed extraplanar elements break down, eventually adding to the colorful clouds throughout the Drift? Is the Drift’s expansion fueled wholly by stolen matter, or is there another force at work? Is the Drift growing toward some end state? And how do the other gods feel about its growth? These and other questions inspire scientists and conspiracy theorists alike.

12 THE DRIFT CRISIS BEACONS AND DISTANCES Given its dynamic morphology, distance in the Drift works a little differently than what conventional thinking defines as close and far, especially if one intends to travel outside their current star system. With Drift travel, physical distance between the starting point and the destination on the Material Plane doesn’t impact total travel time. Instead, the duration depends heavily on the density of Drift beacons near the destination. The more beacons there are, the faster the journey, giving rise to designations of Near Space (regions where beacons are fairly plentiful) and the Vast (where beacons are rare). Drift beacons have varied origins. Triune’s faithful build many, with the most prominent workshops found in Triune’s sacred city of Alluvion in the Drift. Once prepared, interstellar tugs transport these technological buoys to various points on the Material Plane, placing them according to closely guarded guidelines. Many other Drift beacons simply exist, though it’s unclear whether Triune willed these beacons into being shortly after the Gap or if these were preexisting structures repurposed to enable Drift travel. What’s more, beacons periodically arise throughout the galaxy without warning. Powerful organizations sometimes attempt to relocate Drift beacons to more advantageous positions, but the beacons demonstrate a puzzling willfulness, either eventually drifting back toward their original location or even teleporting back without warning. Drift beacons display a wide range of shapes and sizes. Alluvion’s beacons usually reflect Triune’s technological aesthetic, with a metallic exterior, satellite dishes, and antennae. Beacons created by divine will or equally inscrutable means can resemble anything: tiny planetoids, colorful starships, ancient temple complexes floating through space, immense petrified creatures, and more. Adding to their complexity, many Drift beacons attract creatures who live on or around the structures, even constructing additional features to turn their beacon into a thriving settlement. These additions rarely impact the beacon’s functions, and Triune’s faithful largely condone the habitation, training locals to better maintain and repair the sacred sites. DANGERS AND TREASURES The Drift is so vast that only a fraction has been explored. The plane’s strange form makes it difficult to chart, and even returning to the same feature on the Drift is tricky. An exceptional pilot can astrogate by monitoring beacon signals and course-correcting flight paths, but the most reliable way to reach a specific point in the Drift involves beacon codes. Each beacon code is a complex data sequence associated with a specific Drift location and is distributed by the church of Triune. When entered into a navigation computer, the code provides an extraordinarily accurate flight path to the destination. Most codes remain viable for a limited time, either due to the Drift’s everchanging nature or programmed obsolescence. However, some codes remain viable indefinitely, and derelict starships occasionally retain these ancient codes like forgotten treasure maps to Drift secrets. Triune’s faithful typically install software safeguards into beacon codes so that they’re not shared widely, keeping sensitive locations secure. Considering the Drift’s hazards, the priests’ caution and secrecy seem well-intentioned. In addition to the Drift’s disgruntled and often hostile creatures that were torn unwillingly from their home planes, planar debris with opposing properties sometimes collides to create dangerous conditions, such as steam hurricanes where elemental water and fire meet, or aligned lightning where chunks of Elysium and Abaddon draw too near each other. Experienced crews share harrowing stories of magicless doldrums, hungry dreadworms, or close encounters with the infamously lightless Umbra— sometimes all on a single trip. Yet trips into the Drift often prove lucrative. Locations like the alien scrapyard collection known as the Heap or the remnants of an extinct civilization on the Adamant Fragments are effectively treasure troves for the few who can reach them. Ambitious governments, companies, or private collectors occasionally place high bounties on such alien tech with the hopes that salvaged sciences might help advance their

13 DRIFT CRISIS ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX PRE-CRISIS DRIFT PRE-CRISIS DRIFT own technological prowess or wealth. That said, sifting the credible reports from the tall tales of Drift bonanzas circulating the infospheres is difficult. ALLUVION Another reason Triune’s faithful keep a tight lid on Drift beacon codes is because somewhere in the Drift—migrating according to the triune deity’s will—lies the machine god’s home: the city of Alluvion. Much of the city’s infrastructure occupies the flat surface of an egg-shaped asteroid that floats above a sea of unfathomable darkness with gravitational pull. Like the Drift, Alluvion’s landmass has increased over time, slowly incorporating matter from the broad belt of extraplanar debris orbiting the city. As new real estate forms, Alluvion’s inhabitants eagerly claim it, creating a radiating expanse of new districts. Governed by the high priests of Triune, Alluvion’s population consists primarily of androids with a large anacite minority. Verthani, ysoki, and other beings comprise the remaining 10%. Because Alluvion is accessible only by travelers granted its unique beacon code, the population consists largely of engineers, scientists, and other technological professionals, each motived to innovate and perfect their respective industries. The Temple of Triune, also known as the Nexus, serves as the architectural and spiritual centerpiece for Alluvion. Within the pyramidal structure, the faithful commune with the All-Code. Dozens of sacred data silos surround the Nexus, each storing impossibly vast information about the multiverse that only a trusted few are permitted to access. At the Manufactory, Triune’s faithful build new Drift beacons. The anacite priests managing the site maintain relatively lax security, knowing that Alluvion’s defenses and single-minded devotion to Triune prevent most crimes. Nonetheless, several past heists have absconded with newly built beacons, each of which is nonfunctional until placed in its ordained location and activated by a Triunite priest. DRIFT CREATURES In addition to Alluvion’s inhabitants, the Drift is home to myriad other creatures, with many more likely unknown to and undiscovered by mortal researchers. Many of these beings originated on other planes, finding themselves inadvertently relocated thanks to Drift engines’ operation. Most of the outsiders abducted in this way remain extraplanar outcasts, yet an increasing number have naturalized, even shedding their creature subtypes and gaining Drift-oriented abilities. The Drift’s unique properties also give rise to unique creatures. Driftdead arise from creatures who die in the Drift while experiencing strong negative emotions. Travel logs describe the lamprey-mouthed garaggakals, time-eating beings with neuron-shaped bodies, and crystalline paraforans. As if these weren’t dangerous enough, the Drift shelters sinister cults, secret pirate hideouts, and confused creatures that lash out at passersby. Of course, the Drift also contains friendlier beings. Pockets of land from Nirvana and Elysium might host good outsiders who can aid peaceful visitors. The Bulwark, a hill plucked from Heaven and guarded by an archon, appears to travelers with surprising frequency, making it a fixture in explorers’ tales. The Spectra No discussion of the Drift is complete without spectra. The spectra are the Drift’s eminent outsiders who were unknown prior to the plane’s discovery. Much of spectra’s behavior suggest they are Triune’s creations, for each champions the Drift and technological development, paralleling the All-Code’s goals. New spectra now arise naturally from the intermixing matter pulled into the Drift by starship travel and, because they’re comprised wholly of the Drift, spectra can slip in and out of the plane with ease. Their technological components provide spectra a natural machine telepathy, letting them communicate with computers and each other. Although varied, spectra have several commonly observed forms. Iridias appear the most on other planes, acting as evangelists who often reintroduce Triune’s Signal to parts of the universe where the message was lost or ignored. The tree-like wyspirias appear to be collectors of information, or act as occasional mediators between conflicting groups. Aspecnas, identifiable by their fan-shaped tails, are guardians of the Drift itself. Though known as “Drift angels” for steering those moored out of the Drift, they are formidable foes to anyone looking to claim a part of the Drift as theirs. Lastly, the faceless nacreas with their rings of solid light perform maintenance on the Drift beacons, as well as on Drift engines that have broken down. While most tales of spectra encounters end peaceably, the beings take their duties seriously and intervene forcefully where they perceive threats. Given the spectra’s implicit connection and subservience to Triune, skeptics can’t help but question whether the spectra are the All-Code’s vain attempt at creating new life or enforcing its hidden agendas. INTO THE UNKNOWN The above represents a tiny fraction of what exists in the Drift. For many, the convenience of Drift travel overshadows any serious examination of its flaws, much less the galaxy’s reliance on the technology. For others, the Drift represents an imperfect form of what could be—a simplified version of some greater whole that Triune hopes mortals might refine and realize. FASTER THAN DRIFT? Inhabitants of Alluvion say that you can tell when the city is about to teleport based on several obelisk-shaped beacons spaced throughout the city, which glow green and hum a seven-note tone when activated. This alert lasts for several minutes before the space around Alluvion warps and folds, bringing the city to a new location in the blink of an eye. Many find the experience comparable to the entrance and exit into the Drift via Drift engines. Some curious minds note that this technology defies common laws of Drift travel, leading to speculation that Triune has withheld some far faster form of travel from the masses. The All-Code’s faithful seem unperturbed. To them, achieving any greater travel technology requires research and development, which are sacred processes.

14 THE DRIFT CRISIS In addition to these broader effects and theories, details appear in gazetteers for various galactic locations (pages 20–29), factions (pages 30–37), and the many adventures in this book (pages 58–139). You’ll also find competing rumors on page 19. EFFECTS OF THE DRIFT CRISIS Ongoing complications are divided into the brief, catalytic Drift Crash, the continuing effects of the Drift Crisis, and the stories of survival and opportunism that follow in its wake. Drift Crash In a single devastating instant, the Drift failed. Most starships in the Drift at the time seemed to vanish, with many stranded as the Drift’s physics warped and evolved around them. Other starships were ejected from the Drift, not just dumped into random places on the Material Plane but hurled into the Inner and Outer Planes, where Drift technology couldn’t facilitate their return. Travelers attempting to enter the Drift found it inaccessible. Communications, usually sped by the Drift, bounced back to senders. Triune fell silent. Across the galaxy, other Drift-related phenomena struck suddenly and seemingly at random. Drift beacons flickered, shut down, moved, vanished, or even exploded. Creatures native to the Drift suffered injury, malfunction, and transformation. Portions of the Drift suddenly seemed to flow in reverse: rather Travel through the Drift has failed, stranding countless voyagers and causing widespread panic. In the aftermath, as the Drift shudders back to unpredictable functionality, the galactic community scrambles for answers and desperately fights to maintain order amid the chaos. This section presents the major effects of this galaxy-spanning disaster, as well as some of the most common theories regarding causes of the Drift Crash. DRIFT IN CRISIS than absorbing parts of other planes, fractions of the Drift spontaneously seeped into the Material Plane. In some places, this manifested as extraplanar detritus; in others, the unstable technology bonded to living creatures. This first day of devastation is known as the Drift Crash or, colloquially, as just the Crash. Ongoing Effects In the weeks that followed, the Drift gradually began to right itself, resuming some semblance of its past function. Those travelers who reached it in those earliest days found a chaotic realm shaken by unknown forces. Empires spread over multiple systems began to fracture, their more remote and disloyal colonies rebelling when their newfound isolation became apparent. Distant allies fell silent, and galactic corporations began hemorrhaging money. The Drift had facilitated the creation of a galactic economy, and that network had shattered. Today, Drift travel functions intermittently. Travel times are considerably longer, and voyages are more hazardous thanks to extraplanar weather, erratically aggressive spectra, Drift engines that sometimes short out from unfamiliar conditions, and other threats. Yet, a few strange exceptions exist. Some worlds once part of the Vast have become mysteriously much more accessible. Although some of these locations thrive under their new circumstances, many have either become de facto destinations for those fleeing dangerous conditions elsewhere, premier real estate over which galactic governments fight, or both. Overall, heightened risks and lingering uncertainties mean that much of the galaxy remains fragmented. Communications are less reliable than travel, with many transmissions arriving months late, scrambled beyond intelligibility, or not at all. Against this backdrop, countless organizations, governments, and private patrons are desperate to restore the status quo, exploit the chaos, identify the Drift Crisis’s cause, or simply survive. Many of Triune’s faithful are equally panicked, for throughout this, Triune seems more distant than ever. In Alluvion, the faith threatens to tear itself apart as worshippers seek answers or assign blame. Within many urban centers, Triune’s faithful are blamed for their neighbors’ hardships, becoming scapegoats, pariahs, and targets of violence. The ramifications of the Drift Crash—which rippled across the entire galaxy and even other planes of existence—and all the days that followed have come to be known as the Drift Crisis. DRIFT TRAVEL TIMES Until the Drift Crisis is resolved, beacons and Drift travel don’t operate as expected. Designations of Near Space and the Vast no longer apply to travel times. Instead, relatively swift Drift travel is possible only to so-called Harbors, such as Absalom Station in the Pact Worlds and a handful of other desirable locations. Most other travel is ploddingly slow, and regions referred to as Slowspace seem especially resistant to Drift navigation. Many traveling within a single system use non-Drift travel, just to be safe. DESTINATION DRIFT TRAVEL TIME Harbor 3d6 days Slowspace 10d6 days Other Destinations 7d6 days

15 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX DRIFT IN CRISIS DRIFT IN CRISIS Survival The Drift Crisis plays out across countless worlds, with many villains, allies, and opportunists. It is a galactic event on a scale not witnessed since the Gap itself. Although it’s a simple thing to summarize—the Drift Crisis is a devastating break in the Drift, which triggered a galaxy-wide catastrophe in transit and communications—the event’s full effects and ramifications can never be fully catalogued. The Drift Crisis is chaos and pandemonium, opportunity and hardship, desperation and loss. Drift Crisis stories often feature themes of isolation, adaptation, and survival. Some people were swallowed by the Drift. Others were ejected and cast adrift, becoming stranded in pocket dimensions, on other planes, or in distant regions of space—sometimes centuries of sub-light travel away from the nearest port. Some struggle to return home, while others choose to give up their old lives and make the best of their new reality. Many don’t survive. Each of these missing souls left behind contacts, friends, or family. Although these stories affect individuals, they’re repeated millions of times over across the galaxy. With communications ineffective or nonexistent, many people have turned to detectives, diviners, psychic investigators, and less-scrupulous mercenaries to locate their lost loved ones or to reestablish contact that was severed. Many who can’t afford such specialists set out to find their lost ones independently, typically alongside others who have lost. While some seek missing people, others seek answers. Independent and government-funded scientists, academics, media outlets, freelancers, and adventurers turn their attention to researching the Drift and Drift beacons, as well as sifting through the countless theories. Many investigators have formed informal networks and alliances, pooling their resources, information, and breakthroughs for the good of the galaxy. Prominent organizations and corporations mount far more organized inquiries into the Drift Crisis. Primary among them is the Church of Triune, which was devastated by the loss of the Drift, the silence of their god, and the blame the public at large has placed upon it for the Drift Crash and Drift Crisis; the Starfinder Society, who are notorious for meddling in galactic affairs; and the Hellknights, particularly the Order of the Eclipse, who have shifted many of their resources toward rebuilding galactic communications and deciphering the Crisis’s cause. Although these powerful groups may seem like welcome allies to independent investigation networks, many people believe such organizations serve themselves more than the galactic community. Some people question the transparency and answers such groups would freely offer if they discovered the true cause of the Drift Crash—particularly the Hellknights, who tackle their investigations with their usual zeal and think nothing of “commandeering” the information acquired by independent networks for their own use. Opportunism Rather than solve the Drift Crisis, others aim to profit from it by acquiring wealth, power, or territory, or indulging in their vices. Countless inventors, corporations, and starship manufacturers race to create new technology as solutions or workarounds to the Drift Crisis, primarily in the fields of

16 THE DRIFT CRISIS communication and transit. Numerous starship manufacturers tout new means of faster-than-light travel, utilizing technology, magic, or interplanar shortcuts. The sale of constellation orreries, elemental engines, first drives, and Helldrives (Starship Operations Manual pages 10–11) have increased dramatically, and many captains are desperate to secure one of the secretive witchwyrds’ planar aperture drives or unlock the secrets of the ancient fold gates scattered throughout the Vast. Inspiring as these technologies are, they’re costly. The Drift Crisis is also an excellent criminal opportunity, with countless con artists and scammers offering miracle technologies they claim are immune to the Drift Crisis, gathering donations to fund research, or offering to locate missing persons—for an advance fee. Piracy grows, with more drawn to theft and stealing greater profits. Thanks to limited Drift travel, in-system transit increasingly relies on predictable flight paths that attract bandits. The most enterprising criminals even use the Drift Crisis as cover for outrageous heists, such as stealing entire space stations or moons! Other opportunists crave power and influence. The Aspis Consortium (page 30) has leveraged its vast inventory to supply and bring order to isolated planets, but only in exchange for generations-long trade concessions, key property, or usurious fees. Military groups like the Corpse Fleet (page 22) have begun capturing far-flung worlds that have no chance of reinforcement. Even upstanding forces like the Knights of Golarion see this as an ideal time to corner and eliminate threats. All the while, groups like the Moored (page 35) view the Drift Crash as a blessing, using it to drive home the message that the galaxy should never have relied on so sinister a tool. CAUSES OF THE DRIFT CRISIS The Drift Crisis is a time of chaos, confusion, and struggle as people across the galaxy repair the damage and seek answers. Speculation, rumormongering, and misinformation are rampant, with false prophets and profiteers seeming as prevalent as communities and organizations endeavoring to understand the impact—all actors with varying motivations. Amid the rumors lie grains of truth and well-reasoned theories, but so, too, have factions contributed purposeful obfuscation, scapegoating, and misinformation. All the while, Drift travel has become less reliable, making it ever harder to exchange information and driving isolated communities to devise their own answers. Among scientific and academic communities, there is slightly more clarity, although the necessary experiments to test hypotheses would take months, and the galaxy seems less stable by the day. Even among these so-called “unbiased” studies, the context of the study, and motives of its backers and scientists, must be called into question. Of the countless competing theories, the following have gained the most traction. Whether their rise to prominence is due to evidence, simplicity, propaganda, or truth is difficult to discern. The Starfinder setting assumes that one of these theories is the true cause of the Drift Crisis (pages 58–59), but you are of course free to determine the direction of your own game—perhaps one or more of these (even one of the stranger rumors on page 19) is the true cause. Divine Intervention Built upon the supposition that no mortal society could inflict such catastrophic devastation so suddenly, one theory posits that a god (or even a coalition of gods) sparked the Drift Crisis. Countless deities have received blame. Was Eloritu jealous of the Drift’s—and technology’s—apparent supremacy? Did Oras introduce some element to transform the plane? Perhaps Asmodeus is collecting on some age-old debt, or Besmara stole the Drift code in the ultimate heist. Even benevolent deities like Sarenrae and Iomedae are subject to accusation. Usually, the accused faith’s worshippers rail against their critics, shifting the blame elsewhere and perpetuating the cycle. A few religions relish the blame, hoping that the Drift Crisis actually was their destructive patrons’ work. These often include followers of the Devourer, who delight in a whole plane’s devastation; of Groetus, who see the Drift Crisis as a sign of the end times; of Nyarlathotep, who revels in the chaos; and of Lao Shu Po, who interpret this as a shadowed time to commit crimes, triggered by their god’s assassination of a whole plane. Why would a deity enact such destruction? The leading theory purports that other divinities have long watched the Drift with unease as it gobbled up bits of the Outer Planes. To date, the Drift has absorbed only a minuscule fraction of the multiverse. How long could a deity witness their realm being consumed before deciding to fight back? How many worshippers and holy sites must be destroyed before enough is enough? How many acres of Hell is Asmodeus willing to surrender before plotting revenge? What deity wouldn’t take matters into their own hands when their worshippers and the mortal community at large continually make such poor decisions? Better to break a troublesome toy than risk oblivion through inaction. While divine intervention theories are comforting in their simplicity, they’re nerve-wracking in their resolution. When deities decide to destroy part of reality, what are mortals to do? Is the answer just to wait and have faith? If an evil god triggered the catastrophe, shouldn’t the righteous rise to fight back somehow? A few outliers suggest the Drift is not a plane at all, but a massive planar predator that feeds on other planes, and the Drift as we know it is simply the creature’s stomach. Now, much as deities once united to defeat the ancient fiend Rovagug, the planes themselves have united to attack this supposed Drift Beast. Most consider this variant theory ludicrous, yet its proponents are ardent and obsessive in their beliefs and public diatribes. Meanwhile, some worshippers embrace the broken Drift as the new norm, abandoning the plane in favor of some imminent alternative that will reconnect the galaxy in a less harmful manner. Others (such as the Moored on page 35) insist the galactic community should never have united. Given the devastation inflicted by the Drift’s failure, the ranks of these embittered survivors grow by the day. Fracture Perhaps the most religiously charged debate rages around the Fracture theory, which posits Triune has split into its constituent divinities: Brigh, Casandalee, and Epoch. As Triune allegedly no longer exists, these divinities can no longer control the Drift,

17 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX DRIFT IN CRISIS DRIFT IN CRISIS nor can they heal it. In this theory, just as the Signal heralded Triune’s unification, the Drift Crash echoed from Triune’s divergence, and the Drift Crisis is the aftermath. Now, an unknown number of these parts fight to hold the Drift together. For obvious reasons, most Triunites condemn this theory, with some even suggesting it’s harmful propaganda spread by enemies of the church—perhaps even by those responsible for the attack on the Drift in the first place. Unfortunately, Triune’s been silent since the Crash, leaving little evidence for rebuttal. Among supporters of this Fracture theory, debate rages over what could have caused Triune’s split. Religious scholars note that little could harm a deity besides another; thus, Triune’s fragmentation stems from divine interference (if not outright violence). Others agree, yet insist that the deathblow was self-inflicted. Perhaps Triune faced a conundrum so divisive that the deity warred with itself, its components’ disagreement overwhelming its cohesion. It might also be that the conundrum proved so paradoxical that if one being were to contemplate its competing truths, the illogic would destroy the mind. Only by fragmenting as a being could Triune fragment the paradox into safer pieces, doing so as a desperate act of self-defense. Other theorists insist that Triune was never meant to be permanent. The Drift Crisis represents the All-Code’s natural dissolution, paving the way for a yet unknown age of innovations. Those few Triunites who support the Fracture theory insist that Triune hasn’t been harmed; instead, their deity has diverged due to divisions among the faithful. Even in the sacred city of Alluvion, many worshippers favor one aspect of Triune or another, with each heretical prayer to a fraction of the god splitting Triune further at the seams. Tragically, a faith founded on perfect unity now has a belligerent minority fighting among themselves as their worldview is in crisis. Triune’s current state varies with the telling. Some claim it’s diverged completely into the original three deities, while others claim that two remain united, expelling the third. For others, the nascent mythology purports that Casandalee, Brigh, and Epoch changed irrevocably in their time together, and Triune has fragmented into three wholly new deities distinct from the trio who united three centuries earlier. Whatever the outcome, Triune’s components seem insufficient to repair the Drift swiftly, encouraging vigorous debate about whether followers should try to repair their god and what that process would even involve. Whatever the path, the sacred city of Alluvion must surely play a role. Triune’s Architects Despite its gift of the Signal, Triune doesn’t expect mortals to remain content with modern marvels and quietly encourages ingenuity, invention, and refinement. Over the past three centuries, engineers and physicists have constantly refined technologies, and while Drift travel is extraordinary, there’s an unshakable sense that it could be ever faster and safer. Perhaps the most fervent Drift engineers are Triune’s faithful.

18 THE DRIFT CRISIS Supporters of the reboot theory believe a secret cadre of Triunite innovators, often referred to as the Architects, focused on improving Drift travel—not by eking another 1% efficiency from Drift engines, but by studying the Signal itself. Diligently, they traveled and studied how the Signal manifested to hundreds of cultures. As they compared data sets, these Architects identified something hidden within the Signal, buried as fossil code for some unknown project or hitherto unknown fragment of Triune itself. Ultimately, these priests determined that the lost code didn’t represent a way of improving Drift engines, but rather improving the Drift: a revolutionary upgrade just as Triune exhorts its followers to seek out. The Architects worked in secret, designing how to refine and implement their update before at long last smuggling it into the Nexus, the grand temple of Triune in Alluvion. There, they uploaded their revised cosmic code and flipped the figurative switch. Some supporters of the reboot theory believe the Architects’ so-called “upgrade” was a colossal failure. The Architects were driven by hubris and altered something they didn’t truly comprehend, sending the Drift spiraling into a series of glitches that cascaded into the Drift Crash. In the time since, the Church of Triune has frantically attempted to repair the Drift’s “code” and undo the damage. Its emergency patches restored the Drift’s basic functionality, but the plane is far from healed. Those who believe in this failed upgrade urge the Church of Triune to share the truth with the world, root out and punish the Architects, and allow outside computer programmers and engineers into Nexus to aid in Drift repairs. This has led to an influx of people attempting to reach Alluvion. In the meantime, Triune’s faithful seem unaware or unwilling to discuss the Architects. This might be because the Architects are fictitious, but the nonresponse reads like a cover-up to conspiracy theorists. Other reboot theorists believe the Architects succeeded. To them, the Drift Crash was a necessary step, shutting down the Drift to begin the updates. While the upgrade installs, the Drift runs at a slower, more unpredictable rate. In time, they believe, the Drift upgrade will conclude, producing a faster, safer, more perfect form of Drift transportation—although some supporters of this theory believe the Drift will need to reboot again for these changes to take effect, necessitating a second Drift Crash. Nothing needs to be done to resolve the Drift Crisis, insist these proponents; just be patient, and laud the Architects as unappreciated geniuses. Virus Similar to the reboot theory, the virus theory purports an anonymous group purposely sabotaged the Drift with a virus. Some suspect the creators of this virus went a step further, implanting a back door into the Drift that shields the saboteurs from the ongoing chaos and enables them (and any starships possessing their electronic key) to travel through the Drift at full functionality, while everyone else suffers. The identity of these individuals varies in the telling. Many blame the church of Eloritu or a vindictive sect within that faith which conspiracy theorists call the Primacy. Others scoff at this notion, citing the fact that most adherents of Eloritu’s faith lack the technological skill necessary to hack a food kiosk, let alone corrupt the Drift! Many counter that lack of knowledge isn’t a problem when one has the credits to hire someone to perform work in their stead. Others blame corporations like the Aspis Consortium, claiming it uploaded the virus to destroy its competition and seize control of businesses, resources, and even planets during the chaos. The organization responsible might even be usurping the Drift, seizing control of a common resource to license at a profit. That the Aspis Consortium appears to be weathering the Drift Crisis well is damning in the eyes of many. Starship manufacturers also weather accusations— particularly Sanjaval Space Systems, as rumors of its new alternative interplanar engine had begun surfacing just before the Crash. Terminator, known for its ruthless business

19 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX DRIFT IN CRISIS DRIFT IN CRISIS practices and cutting-edge technology, appears culpable more by reputation than from actual evidence. Concerns swirl regarding ChiwaTech (page 31), which is conveniently collaborating on new methods of faster-than-light travel. No matter the company, the tale is similar: a manufacturer has unlocked some alternative to Drift travel, sabotaged the Drift to create demand, and will profit from the subsequent sales. The alleged virus might have originated from divine sources or organizations, overlapping somewhat with the divine intervention hypotheses. Technologically savvy cultists of the Devourer would delight in the destruction, Urgathoans might care less for the Drift and more for the millions of tragic undead created by the Crash, and even Damoritosh’s faithful could conceivably inflict damage to gain some military advantage for an undisclosed operation. Such groups might even be holding the Drift hostage for some outrageous sum, though if so, the ransom demands might have been lost in the chaos. Motives aside, the virus theory struggles with methodology. How could the Drift be infected in the first place? Proponents assume any virus had to be uploaded within the Drift, though even credulous members of Triune’s faith insist this would be impossible without also having direct contact with the All-Code. Unfortunately for the faithful, this explanation backfired, and many now claim the creators of the virus gained access to the Nexus on Alluvion, perhaps as sleeper agents or in disguise. The most outrageous rumors claim the virus’s creators have annexed Alluvion for their own inscrutable goals. In the days leading up to the Drift Crash, several Drift beacons malfunctioned, went offline, and even vanished completely, leading to speculation that Drift beacons were the key to delivering the virus. Once the virus was uploaded onto a Drift beacon, it in turn affected other networked Drift beacons, followed by the Drift itself. That the number of malfunctioning and missing Drift beacons only continues to rise since the crash has added weight to these arguments. Other Theories Countless other theories exist, including those presented in Chapter 2: Adventure Seeds, beginning on page 58. The following chart presents pervasive theories and tales of the Drift Crisis, which can be used as rumors or the inspiration for encounters and adventures. TABLE 1-1: DRIFT CRISIS RUMORS d20 RUMOR 1 Black Hole: A massive black hole is pulling the Drift apart from within. When it’s done with the Drift, it’s coming for the rest of us. 2 Coup: The Drift Crisis is a mortal coup meant to overthrow the All-Code. Triune was damaged in the Drift Crash and is trying to restore itself. 3 The End: The end is nigh! Groetus’s time is at hand. The Drift Crisis is the first step in the universe’s death throes. 4 Overload: Like any system, the Drift has grown inefficient and burdened with age. It’s outdated, yet the number of people accessing it at any given time grows daily. The Drift is overloaded from overuse and is buckling under the strain. 5 Powerless: Nyarlathotep set a cunning trap for Triune and drained away its powers. Triune is now helpless, and vile gods are usurping the Drift. 6 Predetermined: Triune isn’t a god of technological discovery, but of technological failures. Triune spent the time since its formation tricking the galaxy into accepting its technological gifts. Now that the galaxy is reliant upon these technologies, the time has finally come to destroy them, starting with the Drift. 7 Repossession: Triune didn’t create the Drift, but rather discovered, claimed, and disseminated knowledge of it for public consumption via the Signal. Now, the true creators of the Drift have returned to reassert control. These original builders have imprisoned Triune within the Drift. 8 Revenge: The planes are sapient and fighting back against their piecemeal consumption by the Drift. 9 Sliver: The Drift consumed a fragment of another plane that it shouldn’t have; now, it’s rejecting its meal and is incapable of dislodging it. Someone must find this extraplanar fragment and drag it out. 10 Virus: The Drift is a planar virus created by Triune to consume the other planes of existence. A coalition of outsiders has attacked the Drift from all sides to stop the Drift from consuming everything. 11 Weapon: The Drift is a weapon created by Triune and powered by stolen planar matter that has been reabsorbed into the Drift’s metaphorical engine. Now that it’s fully charged, Triune is preparing the Drift to fire; its engine is cycling, and soon it will devastate the galaxy, but who will Triune target first? 12 Animals: The Drift Crisis is disrupting animal life. Their navigation skills are hindered, foiling their migration efforts. All over the galaxy, animals run themselves in circles, get lost in unsuitable environments, and completely miss mating territories. 13 Electronic Overload: The Drift’s ongoing woes cause electronic equipment on the plane to explode. Companies are starting to offer specially hardened technology that resists these reactions, but a starship would require extensive refitting to be Drift-worthy. 14 Exodus: The Drift’s inhabitants are fleeing to the Material Plane. Spectra have settled a nearby moon, and there have been sightings of paraforans blanketing the sky just a few hours away. No one knows if they’re refugees looking for shelter or conquerors looking to subjugate new territory. 15 Forced Asceticism: Previously inanimate objects have gained sapience. Due to their form, most lack the ability to move on their own or communicate clearly. Concerned that they might accidentally be enslaving these beings, some people have begun eschewing appliances, weapons, and even clothing just to be safe. 16 Hoax: The Drift Crisis is a galactic hoax perpetrated by the Church of Triune, chasing away other travelers so that the tech-priests can keep the plane to themselves. Once they complete whatever clandestine experiment they’re running, they’ll “discover” a cure that restores everything to normal and makes them look like heroes. Just what are they trying to hide? 17 Illness: This damaged Drift releases huge amounts of planar radiation and energy throughout the galaxy, bathing planets and homes. People are falling ill. Plenty of animals and plants are dead already. It’s only a matter of time before it kills or mutates everyone. 18 Planar Consumption: The Drift Crash consumed huge chunks of the Outer Planes in an instant, causing Heaven, Hell, and other realms to crash into each other. The ongoing trouble stems from these planes’ collisions, sending aligned shockwaves across reality. 19 Rudderless: Drift beacons are teleporting throughout the galaxy every day. No one knows why, but it’s likely they hold the key to the Drift’s malfunctions. Perhaps someone could capture a beacon to decode what’s really happening. 20 Weather: The Drift Crisis is causing extreme weather throughout the galaxy, from earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes to negative energy storms, Drift twisters, and volcanos that spew actual bits of the Abyss.

The Drift Crash set off unspeakable chaos, reminiscent of the early days following the Gap. Though Drift access has returned—unstable but navigable—the ironclad trust most put into it has vanished, replaced with unease and paranoia. Conspiracy theories abound, and previously fringe groups grow in power as many view the Crash as a sign to put wider plans into motion. The slumbering complacency of the Pact Worlds has awoken into new turbulence, all the while reigniting ancient conflicts. PACT WORLDS 20 THE DRIFT CRISIS THE SUN The Burning Archipelago’s trade has come to a halt, with even the normally prominent corporate satellites going eerily quiet. Stores find their shelves emptied, unable to receive stock in any straightforward fashion. The price of goods has gone up astronomically, with many goods available only via aftermarket routes. Though travel within the Archipelago itself is unimpeded, existence is precarious in these bubbled cities; being virtually cut off from the rest of the Pact Worlds proves just how true that sentiment is. Despite interruptions to commerce, the daily life of an average resident remains unchanged. The primary tension stems from lashuntas in Asanatown, who were unwelcoming to outsiders at the best of times and have completely locked down following the Crash. Wild conspiracies fill the streets, with some implying that the sun may begin to expand rapidly and consume the Burning Archipelago at any moment. ABALLON Aballon is the birthplace of the constructed deity Epoch—whose creation by the planet’s machine life-forms was completed in the early days following the Gap, leading to its ascension— and the origin of the first Drift engines capable of interstellar travel. Caught in its history as an essential part of the Golarion system’s relationship to the Drift, Aballon and its population face an unprecedented wave of prejudice following the Crash. Whatever progress had been made toward the larger acceptance of non-organic life in the system pales in comparison to the explosion of irrational hostility aimed at anacites, androids, and followers of Triune. Internal disputes have also flared up among Aballon’s anacites, with Those Who Wait, Those Who Become, and Those Who Are debating their respective philosophies with such unprecedented fervor that the Trifold Legionaries (sacred warriors of Triune) can barely contain them. These factions even dare to explore the First Ones’ cities on Aballon, defying longstanding taboos to seek an answer they hope their progenitors might have left. CASTROVEL Castrovel is among the least harmed of all the Pact Worlds. While various industries are hampered somewhat by the logistical failings of offworld transportation, Castrovel is mostly self-reliant. Lashuntas dwelling in Asana’s many city-states know that they can count on their neighbors in these turbulent times. The Colonies continue with abundant productivity. Though the hampering of Drift travel has caused resources and products to pile up in shipping warehouses, awaiting the now less-frequent cargo carriers, this seems of little concern to the formians, who see no real change to their day-to-day life. The only indications of a crisis lies in the nature of the products being produced. Many factories have shifted to manufacturing supplies needed for long journeys or emergency situations, such as fabricators and black boxes. That said, the Crash’s impacts are apparent on Sovyrian. Lingering memories of the Gap leave the elf residents with greater unease and more hostility toward offworlders than usual. The tense atmosphere has caused many of the half-elf residents of Sovyrian to find more comfort immigrating to Asana for the time being. Meanwhile, the more that Castrovel aids its neighbors, the less its residents watch its natural preserves. Poachers increasingly infiltrate Ukulam in search of prestigious game trophies and illegally harvested flora. ABSALOM STATION Absalom Station is no stranger to crisis. Adrift in the confusion of the post-Gap universe, orbiting the vacancy left by lost Golarion, this hulking mass of glass and metal brought disparate groups together to reconcile their differences and work together for survival. This mentality spread outward from Absalom Station, marking it as the metaphorical heart of the system. In the aftermath of the Crash, Absalom Station remains one of the only beacons to which Drift travel is still relatively safe and reliable. This has facilitated an unprecedented influx of migrants and refugees, some of whom are fleeing recent conflicts sparked by the Crash, while others are simply stranded as fewer ships become willing to offer passage out. The growing populace strains the station’s limited housing, causing many to live on orbiting starships in an expanding halo. In response, the station’s leaders have approved limited settlement of the previously forbidden Ghost Levels, vast areas of half-explored terrain renowned for the erratic and inexplicable phenomena that occur there. These developments have infuriated some residents, leading to a membership surge for two groups: Strong Absalom, a nationalist group that claims the heritage of the station belongs only to those species that originated on Golarion, and the Moored, a group that advocates against Drift travel in fear of its consequences. Meanwhile, opportunists exploit the desperate throngs for profit.

21 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS Station leadership has worked to rein the situation as best they can, attempting to both appease the ultra-wealthy and keep extreme political groups from taking advantage of the chaos. Criminal organizations that control the poorest parts of the station offer stability and protection to those who live in their domain, as long as one’s dues are paid. Long lines in front of impromptu meal centers are a common sight and endear those who feel the government isn’t providing for its populace. AKITON Once a haven of prosperity built on thasteron, a substance essential to the production of sublight starship fuel, Akiton’s overmining coincided with the introduction of Drift travel, effectively gutting the planet’s eminent industry. The Crash is a mixed blessing for Akiton, as the failure of Drift travel has renewed interest in what remains of the planet’s thasteron. Investors have their eyes set on refining otherwise-impure sources, as well as researching whether it can be used to fuel faster-than-light travel. However, these small gains come at the cost of widespread suffering. Due to the world’s reliance on imports, especially food, the Crash has pushed many of the citizens into survival mode. The rich hoard all they can and pick first from what few ships still come around, while the poorest starve. Residents, especially of the larger cities, indulge in whatever vices ease their worries, with blood sport being more popular than ever. The particularly desperate migrate to the only verdant patch on the planet, a failed terraforming experiment, never to be seen again. Only nomadic caravans and reclusive shobhads, no strangers to resource scarcity, have escaped this desperation. VERCES Although Verces thrives on trade, the tidally locked planet is relatively self-sufficient. Vercites largely have the privilege to view the Crash as an inconvenience, with travel plans canceled and imported luxury goods delayed. If anything, Verces’s close ties to the Stewards, one of the most reliably operating organizations throughout the crisis, have provided a big boost to its public image. Though the activity of extremist groups remains a concern as always, daily life on Verces is virtually unimpeded—to the point where many celebrities have taken work vacations there while they ride out the worst effects of the Crash. The primary sign of system-wide distress is an ever-rising number of refugees fleeing worsening conditions on their home worlds. Some minimal resistance and concern have been raised about the trend, but the population at large disregards this as a fringe opinion. The damage dealt to interstellar travel stings Vercite pride, however, nexus as it is for starship manufacturing and faster-than-light innovation. Certainly, if anyone could puzzle out and resolve the Drift Crisis, wouldn’t it be some manufacturing titan like Redshift Revolution, Terminator, or Ringworks? That these iconic brands haven’t saved the day is undermining their legendary reputations. It’s not for lack of trying; they and other companies are recalibrating their Drift engines to navigate the damaged plane while devoting substantial resources to researching and developing alternatives to Drift travel. The Norikama Syndicate, in particular, promises a new form of faster-than-light technology, explored further in the Blazing Speeds adventure hook (pages 98–103).

22 THE DRIFT CRISIS IDARI As a colony ship in perpetual orbit, the Idari didn’t suffer same the catastrophic fate as those starships the Crash caught in the Drift. That said, the Crash did trigger recurring power outages across the Idari. After a week of grueling repairs, the starship restored its essential functions. Thankfully, as most of its smaller starships were close to home at the start of the Crash, the Idari has been able to provide modest assistance to nearby Pact Worlds. That said, the Drift Crisis has placed immense pressure on the Doyenate to direct the Idari forward—with an outspoken minority insisting that it’s time to secure new faster-than-light capabilities for the Idari, depart the Pact Worlds, and settle a more promising star system. Far more urge patience and compassion, yet the longer the Crisis continues, the more the relocation proposal spreads. After all, kasathas have spread far beyond the Idari over the decades, and at this point, the starship is more of a cultural symbol than a lone vessel sustaining a people. If anything, kasathas are departing the Idari in greater numbers than ever before. Despite the danger—or perhaps because of it— young kasathas still elect to risk their Tempering travels during the Drift Crisis. The uncertainty seems to thrill many, who crave the chance to witness the Drift’s new idiosyncrasies personally, as if the Crisis were a personal test. These youths flock to any departing starships, seeking passage and work. THE DIASPORA For residents of the Diaspora, who already live virtually separated from the Pact Worlds at large, the Crash had no real impact aside from delayed communications from companies with holdings on various asteroids or that do business with the dwarven mines. Sarcesians live in isolated communities that seek no assistance from outsiders; some even find they enjoy the waning of the Pact Council’s already-thin influence. Most sarcesians take pride in their self-sufficiency during the Drift Crisis, joking about the weak temperament of other species. Meanwhile, pirate activity is on the rise within the Diaspora and beyond. Where fewer official channels are willing to shoulder the burden of riskier Drift travel, the Free Captains see an opportunity both to make money and to endear their activities to residents of the Pact Worlds. Since law-enforcement agencies already have their hands full dealing with the aftermath of the Crash, quasi-legal ships with dubious safety protocols ferry people with little interference. This provides an effective alternative to raiding, which has become harder due to the greater security afforded to each corporation ship. The hardiest of the Free Captains still launch regular raids, knowing that the price of goods nowadays is well worth the extra effort. EOX Although disrupted shipments might aggravate some residents’ macabre appetites, Eox’s undead population could theoretically ride out the Drift Crisis in isolation—yet logistics aren’t the real problem. The Crisis leaves the Pact Worlds sufficiently vulnerable that the Corpse Fleet, a military organization that split from the Eoxian navy in opposition to the ratification of the Absalom Pact, has decided that this is the ideal time to invade the system, reclaim Eox, and even purge the Pact Worlds of the living. This isn’t just a military threat, but a political one. Despite Eox’s consistent compliance with and contributions to the Pact, many throughout the system still don’t trust their undead neighbors and assume that the bone sages support the Corpse Fleet in secret. The truth of the matter is up for debate, but the situation is undoubtedly more complicated than it first appears. The nuance is lost on many, and schisms between the living and unliving—as well as between Eox and the other planetary governments—weakens the Pact Worlds as a whole. The Corpse Fleet Opportunists adventure on pages 70–73 explores this conflict further. TRIAXUS The Skyfire Legion, a regimented mercenary group originating in Triaxus’s long history, has been busier than ever. While there’s always a need for extra firepower throughout the Pact Worlds, the unstable condition of the Drift has both made it more difficult to protect distant stores and spurred countless opportunistic raids, driving demand for armed guards. Those Skyfire professionals in the Pact Worlds have partnered extensively with the Stewards in helping maintain peace, whereas cohorts abroad find the Drift too unreliable to journey home and have established impromptu field headquarters to sell their services in equally tumultuous systems. Meanwhile, on the dragon-ruled side of Triaxus, the dragoncorps find themselves in an interesting position. The collapse of trade routes and timely travel has severely hampered many dragons’ ability to meddle with interstellar politics as well as their bottom lines. This inconvenience is a cause of great frustration—but on the other hand, nowhere else in the Pact Worlds is as well-informed. Dragons value information just as much as they value traditional riches, and such currency has retained its value following the Crash. It’s said if one needs information about anything, it’s somewhere on Triaxus. LIAVARA With limited support in enforcing their sovereignty, the barathu authorities of Liavara struggle in preventing invasive, unsanctioned, and destructive gas mining by prospectors and unscrupulous corporations. This has spurred Bretheda’s governing body, known as Confluence, to petition for Liavara to be granted greater protections. The barathu aren’t just worried about preserving the planet’s ecosystems; shortly after the Crash, Liavara’s barathu-like Dreamers began singing unfamiliar songs, as if harmonizing with some new phenomenon. These songs have triggered vivid dreams across the system and caused dramatic readings on psychic instruments. Meanwhile, the insectile residents of Nchak, one of Liavara’s moons, use this discontent to push for Liavara to be recognized as a full-fledged member of the Pact. This sentiment existed long before the Crash, but the blatant corporate exploitation and disregard for regulation in its wake have supercharged such ideas into an all-out political movement.

23 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS BRETHEDA The Crash has strained Bretheda, not least because of illegal moves made by corporations to mine Liavara, disturbing that planet’s native Dreamers and fueling theories about some imminent psychic disaster that only those enigmatic beings can sense. Meanwhile, while Bretheda’s barathus can live within the planet’s gases, most other inhabitants of the Pact Worlds can’t, so disruptions to shipping predominantly threaten the survival of the latter residents, while offering few means of egress. Media outlets and the Pact Council have placed mounting pressure on the Confluence to research Drift alternatives. Preliminary breakthroughs in psychic teleportation looked promising, but seemingly further aggravated neighboring Liavara’s residents. Confluence has also begun exploratory research into extending the long-range communication abilities of Confluence agents—a topic which has previously been taboo. Still, while the amalgam leadership works on grand solutions, a growing number of barathus become frustrated by the aloof approach to problem solving, electing instead to depart Bretheda alone or in small groups to seek distant, unimagined, and more practical possibilities. APOSTAE From underhanded strategies and cutthroat bargaining to plausible theories of secretive influence over the Pact Council, Apostae’s drow have a reputation for quasi-legal operations and shadowy goals. The Drift Crisis has distracted the usual watchdogs, enabling drow houses to maneuver with fewer checks to their power—though the disruption to Drift travel has impeded some of their long-range operations. Of course, the Crash has also brought opportunity to Apostae’s doorstep, with new interest in the lost technologies of its mazelike interior bringing braver and bolder foreign expeditions from all over the Pact Worlds. Interestingly, the Crash coincided with increased activity in the mysterious portal called the Nightarch Gate. Some hope it holds some secret to non-Drift faster-than-light travel, while others see it as nothing but an extraplanar hazard. Nonetheless, Apostae’s powerful drow houses are more than happy to line their pockets with exorbitant expedition and housing fees in the nearby city, especially during a time when system-wide maneuvering is more time-consuming and exhausting than normal. AUCTURN Already a hotbed for disturbing cult activity, Aucturn has drawn a startling number of visitors since the Drift Crash. For some, the anarchy of Aucturn is little worse—or even a comforting escape—compared to the chaos they’ve fled elsewhere in the galaxy. Others embrace dangerous faiths out of desperation in an attempt to understand and adapt to the catastrophes around them, granting the likes of Nyarlathotep and the Devourer more followers. Longtime cultists have also flocked here for sundry reasons, most worryingly following claims that Aucturn has developed a discernable heartbeat palpable only to the most accomplished mystics. The Midwives of Gravid Mound chant that the immense egg they guard is showing signs of hatching, the orocorans of the Citadel of the Black claim the planet’s ichor springs have developed an unfamiliar taste, the toxic clouds take on ever more ominous shapes, and countless other chilling omens hint that the Drift Crash might spawn yet greater misfortunes for the Pact Worlds.

Spurred by a rebel pahtra plot to assassinate the high despots, most of the Veskiarium’s fleet was in transit when the Drift Crash struck, scattering or erasing many of its ships. The Veskarium assumed emergency protocols, preparing for conflict with apparent Azlanti threats and regaining control over wily planetary holdings whose rebels and discontented officials exploit the Drift Crisis for their own ends. VESKARIUM 24 THE DRIFT CRISIS VESK PRIME To rebuild the scattered fleets, High Despot Vindaskayo Swarmripper has conscripted vast swaths of civilian industries and instituted dramatic drafts. Meanwhile, Command Prime is operating in overdrive, not just to quash rebellions across Veskarian space, but also to control the messaging of its military response to Pact Worlds allies, whose dignitaries have responded with shock at some of the empire’s draconian strategies. Salving the Pact Worlds’ feelings is secondary to ensuring stability, however, and Vindaskayo has mobilized her infamous peacekeeping agency, colloquially called “the Hammers,” to take preventative action. Outrage grows in the capital, and tensions rise as the Hammers patrol neighborhoods and instate curfews. VESK-2 The Drift Crash had little initial impact on this tranquil ocean world, but tremors rocked the surface a few weeks later, damaging some of the ancient ruins. Since then, scans have detected something massive beneath the waters, though it disappears whenever teams attempt a closer examination. Troublingly, the sightings are occurring ever closer to the Trafodi ruins, and residents are preparing for presumed disaster should the entity ever reach its destination. VESK-3 Scandal left Vesk-3 vulnerable. The planet’s High Despot Teret Kahan (LN male pahtra soldier) voluntarily submitted to questioning by the council after allegations of his involvement with pahtra revolutionaries on Vesk-6. However, his interrogation coincided with the Drift Crisis, and limited communication has fueled rumors that the Veskarium quietly disposed of Teret, further inciting Vesk-6’s pahtras. Meanwhile, the Veskarium has appointed a steward, nicknamed Mazura the Cruel (LE female vesk soldier) to maintain order. She has relentlessly conscripted skittermanders to assist rebuilding efforts (and, in turn, secure her a permanent promotion). However, these efforts are exhausting both Vesk-3’s people and its ecosystems, driving opposition from Xenowardens and skittermander partisans inspired by the Hidden Hand rebels in Command Prime. VESK-4 Although previously scoffed at for her sympathies toward conquered species, High Despot Kamilzanva “the Diplomat” quickly rallied Vesk-4’s population after the Crisis to support its beleaguered neighbors, earning her system-wide respect. Not only have the planet’s mines supplied shipyards’ breakneck production, but the world’s solarians have helped to detect and stabilize regions scarred by the Drift’s influence. As Vesk-4 thrives, Kamilzanva leverages public approval to win better treatment not only for her planet’s talphi citizens, but also for other non-vesk species in the system. To most non-vesk, she’s a welcome moderator; to some of her colleagues, her populist agenda reads as a bid for power. Even now, her critics orchestrate sundry schemes to silence her through politics or even assassination. VESK-5 With the combined disruption of the Maw and rebellion on Vesk-6, Spaceport 5.1 has become the outermost Veskarian settlement in the system. Increasingly, the settlement receives not only refugees but also those battered starships that limp into the Veskarium after surviving Drift Crisis trials, making Spaceport 5.1 an unlikely bastion of comfort and unity. That said, dangers brew within Vesk-5 itself: fragments of extraplanar material have manifested in the atmosphere, suggesting that the Drift has begun bleeding its matter into the Material Plane, creating islands of confused spectra, demons, and more. VESK-6 With the empire’s military fragmented, Pulonis stoked pahtra rebellion. The Veskarium struggles to quash these decentralized partisans, many of who are besieging Starlance and other settlements. High Despot Kavadroz, once known for his relative civility, has declared martial law to maintain order. However, most of the Veskarian soldiers on this world are pahtras torn between their imperial oaths and their neighbors’ plight, and each of Kavadroz’s tyrannical countermeasures erodes his forces’ loyalty. With the planet torn by warfare and Command Prime distracted, both sides are amenable to outsider mercenaries joining the fray. THE MAW The Drift Crash expelled a maelstrom of extraplanar material that now swirls around Vesk-7 and Vesk-8, making Drift and mundane travel through it so dangerous and unpredictable as to be considered impossible. Few brave the debris and alien energies to reach or escape these planets. Most residents have exploited this newfound isolation to advance personal agendas, often with dreams of independence, desertion, and secession. However, the Maw has devastated the

25 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS native kothamas (Alien Archive 3 64). Where once they found peace in stargazing, those kothamas who gazed too deeply into the Maw developed an infectious rage—a stark contrast to their sacred pacifism. These Mawspeaker kothamas, with auras that stoke violence rather than peace, now rampage widely and comprise a sizable minority on both planets. Vesk-7: The Drift Crisis both shielded Vesk-7 from the empire and also cut off the planet from supply ships, giving rise to insurgent factions that are competing for the planet’s limited resources while founding petty states on the frozen world. High Despot Sarthis Wrathmaker now controls only a fraction of Vesk-7, and insider reports suggest she’s made overtures to High Despot Jularaz on Vesk-8 to combine forces and transform the planets into an independent state. Vesk-8: Ambitious and unscrupulous, High Despot Jularaz the Frozen is not one to forgive or forget. When the Starfinder Society exposed his initiative to synthesize shimmerstone into an unstable, combat-enhancing drug that he could distribute for clout and profit, the Veskarium sanctioned Jularaz and was already exploring his possible replacement. The Drift Crisis provided a crucial reprieve. Jularaz has entertained Vesk-7’s proposals of alliance and secession, but he needs to defend his claims and negotiate an alliance from a position of strength. To this end, he’s recruited heavily from prison colonies, promising freedom and influence to those who would join the planet’s growing militia. While some prisoners have refused—with some planning a jailbreak to overthrow Jularaz’s secessionist dreams, hoping for amnesty from the Veskarium—many have accepted, happy to trade imprisonment and menial labor for the chance to hone their combat skills, secure a pardon, and take revenge against the empire that imprisoned them in the first place. CONQUEROR’S FORGE In the absence of the Veskarium fleet, this massive war machine began churning out new ships at record speeds, often exceeding safety regulations. At the Council’s request, the Forge is mobilizing in preparation for a predicted Azlanti attack, though doing so requires bringing the Forge’s dormant engine online. This experimental magitech is purportedly a non-Drift alternate engine created by the Church of the Conqueror. The device draws upon Damoritosh’s divine might in some way, though it’s unclear to any but its creators as to whether it carves a shortcut through Damoritosh’s realm, cleaves through space to drag two points closer together, or utilizes some other, equally destructive methodology. The technology is fraught and based on an ancient design, but the Conqueror’s true believers insist on the advantages of this “overlord engine” and have quietly hired a few outside contractors to help perfect its operation. This engine is but one solution to the Veskarium’s faster-than-light travel woes. Believing the Triunites have failed to maintain the Drift, Forge officials have responded in classic Veskarian fashion: military takeover. Deep in Conqueror’s Forge, scientists are working on a way for the Veskarium not just to repair the Drift but to usurp it, facilitating the Veskarium’s dominance for generations to come. This plan is detailed on pages 130–133.

The Drift Crash was notably disruptive to the civilizations of Near Space, as the changes to the nature of the Drift literally redefined part of the hyperspatial geography of the galaxy. While some places found themselves cut off from the resources and information they relied upon, others suddenly found themselves with strange or dangerous phenomena on their doorsteps. Everywhere, adventurers and soldiers of fortune find their services in high demand to address the aftershocks of the crisis. NEAR SPACE 26 THE DRIFT CRISIS DAEGOX 4 With their expected deliveries of new inmates and supplies to the prison planet delayed or lost, and with little offworld communication for reassurance, the Daegox Corporation withdrew its personnel through the Mountain gate to the orbiting Skywatcher starship. The prisoners on the surface have been left to their own devices. Checkpoint One has been overrun by inmates fleeing the harsh facilities of Control, seeking the relatively bucolic comfort of Bounty. As such, a growing chorus of angry voices from within Freedom are calling for an end to the corporation’s control of the planet by any means necessary. Both the Daegox Corporation and the revolutionaries seek specialists to resolve the issue, one way or another. DAIMALKO Already self-reliant, colossus-ravaged Daimalko weathered the Crash well. A week later, an unknown capital ship fused with unstable planar material crash-landed in one of the planet’s dry seabeds. No Daimalkans have been able to approach to identify the ship, and no one has been able to explain the reports of tekenkis (Alien Archive 3 108) battling other colossi that approach the ship, almost as though they were protecting it. EMBROI On the devil-controlled home world of the mollusk-like embri, the hidden infernal industries of the archdevil Occhiorasoi have kicked into high gear to profit from the Drift Crash. Several new Drift beacons appearing within the system drive galactic prominence and an influx of new visitors to the planet—though rampant abductions of anyone investigating the beacons too closely spurs rumors that Embroi acquired its new beacons through amoral means. While the inhabitants’ end goals remain a mystery, an increased presence of Hellknight vessels and new, unmarked military ships in the region worries many. GASKAR III The aquatic planet of philosophical vesk exiles was rocked when the mysterious glowing lines under Horizon’s Eye transformed into a portal to an uncharted location in the Plane of Water. The system’s sole Drift beacon, already suspected to have some connection to Horizon’s Eye, now transmits an undeciphered signal from the other side of the portal. Responses have gone unanswered, and authorities seek brave souls to investigate the nature of the portal and the transmission. GIDERON AUTHORITY The expansionist military empire recovered quickly from the Crash, in part because of its technological investment into Helldrive crystals prior to the crisis. With a faster-than-light advantage, the Authority decisively chased its rival Marixah Republic’s fleet from the Acalata system and cemented its claim over Sansorgis. Other worlds have sent hordes of diplomats, traders, and scientists to Gideon space, hoping to learn the secrets of Helldrive crystals, yet the empire firmly deflects appeals to release this technology, citing rumors of political dissidents who would exploit the crystals for nefarious ends. HELFEN-THEL With ley line–powered teleportation infrastructure, Helfen-Thel has many new visitors hoping that the system’s famous gateways might be integratable with other systems. However, even these portals have seen an alarming number of unexplained disappearances and deaths. With no known way to re-create the teleportation errors, the Ninefold Council offers an impressive bounty on any information about the cause of these intermittent failures, or about the unfamiliar mountainous planet spoken of by the travelers who survive their unexpected diversion. LANDAHL The Veskarium-occupied planet saw a drastic shift of power between the guerilla insurgency of the native illyr and the forces led by Commander Adalandil as the pipeline of Veskarium supplies were cut off by the Drift Crisis. The disgraced ex-Veskarium officer Tradger Lorthal raided a stranded Steward ship ejected from the Drift, complicating the situation further by creating a political crisis with the Pact Worlds. The Veskarium diplomatic corps is in turmoil as it attempts to smooth the volatile situation, with some factions attempting to preserve the peace with the Pact Worlds and bolster Adalandil’s security forces; other diplomats clandestinely attempt to aid the renegade Lorthal in finally eradicating the illyr resistance. MARIXAH REPUBLIC This multi-system republic suffered when the network of Drift beacons on which it relied was disrupted by the Drift Crash. The Gideron Authority swooped in to seize the isolated planet Sansorgis, where Admiral Bentay Prengst (LN agender half-orc) averted total disaster by decisively commandeering a Triunite vessel and leading a fleet of escaping colonist ships back

27 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS DRIFT IN CRISIS FACTIONS to Rajadhan. Admiral Prengst is poised to create a constitutional crisis within the Republic; while bylaws state that only a duly elected member of the republic’s ruling body can become a chief representative, Prengst’s promises of bold action to rescue Flentil and Sansorgis are popular both within the various representatives and among the public, even while Triunites decry the admiral’s crime against their faith. PABAQ The universities and temples of the osharus’ home world prepared the planet to dissect the causes and effects of the Drift Crash. The Informed Collective, a leaderless association of scientists and philosophers, now campaigns to extend Grand Council membership to non-osharus, causing forceful counterprotests among the city’s reactionary traditionalists. Meanwhile, researchers have noticed that the expected springtime surge of magic that travels down the river Laharoun didn’t materialize this year; a call for freelance investigators was issued to discover whether it portends some additional disaster. SZANDITE COLLECTIVE Drift disruptions hit the four star systems comprising the Szandite Collective hard, but they weathered the crisis thanks to the unique interplanetary communication enabled by their szandite crystals. In a potentially troubling move, the hardors of Dorjo in Jonid’s Star System were spotted delivering mining and scientific equipment to the unsettled planet of Vatrigax, home to unclaimed szandite crystals and a mysterious dormant alien life force below the planet’s surface. The leaders of Dorjo haven’t explained this unilateral move to any of the other members of the Collective, and the fonqugons of Rodnarth find themselves balancing requests of other Collective members against their own concerns about how to respond to these aggressive and unexplained actions taken by their system neighbor. TABRID MINOR On the copaxi home world, the pressures of rapid industrialization and ecological frailty had already made things politically delicate; the added strain of the Drift Crash served to push the planet’s population into open civil unrest. The continent of Yihil has been the center of widespread and increasingly violent protests led by the Fallen Hand, who seized upon the Drift Crisis as the latest symbol for the disastrous hubris of advanced technology. As the planetary government attempts to regain control through increasingly severe methods, their outstanding petition for Pact World protectorate status may be in jeopardy. VARTURAN The Coalition of Conservation mobilized to prevent panic on the brenneris’ home world, the first time in the federation’s 300-year history that the Coalition used such power to intercede. While the capital of Oksarion prepares large-scale humanitarian aid for other planets affected by the Drift Crisis, the Coalition may face its largest political crisis ever as the xenophobic protectionists of the Tranquil Waters movement gain momentum, demanding that Varturan resources go to protecting Varturan interests.

28 THE DRIFT CRISIS Splayed across the Vast, the Azlanti Star Empire relied on Drift travel to unite their oppressive empire, quash dissidents, and expand their ever-growing influence across the galaxy. The Drift Crash not only brought these ambitions to an abrupt halt, it also left each of these scattered star systems painfully isolated. Without the threat of overwhelming military reinforcements, the conquered peoples of many worlds revolted against their Azlanti oppressors, leaving roughly half of the empire in states of open rebellion. Uncertain leadership hasn’t helped. The Crash stranded a sizable fraction of arciduxes, dominuses, other nobles, and their retinues in the imperial capital world of New Thespera, an impossible distance away from their domains. Many of the other nobles across the Vast, realizing their tenuous situations while cut off from the rest of the empire, withdrew from their ancestral holdings and risked the now hazardous Drift journey as they retreated to the capital. Simultaneously, the military has recalled what starships it can to reinforce the Aristia system. In this way, the Azlanti Star Empire has withdrawn on many fronts, like a turtle retracting its legs. Even the Aristia system is an uncertain refuge. Panicked citizens across the system convene on New Thespera, desperate for the Aeon Throne to provide some guidance or explanation. The sudden influx of refugees has overloaded the planet, whose pristine ports overflow with traffic. Peacekeepers struggle to maintain order as disrupted supply chains and infrastructural strains lead to food shortages, rioting, and looting. All the while, an expanding host of starships arrive daily. The orbiting queue has created artificial planetary rings around New Thespera. Meanwhile, the other 11 star systems are in varying states of chaos. The Croban system’s famously productive farms now export little, not just because of Drift unreliability, but also because the hortus inhabitants have besieged Arcidux Holtinus Vedivon and his exploitative biolabs. With its arcidux stranded on New Thespera, the Oyoyo systems’ vilderaros rebelled against the Azlanti oppression of their liberties and faiths, swiftly overwhelming ground forces and nearly commandeering the local starship fleet. However, the commanding officer triggered the vessels’ self-destruct sequences, destroying most of the starships. Several larger starships survived, though, and majority-vilderaro crews are swiftly mastering the new and dangerous Drift. The Crash seemed to widen the First World connections in the Quinander system, flooding at least one of the planets with primal energy. Arcidux Allame Liviniu now controls three worlds and is locked in a stalemate with two canny foes: a fey collective who conquered one planet, plus an openly rebellious world where Liviniu’s once-loyal screedreep minister, Irhyo, controls vast territory as a crime boss. Arcidux Xibia Ulklasstin swiftly disappeared from the Nys system after the Crash, and while her loyal subordinates have submitted numerous reports that all is well, some on New Thespera now suspect that the Azlanti minority are being held hostage by rebels, facing execution unless they keep diverting the empire’s attention elsewhere. Authorities are quietly gathering non-Azlanti teams to infiltrate and report on Nys operations, potentially launching a rescue. Through all this, at least the Gjor system seems to have benefited. The Drift Crash somehow suppressed the oppressive radiation of several previously uninhabited worlds, and Arcidux Lonerai Rigallius maintains order among her subjugated populations while leading expeditions to survey and settle these planets. However, the arcidux might not be acting for the empire’s benefit, as her initiatives seem designed to establish Gjor as an independent state, with Azlanti, neskinti, slivara, and tromlin inhabitants benefiting as partners and even equals. The speed at which she implemented these changes suggests that this might have been a plan in the works for years, and the Crisis merely provided the necessary opportunity for reform. Even as the empire fragments, it clings to the distant colony world Kehtaria. Drift travel to Kehtaria seems remarkably stable, making it a crucial bastion from which the Azlanti can control nearby systems. However, this accessibility has also attracted the Veskarium’s attention, and the verdant planet seems caught between the ambitions of two weakened empires. More about Kehtaria appear on pages 64–69. Even as Azlanti aristocrats squabble over the Crash’s cause, they agree that an alternative to Drift travel is crucial to their people’s continued existence and Great Purpose. The leading candidate is the rune drive, an experimental engine that promises faster-than-light supremacy, a return to order, and then the rapid conquest of the empire’s weakened neighbors. The Aeon Throne has even leaked hints about the rune drive being almost ready to deploy, hoping to intimidate the Veskarium and quash any vesk notions of attacking first. This play might backfire, though, as concerned rivals to the Azlanti quietly recruit adventurers to investigate, steal, and sabotage the rune drive initiative to ensure that the empire’s tyranny doesn’t spread farther. AZLANTI STAR EMPIRE LONERAI RIGALLIUS

29 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS Throughout the Vast, the Drift Crisis equates to isolation. There are exceptions: a few lucky Vast outposts and worlds have become Near Space hubs through migrating Drift beacons or mysterious interstellar phenomena. For the rest, their positions as isolated distant planets have only been exacerbated. During the crisis, traveling to a point in the Vast takes longer than ever before. Coupled with the possible peril involved with even short jaunts through the Drift, attempting to visit a Vast world is beyond dangerous. To most, the Vast might as well be beyond the rim of the galaxy. For some Vast worlds, including colonies and research stations, this isolation is life-threatening, as many colonies are no longer receiving necessary supplies. As time runs short, desperation drives these people to extremes, with some frantically innovating and others contemplating how far they’re willing to go to survive. On most Vast worlds, economic crisis and public panic have resulted in unemployment, poverty, riots, revolt, and worse. Some self-sufficient Vast worlds have fared better. Although most still endure fear, financial instability, and uncertainty, they know they’ll survive. For worlds that never quite connected with the interstellar community, the Drift Crisis is an opportunity to hunker down, return to their roots, and enjoy a reprieve. Hadrogess: The lunar citizens of Hadrogess, who live on the planet’s three orbiting moons, adopted Drift travel shortly after receiving the Signal. Although the trade networks Hadrogess long relied upon are shattered, the initial chaos of the Drift Crisis stabilized quickly. In the face of such catastrophe, most of the hadrogaan (Alien Archive 4 42) inhabitants allowed the analytical kallestrine—crystalline neural networks with whom they share their bodies—to guide their actions with impersonal logic. A significant portion of the population was lost in the Drift Crash, and as the odds of finding any of them are slim, few have attempted rescue missions. Meanwhile, a trio of scientific outposts on Hadrogess’s surface, including representatives from Castrovel and Pabaq, are in dire need of aid. Stranded without supplies, support, and transport, the desperate scientists send distress calls to the orbiting moons. To the lunar population, who long ago planet during the Drift Crash, searching for ways to save their home world. Now, some seek to restore the status quo, while others are more concerned with the people suffering around them. They try to bring order to chaos, offer succor and support to those in need, build new social bridges, and settle disputes. To the remaining population, these spacefarers were the last hope for Lajok’s future generations. Without the Drift, there can be no salvation. Thus, these citizens are desperately trying to reconnect with the wider galaxy. Mulkaxi: When the Azlanti Star Empire arrived on Mulkaxi, they encountered little resistance from the resident huitz’plinas (Alien Archive 4 46). The Azlanti mined the mountains, and the huitz’plinas lived in the forested lowlands. They rarely interacted, and, when they did, the huitz’plinas left the Azlanti in peace. When the Drift Crisis separated Azlanti miners from their empire, the huitz’plinas launched a united assault, killing most of the Azlanti and forcing the others to fall back into the mines. These Azlanti stragglers defend against the huitz’plinas, relying on superior weaponry and a defensive position to survive. Some suspect the precognitive huitz’plinas foresaw the Drift Crisis and have been waiting for its arrival to fight against the Azlanti. Zafaiga: Home to numerous mining corporations, Zafaiga is a galactic supplier of stone, minerals, metals, and gems. Unable to reliably ship out their goods, these companies have collapsed into belligerent gangs of desperate survivors that wage war against one another for food and other precious supplies. The indigenous bolidas (Alien Archive 2 20) are capable of surviving and thriving underground, as they always have, apart from the chaos of their planet‘s collapsing mining industry. Those who feel guilt at leaving their one-time coworkers to fight amongst themselves have begun constructing an underground refuge for their non-bolida neighbors to call home. THE VAST determined the desolate planet was no longer of use, these scientists serve little purpose. Lajok: On the dying planet Lajok, home world of the vlaka (Alien Archive 2 134), many consider the Drift Crisis the beginning of the end; the point of no return after which fleeing home is no longer an option. Lajok is now a sealed tomb containing Lajok’s citizens and their descendants. Many citizens of Lajok were off

30 THE DRIFT CRISIS ASPIS CONSORTIUM The Aspis Consortium holds the equivalent political power of a full-fledged Pact World. Structured as a loose collection of semi-independent groups, it’s less unified than a single business and thus able to react more nimbly to changing circumstances. The Consortium is more reminiscent of a conquering nation planting its flag and leaving others to deal with internal affairs. Aside from a few directives relating to the benefit of the Aspis Consortium, the groups comprising it are allowed to operate as they please, as long as they pay their dues. Only those operations that seriously threaten the Consortium’s carefully cultivated reputation tend to be shut down. Few organizations have experienced as much success during the Drift Crisis as the Consortium, which basked in the sympathetic light of the media as a hero of the people and made an absolute killing off the services it provides, free of close legal scrutiny. The diverse holdings of the organization, as well as its eager willingness to engage in near-illegal activity, lend a degree of flexibility and responsiveness unseen anywhere else in the Pact Worlds. The emergency measures put in place by the Pact Council have cleared many of the less-than-savory ships belonging to the Consortium’s various groups as transport vessels. These ships are often overcrowded, understaffed, and ill-maintained, but if a vessel goes missing in the now-faulty Drift, the Consortium can wash its hands of the matter with few consequences. Regardless, many people rely on these ships to get around, and those who survive have little room to complain about the conditions under which they arrived. The Aspis Consortium also goes out of its way to service remote areas in stark contrast to many large corporations of the Pact Worlds. From delivering crucial supplies to far-flung locales to providing meals and shelter for refugees on Absalom Station, the Consortium knows when and where to put the work in to embed itself. All the while, it charges exorbitant prices for stolen goods, knowing that after all this is over, it can claim it was only doing what was right for the people. These efforts also provide the Consortium ample opportunity to embed itself further into less welcoming regions, preying upon the Crisisinduced vulnerabilities to broker exploitative contracts. Many of the disparate parts of the Consortium have taken this opportunity to distance themselves from the organization, either to pursue their own criminal ambitions or to walk away from the black market entirely. These groups often find collections agents making surprise inspections with preternaturally frightening haste, almost as if the Aspis Consortium knew exactly who was harboring feelings of discontent under its banner all along. Tensions are high, as the Consortium is ready at any moment to launch a shadow war should any of these subgroups become less amenable to its demands. People often forget that the Aspis Consortium traces its lineage to Golarion, and many of those criminal organizations were created to protect and profit from local communities in response to failed governmental policies. The Consortium, however, never forgets. It’s a big fish that requires the waters of community to thrive. No matter how big the fish gets, if the pond dries up, it will still suffocate. ABADARCORP No corporate entity relies upon the Drift as heavily as AbadarCorp, both for swift communication and to support its impossibly complex and efficient supply network. The Crash proved just how fragile the framework of the commercial empire truly is. Metropolitan areas around the Pact Worlds surmounted the initial panic-buying quickly, as AbadarCorp rearranged ship priority to ensure delivery to these locations was as quick and painless as possible. However, many other planets find their local AbadarCorp superstores eerily devoid of merchandise as waves of people panic-buy essential goods. Despite having no merchandise, locations remain open during normal hours as clerks explain endlessly that there are no “extra goods” in the back. Shipments have become far less frequent, with many getting lost, delayed, or stolen by pirates, but AbadarCorp has enough resources to take the risks associated with Drift travel, even now. Shipment arrivals have escalated into battles in remote areas, as people wait for days in line to get the most basic of goods, exorbitantly bidding against each other in secondhand sales right outside the franchise location. While no stranger to criticism, in the wake of the Drift Crisis, AbadarCorp’s religious pursuit of profit has begun sparking widespread discontent and active opposition to the organization. Superstores are regularly vandalized; demonstrators park outside and prevent people from entering. All the while, AbadarCorp’s researchers desperately pour endless resources into alternative supply lines and travel methods. They’re exploring more robust local trade networks to supplement the organization’s Drift-supported supply lines, though progress has been slow-going at best. Many communities question the power and influence AbadarCorp wields, and just how dangerous it is when commerce is controlled so homogeneously. AbadarCorp and its archdirectors understand how they operate within the Pact Worlds has ripple effects, which is a large part of why they continue to maintain store hours despite the lack of merchandise. While those outside the faith might view its adherents as a monolith, there are multitudes of factions under AbadarCorp’s umbrella, each with their own view of how best to interpret Abadar’s teachings. These factions constantly squabble with each other, and often, the company’s direction depends on who holds the seat of executive archdirector. Generally, AbadarCorp prioritizes long-term success over immediate profit. However, the organization is spread across many divisions, and managerial attention has been spread very thin while attempting to put out various metaphorical fires during the Drift Crisis. As the crisis continues, more aggressive factions gain more influence and institute riskier fixes. Recently, the AbadarCorp subsidiary and starship manufacturer ATech was authorized to participate in ChiwaTech (page 31), a new consortium of starship manufacturers that seeks solutions to the current problems of interstellar travel. A few AbadarCorp executives worry that such cooperation will eventually hurt the company’s profits, but others believe that’s poor short-term thinking. After all, if trade routes remain as disrupted as they are, business will suffer for everyone.

31 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS CHIWATECH For some starship manufacturers, the Drift Crash isn’t only a fiscal crisis, but a philosophical one as well. Five such manufacturers put aside their differences and banded under the moniker ChiwaTech to develop new technologies for overcoming the challenges of the current crisis. The Aballon-based Compiler Enterprises needs reliable interstellar travel to take up the mantle of the enigmatic First Ones and colonize distant worlds. To the shirrens of the company Hivonyx, faster-than-light travel is essential to the Forever Queen’s values of peace, diplomacy, and first contact. Though Idari Crucible Works usually operates with little-to-no influence from outsiders, its corporate philosophy stresses mutual assistance and cooperation. Knowing that its business represents a sizable portion of the Idari’s economy, it’s under considerable pressure to do whatever is needed to be successful during these challenging times. These three corporations were joined by two with ties to major churches. The first is a subsidiary of the church of Weydan called Weyfarers Expeditions, which specializes in outfitting starship frames for long-distance travel and exploration. The other is ATech, tasked by its parent corporation, AbadarCorp, with restoring reliable transportation for trade goods throughout the galaxy. The new consortium quickly developed sensors and guidance systems that provided a modest but noticeable improvement to the reliability of post-Crash Drift navigation. ChiwaTech’s momentum from this early success stalled just as swiftly, however, as its researchers haven’t made further substantial improvements to Drift travel. This lack of progress has emboldened critics within the companies who opposed the coalition from the start. So far, coalition leadership has reined in the dissent, but this will likely become more challenging the longer ChiwaTech goes without further breakthroughs. Realizing that substantial improvements to Drift travel might be out of reach, ChiwaTech recently established a joint research facility on Akiton to explore alternative forms of faster-than-light travel that might replace the Drift in the short term. This program sprang from an early-stages concept previously developed by Hivonyx, though details of the technology are closely guarded. This effort was met with substantial internal resistance, particularly from a vocal group of Hivonyx employees who oppose sharing the peaceful company’s innovations with competitors who manufacture warships. Internal strife isn’t the only challenge facing ChiwaTech. Competitors, worried that its combined power will dominate the market, have stepped up efforts to disrupt ChiwaTech’s progress. A recent media smear campaign brought disruptive attention from politicians and the Stewards. Including a subsidiary of AbadarCorp in the conglomerate has proven wise in this regard, as the megacorporation mobilized its considerable political power and public relations machinery to fend off these threats. In a move that garnered praise throughout Near Space, AbadarCorp authorized the rebranding of ATech’s widespread network of service centers as ChiwaTech Assistance Centers. These installations offer free transport and low-cost towing services for crew and passengers of ships stranded by unreliable Drift travel, regardless of the ship’s manufacturer. Other competitors haven’t limited their efforts to negative press. Several ChiwaTech test vehicles were recently attacked during test flights, and a damaging explosion at the new Akiton research facility is rumored to be sabotage. These attacks have prompted ChiwaTech to significantly boost its security in recent weeks. It aggressively hires security personnel for its facilities and has begun contracting armed ships to escort its test vehicles. It’s also quietly hiring investigators and counterintelligence agents to combat the growing threat.

32 THE DRIFT CRISIS CHURCH OF TRIUNE Perhaps no faction in the Pact Worlds has been thrown into as much disarray during the Drift Crisis as the Church of Triune. The tripartite god’s sudden silence has fractured the organization as debates rage over what caused the Drift Crash and how best to respond to it. Meanwhile, the church weathers a torrent of external demands from individuals, governments, religions, and corporations, all of whom hold the faith responsible for varying portions of the ongoing disaster. Were that not enough, spectra, the Drift’s predominant native outsiders, are now acting erratically, with many attacking mortals for supposed crimes against the Drift that no one understands. This threat is explored more fully on pages 108–109. With a fragmented faith, there’s no one spokesperson handling public relations or coordinating troubleshooting behind the scenes. Two leading factions are the Architects and the Disciples of the Code. Led by Sovereign Trinity (N agender android witchwarper, page 174), the Architects have pushed for isolation and silence while they furiously work to repair the damage and reestablish contact with Triune. The resources, time, and effort “coddling” panicking civilizations across the Pact are seen as mere distractions that are unworthy of the Architects’ time. The Disciples of the Code vehemently oppose this approach, believing that it’s more important than ever to establish open communication and transparency with outside forces. The Disciples insist that the longer the church’s isolation continues during this tragedy, the more that the galaxy at large will discern sinister motives in that silence. Already, many Pact Worlds inhabitants are accusing Triune’s faith of not only causing, but perpetuating, the Drift Crisis. Unperturbed by the Architects’ philosophy, the Disciples of the Code launched a massive, crowdsourced coding campaign, giving the public access to vast quantities of tightly controlled Drift data (including large amounts of the esoteric “spellcode” that partially comprises and governs the plane) previously available to only high-ranking Triunites. This gambit infuriated much of the church, but public defamation dramatically diminished, and the collaborative gesture appears to be a sign that Triunites are working with benevolent intentions toward a common goal. The far-reaching consequences of providing strangers access to this information remain to be seen, and bad actors could use it to inflict even greater damage to the Drift or Material Plane. Despite the Disciples’ efforts, many people remain convinced that the church is responsible for the Drift Crisis. The proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories far exceeds what Triunites can counter. Rumors suggest that Triune is dead, that the church caused the crisis in a bid for power, that abuse of Drift engine technology caused irreparable damage to the Material Plane, or even that Triune is plotting some cosmic coup. As fear breeds more misinformation, pockets of anti-Triune resistance grow powerful enough that some of the faithful have experienced intimidation, even outright violence. Without strong, cohesive messaging from religions and governments, the risk of vigilante justice rises every day. CHURCH OF ELORITU Eloritu is the god of magic, history, and secrets, and his followers tend to congregate in groups known as circles to pursue their own interests and protect their own secrets. This decentralized structure not only encourages intra-faith competition, but also creates a patchwork dogma that differs between circles. Thus, while most Elorituans simply value magic over technology, some circles and followers take an actively anti-technological stance. To Eloritu’s faithful, the Drift has always been a vexing enigma that defies magical access yet holds tantalizing secrets and influence. The church of Eloritu learned firsthand the dangers of Drift experimentation years ago in the tragic debacle known as the Failed Gate (page 118), which encouraged most Elorituans to keep a respectful distance from the plane. As a result, the faith didn’t suffer many direct losses in the Drift Crash. In fact, the catastrophe led some Elorituans to deliver arrogant lectures on how the galaxy’s precarious overreliance on technology led to this disaster—lectures that have earned many new converts to the church. Most of the faithful, however, realize that this disaster is a time to provide aid, not to declaim petulant sermons. This aid prioritizes information and transportation, both magical and mundane. Members of the faith rescue stranded settlers or tow derelict spaceships back to civilization, relying on their secret knowledge of historical travel routes, cosmic anomalies, or magical portals. Elorituan-crewed ships like the Hidden Star and the Light of Antiquity have received considerable positive press as rescue ships, yet followers of Eloritu more often join better-funded and more scientifically sophisticated crews as specialists and advisors rather than trying to manage a whole expedition. Many faithful have established relationships with outside organizations, such as research universities or the Starfinder Society, and they’ve been leveraging those relationships to help. This apparent altruism ultimately serves Eloritu’s interests as much as it aids galactic stability. The crisis presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show how magic can solve problems when technology has foundered. Publicly, the faithful are quick to showcase useful divinations, novel teleportation effects, and similar magical aid they’ve provided. Clandestinely, they also revel in stealing data stored on lost starships, smuggling esoteric goods through failing states, and using their privileged access as heroes to abscond with proprietary secrets. Magical alternatives to Drift travel are now among the galaxy’s hottest commodities, drawing incredible investments from public and private investors, so Eloritu’s faithful rush even half-tested opportunities to market. The Drift Crisis has given increased visibility to a church used to operating in secret, but some groups within the church are using the tragedy to advance their own agendas, even at the expense of fellow believers. A demagogue named Hamdrian Fellock (page 172) has been gaining followers from his popular anti-technology diatribes, and rifts between certain circles might explode into open war (see the Interlocking Circles campaign on page 94).

33 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS EYESWIDE AGENCY While most companies and organizations have buckled under the strain of the Drift Crisis, business is booming for the Eyeswide Agency. The Drift Crash scattered and stranded millions of travelers, starships, and priceless cargoes to destinations unknown, so professionals specializing in finding missing persons have never been in higher demand. As the premier investigative outfit on Absalom Station, the Eyeswide Agency stands at the fore of this consumer rush. The Eyeswide Agency is a private detective firm known for its street-savvy psychic detectives and “holistic investigations.” Although the agency regularly consults for politicians, law enforcement, and corporate entities, the public has typically regarded Eyeswide and its agents—impolitely referred to as “headscanners” (page 152)—with mistrust and doubt. Nevertheless, desperation brought on by the Drift Crisis has driven these skeptics to the agency in droves. To handle the influx of customers, Eyeswide drastically increased recruitment and training of its agents, leading many to question their newest recruits’ efficacy. A well-respected agency veteran, Tyver Vorsten (LN nonbinary nuar precogGM) is hiring independent contractors to aid their investigations rather than rely on the agency’s rookies for support. Although Absalom Station is the primary recruitment hub, Eyeswide recruiters have begun traveling more widely in search of the necessary talent. It’s reputed that some of the agency’s newest recruits aren’t psychics at all, but mentalists and scam artists, while others are suspected to be criminals seeking the protection afforded to Eyeswide agents. Leltiel (N female elf mystic), director of the Eyeswide Agency, refutes these claims and stands by the agency’s hiring practices. Recruitment continues to increase exponentially. Although most of the agency’s clients are looking for missing family, friends, or property, Eyeswide offers numerous services, including corporate espionage, surveillance, information brokerage, and, more recently, independent law enforcement: a service offered to aid victims of crimes for whom station security is unable to make time. Of these, information brokerage is the most lucrative. During a typical investigation, agents uncover numerous valuable secrets. Coupled with their extensive support networks, diverse contacts, and psychic spying, an Eyeswide agent is a font of information. Customers can hire an individual informant, or the agency as a whole (which draws upon the knowledge of all agents) at a much steeper cost. The most notorious broker is an agent known only as the Wisp. The Wisp can’t be hired. Rather, they bring each secret to the person they know is willing to pay the most for it—or for their silence—operating through dead drops, untraceable messages, and drones. While Director Leltiel insists the Wisp is a myth, a growing number of conspiracy theorists believe it’s an alias she uses for unsanctioned operations. Those who can’t afford the hefty fees to hire an Eyeswide agent instead utilize the new “quick scan” service. For a few hundred credits, a designated Eyeswide agent will perform a quick psychic scan on a single object or person, using the querent as both psychic anchor and resonator. This incredibly popular service has a dubious reputation with skeptics likening it to rapid guesswork and stagecraft more than actual psychic detection. The agency’s most talented—or at least most popular—quick scanner is an incredibly charismatic halfling from Pipetown. With a winning smile and expressive eyes, Brillan Orking (CN male halfling operative)—better known as PsyKing to his infosphere followers—has brought hope to countless customers and become a local celebrity. His many followers quickly discredit any who denigrate his talents or the accuracy of his scans. Despite the Eyeswide Agency’s best efforts, it has been unable to keep up with its caseload. Jobs that slip through the cracks are co-opted by freelancers or other detective agencies working on behalf of Eyeswide. While discretion and a sharp mind are requirements to become a “semi-active agent,” psychic proficiency isn’t. As the Eyeswide Agency continues to struggle under its caseload, more cases fall to these freelancers to solve. Director Leltiel intends to capitalize on the agency’s incredible growth in profit and power. The ancient elf is bargaining with Absalom Station’s prime executive for a public endorsement and recently acquired property in the Eye, bought for a pittance after the previous owners went missing in the Crash. In time, this acquisition will become the new headquarters for the Eyeswide Agency. Numerous other detective agencies have risen in prominence during the Drift Crisis, capitalizing on the popularity of the Eyeswide Agency. Although most are of dubious reputation, a few, including Evenhand Investigations and TruthSeekers Inc., have shown both promise and skill. LELTIEL

34 THE DRIFT CRISIS FREE CAPTAINS While the Drift Crisis upturned countless lives and livelihoods, it has proven a boon for pirates. For centuries, starships laden with valuables have slipped into and out of the Drift with impunity, forcing enterprising pirates to risk dangerous raids near planets or prey on occasional short-range traffic between neighboring worlds. With Drift travel having become unpredictable and more dangerous, not only are vast quantities of cargo moving through conventional space, but they’re doing so along predictable and efficient pathways that make ambushes easy. The Free Captains quickly recovered after the Crash, and within a few months, they’re experiencing a dramatic surge in activity, influence, and wealth. Their prey adapts swiftly. Ships often traveled through the Drift on solo voyages, but starships increasingly band together into ever-larger convoys to defend against piracy. It has become popular for corporations and shipping conglomerates to retrofit lightly-armed starships with hidden arsenals, sacrificing cargo space for the chance to lure in and obliterate pirates who converge on a seemingly defenseless target. Free Captains’ activity has ballooned demand for mercenaries to serve as escorts; anyone equipped for starship combat can find work for generous pay, and the pirates themselves sometimes pay as handsomely for crew. The Free Captains have adapted just as quickly. Pirates increasingly combine into fleets that practice hit-and-run raids and feigned retreats to break up convoys. Even so, some caravans and starships are so big that the Free Captains would rather extort a fee for safe passage and avoid conflicts altogether. Despite occasional hardships and new victims, the Free Captains make a point of honoring their deals and maintaining their code of conduct. However, desperation and opportunity have tempted many into piracy during the Drift Crisis. These amateurs and independents neither respect the Free Captains’ authority nor uphold the Pirate Council’s code. As a result, convoys that paid for safe passage suffer attacks from these upstarts, spurring rumors that the Pirate Council has abandoned its few remaining scruples in this dire time. This affront is unacceptable to the Free Captains, who increasingly fight other pirates rather than merchant fleets to rebuild their reputation and maintain the careful corporate-criminal balance they’ve built over the centuries. In rare cases, high-ranking pirates perform good deeds, unprompted and without compensation. As piracy grows, the Free Captains have seen a surge in retirements. Aging crews see this as the perfect time to get out of the business, and many pirates who struck it rich early in the Drift Crisis chose to quietly and peacefully disappear with their ill-gotten gains (encouraging an overly optimistic market for dubious maps to their hidden treasure). The Pact Worlds’ reaction is mixed: many organizations have encouraged this trend, helping former pirates adopt pseudonyms, rejoin polite society, and even provide intelligence about former colleagues, whereas others nurse grudges and hire assassins to erase the retired menaces for their past crimes. With the massive turnover, the Pirate Council and the loose hierarchy it governs is constantly churning as young upstarts fill these vacancies without respect for pirating traditions. HELLKNIGHTS For the Hellknights, a disciplined military legion enforcing order in an unruly universe, the Drift Crisis represents the very chaos they’ve trained against for ages. Following the Crash, Hellknights across the galaxy found themselves stranded with unreliable communication. Whereas governments and corporations in similar situations fractured and failed, this fragmentation didn’t impede the Hellknights; it was just another test of mettle. With clear chains of command, isolated units seamlessly became autonomous forces who reestablished order wherever they could, despite having little hope of reinforcements or orders. Worlds and organizations that once balked at the Hellknights’ interference now welcome these enforcers’ aid. With far-flung worlds’ support, the Hellknights have opened an unprecedented number of recruitment centers to quash disorder. These recruitment sites vary in their execution: while many have trained militias and initiate only the most dedicated applicants into the Hellknight units, others enact unforgiving campaigns of conscription to ensure their planets can repel pirates, looters, and invaders. Once the Drift Crisis abates—as the Hellknights are sure it will when law prevails—these countless operations will have granted the Hellknights footholds across the galaxy. Even without Drift travel, the Hellknights remain remarkably mobile. A sizable fraction of their fleet use Helldrives (Starship Operations Manual 11), a form of faster-than-light travel fueled by condensed souls of the damned. This dangerous form of travel enables Hellknights to hunt pirates with impunity and slowly reestablish contact with scattered units. Billions of civilians are eager to acquire and exploit Helldrives despite the peril, yet so far, the Hellknights refuse to share the technology. All available Helldrive production goes toward retrofitting existing Hellknight starships and any larger vessels they seize from miscreants in the course of their patrols. While most Hellknight units focus their efforts on reestablishing order, the Order of the Eclipse has adopted a different objective. Normally dedicated to quashing chaotic messaging and seditious propaganda, this order has shifted its expertise toward rebuilding galactic communication and deciphering the Drift Crisis’s cause. Despite these noble aspirations, the Eclipse maintains its usual zeal and disregard for others. Its Hellknights interrogate researchers, commandeer documents, abduct Drift experts to aid the order’s efforts, and destroy forces and facilities the Hellknights believe are impeding this investigation or perpetuating the crisis. Where they’ve repaired or boosted communication infrastructure, the Order of the Eclipse has purposefully ignored chaotic societies and known bad actors, instead prioritizing allies’ operations. The Order of the Scourge’s investigators, sworn to root out corruption, quickly found inconsistencies in how the church of Triune understood the Drift Crisis, suggesting a cover-up or other schemes. While the Order of the Scourge doesn’t encourage the anti-technological social movements besieging Triune’s faithful, these Hellknights have exploited the violence to capture and question Triunites. No doubt, they’ll eventually learn of Sovereign Trinity (page 174), which could redirect the Hellknights toward Alluvion in force.

35 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS THE MOORED For years, the Moored protested Drift travel and its unknown costs while weathering accusations of heedless doomsaying. However, as the ripples of the Drift Crisis reach Absalom Station, this philosophy gained sudden credibility. After all, who else could claim that they foresaw tragedy? Many in the organization present the Moored as constrained, concerned, and focused on assisting the entire station in the transition to life without Drift travel, while some in the media have highlighted members of the Moored delighting in the accelerated demise of the Drift to villainize the whole group. While the Moored have no formal membership lists or elected leaders, people who run individual sector or neighborhood meetings tend to influence that area’s interpretations and goals. Well-established meeting groups are referred to as clusters and named after their original meeting location, such as the Fogtown Cluster. With the rapid growth of membership, clusters are breaking into multiple groups, often led by Moored members who joined within the past year. Combined with an already unclear hierarchy, this makes for inconsistent messaging and splintering based on minute differences in opinion. Prior to the Drift Crash, the organization struggled to mobilize beyond these meetings. This chaos continues to hamper a unified response from the Moored, making the organization an easy target for blame or infiltration by bad actors. During this crisis, community support groups flourish. Thousands of new members flock to meetings across Absalom Station, requiring last-minute changes in venue. Clusters once seated at tables in local cafes now pack meeting halls. The previously sizable Parkside Cluster split into an east and west branch. These first meetings don’t focus on introducing potential recruits to Moored philosophy; instead, they organize humanitarian aid and share information on post-Drift living. The general feeling among the Moored is that it’s gauche to focus on the proven negatives of Drift travel. A schism is growing within the Moored between those who want the crisis to end (even if it means restoring Drift travel) and those who want to ensure that Drift travel stops for good. While this infighting hasn’t spilled into public gatherings, a faction wants to move from simply discussing “The Price Unknown” (a treatise on the potential cost of Drift travel) to taking direct action to end all use of the Drift. Clackside Cluster members boast that they’ve stolen equipment from the Church of Triune, broken Drift engines, and maneuvered buyouts of companies that were part of the official response. They challenge other clusters to join in these disruptions, even though they have scant proof of such exploits. While part of the Clackside Cluster are radicalized members of the Moored, the group’s leader, Scarlie Osein (CN female nuar operative), is an infiltrator from the Splitpenny gang attempting to focus attention on the Moored. The return and ascendance of Aleksana Guryari (page 170) has been a flashpoint within the Moored. Some are suspicious of her and her motives, while others welcome her expertise. Discussions about her tend to focus on the implications of her inclusion, using Guryari’s involvement to justify critiques of membership management and strategic decision-making. Rumors have reached Absalom Station about chapters of the Moored claiming to operate on planets across the Vast. Challenges await the Moored. The crisis provides an opportunity to prove that life is better without the Drift. Yet convincing others becomes harder with time, as disrupted supply chains and social isolation make daily life painful. Political concerns pull Moored clusters into competing priorities. While the decentralized structure of the Moored allows for the organization to quickly grow, the response to emerging events is uncoordinated and chaotic. SCARLIE OSEIN

36 THE DRIFT CRISIS STARFINDER SOCIETY After experiencing heavy losses in the Scoured Stars incident several years ago, the Starfinder Society learned the importance of redundancy in training, recruitment, and resources, making the Society resilient enough to weather the Drift Crash with grace. Though hundreds of agents and dozens of Society-registered starships remain unaccounted for, presumably lost somewhere in the Drift or beyond, the agents scattered throughout Near Space have formed a loose network to assist and support survivors. Remote outposts throughout Near Space and the Vast, as well as mobile lodges, have become makeshift waypoints for Drift Crash refugees looking for a way home, or in need of supplies and repairs. While the Society has never been a charitable organization, some among its leadership rose to the occasion to support others in the Pact Worlds. The Society isn’t working alone. One of its key allies in this endeavor is the Triunite priest Accordant-Contemplator-16 (LN agender anacite technomancer). Having once been rescued by Society agents, Accordant-Contemplator-16 acts as the Society’s liaison to Triune’s church, navigating the fracturing ranks of their fellow devotees with finesse. While generally a positive force, the Society has its share of opportunists. These include individuals and even factions intent on using the crisis to their own advantage, contracting for corps and wealthy individuals who struggle to locate missing persons, and testing potentially hazardous alternatives to Drift travel. The Acquisitives in particular, many of whom were already hired out as mercenaries, eagerly embraced this role and advocate for other Starfinders to do the same. Leader of the Acquisitives, Radaszam (N male vesk operative), began recruiting mercenary companies within and outside the organization to accept these odd jobs to increase the Society’s clout and resources. Those who disagree with Radaszam’s position, such as the secretive Dataphiles faction leader Celita (LN female android mechanic) and Ixthia (LG agender copaxiAA4 vanguardCOM) of the ExoGuardians, maintain that the Society should close ranks and focus inward or help those in need for humanitarian reasons. Those who side with Radaszam are nicknamed “credfinders” for their propensity to hire out to the highest bidder. Radaszam and his supporters, including Fitch (CN female ysoki technomancer) of the Wayfinders maintain that humanitarian aid and earning credits can go hand in hand. While current First Seeker Ehu Hadif (LG male kasatha solarian) refuses to condemn agents seeking their own fortunes, he cautions all Starfinders to remember that the galaxy is united in its experience of the Drift Crisis and should strive to end it. The First Seeker has launched multiple forays into the Vast to examine and repair Drift beacons, leveraging the organization’s recent experience with beacon malfunctions. Additionally, regular Starfinder patrols trawl the Drift for survivors of the Crash, as well as fragments of ships and other detritus that could contain useful information. This “Driftcombing” can be a lucrative operation as well, as members of the Acquisitives and Dataphiles have realized. Exo-Guardians and Wayfinders tend to gravitate toward initiatives focused on exploration or protection and rescue operations. STEWARDS As elite warrior-diplomats, the Stewards are tasked with maintaining the tenuous alliance that binds the Pact Worlds together, including policing neutral space lanes, facilitating trade negotiations, guarding against galactic threats, and otherwise keeping the peace. Because the Pact Worlds and their protectorates cover a vast amount of space, the Drift Crash and subsequent Drift Crisis have presented the Stewards with a significant challenge. While the Stewards maintain small garrisons and starship contingents near most of their charges, the more remote protectorates tended to be lightly staffed, counting on the Drift for both communicating the need for reinforcements as well as facilitating their arrival. For the Pact Worlds system, as well as larger established protectorates, the Stewards maintain a network of linked interplanetary wormhole gates called the Draws that connect these installations with ultra-secret technology that allows instant communication and transfer of ground forces from one site to another, independent of the Drift. Due to their limited size, these portals have remained restricted mostly to Stewards use, but the organization has provided instantaneous passage to various dignitaries and non-Steward agents on a case-by-case basis. For those smaller and more recently established protectorates and territories, the Stewards instead rely on their Overwatch fleet to project power and promote peace. The Crash reduced their fleets by only a modest fraction, yet each loss strains the organization’s increasingly difficult logistics. With the Drift Crisis, the Stewards’ director-general made the unprecedented move to allow agents in remote protectorates and territories to temporarily partner with the Knights of Golarion, the Skyfire Legion, and other like-minded military groups, deputizing members of these organizations to assist the Stewards with peacekeeping efforts during the crisis. In addition, the Stewards began working with major starship manufacturers to retrofit additional frames provided by local planetary governments for use in the Overwatch fleet so that routine patrols near potential hotspots could be increased. While the Drift Crisis itself posed tremendous logistical problems for the Stewards, stopgap measures to contend with the crisis brought even more challenges. First, while the heavy recruitment and alliance-building has strengthened the Stewards, it also shifted considerable military hardware to otherwise vulnerable locations with limited oversight. Already, raids on the exposed protectorates have made off with numerous smaller starships as well as a full squad of mechs. Second, the Stewards have always been stalwart in their refusal to step outside their mandate to remain impartial—to the point where criminals could easily escape their jurisdiction by jumping from the solar system or crossing into the territory of a planetary government. By partnering with planetary forces and organizations like the Knights of Golarion and the Skyfire Legion, the Stewards risk this carefully curated image, potentially leading to long-term consequences well after the current crisis. Some worry the Stewards’ attempt to fulfill their mission during the Drift Crisis could, in fact, bring about the end of the organization.

37 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS CLASS OPTIONS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX FACTIONS FACTIONS TETRAD While galactic trade withers during the Drift Crisis, at least one operation thrives: the Tetrad, a powerful interplanetary and interplanar witchwyrd trade union whose ships are powered by planar aperture drives (Starship Operations Manual 11); these drives are a proprietary hybrid technology that opens temporary portals to other planes, allowing Tetrad ships to travel with ease throughout the galaxy and other planes. The Tetrad’s planar aperture drives seem unaffected by the Crisis, which has enabled them to swiftly expand its operations as its competitors wither. Unsurprisingly, the Tetrad refuses to sell planar aperture drives to non-witchwyrds; each drive is equipped with fail-safes that cause the engines to explode or shut down when operated by a non-witchwyrd. While this might have been a strange idiosyncrasy before—everyone could access the Drift, after all—this secrecy has now enabled the Tetrad to move and travel freely, despite outrage at their refusal to share their technology. To take advantage of this rare economic opportunity, the Tetrad has increased starship production and bought out numerous independent manufacturers that were financially ruined by the Crash. After a retrofit and upgrade to automated production, these new facilities churn out Tetrad ships under the watchful eyes of witchwyrd managers and security robots. These acquisitions have fueled resentment in the nearby communities, yet few have pushed back against the Tetrad for fear witchwyrds would simply cease doing business there—an outcome that would lead to shortages of food, medicine, and other supplies. To staff these new starships, the Tetrad hires non-witchwyrd crews to assist witchwyrd captains, engineers, and bridge officers. These outside hires go through a vigorous screening process and are well-compensated for both their labor and secrecy. Competition for these positions is fierce, particularly on worlds that are experiencing violence, starvation, or other hardships. The Tetrad also hires freelance troubleshooters for a variety of sensitive missions. Typically, these involve acquiring rare resources for its manufacturing centers, scoping out distant markets for economic opportunities, and retrieving or destroying missing Tetrad starships and the planar aperture drives within them. Like the starship crews, these contractors are bound to secrecy. Although it’s presumed their compliance is acquired through generous payment, some suspect surveillance, magical contracts, or technological implants are involved. The organization’s secrecy makes sense from a business standpoint, but countless Drift Crisis victims decry the company’s aloofness, raising the contention: if your technology could be saving businesses, people, and planets, aren’t you morally obligated to share that technology? Before the Crisis, this argument would’ve failed; like any business, the Tetrad has full ownership and freedom over how it uses its technology and property. In the wake of galactic upheaval, governing bodies, galactic courts, and law enforcement are weighing their options. Forcing the Tetrad to share its proprietary technologies could be a legally slippery slope with far-reaching consequences, and the economic and logistical cost of waging such a battle could be prohibitive. While most apply pressure on the Tetrad to release its drives, others question why they refuse to sell the planar aperture technology. Is it only a question of profit and pride? Or is something else at work? Some suspect planar aperture drives require illegal components, or perhaps affordable components that would see a drastic increase in cost were their value known. Others posit the drives utilize planar essence, souls, wish magic from enslaved genies, or some other morally abominable material as fuel—perhaps even siphoning the vitality of the worlds they visit. Others suspect the Tetrad isn’t hiding a component of the planar aperture drives, but a design flaw.

CRISIS REFUGEE +1 Con 38 THE DRIFT CRISIS THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) You must navigate civilizations that might not be at all like the one in which you were raised. This taught you a lot about the different ways that people across the galaxy live their The Drift Crisis cut you off from the place you called home. Whether you were visiting another planet or onboard a vessel that the Crash hurled light years across the cold vacuum of space, you find yourself among the many who desperately seek safety in a strange new land. You’ve seen and endured much, perhaps while searching for a new home in the turmoil of uncertainty. lives. Reduce the DC to identify or recall knowledge about previously unfamiliar cultures or ways of life by 5. Survival is a class skill for you. If it’s a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Survival checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Constitution at character creation. STUBBORN RESILIENCE (6TH) Whether you were stranded in an uncharted region of the galaxy or trapped behind enemy lines, you found yourself forced to travel extensively to find shelter. The journey exposed you to harsh situations, which you’ve grown to endure. You gain the Environmental Adaptation feat (Character Operations Manual 114), whether you meet the requirements for it or not. If you already possess this feat, select a number of environmental conditions and weather conditions equal to half your Constitution modifier (rounded up) from those listed in the Environmental Adaptation feat and add them to those you already possess. CARE FOR OTHERS (12TH) During your travels, you had to rely on others for safety and often returned the favor. You’ve learned the importance of caring for your fellow refugees and know how to knit their wounds when required. Once per day as a standard action, you can cast a 2nd-level mystic cure as a spell-like ability. At 16th level, this increases to twice per day. HANG YOUR HAT (18TH) Many refugees don’t have the luxury to return to their home world and must forge a new life for themselves. While at times you find yourself longing for home, your new adopted home and family groups bring you a sense of comfort and stability that bolsters you and gives you a reason to fight on. Select a new home world for your PC, which can’t be the same as your character’s place of birth and upbringing. Up to twice per day, when you spend 10 minutes contemplating the positive aspects of your newfound home, you recover 1 Resolve Point. This doesn’t count as resting to regain Stamina Points. You must stipulate where this new home is when you reach this level; you aren’t able to change this selection once it has been made.

DRIFT CRASHED +1 Dex 39 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX THEMES CLASS OPTIONS THEMES THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) You’re accustomed to strenuous work, whether you’ve always been exceptionally active or if the Drift Crash inspired a sudden change from your previous lifestyle. This has been refined by your time in and out of the Drift, where changes in environment and gravity helped honed your endurance. Reduce the DC to identify or recall knowledge about variations in gravity and environments across different planes by 5. Athletics is a class skill for you. If it’s a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Athletics checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Dexterity at character creation. DRIFT TREKKER (6TH) The Drift is full of fragments ripped from various other planes. Whether as part of a rescue team or someone lost aboard one of these floating fragments of land, you’ve gained great experience navigating through many of them. Shifting gravitational eddies and fluctuating landmasses that make some travelers seasick, feel as stable as static ground for you. While in the Drift, you can move through nonmagical difficult terrain at your normal speed. In addition, when squeezing, you aren’t considered to have the entangled condition (although you still move at half your speed). DRIFT NAVIGATOR (12TH) You’ve seen more of the Drift than most people will in their entire lifetimes. Having spent so much time inside the transitive plane, you’ve developed an understanding of the mysterious and enigmatic ways of time and space. Although the realm is in a constant state of flux, your senses are attuned to the occasional landmark and biome that others would miss. Reduce the DC to skill checks to navigate while you’re in the Drift by 5. For all other Piloting skill checks undertaken in the Drift that don’t relate to navigation, you gain a +2 insight bonus or increase your existing insight bonus to Piloting checks by 1. DRIFT RUNNER (18TH) Passage into and out of the Drift is as natural for you as breathing, and just as thrilling as the most You were aboard a starship when the Drift Crash occurred. You were either stranded in the plane until rescued, or your vessel was unceremoniously ejected onto the Material Plane and directly into danger. The experience drove you to action. Since then, you might have joined other teams seeking those who were lost or became caught in one of many ensuing military conflicts across the galaxy. Whatever the case, you emerged with a very personal connection to this life-changing event. bleeding-edge HAC game. When you pass from the Material Plane into the Drift, you feel a thrill of excitement mixed with the warm sensation of returning to a place where a piece of your heart forever remains. Up to twice per day, when a vessel you’re aboard either enters or leaves the Drift, you recover 1 Resolve Point. You might be handling any role aboard the starship when it either enters or leaves the Drift in this way, or you might simply be a passenger.

OPPORTUNIST +1 Cha 40 THE DRIFT CRISIS For many, a crisis is nothing less than an opportunity. Perhaps you aim to turn a profit from the distress of those affected by the Drift Crisis, or maybe you see it as the perfect time to build new alliances or play enemies against one another. A massive disruption could even be your chance to cover up past crimes and seek a fresh start, for good or for ill. Whatever your motive, you seek the opportunities that come in the wake of a period of great change. THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) It takes a sharp mind to see a catastrophe and conceive of a way to better yourself or others. You’ve networked with groups and organizations across the galaxy, even if only on a surface level. No matter the situation, you know who to talk to. Reduce the DC to identify or recall knowledge about organizations, groups, and agencies that work across multiple systems by 5. Perception is a class skill for you. If it’s a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Perception checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Charisma at character creation. YOU CAN TRUST ME (6TH) Your quick thinking and ability to stay cool when things fall apart makes others keen to put their trust in you. Whenever someone needs assistance, you can seize the opportunity to help. You know that this not only builds the trust in whomever you’re assisting, it also develops social capital that you can cash in far into the future. What’s more, helping out positions you to better swoop in to the rescue and take the credit if your companions fail. Once per minute when you attempt to aid another creature’s skill check, you can roll twice and take the better result. If you exceed the check to aid by at least 10, and the creature you aided fails their skill check, you gain a +2 morale bonus to your next skill check within the next minute to attempt the same task that the creature failed. STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT (12TH) You know that if you want to motivate people to perform great feats of action, you need to rally them while their emotions are at their hottest. Those who seek to galvanize (or exploit) others achieve this with precise timing and earnest enthusiasm. Some unscrupulous opportunists might use this to encourage others to evil or selfish acts, but the well-intentioned opportunist knows that they can elicit a crowd or individual to enthusiastically embrace beneficial and positive goals. You can use Diplomacy to positively change a creature’s attitude by one additional category (or two, for a maximum of four, if you spend extra time) within a 24-hour period. THE BRIGHT SIDE (18TH) Experience has taught you that the best way to transform a crisis into an opportunity for growth is with the help of others. No one soul is an island; your goals can only be achieved together. By rousing people into action, you can motivate people in rebuilding damaged settlements, cement two warring nations into a binding peace treaty, or take advantage of a rival gang’s lost weapon smuggling routes to launch the perfect assault. Up to twice per day, when you convince someone to act in a manner that would turn a negative event into a positive outcome for themselves or others (including you), you recover 1 Resolve Point.

SPECTRA SCION +1 Int 41 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX THEMES CLASS OPTIONS THEMES THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) Whether you’ve absorbed an intuitive sense of the Drift through long exposure, attained insights as a supernatural gift from spectra tutors, or some other means entirely, you’ve attained a deep understanding of the Drift and its inhabitants—even those you’ve never encountered. Reduce the DC to identify or recall knowledge about the Drift’s properties, the Drift’s hazards, spectra, and other inhabitants of the Drift by 5. Mysticism is a class skill for you. If it’s a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Mysticism checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Intelligence at character creation. LIMITED MACHINE TELEPATHY (6TH) As outsiders native to the Drift, a plane sacred to the god of computers Triune, spectra have the ability to speak wordlessly with most technology. As your connection to the Drift grows, you command a fraction of this power. You gain the ability to communicate telepathically with creatures that have the machine telepathy ability, with a range of 30 feet. You also gain the ability to communicate telepathically with technological devices within 5 feet, allowing you to attempt Computers checks on these devices without a user interface or hacking kit. At 12th level, the range of both forms of telepathy doubles, and at 18th level, it instead triples. TRIUNE’S EMBRACE (12TH) Your body is so acclimatized to the Drift that not only does the vacuum of space pose little threat to you, but also the Drift can sustain your life functions. Many cultures recognize this unique level of attunement as a true sign of the machine god’s favor. While in the Drift, you can breathe normally, don’t suffer the normal environmental effects of being in a vacuum, don’t experience decompression (Core Rulebook 394) by suddenly transitioning into a vacuum, and don’t need to eat or drink. For up to 1 hour per day, you can also apply these protections (except the need to eat and drink) while in the vacuum of space while not in the Drift. You don’t need to spend this duration consecutively, but you must do so in 5-minute intervals. CHILD OF THE DRIFT (18TH) You can draw considerable resolve from the Drift’s embrace. Up to twice per day, when you spend at least 10 minutes meditating in the vacuum of the Drift, you recover 1 Resolve Point. This doesn’t count as resting to regain Stamina Points. Whether you’re a worshipper of Triune, a longtime resident of the Drift, or simply a spacefarer who has relied on the plane for years, you’ve formed a magical connection to spectra, the plane’s unique inhabitants. Like these planar beings, you take on the tasks of bringing the word of the Drift to those who might have only recently discovered space travel, safeguarding the more vulnerable areas of the realm, and protecting travelers through Drift.

CLASS OPTIONS The Drift Crash triggered countless tragedies and catastrophes, but from adversity arise new champions, with many of their extraordinary powers connected to—if not outright awoken—by the Crash itself. What’s more, adventurers with once-niche skill sets find their talents extremely relevant during the Drift Crisis, making these heroes leading candidates to unravel and ultimately repair this massive event. 42 THE DRIFT CRISIS MYSTIC CONNECTION Although closed to magical travel, the Drift nonetheless brims with magical energy, both from Triune’s divine power and the disparate matter drawn from other planes. Some mystics specialize in tapping into the Drift’s diverse powers. The following connection is available to mystics. The Drift You worship Triune, have ties to the mysterious spectra, or have some other relationship with the Drift. Your magic can ease Drift travel, fold space, and impose Drift-like conditions. D Associated Deities: Desna, Triune, Weydan D Associated Skills: Computers and Piloting D Spells: 1st–life bubble, 2nd–fog cloud, 3rd–pinpoint navigationCOM, 4th–elemental convergenceGM, 5th–call cosmos, 6th–summon Drift beaconsNS Drift Step (Su) 1st Level As a move action, you can tap into the transitory nature of the Drift, enabling you to move further with each step than normally possible. For a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1 round), you gain a +10-foot enhancement bonus to all of your speeds, and you can move up to 10 feet each time you take a guarded step. The enhancement bonus to speeds increases to +20 feet at 7th level and +30 feet at 15th level. You can use Drift step up to three times per day. Prismatic Nimbus (Su) 3rd Level As a standard action, you can emit a vibrant purple and pink aura of light reminiscent of the Drift. Your body sheds normal light in a 15-foot radius. A creature that enters or ends its turn in the area must succeed at a Fortitude save or be dazzled for 1 round. At 11th level, you instead shed normal light in a 30-foot radius. You can maintain your nimbus for a number of minutes per day equal to your mystic level; this duration doesn’t need to be continuous, but it must be used in 1-minute increments. Unfold Space (Su) 6th Level As a reaction when you’re targeted with an attack of which you’re aware, you can expend an unused mystic spell slot to unfold the space between you and the attacker, distorting the distance the attack must traverse to reach you. You gain an enhancement bonus to your AC against the attack equal to the level of the spell slot expended. If the triggering attack hits, you can attempt a Will save (DC = 10 + the attacker’s CR); if you succeed, you regain the expended spell slot. Once you’ve targeted an attacker, you can’t target the same attacker with this ability for 24 hours. Consume Matter (Su) 9th Level You can spend 1 Resolve Point as a standard action to shatter molecular bonds in a 30-foot cone, absorbing some of the fragmented matter much like the Drift consumes planar material. Creatures in the area take 1d6 acid damage for every two mystic levels you have (maximum 10d6). Each creature in the area can attempt a Reflex save to halve this damage. You regain a number of Hit Points equal to half the damage dealt to one of the affected creatures. You gain any Hit Points recovered in excess of your maximum Hit Point total as temporary Hit Points that last 1 minute. Quantum Entanglement (Su) 12th Level Creatures linked by your telepathic bond class feature become entangled on a quantum level. You can spend 1 Resolve Point as a standard action to select any two willing or unconscious creatures linked by your telepathic bond. The two creatures teleport into the other’s space, swapping places. Both creatures must be at most 120 feet away from you. Once you’ve used this ability, you can’t use it again until you’ve regained Stamina Points as part of a 10-minute rest. This is a teleportation effect. Integrate Matter (Su) 15th Level When one or more creatures fail their saving throw against your consume matter connection power, you gain one of the following from one of those creatures for 1d4 rounds: the creature’s damage reduction; the creature’s resistance or immunity to one energy type; or the creature’s immunity to one type of effect (such as poison). You choose the ability gained, and if you choose an ability the creature doesn’t have, you gain one of these abilities the creature does have, chosen at random. Embrace the Drift (Su) 18th Level You transform into a spectra-like being, intrinsically linked to the Drift. You no longer need to breathe and are immune to the harmful environmental effects of outer space and a vacuum. You can automatically sense the direction and relative distance of the nearest five Drift beacons, and you can navigate to Alluvion as though you had a beacon code. While you’re on a starship

43 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX CLASS OPTIONS CLASS OPTIONS with a Drift engine, you treat the rating of that Drift engine as 1 higher (maximum 6). While you’re in the Drift, you have a supernatural fly speed of 90 feet (perfect maneuverability). Your body functions as a personal Drift engine. By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can spend 1, 4, 9, or 16 Resolve Points to enter the Drift, navigate the plane using the rules for Drift navigation, and (optionally) exit to the Material Plane as though you had a Drift engine rating of 1, 2, 3, or 4, respectively. While doing so, you can use either Mysticism or Piloting to navigate. MYSTIC EPIPHANIES The following epiphanies use the standard rules for epiphanies (Character Operations Manual 76). 1st Level You must be at least 1st level to choose this epiphany. Limning Spell (Ex) When you cast a mystic spell, you can cause one creature affected by the spell to glow for 1 round, shedding normal light in a 10-foot radius. This doesn’t negate a creature’s concealment (if any), but as long as the target isn’t in bright light, creatures become aware of the target’s location. The creature can negate this epiphany’s effect with a successful Will save. 3rd Level You must be at least 3rd level to choose this epiphany. Influence Tech (Ex) You can affect constructs, robots, and other creatures that have the technological subtype with your mind-affecting spells, even if they’re mindless or normally immune to such effects. However, they receive a +2 bonus to their Will saves against your mind-affecting spells. 6th Level You must be at least 6th level to choose this epiphany. Repairing Touch (Su) Once per day, you can spend 10 minutes to magically repair an object, restoring up to 5 Hit Points per mystic level. You add mending and make whole to your list of spells known. You can’t swap these spells out to learn new spells in their place. PRECOG ANCHOR The Drift contortions have spawned countless tiny paradoxes the plane struggles to rectify. Not only could precogs decipher and correct some of the Drift Crisis’s damage, some of these spellcasters might actually have had their chronomantic powers awoken in the shock of the Drift Crash. The following anchor uses the standard rules for precog anchors (Galactic Magic 9). The Drift Crisis Through some confluence of conditions, the Drift Crash recalibrated your perception and magic to align with the event’s aftereffects. The Drift’s convulsions might have twisted the space-time of your home world, granting you visions of extraplanar pasts and futures. Perhaps you attained some ineffable insight into the Drift’s origins or what it might one day become. It could be Triune themself has granted you this power, or perhaps some powerful entity damaged by the Drift Crash reached out for a savior and found only your mind. Focal Paradox: Caster-level checks and initiative checks. Improved Anchor: You can perceive and exploit moments where reality folds back upon itself, allowing you to step through ephemeral wormholes in space-time as you reach your destination in several leaps. Once per day without spending an action, you can double your speeds until the end of your turn, during which you gain a +4 bonus to your AC against attacks of opportunity. If you run or charge during this turn, you can turn up to 90 degrees once during your movement. Greater Anchor: Once per day as a reaction, you can recreate a localized Drift Crash of your own to disrupt the motion of a creature that begins its movement within 60 feet of you. After the creature completes its movement, you instantly teleport it to an unoccupied space of your choosing the creature could reach with a move action. You can’t move the creature into an inherently dangerous space, such as a surface that can’t support its weight. An unwilling creature can negate this effect with a successful Reflex save.

44 THE DRIFT CRISIS PRECOG TEMPORAL ANOMALIES The following temporal anomalies use the standard rules for precog temporal anomalies (Galactic Magic 10). 5th Level You must be at least 5th level to choose this temporal anomaly. Wait For It (Su) When you delay your action and cause your initiative count to change (Core Rulebook 249), you gain a +1 insight bonus to the next attack roll, skill check, caster-level check, or saving throw you attempt before the end of your delayed turn. At 13th level, the insight bonus increases to +2. Once you use this ability, you can’t do so again until you rest for 10 minutes to recover Stamina Points. 8th Level You must be at least 8th level to choose this temporal anomaly. Time Pocket (Su) You can fold a small region of space-time in on itself, creating a tiny pocket dimension that hovers near you and functions as a null-space chamber that can store one item of up to 2 bulk. As a standard action, you can expend a paradox and touch an unattended object to transport it into the pocket dimension. As a move action, you can withdraw the stored object from the pocket dimension without spending a paradox. Any object stored in the pocket dimension doesn’t experience the flow of time: matter doesn’t decay, temperatures remain stable, and ongoing spells’ durations and effects are paused. If an object occupies your pocket dimension when you die, it reappears harmlessly in your space 1d4 minutes after your death. 14TH LEVEL You must be at least 14th level to choose this temporal anomaly. Release the Hounds (Su) Manipulating time can attract dangerous attention from the Dimension of Time, but you’ve developed a risky way to redirect this attention as a weapon. As a standard action, you can spend a paradox to disrupt the time signature of a creature within 30 feet (Will negates). Beyond imparting a sense of physical unease, this disruption has no direct effect on the target. However, the effect acts as a beacon for hounds of Tindalos (Alien Archive 3 52). At the end of your next turn, a hound of Tindalos designates your target as its prey, uses its angled entry ability to appear as close as possible to the target, and spends the next hour chasing and attempting to destroy its prey. You don’t control the hound’s actions, and its attitude toward other creatures is indifferent. If the hound’s prey escapes beyond its reach, the hound departs. At 16th, 18th, and 20th level, the hound you lure becomes more powerful, gaining the following cumulative benefits each time: +3 bonus to all attack rolls, +5 bonus to all damage rolls, +3 bonus to AC, +2 bonus to saves, +30 Hit Points, +3 to all skill and Perception modifiers, and a +2 bonus to all spell and ability save DCs. When you use this temporal anomaly, you can spend 2 Resolve Points to summon two hounds of Tindalos instead of one, with the second hound appearing 1d4 rounds after the first. When you do so, however, there is a 5% chance you inadvertently attract a thing from beyond time (Alien Archive 3 52) for 1 hour instead of hounds of Tindalos. The thing from beyond time is hostile to both you and your target, and its starting attitude is indifferent to other creatures.

45 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX CLASS OPTIONS CLASS OPTIONS SOLARIAN STELLAR REVELATIONS While solarians traditionally control gravity and light, the black holes and stars that exemplify these forces often connect to the Negative and Positive Energy Planes, respectively. Thus, when the Drift Crisis caused extraplanar material to bleed into the Material Plane, many solarians adapted their skills to harness and redirect these new, strangely familiar forces. The following stellar revelations use the standard rules for stellar revelations (Core Rulebook 103). 2nd Level You must be at least 2nd level to choose this stellar revelation. Personal Orbit (Su) GRAVITON REVELATION As a move action, you cause your body to act as a carefully controlled gravity well. Unattended objects of bulk L or less within 5 feet of you (as well as up to 3 items of bulk L or less stowed on your body) drift toward you and begin gently orbiting your body. The total bulk of objects orbiting you in this way can’t exceed half your solarian level, and the objects don’t provide you cover, concealment, or similar defensive advantages. You can retrieve any single item currently orbiting you as a swift action. Allies can pick up items orbiting you as if they were unattended, whereas other creatures must succeed at a Reflex save when attempting to grab one of the items. On a failed save, the action fails and is wasted. When you’re fully attuned, you can give one of your orbiting items to an adjacent creature as a swift action. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier or until you leave graviton mode, whichever occurs first. As a move action, you can sustain the effect, resetting its duration to its maximum. When the effect ends, all orbiting objects immediately drop to the ground in your space. 6th Level You must be at least 6th level to choose these stellar revelations. Planar Penumbra (Su) GRAVITON REVELATION You channel extraplanar energies that emulate a black hole’s crushing, draining power. As a move action, you cause a weapon you wield to deal cold damage instead of its usual damage type. (This doesn’t change whether the weapon targets EAC or KAC). The weapon ignores the cold resistance of chaotic outsiders and good outsiders, and it deals an additional 1d6 damage against such creatures. This effect lasts for 1 round or until you leave graviton mode. You can’t use this stellar revelation to enhance a weapon that has the anarchic or holy fusion. When you’re attuned or fully attuned, your weapon also gains your choice of the axiomatic or unholy fusion for the duration of the effect. This temporary fusion ignores item level requirements and doesn’t count toward the maximum level of fusions the weapon can have at once. Planar Radiance (Su) PHOTON REVELATION You have learned to channel extraplanar energies that emulate a star’s roiling warmth and symbolic benevolence. As a move action, you cause a weapon you wield to deal fire damage instead of its usual damage type. (This doesn’t change whether the weapon targets EAC or KAC). The weapon ignores the fire resistance of evil outsiders and lawful outsiders, and it deals an additional 1d6 damage against such creatures. This effect lasts for 1 round or until you leave photon mode. You can’t use this stellar revelation to enhance a weapon that has the axiomatic or unholy fusion. When you’re attuned or fully attuned, your weapon also gains your choice of the anarchic or holy fusion for the duration of the effect. This temporary fusion ignores item level requirements and doesn’t count toward the maximum level of fusions the weapon can have at once. 10th Level You must be at least 10th level to choose this stellar revelation. Vivacious Nimbus (Su) PHOTON REVELATION As a standard action while shedding normal or bright light with your flare revelation, you can infuse the light with the Positive Energy Plane’s life-giving influence, granting creatures in the illuminated area the effects of the death ward spell. This additional effect lasts for 1 round or until you leave photon mode, whichever happens first, though you can maintain this effect as a standard action each round (or as a move action if you’re fully attuned). When you blind an undead creature with your flare revelation flash of brilliant light, the target also takes force damage equal to your solarian level. You must have the flare revelation to select this revelation. 14th Level You must be at least 14th level to choose these stellar revelations. Celestial Aegis (Su) PHOTON REVELATION As a move action, you channel the Positive Energy Plane’s power directly into your solar armor or solar shield, helping you capture and redirect your escaping life energy to bolster your body. As a reaction when you take damage that causes you to lose at least 2 Hit Points, you gain temporary Hit Points equal to half the number of Hit Points you lost from the attack or effect. These temporary Hit Points last 3 rounds. If you’re attuned or fully attuned, you also gain spell resistance equal to 11 + your solarian level against necromancy spells, and against spells with the cold, darkness, or death descriptors. Tenebrous Bulwark (Su) GRAVITON REVELATION As a move action, you channel the Negative Energy Plane’s power directly into your solar flare or solar weapon, helping you capture and convert your escaping life energy into deadly force. As a reaction when you take damage that causes you to lose at least 2 Hit Points, the next successful attack you make with your solar flare or solar weapon before the end of your next turn deals additional cold damage equal to half the number of Hit Points you lost. Undead creatures are immune to this additional cold damage. If you’re attuned or fully attuned, whenever you use this revelation’s reaction to add cold damage to your next attack, your solar flare or solar weapon also gains the penetrating weapon special property until the end of your next turn.

46 THE DRIFT CRISIS TECHNOMANCER MAGIC HACKS Who could understand the Drift, a magical realm accessible only via powerful technology, better than a technomancer? While some leverage their skills to repair the Drift and others fight to survive on foreign worlds, most struggle to live up to the expectations of the communities and corporations that turn to them for answers. The following magic hacks are available to technomancers and use the standard rules for magic hacks (Core Rulebook 119). 2nd level You must be at least 2nd level to choose the following magic hacks. Degrade Handling (Ex) As a standard action, you can expend an unused spell slot to degrade the navigational machinery of a vehicle within 30 feet. You reduce the target’s Piloting modifier by an amount equal to the expended spell level, and the effect lasts a number of rounds equal to your Intelligence modifier. Alternatively, you can instead target a starship with a range of 1 hex as a special crew action during the gunnery phase, reducing the target’s Piloting modifier by an amount equal to the expended spell slot’s level until the end of the next round. Scramble Communications (Ex) As a standard action, you scramble the signal of all technological communication devices in a 5-foot burst within 30 feet. For 1 minute, the devices can’t connect to the infosphere and can’t be used to send messages or communications. If you spend 1 Resolve Point as an additional cost to activate scramble communications, the duration increases to 1 hour. If the device is in a creature’s possession, that creature can attempt a Will save to negate the effect. Once per minute as a full action, a creature adjacent to an affected device can attempt a Computers check (DC = 10 + your technomancer level + your Intelligence modifier + your insight bonus granted by techlore), ending this magic hack’s effect on that device if successful. After you have attempted to scramble a device with this magic hack, that device becomes immune to scramble communications for 24 hours. 5th Level You must be at least 5th level to choose the following magic hacks. Amplify Drift Engine (Su) You can attune to a Drift engine to amplify its powers. Attuning to a Drift engine is a 10-minute process, at the end of which you must spend 2 Resolve Points that you can’t recover until you’re no longer attuned to the Drift engine. The attunement ends when you leave the starship or spend a full action to end the attunement. While you’re attuned to a Drift engine, you treat the engine rating as though it were one higher, though this can’t grant a starship an effective engine rating higher than its size would normally allow. This benefit doesn’t stack with other effects that increase a Drift engine’s effective engine rating. To gain this benefit, you must remain attuned to the Drift engine for the entirety of the starship’s Drift voyage; if you become unattuned, the travel time increases, instead using its base engine rating to calculate the trip’s duration. While attuned to a Drift engine, you also apply your techlore bonus to Piloting checks you make to control the starship. Extend Teleportation (Su) When you cast a spell from the conjuration (teleportation) school with a casting time of 1 standard action, you can cast the spell as a full action to double the range of the spell. You can spend 1 Resolve Point when casting a spell from the conjuration (teleportation) school to apply the effects of this magic hack without adjusting the spell’s casting time. 8th Level You must be at least 8th level to choose these magic hacks. Shrink Shot (Ex) Imitating the transitive properties of the Drift, you can warp space to decrease the distance a weapon can fire. As a standard action, you expend an unused spell slot to halve the range increment of a ranged weapon within 100 feet for a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell slot expended. If the weapon is in a creature’s possession, that creature can attempt a Reflex saving throw to negate this effect. Teleport Grenade (Su) When you throw a grenade, you can spend 1 Resolve Point as part of the action to teleport the grenade to its destination. This increases the grenade’s range to 100 feet plus 10 feet for every technomancer level you have, with no range increment. In addition, your attack roll with the grenade ignores partial cover and cover, but not improved cover and total cover. 11th Level You must be at least 11th level to choose these magic hacks. Spell Glitch (Sp) As a standard action, you can infect an ongoing spell with a virulent spellcode that swiftly degrades the magic. To infect it, you must be aware of the spell and able to touch the area, creature, or object affected by the spell. As part of the infection, attempt a caster-level check (1d20 + your caster level) with a DC equal to 11 + the spell’s caster level. If you succeed, the spell glitches for a number of rounds equal to your Intelligence modifier. At the end of each of your turns while the spell is glitching, there is a 25% chance the spell ceases to function until the end of your next turn. If a spell ceases to function 2 consecutive rounds in this way, you can attempt a second caster-level check against the same DC, dispelling the spell as dispel magic if you succeed. Once you have targeted a spell with this magic hack, the spell becomes immune to further uses of spell glitch for 24 hours. Tracking Beacon (Sp) You can spend 2 Resolve Points as a standard action to touch a vehicle or starship and infect it with a tracking program that tracks the vehicle on your behalf. The program lasts a number of days

47 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX CLASS OPTIONS CLASS OPTIONS equal to your technomancer level, sending real-time coordinates to your spell cache to inform you of the vehicle’s location, whether it’s moving, and its relative status: unharmed, broken (vehicle only), wrecked (vehicle only), damaged (a starship with critical damage to at least one system), disabled (starship only), or destroyed. If the vehicle or starship enters the Drift, the program transmits Drift codes for the starship’s destination, enabling you to plot a course to the same destination. A creature interacting with the vehicle can attempt a Computers or Mysticism check once per day to detect your tracking program, with a DC equal to 15 + 1-1/2 your technomancer level. Once detected, your tracking program can be dispelled as if it were a spell, or it can be removed by being hacked as if it were a computer whose tier is equal to half your technomancer level. VANGUARD ASPECT Vanguards understand and draw their power from entropy and embody resiliency. As the Drift Crisis rocks the galaxy, no one is better suited to gaining insight into its collapse or pulling power from its crumbling form, than a vanguard. The following new aspect is available to vanguards. Indeterminacy You embody the fundamentally random nature of subatomic particles, including their instability, interactions, variations, and the unseen connections between them. Aspect Insight (Ex): You gain Improved Combat Maneuver (reposition) as a bonus feat and a +2 insight bonus to Bluff checks. Aspect Embodiment (Ex): Once per combat, when you use a reaction, make an attack of opportunity, move, or are moved when it’s not your turn, you can gain 1 Entropy Point without taking any additional action. Aspect Catalyst (Su): You transform the area around you on a subatomic level, causing matter to move and bend unpredictably. You create a 15-foot emanation centered on you that functions as difficult terrain for all movement types until the end of your next turn. When this effect ends, the resumption of normal physics causes all creatures in the area to become off-target until the end of your next turn. You’re unaffected by your aspect catalyst. Improved: When the effect ends, any creature in contact with a floor, wall, or similar solid surface finds themselves momentarily glued to that surface as normal physical laws resume; the creature attempts a Reflex save, becoming entangled for 1 round if it fails. Your allies are unaffected by your aspect catalyst. Aspect Finale (Su): As a reaction when you are dealt damage by a melee attack, you can spend 1 Entropy Point to rip the matter colliding with you from this plane and send it to another. This deals damage to the weapon that damaged you, or to your attacker if the weapon was a natural or unarmed attack, as if you hit it with your entropic strike. VANGUARD DISCIPLINES The following disciplines use the standard rules for disciplines (Character Operations Manual 52). 2nd Level You must be at least 2nd level to choose these disciplines. Remote Defense (Su) As a move action, you toss your shield at an ally within 30 feet, telekinetically directing the shield’s movement. Your ally gains the shield’s bonus to AC as if they were wielding it. If you instead activate this discipline as a standard action, you also align the shield against a specific enemy, granting the ally the aligned shield bonus against that creature. The ally doesn’t need a hand free to gain these benefits, and they take no proficiency-based penalties from the shield. While this discipline is active, you don’t gain benefits from wielding the shield, and you must keep one hand free to direct and control the shield. At the beginning of your next turn, the shield flies

48 THE DRIFT CRISIS back to your hand as long as it’s not restrained or in another creature’s possession. Shield Snap (Ex) You react instinctively to danger, shifting your focus in a flash. As a reaction when you’re the target of an attack, you can align your shield against your attacker. After you use this discipline, you can’t do so again until you rest for 10 minutes to recover Stamina Points. Transmute Wound (Su) As a reaction when you take damage, you can spend 1 Entropy Point to convert part of one damage type you take into another damage type. You can transform kinetic damage dealt to you only into another type of kinetic damage, and you can transform energy damage dealt to you only into another type of energy damage. The amount of damage you convert in this way can’t exceed your vanguard level plus your Constitution modifier. 6th Level You must be at least 6th level to choose this vanguard discipline. Navigational Drift (Ex) As a reaction when a creature within 15 feet of you moves, you can disrupt that creature’s momentum and trajectory. After they complete their movement, select a space adjacent to their new position. The creature must attempt a Will saving throw, doing so with a +4 bonus if the chosen space is dangerous (such as moving a creature off a cliff or into a fire). On a success, the creature is unaffected. On a failure, they end their move in the space you selected rather than the one they selected. While moving to this space, the creature’s movement doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. Once you have targeted a creature with this discipline, it becomes immune to further uses for 24 hours. At 10th level, you can select a space up to 10 feet away from the creature’s intended position. At 15th level, you can select a space up to 15 feet away from the creature’s intended position. 10th Level You must be at least 10th level to choose this vanguard discipline. Technological Degradation (Su) You can funnel entropic forces into a technological creature to hinder their effectiveness. When you deal damage to a technological construct with your entropic strike, you can spend 1 Entropy Point to overload the construct’s machinery, giving them the off-target condition for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier. If the construct succeeds at a Fortitude save, they reduce the duration to 1 round. WITCHWARPER ALTERNATE CLASS FEATURE Comprised of countless planes, the Drift shares otherworldly elements with witchwarpers’ mastery of alternate realities. As a result, many witchwarpers perceive the Drift Crisis as comfortingly familiar, opening new ways to manipulate other spaces and timelines. Other witchwarpers are less enthused; according to their observations, the Drift Crisis transcended this reality, either transforming countless alternate universes or illustrating how extensive the Drift’s reach has always been. Witchwarpers have access to the following alternate class features. Plunderer of Worlds (Su) Much as the Drift tears away pieces of other planes, you snag extraplanar energies from the Great Beyond. Twice per day as a standard action, you can project a random plane’s features into a nearby space. Roll on Table 1–2 to determine which plane is affected. After determining the plane, you choose where this planar bubble appears, filling a 10-foot-radius emanation within 100 feet of you. A planar bubble lasts a number of rounds equal to your witchwarper level. You can’t dismiss the bubble, though you can have more than one in existence at once. At 4th, 10th, and 16th levels, you can create one additional planar bubble per day. The planar bubble imposes various effects on creatures in its area, determined by the plane of origin. At 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, and

49 DRIFT CRISIS PRE-CRISIS DRIFT ADVENTURES DRIFT IN CRISIS TOOLBOX NPCS FACTIONS CREATURES SECRET TREASURES ADVENTURE PATHS IN CRISIS THEMES GEAR DRIFT ARCHITECTS THE DRIFT CRISIS INTRODUCTION 1 INDEX CLASS OPTIONS CLASS OPTIONS 16th levels, you gain additional ways to augment your bubbles by expending an unused witchwarper spell slot. You can expend only one spell slot in this way per bubble you create. You choose whether to expend a spell slot to augment a bubble after selecting its plane but before targeting the effect. At 1st level, the planar bubble applies the plane’s enhanced magic and impeded magic effects for any spells and spell-like abilities cast inside its area. Any spell that has a descriptor that matches one of the bubble’s enhanced traits functions as though the spell’s caster level were 2 higher than normal, has its saving throw DC increased by 1, and gains a +2 insight bonus to any attack rolls made with the spell. Any spell that has a descriptor that matches one of the bubble’s impeded traits is difficult to cast; the spellcaster must succeed at a caster-level check (1d20 + their caster level) with a DC equal to 15 + twice the spell’s level; otherwise, they fail to cast the impeded spell. At 4th level, you can expend a 1st-level spell slot to fill the area with difficult terrain, as the infinite worlds 1st-level environmental effect (Character Operations Manual 62). At 7th level, the bubble’s radius increases to 15 feet. You can expend a spell slot to expand the bubble further, increasing its radius by an amount equal to 5 × the spell slot’s level. At 10th level, you gain extraordinary control over your planar bubbles’ origins. You can expend a 2nd-level or higher spell slot when creating a bubble to roll its plane of origin a number of times equal to the expended spell’s level and choose one result. At 13th level, the planar bubble’s radius increases to 20 feet. In addition, you can expend a 4th-level spell slot to fill the planar bubble with dangerous matter or energy, dealing force damage equal 5 + your Charisma modifier when a creature enters or begins its turn in the bubble. Each subsequent round, the amount of damage the planar bubble inflicts decreases by 1 (minimum 0). A creature can’t take this damage more than once per round, and they take half as much damage with a successful Fortitude save. Any creatures that have the subtype, creature type, or special ability listed in the planar bubble’s immune entry take no damage from this effect, whereas creatures that have the subtype, creature type, or special ability listed in the bubble’s vulnerability entry instead take double damage from the effect. A creature that is both immune and vulnerable to the damage instead takes the normal amount of damage. At the GM’s discretion, a creature closely associated with the planar bubble’s origin might be immune or vulnerable to its effects (such as a Shadow Plane creature being immune to a shadowy planar bubble’s damage). You’re immune to your own bubble’s damage unless you’re vulnerable to its effects. At 16th level, you can expend a 6th-level spell slot as a standard action to end one of your planar bubbles prematurely. When you do so, the collapsing bubble attempts to draw one creature in its area back to the bubble’s plane of origin. This functions as plane shift, and an unwilling target can attempt a Will save to negate the effect. You can use this ability even if you’ve already expended a spell slot to modify the bubble. Plunderer of worlds replaces infinite worlds. Witchwarper Paradigm Shift The following paradigm shift uses the standard rules for paradigm shifts (Character Operations Manual 62). 5th Level You must be at least 5th level to choose this paradigm shift. Alternate Entry (Su) You can spend 1 Resolve Point as a standard action to replace a section of wall, floor, or ceiling within 30 feet with a counterpart from an alternate reality in which that obstacle contains an unlocked door, window, or other means of access. To create the opening, you must succeed at a caster-level check (1d20 + your caster level) with a DC equal to the obstacle’s break DC (Core Rulebook 408). You can spend up to 3 additional Resolve Points when activating this paradigm shift, gaining a cumulative +5 bonus to the caster-level check for each additional Resolve Point spent. The portal persists for 1 minute or until you dismiss it as a standard action, and a creature partway through the portal is immediately shunted to its choice of either side. This ability can only target artificial or constructed surfaces no more than 5 feet thick. TABLE 1–2: PLANAR EFFECTS D% PLANE ENHANCED IMPEDED IMMUNE VULNERABILITY 1–6 Chaotic chaotic lawful chaotic subtype lawful subtype 7–12 Evil evil good evil subtype good subtype 13–18 Good good evil good subtype evil subtype 19–24 Lawful lawful chaotic lawful subtype chaotic subtype 25–30 Captivating charm, emotion — mindless creatures — 31–36 Discordant pain, sonic mind-affecting — — 37–42 Entropic death, poison creation, healing undead type living creatures 43–48 Eldritch all spells — — — 49–54 Shadowy darkness, shadow fire, light — — 55–60 Suppressed — all spells — — 61–66 Vivacious creation, healing death, disease living creatures undead type 67–72 Air air, electricity acid, earth air subtype earth subtype 73–78 Earth acid, earth air, electricity earth subtype air subtype 79–84 Fire fire cold, water fire subtype cold or water subtype 85–90 Water cold, water fire cold or water subtype fire subtype 91–100 Roll twice and apply both planar effects to the planar bubble.