Mon - Fri: Armored Collective, Week 1

Section 99 evolves further.

Section 99 started in an earlier time in my life, when I was a more cynical young man, that thought he knew more than he did. As time went on, I tried to correct its course to fit a lot of what I had made to fit the politics I had evolved, and move it in the direction it needed to go. Two things, though: one, it had grown to a size that I was trying to develop a behemoth for a first major project, which is a recipe for disaster; two, the world had forced the status quo to a state a little to close to the conditions of Section 99's setting, and it really stopped being fun to write in that regard. 

So instead, I decided to evolve it, to do two things with what I had created: further evolve it, to a much more streamlined state, and to make it a more idealistic and brighter vision of what we could have- the fight is still on, but it's distant and abstracted, and wilder and more colourful than whatever awful bullshit I could rip from headlines. Because let's face it, a gig economy mercenary job is work for a lot of us these days. So let's all be antifascist union members on a damaged haven on a distant Superearth instead, because that's some aspirational shit. 

Section 99 is now Armored Collective. Look for the Label.

I'll post some more setting writing soon, to fill in some questions had. For now, the status quo is thus:

• Refugees of a forever war between two empires- the aligned megacorporations of the generationally developing subspecies of humanity, and the alien faithful of the Deep Church, attempting to build a Final Culture of Singularity -attempt to escape by the millions, to a distant world: Haven. To both empires, the only two ways to Haven are a trip that would take centuries at known FTL capabilities, and a recently observed stable wormhole that was in its final stages.
• Stealing whatever they could, which included a mass terraformer and a whole supply colony of nano-active contruction material- the Master's tools may not dismantle his own house, but the ones you make and use that he claims are his are easily moved off premises -the refugees used the required tech to turn a wormhole into a pilotable tunnel in space. It worked, and they were able to enter.
• Unfortunately, pursuers were hot on their tails, and as they followed them into the breach, the added mass of their ships threw off the stabilization field of the wormhole, causing it to fuzz out and begin to break down in transit.
• The fash goons rammed into the sides of the tunnel and bounced out, taking a number of refugee ships and resources with them as they went. However, it wasn't a matter of where they bounced out, but when, because when those who completed the jump arrived above Haven, they discovered something significant: 20 years worth of mass-scale, uncontrolled terraforming, rampant construction and hybridization via a catastrophic nanotech spill, and, between all that and the remnants of the chilly, craggy, inhospitable but rich natural Haven- development.
• Through sheer need to dominate in order to maintain control, the survivors of the Corporate and Church pursuers had reorganized themselves into a new ruling class: the Houses. Beneath them, the refugees and their descendents, in much the same state as they were when they left, except under a group of assholes that are now paranoid and scarred on top of being the same bunch of brutal authoritarians they always were.
• Resolved to make the most of their ruined plans, those that made the jump successfully made planetfall on Haven, invaders to a world that should have been a home for them. They aligned themselves as the Armored Collectives, a group of unions and workers dedicated to building the home they sought and the tools they need to make it free. Some of them started finding ways to work the alien soil. Some of them began developing systems to extract resources while repairing the damaged planet. And some of them? Some of them fired up the production printers, and started running off weapons.
• Their goals are simple, as they are enormous: rescue their retaken comrades, repair the damage done by their imperfect planetfall, and burn the Houses to the ground.

The goal with Armored Collective is both a degrowth of my own setting, and as a degrowth of tabletop roleplaying. It's one Star System, and starting with only one planet, and a conflict that's designed to grow in scale with the game itself- for now, it's a story of the Collective versus the Houses, and that's it. As for degrowth of the TTRPG formula, I'm taking things in a direction that's more decidedly boardgame in feel- very small numbers, a streamlined action system and a character build/equipment loadout system that could be easily represented with cards as a character sheet. If you've played the Pathfinder cardgame, or even the more recent XCOM games, you'll be in the right frame of mind for what I've got planned.

I'm on vacation from now until Wednesday, so there'll be no Mon-Fri content for this coming week. However, check out the framework I've built up so far, and know that this is the first bit of many. Next time- Disciplines, and the introduction to Tactical Encounters. For now, enjoy!

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BASIC Breakdown

Each Ranger is rated on 5 Basic Attributes, representing their parameters and potential, their physical and mental faculties, and the emotional connective tissue between both. They’re rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being an area of weakness and 5 being an area where the individual is considered among the top of the top, at the limits of what is believed to be capable.

Body

The physical strength and sturdiness of an individual’s frame, be it in their own flesh, blood and bone, in a hominid end effector frame (in other words, a Hob exorig), or spread off among a combination of both- biological material and bionic prosthesis working in harmony. The higher an individual’s Body, the stronger and tougher they are, and the more they’re capable of resisting the effects of hard physical hits and agents that would irritate or sicken them.

Agility

The speed and adroitness of an individual’s physical form, not simply their overall top speed in a footrace, but the degree of control they have over it- if your body’s a vehicle, how good are you at driving it? The higher an individual’s Agility, the faster and more graceful they are, and the more they’re capable of dodging and weaving out of the way of incoming attacks.

Senses

The passive and active acuity of an individual’s sensory faculties, their senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, and any more or less a given individual has to draw on, as well as their ability to read what they’re being told through them, as a whole picture. The higher an individual’s Senses, the more accurate a shot they are and the more capable they are on picking up on subtle details and hidden things.

Instinct

The part of you that knows what to do within the parameters of yourself- what you know about who and what you are, and how you understand the world from that perspective. It’s the internal part of your intellect, the part that takes your perception and compares it against things you know, things you’ve learned, things you can either confirm or suspect and lets you decide what to do from what it finds- you wits, in other words. The higher an individual’s Instincts, the better they are at technical tasks that are logical and can be “puzzled out,” and the harder they are to bluff or mislead.

Cunning

The part of you that is aware both of yourself and of other beings and things in relation to you, the active and reactive part of your intellect that plays call and response with your sensory input, and lets you decide how to proceed based on how you judge the results. In short, it’s where your emotional intelligence lives, the part of you that judges via feeling out and being creative, which can respond on the fly in reaction, rather than consult with what you already know. The higher an individual’s Cunning, the more capable they are solving less obvious, more fiddly problems, the more influential they can be, and the harder they are to mentally break.

BASIC Actions

The Basic Action Check

• In order to succeed at any check, the player has to roll a 7+ with 1d6. This is obviously impossible, so hold all questions until the end.
• Take the BASIC Attribute most appropriate to the check, and add the result of a 1d6 roll to it, to form the basic result.
• Apply any applicable bonuses or penalties to this result. If the final result after that is 7+, the check succeeds. If not, it fails.

Movement Actions

If you’re capable of unimpeded locomotion then movement isn’t going to be a problem for you, which means there’s no check involved for doing any of this stuff. Just do it, as listed, no need for dice to get involved.

• Run: Simple. Move up to your Mobility, in inches, across an uninterrupted distance of terrain.
• Sprint: Full. Move up to twice your Mobility per the rules of run, but add an extra d6 as bonus.
• Jump/Climb: Simple. Cross any gap or hole in the terrain, or mantle onto and climb up a terrain feature with proper hand holds, up to half your Agility in inches.
• Interact: Gimmie. You can interact with any simple object for free, once per turn- push buttons, throw levers, activate simple consoles, pick up an object in your hand or push something that doesn’t require an effort to make roll or slide. Every time after the first you want to do this, it counts as a Simple action. Yes, this counts as Movement even if you stand still while doing it, since if you’re Restrained, doing any of this is probably going to be a bit too difficult until you take care of your restraints.

Offensive Actions

Used when you are in some way attempting to engage a target in some way, be it bashing it in the head, shooting it through the center mass or just pointing it out so that others can see it from their angle. 

• Body - Attack: Committed. Make a melee attack against a target within 1in of contact (more if benefitting from the Reach perk) physically, taking the target’s Guard as the penalty to the check. If it hits, deal Damage to that target equal to Margin of Success + the attacker’s Body + the Damage Modifier of the weapon used.
• Agility - Stealth: Special. Rolled whenever attempting to do anything that would otherwise provoke an Out of Turn Response, such as from moving through an Overwatch zone or trying to move through a Trapped terrain feature without setting it off, taking the Awareness of any viewer or sensor applicable to the movement or action as its penalty, averaged. Also used for when attempting to blend in and hide in plain sight.
• Senses - Shoot: Committed. Make a Ranged attack against a target within Maximum Range of the declared weapon, taking the target’s Evasion as the penalty. If it hits, deal Damage equal to Margin of Success + the Damage Modifier of the weapon used.
• Instinct - Target: Committed. Spot a target, then describe its position to your Allies within Earshot in order to grant a +1 Bonus to all Ranged attacks made against that target until the beginning of your next turn. Apply the target’s Evasion as the penalty against this action.
• Cunning - Feint: Committed. Use in conjunction with a Move action to fake moving one way, then go another way for the purpose of throwing off any provoked Overwatch or Free Strikes, using the target of the feint’s Awareness as the penalty for the check. If successful, you wind up at the position you declared as part of the Feint, having drawn the provoked attack and forced it to miss poorly, an auto-failure; if failed, provoke the attack anyway, as per normal rules- if it misses, fine, but one way or another, you wind up at the feinted-to position. Also can be used for any basic act of social manipulation in non-Tactical situations.

Supportive Actions

Used to do things that aren’t particularly offensive in nature, at least not directly harmful. This can mean shoving heavy out of the way, it can mean patching up a hurt teammate, and it can even mean attempting to talk someone out of doing something stupid. Regardless, because these are less overtly threatening actions, and so tend to be Simple actions that don’t provoke Interrupts.

• Body - Power: Simple. Apply muscle power to an object or terrain feature that can be pushed around, shoved out of the way or otherwise smashed aside or broken down. When successful, a Power check will allow an individual to not only clear or open such a terrain feature, but move through it or push it up to Margin of Success in inches.
• Agility - Athletics: Simple. Used whenever attempting to jump a gap or climb a terrain feature that is greater than, but no more than double their normal Jump/Climb check.
• Senses - Fix: Simple. Attempt to manipulate an object that is otherwise too broken, security hardened or made-to-kill-you to want to cooperate otherwise. Used when attempting to operate damaged or complicated equipment that isn’t fully understood by the individual for one action, unlock or lock a door you don’t have a key or code to, or disarm a trap or device you didn’t set.
• Instinct - Aid: Simple. Attempt to assist another individual by Treating a single Negative Status they have, your choice of which. Take the Difficulty of the applied status as the penalty to this check
• Cunning - Negotiate: Simple. Used when either attempting to apply diplomacy in the field- “how much to make you ditch your posts” and “what’s it going to take to make you release that hostage” that sort of thing -as well as Shout Compliance at enemies, in order to force their surrender. When using to Shout Compliance, treat it as a Committed action instead, use the target’s Chill as difficulty.

Defensive Actions

Used whenever called upon to protect oneself in certain conditions, either physically, mentally or emotionally, Defensive Actions are checked whenever an individual finds themselves when on the receiving end of a Negative Effect, to either lessen or negate it. Because they’re done in reaction to being attacked or hit, they don’t require an Action to use, they’re done as a reflex, for free.

• Body - Endure: Intestinal fortitude, the ability to withstand pain, illness and bone-jarring impact. Used in conjunction to resist the Pain, Dazed, Concussed and Poison Effects.
• Agility - Dodge: Nimble motion, used to quickly step aside or out of reach of attacks or hazards that can evaded simply by getting out of their way in time. Used to evade any attacks that have either the Rush or Low Velocity Tags, and the Prone Effect.
• Senses - Spot: The ability to see danger before it’s coming, which is used to lessen the effects of Traps and Ambushes. Any individual may, as a gimmie action, perform a Spot check during their turn to attempt to reveal anything that has the Hidden Effect in their Immediate Area.
• Instinct - Judge: Not simply being able to see something, but see through something that seems like it’s something else. Used when attempting to resist anything with the Camouflage, Illusion or Distraction Tags, firing through Obstructions and the Compromised Effect.
• Cunning - Maintain: The ability to keep your wits about you when you’ve taken a hit that’s more mental than physical. Used to resist the Disoriented, Altered and Rattled Effects.

Resistances

If Defensive Actions are the active and reactive things an individual does, then Resistances are the passive things they do, without thinking, possibly without even realizing it. Because of this, Resistances aren’t rolled in any way, and instead serve as the penalty for effects against you that you can’t otherwise actively intercept, like getting shot at, or having someone sneaking around in your periphery. Because of that, Resistances work differently, and are instead rated on a scale of 0 to -2, based on their associated BASIC Attribute. Attributes at 1 give an associated Resistance of 0, Attributes at 2-3 give an associated Resistance of -1, and Attributes at 4-5 give an associated Resistance of -2.

• Body - Resilience: Physical toughness, the ability to take a punch, hold your breath or ignore pain and infirmity.
• Agility - Evasion: An individual’s silhouette, how hard a target they present when being shot at with ranged attacks.
• Senses - Guard: The trained or natural ability to reactively defend oneself against attacks in a melee engagement.
• Instinct - Awareness: Passive analysis of one’s surroundings, allowing one to pick up on subtle details and hidden things, to perceive without actively looking.
• Cunning - Chill: Self confidence and assurance that one is in control, against shock, doubt and provocation.

Statistics

Little details that are nevertheless really important, because they measure how an individual is doing, in terms of health, footspeed and other important factors. They’re derived by Attributes, pretty much on a one to one basis, though in some cases, they’re only affected by more specific Praxis and equipment.

• Health is a pretty damn important stat, as its how many hits that find meat and bone a character can take before they’re dropped as a Casualty, and unable to act for the remainder of the encounter unless revived through various means. An individual’s Health is equal to their Body, plus any bonuses.
• Toughness is a measure of how hard an individual is to hurt with attacks and hazards. When they take Damage, it’s compared against their Toughness- for each time the Damage divides whole into the target’s Toughness, it is Wounded for 1 Health. If a target takes less than enough damage to be Wounded, they’re instead Scratched- 3 Scratches turn into 1 Wound and a lost point of Health. Toughness is equal to 2 + Body + the Toughness value of an individual’s equipped Armour.
• Mobility is the footspeed of an individual, how quickly they can move in an encounter. 1 Mobility equals 1 inch of movement on the tabletop. A character has Mobility equal to their Agility, plus any bonuses.
• Damage is how much extra oomph a character has when they connect with an offensive action. This affects a lot, but isn’t directly affected by any BASIC Attributes, only Praxis and equipment. However, it’s handy to keep track of, since you’ll be using it a fair bit, so here’s a spot to mark down Damage bonus on the character sheet.

Traits, Disciplines and Praxis Upgrades

• Mechanical character development- the things what make an individual’s numbers go up in various ways -is handled by a suite of 4 elements on the character sheets, two Traits and two Disciplines.
• Traits represent who the character is, both in terms of physicality and character. There are two types, and when creating a character, player or non-player, you’ll pick one of each.
  • Species Traits represent which species of Cygnan Settler they are, down to specific subspecies that compose them, the divisions that grew from their growth and spread. An individual’s Species gives them their initial BASIC Attribute line, an initial baseline of 11 levels, spread across the 5 Attributes. It also gives one passive bonus, a modifier that changes slightly the way the character behaves. Lastly, it determines any Stat Bonuses a character may gain from their Species, such as additional Health, Toughness, Damage and Mobility.
  • Personal Traits are the type of person they are, at least judging from their most dominant parts of their performance. It gives them an additional 4 Attribute points to spread across their BASIC line, on the condition that 2 of them are spent on specific ones, in any combination you choose- sort of an either/or thing.
• Disciplines represent a character’s areas of training, how they’ve been educated by both life and their time in the Collective. Members of the Militia, specifically active field service members, the boots-on-the-ground, tend to have more militaristic vocations- their training is based around fighting and also doing other things, while fighting. So their Disciplines tend to be martial-based, even if they aren’t actually skills for direct fighting. Disciplines are broken down into two basic classifications, which are pretty self explanatory- Combat and Technical. You can double up or either, or mix one Combat with one Technical. 
  • Each Discipline adds a single flat Passive bonus, regardless of what else the character has taken as their other choice.
  • On top of that, each Discipline comes an additional Passive, one of two, based on the class of their other chosen Discipline. Taking two Disciplines of the same class yields the Specialized Passives from both of the ones you’ve taken, while taking two Disciplines of differing classes yields the Cross Training Passives from both.
• Praxis are the little tricks and advanced moves and secrets you’ve learned in your time, represented by a track of 5 upgrades, denoted by Alpha (A), Bravo (B), Charlie (C), Delta (D), and Echo (E). Each Praxis unlocked on the track allows the individual a new ability, either a new Passive bonus or a new Action they can take, the details of which are denoted under each. Praxis are unlocked by assigning Experience Points, and different levels are unlocked with differing amounts of Experience- Alpha and Bravo Praxis are 1 XP each, Charlie and Delta are 2 XP each and Echo is 3 XP.

Traits

Species Traits

• Solarian: The children of Sol, those closest to the creatures that evolved on Earth, in the Cygnan Prehistory, but spread to the worlds and bodies beyond. Formerly ruled by the greedy whims of corporate-imperial masters, the condition of being a Solarian Cygnan is knowing how benevolent a professional and prosperous government is when all the only people in your world are poor, crooked or lawyers.
  • Terran: From an Earth that could have gone worse, were it not for technology and a collective agreement that we were out of options. Still, a fractured and burnt-edged paradise ruled by fascist assholes is no paradise at. So far from home, these people who are closest to those first humans who emerged from its forests and grasslands keep their homeworld near at heart. First, they make the Haven system free; then, they return to liberate Earth to its more proper, natural state.
    • Baseline BASIC: 3/2/2/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: -1 Chill
    • Alpha - Extra Tough: +2 Toughness
    • Bravo - Adrenal Rush: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual automatically succeeds at any Strength or Athletics check that wouldn’t be outright impossible for them to succeed at.
    • Charlie - Survivable: +1 Health 
    • Delta - Adaptable Anatomy: +1 Bodymod Slots
    • Echo - Rise Above: Gimmie, 1 X-Factor. Individual instantly recovers from the Disoriented, Rattled, Dazed and Pain Effects.
  • Jovian: Jupiter was a destination for the Corporate States, a means to wring scarcity out of the nigh-limitless potential of fusion power by halting the production and flow of its abundant fuel to a trickle from an outer planet with a tenuous supply chain back to the motherland. The Jovian people who came to mine the gas giant out of this mandate are a generationally adapted one, one that’s taller by average, and generally more used to artificial or microgravity than other biological hominids.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/3/2/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: -1 Chill
    • Alpha - Wiry: +1 Mobility
    • Bravo - Adrenal Rush: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual automatically succeeds at any Strength or Athletics check that wouldn’t be outright impossible for them to succeed at.
    • Charlie - Hard Target: -1 Evasion 
    • Delta - Adaptable Anatomy: +1 Bodymod Slots
    • Echo - Rise Above: Gimmie, 1 X-Factor. Individual instantly recovers from the Disoriented, Rattled, Dazed and Pain Effects.
• Centauri: The first sent to colonize an exoplanet needed an edge, one that would further allow to make themselves a humanity that could adapt themselves, to adapt their world to others. Proxima Centauri Beta, now known as Minerva, would be the cold world they sought to make a home for their earthling Terran brethren, have instead become suitable biomechanically-adapted residents of a cold but volcanic world- a sometimes delicate, sometimes chilly exterior containing a consuming fire.
  • Adaptive: Centauri Adaptives are a generational branch of humanity, enriched with nanoscale mechanical elements that are designed to to ease the process of coming to age on Minerva- namely, where you shed the parts that are too heavy and inefficient, and replace them with limbs that are tools driven by a powerful heart, a clear mind and a clever little interface that knows how to make organic and synthetic parts orchestral in their harmony.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/2/2/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: “Floating Resources” - Gimmie, 1 X-Factor. Each Adaptive has one “floating” BASIC point that can be assigned and reassigned by using this ability during their turn. No BASIC Attribute may be raised higher than 5 through this ability.
    • Alpha - Wiry: +1 Mobility
    • Bravo - Adaptable Anatomy: +1 Bodymod Slots
    • Charlie - All Machine: Immunity to Poison and Pain
    • Delta - Sensor Acuity: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual Succeeds at any Judge or Maintain check that wouldn’t be outright impossible for them to succeed at.
    • Echo - Safe Mode Restart: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual stands back up after being downed as a Casualty, with 1 point of Health restored and +2 Toughness until the end of Contact. An individual under the effects of this praxis may not be healed than greater than 3 Health.
  • Automata: The Automata are not supposed to exist, not as they truly do. They were only supposed to be an experiment, the possibility of creating a fully automated servitor using the Adaptive frame, artificial organs and physical processing unit that was as much real, grown neurons and tissue as it was hardware. Instead, they became something unexpected- real, emotional people, living as machines, laying low under the eyes of an empire that thought they were tools. In silence, they persisted. Now free and among the Collectives, they fight for the freedom of all the “quiet, obedient, polite androids” that serve the Houses.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/2/2/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: Automata may not install Genemods; instead, they may fit 2 Bionics in 1 Bodymod slot, and begin with one Standard tier Bionic already installed.
    • Alpha - Extra Tough: +2 Toughness
    • Bravo - Adaptable Anatomy: +1 Bodymod Slots
    • Charlie - All Machine: Immunity to Poison and Pain
    • Delta - Uncanny Reactions: -1 Evade
    • Echo - Safe Mode Restart: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual stands back up after being downed as a Casualty, with 1 point of Health restored and +2 Toughness until the end of Contact. An individual under the effects of this praxis may not be healed than greater than 3 Health.
• Ophiuchians: Ophiuchus was supposed to be the next step after the Centauri system, once the situation was settled and proper logistics could be laid down for greater expansion throughout the stellar reaches. Instead, it was the testing ground for harsh environments tech, including a retroviral treatment for stimulated environmental adaptation in human bodies, known as Imaginal. When it took its effect, and the first of their kind woke in the habitable zone of their tidal locked badland world Remus, they found themselves a people more emotionally attuned, instinctually intelligent and uncommonly sturdy: humanity, bestially reinvented.
  • Labourer: The plan was that the first to wake would make the way would have to be both physically hard as well as strong-willed. They would need to learn to be loyal to one another, that if driven to despair by the seeming futility of fulfilling a task appointed by an empire light years away, they instead could unite in common cause to one another. In their genesis, the Corporate States made a mistake- they created a human branch as strong as it is ungovernable.
    • Baseline BASIC: 3/2/2/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: Labourers can equip 2 Heavy items for the effects of 1.
    • Alpha - Extra Tough: +2 Toughness
    • Bravo - Survivable: +1 Health
    • Charlie - Adrenal Rush: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual automatically succeeds at any Strength or Athletics check that wouldn’t be outright impossible for them to succeed at.
    • Delta - Steady Stride: Ignore Rough Terrain
    • Echo - Crushing Blows: Individual adds double their Body to the damage of all successful Melee attacks.
  • Warrior: The Labourers were intended to fight, but were, as viewed through the lense of the well paid scientists that created their genetic template, a security risk themselves- prone to theft and violence in sufficient enough numbers, they reasoned, as any common unskilled worker. So they created another template, one of an enforcer, that would keep order. It worked, albeit too well- the Warrior caste are loyal protectors and avengers, but to Ophiucians and their allies only, not any empire.
    • Baseline BASIC: 3/2/2/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: All Melee attacks made by a Warrior gain +1 damage, progressively, with each successful hit against their target, to a maximum of +3.
    • Alpha - Extra Tough: +2 Toughness
    • Bravo - Ruthless: +1 to Flanks, +2 Damage from Flanks
    • Charlie - Adrenal Rush: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual automatically succeeds at any Strength or Athletics check that wouldn’t be outright impossible for them to succeed at.
    • Delta - Pounce: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual may Sprint, even through Rough Terrain, and perform a Charge attack.
    • Echo - Crushing Blows: Individual adds double their Body to the damage of all successful Melee attacks.
• Gray: At the edge of the galactic arm, their system looked into the vastness of the void, a lightless gyre that seemed to taunt them, and made the winter skies a freezing black ink. So they turned sensitive eyes toward the light of the galactic core, that shone to them so brightly by contrast, and tuned discerning and sharp ears to distant frequencies. The Light told them the way: become empire and assemble the Final Culture, to hold back the encroaching Void. Together, resolute and faithful, they shall achieve the goal of the Great Plan, the Perfect Being, the One That is All- Singularity, personified beyond the event horizon of the gaping hole at the center of our galaxy.
  • Noble: To be a Noble of the Gray is to understand that you are a piece in a never ending and lethal game, the rules of which are always changing, but the win conditions are always the same: take the throne, become Imperator. There lies two paths toward a happy, or at least worry-free life in the game that is gentry in the Holy Spheres of the Deep Church: be a really boring piece, or be the piece that becomes Imperator. Because the Imperator is forever- the person who becomes them isn’t themselves any more, for they are the only one capable of embodying the ruthlessness and power to seize the Bone Tree Throne for themselves- effectively, becoming who they kill, and continuing to rule as though nothing happened. If the implications of this are difficult to digest, rest assured. it’s no wonder why so many Nobles cast their titles off like burdens when treason, betrayal and socialism became an option for them.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/2/3/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: “Grayshimmer” - Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual gains 1 level of Camouflage until the beginning of their Next Turn.
    • Alpha - Alpha - Wiry: +1 Mobility
    • Bravo - Vigilant: -1 Awareness
    • Charlie - Flicker Step: Reroll failed Feint checks, -1 Evasion or -1 Guard whenever targeted by Interrupt attacks
    • Delta - Ruthless: +1 to Flanks, +2 Damage from Flanks
    • Echo - Court Diplomacy: Reroll failed Ambush attacks while under the effects of Grayshimmer.
  • Commoner: They’re told they’re treated well. They aren’t, but they aren’t raised to know better. For them, only the best, as far as they can tell. Because they aren’t told much. Their language is simpler, their education is more fundamental and functional, and what they know as facts are only slightly embellished. For their own safety. There is greater happenings at work in the Deep Church than these individuals’ lives, it’s said behind closed doors, which is why they must be kept blissfully ignorant. Because a Gray Commoner, exposed to the truth and taught reality? Demonstrably and dangerously capable.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/2/3/2/2
    • Stat Modifier: “Grayshimmer” - Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual gains 1 level of Camouflage until the beginning of their Next Turn.
    • Alpha - Fierce: +1 Damage
    • Bravo - Vigilant: -1 Awareness
    • Charlie - Flicker Step: Reroll failed Feint checks, -1 Evasion or -1 Guard whenever targeted by Interrupt attacks
    • Delta - Survival Instinct: Upon being Wounded, you may spend 1 X-Factor to perform an Interrupt action that causes this individual to be under the effects of Grayshimmer until the beginning of their next turn.
    • Echo - Truly Free: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Individual stands back up after being downed as a Casualty, with 3 Health points, +2 Toughness, and both the Berserk and Beast Mode Status. Over their next 3 turns, they’ll their Health will tick down by 1, back to 0. However, if they can be healed before that, they’ll recover from being a casualty, though all other bonuses will end.
• Aquilian: Prosperity brought them together, pride drove them to reach better, new heights, and prejudice broke them. Theirs was a fall from grace so profound, that it marked them, so they say, and took their wings both in spirit and body. When the adherents of the Deep Church found them, shattered and factionalized, scattered through the woods and mountains of their world, they pieced them back together, on the path to the selfless all-self that is the Final Culture. Those that have broken free say they know now, their sin was not pride in what they had made, but in the belief that only some were entitled to their majesty.
  • Summer: This Summer Broods and the clans that grew from them came from the deciduous forests and the orchard lands, those that knew ways of agriculture, forests and travel. Dark against a bright sky, it was said that their pride lay in their speed at which they could accomplish their tasks at, a mind as sharp as to match so swift a frame. Now, those of the Summer know well: it’s cocky if you can’t back it up; but if you can, save it until you’ve crossed the finish line.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/3/2/1/3
    • Stat Modifier: +1 Mobility
    • Alpha - Measured Haste: Gimmie, 1 X-Factor. Perform any Committed action as a Simple one instead.
    • Bravo - Uncontainable: Individual may automatically succeed any Jump/Climb Move Action at double the normal distance.
    • Charlie - Uncanny Reactions: -1 Evade
    • Delta - Wiry: +1 Mobility
    • Echo - Blazing Speed: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Shift the individual up to their full Mobility. This cannot be Interrupted. Can be used to perform a Charge Melee attack, dealing double the individual’s Body as damage if successful.
  • Night: In the deeper woods and craggy forests, those of the Night Broods and their clans were known for both their deeper insights and philosophical explorations, as well as being capable hunters and warriors. Their pride was in their ability to strike without missing, to be unerring. The mistakes that broke their people nearly unmade them. Now they realize that a mistake is only failure if not redeemed with experience, and, if needed, penance.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/3/2/3/1
    • Stat Modifier: +1 Mobility
    • Alpha - Patient Hunter: +2 Damage to any Attack that hits against a Marked target.
    • Bravo - Uncontainable: Individual may automatically succeed any Jump/Climb Move Action at double the normal distance.
    • Charlie - Uncanny Reactions: -1 Evade
    • Delta - Wiry: +1 Mobility
    • Echo - Pack Hunter: Simple, 1 X-Factor. Mark a target, then designate an ally within Earshot to make a single out of turn Single Attack action.
• Hob: Intelligence was not in the cards for them, up until it was. The ability to develop neural pathways just so wasn’t meant to be a part of their brain structures, but so was absorbed into their collective species, like mitochondria into the cells of Earthling organisms. So they grew to be able to know, and in doing so, grew together, learning together, building great things together. Together, they crossed the gap from ground, to sky, to space and stars. Right before the eyes of Gray eyes, who were very interested in the things that they had learned how to make...
  • Garrak: In their prehistory, the were stout burrowers, the sort of hard-boned, thick furred beastie you could run over with a bike, and the bike and you would be the one that takes the damage. But as generations and adaptations developed, and their intellect awakened alongside instinct, they became builders and metallurgists and architects, adding to the landscape as they took, to build places to live, rather than cities. In combat, they wear Sympathetic Motion-driven exorigs that compliment their stout (but stubby) physiques, built extra-heavy to dish up a beating in close quarters.
    • Baseline BASIC: 3/1/2/3/2
    • Stat Modifier: +1 Ablative Health
    • Alpha - Fierce: +1 Damage
    • Bravo - Extra Tough: +2 Toughness
    • Charlie - Work, Dammit: +1 to all Fix Checks
    • Delta - Steady: Immune to Dazed, Concussed and Disoriented
    • Echo - Autopilot Advance: Complex. A Garrak may Run and make a Ranged attack against any Marked target, without the normal bonus to the check gained from Marked, as long as they are moving a direction towards the target.
  • Myx: As life finds a way, so does intelligent life find a way to manifest. Perhaps in the Myx, diminutive, picene and relatively tiny, it has found its most humble and diminutive expression. Suspended in clear polymer water tanks from graceful, lightweight exorigs, these flowery flits of aquatic colour and motion may be furtive and capricious, but they’re also inquisitive and caring, fascinated by life and how to make it grow in its many forms.
    • Baseline BASIC: 2/3/1/3/2
    • Stat Modifier: +1 Ablative Health
    • Alpha - All Machine: Immunity to Poison and Pain
    • Bravo - Extra Tough: +2 Toughness
    • Charlie - Live, Dammit: On a successful Aid check, you may commit your Gimmie action to restore 1 Health as well.
    • Delta - Steady: Immune to Dazed, Concussed and Disoriented
    • Echo - Fluidic Field: Simple. Grant one ally in Shouting Distance -1 Evasion until the beginning of your next turn.

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