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. 

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 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