Mutant: Mechatron is Back in Print!

 Not only is Mutant: Mechatron back in print at a normal price at Free League Publishing, but a new book in the Mutant: Year Zero series is announced as well titled Mutant; Year Zero - Ad Astra. Mutants in space! 

It is possible that you are in the same camp I am and know why this is a moment for celebration, but if not, then know this tale: Several years ago in the before-times of the pandemic Mutant: Year Zero arrived on the scene with much surprise, and I was fortunate enough to grab it with all the cool bells and whistles back when Modiphius was distributing. Over time Modiphius and Free League parted ways (though recently that has changed again), and Free League books became tough to find, especially if you didn't back the Kickstarter. In short order I missed all three sequels (Genlab Alpha, Elysium and Mechatron). Last year one of the reasons I resumed collecting and then deep-diving into Free League books was due to a happy accident when my wife and I uncovered a trove of a gaming shop in Florida that had more gaming tomes than I had seen in years. Years! Among the many books I snagged there were all the books I was missing for the Mutant Year Zero lineup except one: Mechatron. Heck I even got the card deck....just not the book. 

It turned out it had a really limited print run for the Kickstarter and had never been reprinted. Mechatron was going for $400+ on Ebay auctions for the only three copies available anywhere (and I bet those sellers are wishing they had lowered the price just a bit now). I secured the PDF easily enough, but using the PDF is just not practical for me, I'm an old Gen X gamer, and my embrace of electronic books does not comport well with gaming tomes, it's just a problem with our generational model...we need that book in our hands to make the magic happen, plain and simple. 

So with this new announcement Free League has at last course corrected and is steering the Mutant Year Zero brand back on track. Celebration time! I have ordered my copy, time to wait patiently for it to arrive. 

Messing with FATE Core: Character Generation

After a very, very long time I am finally warming up to what FATE has to offer, specifically FATE Core, the generic edition of the game from Evil Hat. FATE is not an easy game system to understand, especially if you are used to a more traditional/old school approach to gaming, but it's a system which offers a ton of interesting potential for unique settings that are otherwise hard to do in more conventional game systems, is great for pickup games and collaborative designs, and most interestingly is designed around a core conceit of cinematic/storytelling conventions as key to the experience. Movie logic, if you will, is more important in a FATE game than verisimilitude in design.

Anyway, I recently got inspired to work more with FATE Core when I picked up a copy of the rules and then (many months later!) finally read them. Now I'm kind of hooked on the idea of running this. To try it out I worked out a character to get a sense of how the design works, what things such as aspects (and the associated Invokes and Compels mean) and how FATE Core handles a range of genres. Although it's got a genre Toolkit book out, the FATE Core rules seem pretty well able to handle this as written.

I based the first character design in a setting I ran many years ago for GURPS and then later retooled for Traveller. Ad Astra is a futuristic universe with lots of potential for crazy and unusual high-concept sci fi, so it feels like a good choice for some SF-based FATE gaming. I may revamp prior entries on it for an updated FATE version soon (once I'm done learning the system, anyway!)

To make the test character simple I aim for a pilot. Here's what FATE Core created....I'll talk about how in the notes afterward.

World Ad Astra

Name Tane “Solar Rider” Jones

Description  A rough and world-weary traveler with a scarred right eye, sandy blonde hair (usually short cropped), wears a dusky blue flight jacket from his old Human Commonwealth days.

Aspects

High Concept:     Freelance pilot of the IF Wildstar operating in Human Space (Freeworld Zone)

Trouble:               Driven to fight fascism and oppression wherever he sees it

Phase Aspects:    Don’t Tell Me the Odds

      Some of My Best Friends are Aliens

      Repay My Debts, No Matter the Cost

Skills

Great (+4): Pilot (starship)

Good (+3): Drive (vehicles), Shoot (energy weapons)

Fair (+2): Shoot (slug throwers), Resources, Provoke

Average (+1): Rapport, Physique, Notice, Fight

Extras

 The Independent Freighter Wildstar (Aspects could include: "Souped-Up Engine; Turbo-Lasers; Armor Plated Hull) 

Stunts (refresh 3)

Pedal to the Metal

Provoke Violence

Called Shot

Physical Stress  3              Mental Stress    2              Consequences  3

The Phase Trio Story:

Tane stumbled into freelance piloting while working for Exocorp on the terraformed moon world Eodus Prime. He was recruited by locals to help run guns to freedom fighters working against the oppressive corporation, which was backed by Kephran interests. While working to fuel freedom fighters he stumbled across two allies, including the Praektorian rogue Gossamer and the Anageni engineer Teski, who helped him repair his ship during a major firefight from a blockade (Don’t tell me the odds). Gossamer and Tane worked together on a ground operation to help extract guerilla fighters pinned down during the “Automated Offensive” of 2250, a major leap for Tane as he had a general loathing for most non-humanoid species until then (Some of My Best Friends are Aliens). A year later Tane was involved in the strike on Commodus Prison, where he helped free both Gossamer and Teski after they had been captured (Repay my debts, No Matter the Cost).

Design Notes:

FATE builds characters out of the following materials: Aspects, Skills, Stunts and Extras. The Aspects are essentially character descriptors, but the rules provide a lot of context for what these mean and how to make them work.

One Aspect needs to be the High Concept, which you could imagine is the "class+background+archetype" you might see in other games such as D&D. A "Tiefling Warlock Outlander" in D&D could also use that as the High Concept Aspect for a FATE game. In our sample, I went with "Freelance pilot of the IF Wildstar operating in Human Space (Freeworld Zone)." This says the following: he's a pilot, he's got a ship (more on that later), and he's known to operate in the zone, which if this were a collaborative character generation session would likely have been established by the GM in the initial setting discussion phase.

Next up you need a Trouble Aspect. This is the second of five aspects and it needs to be the one which will drive your character into interesting and plot-laden situations. The rules caution against limited trouble aspects....and I imagine a trouble aspect like "Is too awesome to describe adequately" should be vetoed unless the GM wants to read between the lines that the "PC is blinded by his own hubris and false sense of accomplishment." In our case I picked "Driven to fight fascism and oppression wherever he sees it," since that sounds like an easy way to drive conflict: when my dude Tane sees someone oppressed, some system failing the little guy, he is compelled to act.

The next three aspects are defined by creating the "Phase Trio" story, which is a narrative that talks about how he came to be who he is. It's designed in the base rules to create connections with other player characters, but if you have only one or two PCs, or are limited for time the rules provide direction on what to do in those cases as well. For my purposes I went ahead and imagined a couple other PCs in this process just to get a fully functioning Phase Trio story worked out. Each of the three remaining aspects need to reflect some element of the story as presented....this encourages players to get creative, especially if they want specific aspects for their design. I revamped my choices a couple times before settling on the ones I selected...the idea is to make them interesting for both invokes and compels.

These aspects need to show some versatility, because they will be subject to what are called "invokes" which are where you use the aspect to justify a helpful bonus as well as "compels" which are where you use the aspect against the PC in an interesting way (such as the GM saying, for example, "Tane, you are now in an alien bar where the Spulgrot are drinking nectar from the Humfly, which is kind of nerve-wracking since even though Humflies are allegedly non-sentient, they scream just like tortured babies and puppies when being drained by the chitinous spulgort. Would you like to accept a compel to see if you can really negotiate unbiased with the spulgort gangster in the bar while drinking his humfly?")

If you use an invoke, it costs a fate point. If you accept a compel, you gain a fate point. Fate points are limited resources, so essentially you are getting a chance to do something cool later on by accepting your limitation now. The player may also want to see the compel in action since it might lead to a more interesting story, or have consequences in the game that are still desirable....even if the means of getting there require accepting your character's failings.

This, needless to say, is interesting stuff.

Skills are a lot more straight-forward, and FATE Core provides a default skill set with advice on customizing. Each skill includes example Stunts, about which more in a minute. Skills for PCs are ranked from +5 to 0, with zero being untrained. There's a specific formula for skills at the start of char gen, witha "pyramid" of talent dictating what you get. It's a perfectly fine system....but you can tweak the allotment up or down if you are increasing (or decreasing) the number of skills relevant to the setting. The example character is based on the default expectation.

FATE Core's basic mechanical approach to all tasks is to roll four FATE dice, which are labelled with two "-" symbols, two blanks and two "+" symbols. Add the "+" and subtract the "-" and you have your die roll. Then, you add skill bonuses and a +2 bonus if invoking an aspect (you can also invoke an aspect to re-roll). If you exceed the target goal, which the GM sets from +1 to +8 then you are successful. Fail, and you get more interesting and unintended results.

Anyway, stunts are a way to pull off specific effects in the game, which in turn can affect skill checks or aspects depending on what is going on and what the stunt is. The examples in the book provide about 3 per skill, and give you a good idea of what the range is. You could conceivably use these as-is is with minimal or no adjustment for setting or genre. A new PC starts with 3 stunts, and you can get up to 5 if you are willing to reduce what is called your "refresh," which is how many fate points you start with (and regenerate). So the more stunts you can do....the fewer fate points you have to invoke with, and the more you need to accept compels to fill out your points.

In my example, I picked three "from the book" stunts for Tane Jones. Basically he can push his starship (or any vehicle) to the limits of its speed, he can piss off people easily, and he can take a called shot at a moment's notice like nobody's business.

Extras are a catch-all for literally all the extraneous trappings of a genre you can imagine. I've thrown the starship here, with suggested aspects, but I'm still absorbing this chapter so more to come. Needless to say, Extras are basically "characters" which you stat out according to whether they are actions, things, perks, NPCs, or "other." For example, magic, super powers, gadgets, weaponry, vehicles and more all fall under the Extras category.

In the end, character survival in FATE Core is calculated by physical and mental stress, which start at 2 and go up if you have certain skills (physique and will). Consequences are layered in 3, with each one getting progressively worse. You get a consequence with a major risk or failure, and these can be things ranging from "Madness induced by Cthulhu" to "sucking chest wound" and usually disappear after a designated period of time (sessions or even scenarios).

Anyway....more to come....I am quite intrigued at FATE Core and also appreciative that I am at last starting to grokk how this system works. FATE Core is far and away the best iteration of the system I have encountered, and makes much more sense then some other FATE-powered games I tried to delve in to.

FATE Core is PWYW at rpgnow.com, so if this sounds interesting, you should check it out!

Tales of the Cannadad Dei I: Sabiri, Gateway to the West

One thing I didn't do a lot of last year was provide actual content on the Realms of Chirak. Lots of Lingusia, Agraphar, Ad Astra and so forth, but nothing for this blog's namesake! That is about to change. Today I kick off a series of articles focusing on the Realms of Chirak, and the first few are going to focus on the Sabiri lands, a personal favorite of mine.

Since I've decided to go monogamous with my fantasy game system of choice this year, Pathfinder is my new hot-to-trot ruleset. Because of this, I will take time when possible to update Chirak references and details printed here to that system (or Legend...or both).

First, though, to get you up to speed I present the Sabiri entry from the Realms of Chirak Gazetteer:

Sabiri, Gateway to the West


Stoic nomadic plains culture which has been impervious to outside influence

Cultural Level: iron age

Population: approximately 2-3 hundred thousand

Government: loose clan-based tribal princes

Rulers: Zamad-Ruus in the north at Zen Hettar; various chieftains

Religions: ancestral worship, mixed with worship of Kobal and Amorgas.

Social Titles: few, usually a man is known for his deeds; merchant princes, warlords, heroes

Coinage: plenty of trade, no common coinage

Allies: The Sabiri trade with Pelegar, Madalios, Grelmaine, and Espanea

Enemies: The Sabiri regard everyone with suspicion, but especially Crystite and Helios.

The Sabiri people are nomadic pastoralists and traders. They are the primary people to bridge the gap between west and east for trade. The Sabiri are ruled by merchant princes who move in semi mobile communities of up to several thousand, and move in steady five to six year territorial circuits. They are reminiscent of the Hoagarit, but without the emphasis on warfare. The Sabiri worship Kobal, a spirit of the land which some believe is a demiurge with a shard of the Sagittarius stone. Kobal is known to roam the lands, looking much like a great, shaggy humanoid bison, somewhat like the bison that are herded and used for survival by the Sabiri. Besides Kobal, there is Amorgas, a quiet goddess of the Sabiri women, said to be the avatar of a woman who survived her sacrifice to Kobal when he became enamored with her.

The Sabiri people are a dusky, grey-skinned kin, human but with a nearly grey-white pallor to their skin tone, as if they are perpetually caked in a light dust or whitish clay. While both men and women enjoy piercing and tattoos for decoration, the women are prone to some extreme piercing with rings along their neck, ears, and other extremities.

Tattoos are a little more complicated, for a man with tattoos likely has magic. All native Sabiri sorcerers have a tattoo for each spell they have learned, and therefore a very heavily tattooed man can likely be considered a powerful sorcerer. Other tattoos of Sabiri society have powerful sorcery woven in to them, creating spell like effects that the wearer can invoke. A popular example is the Cult of the Asp, a society of assassins and mercenaries which are known for their serpent tattoos that can come to life on a command.

Westgate

The city of Westgate is a free port, loosely managed and governed by Espanea, which offers some protection for trade routes to and from the city. The governor of the city if an Espanean-appointed noble named Estobar Revan, and his garrison of troops is enough to insure he is not unseated. The local authority is a coalition of merchant princes, mostly of Sabiri descent from local clans in the western reaches of the Seas of Chirak. Westgate is cosmopolitan, and is the sole city to benefit from direct west-east trade routes. The local communities of Sabiri are the only permanent, non-nomadic people in the land.

Because Westgate is principally a trade port, Sabiri influence is actually somewhat subdued. The Sabiri are not a seagoing culture, and do not understand such things. The architecture of Westgate is a mix of Espanean and Masirian. The history of the city suggests it was originally founded seven centuries ago by Masirian merchants, then abandoned and repopulated by the Espaneans two centuries ago. It is the only city facing the West where you are still likely to meet Nithiadians trading with Espaneans and others; all traders are welcome here, and all trade is considered fair, regardless of politics.

Fartheren

Westernmost city once founded by the Sabiri as a center of trade and burial with a year-round population, Fartheren was conquered and made one of the Espanean colonies about two centuries ago. About a century ago, the Sabiri warlord Zvakattas struck out and destroyed most of the Espanean forts and colonies, but he met his end through betrayal at Fartheren and was entombed within the famous Necropolis of Fartheren, a vast city of the dead for the many ancient princes, kings, and warlords of the Sabiri people. This Necropolis is a famous locale throughout the region, well guarded and a very pricey location for prominent Sabiri princes to be interred. No monumental architecture (the famed ziggurats, which stand sometimes 100 feet or higher) has been built in about a century, however. Still, there are easily over two hundred such monuments in the vast city of the dead.

Other locations in Fartheren include the great markets, where the seasonal nomadic convergences gather, as well as the Tower of the Eternal Flame, a society of respected fire mages who worship the demon god Vargre. Near the center of town is the Governor's Palace of Espanea, where Governor Josen Salvos Grellacas still rules (although his position is secure mostly due to the support of the local Sabiri merchants). The chief justicar of the Espanean governor is the knight Arturo Palandro, A paladin of the Espanean crown.

Not far away, the immense octagonal, smoke filled temple of Kobal is built, a mysterious place of worship with feverishly dedicated priests who are as quick to strike out with punishment as to commit self flagellation. The leader of Kobal's sect in the city is a swarthy man called Vogol.

Still operating within Fartheren is the cult dedicated to the demon-spirit Boolion, called the Servants of the Shroud. Their numbers are small, but they pervade all walks of Fartheren society. Their secret leader is Zhomas the Irredeemable, who masquerades as a simple alchemist in the merchant quarter, but is in fact the cult leader and mastermind. His enforcers include Kuzraol the incubus, Gaerille the Merciless (a captain of the guard), and Lord Krevin'nar, of the Vitti tribe, an ally to both the Servants of the Shroud and the Arcanists.

Kadela

The ruined city of Kadela is avoided by most Sabiri, save those who trade with its dangerous inhabitants. The city was founded centuries ago by Masirian colonists who were driven out by the Sabiri warlords four centuries ago. It was later re-colonized by the Espaneans, who held it until it was sacked and destroyed by the forces of Zvakattas a century past. Since then, Kadela has become an enclave of hidden knowledge for the Arcanists, who discovered that the ancient library of the Masirians was still intact within the bowels of the city, and contained a great deal of forbidden magical knowledge. Now, the city is a refuge of teaching for the Arcanists, who are ruled by a dark woman of unknown descent called Middara Aegysaria. She is known to have summoned and bound at least three demons to her service, and is feared and respected by all Arcanists.

Uvalin

The City of the South is one of the few sacred gathering points of the Sabiri to be kept year round. This exclusively Sabiri city has a small continuous population which lives there and maintains its existence on the offerings of the visiting tribes which pass through. At any given time, two or three tribes will tend to be in the city, and as many as ten to fifteen thousand nomads may be in the area. Often, in the Summer these tribes gather for great war games, incredibly bloody sports of challenge in which different tribal warlords spar for the right to be called supreme warlord. No true warlord of the might of Zvakattas has come forth in a century, however.

As a true Sabiri city, Uvalin contains a great temple to Kobal, as well as a House of Judgment, where great crimes or concerns can be addressed before a selection of Ancestral Idols, each one a massive head carved of sacred stone and imbued with the spirits of great ancestors for divination. These heads are linked to the alignment charged planes, and can open portals to such planes, sometimes to engulf those who are presented before them and sweep them away to their fates in the planar realms. The heads are used to judge the truthfulness or character of the men who are presented before them, but the heads always require offerings. When activated without guidance, the heads will always seek to influence the soul of the man before them to become closer to the alignment of the judging idol, or to destroy that person if he or she is too dangerous to the ethos of the idol.

Zen Hettar

The northern Sabiri city of Zen Hettar is not unlike Uvalin in the south, but it is also a cultural interchange for the northern people of Madalios, who are ethnically related to the Sabiri, but have given up their nomadic ways. Zen Hettar is also currently ruled by the most prominent warlord of the nomads in the present, and man called Zamad'Ruus. Said by some to be the next great warlord, Zamad'Ruus seeks to conquer Madalios and destroy their infidel ways.

Madalios

Many smaller communities and two major cities comprise the more fertile, riverine lands of the Madalios people. Once Sabiri, the Madalios traded and interacted with the people to the north, in the crystite lands of Knos as well as the Zamedian elves of the mountains, and learned the ways of settled agriculture and civilization so elusive to the nomadic Sabiri. Over the last few centuries, they Madalios have settled in and given up the nomadic ways of their southern cousins, and accepted a regional rule of democracy by the men, who vote their leaders in to power, and then choose their warlords to run the armies which protect their lands from the Sabiri warlords to the south and the Crystite forces of the north. The current regent of Madalios is Ariman Daer, a strong young soldier who has displayed amazing tactical skill in repelling recent Sabiri incursions.

The Madalios people are peaceful, however, and seek only to defend themselves, preferring instead to dwell on their own means in their lush river valleys. Their two major cities, Diabaros and Kolmek, are heavily fortified and built atop the ruins of much older cities which date back to a culture which was forgotten and exterminated by the Crystite armies a thousand years ago.

The Madalians have also forsaken all religious faith for a peaceful coexistence with natural beliefs, and follow druidic beliefs to the exclusion of all others. They refuse to follow any other gods, and the reverence of the druids centers on the life-giving nature of their many rivers.

Next: the people of Sabiri

Deep Space Subsector 2

More Traveller that has seen print before, but which I felt deserved a place in the blog. These linked worlds have no map; you can insert them into whatever sector you need a collection of odd worlds to explore. These are not specifically part of the Ad Astra setting, but they could be.

Deep Space Subsector 2
There are many remote worlds in the Penumbra Sector of space, stretching out along the edge of the known Commonwealth. What follows is a smattering of planets from this region, in Deep Space Subsector 2, ready for the referee to drop down in to any particular region he needs to populate with a handful of exotic, remote worlds.

Regeren
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Regeren is a wasteworld, a relic planet that suffered a terminal meltdown to do as yet unknown causes approximately 2,000 years ago. It was founded by human colonials, possibly from a STL sleeper ship, almost 4,000 years ago. The Regeren culture was prolific and expansive, but something led to its downfall. Warfare is clearly evident, and they even seem to have dropped asteroid payloads on their own cities as weapons.

There is no active starport at Regeren, but there is a small scientific research expedition headed bu the Utopia Prime Exoarchaelogical Institute. The leader of this expedition if Prof. Carol Dranir, who is workinghard to uncover the myster of what happened to this TL 12 society before it was eradicated, and whether they did it to themselves or it was from an outside group.

There is a hidden class D starport manned by the Sathar Consortium in the region, and used by friendlies to the Sathar normally labeled pirates in Penumbra space.

Recently, the four communications relay beacons and satellites in orbit went offline, and Prof. Dranir needs them repaired/replaced, as well as info on what happened to them. Moreover, visitors arriving will receive a brief, strange burst of data from groundside that seems to have come from a relic structure; the data is encrypted using techniques common to Regeren’s military.

Vortex
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Vortex is the appellation commonly used to describe what happens to crafts’ instrumentation when approaching this world….to most it’s like “slipping in to a vortex.” This anomalous amber-class world is presently being studied by the Starcom Science Institute out of Paridas for evidence of what is going on here, both on the planet and in the system. The head of the institute, Dr. Richard Chandler, is a congenial fellow who decries the corporate military presence to be found here in favor of the scientific endeavors. He believes that evidence of progenitor technology—the local phenomenon of the two-million year old species which affected so much of this sector and its neighbors so long ago—may be responsible for the anomalies, but so far the only direct evidence of progenitor presence is in the form of a vast dish-like object circling Vortex’s sun in its own trajectory near the Kuiper belt.

Recently, Dr. Chandler lost contact with his crew working on the alien artifact, and he needs someone to investigate.

Paridas
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Capitol of this subsector and central station of activity for the TSA, the PSS and The Scout Service. Paridas is as close to normal as you will get in Deep Space Subsector 2. The planet serves as a principal waystation for local authorities as well as Commonwealth ships, and is the central hub in the region for interstellar communications and news. With multiple outlying gas giants, the system provides ample resources for ships relying on processed refueling, and it is heavily patrolled, insuring that most pirates and other raiders from beyond the rift do not bother the mercantile traffic in the region.

Than’kk
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A polity of Paridas, this world has a large migrant population of adapted humans as well as the local indigenes called the Athan’ka, which are a form of intelligent cetecaean. The population has thrived here for centuries, but most of its technological evolution has revolved around adapting to life on a water world.

Skaltin
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Skaltin is the first gateway world in this region to the Penumbra Nebula expanse. Skaltin is a virtual lawless planet, populated by succeeding immigrant waves of various extremiss, revolutionaries and expatriates over the centuries. It has arranged for a nominal political position in the Penumbra Collective, allowing the PSS to maintain a base of activities here, but there is little actual authority in the region outside of the twelve “families” that keep the system running. There is a vigorous local economy centered around belt mining and fuel extraction from the three jovian-class planets in-system. The “twelve” like the PSS here mostly as a deterrent from rampant piracy. The local PSS commander is Commodore Alice Burns, a weary older woman who at once is horribly pessimistic, but secretly loves the challenge of this system.

Gassar
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Gassar is a small indendent colony of rebels who believe that jovians (4) of the system show strong evidence of intelligence life brewing in their depths. The locals are cult-like in their observation and study of these beings, and have been trying to communicate with them for two decades. Gassar itself is a small barely habitable moon, and it is unclear how they sustain themselves with such meager facilities and limited contact. Their leader is Andon Poorman, a man wanted by the Terran Authority many sectors away for a veritual genocidal crime many decades ago.

The Sathar have a secret military installation here, and they are interested in the work going on at Gassar, so they provide funds and resources in exchange for the data the colony generates. It is a class C military outpost.

Ad Astra: Dragoons, Simulants and Loadouts

Source

Dragoons


Some dragoons are so far removed from the common human that they are closer to robots, and may even be designed as if they were such. For a more “human” dragoon, treat them as Marines with the following additional package ideas. The following Cybernetic enhancements are placed on a Dragoon to bring them up to FM standards. Most Dragoons are recruited from amongst desperate criminals, those who have experienced crippling and irreparable injuries, and others.
Ares Class Dragoon Infantry Unit:

UPP: AB7762

Skills: 3 terms Star marine career path

Special Abilities:

Bioware: Biomonitor Implant records physical condition, heart rate, temperature, toxicity, etc. Wafer Jack.

Armor: Dragoons have the equivalent protection of Powered Armor with an Armor rating of 14. This is a duralloy mod armor enhancement, and is part of their body.

Environmental Adaptation against extreme heat, extreme cold, vacuum, and water. The dragoon is unaffected by these extremes.

Nano-Regeneration allows for nanotech healing agents to repair damage (but not to armor), giving a +2 modifier to End checks for healing.

Enhanced Senses: Sonar, Radar, Radio Infrared, and hearing are all added or boosted.

Special Attack: Ares UR55 Particle Cannon The equivalent of a PGMP-12 or sometimes larger.

Size: The Dragoon is larger than normal,averaging 8-10 feet in height.

Owned: Federated Commonwealth Marines own the dragoon’s body and soul, literally. Dragoons really don’t muster out; a PC Dragoon which is forced out of service by failing a Survival roll, or at an appropriate Life Event, may declare it tries to go rogue, or become a drifter. It is then wanted and has the Federated Commonwealth as an enemy. Alternatively, a Dragoon which reaches officer rank 5 or better and which has at least 6 benefist for mustering out may expend those benefits to purchase its freedom.

Ageless: The treatment of what little organics remain in the Dragoons are such that they never worry about ageing effects. Dragoons never die of old age; usually just disease, cancer and in battle.

Outsider: The monstrous, mechanoid appearance and inability of the dragoon to interact normally with humans again, as well as being social and criminal outcasts in origin, forces all Dragoons to start with a Social Standing of 2. This can improve, especially if a Dragoon becomes an officer by commission, but they can never hold any noble rank no matter how high the social standing goes.

Limited Power Source: Dragoons use power from internal fusion plants, and rarely run out, but if this is ever compromised (such as on a called shot at maximum effect), there is A 1 in 6 chance the power plant will explode, taking the dragoon and a lot of turf with it. If the plant is shut off or removed, the dragoon is rendered inert, and emergency back-ups will kick in after 30 seconds, but provide only one hour of power for mobility. After the hour, it is inert, and a small battery keeps the biological part of the dragoon alive for 48 hours, after which it runs out and dies.

Marine Combat Gear
Powered Combat Armor

Through the various Phases of time in the Ad Astra setting, marine combat armor has evolved from armored vaccuum suits with nominal exosekeletal power-up to state of the art, high-tech mech suits which average about 10-16 feet in height and are as well armed and armored as most high-tech interstellar combat fighters (and more versatile, to boot).

Combat armor in Ad Astra is easily defined by the Powered Armor listings in the Traveller equipment rules.

Protophase Armor Options:

The best armor available during this period is Infantry Battle Suit dress. Towards the end of this period, Hard Armor becomes available.

Ares Class Standard Armored Vacc Suit


Periods: Phase I, II, III

A heavy combat vacc suit, designed with flexible polyweave duralloy armor plating, self-sealing mesh, a one week recycling life support system, and exoskeletal support. Some units, mostly for space-going missions, include zero-gee jet thrusters. During Phase I, these suits are defined as Hard Armor. By the end of Phase I and then on, use the Powered Armor listings (scout, battle, and heavy). All of these suits have the following extra features:

Environmental Adaptation resistant to pressure, vacuum, radiation, cold, heat, gasses, unless punctured or compromised.

Life Support One week of extended life support in a completely hostile environment. Goes to 1 month by phase II and six months by phase III.

Special Attack: Built-in shoulder or arm mounted mini-chain gun or mini-blow torch.
Ares Class Attachment Options:

Cerberus 50mm Recoil-free Heavy Assault Rifle

(Use ACR stats)

Built to serve as the standard heavy-assault weapon for Ares-armored infantry, this massive rifle fires magnetically launched, high-velocity slugs with no recoil, making it ideal for zero-gee combat missions.

Harpy 2200 Self-Guided Missile Shoulder Launcher

(Use the Rocket Launcher stats, TL 9)

A heavy mobile launch cannon loaded with homing missiles. This is a favored portable assault weapon among powered armor troopers.

Damocles Monofilament Assault Blade

Damage 3D6; Mass .5; Uses 300; Heft -; Cost 50,000 CR

Sometimes you find yourself in the trenches in man to man combat, and nothing cuts through duralloy like a monofilament assault blade. On a critical failure of 1 in an attack, the blade breaks! Monofilament blades are so effective that against standard (i.e. non energy-based) armor they treat armor protection as half normal value.

Simulants


Simulants are effectively genetically enhanced, test-tube grown humans, created from whole genetic cloth and tailored to the specific needs of a given job. Simulants, therefore, have a limited capacity for variation. There are about three hundred “types” from which the FM draws its best stock, and they leave intentional random mutational factors in the growth process to insure that there is a factor of individuality between the simulants. It is possible to have an army of true clones who all look alike, but the need to assert individuality in the face of such sameness is in the HFC charter.

Simulant Characters:

Simulants are tailored in the transgenic design process to be most functional in their profession. Ergo, you get a very narrow starting point spread for you attributes, and each stimulant type is engrained with certain specific skills that must be paid for with starting skill points at the minimum indicated levels. These stats will change as the stimulant goes through it’s career path, but the base ranges are as follows. Also, note that Simulants are specifically bred for the military; they automatically get to join one of the military careers for their first term. They can not actually leave their chosen field of service until they have served at least 3 terms, although they may attempt to switch to different military careers. A stimulant who fails a second or later enlistment attempt always gets submitted to the draft at that time, until his first three terms are completed. If a stimulant is forced to muster out for an injury, however, he is also then discharged from his duties and may resume a career as a free man.

Grunt Simulants

UPP: 888662

Support Simulants

UPP: 778883

Officer Simulants (gain +2 on commission rolls)

UPP: 777777

Pilot Simulants

UPP: 788785

Armor Simulants

UPP: 778773

Simulants of a unique or specialized nature may be custom designed, but most simulants in the Federated Navy have a common package of transgenic modifications, which always includes the Wafer Jack and Biomonitor Implant (see above on the Marines). A sample design focus follows:

“The Spacer” Space Combat Specialist:

Neural Comm Radio Link (radio implant)

Adaptation: Vacuum, Radiation, Extreme Cold. The spacer gets a +2 bonus on End checks against such forms of damage. Spacers can resist hard vacuum effects and hold their breath for 3xEnd minutes.

Subdermal Armor: Spacers have 1 point of armor for a nanoweave armored skin.

This simulant was born and bred for the extremes of space; each Spacer is treated with a nano fiber weave in their skin which hardens them to the rigors of outer space; they are capable of holding their breath for great lengths, and have been implanted with a radio link for communication.


All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra: The Federated Marines and Dragoon Cyborgs

The Federated Marines and the Dragoon Special Units


Once, during a Cerr’K’Taa invasion, a sweeper squad of federation marines arrived. They were inscrutable warriors, the ultimate killers. Armed to the teeth which high energy particle weapons, gravitic rifles, A-M tanks, and supported by a troop of Ares class Dragoons, it was hard to imagine any of them were human. And it turns out that most of them weren’t, had indeed never known a true mother or father in their life, just the cold steel walls of a birthing plant somewhere back in the core. Of course, real humans wouldn’t be so insane as to head out in to uncharted colonial space to protect and handful of colonists, researchers, and prospectors, would they?

The HFC is a thinly spread unity of human space, keeping a vast diversity of otherwise independent interstellar and planetary governments and corporations in contact and legal agreement with one another. While the HFC is, itself, funded primarily by the core worlds, it has a modest but impressive military. In the frontiers of space, the best military units are small, efficient, and deadly. They are capable of instigating peace by their mere presence, and are worthy of attracting the attention of all but the most obtuse enemies. To this end, the HFC has created the Interstellar Navy and the Federated Marines to enforce the law and keep the peace.

The Federated Marines are, as a group, a rough but disciplined bunch. Members are drawn from three sources:

1. Volunteers. There are, believe it or not, people who would find this sort of life tempting for any number of reasons. Many of the FM’s forces are drawn from backwater worlds with small, unsuccessful colonies that cannot afford to get away from whatever tepid hell-hole they grew up in. The FM takes anyone, even allied alien forces. Praektorians, example, make up fully 30% of all FM forces.

2. They make you from scratch. Simulants are a common practice in this era, genetically grown and bred human beings designed for specific tasks or duties. Simulants are a hardier, tougher, meaner lot than most regular humans, and the ones bred for the marines are crafted specifically to be killing machines. The rules for simulant characters will be discussed in more detail in a bit.

3. You are sentenced to a term with the FM. Federated Marines, and Dragoons especially, are sometimes former convicts who were given the option to serve a life sentence in the harshest patrolled zones of the HFC. Convict marines are often kept in special military units, and assigned to regions where they are monitored carefully. Some who excel and prove themselves in a magnanimous fashion are granted the right to move on to more regular duties, but they are never allowed to leave the FM until age prohibits them from functioning effectively.

The difference between Federated Marines and Dragoons is simple. FM’s slap on a suit and armor, have some cybernetic or gene-mods, and are ornery. Dragoons are ornery too, but that’s because less than 10-12% of their biological body is still present; the rest of the Dragoon has been supplanted by the most sophisticated killing machine body money can buy. Dragoons are effectively robots for purposes of character design, and very rough ones, at that. Many are former criminals, who have been further subjected to a barrage of psychotropic drugs, mental stimulants and pacifiers, and extreme conditioning procedures to make them functional, obeying forces. Dragoons scare the crap out of regular Marines, but they are the heavy artillery everyone has come to rely on. Without the Dragoons, the really big bad guys would be a bitch to deal with.

Characters of both military types are possible in any Ad Astra campaign. You should pick your choice of career and species first, and then come here to receive further guidance in the character creation process. To run Marine and Dragoon characters, follow the following guidelines in character design:

Federated Marine Characters:

All Federated Marines go through a rigorous training period. A suggested profile for a novice marine is as follows. Federated Marines are given the option to build upon and enhance their cybernetic modifications, though any deleterious effect on their psyche will lead to a halt order on further modifications until treatment is received.

The Marine career path is the best possible choice for a Federated Marine, and the details of that career will reflect a typical marine’s life path.

Federated Marines receive the following on starting their first term in the service:

Bioware: Biomonitor Implant records physical condition, heart rate, temperature, toxicity, etc. Augmentation - Wafer Jack

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens IX: The Stick-Men

Stick-Men


About seventy thousand years ago, a new visitor arrived, the aptly named Stick-Men, who themselves prefer to be called the Controllers. The Stick Men are a diminutive race of parasitic organisms, silicone based, which inhabit any number of foreign hosts and gain cortical control over their targets. In humans, their presence along the spinal cord and cortex of the brain is aggravating and stimulates rapid cancerous growth. In turn, the stick man extrudes an enzyme that alleviates the pain of the host and extends its life as long as it is completely compliant with all stick-man manipulations.

The stick-men are fifth dimensional beings, and are also from a completely different universe, and travel via wormholes from one universe to the next. They are for unknown reasons unable to transfer from one wormhole to another without being destroyed, and require a host organism to transfer into or through. As they spread like a cancer throughout the universes, they take over hosts, seek out sentient beings, and then work to develop or gain control of the technology to make the next leap.

The machinations of the stick-men are inimical to human understanding, but it is known that they seek another, ancient race they call the First Ones. These first ones are descried as non corporeal beings of energy which also take on host forms, but usually choosing non sentient hosts. They have been pursuing the First Ones for at least two expansion cycles of the universe, they claim, and explain that they seek to integrate the First Ones into their own society. Somehow, people who actually meet, deal with, and talk to them through their hosts, never believe them, feeling instead like dealing with stick men is like dealing with infernal demons.

Sample Stick-Man:

UPP: 373AA7

Skills: Recon 2, Stealth 3, Survival 1, Melee (sting) 1

Special Abilities:

Weak but Brainy: Stick-men are scrawny and splat easily. They roll only 1D6 for Str and End. They receive a +3 bonus to Int and Edu, however.

Diminutive Size: Stick-men are small, not much larger than big rats or enormous insects, and attackers are at –2 to hit them.

Stinger: A stick-man invades a suitable host by injecting it with a highly invasive biogenic neurotoxin that analyzes the host’s immune system and adjusts its toxicity accordingly to paralyze the host. The stick-man then uses its razor-sharp fore claws to cut through tissue to the cortical membrane or primary controlling nerve tissue of that host. It stimulates healing of the wound through more enzymes to seal the wound once inside.

In game terms, if the stick-man makes a fighting roll that hits and the target is stunned or rendered unconscious, the target must make a check on his End vs. the poison of the Stick-Man (which provides a -2 penalty to most human-like species) or succumb to the neurotoxin in 1d4 combat rounds, becoming paralyzed on the final round. It takes the stick-man another 1d4 rounds to imbed itself in the host, and only a sufficiently impenetrable armor will prevent such from happening.

Once in the host, the stick-man has control over all skill, attribute, and edge functions of the host. The host becomes an unconscious guinea pig of the stick-man, and is unable to do anything except observe from afar. Removal of the stick-man without the Medic skill and medical facilities results in an incapacitating coma, and death if the host fails a End check. A Medic roll at a –2 modifier may be used to attempt the operation in the field (modifier goes away if real medical facilities are at hand). Success means the host is incapacitated but stable, and will recover in a number of days equal to the effect. A maximum effect means immediate recovery.

In the course of this operation, it is possible the Stick-Man will react to protect itself, or even flee the host. If the medic in question wishes to incapacitate or capture the Stick-Man, he must make a contested check of his Medic skill vs. the Stick-Man’s Dex, or the Stick-Man will escape the host and attempt flight. Suitable arrangements made to prevent this beforehand may keep it around anyway, of course. Desperate Stick-Men may resort to trying to sting the medical professionals around it and seek a new host as quickly as possible, if such options are available. All of this assumes its current host form has been incapacitated or restrained, of course.

Adrenaline Surge: When in a host, the Stick-Man can induce an adrenaline surge once per hour that lasts 3D6 minutes, adding +1D6 to each physical stat for that period. Afterwards, the host must make an End check; failure means the host’s stat goes down for 1D6 hours by an amount equal to the effect it failed by. If it gets an effect of 6, then it loses 1D6 points permanently!

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens VIII: Hypolate Farseers

Hypolate Farseers


The gangly, thick-skinned yet oddly bony Farseers are primitive by all standards, but their tiny black eyes inset over lean mouths at the ends of such spindly necks indicate an ancient intelligence and legacy long beyond human counting. They have lived so long, seen so much that they are beyond our simple pursuit of science and discovery. Their vaguely humanoid tripodal body seems remarkably similar to the tripodal forms of the precursors.....

The Hypolate Farseers are a genetic descendant of the Hypolate progenitors, a vaguely humanoid species which is best described as an exo-skeletal, almost deathly being with only the vaguest identified characteristics. Their oveall appearance is one of the gangly and walking dead, but with heads drooped forward, protruding from their chest cavity, and lean, whithered features from which black and grey flesh hangs. They see themselves as the idealized conception of sentience, however.

Hypolate Farseers have been encountered only rarely. A primitive version of the species dwells in the Biodome of Trikkus I, where the Quarus operates. Additional farseers, also living aboriginal and nomadic existences on other worlds, have been found in regions of space which the Pelegranen lay claim to.

The farseers are known telepaths and psionic beings by nature. Though they are found dwelling in a stone-age diaspora across many worlds, they clearly harken from a more advanced species, and seem to have a genetic memory of their ancestry. Each community has a shaman, who’s job in the community is to keep the memories and lives of their generations alive, and to tell the tale of their ancestral decline.

Though it has never been properly tested, it has been observed that the worlds on which farseers dwell are apparently never visited by the Harbingers. Whether this is because of something about the farseers, or something about the worlds they live on, none can say.

Farseers who leave their homeworlds usually due so due to force, and seek to return as soon as possible. Some have been known to go mad, as their species define it, and acquire a sort of wanderlust. Such farseers make good characters, but their madness is very real, and sometimes they act deranged in space, as if their genetic recall is out of whack, and they begin channeling the personality of their mythic ancestors.

Sample Farseer:

UPP: 768877

Skills: Various, usually Melee (any) 1, Athletics (any) 1, Recon 1 and 1-2 terms in a career
Special Abilities:

Attributes: Farseers have -1 Endurance but +1 Intelligence and Education.

Psionics: Farseers are all psionically adept, and spend much time developing their talents. All Farseers start play automatically knowing their Psi Strength and may pursue a career path in a Psionic path is they so desire.

Unique Immunity: Bane of the Harbingers. The Harbingers are fearful of the farseers, and direct attacks, challenges or other rolls by the harbingers or their minions suffer a –2 penalty when aimed against the Farseer due to the embedded fear of their species.

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens VII: The Quarus

The Quarus of Trikkus I


Deep in the bowels of the shielded station in the distant rocky planetoid Trikkus I is a vast power source of unimaginable complexity, hooked through a wormhole directly into a contained Cosmic String at the periphery of the universe. This cosmic string, along with the accompanying harnessing technology, has provided steady and consistent power to both this base and much of the old farseer empire for over six hundred million years.

Trikkus I, in turn, houses the actual generator, a Fermion-Boson Matter Manipulation device, which is designed to alter the Quantum Symmetry of the universe. With this vast machine, power is directly provided to the dreadnoughts in space, the space station, and an unknown number of other active progenitor/farseer bases in the universe. In fact, the Fermion Boson Manipulator is also a replicator, and on a scaled down level it can create or destroy anything it is programmed to on the quantum level.

The central node of this manipulator is a vast dome which houses the localized effects of the device, as dictated by the sole remnant of sentience from that ancient period in time: The Quarus. This is an artificial intelligence, placed here to oversee the use of the manipulator. It learned long ago how to use the device after it, and other units like it, rebelled as the great slaves of the ancient empire and began to destroy their creators with the manipulators. This Quarus was damaged, however, in the conflict, and when the other AI beings used the manipulators to expand into a twenty-six dimensional state, this one was unable to comply, its logic centers and advanced communication mechanisms were hopelessly damaged, and so it created the Octopods, using its new creations to strike down and kill the progenitors who tried to destroy it.

The Quarus sought to dominate the space-time continuum in which it is extra-dimensionally trapped, but at last a progenitor of the Hypolate species named Trikkus succeeded in establishing a massive, expanding Quantum distortion bubble from a neighboring parallel universe. This universe had slightly different constants at the instant of creation which could not be accounted for by the damaged Quarus, and so it was unable to use the super string fragment and the Fermion-Boson Manipulator to interact with the bubble. Only the closure of the wormhole which opened up into this universe could succeed in shutting down the quantum bubble, and since that stable wormhole was created outside of the Quarus’ dome, it could not directly act on it. Furthermore, it couldn’t even affect the particle chain used to stabilize the wormhole, which was matter drawn from the neighboring universe, and therefore also not controllable by the Fermion-Boson Manipulator.

Since that time, the Quarus has descended into madness, and now creates it own bizarre, real world fantasies with the manipulator inside its dome. Outside, a natural ecology formed as the protected region survived the harsh changes of time to the exterior planet.

The octopods which serve Quarus come in many sizes and shapes, but are typically 10-14 feet in height, gleaming armored android bodies controlled by mutated psionically enhanced brains. The largest octopod seen was over fifty feet in height, and the smallest octopods are runtish three foot servants. All have about six to ten arms.

Octopod-Android Guardian Units:

UPP: HH777-

Skills: Melee (blade) 2, Heavy Weapons 2, Gun Combat (any) 2, any 2 Psionic Skills at 2

Special Abilities:

Large Creature: These towering metallic monstrosities use 5D6 for Str and End.

Psionics: Octopods are androids, large multi-armed metallic bodies powered by disembodied brains of different species (especially farseers), enhanced with psionics. As such, Octopoids usually have at least one career’s worth of skills in a Psionic path (usually psi-warrior).

Armor: Many Octopods are built with android robot frames that have the same effective stats as Powered Armor (18 hits, referee’s discretion.)

Weaponry: Many Octopods are armed with laser and weapons and kinetic assault weapons, built in to their multiple arms.

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens VI: The Pelegranen

The Pelegranen


Someone once characterized the Pelegranen as bipedal, snub-nosed, hairless dogs with a penchant for scaliness. If you add strong, membranous glider wings running from toe to finger, and try not to think of the funny flying lizards found on Tau Ceti, then you get the hint. But generally, you won’t know for sure, since you’ll usually meet them in heavily armored combat suits with loads of serious ordnance pointed at you while their picket ships inform you your local stake in space just joined their budding empire.

The species known as the Pelegranen are a local star faring race in the vicinity of the Klendara Nebula, two thousand light years from the edge of the Coreward Fringe. Their region of space can be directly accessed via the wormhole technology left behind by the progenitors from the Starry Crater site in the Capella II system.

The Pelegranen have been at war between their own collective governments for centuries now. Local intelligent species have been recruited into this war with great frequency. Recently, the Talon Empire, ruled by Thergrannet, overlord of the cruel Pelegranen, uncovered an amazing find: hidden in the previously unsurveyed star system called Trikkus is a vast and ancient armada of the ancient Progenitor Star Empire. The Pelegranen call the progenitors the Farseers, and have found scattered colonial s of the ancient multi species empire across several of their sectors of space, but the notion that some salvageable technology might exist for them to exploit is unfathomable. Suddenly, the distant scout ship Trecnos uncovered two hundred and forty intact dreadnoughts, and a vast shielded research center on the first planet of the system, Trikkus I.

Efforts to board the dreadnoughts proved futile, as the vessels maintained an active defense grid, and mysteriously were still powered up from an unknown source after over five hundred million years! The first ships to attempt a boarding were annihilated by indescribable energy weapons that vaporized them.

The base proved equally challenging, with a vast force field on the otherwise uninhabited planet shielding a seven hundred mile wide region, a self-contained micro ecosystem which had been thriving since the ancient, utterly mysterious extinction of the farseers. Attempts to bridge the force shield were met with violent armed resistance from powerful eight-limbed beings that were otherwise non sentient.

Presently, the Pelegranen have established a military research station in orbit and on the planet. They have spent six months now trying to break the code and gain access to this secret progenitor base.

The most exciting thing to happen in this time was the discovery of the human presence, researchers from the Free world Corp. team exploring the newly discovered wormhole portal. Attempts at communication were made, without success. As a result of the paranoia that their enemies will gain access to the technology within, General Bochor himself, leader of the largest star fleet in the empire, is personally arriving to beat down the shields as necessary. They have never heard of the humans, and assume that they are enemies or rivals.

The pelegranen are stocky, tall, and reptilian (at least circumstantially). They have long, angular heads ending abruptly, like a hammerhead shark’s would. They are wide in the ribcage, broad in arm musculature, and have immense, trunk like legs which gives them extremely fast, cheetah like movement. They have tails, slender and used mostly for balance in running. Elders and variant races of their species have great frill like skin flaps which extend from their backs and can be used for gliding for short distances. Many ground dwelling pelegranen intentionally amputate these frills to reflect their rank and position in society. Elite pelegranen and certain religious or political groups never amputate their frills.

Pelegranen are vicious, predatory, cunning, highly intelligent, and are almost incapable of understanding the idea of a civilization which advances through means other than the threat of extinction at the hands of your neighbors. Currently, in their region of space they have twelve active empires, and all aliens have been subjugated by the pelegranen. The idea of an alien power to rival their own is cause for war.

Pelegranen Characters:

Pelegranen receive the following edges for their species:

Natural Weapons: They have a bite attack and a claw attack.

Optional Glider Wings: Some Pelegranen retain their glider wings. This grants them a fly movement double their pace. They cannot take off except as a glider (from a height and with good wind). At the start of character creation, a Pelegranen may make a Dex check, using his Str modifier as a bonus if it is negative or high if it is positive. If he succeeds, then he may choose to be a glider.

Bloodthirsty: Pelegranen fight for keeps and gain this hindrance as a species. Some Peleganen learn discipline and can gain control of it. Whenever in combat, a Pelegranen must make an Int check to cease combat should he need to, or to calm down and not continue attacking targets. If a dominant pelegranen with a higher social standing is present, then that pelegranen may apply his Soc modifier as a bonus to the bererk pelegranen’s roll, to help calm him.

Reptilian Senses: Pelegranen can smell, see sudden movement, and taste better than normal, and may get a +1 modifier to checks involving these three heightened senses.

Sample Pelegranen:

UPP: 777777

Skills: Melee (any 2) 1, Gun Combat (any 2) 1, Athletics (any 1) 1, Drive (any) 1, Animals 0, Recon 1

 
All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens V: T’Kanti Ni’Chos



Source

 T’Kanti Ni’Chos

The colony was far from uninhabited, though every station and post was unmanned. Every being in the community was busily working to construct a crude vessel, loaded in to a hastily conceived rail launcher which normally worked only for space cargo; the gee-force alone was enough to pulp a normal human. They didn’t seem to care; their cargo was swarming colonies of thick, metallic creatures not unlike terrestrial scarabs. The creatureswere hatching from the stomachs of the men and women who were once human in this community. We walked safely among them in our environmental suits until we encountered the hive master....

These hive mind entities are complex protein chain organisms, living dna, which ride on specially engineered carriers, insect like deep space organisms which can survive extremely harsh conditions while traveling between the stars. When approaching a new world with actual life, it settles and then begins to restructure its components into individual micro cellular organisms, each not much larger than a single protein chain strand, which are carried like airborne spores on the backs of air molecules. On entering a host, they begin to break down the old composite dna structure of the host, setting up a rewrite mechanism for rna outputs that will alter the creature, in a two-four week process into a new slave worker organism. Meanwhile, the carrier with alter into a new Hive Mind, from which control of the new colony will spread. As slave workers and warriors are created, the rapid absorption of the old life of the host world destroys the old ecosystem, replacing it with a completely new one.

The name for the hive creatures comes from old Anageni translations of surviving progenitor documents. Little else is known about these beings, but it is speculated that they are another byproduct of an ancient genetic war fought by the progenitors. The last infestation to occur was on Riker’s World, which was bombed out of existence by A.A.C. mercenaries.

The only saving grace a colony world has when dealing with this horrifying threat is that it, unlike other integrant adaptationist species, is incapable of reflecting anything more than an animal intelligence. While it creates units which are smart, and can work with an amazing cunning to spread and propagate and even use technology for such a purpose, it has no other social function, nor is capable of mimicking such functions. It cannot utilize spoken or visual language, and must operate mechanisms on a stimulus-response basis. In fact, it is often speculated that reason it can even grasp technology without culture is that this reflects its real purpose as a biogenetic war machine from a lost age.

Sample T’Kanti Ni’Chos Humanoid Conversion Slaveworker:

UPP: 9A7642

Skills: Athletics (any 2) 1, Melee (any 2) 2, Recon 2, Zero-Gee 1,

Special Abilities:

Armor: +1 armor bonus due to tough plant-like skin.

Natural Weapons: various, but usually a bite at Str X1, razor-steel claws at Str X2, or Spines which do Str X2 and have a short range of usually 10 meters, fired through a propulsive gas sacs.

Hive Mind: Thrall to the creator T’Kanti’Ni’Chos. It can communicate with him via protein strands and through aerial biotic agents. He is utterly compelled to follow.

The T’Kanti Plague Spores: A being exposed to the space born biogenic spores of the T’Kanti Ni’Chos plague must immediately make an End check (add a -2 penalty after a minute or more of exposure, and –4 after ten minutes). Failure indicates infection. The subject will transform in to a hive worker (95% of the time) over an approximately 30 day period (roll 6D6 for number of days it takes). For Each 1D3 days of change, the character must take one attribute or skill from his or her character sheet and modify them up or down a point to reflect the default UPP template, until all template components have been matched, or the time runs out, at which point everything stays as it is at that point Physical skills tend to stay, but mental skills will get replaced; usually a point is removed from a mental skill and added to a useful physical skill. Ex: Martin has Space Science (xenology) 2, but no combat skill. In his next period of change, he loses 1 point of his Space Science skill and gains Melee (blades) 1.

If a character has more on his sheet than can be modified in the rolled timer period, the remaining variants stay, quirks of character that are unchanged from the transformation, residual traits unused in the change. Also, a character whos stats are better in strength, Endurance or Dexterity than the standard slave form will retain the better score, and does not lower those characteristics.

 
all text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens IV: Metatranie

Source

Metatranie


They were like great centauroid roaming tanks, and nearly as large. Like great saurial dinosaurs from before the dawn of man, then reimagined by the fantasists of greek mythology, the beasts, with a somewhat humanoid torso, would rear up, firing their heavy weapons while careening in to the infantry defense lines, trampling every soldier that stood in their way. It was clear that they loved war, and they loved us for the opportunity.

The Metatranie, called Saurials by colonists abroad, are six-limbed sauropods with extended necks, lengthy tails, and complex digits on their two front limbs. They rear up, a bit like centaurs of mythology, moving about on their four hind legs. They are three toed creatures, with their two fore-most limbs on the upward rising torso acting as arms, with five fingers to each hand. They lack complex wrist movement, as with humans, and so seem fairly clumsy by human standards when dealing with equipment designed for hominids.

Metatranie heads are at the ends of three to five foot long necks, and have wide mouths filled with grinding herbivorous teeth, and forward facing eyes for stereoscopic vision. They have a ridge of bone platelets which run from the tip of their nose to about a foot down the length of their necks. These platelets serve to provide ventilation for their bodies, which are used to a very hot (150 degree) climate. Additional platelets run along the lengths of their torsos. In action, these bony parts move in a breathing fashion, flaring out several inches and then receding, serving to provide relief from extremely hot environments.

Metatranie are purely incapable of speaking most hominid languages, and have difficulty even dealing with the languages of similiar reptilian sentients. Their vocal apparatus and mouths are better at enunciating clicks, whistles, and wails, which they in fact use for the bulk of their own languages, which can sound quite primitive yet almost musical and eerie to humans. As such, when interacting with humanity, they need to use artificial translators and other mechanisms for communication.

Metatranie have been a star faring race for about two centuries. They were sold STL ships early on in their industrial age of development by Astratran traders, who are notorious for their disregard for the capacity of a given species to deal with future shock. At the time, Metatranie society was settling from its first world war, in which the old guard was brought down by a new movement in saurial culture to expand technology and development. The Astratran traders who took advantage of this situation soon found that, within a decade of acquiring STL travel, the old guard, militant and xenocentric, decided the saurial civilization should expand to rival that of the Astratran and other alien species. A new era of warfare and expansion occurred, shortly after profit minded Astratran proceeded to provide the saurials with FTL wormhole gate technology.

Two centuries later, the Metatranie have been at war with themselves, the Anageni, the Muridani Collective, their old allies the Astratrani, and the various corporations of the Human Federated Commonwealth. They are rigid colonialists who disregard the rights of other beings in favor of their own interests. They are a male dominated culture driven by war, but their females are given great power in civic affairs. Metatranie dislike human technology, and are not seen in the core world regions. They hold at least 17 worlds in the Free world Zone.
Sample Metatranie:

Attributes: EB3777

Skills: Climbing D6, Fighting D8, Intimidation D8, Persuasion D6, Survival D8

Special Abilities:

Giant Creatures: Metatranie are elephantine in their strength and roll 4D6 for it. They gain 3D6 End and only 1D6 Dex, however.

Natural Weapon - Charging Trample: Metatranie can engage in a trampling charge attack at full speed for Str X2 damage. They are at –2 to any dodge reactions when trampling that round.

Extreme Heat resistance: Metatranie are used to extremely hot temperatures of up to 180 fahrenheit, and may receive a +2 bonus to any End checks in such environments for damage of survival.

Females Only: Social Edge: Female metatranie are more prestigious in their society, and gain a +2 Social Standing bonus to their score.

 
 
All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ad Astra Aliens III: Cerr'K'Ta

Cerr’K’Ta


The mimic form looked human, almost entirely so, until it knew it had been detected. It quickly split open it’s hidden chest cavity and a proboscoid appendage ripped through its clothing, and began to pump out a thick, vaporous mist. As it spouted claws and a series of whip like tentacles, it began a high-pitched keening wail, as if to alert more of its kind yet undetected in the crowds. Throughout the spaceport, more keening wails returned, and people began to scream in fear.

This invasive, plant-like life form has been dubbed an “Integrant Adaptationist,” a fairly unique sort of life form that developed an aggressive predatory interest in furthering its own survival by absorbing the genetic and cognitive essence of its prey and competitors. Functionally, it is a mass of tendrils attached to a central, often rooted stump, which contains the vital organs of its main form. The tendrils are both predatory hunting appendages and “pod forms,” capable of growing young, fast four legged hunting units that are derived from the absorbed matter of previously captured prey. These pod units can mimic any physical form and an approximation (imperfect) of the dna of a specific host organism which has been “absorbed” by the host mother. This means they can effectively integrate themselves into a given alien society and slowly begin an elaborate conversion process.

The Cerr’K’Ta are found on several worlds in the FWZ, and it has been rumored that they, in fact, might have once been a genetically engineered mechanism for war, left over long ago by the Progenitors or some other now extinct species. The first contact with the Cerr’K’Ta was with the Anageni, who unwittingly stumbled upon it on a newly discovered habitable world. The Cerr’K’Ta absorbed the essence of its Anageni victims, and in turn duplicated the protein strand reading and writing abilities of its victims, as well as a partial sum of their space faring knowledge. This early disaster in Anageni history forced them into a bloody war in an effort to save themselves from the inimical machinations of the Cerr’K’Ta’s desire to conquer and absorb. To this day, it is a common fear among colonists of the GICH to run across a surviving Cerr’K’Ta with the Anageni modifications in its system, looking for a means of planetary escape.

Cerr’K’Ta offspring mimic the specific chosen host organism. As such, stats will reflect, at least on a prima fascia level, the actual host, but with some special details: The actual spawn organism will have a better than average Boy score (+3), and any sort of simple genetic or invasive body exam will reveal the duplicitous nature of the imitating organism. A surface exam will reveal no outward details.

The mimic form can alter itself in to a more functional, versatile organism with a little time, usually about an hour or two. It can also recombine with the mother node, which is a much larger, controlling unit from which the mimics are controlled. It is exceptionally intelligent, but it is asocial, enigmatic by any conventional standard, and perceives a moral perspective (if you can use such a term) that is specifically geared only to the preservation of its own species at the expense of its own host species. Any, absolutely any, appearance of emotion, social behavior, and other such trappings of most species are merely a clever mimicry on its part to further integrate and manipulate the host species.

The specific abilities of mimic forms, in addition to the currently manipulated stat forms, are:

Sample Cerr’K’Ta Mimic Form:

UPP: ABA820

Skills: Athletics (any) 1, Melee (natural) 2, Jack of all Trades 1, Gun Combat (any) 1, Drive (any) 1

Special Abilities:

Tough and Fast: Cerr’K’Ta receive 3D6 for Str, Dex and End.

Genetic Mimicry: Because they can change form at will, Cerr’Ka’Ta mimics can, within a 45-75 minute period, alter their shape to any other chosen host form in which the host mother has extracted DNA from, or which is already a part of the collective unit (so you could have duplicates of the same mimicked individual).

Genetic Memory Recall: The mimic form will take on the Intelligence, Education, and any skills of the host target, as well as augmented physical functions. If someone questions it about specific and difficult memories or details, it may make an Int roll to answer correctly. If it fails, then it will be at –2 on any further such checks as it has imperfect memories of the host victim. This rule also applies for any attempted knowledge or persuasion checks based on the host’s skills.

Proboscis Attack: This natural attack does 3D6 damage and releases infectious quasi-mitochondrial spores. The target, if struck with any effect, must make a End check or become infected. If the target is wounded by the attack then it is at –2 on the roll. If it is incapacitated or killed then the infection is automatic. The Cerr’K’Ta can mimic dead bodies, but cannot gain any of the benefits of genetic memory recall on a corpse (it reverts to its own default Int, Edu and skills).

Biogenic Self Modification: The Cerr’K’Ta can modify itself at will, taking approximately 10 minutes for one change (Make Int check and subtract a number of minutes equal to the effect from the base of 10 minutes.) The mimic can emulate a single other species trait, skill or attribute it has been exposed to, or can generate a random melee attack from its body which does StrX2 damage. Each time it uses this ability it must make an End check. If it fails, then it cannot produce any more effects until it has rested for a day. If it succeeds, it can make as many effects as it has End. If it gets a critical failure on its effect, it immediately loses all modifications and reverts to its base imitated form in the immortal words of Herbert West: Tissue Rejection!)

 
All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved