E aud) INCOR ONby Andrew Greenberg <4) £ toms Dies meLoitnnca Of Written by: Andrew Greenberg Additional characters by: Bill Bridges, jim Estes, Sam Inabinet, Ros Chris Wiese 1s, Jim Moore, Rustin Quaide, Nicky Rea, Developed and typeset by: Bill Bridges Art directed by: John Bridges Art by; John Bridges, Darryl Elliott, Sam Inabinet, Ron Spencer Cover art by: John Bridges Pilgrims: ‘Yea, the Pancreators lightisasall-illuminating as the sun, but legion are those who would turneth away, Therighteous « more excellent than his neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduceth him. Correction is grievous unto him ¢ forsaketh the way, and he that hateth reproof shall die. The sacrifice of the wicked isan abomination to the Pancreator: bute loveth him that followerh after righteousness, Scanned by JarJar. Edited by Ivan Krenyenko. Exclusive Release for the one & only rpg hub on de++ RPG BOOKZ ‘N’ SCANZ available at : rpgbookz.dyndns.org Visit Holistic Design's web site at: (ous wwwholistic-design.com Holistic Design ine 95 Hwy 78, D337 Stone Mountain, GA 30087 51998 by Holistic Design Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without written permision of the publisher is denied, except for the purpose of reviews Fading Suns and Sinners & Saints are trademarks and copyrights of Hi Design Ine The mention of or reference toany companies or products in these pages is not a challenge to the trademarks or copy: rights concerned, Printed in the USof AIntroduction: Best of the Worst Nobles Dame Alicia Silvers Dame Chingmy LiHalan Sir Juan Kerressa de Castile Dame Bertha Torenson Sir Asuni Cameton Priests Mother Meah Brother Francisco Domine Sister Angeline Fuego Brother Nassau Seneca Mother Rebca Guildsmembers Pedron Guff Janyana Avesa Boss Maury Sumaka Consul Simon Solace Hetairae Pythia Consul Haswan Nara Gwendolyn Trajos Manager Natalie Snave ‘The Deadly Alessandro Twins Freelancers Lt.-Col. Relov West Belia Black (The Devil Beliah} Emola Debt 10 2 4 16 18 24 2% 28 30 32 4 36 38 40 2 44 48 Contents Liu Pei Zith Haqua Dur Barbarians Kaliost Roche ‘Sunchief Bonoche Cameron Michaelson Aliens Naajallen vo Zolleni Seketea Halvena Drashtan ja Nodlain Shade Scumalanga Loadbearer Hulaaloo Golo Tarvester Sir Thoktika'a Huvuru al-Dubhat Enikaz ait ‘agas Kada Yoma Utati Shervas Gressh Creatures Grackle Fox Malador Phantom, Kevoor Udea (Scorpetion} Hargardian Skier! Tlinco ba Kamek (Shadow Spider) Doggoth Miscellaneous Animals 64 66 68 70 90 2 94 96 00 102Introduction: Best of the Worst All sortsof personalities fill the Known Worlds, from bold and daring advencurers to conniving villains to the most committed of priests. This book chronicles a wide variety of these people and creatures, providing gamemasters with allies and villains they can add to an epicata moment’ notice,and players with characters they ‘can base their own on or use as they are. Each listing has background information, a character sheet and an illus: tration which gamemasters.can use to show players what they are up against — or to put the fear of the Pancreator ‘nto them, Thecharactersheet is not the same one found in Fad- ing Suns. It is ta ves out information players need on have permission to photocopy le one in chis chapter, for ter, and le heir sheets. Gamemasters these sheets, as well as the sam their personal use only ‘Some of these people are doing their best to makethe Known Worlds a better place their actions some lives will improve, Others care for for all beings, hoping that nothing but themselves, and everyone else can go stuck singularities, OF course, many fall somewhere in between, these poles, and the person who helps the characters to: day may become their worst enemy tomorrow Do nor feel compelled to try and include every char morefun when acter in this book in your epic. Players they can get to know characters in depth, studying their ° actionssand motivations over a number of games. Recur @ ring villainsare great fun. and the Devil Beliah might en. number of timesin space before they down, The same holds true for the Mother Rebea might help them out she is heretic ok of several jams before they real (On the other hand,all thecharactersin this book can saints in thisb mas, Consul Haswan Nara could 8 out of town for their violation work well for single di try to run the charact of guild exclusives, only to have them turn around and nsters in the prove that he needs them tohunt down m sewers, They might have to recover incriminating letters held by Sir Juan Kerressa de Castile, chase him from ball to ball and palace to palace, only tofind that he no lon} cares about che person who wrote those letters. Also feel freeto mix and ma heart content. Having Dame Chingmy gotoeto toe with Sir Juan Kertessa de Castile can be lots of fun. Seeing the bounty hunter Emola Debt tryingto hunt down Seketea Halvena, with the characters caught in the middle, can lead to innumerable dramas, Just remember that much of the drama’ focus needs ostay on the characters Afterall, icisas much their game asit is the gamemaster’ Sample Dramas The Bastard and the Barbarian On one of hs rks Inthecharactersto your as the characters He will do anythin her, including attacks, bribes and promises ofall sorts Money for Nothing: A rumor that the Devil Beliah, the infamous pirate. is injured and hiding in town hasat-‘acted every major bounty hunter in the Known Worlds. TheDeadly Alessandro Twinsaretearing things up, Emola Debe stalks the shadows, and even Relov West, smelling weakness, has appeared with a crew of desperate merce- hari Beliah may or may not bein town —tharreally does not matter, What does matter isthe havoc these gunsling- ers cause in their hunt for him and their efforts to stop, ‘one another (and the characters) Lost in Chains: Consul Simon Solace has decided that he needs a better class of slaves €o help train his subjects fon Swan's Way. He has given the noted slave catcher Janyana Avesa just such a directive and the assistance of as many Muster strong arms as he needs. The characters get caught in this drag net and are ferried off. If they can. find out what Solace is up to, they may be able to enlist Avesas help in freeing them, They mayalso need theassis- tance of the other slaves, especially if Mother Meah isone of them. Mind Games Forever: In an attempt to attract Silandra Decados’ attention, Hetairae Pychia has begun, manipulating leading figures to publicly humiliate them: Antagonist sheet LEARNED SKILLS UL ( ( Perception (3) Tech (3) / a 4 2 % g 2 2 = B_s | S855 32 3555 (6 EEsebr hess |g ZES2EZEES SIE ge 1B 83 le eS zB a Zz iS OO z CHARACTERISTICS Se Strength (3) Dexterity (3) Endurance @) (COMMO. selves She is currently targeting Boss Maury Sumaka,one of the Scravers' leading crime lords, using his family try roconvince himto renounce hisevil ways forever Should she succeed, a Decados-backed crime lord would take his place, starting a reign of criminal terror The characters might not approve of Sumaka, but he ispreferabletowhat would take his place. On the other hand, maybethe char: acters want Pythia to succeed so that they can bethe ones to replace Sumaka. Customizing the Characters While Sinners and Saints includes completed char- acters,gamemasters should feel fee co moify them to it their own epies. Most came of age during the Emperor \Wars and these times of trialsand tribulations lefta defi nite mark on their personalities. If you have sec your epic tater in the history of the Known Worlds.or the Emperot had @ different outcome, then feel free to rework these parts oftheir background By the same token, many of these characters came from a very definite world. If this does not fit an epic SHOTS] VICTORY 2d ST bonus COMBAT VITALITY @®@®@®@®O0O00000000000 Wound penakiess 08 success =K2 42 4 WyRD OOOQOOD0000000000000Dethaps Klin Roche needs tobe on Suck then eevise concn Players and Characters Combatant sheet RNED SKILLS LL ‘COMMON ACTIONS 6) NATURAL SKILLS Es Observe (3) Impress (3) )Calm ] Shoot (3) Mel BLESSINGS/CURSES: Mino ( Wits 6) Tech (3) ‘CHARACTERISTICS Boy Strength (3) Endurance (3) Powers/Rites them to players joining an on-going epic or whose old characters are no longer able to continue, either due to death or changing circumstances (its hard to take a re cently ordained cardinal adventuring), The following 13 characters are suitable for new char acters in new campaigns: Dame Alicia Silvers Dame Chingmy Li Halan Sir Juan Kerressa de Castile Dame Bertha Torenson Sir Asuni Cameton Sister Angeline Fuego Brother Nassau Seneca Mother Rebeca Pedron Guft Manager Natalie Snave Emola Debt Liu Pei Seketea Halvena success = x2 Init Goal DMG RNG | VICTORY Init Goal OMG RNG VITALITY @@@®®@®000000000000 Wound penshies: WyRD OOO0O000000000000000CTION: BEST OF THE Worst ‘hisdoes not mean that gamemasters cannot have _Agood way tocome up with such characters istostart Je characters oppose those contolled by the players, with theslot they wifill—cruelLi Halan sheriff charged Dnthecontrary.alloftheabovealsomakegreatalliesand with keeping peace ina town — and work backward to Ttisjusethat cher traits aresimilar to choseany determine how he got that way. Did he see just too much Binning character might have. Gamemasters have per-_violenceduringthe Emperor Warsand isnow completely mision to photocopy individual character descriptions desensitized to ie? Did he seeall that death and decide the Hpndsetsfor use by their players. only way to prevent more was by his own cruelty? Is he _ New Sinners and Saints cubsonecne qui thelstit Hage Hae | These characters should also give gamemasters ideas joptes mistreat their peasantsand decided that acting like devsingtheirown,Fewof theseare purely odor bad. them would attract their approval? Any course you “Theyall have strengths and they all have flaws. Many of choose will effec his skills, motivations and interactions hen ft pre-existing stereotypes (the rogue noble, the with thecheracters Iqieing psychic) while others turn such stereotypes.on hens (a noble trying to bring about the Third Re Occultist sheet ‘COMMON ACTIONS LEARNED SKILLS 10 ‘Speak Urhish ( g Pr = 4 ig % ia a 2 a a 2 ag BsenSstse5|8 bs Pesctetestls EESec25 29513 ZéaPesse52 | & z = . E 3B Zs 88 & = Sexes2 g EI 632356 Perception (3) VITALITY @@@®@@®®000000000000 lwyrD OOOOO00000000000000 CHARACTERISTICS Strength (3) Dexterity @)Alexius’ unmarried starus worries many of his support cers. They fear that should he die without heir, any chance of reuniting humanity would die with bim,asscoresof nobles, would claim partsof his empire, The only thing his suppore ers fear more than this end is that a dozen self-proclaimed, hheits mighe spring up from all corners of the empite, claim: ing to be the illegitimate children of the Emperor. One of these has already appeared, though so far Dame Alicia has ‘maintained a faily low profile Bornon Gwynneth whilethe Emperor Wars wereat their height, she made her appearance almost nine months after Alexis’ vierory at Cadavus the battle which put him in po- sition to become first regent and then Emperor. that battle hecaughtafleet of Decadosstealth shipsat restand destroyed, damaged oF captured most of them before they could escape. Alicia mother, Baroness Suzanne Silvers, had been one of Alexis eatliest supportersandserved.on hisflagshipascom- mander of his marines and marauders. She defeated the Decados' last councerattack, when several of their ships man. aged to close with Alextus’flagship and boacd it. She person: ally captured the Decados baron who lead the boarding ac- tion, and happily presented hissword ro Alexius. The vietory celebration back on Gwynneth, held prima rilyat the ilversestate, went on for several days,during which Alexius and his retinue stayed in the main mansion. When, he left for the regent elections on Byzantium Secundus, Alicia's mother stayed behind. Her pregnancy became abv ‘ous several months later Since most noblewomen who pian, on terminating their pregnancy doso before anyone notices, her decision togive birth tothe child quickly generated talk. While it fs nor uncommon for unwed noblewomen in most houses to have children, House Hawkwood doned such activity: Despite this, Baroness Suzanne proudly cartied on, and Alicia came into the Known Worlds only a few months after Alexius became regent. Baroness Suzanne Silvers always seemed certain that her daughter had some great destiny to Fulfill, and raised the gil, to share this belief. Indeed, Alicia never doubted her place in the universe until her mothers death in che final battle around Byzantium Secundus Her mother had led a small detachment down to the base on Jericho, Within an hour i blew up, Baroness Suzanne along with it. While some might ‘expect Alicia to beara special hatred of the Decados for that, wkywood has blamed them for the destruction, thisis noe the ease. Instead she has begun to build ups griev inst her own house s never eon: since House F Dame Alicia Silvers Since her mothers death, her own position within the Hawlewoods has become perilous The lands of chel barony wwent ro Duke Jon Hawkswood, who made Alicia his ward Despite his overt gestures of courtesy and hospitality Alicia found herself virtually a prisoner on his lands, without ser vvants of her own or the ability to leave. She also overheard rumors that rhe duke was keeping her there for some pur ‘of his own —one which Alicia would not cae for. ‘When she turned 15, she realized that without land or incomeof her own, she had littlechance of regainingthefam- ily barony of avoiding the duke’ plans fr her, which atthe least seemed to include marrying her to his toad of ason.In- stead of disheartening her,however,thistealization strength: ened and encouraged her givingher the reolvetofinda way ‘out With stolen family silverware tofund her voyages pad for passage off Gwynneth and to che stars Now shetravelsthe Known Worlds hopingto find some place init shecan call her own She hascione her best toavoid the dukes men and allies andl generally interacts with fee men instead of nobles Whatshe doesnot realizeisthat Duke John isnot the only one looking for her. Rumors of Alexius buastardsarespreadingthrough the Known Worldsand while she has just begun to suspect that she might have some con- nection to the Emperor. othershave suspected that for years ‘Quote:"Hey! You guys needa hand” Appeerance: Dame Alicia defintely has the Hawk wood look about her. Asa young gangly gr, she bore tite resem blance to her volupruous, battie-hardened mother. Now she isbeginaing co bloom, but those who know the upper levels of House Hawkwood sometimes start when they see her Though stil @ teenager, she is becoming aware of just how awesome her destiny might be Entourage: While Alila tries to travel alone she seems to have a knack for drawing together interesting and val able people, Hernatural alent forbringingoutthe mosthhelp- ful sides of people isa boon, and those who have gotten to know her during her travels are more than willing to pro vide wharever assistance she needs Roleplaying Notes: Dame Alicia is extremely self-suff cient fora noble despite he few years In spite of some rather tense moments since leaving Gwynnetb, she has had little problem fending for herself. She does fear thar Duke John Montgomery Hawkwood might be looking for he Equipment: Ropier.singshot, standard shield Beneficesand Afflictions Standard Shield (5), Clostered (0) Title: Dame 6) Bastard (}, Unaware 9), Heir (3)abieyg asdeig oo ¥y uonay | 0 / Sd Lvawoo 41n990 19 sanysianog, sugey /Absnayy| ) 21d.) come 26909 2 (guueyg STIS TWURLWN: Soni BOIy WiedDame Chingmy came of age during the last days of the Emperor Wars, when the Li Halan were Fighting primarily to regain lost territory and influence. Though the family trained her asa diplomat, she found the arts of war at least equally fascinating, Anid while the family preached lessons of abstl- hence and self denial, she found pleasure and satisfaction in the armsof noblesfrom other houses Despite her occasional uun-Li Halan ways, during the Emperor Wars she served the family ably asa tiison to the Hazat and then to the Decados before, at the age of 20, she joined her houses delegation to the Emperors coronation. Thetimeshe had spentat the courtsof minor nobles had not prepared her for the splendor of the imperial court. Dig hitaries and notables from around the Known Worlds at tended the coronation, including the leaders of every noble house, Church sect and major guild. All strove to out de the others in one of the most elaborate games of one-uppsmnanship ver seen. The parties spanned the globe, and Chingmy rev eled in the revelry By the time it had ended she knew she could never re turn tothestandard role of a Li Halan noble woman, watch: ing over some lonely manor, spending her days supervising, servantsand her nights praying.cothe Pancreator.Instead she took tothe stars officially serving avambassador from the Li Halan to many noble houses, but unofficially going wher ever her he This was the time when she first began to realize her natural talent for dueling. Baronet Metia Ciencia de Lasedo challenged her, allegedly because Chingmy had slighted the Harat, bur really because the baronet’ lover, Bishop Avriel Curzon had expressed interest in the young Halan. Despite ne baronet’ reputation as a vicious fencer, Chingmy man aged to both draw first blood and end the duel there, before relations between the houses would suffer: Chingmy began takingevery opportunity to practice ing through fencing steps during the long voyages between ‘worldsand seckingout dueling masters wherever they might took her Dame Chingmy Li Halan be found, That she often falls in love (fora short time) with these masters only further fuels her quest. Her housestlll feels uncomfortable about her nocturnal activities, though none can deny that she hasserved it faith fully. While house leadersare unwilling togive her the most prestigious missions, she somehow seems to turn any assign- ment into an exciting endeavor far exceeding whar anyone expected, Some who have dealt with her believe chat her ap parent gregarious nature is only a cover for an extremely crafty diplomat, and would be surprised to discover that her ‘outgoing personality is her real one Quoter"Wel, et see if youtte as good with your blade as you are with your mouth” ‘Appearance: Chingmy can pass as a dainty court lady when she sodesires but generally prefers the tight clothes of the duelist, She ties her long black hair back in a pony tail ‘and occasionally attaches a heavy weight to the end which sheccan use asa weapon, Entourage: Chingmy;though nora rich Li Halan,hastwo servants.a man anda woman, who travel with her wherever shegoes The man, Sao Han, publicly actsasa laborer.carrying luggage and running errands, but really serves as her main. sparring partnerand has earned to fencefar better than most servants The woman, Jiang eng, appeats to be her maid but also managesto keep track of gossip wherever Chingmysdip- lomatie missionstake them, Chingmy believes iangservesche Hidden Martyts (sce Lords of the Known Worlds) as well as herself Roleplaying Notes: Dame Chingmy is pethaps too out- going, exuberant and honest ro make a first-rate diplomat, but she has done well sofar. Those problems which her quick tongue gets her into, her quicker blade often gets her out of That she has loversand admirers in most courtsshe visits cer tainly helps. Equipment: Rapier, Dueling Shield Beneficesand Afflictions Title: Dame (3), DuelingShield (7h, Retinue(s)STUDS GINYVIT (g) 99509 ) 21a" (@) ssa16u Pg 25709 uueyg STIDS WUnLyN JUBBry Hey use 1 :22ueNy in 33ey 09 \povang Ny Agog. SOLLSIWTLOVEVHO 30% PIN 36 ‘ayeurag sapuag upieH 11 Auuyo awedSir Juan Kerrassas sudden entry inco court society took everyatie by surprise. The thied son of a minor Hazar noble he wasexpected tohavea long, undistinguished career in the Hazat military. Instead he appeared at Alexius'court on the arm of Duchess Sonia Neville Hawkwood, oneof the Known ‘World’ renowned beautiesand leading trendsetters. Clothed in a mix of the latest Hazat, Decados and Hawkwood styles, perfumed with exotic Kurgan scents, wearing borrowed jew: elry hisentrance stunned court observers. He became the talk of the court in an instant, immedi- ately sought out as a guest at the innumerable parties, balls and galas which makeup Byzantium Secunds social life. He Uunerringly sought out the most elegant and prestigious, us allya leaving with one His list of conquests grew with each night and by the time the rainy season declared an end tothe main. patties he had established himself asone of the nobilitys most sought after guests, with hisappearance giving parties an al- ‘most-official stamp of approval With the end of the social season on Byzantium Secundus came the start of the soctal whiel on other worlds ‘Asa youth Kerressa never would have expected to find him- self in demand on Holy Terra, Leagueheim and the capital planets, Asan adule, however, Invitations flooded in from. around the Known Worlds. A week on Vera Cruz followed, two on Aylon, followed in curn by a month in Severus’ most magnificent palaces. Feted by leading nobles, this landless knight turned his looks, manners and charm into income producing assets as gifts and jewelry piled up. While Kerressa enjoyed the accumulated wealth, his reputation soared by his refusals toaccept money from other sources most notably the variousintelligence services. Almost all the services, from the Decados Jakovian Agency to the Charfoteer’ Killroys, sought to enlist him ar one point or an other, for noone doubted that Kerressa had become privy to innumerablesecrets turned themall down, publicly ‘enouigh that thestory spread but quietly enough that noone renin the guest of a prominent noblewoman —or Sir Juan Kerressa de Castile could accuse him of unseemly self;promotion, His fellow nobles found him a trustworthy friend — but not so trust: ‘worthy that he could not tell a good story Rumors have spread that powerful nobles use Kerressa asahigh-level courier ferrying information, items and nego- tiations back and forth between them. He has encountered many of the Known Worlds’ leading figures and appears to sgetalong well with allof chem. Among these notables he tries to hide his more roguish side, the part of him that revels in seduction and in the signsof hissuccesses. He now takes spe cial delight in seducing the most powerful figures he ean. Recently he set his sights on Salandra Decados, as Duchess Sonia Neville always knew he would (Quote:"My honor restson my discretion” ‘Appearance: In 20th century terms, he w between David Niven, lark Gableand the Prince of Monaco. Handsome, debonair and sophisticated, hes gor itall. Noconly dloes he wear the leading styles — whatever he wears quickly bbecomesthe leading style Entourage: Kerressa travels with one man servant who primarily takescareof the knight’ clothes He often ties him: self tosomeother nobles entourage though, especially when. he ison a mission for someone, or when that noble (or mem bers of the encourage) isespectally attractive Roleplaying Notes: Characters mightencounter Sir Juan, Kerrassa in @ number of ways, most of them contradictory When dealing with his roguish side, they might be called upon to help @ friend or relative who needs to recover a embarrassing gift she gave the knight.On theother hand, the characters might need to help Kerressa carry outa sensitive mission, perhaps delivering valuable heicloomsto their orig nal owners Equipment: Rapier, Dueling Shield Beneficesand Afflictions: Ducting Shield (7,Good Riches (6) Title: Knight (3, Ally: Duchess Sonia Neville it), Retinue o uld bea ctosssanysiamog, oye 20H aucaus Reames (@) yeeug ) 39045 (oanesso usuun eats (© 2en (oaresg) 2905 (@) ssasduy STIDIS TWUNLYN SOLLSIUALOVAVHO. wu Mey JeZEH OUR Eun} 39° oe) 9p BSS2L1091 YEN aS‘Thedreamof a Thitd Republic infectsa surprisingly la ‘number of people, from serfs in their fields to nobles who ddceam of a better fe for their subjects. These people raely speak of theirdreams except when with those chey trust for such fantasies in themselves are considered dangerous. verg: ingon the hetetical. Those who hope to make their dreams reality have to be even more cautious. Dame Bertha Torenson leads such a group of crusaders Centered around herself, several of her householders and a scatteringof like-minded merchantsand freemen, they work ‘o increase republican sentiment and decrease objections to it, Dame Bertha herself works from the highest of ideals, firmly believingthat theonly way forhumanity toeffectively, deal with itsmany problemsistoinvolve the largest number of people in their solutions, The only way she sees for this to happen fs through democracy, involving more and more people in polities, commerce, education and the rest of u- ‘man life The fact that her house really has litte to boseat this, point certainly does not hurt her fervor for the caus. Her frst tutors, members of the Pedagogues guild, gave Bertha her earliest knowledge of theSecond Republic, stress ing its egalitarian nature, respect for knowledge and oppor tunity forall. Atthesamerime her tutors were increasing her interest in the past, hee Family’ low prestige lessened her in- terest in the present. House Torensonsonce-promisingclimb had ended, itsattemptstobecomea power broker during the Emperor Wars stymied atevery turn. Bertha herself seestittle opportunity toadvance the house’ influence —and less rea son to even try. Instead she seeks to make her mark on the universe ina distinctly non-noble manner Given the choice between teaching other nobles etiquette and trying to lead humanity toward a new utopia, utopia won. Her first efforts were very simpleand net especially dan igerous She taught some Torenson serfs to read, supported & few merchantsin their dispuces with nobles,and gave money to priests who held a more tolerant view of technology (in ‘other words, those who would not automatically rakea sledge ‘hammer to think machine). The success of these gestures relieved what anxiety she had about democracy and bolstered hergrowingidealism. It also gave her the impetus she needed totake her cause to the stars. ‘Now she travels from system to system, ostensibly as ant etiquette advisor. but really looking for fertile ground in, which to plant the seedsof democracy Herstudies of the past have lead her to believe that while merchantsand craftsmen led past democratic mavements, they would have failed with: four the assistance of enlightened nobles anid well-meaning priests The first step to bringing about a Third Republic is to show these noblesand priests how a closer alliance with the {guilds can improve their lives: providing more material com- Dame Bertha Torenson forts giving them strongallies against their foes and encour: ‘aging peasants to work harder so they can buy more things The second Jes of such change, and this is where her crusade turns dan. cep isto discredit or silence the most vocal crit etous. Opponents of a Third Republic ate many and vocal, de- tetmined that the sin of republicanism never again stain ‘humanityssoul, Bertha hopes to whittle away at their ranks by embarrassing them or otherwise preventing thei¢ oppost: tion, She managed to get an especially vocal bishop on Holy Terra removed from the pulpit by threatening to reveal bis, past writings against Alexius(patd for by House Decados) She also manufactured evidence that Baron Shaheen Ralamen al- Malik might have worked against his own house during the Emperor Wars, hus removingone of theal-Maliks main op. ponents to closer ties with the League. So far Bertha quiet efforts have attracted littleattention she has learned tocover her tracks —but some of the right people have noticed, She hasa number of friends within the Merchant League.all of whom would help her promotea new republic, and she hasbegunattractingnon-Leaguetypes who also hope for # new golden age, While not a member of the Third Era or any other pro-democracy group, she works to similar goalsand may someday join one. Until then she con: tinues her slow process of quietly promoting a new hope for humanity Quote-"Oh, lagree. The serfsean never be ourequals: But a true noble knows berter than to abuse any tool” “Appearance: This large and regal-looking woman wears her blonde hair proudly, When she wantsto she can makean extremely striking figure — and she ean strike hard as well Entourage: Dame Bertha knows better than to promote her beliefson her own, bur she is unwilling totrust justany fone. A good judge of character, she surrounds herself with people loyal to her and her cause. She has learned to slowly float ideas of equality and social advancement before those she deems worthy, hoping that they will believe any change in their attitude came from within, not from her. Anyone ‘working with her will be more inclined toward a Thitd Ri public than the general run of society, but will not be a fa nhatic For the cause. Roleplaying Notes: Bertha has learned to work quietly and realizes that the chances of a Third Republic during her lifetime are slim to nil. She has also learned to keep her own. efforts very qu ight find themselves ‘set up as scapegoats should her plans go awry. On the other hand, she may work with the characters to neutralizea com- Equipment: Screecher, Rapier, Standard Shield Beneficesand Afflictions Title: Dame(3) Well-Off Riches (5), Equipment (0)ODDDD00D00 000 CCOC®e AAA H (0/5) pews mien YOWY. ndaoiag om oxy STUNS TWYOLVN SOLLSIWALOVAVHO. wu queY 802 pI 26y 9) :20ueKy jeuioy sapuag feunyy99ey —_uosuao) ByLiag, auIeq,House Cameron is the leading house on Byzentium Sectndus, but it lacks power anywhere else. Asuni hoped to change chat settingforth ftom his familys homeworld roseek, hisfortunein thestars. Taking with hima list of old Cameton, claims and deeds to land on other planets, he made his way From star to star, wheelingand dealing to cry and expand his family’s power throughout the Known Worlds. He had little success until he reached De Moly, where he hoped to prove that his family once owned parc of a uranium mine The Brother Battle elders listened Co his claim with in terest and then offered co let him tour the mine himself Elated chat bis quest might finally be getting somewhere, Asuni leapt at the chance,donneda spacesuit and set out ina smal flier When he reached the mine, howeverall he found, was a deep crater, the site of a meteor landing hundreds of vents ago. He landed the flier in the heart of the crater and stepped out, examining what was left of House Cameton’ claim on the planet, hoping against hope to find something of worth, Hedugaround in the crater stabbing the hard dirt with his rapier. When it hit something hard, he knelt down todig, After several minutes, he found himself looking at part of @ carving. and hisexcitement mounted. He dug with renewed, vigor.tearingat the ground with all hismight- Ashe worked, the sheer immensity of what he had found beyan to dawn on him, By the time he had finished he realized that this was, one of the fabled Gargoyles — a relic which could by itself ‘make his family a true power in the Known Worlds Shaking ‘with excitement, he removed one of hisgloves to run his fin gersalong the artifact, Power coursed through is body, He leapt to is feet, 2 seteam piercing the weak De Molay atmosphere. His hands Flew ro his helmet, tearing it loose and throwing it to the ground. He threw himself from side to side before plunging to the earth, his scream continuing, He pounded his head against the Gargoyle uncil blood poured down his face and, he finally, mercifully, passed ou ‘Nighe had settled over the planet by the time he awoke, Gaspinig for breath he crawled to the flierand hauled himself inside. Ie took him several more daysto recover, at which point Sir Asuni Cameton he finally made himself [ook outside the window. The only tracks he saw were his own, but the Gargoyle was gone. The next day he flew back to che main Brother Battle monastery and booked passage off- world It was chen that he began to realize that the world hed changed. Things seemed cleaver sharperin many ways People seemed mote understandable, less cloaked in deception. In fact, sometimes he thought he could even hear their deepest, most seeret thoughts, By the time his ship was ready to de part, Asuini knew that the Gargoyle had gifted him with psy chic powers. Over the course of his voyage he refined these abilites,and came rounderstand the incredible valueof whet he had received, Asuni has never rerurned to Byzantium Secundus In stead he seeks hisdestiny in the stars, hoping for another er ‘counter with a Gargoyle. He looks forward to touching one again, this time witha slightly better understanding of their narure — and perhaps a look into their purpose. He knows that the rush of power he ele was the Gargoyle talking tohim, and now he wants to listen. Quote:‘One cannot understand the infini holdsit in one’s hand” Appearance: Sir Asuni Cameton still hasthe appearance ‘of his Bengali ancestors, but the distant gaze in his eyes con cetns any of his relatives who run into him, He wears noble clothesbecause they are what he isused toand they make his voyage easler, not because of any desire for that prestige Entourage: Asun| avidly seeks out people with similar {interests to his and travels with anyone who can assist him {in hisquest. He doesnot careif other people interact with his Gargoyles, just as long as he getsa chance to deat with them. ‘Roleplaying Notes: Asuni cares ictle forthe trappingsof noble existence, dedicating himself instead to the search for greater powers. He gladly works with anyone who can help him, Anyone who might get in his way, however, has made a mortal enemy Equipment: Standard Shield, Rapier Benefices and Afftictions Title Knight (3), Passage Con tract: Charloteers (2), Standard Shield (5)C0000 000000008 000000 CCeCCCC®e 01H (01/5) Pes epIES HOWUY suoETS a JP IPe5 parzeusia up 1829 uonay wowenng wen, + SNOLLDV NOWNOD. SASYND/SONISSATE PAN 205 sum wads wales gssaduy| y ype, > ce 2ouempeg wer peng + @woy| s (Quondaaay » — (¢) Guawag sun peas (6) 25709 SIM 7 (@)sibvans ame uweyg Aaog (9) °°" srinis WanLVN SOLLSRITLOVEVHO aug wey S02 Ayes ‘aby ucjauieD eno} 3008 ieyY Hapuag own 394 uoyaWeD juNsy AISMeah’ father became hermit on Holy Terre after Meahs mother died giving birth to the git He took her to the dis tart Rocky Mountains. and there they lived far from other humans. spending thelr time in contemplation of the Pancreator’ miracles, Meah grew up with an unshakeable dedication to the Pancteator as well asa firm belief in her fathers holiness ‘When she became a teenager, though, her father began havingddoubesabout Meahscontinued isolation from the rest (of humanity. While he felt sure that it benefited her soul by staying far from the depraved depths to which he believed, people had sunk, he also feared that without the first-hand, Knowledge of human evil the likes of which he hed experi: enced whilea priest on North Americas west coast,she could never fully appreciate the sanctity of his more pure lifestyle Their tearful seperation came when Meah turned 15, when he turned Meth over to his only remaining friend, Fe ther Joshua Lilburn, who had gained prominence asa priest. Meah and Lilburn made the rrip back to the west coast, stop- ping along the way to preach to those who sought him out, and thereshe became part of his Orthodox congregation. For several yearsshe worked in hischurch, studied from hisbooks, and joined him on his many missions fo the poor and deso- late Shealsostood by him when hecriticized hissuperiorsin the Church and weathered the inevitable backlash. When Meah was I7, Lilburn made his final break with his Orthodox superiors. agreeing wich and joining the grow. ing Sanctuary Aeon community. Meah saw the necessity for ‘more accessible Church, one which the laity could love as ‘well as fear She also saw the risk inherent in Lilburn’ break, for the same poor he sought to side with were the very ones, ‘whose back breaking labor allowed Church leadersto live in, ‘unparalleled luxury, Father Lilburn became one of the most prominent Holy Tetra Church figures ro support Sanctuary ‘Acon,and the Church did not approve Ietook Lilburn’s congregation away from him,assigning hhim instead to maintaining the Church libraries in. what used to he Los Angeles, Through his rials Meah stood by him, studying for the priesthood so she could support him in his, fights and stay by his side. Even without a place of worship, Lilburn continued preaching much tothe Church’sconster- nation. As he attracted followers, various Orthodox leaders came to him with more dice warnings. Afterall, as laborers for the Universal Church, the serfs Lilburn preached to were ‘closer to salvation than any others and had no use of Sane tuary doctrine. Finally the local bishop ruted that Lilburn’ preaching wasdistractinghim from hisduties restocking the library books. Meah, accepted asa priestess, took overfor him, while he descended to the library's depths to do penance. The sets listened to her and spread news of her teach: Ings. At the same time, Lilburn found his suspension from preaching & heavy burden, He turned to the library’ oldest tomes for comfort, and Meab often found him with tracts daring back to the Churehisfirst days Helse expanded his studies of Theurgy Then, on the night before Meah’s 25rd birthday, her fa and someeven older. Mother Meah ther burst back into her life. The long yearsof seperation from his daughter had wrought a horrifying change on him, His ‘once robust frame had shrunk, giving him an eerily emact ated appearance. Hishait,or what was leftofit,grew wild,and hhiseyes darted madly Filth stained hisclothes,and al his pos sessions tested in a tattered sack. He yelled about the visions the Panereator had visited upon him, visions of a world wracked with sin, The most recent visions all showed him the same thing — Lilburn corrupting his young daughter. Lilburn returned that night to find Meahis father in a frenzy, tearing at his books and attacking the altar. Lilburn ‘threw himself at his old friend to keep him fromattacking Meah, and the two old men crashed to the Floor. Screaming Meal raced to separate them but was too late. Lilburn lay deathly still, his head bleeding profusely from where it hit the floor Her father clutched hischest and whispered of the doom preparing to visit itself upon a sinful humanicy. Meab raced to bandage Lilburtys wounds, but her effortsto remedy his wounds or Iny on hands did nothing Suddenly, with one last call for the Pancteators wrath, her father pitched ro the ound. Lilburn’ funeral service attracted thousands, and Church leaders used the opportunity tospeak of the need to follow established doctrine. Only Meah attended the one for her father. She sat unmoving through both of them, Imme diately thereafter she petitioned her superiors for permission to travel to Artemis, and it was quickly granted. Gathering her ew belongings, as well as those of Lilburn and her father, she set forth — bur to Pentateuch, not Artemis, Reading the two mens journals had horrified her as ‘much as their deaths bad. Both men had begun suspecting that all souls including their own, were horribly at risk. Both hhad begun experimenting with unsanctified theurgies some actually forbidden by theChurch, Finally,both wrote of their Tove for Meah, one asa parent and oneasa man who wanted to become her over and husband, ‘Mea spent a year in meditation, far from other people. When sheagain ventured forth, it was with a burning desire to warn humanity of its impending doom, punish those r sponsible.and redeem herself for failing those who had loved her — Lilburn, her father, and the Pancreator. Quote:"You. like the rest of humanity,are doomed” ‘Appearance: She still bears some resemblance to the Or ‘hodox priest she once was, but her clothes have become tat tered and her eyes more distant Entourage While she has no wish to found a congrega- tion, her doomsaying has attracted a few followers Roleplaying Notes: Meah can come into the characters lives asa friend of foe, but it is likely that she will someday turn against them, She now studies forbidden Theurgy, and the gamemaster can add to her rites. Her feelings of guilt still ‘overwhelm her. She has learned the rite of Scourge, which causes skin to strip from one’ body: This sixth level rite does damage equal to her victory dice on a Passion + Physick roll, ‘ignoring armor and shields She usually usesiton herself Equipment: Tattered Robes, Tomesof Forbidden TheurgyDOODDDDDDD000OOCOe MA aNFOPS POTPA aa ro C000 COCO CCCOCCC® KIT uorsay smojuis L¥@IWOD vonemig wey SASUND/SONISSATA (620514 ) 49g (@) 10045 2nasqg STUNS WAALYN mae OpOUIQ-X2 239UeII\y 47 STUDS GaNUV AT sun :a9ey yeayy 2yy IA oOThe battle againse the Symbiots has Inspired great hero: Jes bringingout rhe best in many humans, Humans on plan- ers from Stigmata to Malignatius and beyond have found themselves called on to sacrifice all for their friends, neigh: bors and comrades. The Manifest Light, which grew out of the firs theurgiststo battle this unholy scourge, hasdone is, best tokeep this tradition alive. les members rarely engagethe Symbiotsin direct combat, butoften forget thisstrategy when, human lives are at stake, rushing into the center of Symbiot strength tofulfill their missions, Now Brother Domine finds, himself constantly surrounded by enemies, and risking his, life This Eskatonie joined the Manifest Light at the end of the Emperor Wars, Dedicated and gifted in the theurgical arts, he found the war against these most unenlightened beings, the perfect platform to develop his faith and ties to the Panctearor Early on he supported Brother Battleand Stigmata Garrison assaults against these vile creatures, calling on the Panereator to support their attacks, heal the wounded and call down fireon the ungodly With the end of rhe Emperor Wars Stigmat high priority. Veteran troops and advanced materials, streamed to the planet, and trained soldiers hunted down, every last trace of Symbiot infestation, Within a matter 0 years no sign of the Symbiots remained, and the Stigmata Garrison came asclose to relaxing asi ever had, Thus the re: sumption of Symbiot raids ast year took many by surprise. Domine’ assignments had taken him toa new farming colony on an uninhabited Stigmata island where he served as spiritual advisor for several hundred recently decommis: sioned Garrison troops Despite their tainingand experience. the ferocity of the Symbiot raid rook them by surprise, Doz ensdied before the farmers could organize thelr defenses. and, dozens more found themselves isolated far from any help. Anxioustoaid hiscongregationers, Domine pur cogether a rescue team to go to three of the outlying farms. They set ‘our in theit Fastest vehicles, speeding overland in @ desperate effort to teach their friendsand neighbors They managed to reach the first wo farms without difficulty, but the third one spelled disaster, As they loaded the families into their Scroungers (see Forbidden Lore: Technology), the Symbiots attacked, Domine saw his comrades falling before this cor certed attack and ordered away whatever vehiclescould still, tuavel. As he prepared (o board the last one, he saw another nga the feet of the vile again rook flip over, sending its occupants horde. Domine leapt from the bed of his truck and ran to their side, his flux sword slicing cho With the ald of four other men, and the Prophet’ Blessing, ‘he managed to right the Serounger. As heand the others pre- pared to ger on board, che Symbiots fell on them, teeth, claws and unidentifiable body parts tearing at the men, Domine slashed rightand left, but ronoavail, The beastsswarmed over him, knocking him othegroundandsending hisflux sword hurtling from his grasp. He felt a stabbing pain but.as he pre ish be Symbiots the whole way. pared to meet che Pancreator, he sawa burst of light Brother Francisco Domine fore him, The Symbiots leapt off him and fled back co thet living ship. Clambering to his feet, Domine climbed into the truck and drove back to the colony His woundshad healed themselves on thedrive back and there was no mark left on him, He had littl time to tel oth ers of his miraculous escape in the frenzied preparations to abandon the island, and by the time they had reached Stigmata’ main fortifications, he could barely believe it had happened. ‘Then the dreams started, As he lay in bed, he felt a pl Lunging him on. He fele hisdead comrades urging him toleave Stigmata, co take thelr hopes and dreams to the rest of che Known Worlds Ail humanity had to be saved, and only he hhad the means rodoso. Ail people had toexperience the true scope of the miracle he had undergone, and the sooner the better Domine applied for permission to travel to Pentateuch ‘and. after less-than-tigorousscreening, his superiorsagreed believing him unexposed toSymbiot infection. Hisfirstspace ship took him to Shaprut.and it was during this trip chat his dreams turned darker. He began seeing humanity as grossly corrupt, a danger to the worlds on which they lived and a threat to the stars themselves. He began experiencing this ‘corruption physically.ashisskin became plagued with warts boilsand wore. By the timehe reached Criticorum the dreams filed ev ery sleepingand waking moment. He barely notices his own actions, and his primary drive isto avoid detection. He does not consciously realize that he has been infected by Symbiot spores or that they are commanding him to take them to the centers of human power, where they can lie dormant until they are ready to infect more people. Quote:"Wh-what do you wa-want?™ Appearance: Outwardly he appears the epitome of the dedicated monk, wearing his dirty hooded robes and close cropped hair. Underthe robes however, he isstarting to break ‘our in nasty pustules from the Symbiot sporeshe iscarrying, and his eyes have che look of a wild animal surrounded by predators Entourage: Domine carries several spores to take to hu: ‘man worlds, They allow him to regenerate from wounds a the rate of one point of Vitality per turn, have increased al his physical stats.allow him tosee in the dark,and have trans: formed hisskin into the equivalentof +d armor. Addition ally, infecting another person with these spores will com pletely incapacitate that victim, The longer he bears thei in Fection, the more che spores will change him. Roleplaying Notes Domine tries to stay to bimself, but his dreams and his natural inclinations pull him toward people. Hestill maintains much of his human memories and drives but the Symbiot infection is beginning to overcome this, Consider him confused andat war with himself, though the Symbiot side is beginning to win. Equipment: Old, Dirty Robes, Flux Sword. Standard Id, Battle Scarred Expeditionary Med PackCPODDDDCOOO0CCOCCOe MAAK eT OOOO SCOOCOOOe ANIVIIA wonay lvanoo (e) 39045, anasqg, €) 70901 ssaiduy | wey |b (g) vonse: (©) 25p0g wieyg STUNS WaOLYN ‘levy apuegThe Fuego family hasa long and storied history in the Church. Though officially serfs belonging to the Bingyi bar fony.on leon, many of Angefines ancestors had left the farm, for the pulpit, achieving rank from novitiate to priest, with, ‘one especialy illustrious great-great-great-prandmother hav ing become a bishop in her final days, The family had high hopes for Angeline, whose intelligence, faith and devotion were unquestionable ‘An uncle had her officially brought into the Church when she becamea teenager, and she took to her studies ike a Terran duck rakes to water, While not the brightest of stu dents, she applied herself aggressively, and! her tutors found, herto be oneof their most promisingcharges They made her ‘a novitiate when she was 16 and sent her to Criticorum to begin her ministry She reached the planet ustasthe Emperor Wars reached their height, Warships flew back and forth from C toall other worlds soldiers attacked and raided regularly, and refugees flooded the cities from the rural lands and other planets. Angeline found her primary duties involved help: ing these refugees as best she could, and the stories they told hher made her hair stand on end. The atrocities being con- ‘ducted during the wars surpassed anything she belleved hu- mans could do to one another. The crimes, ranging from ‘murder to torture to genetic manipulation to horror camps, and worse, oucraged her. She fervently believed that the Chureh had a roleto play in stopping these cruelties, and her insistent demands that something be done lead her superiors to recommend, only hal: jokingly that she join the Inquisition. Angeline felt asi a light had gone on in her head. While none of her betoved ancestors had joined that august body, there was no reason she could not, She applied for permission to visit the synod and, while its Fanaticism distressed her, she found it to be the Church’ most effective mechanism to stop the outrages per- pettated by the nobles and merchants, She spent a year preparing for her service as an inquisi ‘onand again her dedication and hard work impressed those around her. She received inquisitorial sanction and her posi tionasacanonarthe same time. Herfitst assignment had her aiding Father Stantey,an Avestite witha special hatred of tech: nology. For several years she served bm faithfully trying to steer him toward the nobles whose armies wreaked havoc on the serfs of the Known Worlds She had little success, and in: deed began to worry about the excesses of her superior Stanley's primary targets were peasants caught using me chanical plows or power tools without the sanction of thelr feudal lords, along with the occasional merchant who dared sell such items to the peasanery. Her requests fora different assignment went unheeded until she discovered adeacon on, Pyre using anti-aging drugs. he left his seeret buried in ex. change for his aid in getting her her own assignments, Sister Angeline Fuego Since then she has traveled the Known Worlds in search, of those whose crimes have caused the most suffering, She ‘began with roguesoldiersand brigands slowly preparingcases against low-level nables who had set them loose on the ‘worlds She had several major successes, most notably the time shesuccessfully prosecuted Baronet Biddle Cobb Decados for tthe Wausau massacre on Malignatius. That ended with him entering monastery on Arcemis or the rest of his life. Despite her best efforts, however, the horrorscontinued, Ar the end of the Emperor Wars she landed on Byzantium Secundluis just in time for one of the greatest massacres of all ~ the destruction of the base at Jericho. The Church stifled hher demands for an Investigation, going so far as to threaten sending her to Pyrefor the restof her lfeshouldshe continue rocomplain Embitrered, Angeline returned tothestars,but with the taste of ashes in her mouth, She has reached the conclusion, ‘that che Inquisition isa farce, designed mote to give the ap pearance of action than tosolveany of humanitysproblems Her own faith has been shaken by the plight of the Pancreator’ most fervent followers, the serfs of the Known Worlds.and thesanction given those who seem the least faith ful — the nobies Her growing disillusionment has caused her to throw herself into the battle with greater and greater fervor, seek: Ing out any who would deny the Panereator Instead of seek: ing those who cause the most damage, she has begtin prepar ing cases against anyone she can suecessfully prosecute, and those priests who have worked with her fear what she isturn: inginte. Quote: "Why do you hesitate? Does your faith waver? Is your conscience in question? Does doubt tear at your soul?” ‘Appearance: A middle-aged woman of African descent, her regular exertions have kept her S-foot-four-inch frame ‘compact and muscular, She cuts her hair close to her scalp and has done nothing tocover upan old burn injury she sut: fered on one of her Entourage The Church sometimesassignsher youngin- ‘quisitors who need training, but she usually works alone or ‘wich people of her own choosing She used to try to gather followers who feltasshe did, but her growingdisflusionment has ended such efforts Roleplaying Notes: As her faith wavers, her intensity In creases She sees her own faltering belief reflected in the world around her, and now seeks to burn it out. She still has the flame of idealism burning within her breast, but it has been, ‘overwhelmed by the crimes she has seen and the Chureh’s own lack of interest in those crimes. Equipment: Flame Retardant Studded Leather Armor, Flamegua, Benefices and Afflictions: Ordained: Canon (3), Inqui tof (2) Secret: Deacon’ drugs (I), Equipment 6) inst assignmentsOCODDDD00D0D000000eCS®e@ AAN ZS & OF SOPURS pUTOR 200000000 OCOSCOOS® ALVA ANE] OPPS WOW uaaenug wey /+ | i009 uonoy SASUND/SONISSIIA | SNOLLOV NOWIWNOD, (eyed (cy uarsse4 50¢ PIN :36y Luouisinbuy :aaueiy ateuie Hapuag Bone ouraAry 10155Brother Nassau Seneca and generations of his family be fore him) was born and grew up on Criticorum. Members of his Family had alternated between being leading serfs and low-level freemen. Those who showed promise managed to escape the dull tedium of asets life for the net-quite-so-dull, life of a poor freeman, Nassau, like his uncle before him, showed enough promise rojoin the priesthood, and took over, this village’ congregation when his uncle died. He filled his village’ spiritual needs as best he could. He and is neighbors lacked the wealth of much of Criticorum, ving as they did in one of the few remaining rural regions of the planet. Thisalso meant that they thought they could, (of the Emperor Wars, but it was not to be avoid the violeni All forces fought over the cresstoads of Criticorumat one point or another. While al-Malik control of the planet was never really threatened, it did suffer setbacks Hazat, Decados and Li Halan raiders sought to hinder the great al-Malik war ndlustry centered here,and their troopsattacked most of the planets industrial centers, Hawkwood and al-Malik soldiers sought out traitors all over the plane, killin might bea danger Nassau never has found out who targered his village or why they sought its destruction. It could be they were send: ngtheal-Malika warning, They might have missed their real target. Perhaps they were Erving to cut off Criticorums food, supply. Maybe they had been misinformed about a military units location. Or maybe they dropped that plague bomb just tokill peasants The first Nassau knew about the attack was when his friends and family began suffering from bloody coughs, gi ant pustulesand intense waves of nauseau. The disease spread through the village like wildfire, striking down even the strongest in hortid agony. At first Nassau saw it asa sign of the Pancreator’ unhappiness with him and his friends, but Brother Nassau Seneca asthe deaths spread, sparing noone, not even innocent chil dren, he began to change The tiendly,cocksure village priest disappeared undera tidal wave of blood, pain and death, By the timeal: Malik and Sanctuary Aeon medical crews reached the village, there was nothing they could do, Only Nassau remained, his ow carted body and tattered faith a chilling reminder of the plague that destroyed everything he loved. Since that time Nassau has roamed the stars, seeking @ purpose for the deaths of his friends — and for his own con: tinted life, Usually he seeks out evil, hoping to stop evil do- erseither by persuasion or force. Other times he questsaftere higher purpose. Most of the time, however, he seeks to pro- vvide whatever comfort he can to those people who need it most. ‘Quote:"How can yousleep with thescreamsof your vic tims cearing through your dreams?” Appearance: The plague bomb which destroyed his con: zation also left himn scarred for life. He tries o hide his gro zing sores from the world behind his robes, but his shame is clear forall tose Entourage: Nassau travels with anyone who eates (0 be with him, This has included nobles and beggars, priests and criminals, Few who have met him are unchariged by the ex: perience for he isa walking testament tothe horrors humans perpetrate on one another Roleplaying Notes. Nassau’s mood Is part vengeanceand part guilt, He has no idea why the plague spared him while strikingdown all hisneighbors. He feels that thisissomething that he must makeamendsfor,and someday heshall succeed, Equipment: Expedition Med Pack, Old Robes Benefices and Afflictions Ordained: Deacon (7). Pas Concract: Orthodox (2), Expedition Med Pack (2)Pe Ol ONY 9G 1209 34) 1409 WS (6) wueyg STUMS TWYOLYN woseag 4ey xOpOyjO !a9ueIy ueuny 2264 siamag ‘Aunayj| Yd 410990 ” 1r09 pay SNOLLOY NOWWOD. SOLLSINALOVEVHS) aIey\ apuag, BD 0U95 ENSSEN JOUJOUEWhile the Church and its cenets play a ceneral role in the lives of almost everyone in the Known Worlds, Rebea’ family made it THE central part. Though not priests her par- ents and her eight siblings accepted che word of the anicteator with fanatical devotion. They woke for morning prayer before the sun rose, stopped for prayer innumerable times during the day, went co church for every service anid made silent prayers for almost every action they took. Rebea was five when she first cold her family about the visions. The Prophet manifested himstif to her in a valley of Flowers calling for her tocome to him, Her family wasecstatic ‘over her vision, considering itan extremely blessed moment. The attention it showered upon her overwhelmed her, and she began to feat she would lose her family’ adoration If she did nov have more Thankfully the visionscontinued.and the familyshhome on Leminkainen began attracting attention. An Eskatonic priest, Father Ocella, became very taken with the young git He convinced her family to let him take her to Pentateuch, where others could learn from her gitts She spent almost a decade on that world, studying with Father Ocella and ocher holy men and women, Her visions, came less frequently, but they still came, offering her peace and guidance. The visions proved especially helpful in che study of theurgy;and her teachersfound her uniquely gifted, in tsarts. When the time came for her to take her vows, how ever, she did not join the Eskatonic order. Instead she sought ur the Amalcheans and pledged herself to them, Aftera year on Artemis she petitioned her superiors to let her return home to Leminkainen, and they granted her request: There she established herself as a healer, seeking to of all around het Though the Emperor Wars made little mark on the planet, ts people did not go un- scathed, Barbarian raiders attacked Hawkwood and Church, holdings with alarming regularity. and as usual the peasants suffered the worst of the fighting, Rebea did what shecould forthe injured, but her vistons Mother Rebca told herthat they wouldonty get worse unlesssomeone could bring peace to this troubled planet. Packing up her few pos sessions, she ventured into the wilds of Leminkainen, seek: ing those people who swore allegiance to strange gods and barbarian kings. W hat she found were people remarkably like her family and Friends and a shaman of Gjattias holy as any priest she had ever known. Her visions returned to the intensity of her childhood, only thistimeGjartitook the placeof the Prophet,callingon Rebeato follow her, Rebca stayed with the barbarians for sev eral more years learning their waysand shielding them from Hawkwood attacks. They in turn showed her the marvels of nature which she had never seen before, and she reveled in the purity of their worship. ‘Now she feels ready to return to civilization. All human: ity must learn of the ties between the Pancreator,the planets and thei¢ inhabitants, be they human. alien. animal or plant ‘There is much to be done if the stars are to be saved, for all living creatutes efleet thelr darkening, Quote: The universe needs all of us to revive ‘Appearance: This former Sanctuary Aeon priestess has gone completely over to Gjartiand half-sees herself asan in carnation of the Universal Mother. Asa result she usually goes without clothes, revealing herself as the attractive 28-year cld-woman that she is, Entourage: She currently travelsalone, but isseekingooth ters who share her desire to save the human race. Roleplaying Notes: Rebca realizes that indiscriminate preaching will only gether killed, no matter the truth of het visions.She still has her ordination and has resumed preach: ing, only this time she mixes in Gjarti metaphors and sym. bolism In an atcempt to help others see the truth. She still hhas her visions, and these help her decide on courses of ac tions, tho Benefices and Afflictions Cloistered (I), Refuge: Gjrti ‘Worshippers 4), Ordained: Deacon (7), Visions (3) h she crusts her own instinctsas muchas the viOOD0000000 Cee 09000080808 888 26:04) ajatieug »d4 ey wouoy nwoguus —_LVaINOD a hua 5 (eg wonay SNOLLOV NOWWOD. vay (0) ) Sg ysay (g)uondaaiag Spouse, _ ae “ pen WN ea SOLLSIUILOVYVHD | upey yeu. 9puag STIs GaNAVaT egy JOUIO/NPedron Guff The Charioteers have been very good to Pedron, taking him in wher he wasorphaned.assigning him fulfilling work and giving him a place in the universe. He has always appre ciated thisand honorsthe guilds rolein theschemeof things. He sees no reason to upset the balance of things.anid indeed believes that doingso could causta great deal of damage The Privilege of Martyrs, which the Church created in nition of the need ta have some people handling tech: allows nobles, priests and guild members to use such items in the service of the Pancreator. Gulf has seen the ef fectsof unqualified people handling technological items and theyarenot preety.Children mutilated by untrained doctors, homes destroyed by improper use of tools and think ma chines vandalized by frustrated users ate just some of the negative effects. Guff has done his best to limit the number of stch de: vices which fall into untrained hands Asa pilot, he keepsan eye out for anyone flying between the stars who might be transporting technology to peasants or unlicensed freemen. He enforces guild patents and exclusives with unrelenti ferocity,and hasstolen or sabotaged offending shipments He has recently become aware of an even greater threat to the Known Worlds one he never would have expected t0, reoccur, The sin of republicanism hasbegun sprouting inthe most unlikely places and these who promote such viewsalso, hope tospread technology tothe unenlightened. ToGutf,this, is a severe crime one which puts the lives of people on all worlds at risk Guff knows what kind of impact unrestrained technol ogy had on che Second Republic, and believes only worse could happen ina third one. Those who hope to bringsucha, ate about are the worst of villains, putting their own desire for profit or their misguided idealism ahead of societys good. Gulf hasbegun an active eampaign to hunt down such dan: gerouis peaple and bring them to justice He began his mission within the League, believin ‘be the main refuge of such rogues, Those people he suspects of suppottingsuch efforts ind themselvesinvestigated, their reputations slandered, their personal lives subject to black: mail and their businesses vietimsof sibotageor massivecom: petition, Any number of actions might place tosomebody under suspicion. For instance, usinga major artifact likea blaster or energy shield without the proper authorization (being noble, priest ora least a chief in the League) could put one at risk. Espousinga desire to teach peasants or dramatically i prove theit lives could prove someone interfering with the Pancreator’ will. Even fraternizing with social inferiors as thotigh they were equals shows democratic tendencies His reputation in the League, and especially in the Chari ‘teers is of @ fair businessman and talented pilot who hews close to Church doctrine. That he has been responsible for several Engineers losing theirrank and Seraversbelngarrested is till a secret. These guild members had actively promoted the ideals of a Third Republic, and Guff managed to stop them before they could cause real damage. Now he ison the lookout for more.and hasbeyun watching noblesand priests as well as his brethren in the League. Quote"You believe that shit-stained lowitte deserves the same treatment as you or 7” Appearance: Pedron Gulf stands out in any crowd, just like a good Charioteer should, Tattooed and pierced, he rev elsin theartention hisoecupation and appearance bring him. Entourage: Guff works with like-minded League mem bers to keep Inappropriate technology from reaching the wrong people. He has helped several guilds maintain their exclusive designs and sales areas, for he knows that wnre- stricted commerce would only lead to people harming them seives with items rhey could never hope to use carrectly, He also seeks out new people on a regular basis with whom to share his philosophy and enlist in his cause. Roleplaying Notes Outgoingand grevarious Gut greets everyone with wide smile and friendly conversation, Ev eryone isa potential customer and possible ally At che Firs sign of republicanism, however, hiseyes will harden though this smile never leaves his face. He will investigate someone thoroughly before making any aecusations.and will only do soif he believes they cannot be convinced fo se the light, Equipment: Standard Shield, Blaster Pistol Beneficesand afflictions: Commission: Chief (5) Passage Contracts Charfoteers (2), Equipment (12)ogo £ € 6 Pe, ONY ONG [#09 314) 0409 iS q STIS TVEALVN: uD ey -BaIg\eyD 29ueIIIy eum :99ey (3m ax SOLLSRILLOVUVHO| SOZ PIN 26y jeyy H9puag 45 woupadAsachild in the slums of Aragon, Janyana saw only one group worse off than himself — che slaves serving the rich in, the houses or in the fields. He and the other urchins found these unfortunate soulseasy prey for whatever violence they cared to dish out. Seeing a slave alone and unprotected, he and hisfriends would swarm over their victim, beating, kiek- ing. biting, robbing and worse. The staves could do nothing, in response. Fora slave to hit a freeman, even in self-defense, could be a capital offense. The feeling of power this gave Janyanaas he stood over the bleeding body of a slave, robbed ff even her clothes, was the helghe of what life could pro- vide ‘These feetings stayed with him despite thegrinding pov erty of his own life and the desperate circumstances into ‘which he had been born. By the time Janyana turned Il, he knew that lording it over slaves was what he wanted to do. for the rest of his life. His first approach to the Muster, how- evetsended up with him becomingoneof those he disdained. He made the mistake of telling the Muster chief that noone knew he had come toask fora position, and the chief imme diately slapped chain The trip from Aragon to Cadiz gave Janyana a different view on slavery whereas one of the youngest and most vul erable slaves he found himself a target for whatever depravl ties the other slaves cared to commit. Janyana first reacted violently against this, using what few weapons were at his disposal to fight these humiliations, Asthe flight continued week after week, Janyana resigned himself to these depradations, With resignation, however, came feelings of facceptace. Once, while being held down by two captured Kurgansand beingabused by third, came feetings of pleasure verging on ecstasy. By the end of the trip, Janyana had gained allies among the other slaves and no longer had toserveas the athers' vic tim. He found he still enjoyed positions of superiority just as much asthoseof helplessness Infact he found ita disappoint ‘ment when the ship disgorged him and several other slaves, con Cadiz, where they were bought by various nobles, guild, ‘members and priests Janyana and several others found them: sélvesin the possession of a Decados baron who put them to ‘work first in his fields and then in his private chambers. Perhaps it was the unwilling training Janyana had re ceived on the slave ship that made him so appealing, but he quickly became the baron’sfavorite. His combination of sub servience and strength infatuated the Decades, and by the time Janyana turned 15 he had assumed command of the other slaves and taken a position of honor in the baron’ Janyana Avesa household — much to the baroness displeasure Slowly the baron took ill,and his sickness developed for more than a year. By the end of that time every day agony for the nobleman. Every night became an agony for Janyana, who found himself helpless before che baroness who delighted in the exquisite tortures she could inflict on this Upstart who would attempt to usurp her place in the baron’s ‘house. Janyana’ body and mind became her playthings and hisagony her amusement. The night the baron died, Janyana feared the worst When tfiedoortohisfilthy cell opened, he cringed back into the shadows. He never expected that the other slaves. those he had ruled over for so long, would work rogether to help him escape. They gave himstolen equipment and money.and Janyana escaped off planet just asthe baroness became aware ‘that he had escaped, Wiseranid more able,Janyanaagain approached the Mus tet for membership, this time with slaves in tow. The guild accepted him fiestas a conditional and chen a full member, Since then he has gained a reputation for acquiring the most talented and willing slaves. No other member of the Muster ‘comes close to him in this regard. and Janyana considersit his ‘own background as. slave that enables him to pinpoint the perfect people to target for slaves, Heis constantly on the look: out for skilled, willful people like the characters) to enslave. While they may noe appreciate the loss of Freedom, they al ‘most always come to appreciate Jan yana’ techniques. Quote Strokingcharacterscheek) "You'd besooo much, ‘happier if someone else would make these decisions for you. "Appearance: Thissuave-looking young man seeks outex pensive clothesand wearsthe gaudiest jewelry he can find in hopesof creating dashing figure He oilsand waxes histrim, mustache and goatee Entourage: Janyane’s entourage varies constantly, as his assistants come and go.on missions regularly. More notewor- thyare theslaves he surrounds himself with,all of whom are very talented in various areas and would willingly die for their master, Expect these to include beautiful men and ‘women, highly skilled technicians and more than a few deadly gladiators. Roleplaying Notes Janyana speaks slowly and seduc tively, drawing out wordsand syllables, being very careful in his pronunciations. He spends a great deal of time studying people and is rarely wrong when he comes toa conclusion about them. Equipment: Stunner, energy shield, musterchains, wide variety of jewelry and flashy cloching.u Prous pePLeS HOIWNUY ODODDDDDDD0O0O00OOeee AN C0000 CCCCCCCOCOCOO® JIN aiddeig 1 wy vonay Ayawoo amg SUH (01/5) ie09 Py SNOLLOV NOWWNOD) (€) 20814 yeaug 004g STUMS TANLVN A2ASMYY “29UENIY veumpy :99eu, STS GaNNVAT esony euckuerBoss Sumaka grew up knowingall the laws, bath theones made by the noblesof Aylon and these made by his more im. mediate (and important) overlords, the Scraver bosses of the planet. He saw these laws enforced early. with his uncle being. -xecuted by the al-Malik for running a crooked gambling operation {an al-Malik lost more money than he could pay), and his father murdered by Seravers whose territory he had tenetoached on during Selchakah smugeling. The Sumaka family had long held prominenceamongthe Scravers but had never managed to claim a leadership position, and these deaths made Maury own chanees that much more tenuous. Stil, the deaths he saw caused Sumaka toswear tochange his familys fortunes, and he began looking for every oppor tunity to gain power. He started his career small, running er ands, keeping a lookout for al-Malik police, spying on op- xing operations and learning how torun the guilds many operations. As time passed, Seraver leaders took note of his, dedication and determination and gave him missions of ster ard greater importance. Atirst his opportunities seemed strong NoSeraver held position of prominenceon Ayton, hemselves of Sumaka’ many services. He quickly learned many of the guilds darkest secrets and rose in rank as he played the leaders against one another. Unfortunately ‘Sumaka could not mainrain this delicate balancing act for exer The old leadersgrew moreand moreimpatient witheach other, as well as with anyone who would nor declare alle glance o themselves Sumaka’ prespects seemed very bright, with the Emperor Wars making goods scarce and the blackmarket rich, but stormelouds were gathering on the horizon, ‘Other youngScravers ound the turmoil asdisturbingas he and Sumake began forminga coterie of talented and ruth- less associates from these unhappy brethren. Members of his, own family took prominent rolein this new outfit. chou Scravers without family connectionsalso found ita more cer: tain route to the top than the existing leaders’ groups. The leaders noted Sumaka’ growing gang, as well as his strangle hold on the blackmarker (abetted by an alliance with the CChartash Charioteer Hong) with concern. Sumaka found the leaders constantly applying pressute to pickaside,and heand his men began looking for a way out. Finally the leaders dis putes turned violent (well, more violent than usual), anc Sutaka saw his chance TIctook the most delicate of diplomacy and more than a litele Luck, but eventually all of Aylon’ leading Seraver fant lies believed that Sumake’ gang had thrown in with them. He and his men spent hours with the various leaders plot tingand scheming the demise of the others Then, one n before each leader was sure he would Finally become the one Acrossthe planet Scraver lead. iadall the leadersavailed and only, theassassins struc \ Boss Maury Sumaka cetsdied in their beds, vietimsof knives guns, poisons, explo- sjonsand inexplicable accidents Others simply disappeared, never to be seen in their territories again. The next day Sumakat lieutenants entered the most valuable of Scraver ‘operarionsand declared themselves the new owners Irtook Sumalka few years to consolidate his leadership. aswell asquitea few more murders, buteventually those who opposed his gangs rule grew silent Sumakas lieutenantsand, relativesassuimed positionsof growingimportance.andthen ‘Sumaka began hearing rumblings of dissent from an unex: pected source — his own family ‘The disturbances began small, with various cousins and underlings squabbling over the extent of their power. A daughter who ran astingof brothels would complain thata cousin's casino workers were intruding on her industry Smugglers bezan fighting over prime landing areas. The dis: putes went from complaints to duels to deadly combat ‘Sumaka stopped them whenever he could, using diplomacy, bribes, chreatsand hisown violence, but he has only seen this dissent grow. ‘Now, ten years after his own rise to power, he sees it all crumbling around him. Only his constant attention keeps his family from killing itself off, and even he cannot be ev erywhere at once, His children await the day he dies so that the war can begin fot real,and some of them whisper of hur rying that day along Sumaka has considered the unthink able — retirement — but he has worked to long to get where he is now. He might try retiring if he thought he had a suit- able replacement, but he believes none of his lieutenants ot kin have what it takes to lead Avion’ Seravers. ‘Quote: “You dont like it? I don't care! There’ only one: ay to do these things/and that’ my way" ‘Appearance: Some of hischildren have oked thatthe rea son Sumaka is so tied fo Aylon is that no spaceship is large ‘enouigh to take him off planet. He certainly cuts an impos: ing figure, weighing in at more than 400 pounds and with, sunlight gleaming off his shaved head. Most of this is stil muscle, and Sumaka can break lesser opponents in two al by hirnsel. Entourage: Boss Maury Sumaka is an entourage unto himself, but even he eanniot be everywhere at once. He has several very talented bodyguards, and is almost always sur rounded by family members wantingspecial favors His most beloved child, one of the youngest, never comes to see hm any more. Crystal Sumaka is training to become a priestess Roleplaying Notes: Quiet and slow hestrikes many who first meet bim as stupid. This Is their misfortune. Sumake i crafty asa fox and can moves fastasa Voroxian Thracker, Equipment: Dueling shield, nice suits, palm laser, Mesh cavity internal think machineSimon family has been patt of the Muster for centuries, Each generation has buile upon thesuccessof the lst,slowly developing what can only be considered the greatest slaver empire humanity hasever known. Simon learned the family business asa child, helping pick slaves, ound them upand keep them in Line. His playmates were the children of ocher slavers,and he spent much of his tinie with his cousin, Mat: garer Solace, now Dean Solace (see Merchants of the Jumpweb). Together they learned the familys history, how to deal with staves, and how to handle the rest of the Muster, They also had their family’ rags-to-riches success story drummed into their heads, Though the family seperated the two before they became teenagers. they supported oneanother during their rapid pro gression through the guild. Much toSimon'sdisgust, however ‘he family seemed to have chosen Margaret as its heir appar: ent and eventual leader. Having been raised toaccumulate as much prestige within thefamily as possible, Simon found his, relegation to second fiddle insufferable. At first he took his, Frustration out on his slaves, gaining a reputation for excep: tional cruelty, Then a chance meeting with 4 new slave changed his fe The slave, of no culture Simon’ men had previously en countered, spokea weird dialect of Urthish, WhileSimon was taking out hisanger on her, she offered toreveal to him new jumpgate routes from Grail if he would but stop. She died shortly thereafter, but not before Simon extracted that in- formation from her. He and his personal pilot jury rigged a jump key and flew a small ship through chegate.On the other side they discovered a small solar system with one inhabited planet — a small pastoral farming world. On his next trip Simon brought shipand twodozen very tough slavers By rheend of che visit, Simon and his men had rounded up several hundred new slaves all sold fora hefty profit back in, the Known Worlds Ench visit tothe Lost World, called Swan’ Way’ by its in bhabitantsand Dead Duck by Simon, has given him a greater appreciation of Irs people, beauty and potential value. While selling its people to mining operations, plantations and for their body parts makes him money, it is not as much as he could make from ruling the entire world, He has formed allt ances with a number of villages, promising not co enslave themall if they bring him a regular supply of captives and, ‘occassional saceifices from thelr own populations} Since the ‘world has little in the way of weapons or organized militar: Consul Simon Solace {es Simon feels that asmall army of Muster mercenaries, wit the assistance of press-ganged villagers, could conquer th entire planet ‘Simon practically drools with anticipation at his rapidly Forming plan, Every generation of Solaces has worked tosur ‘pass the accomplishments of the ones that came before, and ‘Simon believes he has found a way to become untoppabie Wich itsown planetanditsinfluence in the League, the far lly itself would be a match for any guild or noble house ‘Simon’ name would go down in Solace history as the on who made it happen, ‘One uncertainty does borher Simon, however. He neve has determined how the captive who told him about Swan! ‘Way fst arrived in the Known Worlds The lost world has space capabilities that he has been able todiscover,and hie ha not uncovered any Known Worlds references to the plane ‘occuring later than the fall of the Second Republic. What his forces on Swans Way have discovered, however, are ancient legends of other worlds and prophecies of their reuniting when the heavens re at their darkest. Descriptionsof woo! these worlds seem to bear similarities to Grange (now Pande ‘monitum) and Iver. Simon’ spies on these planets have re ported rumors of a secret society on these two worlds, one which might ave ties to the Imperial Eye. Exactly what is purpose might be, no one seems to know Quote: ‘I dont know how you found ourabout my plang but I'm afraid you will never leave Swan's Way’ Appearance: large, slovenly dressed man who does itl to show off hisextreme wealth. The only remarkable featur hheseemsto have isan aura of absolute cruelty Entourage: Simon has surrounded himself with the ‘toughest slavers in the Known Worlds, and is beginning t form the core of an army capable of conquering Swans Wey Do not expect to find his vicious bodyguards more than a yell away. His most trusted aid is his personal pilor, Leonards ‘Akaisha, a Charioteer of ample skill and no morals. Roleplaying Notes: Simon is unbelievably wealthy, but he wants move. Every generation of Solaces has tried to top the one before it, and Simon wants fo surpass chem all. Ey s gets sized up. Either they can help him achieve this goal, become an obstacle to it, or are of na consquence whatsoever. Most people fall into that last ca egory and get ignored or enslaved. Equipment: Dueling Shield, Suresnake Whip, Various Implements of TortureOODDDD00D000OCCOSe BAN = 0000000 OCeeCee 9 ISS17a | SNOLLOV NOW! (6) 251, (€}4eaus Jo (€) 28poq ()wueyg STIS TWAALYN aleyy apuag 228105 YOUIS INSUOD,Hetairae’ earliest memories of her life on Cadizareot her tgrandmother locked away ina dark room in the familyssmall, home. The old woman screamed constantly, pounded fer0- clously on the walls, and terrorized the Pychia family with threats and curses, Hetairac hated bringing herdinner, butas the youngest daughter, it often fell on her ~ literally. She would open the door, slide in the food and hope to be off be: fore her grandmother noticed. All toooften the ood flew out, after het By the time her grandmother died, Hetalrae had pledged herself to eliminating the illnesses that had plagued the woman as well as other Pythias through history. She began, by joining the Sarictuary Aeon sect, only to ind its waysstow and imperfect. A chance encounter with a Decades Oubli cette mind-physick (see Merchants of the Jumpweb) gave her ‘a new focus for her work, and she joined che guild with the sect blessings For several years she studied the waysof the mind, learn ingits functionsand distunctions Her experience with Sane ary Agon served her well, and her teachers saw enough promise in her Co get her accepted at the Academy Interatta ‘on Leagueheim. Here she had the opportunity tostudy with, the greatest psychiatrists in the Known Worlds, many of, whom sought her help in their varied experiments. By the time she graduated, not only had she learned most of what the Known Worlds could teach herabout mental illness, but she had advanced the science of psychology as wel. She began hercarcerin League territories helping Chat ‘teers deal with space psychoses, Muster slavers cope with, their guilt, Gourmands handlecating disordersand Engineers learn to live with their cybernetics. By the time she decided, romove her practice back to Decadosterritory she had gaine 1 reputation as one of the Known Worlds leading Oubtiette mind-physicks. She established her office on Severus and soon had nu merous nobles, priests and merchants as clients. The many chemical factories on the planet also gave her the chance to experiment with radical new treatments. and these are what first attracted Salandra Decades’ attention, Near the end of the Emperor Wars, the duchess heard of Hetaites success with drug therapies and contacted her For help with recalcitrant prisoners. Since many POWs would have to teturn to their home worlds soon, Salandra wanted to ensure that they would have only the best memories of their titnes on Severus — times so good that when Salandra wve them a certain code, they would be willing to do what ever she told them to. Hetaire objected to this practice so strenuously that Salandira had no choice but to lock her away. “We all knew that her family had a history of insanity. she told Hetaires concerned clients. She promised to get the best care for the Hetairae Pythia of Salandras dungeons, isolated from all other people except her captors, Salandra began the process of “healing” Hetaire by turning her over to her most sadistic torcurers for work. con her body, They in turn turned her over to criminally in sane prisoners, deranged aliens and non-sentient beasts Her days becamean unending progression of violent abuse asshe was passed from rapists to floggers to gibbering idiots Her only respites came during Salandraé visits, which bbroughe with chem food, gentle words soothing caressesand a hefcy dose of pheremones. Despite HetaireS conscious real lation of Salandraé plan to make the captor seem the captive’ savior, she found her will bending. Her body could do noth- fo resist the perpetual torment, and in little more than ‘one year shesubmitted.Selancira found herervingin her tiny cell, naked except for her own feces, bleeding from claw and bite marksall over her body, and sweatingtodoanything het mistress requested. Salandra took Hetaite to her own rooms, bathed the rmind-physick herself, dressed her in delicate siks and bes tthe slow process of reshaping her in the image she wanted Hetaire became an invaluable addition to Salandras entou rage, capable of using logic, soft words and drugsto get what ever effect she wanted from people. Recently Salandra has been assigning her to missionson distant worlds, testing pos sible allies (anid enemies), uncovering new drugs and wreak ing havoc on unsuspecting victims. Quote" You are obviously troubled. My methods will re lieve you of your concerns: ‘Appearance: Once Hetaire considered her Greek heritage point of pride, but now it like everything except Salandra, means nothing to het. She usually appears with her hair in complete disarray and her clothes wrinkled and worn. She cares little for her personal appearance asattractiveasit might be, Entourage: Hetaire isa loner except when in Selandra presence. The only other people she associates with are vies tims also known ascl Roleplaying Notes: Hetaire was oncea very talented and concerned psychologist, and that partof her still appears but ‘now only asa mask. Salandra has ordered Hetaite to test her new drugeechniques throughout the Known Wotlds.so that is Hetaire$ overriding concern, Most of her drugs make thein subjects extremely suggestable, and more than a few of her patients have robbed and murdered at her command. Her current fave is Luere, which causes people’ ties ro others to suffer (get 3 victory points on an Endurance + Vigor roll or suffer -4 Passion when helping others}, mixed with Nixop) Which causes paranoia (get victory pointsonan Endurance + Vigor roll or suffer Calm when dealing with others) Equipment: Wide variety of medical equipment, wider variety of drugsOCODODDDDOODDO0000OC®e AAA oreo = paTeA CODD O0O0OCCOCCCOO® AINA abieyg sauysianog is y Minay ONY 90.20% / sd 09 110990) 15H (0175) Powe epueS YOWNAY. s g 9 yeaug ) 3904S 8 (gyre b (@) uondaaiag M+ (6) Sang] ongnnane SOLLSIWALOVEVHO, Le aby ayeuray siapuag eiuydd See} ZoomConsul Haswan Nara Haswan Nara knows what happens to common folk lack ingin guild protection. Nobles make themserfs.astatus litle better than slaves, The Church urns them into mindless drones. Other guilds rip them off, put them perpetually in, debtor even enslave them, He seen it happen since he was a child, with able-bodied freemen ripped from their homes by theie uncaring betters, and heS determined that it will never happen to him or his Family. At the time of his birth, the Naras were little more than, low-level guildsmen, barely recognized assuch by the League. Substantially smaller than other people, Haswanshould have had even more trouble gaining acceptance, but this was not to be the case, When he was seven his parents apprenticed, hhim to the Purgers, and he quickly proved his worth. His di iminutive size enabled him to get into places bigger appren: tices could not, and no job was too demeaning for him to handle. He found himself in parts of the sewers nor seen by Iumans since they were built, and willingly scrubbed them spotless His eagerness and Intelligence attracted support from higher tanking Purgers.and his driveand ambition ensured, that he would make the most of thisattention, Heended his, apprenticeship remarkably early, being made a full member before he became a teenager. By the time he was 15 he had gained exclusivecontracts for several major Purger operation and was well on his way to major success This was the point when he first realized the danger Freelance operatives posed. One of his bi to purge several subterranean systems of various mutated beasts, but as he began his operations, he discovered that out: sidershad already moved in to dathe job before he could. This team, consisting of freemen, a priest and even @ Charioteer claitmed the system had been infested by demons, and that their actions were necessary to cleanse it. The fact that they yest eonicracts Was ‘managed to also find several very valuable reliesduring their ‘unauthorized purging served to make Haswan even madder. Notonly dic his patron withdraw the contract since the work had been done for free, but valuable salvage which should have gone to him and his team disappeared off planet in the hands of these independents. Similar events occured on other contracts he had, and Haswan grew sick of off planet independents sweeping in, grabbing the plumb contracts and running off, leaving no money and less opportunity for the hard-working people of hisand theother local gullds Haswan first took action against this trend when he was 9. A noble brought in an off-planet ‘eam of diplomats, made up of priests, nobles and Ur-Obun, to facilitate his dealings with several local tribes. Upset that the local Reeves and Promoters had heen left ous, Haswan snuck into the diplomats’ supplies and spiked their water n various hard-to detect depressants. Thediplomatic mis- sion broke down with the team sent away in disgrace, and only the rapid intervention of several of Haswan’ League friends managed to keep che tribes fromattacking the nobles fiefs. ince that success, Haswan has become mote and more ageressive in ensuring that guild work iscarried out by guild members. This has also helped his own rise within the Purg: erssince he has lite trouble getting support from the other gullds whenever he needs it In fact, other guild leaders on. the planet have gotten used to going to Haswan whenever they have trouble with people intruding on their curt. His success has allowed his guild to raise its prices and give its fol lowersa berter livelihocx andl Haswan has as much suppott among the League’ rank and fileas he does with its leaders. Quote: “Okay ler see your permit to kill vicious pred tory beasts” Appearance: This rough-looking dwart of Korean de scent prefers unassuming work clothes which distract people from his rank. This way hecan brow beat them when they do not treat him with appropriate respect. He has the Purges symbol proudly cattoced on his Face. Entourage: Haswan generally travels with other Purgers and he has made ita habic tosurround himself with some ot the guild’ biggest and roughest, Should he have to involve himself in a more diplomatic matter, however, he will bring help from the Reeves, the Promocers, the Wordwrights, the Stewards or even the Courtesins Roleplaying Notes. The guild has been good to Haswan, and he has been good roi in turn, He willdo anything tosee that his guild brothers do well, and hee can count on theit support. Almost everyone in his guild knows and supports him, and he does the same for thern. Anyone who would in trudeon them, however, had best watch our. Haswan will stop at nothing to keep chem from taking money away from his, people Equipment:Strengthened Overalls, Weighted Gloves(¢l fsedamage)OODD0000000000 COO MN Eo BOF Baruas prop CODD 00CCCCCCCCCC®e ct SOLLSIWALOVEVHO ynsuop ey sucfling :20uety ‘veuntd 22Gwendolyn began lifein secret vatsin the darkest recesses of Criticorum, the clone of a fabled al-Malik officer. This officers success in battle was not the only teason the house saved her genes for future use, The more important (and far less known) reason was that her ancestor was one of those much despised people known asthe Changed. Of course, the al-Malik saw no reason to limit Gwednotyn’ physical advan: tages to those possessed by her ancestor. As soon as she was born, her makers began a regimen of chemicals and drugs ‘guaranteed to make her an even better soldier ‘They mucked with her muscles, fiddled with her feet, dabbled with her dermal layers and reworked her reflexes. Even before puberty she was stronger, faster and more tal: ented than most adults. By the time she curned 16 she was ready to become the Emperor Wars super soldier ~ just in 1e born and bred purely time for the wars to end, For someon for these wars, peace wasa problem. Anadditional problem manifested when the Inquisition learned about theCriticorum sciencecenter.Avestites hunted it down and blocked entrance to the facilities, demanding that theal-Malik close itand burn everyone inside. Tense ne gotiations between che Chureh and the duke who owned it, lead toasolution — the center wouldclose,itsscientistsgiven, light penanceand its creations turned over to Brother Battle. Gwendolyn had nointention of going intoexile on De Mola \Wieh the aid of a friendly scientist, she destroyed all records of her creation and made her escape, first to Byzantium, Securidus and then to Madoc. Here she sought out Manager Gillard Holmes, recommended to her by one of her instruc She watched! hishouse for several days before chancinga meeting, She carefully slipped by the surprisingly elaborate defenses and made her way to his bedroom. Despite her best efforts, Holmes woke'as she entered the room, a slug gun springing into his hand, She kicked it away before he could Use rand had her knife at his throat before he could call for help. Then she kneeled down on the floor and begged him to sponsor her into the Slayers Guild, The guild has been Gwendolyn’ home ever since, and it is one with which she is quite happy. Not only does it keep her fed and clothed wonderfully well, but it allows her to fulfill the purpose for which she was created, She takes spe- cial delight in hunting down noblesand merchants she has been contracted to kill. Most of her contracts come through Holmes. retired as sassin who now spends much of his time arranging hits Holmesalso took responsibility for finding her place tolive where she could be far away from prying eves. Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn Trajos while still esentially human, appears extremely deformed, Herskin istough and! leathery.and penetrating it is difficult Heer feet ate padded and her fingers are obscenely long, Her muscles underline her skin like thick copper wire cunning) uundera translucent rug. Despite the fact that Holmes hasalways preferred Slayers who could pass unnoticed in regular society, Gwendolyn has her tises. Trained in weapons and unarmed combat, she can killa target faster than anyone else Holmes knows She was disarming complex security systemsasa child, and thereare few which give her any trouble any more, Finally and per hhaps most importantly, she is willing to do anything to kil hertargets,an obsession left over from heral- Malik indoctri Recently, however, she has begun to notice something rising From her life, She grew up surrounded by scientists ‘who cared about herand other Changed like herself in acom: munity where her type was the norm, not the exception, Since then she has been alone, with no one to understand her situation. ACone point she developed an intense attrac tion to Holmes, but he made it clear that he had no inten: tion of becoming involved with one of his employees. He never told her that her appearance was the main thing thal upset him, Thus despite the satisfaction she derives rom her work, she is beginning o feel emptierand emptier. Quoter"You're in the way Appearance: This genetic marvel stil carries the maa of her former life, Her muscles are exceptionally dense, ma Ing the veins of her entire body appear as though they wer tiny wires run underneath her skin. She also has extremely] long fingersand padded feet. Entourage: Gwendolyn almost always travelsand work alone. Holmesis her main contact with the Slayers.and whi she has met other guild assassins for some reason they dont like associating with her oncea job is done. Roleplaying Notes: If characters meet Gwendelyn by cause chey are her target, they can expect her to bean impl cable foe, willing to doanything to kill them. While she d not want to dig, she will sacrifice her life ro ensure victig demise, but only asa last resort. Otherwise she believesin ru ning away to fight another day. If characters meet her an other way, she will be mysteriousand standoftish, unwitl to be drawn into their personal affair. I they are also oft ‘Changed orsome way outvastsFrom society, however, she well develop a strong empathy for them. Equipment: Has access to many weapons, but prefers sniper rifle, vibrating dagger, dueling shield, thieves ke scrambler padDODDDD0D00O0000 See Ain Tyo & OF Sanruse punog| * CODSCCOCOSCHHCOOOOS ALITA Ps 2u8 ANS CRU SLOHS| a ‘id H B30) 12 9 ds & D1 dos a re 0 sag. seesa2ang| LUVHO. Pi +1 unsueno. HOWE. 004g i) woutiapea, ) an95qq pou (g)4oaL ¢) wondaosag am % (guueyg ANI, Agog STUMS WAALVN SOLLSIWTLOVYVHO, 30 Aueg 796y Suohe ‘aauewy aypuray Yapuag STIS GaNavaT| _PeFveyD) veunH 22°y sofeuy ufjopuams)The Reeves instil a strong love for order and stabiliey in many of their young changes, and Natalie Snave gotan extra, hheavy dose of this conditioning. Her parents fervently be lieved in the need foreonstancy, having seen theruin brought upon communities by nobles acting outside of such con- stvaines, NatalieS parents served as damage evaluators travel ingthe Known Worldsrodetermine the wealth of those who sought loans and those rarer individuals who had ensured property with the League and then claimed damages “The Emperor Warsexpanded the grief and suffering and Natalie got to see the worst of it. From the bombed-out cities, ‘of Maligaatius tothe pillaged streets of Byzantium Secundus to the plauge-infested. homes of Yintrai on Criticorum, Natalie surveyed the damage wrought by society oucof con: trol, The damage, however, was not the only crime. What \wrenched at Natalies heart more than the deformed survi- vorsand mutilated dead was her own inability to preventany of it, Her rank in the Reeves meant nothing, All the money arhercontrol could dono goed. Her only hope wastogofrom one crisis toanother,curing what pain shecouldand prevent ing whatever depravities it was within herability to prevent, The end of the Emperor Wars brought with ita geeat te- lief Surely people could not cause the sort of havoe in peace time that they could in war, Then she saw the hordes of freshly decomissioned troops flooding back from the battle fields Most went back tothe lives they had lived before, work: ing farms, digging in the mines or working in small shops ‘Others had no such intentions Natalie saw banditry begin on never-before-seen scales Villages which the wars had never touched fell before the on: slatight of peace, assoldiers who had never knawn anythin; bur war sought whatever goods they could in the ruins. F- nally Natalie found the frustration beyond bearing She gath: tered those Reeves who felt as she did and swore to puta stop to this continuing chaos, using whatever weapons they had at their disposal. ‘The fst weapon, and the one Natalie still prefers Is the Known Worlds legal system. An accomplished advocate, she began seeking out those who used their talents oF positions tosptead uncertainty and disorder,and attacked them in the courts, She used whichever courts she could, prosecuting ‘mercenariesin magistrate courtsand before nobles suingcor ‘rupt police in city courts. and accusing nobles before eccles- astical courts Natalie did not stop with the courts She used her influ ence within the guildsto stop loans co those who would use themoney rocreare instability Shesponsored town criers who ‘would call attention to abusers she could not bringto court, Manager Natalie Snave ‘She produced magic lantern shows about others In rare in stances, she used her own money to hire Slayers like Gwendolyn Trajos to put an end to those she deemed the worst Natalie has had a number of successes in these efforts, most norably getting a number of bandits hungand rogue nobles chrown to the Inquisition, She knows that she will never stop all the wrongs being committed, s0 she looks for those she feels certain of being able to handle. Groups or in dividuals who start throwing their weight around, acting ‘outside of the law or otherwise shaking the pillars of society quickly come to her attention, In fact, despite her good intentions, Natalie is likely op- ponent for thecharacters. Their actions often takethemout- side the awand their opponentsare often those who, despite their crimes are responsible for keeping chaos at bay Should a slaver lose an entire cargo to them, he may well approach Natalie with ataleof hijackers, using herto get his revenge. the characters rough upsome tavern owners while rryingto get information, word will get back to her If they start nos: ingaround ruins without the appropriate raver permitsshe ‘might haul their sorry butts before che lacal magistrate, ‘Once she getson thecharacters tall she san implacable foe She will useevery meansat her disposal tostop them, tak: ing them to court, plastering their faces all over town, bad mouthing them to every guild member and blackmailing them if she can get useful information. On the other hand, if the chatacters can make her intoa friend (an unlikely result, ‘considering most characters propensity for mayhem) she can prove invaluable with money, information and influence. ‘Quote “Let me get this straight: In order fo stop a Sym: biot threat, of which you had no proof, you burned 20 acres of land and killed three people. Guards?” ‘Appearance: This tall, skinny black woman wears old style bifocals, the most conservative suits and a permanent Entourage: Natalfe has a number of apprentices and c’hiefs under her command, and @ few of these have combat experience from the Reeve debt collectors division, She can hire anyone she feels she needs Roleplaying Notes:Staid and conservative, Natalie isthe epitome of how some people view the Reeves.Shespeaks with authority and confidence, usually playing the role of an ad visor unless she feels that someone is creating chaos. Against these people she can bea towering embodiment of order. Benefices and Afflictions: Well-Traveled, Obligation: Keep Order (+3), Protection: League (3), Wealthy Riches (7) Commission: Manager (7) Retinue (3)0900000000000008 C0000 000 Oeeeee ToRELEY ey 502-3151 8B) so129y s390eHty oyeuin4 9puag eum 394 __ancus aIEIeN sePeUCYYnow big an industry becomes, it seems as though everyone knows what everyone else is up to. In the murky world of bounty hunting.everyone keeps track of the deadly Alessandro Twins, They ate pethaps the best Ashtati the Muster have. They are the epitome of Muster conduct: professional loyal tothetremployersand faithful rotheir contracts While the Muster occasionally uses strong-arm tactics on its own, members (such as a well-timed accident), the Alessandro Twinsare created with care. When their contract came up for renewal, forexample,a guild director vaguely threatened the towins with an “accident” should they fail to renew: He befell an accident of his own, according to the offictal Muster re port. "Sudden fatal lead poisoning” was the joke making the rounds. The twins renewed and the internal investigation was dropped For many years, they lived in obscurity, doing odd jobs. People remember seeing Nikki workingalone fora few years, ong nowhere fast. Bur when her sister Thala joined things started picking up. Fist it wasa job bringing in Jelaludin at Mail after he escaped from House Keddah. Then they took care of Barak Wick, a pirate wanted for murder. Collecting the bounty for the Kurgan warlord Hassan che Red wanted, (dead) by the Hazat,got chem noticed in wealthy circles Since then, they've been working for the likes of Prince Hyram Decadosand Archbishop Sigmund Drual Te hasnt been all fun and games for the twins, however they've managed tanger influential peopte among the rul- Ingclasies. ArrestingSir Utmor Hawkwood (wanted for fraud) nd killing Mizuke Li Halan {wanted for heresy) are perhaps. the best examples, Add to that the various cut-throats and, junslingers who want co be the ones to take down the Alessandres and you begin to understand why they ive in hiding and sleep with their guns. The businessof hounty hunting can be problematic, par ticutarly at their level, Because of their teputation and skill, the Muster chargesan exorbitant fee for their services, which, tendsto keep the wins underemployeck there are few boun: tiesthat warrant their kind of expertise. They're bored. Nikki hasbeen thinkingabout branching out into otherareas, like tnilitary adisor, Thala has been looking for ‘the big score’ — someonecunningand deadly enough to make ta challenge. Recently, reports have placed the twoon Bannockburn, meet ing with Adept Faulkner of the Brocher Battle gartison on, Stigmata, leading some to speculate they've found prey upto their skills Nikki: She’ adorable and thoughtful. Generally, Nikki handlesthevontractsand money. She’spensive, weighing the optionsand considering the variables She keeps track of news and gossip (like whos doing what to whom), She believes she and her sister Thala serve an important function in the Known Worlds If they didn't mete our justice, the Known Worlds would descend into chaos While other bounty hunt cers ate in it because of their borderline personalities, Nikki anything else cant see herself doin Thala:SheSadorabie and menacing (not that Nikki ist deadly in her own right, but Thala isa bit unstable) She doesnt talk much and when she does it short and to the point Foolhardyshes likely tochargein sith both sunsblaz ig She doesn justify her jo the way Nikki does ar really doesnt give lt much thought. Thala san adrenaline junkie she craves action, though not cheap thells, White other bounty huntersareinitforthe money, Thala genuinely likes her Job. Shes good at klling folks Niki Alessandro Quote-ve heard that one beforeand tm notimpressed Now take your hand off my knee ‘Description all blonde and atltiafly built. She pre fersto te er hale behind her to pony tll on top of her head. Although Nikkiand Thala are twins, those who know them well claim they can tell the two apart. Nikkis figures rmotecurvaceousshesa bi aller and het faceisslightly more ind She also has mote above her upper lip. Roleplaying She’ got style She doesnt walkintoa room she glides When she turns on the charm, itean be deadly Nikki uses her head, adding pieces of the puzaecogether and devising strategy. She tends to be tight-lipped, rather than aloof Play hercunning coming p witha sortsof ingenious sways oget the drop on her carpets. Encourage: Her sister, Thal, is her only companion When they travel, its with their own ship, The Toledo Blade piloted by Melcizidek Lau, a dishonored Chariteer pilot ‘vhohas thrown hislot in with the deadly Alessindro Twins in eturn for his services, he receives protection from his former Charioteer employers Equipment: Expedition MedPac, Muster Voice Bos, Fur sion Torch, Mech Tools, Muster Chains, Med Autofeed (x2) Vorox Claws amino Thala Alessandro Quote-“fake your hand off my kneebefore break i of ad beat you with it” Destiption Tall, blonde and athletically built She pre fers her halt free. and cropped short. Although Nikki and Thala are twins those who know them well claim they can tell the two apert. Thala sa bt more slender and an inch or two shorter andherfaces more oval Somesay there isaslight difference around the eves Roleplaying She's gor attitude. [tb almost impossible to ciseract Thala as though she had supernatural ability to cits She’ more willingto speak her mind rather than be the life ofthe party Thale relies on her instinet and her honed senses Perception} Pay er lethal, shooting First and asking ntourage Noone besideshersisterand Melchizidek Lat Equipment: Demolition Rig, Muster Voice Box, Fusion Torch, Mech Tools, Muster Chains, Knife (Shocke) Blase Shotgun, Lt Autofeed, hock GrenadeOOD000000000000 CC® AA wig vonay ~smeius LVAINOD sug MBsnay 5g 119990 (€) 20614 (eres ) 1904 (6) 20599 (2) 2919N SOLLSINALOVAVHO, PID 80% c 224snyy :29ue4ty sjeuiay apuag STIDs a: ‘a ueUINn}] 92ey QUPUESSAIY DANClass Explorer Grade: Lander Builder: Van Goss Builders at Leagueheim, Tech Level 6 Length: 30 meters hs 10 meters Crew? (pilot and engineer) Passengers:6 Cargo (Internal): 15 metric tons Cargo External}: None ‘Speed: 20% lightspeed (5 days to jumpgate) jumps 3 Supplies:2 months worth for the crew anda full passenger Toad Sensors Neutrinios 7 ‘Weaponry L« Blaster turret, Grapple Gun Cost: 80 Benefice! 150,000 firebirds Description: The Taledo Blade is customized version of the explorer-class vessels used by the Muster, called Outtid. ers Smaller than a Lekaf, they are not meant for long-range missions but for reconnaissance, The Deadly Alessandro Twins have converted thelts into @ bounty hunting vessel cone of the tight cabins serves asa prison for whomever they are transporting at the time. History: When Nikkiand Thala began talkingabout get ting out of the business to pursue some other line of work. their worried Muster bosses promised to do whatever was necessary to keep them in the fold. Complaining about che hardships involved with shippingtheir bountieson non-pr: vate passage contracts, they demanded their own ship. Their bosses grumbled and hedged for @ while, bucit soon beca clear that che only way they could keep their uctative cut of the Twins’ bouncy pay was to loan them a hip. Choosing an, injured scout from the Stigmata Front, they polished it up and handed it overtothe Twins allowing them to work their \way into Full ownership of the stall vessel Nikki and Thala immediately contacted Melchizidek Lau, former bounty of theits who wason the outs with his, guild, che Charioteers, What little grudge he nursed against the bounty hunters dissolved at the chanceto pilota starship n. That Nikki and Thala provided che perfect protection against any Killroy bully-boys who sought him wasan extra, incentive, Seon, the Deadly Alessandro Twins became even, more deadly, able to pursue their prey with complete free: dom. ‘Common Modifications: The Twins have already up: graded the sensors and weaponey; the bull will not allow many more modifications Noble Armada Traits ‘Noble Armada is Holistic Design’ game of starship min lature combat in the Fading Suns universe. While itis ‘compatable with FadingSuns(itcan be used to resolve player c’characterS own starship combats), many of the ship traits are Ulfferene From those given in Forbidden Lore: Technology For instance, armor is no longer a consideration (except for certain heavily-armored barbarian ships instead, shields are ‘mote important, Few modifications to the existing rules a necessary, the Noble Armada rules will include details on theseconversions. Maximum Speed 16 Starting Thrust 14 Rotation Speed 6 BartleShields 1 Armament 1GrappleGun (2) Barracks — 60° forward I Light Blaster (242) Turret — 360) crew 2 Marines o Min Bridge ' Boarding Capacities Jets Engine Room Bridge Turtet Damage Table Front 1-6 Bridge 7-12 Tureta 12-20 Maneuver Side 1-3 Bridge 4-8Maneuver 9. Turret A 12-20 Engine Room Rear 1-4 Maneuver 5-7 Turret A 8-20 Engine Room Note:The ship mapisthesame asthe Hawkwood explorer included in the Noble Armada rules; just mark off one en: gine column,zursuans| OOOODOOOOOOODO00CO® GAN EF & OF SINT PEM C0000 CCCCHCOHCOCOOOCe AINA SAS Be, aus ipdeo pn PLHHO wos 23198, wp F5RVF 1% Goa) ant JaVHO. pop dova AYOLOIA uonay SUH (L/S) pews Mou e+2) 1845 YOWAY. Ol ze ae Maud uous e°9 nay HD c+ SNOLLOV NOWNOO. vonenns well i S4SYN9/SONISSITA (62051, (9 te2us (ya (@)r90y | wie (1) (€)uo1sseq (e)aniasqg | vaso. (epg 22N Z (gssaidua | & {) soueimpu3 = eaybis] e (gv S (@)9%peg | s 9 (@)buang (2) sueyg AdOg STUNS WHALYN SOLLSIWALOVYVHO Jatua wey veupsy) zaisnyy avery spike 147 STUAS GANUVAT ueune :30ey oupuessany BIeULOn the surface, the story of Lieutenant Colonel Relow West appears to be one of those self made man stories which soencourage serfs that onedday their life mightbe better. From such rough beginningshe has risen tocommandasuccesstul band of metcenaries sometimes numbering as many as sev tral hundred. His rise co power, however, has nor been as storybook as it appears. Born aserf on Icon, heleft the planet with thousands of other peasant levies €0 support Flavius Li Halan’ bid for power Givena uniformandaspear.he was sent to Malignatis to help hold the planet against the encroaching Decados (Ordered tostand firm agalnsta charge by DecadosGrimsons, ‘West threw down his spearand led into the nearby woods @s the Grimsons slaughtered his friends and neighbors. Tn the woods hecame upon other deserters, both Decaddos and Li Halan. Initially they survived on the outskirts of battles, plunclering the dead in its aftermath, living on what little food or supplies they could find. Over the course of sev ‘eral months, he and his cohorts managed to acquire some decent equipment, including rifles, armor and even some damaged vehicles: Determined to find something better to live on than old army food, they took ro raiding what few farms the war had left untouched, leaving their inhabitants, dead and the butldings torched. Wohen it became clear that the Decados had seized con- tolof the planet, West and hisbandie friends grew concerned. Their crimes on Malignatius meant that they deserved the death sentence, and they had no way off planet. It wasa this, moment that West had the burst of inspiration that forever, changed his fortunes He sought out the Decados military ‘commanders in the bars around the planer spaceport until hhefound one well into hiscups West noted that whilecom- bat on the planet might not offer much more chance of ad. vancement, capturing deserrerscould. Heoffered toturn over hhis comrades who had deserted from the Decadosif the com: rmander would hire him and the rest of his band to help po- tice the area. The commander agreed and West began his ca reerasa mercenary. Hestacted with suppressing revolts by the many LiHlalan loyalists living on the planet. He used his knowledge of the Li Halan to seek out village leaders who, while not danger ‘ous in themselves, might provide succor to the rebels, These leaders were either killed or forced to turn over anyone they sight suspect of being rebels. West did an admirable job pact fying is area, and soon found himself given positions of greater and greater responsibility. He took over such jobs @s tax and tithe collections.customs checksand a host of other ‘opportunities for skimming money By the time hisgreed at tracted the attention of Decados investigators, he had made Lieutenant Colonel Relov West enough money to ship himself and his loyalist mercenaries off planet, leaving his less loyal followers behind to take the blame He then styled himself an expert on suppressing rebels and terrorists and began seeking work with the other noble houses The al-Malik hired him to help the Allied Clans on Kordeth (Ukan) and he ound killingaliens to be just as satis- fying as killing humans. When that contract ended, others opened up to fight heretics, Vuldrok sympathizers and the like, He often takes high-payingbounty hunterassigniments. ‘Quote: Guess well just have to shoot you. ‘Less you can afford for me not to: ‘Appearance: Heavily tatooed and pierced, Lt. Col. West is in good shape, bur strikes more than a few asa fop. Hisboyish looks detract from the fierce demeanor he tries to project. Entourage: Wests inner ciecle of mercenaries isan unus ally cruel and vicious lot. While they all have combat exper cence, they prefer to Fight against unarmed and, preferably bound foes, They seem to havea knack for ingratiatingthem: selves with their supetiors,and none of them would think ‘of goingagainst West — unlessthey were paid to. West knows betterthan togivethem hisfull trust,and keepsanextractose eyeon those he has taken as lovers Roleplaying Notes: West despised being a serf and took every opportunity to shirk his farm work, Atfirst the militia, looked like it would provide an easy way todo this. up unt the moment he actually had to fight. He still prefers not to dircy his handsand has gone to great lengths to remove any’ thingthat would remind him of his ess than-illustrious past He began fashioning himself after the Decados nobleshe met on Malignatius investing in elaborate tattoosand gaudy jew elty West can come into contact with the characters ina va riety of ways If they re rich, he might seek work from them, perhaps manufacturing incidentsin thei fiefs which would require his” special skills” He might be set loose against them, ‘especially if they have committed sins of republicanism. If he takesa dislike to them for whatever reason, he is likely €0 send mercenary after mercenary against them. Afterall, heis lieutenant colonel (even ifthe position isselF assigned). ‘Characters might also be approached by the multitudes of people who West has greviously wronged. Innocent serfs whose villages he razed, Ur Ukar tortured for pleasure and ‘others might hire them to enact their revenge. Equipment: Laser pistol, standard energy shield, sqjuawker, hidden knife with poison release, medpac: He rarely takesthe field any more, but if hedid soit would probably be from inside an armored command vehicle.a= saan m0 o sig sassaoong| LaVHO. AYOLOIA) su (O1/S) ws YOWYY. 37 STS GANYV aT aie roy us Lyai' J 1 poqe aks ones SASYND/SONISS: ( (ge2us (6) 3004S (eanesqo (—N (e) ssaiduyy 4 4081, (©) pq (ey wey STUNS TWAOLVN yuey reoueyaaiy :29ue) uewny :29eu uonay wed ¢ PeBsy snoNeD ESE Z OCODDDDDDDDDO00OCee BAK ¥ 0000000COCCCCCOOC® AINTVIIA deg) > wig 09 sug abun) 109 "9 ATA oa] (¢) vondaa: SOMLSINALOVAVHO. SNOLLOV NOWNOD. eye (€yeeuny v/e (uypled zs (¢)uorseg For sanyroad pare H M6unayy sa 41990 / uonay (9 (G) eouesnpug 12g 9 (ey Auawag Mm 2 (Qypbuang| Aaog, SOE 3161 aby Ie) apg $59) 19194 10D 71Beliah Black brags that he was born on a pirate ship and never set foot on a planet’ dirt until his 13th birthday. The tavern ownersand police of those planets whose earth he has, trod wish he never left space. Merchantsand guild members, wish he had never returned tospace. In either place the sight, of him of his fiercely painted frigate "Devil's Revenge” are enough tastike fear intoanyone, Beliah Black has lived most of his life on one space ship or another, wielding a gun against merchants when he was, as young as five. He had established a reputation for cruelty and daring by the time he was thirteen, and captained hisfirst pirate ship on his 5th biethday.a small, poorly armed shuttle. Hismanic atacksagainst bigger and far better equipped ships gained him an immediate reputation for daring, skill and in- sanity. The fact chat he almost never fost one of these battles, ulsogained hima reputation aseither being fabulously lucky or in league with dark forces, Each shipunder hiscommand hasgone by thesobriquet Devils Revenge” and each has built on the legends of its pre decessot. Hiscareer spanned much of the Emperor Wats, and, be long ago lost eount of the number of vessels he has raided. His repuration asa pirate has grown, and reached its current heights at the end of the Emperor Wars, when he held the planet leon for ransom while the Li Halan Fleet was engaged in battle against cheal-Malik, He blockaded the planet with, ‘he help of two other pirate ships,crippled the one destroyer, sent to engage him, and rook off with a fortune in Li Halan, gold, medicine and ammunition right before che Li Halan, Fleet returned to the system Hisown nickname, the Devil Beliah, had alréady formed by this time In fact, his victims first applied it co him while he was still a teenager, but it only took hold after one of his, most fortunate finds, one he made shortly after his 22nd birthday, While evading League patrol, his ship took refuge in deep spaceiin the Bannockburn star system, Here they came acrossa derelict shipbearing the crest of House Masser Beliah, land his pirates found little to take from the ship, but did chance upon astasis box (used to transport perishable cargo) which Beliah chose to open whilealone.Inside Beliah found aliving creature of unknown formand substance. Thecreature seemed to wakes Beliah broke the seal and no one knows what kind of communication might have passed between thern. All hiscrew knows isthat when Beliah ‘emerged from his chambers, a small octopus-like being had, attached itself to is face, and Beliah refused all offers tohelp, remove what he referstoas hisdevil” Over the years the cre ture has never lft its resting place, though It does shift post tion around Beliah’ face in ways his crew finds deeply dis turbing Most of the ime itsitsstil,itsonly movement being, occassionally gelatinous stretchesand shudders. When Beliah becomes excited, as in combat, it seems to come to life, and tentacles whip out at anyone who comes close. grabbingand squeezing with unholy strength, His crew has joked {behind his back) that icacts in similar manner when Beliah hassex, Beliah Black (The Devil Beliah) bur chelr captain’ many partners have not complained, In "y case, his devil has served to cement Beliahis diabolical reputation. ‘This reputation grows every yeat.and now Beliah is per- hhaps the second-most-Famous pirate in the Known Worlds, behind only the renowned Sister Tracina Isterot (see Fading ‘Suns). His ctew whispers that her greater fame has begun to affect Bellah’s mind, for he has recently become obsessed with her. He hunts down rumors about her and has torcured sew ‘eral of her former erew members for more information. His crew Iscorrect — he is obsessed with Sister Tracina. What his followers do not realize is that Beliah (and his devil) met her ‘once, and both are strongly attracted Co the heretical pirate The atcraction is stronger than anything Beliah has fle be fore, and itis beginning to affect his judgement. Beliah’s Devil: The creature attached to Bellah’ face of fers both protection and offenseIt and Beliah)are practically immuneto psychic abilities, with the equivalent of aten-suc: cess Diffusion power always in effect. This means that any- one using psychic abilities against Beliah or his devil havea 1Ototheir oll, Thishasnoeffectagainst Theurgy (see the Fad- ingSuns Players Companion for more information on Diffu: sion). In combat itcan make twograbattackseach turn, each with a base goal of I4 and an effective Strength of 12. Addi tionally.each hit injects paralyzing poison if any grab dam- rage penettates the target armor, This poison reduces the ‘argets Dexterity by one per curn until the character can suc- ceed inan Endurance Vigor roll. Additionally,note thatany skillsor attacks marked wich an "**on Belialischaracter sheet are boosted by his devil, ‘Quote:‘Bel scarin’ ya. mermatey? Comeon, give usa kis Appearance: This big human would be scary enough, «with his glaring eyes, numerous scars and earrings, but the livealien he hasatrached to hisfaceand wearsasa beard takes, him tothe next level, This live, squirming octopus-like crt ter rakes out one of its poisonous tentacles at anyone who comes too close to Beliah Black. Entourage: Beliah’ followers tend to beamong the most desperate of pirates. He rarely has large crew, preferting to divide up hisill-gorten gain amongas ew people as posible, He currently flies a Kylanthra Class Frigate with souped-up, engines capable of 17 percent light speed and very rapid ac celeration) and three less missile racks, He has a crew of 50, but most of them are not skilled enough tooperate the shi guns He prefers to close and board whenever possibl Roleplaying Notes: The Devil Beliah has a well-earned reputation for cruelty against all who oppose him, but rarely injures anyone on ships which surtender to him wichouta fight. Histreatment of hisown crew isdifferent,however and while his followers have often ended up wealthy, Betiah i capable of great actsof barbarism against them,all sochey will remember who is boss. He hasan uncanny knack for know ing whois with him and who plots agatnst him. Equipment: Wireblade, Blaster Pistol, Armored SpacesuitDODDOD00000OOOCCOee MAK (cy aaissey / (gy HaRDI smug £ (4a & (aeuempug & (@ uondaaieg £ eam STUNS WAOLVN SOLLSIUALOVYVHO, 50h Mue3 :36y yetig :eouEYy BIEYY s9puag eum sory (yeIee. od) 29818. USHER.The name Emola Debt strikes fear into criminals across the Known Worlds.A figute of stern justice wherever she goes. Debt has an unparalleled reputation for bringing in danger: ‘ous fugitives. Her infamous black armor inspires fear in all, who suspect that she might be on their trail, and the mere rumor that she has come to town is enough to inspire even the most hardened criminals to head forthe hills, Most people believe that Emola Debt isher real name.and rumors abound that she hides her face due to some ancient accident which left her scarred for life, What they do not re lize is that Emiola Debt is not her real name, and that her at tachment for het armor comes from the fact that here isin deed a bounty on her own head. ‘Asa slave on Sutek, she cleaned and cared for the weap: ons of Dame Leela Rolas, a Hazat weaponsmaster. Debt watched from afar as Leela practiced and trained others cretly copying her mistress’ motions Debt never followed Dame Rolas into battle, but she ‘could not avoid the Emperor Wars when they came toher. A 1LiHalan raid hiethe Rola: estatesonenight while Dame Rolas, ‘was thought to be off fighting on Byzantium Secundus. “Troops fell from the sky, shooting and torching everything. in their path, In her desperation to find some place of safety. Debs noticed several Hazat nobles foadinga crate intoa black flittet. As its engines started up, Li Halan troops chatged for: Ward firing like mad in a desperate attempt to stop it. Debe realized her only cover wasin the flitver,and she dove ontoit as it streaked past, Shots pounded the flier, burning its hull, and breaking its windows, Debt clambered through the bro- ken glass asthe flier put distance between ftand the attack- ‘ers Just as she made it inside, a lucky Lt Halan shot hits its engines, and it tore into the woods less than two miles From the estate, killing the pilot and stunning Debe. By the time she came to, lying next to the broken crate, Li Halan troops were just approaching the crash site. Debt clawed her way through the crate’ broken slats, hoping to hide behind it. As the Li Halan lights drew closer, her hands, touched on a breast plate and then a helmet, Willing rotake any protection offered, Debt donned the suit of armot: With, ‘ prayer to the Pancreator, she hurtled intothe nearby woods and hid behind a tree ‘The troops began a frenzied search of thearea under the direction of a masked commander. Debt held her breath as oneof the Li Hialan croops walked right up tohertree.seemed, toglance right at her,and then walked away without saying Emola Debt ‘word. She realized that her armor offered more than just shleldingthe second time this happened. Astongasshe stayed petfectly still, no one could see her. Whenever no Li Halan ‘troops were around, she moved away from the crash site Whenever they were around, she stayed still and prayed. “This method worked for almost an hour.at which point the masked commander entered the woods. This noble no- ticed Debe$ tracks, and followed her to her new hiding place As the commander drew her laser, Debt kicked out, knock Ingthe noblesprawlingand her mask flying, Debt found her self lookingstraight intotheeyesof Dame Rolas Both women scrambled for the blaster, Debt moving faster than she had ever moved before, Her hand closed on the grip first, and it ‘was with feelings of regret that she fired straight into her rmistress'face. ‘A.werk later she had made her way co Sutek’ spaceport where she found that the Hazat had put a price on her head believing she had helped the Li Halan atcackers assassinate her mistress. Thusshe has maintained hersecret identity ever since,even despite her growingreputation asa bounty hunter, She has begun a close elationship with the Church, tracking down heretics and these who do wrong, primarily because she believes her armor to have some statusasa relic. Her own, investigations have traced its design back toshortly afer the fall of the Second Republic, but one hesychast she encoun: tered told her it bore resemblance to that of one of the Church eadliest martyrs Quote: Appearance: Emol Debt never meets anyone out of ar: mor. Thisspecial chameleon suit generally isset ro black, and the face mask and respirator make her appeat almost soul less, The only exception to her black carapace the jumpeate symbol she always wears around her neck, Entourage: W hile Emola Debt usually works alone, she hhas ound that a team can accomplish much thet a lonercan: not. Roleplaying Notes A quiet observer, Debt rarely speaks, prefetring silence. She has never found out exactly why her ‘mistress was talding her own lands, or what was o Valuable about the armor that it lead to her death. Equipment: Stunner, Special Chameleon Suit, Muster Chains Benefices and Afflictions: Gossip Network: Known) Worlds (4), Escaped Slave (+3), Special Chameleon Suit (10, ‘Stunner (4), Muster Chains 2)ODOOD00000000000 COO GAN CODD D0CCOCO®e se Lest oe o ces wo Se 0 a sig 998 uVHO any ONG 1729 841 409 WS (€) 20614, yeaug vay (0) 083 ove ooyg | est pest 2g aaa, suatig yssaduyy | o ——(@) ypaj_ 9 (g) aouesnpUg 9 (g) vondaaiag (¢) Auaxeg sums (yb SOLLSIWILOVEVHS) aga jou 1 STIDIS GANYVITLiu Pei began his career on Kish where, asthe child of generations of Purgers (sce the Fading Suns Players Compan- fon) his lifes path wasalready decided. All that lay before him Wasa lifetime of garbage and more garbage, For some reason, this did not appeal tohim. Ashe spent his childhood toiling. in Kish overflowing sewers, his disgust ofthis role grew and The only aspectof his work that he enjoyed was thescav- cenging that went along with it. The Purgerscould keep any: thing they found in the filth and muck of thelr lives fany- thing that a bigger Purger didnt take away from them, that is)and Liu madeche most of this. What littlegood came into, his lifele found, but this was not nearly enough. One night, after happening uponan unconscious drunk outside a pace: port bar, he discovered an additional benefit to his position ~ anything he found, wherever it might be, he could claim turned upin thesewer. Thedrunk’ pocket chronometerand volt redemption rool kit madethis route, forafterrolling che drunk Liu dittied up the objects and sold them as found. “The money he made off this discovery excited him no end, He began looking for other drunks to use this ploy on. bur their numbers on Kish were limited. Desperate for more ‘money, he began seeking out shops and repair facilities after their owners went to bed, sneaking in and taking whatever he could sell, As time passed and hiscircle of fences grew, Liu expanded his operations to rich homes, noble manors and, even churchs He gathered together a team of other guilds: ‘men, and together they began seeking out whatever could make them che greatest profit Their League connections meant that they made the ‘most money from stolen technological devices, but this also, ‘ensured that stealing rom local guilds carried greater risk of, discovery, After one bungled sale, Liu decided toseek his for: tune off planet, and ever since he and his friends have trav- led from world to world, stealing weapons, shields, think ‘machines, tools and other items from those uniikely to un: covera guild member selling it on another planet Originally Liu stole chese tems purely or their monetary value, but hisgoals havechanged with time. The temsthem: selves have begun rotake on greater meaning for him. and he often finds it hard to part with especially interesting devices His acquisitiveness has begun to get the better of him, and his profits might suffer for this. He has begun targeting his jobs to go after interesting items instead of the most valu able. This has brought him to the Sctavers attention for the first time for he recently stole some bizarre Second Republic cosmetics that the guild salvaged on Tethys. Quote:“How would know who took your flux sword? But Ido know where you can get one” (Grins) ‘Appeatance: Tall and skinny, hisfriends have sometimes compared him to a Terran rat. His long hair is rarely cared for, and the same holds true for his whiskery mustache and un: even sideburns, He recently added an Engineers Eye to his already disconcerting appearance. Encourage: Liu Pei works with like-minded rogues wher ever he can find them, He has found chat @ diverse team is best, and one good technology heist can keep him and his friends living in comfort for months. Thus he often works with talented warriors, psychies and even the occasional priest and noble. Roleplaying Notes: Characters will probably not enjoy thelr encounters with Liu Pei. He has found that robbing from Independents or people with few local connections is, ‘the safest way tocontinue his eecupation,and the characters ‘might well fit this On the other hand, Lit Pei can bea valu: able ally, able ro find any item they might want to buy, He can also help them If they need to break into any high-tech. installations, Equipment: Low-Light Goggles, Standard Shield, Vole Tools, Scrambler Pad, Thieves Keys, Palm Laser Benefices and Afflietions: Contact: Fence (1), Vendetta Seravers (], Commission: Assoriate (3), Equipment (15)DODOD00000000000CC@ GAN TFB ar See OM 0000000 CSCC CCCCOC®e AITIVIIA aw 89 oe a a 9 + s 7 org sauysiamag sag. s95520306| sugny / Abunayy bin) / ‘sq ONY INC 1°29 smu09 WIS AYOLOIA|SLOHS| L1N990 Lyaoo, wonemig rey 7+ S4SUND/SONISSTTE BIA, 2 () yeaus (9 woug NOLLOV NOWWOD| ed uo1sseq wea (e) onasgg | B27 (1) vareng WS ssaduj | @ (yay ¢ (Q) a0veinpug fig} 9 (e)usndsoeg —@ (g) Auaseg pg] o (SIMS (QRbvang ox Agog MALOVEVHO BIBOOSSY UE auycding =20eIIy Ueuny 32384 wapuag panOF Ziths youth and young adult years litele is known. Several things, however, have been pleced together. Asanado- lescent, Zith traveled extensively studyingobscure andl deadly Unarmed and weapon fighting techniques. Using what he had learned, Zith became a promising Li Halan house guard {under his eal name} Someevenc (or group of events)occured during Ziths service that changed him drastically. Zith be- ‘came absorbed with serikingdown Li Halan nobles who com: mitted atrocities against their own guards. As of yet, noone has determined which family Zith served, Zith takes his new name from writing on a potshard he found in @ slave-tlled field on Midian. This writing is in a Diaspora-era Urth dialect with ancient Sino-European roots: afound name in @ forgotten tongue. Noone hasbeen able to identify, much less capture, Zith Several retired, social climbing guards have, however, been brought to“Justice’ by the Li Halan nobility. Each time Zith, "found" and executed, erribleretribution from the seal ith, ‘has resulted. The noble family responsible for killing the in- nnocent man usually suffersat least one death in retribution: Even knowing the risks, Li Halan noblity still make this deadly mistake from timetotime(a mistake ora houseclean- ing?) Perhapsit isarrogance, or pechaps they ssume that chey will eventually be able to snare "Duur of the Mists’, name whispered among more than a few householders. Zieh’ methods of killing combine carefully chosen poi Zith Haqua Duur sonsand practically markless deathblows, Due rohhis meticu Jously planned and exactingly executed assassinations, un explained deaths are attributed to Zith from time to time More than i few Li Halan nobles have accused Zith to cover their own murderous tracks. Some whisper that Zith is nothing more than a figment c n lib for scheming lords. Ochers say that he is ‘member of the Slayers guild, enacting some expensive and extensive contract against the house, Quote:"The weed of betrayal bears bicter fruit.” Appearance It is said that Zith issix feet tall and lithely built. Those who claim to have known him before his ram: pagesay that he would be 42 now, with short, gray-shot light brown and halt, Many believe that this description itself is based off disguise adopced by the renegade assassin. Some posit that he possesses a Morph Suit and a Syntihface, so that, he could look like whomever he wanted to, Roleplaying Notes: The real Zith is no longer consumed with revenge for whatever slight started him down his path Henow carries out the punishmentstothe LiHalan as much to build his mystique as anything. His real persona isa mer: chant named Covayand hissuccessin trading hasstreatly les ened his pain, Entourage: None Equipment: Morph Suit, Disguise Kit (TL.7) ted asCODDDDOOOD OS SCCCSSe AIAN C0OD00000 eeeeee N SOLLSIUTLOVUVHO |‘Tohis neighborsin the Vera Cruzagora, Joao Alves is the penultimate relies dealer — verboseand outgoing, with aneye for qualityand connectionsthat can bring him incomparable goods. All che leading Hazat on the planet buy from his shop, and visit occassionally to ooh and ah over his latest acquist- tions. He treats them ina manner befitting their status, with, fine wines musiclansand seurryingservitors. Morethan afew of the nobleshave invited him into their houses. and Alvesis especially popular with theirservants, who he treats well and tipsgenerously. Aservanc buying goods ir his mistress knows, thataripo Alves shop will be rewarded with wineand coin, ‘What they do not realize is that their trips reward him ‘even more, and through him, the Kurgan Caliph. Alves real ‘name is Kaloist Roche, and his real position is that of a noble {and spy)in service to the Catiph, His family has long served, the caliphs, and its unwavering loyalty has been rewarded, time and time again, Thus when the Caliph agents created, the dentity of Joao Alves, relics dealer fromSutek, they chose Kaloist for this position of honor. They smugled him past the Hazat patrols to Vera Cruz, infiltrating him onto the planet with a load of artifacts from Kurga (Hira}andageneroussupply of firebirds Heestablished himself in the bazaar and! began slowly selling his wares, mak- ingsure to keepanyonefrom realizingjust how many head. The rarity of his items ensured that his name would spread, among the planer’ wealthier inhabitants. Soon they were seeking him out, and Alves ensured that wine, song and sex loosened their tongues, Hisshop became a Mecca for leading nobles, merchants and clergy; Hespent freely but. in order co maintain hiscover, gained a reputation asa shrewd trader willing to drivea hard bargain for his varled goods Healso made contact with other Kurgan spies on the planet, using them to ferry informacion off planet and ensure ast nique trade goods Vera Cruz remained essentially untouched by the Env peror Wars and despite its position well behind the front Tines,croops.and nobles often voyaged to its pristine fields to ‘tain or relax. More important for Alves, VeraCruzalso served asthe stagingares Kurga.and troops, mercenaries and nobles all found their way to the planet’ agora. Alves has even made an “official” visit wo Kurga as the guest of a Hazat noble who hoped the dealer would help him find valuable relies. Thus Alves has been one of che Caliph’ most reliable sources of Information, passing on everything he hears, no matter how minor or petty it might seem. His employees know him as an inveterate gossip and rell him everything they learn in exchange or extracoins Amongthe most valu: able of his employees are the men and women of his small, harem, who learn much that might otherwise remain secret dy supply of for Hazat efforts tose Kaliost Roche (Joao Alves) [As a result, Alves feels he las litcle to fear of discovery, but he has discounted the profesional arouses Atfirst the Charioteersignored him, but now hissales and uncanny ability to acquire rare curiousities concern them The Seravers worry that he might become an informa tion broker, and he has cost them sales by revealing secrets they thought they alone knew. The Courtesans Guild finds his harem direct competition, since he shares to freely with his customers. Finally, the Muster has noticed his servants pumping their mercenaries for information and begun to ‘wonder about him. All of these guilds would enjoy taking hhim down —an unlikely fear considering his many connec: tions Unaware of this, Alves seeks to expand his operations, both in commerce and in espionage. He has come to enjoy the role of merchant, reveling in the bargains he finds and the sales he makes. He has begun financing trading ventures further into the Known Worlds, actions which might bring hhim co the Reeves attention as well. Alves would like to use these ventures to hide more active cloak-and-dagger activi ties spreading false information, sabotage and even assassina tion. He would not carry out such activities himself, prefer- ring to use a variety of dupes and foils. He is especially inter: ested in rumorsof hidden training facilities on Vera Cruz for Dervishes. His greatest fear is that intense scrutiny of his identity might bring his Kurgan background into question. As a re sult he tends toavoid people from that world, finding excuses ‘todeal wich them through his servants, For now he hopes to succeed long enough to beallowed home to his family’ i estates on fable Irem Zat el-Amad, Quote:"Comein, come in.Oh, don't pay for them yet. We have plency of time to talk before you must leave” Appearance k: sto bea very successful mer chant, dressed in the nest clothesandl delicate ewelry.lightly powdering his face and using traces of make up. He enjoys presenting his wareshimself and often has one in hand, ready tohaggle Encourage Kaliost has not surrounded himself with the most capable of servants for fears that they might become too rnosyastohis own activities His bodyguardsare more orshow than action, and his servants tend to besneaky and obsequi- ealousy his success jost app Roleplaying Notes: As genial as they come, he likes to faugh and joke, making his hospitality available ro everyone. Should his covet be threatened, however, he would turn deadly serious. Equipment: Trade Goods Fin pier. Spy Eve Robes, Dueling Shield, Revai (0) SOLLSIWTLOVEVHO 2 (uedimy) soueroaiy s2ouetiy ajeyy 399 u 2 STIDIS GaNAVAT a2ey _Ganjy O&OP) PUDOY, ISONMassive forestsstill cover the world of Wolfs Lament.and itsinhabitants glory in the hunt ofits many woodland crea tures Those Vuldrok whoexcel in the chaseand the kill bring. honor Co themselves and their tribe. Nothing brings greater honor, however, than a successful hunt in space, and few ‘Vuldrok have been more successful than Sunchief Binoche He salled on his frst war galley at the tender age of 13, taking part in successful raids on shipping around Leminkainen, Gwyneth and Hargard (a planet lost fo the Known Worlds) He joined the other Vuldrok in the trill of space, yelling likea maddened bull moose as his ship closed, with enemy vesels and throwing himself into the void in the rush ro board, Armed with axes and explosives, he and hisfellow tribesmen would firegrapplingtethersat their prey and use rhem toferry from ship toship, blowing holes in en. ‘emy julls and slaughtering all who opposed them. Asexcitingas these taids,and even more profitable, were the foraysontonen-Vuldrok (and sometimeseven Vuldrok) planets His ship would hustle chrough a Jumpgate, sailing oo fast rotake much damage from any gate patrolsand then creep toward an inhabited world. When the time was right and no defenders were apparent, Binoche’ ship would sti out of the sky raiding villages, burning estates and carrying, off loot and prisoners. Binoche quickly achieved prominence among his bar barous brethern, frequently being the first ro leap out of che spaceship to board another, impressingall wich his wild aban- don and ferociouscharges By the time he turned 16, many in his tribe already looked to him as a leader. By che time he turned 18, he became then-Sunchief Desparo’ right-hand Serving under Desparo gave Binoche innumerable op: portunities to gain renown, and bis chief assigned Binoche ‘more then just combat duties Binoche learned to care for his, navigated shipand trade with those merchants he did not (or could not) raid, More importantly, Desparo took ‘him on diplomatic trips, meeting tribes which crafted new space ships emissariesrom other worlds,andeven gatherings, of all the tribes held on the sacred planet of Raven, Ie was at one of these gatherings that Binoche beyan to realize that Sunchief Desparostime had passed. Binoche knew that war wracked the Vuldrok’s enemies on Leminkainen. Many of the ships and legions which once guarded that sys- tem were absent, Fighting distant battles in places Binoche knew nothing about. Never before had the opportunities for plunder been so great. Then why was it Desparo called for a cessation ofall raids against those who flew under the Lion’, banner? Desparo claimed that the war was reaching its ultimate conclusion,and that the Lion forces» thetime for talk, not battle Should the Lion win.tt would be mightier than ever and its forces would return in greater numbers than ever before, seeking to crush these who had fought it, Binoche hated the idea. Now was the rime costrike. not sit back like cowardly Hargard vultures! But Desparo’ words carried weight with the other chiefs.and the Vuldrok followe re winning Now was Sunchief Binoche spoke of making peace with theirancient enemies, ‘Onthe night before the tribes were to decide, several sha mans Binoche had never met before visited him while he brooded in his tent. They claimed that despite what other holy men had said at the gathering, the gods did not favor peace, and such talk angered them. Thesurest way toappease te gods was to kill Sunchief, They gave Binoche a new axe, blessed it, and crept back into the night. ‘Ac dawn, Binoche called out his mentor. Declaring. Desparo’ way thar of a coward, he challenged his Sunchiet. Grimly Despato took up his own! axe toslay the one he con: sidered asa son, For almost an hourthey fought, with Desparo dominant throughout. Binoche began to wear down as the fight dragged on, his parcies slowing and his slashes becom: ing weak. Finally Desparo knocked him to the ground with one solid blow and prepared todeal therinal stroke. Binoche desperately strove roraise hisaxeo block,andashe did sohis thumb hit a switch disguised within the hilt ornaments: ton, Suddenly a pulse of energy leapt from the axe, blowing Desparoé chest into nothingnes. With Desparo dead, the chiefs found themsetves unable todecide ona new course of action, Some finally decided to send emissaries to House Hawkwood, while others chose to ‘continue the raids. As his tribes new Sunchief, Binoche gath ‘ered as many long ships as he could for one massive raid on. Gwyneth. The Vuldrok steamed out of thesky,burningand looting and leaving much of the world in ruins Binoche himy self lead the troops who destroyed famed Faustusmanorand carried of innumerable Hawkwood heirlooms In the years which have followed, Binoche has contin: tued raiding, bur doubt hasbegun togrow. The Lion’ warships did tecurn toGwynnethand Leminkainen.and word spreads that the house’ leader now commandsa force of unparalleled ‘numbers Binoche has begun studying the Known Worldsas few other Vuldrok have,and has learned much, He hastaken tomonitoringthe various factions, looking for ways tospread disharmony among them. He has already used captured Hawkwood fighters to attack League shipping and hopes to recruit some Known Worlders to help in these efforts. ‘Quote: "What has House Hawkswood ever done for you?" ‘Appearance: Tall and slender, Suncchiet Binoche proudly ‘wears the Furs of hiskillsand the earsof his greatest enemies Ina necklace. Entourage: The Vuldrok ralders who fly with Binoche have survived countless battles and killed enough enemies tofillacastle, He hasiot seen the priests whoconvinced him, to kill Desparo since that day, and has banned his tribe sha rman from his ship’ bridge. Roleplaying Notes: A commanding figure, Binoche is used to giving orders and rarely takes advice any more, Stil, heisbeginningto havedoubtsabout hiscourseof action, and flickers of uncertainty sometimes eross his face. He has be gun noticing movement from the corners of his eyes, and suspects that Desparos spirit may have begun haunting him, Equipments Armored Spacesuit, Enhanced Nitobi Blaster Axe, Vuldok Long Shipsomysiomog (92051, (€)4eaug, Eye 2UeY youpMy :20ueHy uewniy 290 2upoula soiuounsThe story of Cameron (‘Cam’) is @s much a story of archealogical digs as of barbarian castle heists. He is a crack starpilot and navigator with a penchant for women, booze and rareantiquities In the Known Worlds he goes under the allas 82. Morrett, half of the Morretti Brothers Rarities(MBR) operation, Teamed with GZ, Morretti, his long time partner, Cam, {in his Moreerti persona, regularity conducts many successful Freelance archeological digs in barbarian space, promising finds which most Scravers would Kill for. The Morrecti also participate in outright thievery, but since most of these ac tions occus in barbarian space, the only authorities who can, do anything about it are Vuldrok chieftains—and there isa long list of them hunting Cameron and company. The Known Worlders who hire MBR (o acquire specific items rately ask about their source records, It was on such a dig in barbarian space that Cam found his most prized posession, an amazing weapon he ealls a Sunsword, ‘Cam travelsinacustom Raider hecallstheSDI, rumored to be equipped with stealth tech and an unidentified (an perhaps quiteadvanced) weapons package. Evidence concern: ing the SDL and its equipment is limited to the sketchy ac counts gathered froma string of decimated barbarian ships. So far, the few Seraver crime families who know of the SDIS activitiesin barbarian space have not interfered (in exchange for considerable bribes of both firebieds and rare antiques). Other forces, some within the Imperial Eye, know of B.Z Morrettis “other life’ Most of these view the SDIS raids in a neutral, if not positive light. Quote:"Who cates whereit came from, baron?ItScleatly worth a fortune to your family” ‘Appearance: Cam is a human of average height with a ‘well-built physique. He hasstriking.deep set blueeyes shout der-length wavy blond hait and a deep copper tan. He and, his crew wear custor-tailored, metalli-blue synthsilk out- fits with matching hats. The hatsand beltsbear the lightning bolt Morterti*M" logo. Roleplaying Notes: In public, Cam plays the role of the fun-lovingdrunk who often appearsa bit illyashe arouses with the ladies. Though feared by more than a few artifact: hoarding merchantsand hated by atleast as many barbarian chieftains, Cam isa genuinely likeable guy who just happens tohaveaseriousand criminal passion for rarities Heisshrewd and hasan excellent memory for detail, Once on ajob, Camis, all business, Entourage A handful of elite specialists athered from barbarian worlds) who have worked together with precision, fora number of highly profitable years. Equipment. Sunsword (see below laser pistol,Serambler Cameron Michaelson (B.Z. Morretti) Pad, tingof numerousjumpkeys{mostly barbarian space, but some blackmarket Known Worlds keys), customized Raider starship Sunsword This pethaps one-of a-kind weapon has many similar: testo Flux or Mist Swords it fs most likely of some ancient Lost World design (although Cam suspects Vautech). The damage, however, is from Its intense flame tather than a plasma field flame-retardant clothing will protect agains ith ‘The Sunsword is powered by an integral energy cel that re- charges when exposed to sunlight. This currently tunduplicatable power core maintains power for 50turnsand Is fully rechargable with exposure to three hours of direct sunlight. Like a Mist Sword, the Sunsword becomes physically at tuned oF bonded to the wielder but the process is non-psy chic, based on some unknown science,and itis more lengthy, requiring 30 victory points on successive Wits + Focus rolls ‘The sword cannot be operated except by someone who has bonded with it There are some interesting affects this bonding allows |Wyrd points can be spent to inctease the reach of the sword fr the intensity ofits Flame (one Wyrd point = +1 goal OR + ‘damage die}, However, each plus one increase costs one extra turn of power. In addition, the sword can fire @ broad-area burst: One foot radiusaround the user per Wyrd point spent, Everyone in this rea is affected except those bonded tothe sword. Again, this uses up more power than usual-one extra turn per extra foot radius Likes flamegun, theSunsword inflicts heat damage-Any damage dice rolls of I, 2.0r 3 ignore armor or energy shields. The sheath is just as amazingas the sword. When not in ‘use, thesunsword “hilt"isattached by monomolecular bond ing to its carrying bracer, which Cameron wears on his off hand forearm, The sword can only be recharged when itisin itssheath, Iccan easily be removed by a person bonded to the ‘word; those not bonded cannot remove it unless the bonded owner is dead). ‘The sheath also serves asa limited energy shield: it will protect the swords bonded wearer from heat and ire but not ‘other forms of damage) as if it were a 5/10 energy shield (10 hits) The sheath rechagges in three hours of direct sunlight aswell, The drawback From the Sunswords heat protection is that it tends to absorb heat, leaving its wearer cold. Unless drawn andactivated, the Sunsword is unlikely to be identified asa weapons the cylindrical hile and sheath are ‘covered in intricate carvingsand beautiful metal inlay, mak ing the apparatus look like some bizzare adornment.Pe Nw ONO 1809 au Pir m409 wis ce est sy €/e (€)Uo%sseY (oooe) E/S (€)WRORY (Bocdoxyy) 90 mag (¢) s9uesnpug € € € SOLLSRALLOVUVHO| Sg 227 :96y sanuejoaly :2ouelly ajeyy apuag 1 STIDIS GANYVAT LeU 29H MOSTPEYOI UOAOUIE)Noajalien vo Zollent was a child when he first realized hiscalling rativea lifeof service tothe Obun peoples, and for the greater good: if few other Obun recognize him for his, noble blood, and if few other Obun acknowledge him as a trueambassador, chen so beit, Heshalll continue cotravel the Known Worlds seeking to spread the glories of Velisamilun, culture, as Obun ambassador and scion toan ancient noble ineage. Naajallen’sfamily isindeed ancientshisforebearscan trace themselves back — with only a few gaps, during Velisamils Savage Age — to the very founding of Obun civilization. In deed, the Zolleni family was among the first Obun stewards of Velisamilun culture, their duties and responsibilities ot dained by che gods themselves But times change, and the Obun peoples changed with them: and the citizens of ‘Velisamil reached the point where they believed themselves, need a noble caste. "Let our leaders prove them selves worthy by deed, not by blood” was the new slogan of, the Obun Federation, and so the noble families became an emasculated lot, nothing more than an aristocratic ret sgawked at by a democratic society So it was that many families were deposed, and among them the Zolleni family — which realized that che preserva tion of the family lineage was ensured by going along with thesocial moresof the time. The Zolleni aberdoned their fam: ily manse,and renounced any claim toaristocratic privilege ‘Bur they continued to educate their children in the history ‘of theie family. reaching them the wisdom of theirancestors and che bravery of theit forebears. Naajallen vo Zolleni feels himself the paragon of this family$long-lost station, Asa child he decided thatthe Obun, peoples needed to remember their ancient greatness, and he ‘threw himself into hisscudies He went through thestandard, ‘Obun educational system (quietly disavowingthe Federation ‘meritocratic political theories which inundated Obun edu- cation, and he reveled in the classies, mastering Obun atts ence, and philosophy. Forsakiny [Umo'in, he restored the noble vocative"vo" before his family name, acknowledging his aristocratic roots, and he traveled Velisamil, speaking of his peopleSancient glories He pledged himself, as his ancestors had done, to the god Dhoneki, the winged Lightbeater who is the patron of communication: it ‘a possible career in the Naajallen vo Zolleni isunder his province that Naakallen will achieve success. After a decade of travels and speeches and debates, this ‘Obun noble” had gathered a sizable group of like-minded individuals whoagreed together to work on restoring Obun pride and slowly champion the return to classical bun tra ditions But Naajallen was nota politician, and he tired of this work, so he set out on the next step of hiscareer ambassador of the Obun peoples to the Known Worlds. With some fi- ‘nancial backing from his supporters, he took to the stars of hisown accord, asa self appointed ambassador. Where other (Obun ambassadors would meekly ingratiate themselves be- fore human powers, Naajallen would demonstrate what the ‘Obun peoplesare truly like proud and strong. . He rravels the spaceways now. spreading his message, try ing to impress it upon humans and other aliens while te minding his own peoples of thele ancient strength. He pre fers to use Obun goods, to further support his own peoples — From Velisamnil clothing to weaponry, the erafts of his own. people come fitst, (HeS no idiot, though, and a good energy shield is good energy shield, regardless of provenance) His next geal isto own and command an Obun-built,jumpeate capable starship —a mobile testament and tallyingery for his people to remember their ancient heritage and travel tothe Quote: “You chink you know of the Obun? Listen, and M1leell you of @ proud, ancient people, born to grearnessand glory" Description: Naajallen is a tall, handsome Obun. He dresses and carries himself with pride and dignity, in formal \Velisamiluin gatb, Since he doesnt often find Obun tailors, his clothing is sometimes worn about the edges, but this doesn't distract from hissense of dignity. Hespeaks with chin raised, always as though he isaddressing an audience. Roleplaying Naajaller is proud, but not haughty though he has che placid demeanor of most Obun, he is eas ily roused by a passion foris people’shistories and tradition, No matter what the situation, he acts like he is on top of things it doesn't matter if his own people dontt see him as¢ noble of an ambassador, because he knows the truch that bolsters him in all things. Equipment; Energy shield (standard), Zalen Stinges, (Obun saber, concealed daggerOCODDDDOODOOCOCCSSe AK Zor F&O Sayeuad punony CODKCOOSECSSCSCOCOO®e ATVI Zu= saan 9 8 Se dest Hal aa we 89 St aa aye a annoy Lvawoo) uw sig. s2ssa2ang| os souyysiameg, ouospuey ueu i+ | Sug /——ABanayy| Bye sd 41n990 9 vonay SNOLLOV NOWWOD wonemig wey + S$ASYND/SONISSATA, (e951), vewny| y (gees e (url + pei. — (@)004g + wpinin eats (ey anesqg 179 (ey pao 9 um 228s > (aan ums ¢ (aig) e005 1 (eyssaiduy |} 2 (E)4aay 9 (ej aoueInpu s < (ey 81 | & (puondanag §— 2 (g) Aewag) é Ee Poe © leatung 9 nore S (guieyg] any 400g + ontny |STIINS TWUNLY SOLISIIALOVUVHO Suey s0¢ PIN =8y 11 2aN4 “204 ‘IBN tapuag ungo ‘294 om Bopwhacayay STUMS CANYVaTSekevea might have been happy staying home on Obun if her father.a prominent Obun Mwerro, had never taken her ‘on that fateful trip to Leagueheim. Afterall, hr family was, Quite wel off by Obun standards, managinga successful farm and enjoying the admiration of their friends and neighbors. ‘When she wasa teenager, her father offered to take her with hhim on a trading voyage to Leagueheirn, and there she saw ‘wonders she had never before imagined. ‘The cities themselves were like nothing she had ever imagined, The poorest citizens on that world seemed toown far more than her family, rich nobles by Obun standards, would ever possess, When her father took her to parties held, by his businesses assocfates, the girl could barely keep her ment in check, Elegant men and woman, clothed in the most beautiful of clothes and adorned with jewelry be- yond compare danced and drank the night away.and Seketea felt drab in comparison By the time they left Leagueheim, Sekerea knew there ‘was no way she could remain content to stay on Obun. The stazs offered far more than her own home ever could, and to, stay behind would leave her more and more unhappy. She bemged her father to le her take care of the familySoff-planet business endeavors, and on the rare trips these provided, she sought out a more permanent way to leave her home Tewason one such trip that she met Maurice Symmons, a Scraver with much wealth but no discernible occupation Seketea found him fascinating, and willingly accepted his, suggestion that she work with him, Symmons main. work seemed to involve meeting cloaked figures in dark bars, ac cepting small packages from them, and taking these pack ages toother worlds where he would exchange them for large sumsof money Seketea helped by keepingan eve out forany: onetakingan inordinate amount of interest in Symmonsand to create a distraction at a sign from him. The fact that she ‘was an Obun (and a very pretty one at that) usually meant hat she artracted far more attention than anyone else, and someone watching Symmons instead of her was automat cally suspect Seketea Halvena Ittook Seketea only few months todiscover Symmons was fence, specializing in the sale of stolen jewels and gems ‘When she realized It, she begged him to help her become 2 Jewel thief,and after several months of this pleading, he put her to use. She proved surprisingly capable in her new occu pation, beingdaringenough totryalmostanything butsmar enough to know when it was beyond her ability. Addition. ally, her psychic abilities, of which Symmons was unaware, gave her an advancage over other such thieves. Seketea has never specialized in any one kind of theft She isas willing to burglarizea guarded castle as heist jewelry from unsuspecting party goers She prefers to avoid violence bbut has some small combat training, Being hurt in a fight holds no geeat terror for her. What does disturb her is the thought that she is using her psychic powers for ill,and that the dreaded Urge may soon gain a hold on her Quote“Whaca pretcy bauble.Could Itakeaclever look?” Appearance: A pretty young UrObun woman, Seketea has brown skin, long hair (which she often ties back while working) anda wide variety of clothing. She works in basic black, but wears bright, happy colors when she goes about in public. Entourage While most of her thefts have been solo ef forts Seketea has never been one to disdain assistance. She has worked with orher thieves at Symmons recommendation, ‘and has found him to choose such alliances wisely. She also likes associating with people who cain provide her cover, and I willingly attach herself rosomeone elseSentourageasan, (Obun advisor or just an atcractive oddity. Roleplaying Notes: Seketea possesses one of the most valuable skills any thief can have — the willingness to shut Up and listen. Most people find her an excellent converss- tonalist for she asks questions, listens artentively to the an- swers and gives other people plenty of opportunity to talk about themselves Equipment: Thieves Keys Scrambler Pad, Spring Knife Benefices and Afflictions: Ally: Maurice Symmons (5) Thieves Keys (I), Scrambler Pad (3),Spring Knife (I)@0eeeeoeee® AIIVIIA bunayy| Sd ONY SN [F934 segs _IVSINOD 11990 SNOLLOV NOWNWOD aouellly aj 300 BUONeH Baz{2SBorn on the Uketi reservations on Aylon to an anciet clan which suffered lost statusafter the Ukar War, Drashtan followed his father and uncles in the traditionalist revolu ment,a part of the UFM (Ukari Freedom Move ment) Through sheer ferocity, he clawed his way up the local chain of command, and became of the leaders of the Aylon, Ukati revolt during the Emperor Wars, Adept at technology, he personally broke importancal-Malik security codes, When the AL-Malik and Ukat Allied Clans regained control of the blanet, Drashtan fled witha small revolutionary ell intothe safety of Decados space. Because of his knowledge of al-Malik codes, the Decados placed him on a spy ship monitoring military communica tions during the Siege of Jericho, the moon of Byzantium, Secundus. When the atmospheric plants on the moon were destroyed, with the Hazar, Decadosand Hawkwood troopson Jericho killed, Drashtan disappeated: his few comrades and Decadlos superiors perished on the ill-fated moon, Temporarily forsaking his evolutionary tacties,Drashtan used his knowledge of al-Malik codes co break into the family’ wealthy trade. His InsiderS track on many markets, within the Known Worlds made him wealthy; he has vowed ro supply his own Ukari underground with the money. ree Drashtan ja Nodlain (Rakun) of any human alliances Calling himself Rakun (Ukari for “no man’), Drashan poses as an independent synthetic clothing merchant. His beatingisproudand heotten findsic hard toconceal hiscon tempt of most other races, but he is known for his fair prices | and unusual knowledge of the market place on several worlds Quote: "Everything hasa price, even loyalty” Appearance: Drashtan is still relatively young for an Ukati mate. Elaborate tattoos cover his body and face, but he hhas learned to hide these under his more human-styleclothes (many of his cars display his deedsasa revolutionary hero) Roleplaying: Gruff and quiet, he becomes passionate when his peopleare brought up. Drashtan viewsall as poten tial enemies save a few old comrades in the Ukari Tradition alists and near clan members. He has some grudging respect, for the Decados, since they supplied and aided the Avion te bellion, while reali tthe al-Malik. Still, over time he can open up, slightly Equipment: He conceals a Martech Gold Laser Pistol. along with an ancient krax battle blade Benefices/ Afflictions: Dark Secret (Wanted by al-Malik ‘andl Imperial forces}, Gossip Network (Ukari worlds), Vendetta {Allied Clans) they used the Ukati as pawns againsts s - OCOVDDDDDD000000 OOOO Ait GF ® OF Sanipuas panama COCKOPCCOSCHHCHOCCOOCe INVA ao ONY ONC 1209 34) 29 my SNOLLIV NOWWOO (e) yh (Quondanag 9 SOLLSRWILOVEVHO SOE PIN “38y aouellly ajeyy i3p4a9 seman 32ey_(um{ey) uieIpON ef uEMIseIA.Wayland Blackthorn adopted the name of “Shade"after leaving the Kurgan Rangers five and a half yearsago. In the service of the Kurgans, Wayland used psychic cloaking pow: ers to improve his stealth, The Kurgan forces either did not know abour Wayland’ talents or chose to ignore them. A. CCharioteets Killtoy, however, noticed his speclal abilities and hired him away. He has since prospered in ways that the strange half-Ukar, half’ Kurgan never imagined he could, He still performs many of the diety tricks he did as a Kurgan, Ranger, only now they are in the seryice a different kind of Before the Killroys hired Shade, he lived his whole life on Kurga. Orphanedasan infant, he never knew his parents hiscarliest memoriesare of adreadful lifein chestreersof Hira (Kurga). That he survived says quite a lot about his tenacity. When he was ten, he was raken in by Curtis Blackthorn, an elderly former Known Worlder and Hazat householder who, +40 years pas, had run away From his Hazat lord, Overthe years, he builta small smithy business Curtis was. somber fellow, not given to praise, For the next eight years Shades life was devoted to constant menial labor, Curtis eventually adopted Shade and named hi ‘Wayland, a name Shade still treasures as his own, although he keeps It secret from others, Although he long since left home tojoin the Kurgan forcesin their war against the Hazat — a house Shade grew up learning to curse — he has fond memories of the old smithy and his adopced father, memo- ries which hecherishesin his tonely sojourn. Curtis,now very old, lives with several of hisadopted children, many of whom stayed on at hissmithy after reaching adulthood. Shade hasa combination of skills that allow him to deal with difficult (Gometimeshigh profile)individuals who have tech itemsthat the Charioreers want —orjust wane destroyed Not every jobShadeisassigned requizesa kill.Often, heisused to gather information, acquire some piece of technology, of simply blow something up, Some within the Killroysquestion the worth of such an operative, Others, however, recognize the value of his Shade (Wayland Blackthorn) and toan even greater degree, his expendibility. None of this islost on Shade. He thriveson the risks. The Charioceers att tude toward him only goes to support his view of life The only ching that mattersis performance. Tochat end, hestrives for perfection, Never to be seen or heard no calling card left behind, His use of psyche darksense and shadow dance powers (Cloaleing path, see Fading Suns Players Companion), in con. Junction with his blursutt, makes him practically impossible to spot. He bathes almost religously, using odor neutralizing ‘ointments to reduce thechance of hisbeing noticed by smell Shade knows that,asaspyandassassin, hisfutureistisky at best. He chooses not to use his proper name in order to re duce the risk of damaging the reputation of the one person who helped him. Ic may be that the gray coforshe wears area tribute to those better years spent covered in soot from the smithy bellows, Quote: “You did not see me, I was not here, You saw naught but shadows” ‘Appearance: Shacle is 7" tal: his thin frameaccentuates this height. His clothes are slate gray and match the color of his blur suit when it is inactive, Shade spends little time in public places, but when he must, he wears forearm-length glovesanda hooded robe (gras,of course}, Without the hood, he would probably cause a bit of a stir among the locals. Un- like other "kweddi’, Shade has gray skin (an occult stigma) and inky black halt {rare among Ukari). He shares the black ‘on black eyes of his Ukari half-beethren, Roleplaying notes:Shacleat best isdark and removed, at ‘worst, he is morose and completely disconnected from the ‘warmth of human compassion. When his judgement isques: tioned regarding his work he often takes it personally Equipment: Blur Suit, Sniper Rifle with nightvision scope ang silencer, capable of being broken down into a 3 tick, gray alloy cise that fits snugly ina back pack (assembly time: 5 turns} concealed Derringer, Thieves Keys (TLS), mech tools (TL7), volt tools (TL7} high tech tools (TLS)OCDODDDOODOC0CCOCOOSM MAN TF F&O SPURS PATON 000000COOCOCSCOO® ALTA ON ING. (#09 24)Most Vorox see little reason to leave the paradise that is their home planet, what with itsabunidance of glant preda tors to fight, noxious fumes to inhale and toxic poisons to imbibe. What moreisthere life than that, todobattlealong- side(and sometimes with) ones own angerakUnfortunately, some Vorox find life on their homeworld a litele unsatisty ing Scumalanga wasoneof these disenchanted Vorox. Asthe igth child of a minor noble, he found himself at the bottom, ‘of armassive,halty pecking order subject to whatever kind of abuse anyone wanted to heap upon him. His mother ruled lite territory, and even the non-noble members of their angerabeaped abuse on him. Followinga night when one of his brother’ dangled him for hours over the carniverous, pranata plant, dropping him and then eatehing him only. Inches from the steel-sharp tecth-like appendages, Scumalanga decided it was time to leave He made his way (0 the starport a mere 500 kilometers away. The fact chatan eight-year-old child,evena Vorox, could, attempt this trip alone, speaks volumes to how unhappy he hhad become with the angeratet his birth. That he survived itcalbeit barely helpsexplain why the Li Haan did not refuse him when he asked to enlist in their army. The humans in charge of the army could not tell how old he was, and who has ever sid no toa Vorox? When Scumalangaenlisted, the Li Halan still had agood chance of making one of their own emperor. They had the tacit backingof the Patriarch, especially since FlaviusLiHalan, had sworn fealty tothe Church. Many observersthough¢that the Patriarch was only waiting for some telling Li Halan vie~ tory to throw the full weight of his support to their cause Unfortunately. his vietory never came about ‘The Li Halan found themselves threatened on and then driven from Malignatius. Their earlier victoryon Rampartbe- ccame mired in confusion as local terrorists forced the house to send more and more troops to the planet. Additionally. while the League never officially embargoed the Li Halan for their seizure of Rampart, many merchants refused to trade with its nobles. The League even allowed large Hazat raiding, parties through Leagucheims jumpgate to attack Midian. Scumulanga found himself atthe front of many of these battles, having joined a human infantry battalion after re fusing to serve with other Vorox. He proved very effective huncing down Rampart’ guerillas — so effective that hissu- priors made hima corporal when the human one died while ‘on patrol, Pleased to discover a sure way to advance in the army, Scumulanga began looking for similar opportunities. After his commanders sent his unit to Midian to battle Hazat raiders, Scumalanga’ immediate superiors became battlefield casualties at an alarming rate. By the time Alexius began to solidify his grip on the crown, Scumulanga had be- come a lieutenant, and knew that this was as far as he was likely toadvance. In fact, even tha ition was tenuous. Scumalanga As the Emperor Wars drew toa close, Scumalanga real- ized that his position asa Vorox commanding humans, while acceptable in wartime, was much tess so during peace, and he hhad no desire to have to deal with other Vorox. Also, some: body might want to look into those deaths which facilitated his rapid promotion, While his official term was not up (an average term of service being at least 20 years, Scurnulanga managed to convince a commander to give him an early re lease, only breaking one of the commandersarms in the pro- ‘ess, He took his leave of the Li Halan and went to work for himself, hiring out to whomever would have him. At first his assignments were merely repugnant, hunt Ing down escaped slaves and squeezing money out of debt: (ors bucthey have degenerated from there.Since hestill works asa freelancer, having had difficulcies with the Musterafter he executed a number of its members on Rampart Scumalanga has had to take jobs from the most unscrupu: lous nobles and guildsmen — not that he minds. Hijacking ‘an Amalthean medical convay at the behest of greedy apoth. ‘cities means little cohim,So he saved his early earningsand used them to hire mercenaries from the burgeoningranksof discharged soldiers. His new team has proven effective, and it works for whomever will meet its price. He takes great pleasure in raid ing guild facilices.especially when hited by other guild mem bers. Nobles have also learned to seek him out when they want an especialy graphic example made of rebellious serfs Scumulanga himself actively hunts down any job that will put him at odds with other Vorox. His hatred and contempt of his own race has only grown with time, and any opportu: nity to injure one of his kind is happily recetved, ‘Quote"My employers getting tired of you tryingto help these rebels. That means I'm getting tited of you breaching” Appearance: When relaxing, Scumalanga prefers com: fortable. unassuming robes, When going into battle, however, he makes himself look like every humans nightmare of a Vorox. and shows off his poisoned claw with gl Roleplaying Notes: Scumalanga isan especially success ful freelancer, and plans out his missions with a great deal of care. While other mercenaries (like Relov West) tend co leave holesand gapsin thelr plans Scumalangaalmost never makes that mistake. While very selfconfident, Scumalanga is be coming more and more worried that his crimes will come to light and humans will seek to make an example of him, He now goes to great exten to cover up his wrongdoing, Entourage: Experienced! andl immoral mercenaries. These people, representing a number of different races, have big, gunsand know how touse them, He hasaccumulated a core group of a dozen soldiers, but can certainly hire more as needed. Equipment: MedPac, Muster Chains, Frap Stick, Blaster ‘Shotgun, Plastic Plate MailCODOD0000000CCOCO® GAN ar ae oA @e@e@ Ava 1 Gault SLOWS sys LuvHO. AYOLOLA: (6) 30045 (9 22590 (4a, \d30104 (5 W xaog 1 e 3 47 STHWAS GINYVIT \ eae‘The Siege of Manjoolan wasno placeforan ungulate. Bu there Hulaaloo was, the single Shantor in the Fifth Supply Regiment of Count Bravost al-Malik’ rag-tag legion, set to defending the forsaken backcountry of Shaprut. The legion ever expected £0 see actual combat; their territory was worthless long since stripped of fes mineral wealth, a barren wasteland of trenches and tunnels dug by peasant min centuries ago. Nobody had considered its value as a beach: head for invading land troops — except for the Decades, They unexpectedly began landing troops here, far from the major cities If they could claim the Manjoolan Burren, it would be nearly impossible to uproot them: a Long, draws out guerrilla war would ensue. The defense fell to the only army in the region,composed mainly of conscripted peasants. Hutaaloo was among the supply lines. Asa young disen: chanted Shantor a Darkwalker.as his peopfecalled hisgen ation — Hulaaloo had sought military serviceasa meansof rising in human society, He knew the upper levels would al ‘ways be out of his reach, but if he could impress enough su- perlors, a good military career lay before him, along with the possibility to get off-world and escape che pitiful reservations painful remindersof what Hulzaloo sought toescape He signed up with the al-Malik in the later years of the Emperor Wars. Untrained as he was in human warfare, they did not know what to do with him at first, but with the Decados holding out against the new Emperor, their worlds were in increasing danger from raids. When in doubt, stereo- types come to the fore: Hulaaloo was given a position in the supply regiments asa hauler. The regiment had no flitters or skimmers and only two wagons — Hulzaloo would have to carey whatever munitions would not fit into them, Hedidso with nocomplaintand asmallamountof pride oncehe realized how astonished humans were tosee just how ‘much hecould haul Hisstolcism eventually impressed them, and the close-knit camaraderie ofthe military life wasgranted him; while his fellow soldiers never forgot that he was & Shantor, he was okay in their eyes Then carne the siege. Crammed into tight ¢renches with ro guarantee of escape (unlike his human comrades, who, could climb the walls), most Shantor would have gone bonkers Not Hulaaloo, who suffeted none of the claustro- phobia of his plains-running race. Armed with a spear and un-mount, Hulaaloo became an unholy terrortotheenemy. The Decados troops disembarked from their Landers Loadbearer Hulaaloo climbed into the trenches as the ships shot back into space, and readied themselves to defend against all comers, Then, they heard an odd noise:a rumbling, getting louder, Borel ing through the trenches at top speed, as unstoppable as speeding tank, came Hulaaloo, guns blazing. His hoofs crushed the hones and skulls of those who fell before him ‘while his spear gored those trying to climb from the tight muddy corridor Inone run, Hulaaloo had decimated a quarter of the i- ‘vading troops Followed by infantry to mop-up behind him, two mote runs further destroyed the newcomers. The Decados routed, fleeing over the walls or into the deeper tun: nels Ittook months to weed outthe tunnel dwellers, buronly ‘minutes to round up the above-ground evacuees HulaalooSsuperiors finally realized histactical valueand immediately promoted him, But the war ended soon after, leaving Hulzaloo decommisioned ike most of hiscomrades i-a taste of victory is addictive, and Hulaaloo could not surn to the reservation. He sought out the Muster rectuit: ets who circled like vultures outside the barracks, greeting decommissioned officers. At first skeptical of him, word of his deeds at Manjoolan became enough argument for them: Hiutlaaloo wasgiven an immediate commission and placed on 1 troop transport, ready for action on any number of fronts, Quote: "My shoulders strongly bear more than muni tlonsand insults they carry the pride of my race ‘Appearance: Large even fora Shantor, Hulaalooisbrown with few matkings, His hair is tied into braids and wrapped with ribbons, some of them ripped from the uniforms of those he killed at Manjoolan, Entourage: Hulaaloo commands small group of logis tics specialists, charged with arranging troop drops from or bit. They all universally respect him as a warrior but are yet unsure of hisabilities asa leader. Roleplaying Notes: Hulaaloo seeks valorand praise Those whodo nor give himn his due at first become targets of hist: temptsat bravado, While outright challenges probably wont ‘happen, he may pick fights near them so they can see how he handles himself: Uneil he gets favorableacknowledgment of some kind from them, he will keep at it. Equipment: Dolomei (voicebox), Remote-controlled Swivel Gun Mount witha Jahnisak Light Machinegun, Spear MountODDDD000000000 eee ZF & Oy SoNPuad pang ° SOHCCHCHCHHCOCOSHSOOOe KINA mg ONY ONG 18°9 Per smug wis be eyyay € (€)uondaog 2 Mm Si (ey ypbuangGolos only @ Midshipman among the Charioteers, not even a full member yet,and a Gannok besides. He’ not sup- posed co be piloting starships, But real starship pilots aren't supposed to bedrunk all hoursof the day.sequestered in theit abins for the length of a paying voyage. That’ exactly what Jordan Tarvesterdoes,though;an inveterate drinkersincethe ‘unfortunate loss of his wife and children to a buried mine lefc over from the Emperor Wars, Tarvester lets his and mascot take over the piloting duties on their journeys ‘while he retreats to his own brooding, If an emergency or ac cident were to occur, ita gamble whether Jordan would be leit. Little worry, though— Golo Tarvesteris inshapetoha well up to job. Most passengersand paving customerson Tarvesters pil port think that the unny-looking Gannok isjust 3 mascot, comic-telief fora long voyage. That hespends most of histime making sure the ship stayson course is completely unknown to them. If they were to even suspect, it would surely cause a panic, so it perhaps best that they'e kepr in the dark. Golo does make his rounds to make sure that everyone iscared for — the pilgrim route trade is lucrative, especially if ‘you can build base of steady customers, those few freemen Gr lowelevel priests well-off to afford an annual interstellar pilgrimage but not high-up enough to book better passage Repeat customers must be kept happy. To that end,Golo does entertain them, juggling, joking and cooking decent meats Hes quite popular and earns more in tips than his guild pay little as yet, but it promises to be higher once he gets his ull commission. Jordan Tarvester keeps promising to sponsor Golo once they get to Leagueheim, but that day seems farther and far ther off. Hence, Golo has begun to forge his own ties fo the Furure,and paysspecial attention toany passenger he thinks Golo Tarvester ill [ead to his commission or a better position elsewhere. While he has a fond loyalty to his sorrowful partner, he no longer expects promotion from him. Jordan adopted Golo after hisown children died, but its not really an official adop- tion — Golo doesnt even know if thatS allowed by law him beingan alien and all Any guildsman —especiallyany Charioteer—that books passage on their ship will get the best treatment from Golo, alin thehopesof a career. Indeed, noblesand priests willalso receive premium cate, even if it means that other paying pas sengets get slighted. This behavior backfired on Golo once when he failed co recognize Bishop Azul Methra traveling incognito as a poor mendicant; his snuubbing of the “poor priest caused bad word toget around about their pilgrim ship, and the next two runs to Holy Terra were only half-full be- ‘cause of it, But Golo hasnt learned his lesson yet if player characters look highiy-placed,they'll get the royal treatment. If not, they'l havea hard timeeven catching Golosartention ashe runs busily toand fro from the bridge to the messhall. ‘Quote:“Ah, sir know well the needs of the FaithfullLec it not be said that all guildsmen are ignorant of a pilgrims needs, Why. if wasaguildsman, Leould teach themall about Appearance: Most humans have trouble telling Golo apart from any other Gannok. Only his jumpsuit and tools show that he’ a working stiff on a starship. His ready smile distracts others from the oll stains on his uniform and the calluses on his hands Roleplaying Notes: Golo rarely ever hides his smile, and then only when he’ sure no one is watching, His desperation to secure a future career is beginning to show through, and his proselytizing grows obvious and annoying. Equipment Ringot jumpkeys Screeche tools | carship repairDODDDDDO0000000 Oe AK + > 9000000000000 COC®@ AIT sonnets ony, 47 STIS GANUVIT yoWe9 * J2}SANIE), 910Thoktika’a Huvuru was born toa declining noble Etyri family on Grail. Raised according to the Huar'taugha warrior’ code of honor, he swore vengeance upon the Muster mining company chat cheated hisfamily out of most of thei fief gn. erations ago.Single-handedly attacking theic current offices in New Lahore City, Thoktika's wounded several before his, capture. The Huvuru clan, shamed by this wanton spilling Of old blood, disinherited Thoktika‘a and exiled him from Grail ‘Thoktikela traveled with a Charioteer medicine show, firstasa back-up singer for the show’ Chirikiti star, then asa trick-shooter. Sick of hearing his noble name mangled by barkersand announcers, headopted the name of the Repub: lican xeno-anthropologist who studied the Etyri and was thereafter billed as"Hawkeyeal-Dubhai "Over time he honed, his sharp shooting skills toa degree most humans find in- credible, although by Etyti standards he isonly an above-ay- erage shot Histalent found good use when he wasinvited toaccom pany a hunting party into the wildlands of Delphi. While scouting for game, Thoktika’a sew a carriage being hartied by brigands some distance away from the party Heflew in toaid the vlerims raining lead upon the bandits from above and cuttingtheir leader clean in half with aswoopingsword blow. The occupants of the carriage turned out to be cousins of Eviathan Hawkwood (at that time engaging the Decados at Katerina Pass). When he learned of the incident, Baron, Eviathan wasso impressed with Thoktika'ts skill that he took the young Eryrl on asa squire. Thoktika’aattended the baron, through the latter years of che Emperor Wars, and, once the ‘Wars were over, Bviathan sponsored Thoktike'afor admission tothe Company of the Phoenix. Becoming a Questing Knight has helped Thoktika'a re build some of the self-respect he lost when he was exiled, Under the tutelage of rhe illustrious Ciera Li Halan, Thoktika'a has become almost as capable a swordsman as he is a marksman, Alexius frequently employs him as scout, bodyguard, herald and asa messenger whocan presenta mes- sage in the Emperors own voice, complete with nuancesand, inflections. But his position has its downside as well. His, greater visibility has exposed him to more bigotry. as young, children find him tobe the most fascinating of the Questing Knights while their parents ace outraged that their children ‘would wish ro emulate an alien. Neither the Company nor the Emperor have given him any real responsibilities or au thority,and he realizes that he is nothing more than a slot fied messenger-boy. He wishes to return to Grail and make amends to his family, but he does not yet feel that he has achieved enough with his life to return in honor, Race: Fey (Huarraughq) Quote:“Set your Fearsat rest, My Lady, for neither the gib bering hordes of Gehenne, nor the dazzling glories of the Sir Thoktika’a Huvuru al-Dubhai Empyrean realms norall theslavering beastsof the Voroxian ‘wildlands shall distract me from delivering in safety your adored lap-kitten from the boughs of yon tree!” Description: A handsome specimen of an Ecyri noble, ‘Thoktika'asportsa finely chiseled beak and striking stee-grey eyesarop hissleek. compactly muscled avian frame. His blue black plumage is broken by silvery darts which form a sun burst pattern when hesplays his wings. He usually wears his Phoenix surcoat (rallored roi his anatomy), and takes great pains to keep it clean, Similar painsare taken with his weap- ‘ons, which are ornately decorated with etching, inlayand fit ‘tings of precious metals. His willingness to experiment with many humanoid clothing stylesaltered to it the Etyri body (especially favoring a spiffy archers cap presented by Baron Eviathan) has prompted some (o consider him a fop — but nobody says thisto his face Roleplaying: You have devoted yourself to the imperial ideal of chivalry which is not so different at heart than the Huar'raughg warrior’ code. You also take great pride in your ‘personal appearance and go to great length to look present- able in high society. You are fastidious and even overly zeal- ‘ous in pursuing yous duties, striving hard forthe honest re- set of the human community. On the surface you are cool, capable and always on top of any situation, but that isonly a facade. Acutely aware of your status asan outsider, both on your homeworld and in the Empire at large, you see your po- sition of Questing Knight as an opportunity to regain some glory for your family, and, hopefully, their re-acceprance. To further complicate things, you have lately become aware that you harbot feelings of dubious propriety regarding Ciera Li Halan (also known as Ciera the Chaste), Entourage: Despite his notoriety, Sir Thoktikela has no real retinue of hisown, He has announced that he isseeking a squire, bur no humans, regardless of their own rank, are willing to subordinave themselves to an alien, Questing Knight or not. Thoktika’as only personal friends are other ‘members of the Company of the Phoenix: he has enjoyed Baron Evlathan’ hospitality on many occassions, and hasac ‘companied Ciera Li Halan on several adventures. In public he attracts much attention, being one of the most famous Etyri in the Known Worlds, and is often surrounded by & group of curiosity-seeking courtiers, excited children, awe- struck serfs,or even an anti-Imperial or antialien mob, Equipment: Fusion torch, antique telescope, Etyri sharpshooter lenses (+1 for long and extreme range shots) Weapons: Knife, scimitar, darts, long bow, Mitchau Quarry Gun, sniper rifle Benefices Nobility (Knighthood), Well-Traveled, Imperial Charter: Oath of Fealty (Emperor), Passage Contract (Impe- rial Navy) Afflictions Black Sheep, Vendetta (Muster)OODDDDDDOOO00SSCeSe BAK Co OF SaRUSS pUNDAAAsa member of the Hironem Wartior caste, Enikaz was ‘one of the few of his race to fight in the Emperor Wars. on. behalf of House Decados, He was one of the few to survive their dreaded Dragon unit, often sent by the Decados on sul cide missions. They were dropped into many difficult situa tions, not expected to survive. But they always managed to return. Enikae typically found himself running into battle with high explosives strapped to his back and orders to de molish something or other. He, and others, knew they were expendable, but refused togive in. Many of his brother Drag. ons did not survive: ‘When the time came for him to muster out of the ser vice, Enikaz expected a hefty settlement. The Decados gave hhim the equipmenc on his back and passage back to Cadiz, He never received a commendation for saving that Decados colonel, norrecognition for destroying the al-Malik fortifica- tionsatJibril. When Enikaz returned to the Hironem reser vation of Tutaz, he was shunned as an outsider; his people thought him tainted — riu~ewith foreign influences Hetried to re-enlist with his former masters, but they didn't want him, back. Bitter, and with nowhere else to turn, Enikaz found a rnew home with the Muster ‘The Muster accepted Enikaz 28a valuable asset, thanks Enikaz to his years of battle experience. They've assigned him to @ mercenary unit, hited out ta this or that faction. The player characters might encounter him on the battlefield, perhaps ‘saving them from an attack, or in the stereotypical bar Fight. Quote: “Knife. check. Ammo...check. Greniades.. Hey Sarge, where we dropping today?” Description: Slightly taller than the average Hironem. Enikaz is descended from the light brown desert dwellers of his race. Like many of his caste he sportsan impressive crest display of horns and flaps, Like all his kind, his eyes appear solid gold. A nasty scar down the side of hisface gives himan unsavory appearance. Roleplaying: He is efficient and tenacious, qualities which served him wellin the Emperor Wars. Enikaz does not sgive upeasily and refuses special privileges. HeS the wounded ‘man still willing to go into battle. Entourage: He can often be found with other Muster mercs,on a job someplace. He usually earns the respect of his peetsand employers quickly dispellingany prejudiceon their parts Equipment: Demolitions Rig ‘Weapons. Hironem Long Rite, knife, various grenades Affliction: Oscractzed (+2 pts)000000000000008Shai’b by the standards of her own Ascorbite race, Sha'ba't is considered exotic. Her carapace is almost silver in, color as opposed to the reddish brown of most of her kind, and she retains both her wings and extra limbs all of which are heavily adorned with trinketsof all kinds Morethan that Shai’balit has made her home away from Severus for the last 15 years.a rarity for one of her kind. ‘Stranger stillisthat she isan accepted (albeit barely) mem ber of the Muster. True, she seldom works as well with others, as she could, but Shai’bait has made a point of being as friendly and extroverted asshe knows how. For most people, this means she doesn't physically beat them into submission when theyask hera question. Shai’ba'it left her homeworld as a slave, kidnapped by savers for sale co xenobiologists on Byzantium Secundus Unlike most of the other Ascorbites taken on that fateful day Shaibait was still quite young and had not evolved into her final adult form. Since she was still in the Tan’zhom stage of life when taken aboard the Muster ship, Shaibatt learned quicklyand absorbed many of the more human qualitiesshe exhibits to this day. ‘When the Muster delivered their cargo to tsdestination, the captain, Arcuras Oleando, decided to keep Shai'ba'it asa pet She wasa worthy investment — wherever she went, hull rats would disapear very quickly She didn't simply stand by and behave asa per should, however, so Oleando soon let her carry Muster Chainsand a Frap Stick. It cook her a while but she learned how fo use both and soon was taking on more and more responsibilities, As time passed Shaiba't proved, herselfa worthy apprentice slow to learn but constantly will ingrocey When Oleando died four years ago, he left over half of his possessions to her in his will. He also left a very lengthy request that she be allowed fo join the Mus ‘member of the guild. There was a great deal of debate, but the guild eventually decided co allow her to remain in the only life she'd ever known. A few Muster wags commented that Oleando preferred Bugs to real women;Shat'bait quickly taught them to still their tongues Because she felt she might lose her predatory edge, Shatba't requested a transfer from the slavers to the ashati rasan active ait the bouncy hunters Due to her rather unpleasant habit of feeding on the slaves — only enough to sustain herself, never enough co kill — chearrangements were hastily made. Shai'bait often works alone, moving in and ourof dan gerousareasin search of her prey. lf the reward requiresthata prisoner be brought back alive, she does so. But if a corpse is considered proper evidenceof acapture,she often chooses to save herself the high cost of feedingon whatever live animals she must otherwise carry as cargo. Quote-“Emil lento? You have been seen with Reve Mal Mall isa known criminal, wish to find him and bring him ‘ojustice You will help me find him, now. Do not attempt to argue or flee. My Drexler Gatling Shotgun is aimed directly at your reproductive organs, You will come now or you will know pain” Description: Shat'ba'ics carapace and face are adored swith Muster and ashtati emblems Perhaps there issomething lackingin her diet, buethe normal rich, red and brown tones are missing from her body, replaced by a light silvery gray in stead. Addingto her unusual appearanceare the human-style clothes specially adapted for her form; she’ even got an envi ronment suit Shai'bait makes the most of her unusual appearance. sel ‘dom having to resort to lechal force among the people she hunts. A surprising number of her targers take one look at her and immediately surrender, begging for mercy. Roleplaying:Shaibait is remarkably outgoing for one of, her kind, Shes actually been known to answer an occasional ‘question without taking offense, and has even been known to volunteer her opinion on the weather. For the most part she is quiet, secepting that she is not human and will never be created as an equal among humankind. In her free time shestudies Urthish writingsand technical manuals attempe ingto bringherself upto par with the Engineers. Her fascina tion for mechanical devices is well known, and those who want tobeftiend her often bringher broken artifacts, which she treasures and diligently tries to comprehend, Equipment: Like most of the ashtati, Shai'bait rends to carry a small arsenal on her person at all times. Among her favorites are: Drexler Gatling Shotgun, Arbogast Sleeper (stun net), Muster Chains,a scrambler pad and a squawkerDODDD00000000OCCCe AK oo00e Pr Pe Pe ONY 9HIQ (F093 eng 312 45 seve wfyedeas aq z 1809 uonoy vonemg wey SNOLLOY NOWWOO SASYND/SONISSTIG BIEDOSSY UEY a @ewey) 23s 22.047 ay 9puag (7 STUMS GANYVAT bn seh i 4eqeus,Nagas left his home world of Madoc and the Tapol'ym Confederation with 12 comrades to join the Muster during the Emperor Wars Highly paid for theie work, the 12 formed, an aquatic demolition group, targeting naval shipsand ports on Hazat worlds, working behind the linesand causing great havoe roocean bases. After the wars his Il comrades returned home, ichly rewarded, while Nagas desiring to better under stand the Known Worlds (and humanity), decided to seek, ‘reelance contracts on Byzantium Secundus, His work swiftly degenerated Co reclamations, as rich robles pad him ro recaver heitloomsfrom estates fallen prey tothe rsingsea, During one of his reclamation hunts he dis covered an ancient Oroiym carving, inscribed with strange pictograms. Understanding its value and wondering how it came to be on Byzantium Secundus, Nagas hid it; he desires, roone day present itto learned elderson Madoc Ieishis prized, possession. Realizing that he could make more money by network- ing with the Seravers,hee approached some focal family mem: bers, They immediately realized his value and signed him on, shipping him off to the stars rouse in a number underwater reclamations programs on a number of worlds He has finally found the perfect venue by which toseudy humans. He sinterested in their teligion and philosophy. but hhasdliscovered that they sadly fail to iveuptorheir own lofty Other Oro'ym consider him reden yea wattior who Nagas Kada (Nagaskada) deals with outsiders, pethapsdeveloping anog yatraits(those who live too long among outsiders become outsiders them: selves Quote:“The problem is that weare orphans of the elder gods, and have no wise parents to teach us ‘Appearance: A dark, brackish-green Oroym, wearing a WET suit (Water Environment Togs} which recycles and pu rifies his bodily fluids Numeroussmall bags hangoff thesuit, containingarcheological tools, the Omega Gospels and (con cealed) the miniature Oro'ym statue found beneath Byzantium Secunduss waves. The webbing between Nagas’ fingers has been cut so he can handle human weapons. Roleplaying: Generally, Nagas is friendly and open to newcomers, often questioning those brave enough to ap proach the exotic looking amphibian. However, heisslightly pessimisticin outlook, asare most Oro'ym, believing that the elder teacher races have abandoned the younger ones none: theless, he becomes animated after meeting new, friendly humans His eserve soon givesawayto loyalty i heIikessome ‘one. Only trusted companion would ever learn of thesmall statue he carries (most would think it some artifact from Macioc), Nagas is unusual for his tace, for few Oro'ym leave Madloe, and fewershow an appreciation of human war tech rnigues, Nagas believes the Oro'ym must learn about the Known Worlds if chey ate to survive and expand, Equipments Capek 40 Aquatic Rifle, waterproof archeo- logical tool kit, demolition kit (concealed among tools)OF russ punon (e)auasqg | anoaUT(e) s 7 (\) HERG (6) 222" simiag (e)ssaiduy | (yea, £ (g) aouesmpug| 9 (¢) vondaniag ‘ sm BIeyV 9puag epey seZenOnly a few Vau have contact with humanity, keeping their society free from the pollution of alien ideas They see humanity as petulane children, not yet ready for a full ex change of ideas and culture. On those border worlds where humansaresllowed to live— Viil-ya, Manitou and Apshai — they are kept at arm’ length, their movements restricted by the Vau, On Veil-ya, Yona Utati Shervas servesasa liaison be- toween the human community and the Vau Hegemony It is, his job to inform the human community leaders of the Hegemony’ decisions, while at the same time actio humanity’ aclvocate to the Mandarin Himself a Mandarin, Shervas isa traditionalist and cau: tousshethinksthe Viu relationship with humanity has gone far enough. The relationship the Council of Worthies has crafted is well and good, Despite this, he hasa deep curiosity forhumans which iswhy he wasgiven the job. Hescrutinizes the humans he encounters, looking for material for a book he is currently weiting, An enthusiastic participant, he tries, human food, drink and pastimes. He even has a few human, friends, Because of his expertise in human relations, che He ‘gemonyy has recently sent him to Byzantium Secundus on a protocol mission, What will come of this mission isanyone’s Heisa firm believer in the prophecies of the Proge' the god-like beings who shepherded the Vau in their pre-his tory. The Progenitors recorded their predictions for the fu- cure.a blueprint for how history would unfold, For the most part, hese omens have been true, though figuratively so, The Progenitorsalsogave the Vau something.called the Valukesh Hateni(lit. Book of Illuminating Teuth in Time). These picto- igrams supposedly depict the flow of mystic energy through, he universe, showing the current influences upon theques: toner Shervascarriesa small device consistingof atiny screen, anda single button; pushing the button randomly selects a alyph, which Shervas then interprets, In addition to his diplomatic job, Yora Utati Sherva fan agent for the jaykata U'moti literally, those who unfold Yoma Utati Shervas history accordingto precepts) Iris th sure that history unfolds in che prescribed manner, accord ing tothe Progenitor’ blueprint. He and others of his kind monitorevents looking fortrends, linking them to thescrip tures, and plotting eventualicies chen act on thei interpre tation of the future, For example, the Third Book of Tetch proclaims that a great catastrophe would strikea Vau world: when the disaster didn’t occur at the expected time, the Jaykara Umori orchestrated one. One of the reasons Shervas, is so interested in humanity Is that he wants to figure how humanity figures into the Progenitors blueprint ‘Note: The skills and abilities listed below are only ap- poximations, Vau occult powers in particular are different From those of humans, operating on different metaphysical prinelples. Vau powers simply act Iike the abilities listed. Quote:'Some day, your eyes will open and your kind will learn you are not the only beingsin the omniverse. On that Lill laugh and you will repent” Description: As typical for his race, Yoma Utati Shervasis talland thin.and appears o bein his lace sixties. Hei distin guished by his long. silver hale He has been described as hav inga kind face —a light smileand sympathetic eyes. He wears 1 Vau Banishing Glyph in his beard, and dressesin the ornate robes of his caste and position, Roleplaying Shervassees himself asa tool of history and the will of the Progenitors. He is manipulative and sel-as- suited, convinced of hisability todirectevents Heisfascinated by how events unfold, and how people react. Shervas is out goingand friendly, with a genuine curiosity for humanity. Entourage: He travels with an entourage appropriate for 1 Yona of the jaykata U'moti He travels with three Vau War- rlorsand several acolytes, Pompand protocol are very impor tant to him, of which his entourage isan extension. Equipment: LifeCocoon, Valukesh He'eni reader, Vau Palm Stunner (projects ripplesof invisible energy which slam into the target) Vat Dispersion Fleld (eniexgy shield: 5/20) Benefice: Diplomatic Immunity irresponsbbility toen:ODDDDDD OOO 000 COCCe AK ere eo pm CODO0000OCOOOSOOO® ATVIUA yan onpeUsper r 09 suqrH obi) ony ONO (99 sweews _LVaINOD aH | OC/S) pes Bix OWN OTN ade anasqg, + (Bocdoamiy) (9 2aan) s 8 ¥ € ¢ = (6) *5p0q é € (ey uueyg ‘GNI, Aaog $ STHAS TWYOLVN SOULSIHALOVYVHO| wuepueyy ue @s09 sy nowy eErter suey IEW 2p4ag, nen 202 SeRIOYS HEIN ELIA W7_STHMS GANYVSTin rare and unusual artifacts, Lost from an expedition se ing the Gargoyle of Nowhere during a freak sandstorm, Glerines wandered in the desert for days. Though she at “empted to use her navigational knack, the featureless land: scape and unforgiving terrain defeated her efforts Lightheaded with fatigueand crazed by thirst, Glennes wan- dered further and further ftom civilization, As she lay dying, she fele the presence of another being nearby, Weakly lifting her head, shesaw an enormousserpent, its glistening scales the color of the desert sands. She felt strangely comforted by the snake’ presence. Asshe watched, the serpent extruded a clear tube from its abdomen and at tached itto her stomach, Glennes felt a brief pain and saw a whieish egglike sac slide down the cube and into her own, body. Briefly, her thirst abated, her exhaustion left, and she felt intimately connected to theserpent. : can accepesh thought. Then the pain hit her, Agony beyond her comprehension overtook her as the Symbiat spore took root and began to change het molecular ‘makeup. She doesnt remember much of the next few days except awakening to find thedead serpent next to heron the sand. The heat no longer seemed oppressive, but welcoming. Rather than abradingherfaceand body, thesand caressed her elongated body, smoothing her scales as she undulated over its surface. Lifting her hands to her face. she discovered the cool, sitiny scales that covered every part of her. Looking down, she saw rhe saes growing within her, each spare creat ing for itself a protective membrane. Instinctively.she knew har she had become Since that time, Glessh has traveled the wastes of No- where, seeding spotes within hardy plants in the most inhos pitableand hidden regionsof the planet Occasionally.she has, ‘come actoss bands of nomads Whenever one of them looks promising, she follows and tries to kidnap the person. She then implantsaspore sac within the chosen oneand waits to see if the bond will take. Thus far, only a few have melded: ‘most have died. She has sent the successes to the far reaches of the planet, hoping they can remain hidden from the hu mans, who do not understand the comfort and connected: ness she offers. Eventually,she knows a Symbiot ship will ar rive and ake them all home. Until then, she has an impor: tant purpose to fulfill asSymbiot mother to the planet Quote: “You sssee, humansss? Now they ssleep, ‘coon they will awaken. Perhapss insside you" Description: Glessh isa Symbiot anaconda sized snake woman , coveted with iridescent white scales even on het nearly human-looking face. Her eyes are slit like chose of a snake, and have membranes rather than tlds. Her cobralike hood frames her face and shoulder area, Below it, she has a torso.armsand hands likethose of ahuman woman (though of a size commensurate with her tail section). Down the length of her tall run thorny projections.each sharp enough ‘to inject poison from the sacs Located at their base via a tail whip, The front of her torso fs transparent, with egg sacs clearly visible within her. A clear tube coils within as wel: te can be extruded fo insert Symbiot seeds in hosts, Roleplaying: Retaining just enough of her human self ro ecall how she becameaSymbiot and toremetnbec human speech, Gtesh feelsaconnection withalllivingthings—even those she preys upon to sustain herself From that connec tion, she judgesthoseshe choosesas worthy hostsfor her seeds ‘Though she remains fully committed toher purposeasaSym- bot breeder, she finds that she often craveshuman voicesand listens avidly ¢o the nomads she follows before kidnapping any. Though she would rather talk than fight, she s not averse tocombar should iefind her Powers Tunnel through sind Inject venom via tail whip. (Dx+ Fight, 0 DMG: Gtesshs venom does no damage, instead sending the recipient intoa deep sleep lastingabout an hour The victim may roll Endurance + Stoic Body to avoid the poison effects). ‘Affliction: Symbiots cannot defend against or contest mental occult powers ngs.ODDOD0DDD0O0CCSCee GAN Ze SB Oe BONERS PUTA CODD COSHH CHCOCLOO® AIIIVIIA om WONUY fousrmeaienes woyenopuorrd (@) ye2ug (€) 39045 € —_(e)4>aL_—_g () souesnpuy 9 (Quondaoag —b (€) Auanag 4 ©9M 8 € ri ) aed Nt Aaog weods |STIUNS TVUOLY! SOMSIALOVEVHD 8 sepaaig, ue aauelly U7 STIDIS GANUVAT] (eur) yoqu's ‘sory‘The most vicious predator in the Known Worlds, the Grackle Fox (ras ain Voroxian) is viewed with awe and dread even by the feral Vorox that hunt it on their homeworld. The most unnerving thing aboura grackle (to both hu- mansand Vorox)sitseyes —a terri vingly,seerningly sentient gaze. Voroxian myth claims the grackleas the Vorox’teach~ ing shadow, the harsh taskmaster and force which drove em to sentience. It isa sort of unforgiving master whose tests.can easily kill is disciples, Much as certain old Urth Na tive Americans revered the power of the bear.so do the Vorox, revere (and fear) the grackle, their governing spirit of evolu tion and death, ‘Appearance: Like most Voroxtan natives, he grackle has multiple imbs.eightlimbsin all,each powerful and agile for climbing up trees (Voroxian jungles are known for theit in tensely tangled branches) However, its weightand sizeissuch, that iecanniot go too high (allowing the Vorox and other prey room through the tangled boughs). Its maw iseigantic. When closed, the edges ofits tips curt Grackle Fox pinto what humansperceiveasanevil,cunninggrin thence. the fox” designation, so-named by early xenologists viewing an immature kit’ rather than a full-grown beast) Thisis not amerely anthropomorphic view —the grackleisa errfyingly cunningcreature,moreso than a bigeat although it lackssen: tience. ts teeth ace many and sharp, its tongue abrasive Its claws are, like those of feral Vorox, poisonous — even to Vorox, While it will not kill che hardy, i will sap theit serength ~ andin the vicious,naturalenvironmentof Vorox, that is enough to ensure a quick death, Its fur somewhat resembles chat of an Uirth lion ~ not too shagay in most areas, but with @ thick mane, belly and tail, Markings vary with tegion: northern (deciduous forest and mountain) grackles are brown and relatively uniform, while equatorial (steamy jungle) grackles are less hairy but marked with wild colors (purples, yellows greens, ete} Some are striped, others dotted. Xenologists understand too little | of theierangeand evolution totheorize upon the originsand vaelneesel thelr markingsinogackiebaseverbeendome> ged for long). | tleated or Grackle Fox CHARACTERISTICS Strength (3) 21. Wits) 7 | Charm Dexterity (3) 15 Perception (3) & | Dodge Endurance 6) 15 Fight VICTORY [POWERS ee CHART [étect Goat) ee Observe. [Successes Pts /Poison claws: -3 on all Sneak 1-20 actors uta ruber oF Vigor Flues equal Vitaly 35 68 42 on 8 214 +4 Ha 45, (+6 Cra suncewr 32 SKILLS COMBAT = S™Rbonus: +64 Action Init Goal DMG RNG Fangs a2 1 a 0 24 4 7 2 942per3m 0 7 23. 1042per3m a a3 4 3 73 6B 21 Gyaner success grapple thal 3 | as and chen tn ngs © [ARMOR Hite and muscle i ay, 422K Lesnar 33hisodd, monkeylikeanimal isthought to be one of the original natives of Pentateuch, @ creature either engineered 2s part of Doramoss reeraforming plan or existing from pre= terraforming,days It was believed extinct for centuries until, © —acolony was discovered In the forests of northern Matador. @ —_ Manyhhave been bred in captivity since then,andthe race has become popullaras pets especially in monasteries) Many more are believed to exist in the wild, Eskatonies consider the animals blessed, in some way sa cred to the Pancreator’s plan for Pentateueh, the order’ homeworld. Thus, laws have been passed makings it illegal to thatm & phantom. In Maladorian monasteries, where the phantomsrun wild, occasionally climbingoverthe wallsand into the sanctuaries they are treated well and fed. Indeed, some believe them to be reincarnations of revered and wise holy men. Ifa wild phantom appearsin a monastery sancti ary, itis considered a very good sign. Malador Phantom Most other Known Worlders think they’ are just inter- esting if unusual, pets, League merchants have spread them throughout the Known Worlds while they ere by no means common (ever on Pentateuch), many know what ones, ‘Appearance: They have white fur.and thelr long, prehen- sile tails are also furred, often displaying gray or silver stripes Their skin in blue,especially visable on their furlessfaces.and their eyes are red — all four of them (two rows, one atop the other). While the top tow somewhat aids peripheral vision, the bottom row iscapable of powectul night vision (the phan- toms often close these eyes during the day or under bright fight). They are friendly and well-rainable, and behave some: what lle Terran koala bearsin most respects However, they have no known predator, Even predatorsintroduced intothe Pentateuch wilds seem disinclined to hunt them, adding to the phantoms' mystique.OWE JOPEEYYKevoor Udea is a menace co all travelers in the Burning Desert of Pyre. Commonly known as “scorpetions’ by the desert-dwelling Avestites, Kevoor Udea are creatures well adapted to their environment. These two-tailed scorpiontike ‘cteatutes hide among the smoldering rocks and cracked dry ‘ground waiting for small prey to pass. They have developed a eleon-likeabilicy that helpsther to blend in with the natural colors of the Burning Desert: @ particularly useful defense mechanism since Pyrean buzzardsconsider cheirsoft internal organs delicacy: The Kevoor Udeai ability to hide, and cheie excruciating deadly sting, makes them a very real danger to Avestites or anyone else venturing through the deserts, When the Avestitesfitst encountered Kevoor Udea, theit first reaction was to exterminate the deadly creatures Over time, however, the fanatic inquisitors began tolook upon the scorpelions very differently. Perhapsi was while watching the agonizing, sweat-soaked death throes of their own people poisoned by thecreature that the Avestite leadership realized ‘anew way to punish sin, Or maybe it was the Fearful look in the eyes of the faithful that appeared at the very mention of the creature’ name Kevoor Lidea is the name given to the scorpelions by an ancient band of nomadic wanderers descendants of the origi nal colonists of Pyre. Through the generations, they have at tempted to keep and pass on the remnants of thelr ancient, lore and unique Urthish dialect. Some of these nomads have been converted to Temple Avesti,and they bring ¢heirsinful bbut sometimes useful myehs with them. One uch myth con: ‘cerns the scorpelions of Pyre Nomadic lore describes the scorpelion asa minion used by elder gods for punishing those that did nor show them, honor. The meaning of the name the nomads give the crea: ‘ureshowsthisclearly: Kevoor Ldea transtatesas unseen holy death bringer’. The Avestite leadership on Pyre have taken, the translation asa confirmation that the Kevoor Udea should, ‘be brought into their arsenal, The scorpelions,of course, will be saved for use in only the most heinous cases. ‘Quote:“The poison of the Kevoor Lidea,catefully admin- istered to properly tourniqueted fingers, toes, etc, can drain away thesins of even the most wayward soul ‘Appetance: Kevoor Udea grow toapproximately one foot in length and weigh from four to eight pounds when full ‘grown, Much larger specimens, up to 10 feet. in length, have been reported, but no specimen of chis size has been con: firmed When placed in a neutral environment (such as a clear lass jar), a scorpelion assumes a dull brown-gray color. Oth: erwise it has the ability to blend in with any number of natu: ral colors, or combination thereof: reds, yellows, grays, tans, Kevoor Udea (Scorpelion of Pyre) Dbrownsand blacks. Ichasa banded exoskeleton which istougheston the top of the body and two large pincers, used to hold prey. These pincers do not cause damage, but improve the scorpelion’ ‘chances of hitcing with its stingers. When a pincer success fully grasps a foe. it holds onto the prey and does not let go (2 stinger goal roll ‘Weapons, Part of what causes the Kevoor Udea to be so feared istherype of poison that the creacure carries. The back- barbed stingers (I DMG each on entry another pointon exit- ing the wound if nocsurgically removed) inject liquef ying agent (I DMG per turn beginning 10 turnsafter injection) that actsmuch likeche avid certain flies regurgitate on their food. This particular acid, however, works from the inside out. ‘The Kevoor Udea leaves its stinger(s)imbedded and then compressesits internal sacs forcing continuous flow of pol son through the wound intothe bloodstream of its prey. The poison proceeds to spread through the victim’ body causing, the blood vessel wallsand surrounding tissueto dissolve. The smaller the prey.the quicker the process. After the vietim has liquetied, thescorpelion insertsa feeding tubeintothe corpse and consumes the fluids. People have been known tosurvive arm or legstings of the Kevoor Udea by tourniqueting the poisoned appendage (within three curnsafter being stung the scorpelion must be removed and a successful Remedy roll made). In these situa tions, after the tourniquet is applied, thete is little besides, theurgic or psychic aid that can help, and the poison must ‘ran itscourse. The process isnot a pretty one and the vietim, isnot guaranteed tosurvive (oll Endurance + Vigor with a- 3 penalty or die of shock and system strain) lFchetourniquet issuccessful, hearm orleg will quickly proceed to lose muscle definition as liquitication begins Within minutes, the skin will begin to ooze melted flesh. tn half an hour, nothingbucbone,shrouded in paper-thin skin will eemain, Stingsto the trunk of the body. neck or head are fatal without theurgic or psychic intervention. If the character stung receives theurgic aid within 30 turns(aboura minuteanda half) of belngattacked (The Lay- ing On of Hands, Healing Hand of Saint Amalthea), the po son will becountered, Damage sustained up co that point will require further healing attention. Psychics who follow the path of Soma may halt the poison’ onslaught through the uuse of Recovering, Second Republic medtechs devised an antitoxin, but most data arid samples of this remedy were destroyed by Avestitesin their tech purges.it is rumored that theextremely hard-to-contact black market on Pyre has access to such ‘medicine — ata high priceHangard, homeworld of the Vuldrok, is also the home of ‘the Skire,a sometimes vicious always curious furry litle ras cal. The Vuldrok have a healthy tespect for the animal they call "long ooth long tail”,among other curses and jests Skirls inche wild (eral)are skittish, and when caughton theground, ‘will often flee unless cornered, or if tt is mating season. In those situations Skirrls are very dangerous indeed. Making things worse, mating season occurs four times. year Fetal Skirris are found in theis greatest numbers in the primal Hangard forests There,amongthe trees they hunt va ‘ous mids ing animals, often taking down prey twice theirsize Skirelshideamong the branches above and wale for {quarry to pass. Then they leap down, spearing theft saber toothed fangs into the backsof their prey and rending them. ‘with small razor-sharp claws, Their highly effective method of hunting would be much more perilous to the Vuldrok travelling through the forests if noc for the Skirrls penchant for pekanuts Pekanuts are a native, soft-shelled tree fruit that the \Vuldrok carry with them whenever they must passthrough, Skitel tertitory. They throw these nuts one at atime, out to the side of their path. The Skirrls cannot resist the pekanuts, even during mating season) and end up fighting each other over the delicioustreasure. Note:Icisimportant to keepthese ruts carefully sealed in separate packages, as an open pack age on one’ person could attract dangerous attention. Baby Skirrls (called kits) taken from their reenests(a per itous feat) can be, with difficulty, raised and trained in cap- tivity (Wits + Beastlore, 4 penalty, to start the training pro Hargardian Skirrl cess It iseven rumored that some Vuldrok have managed to breed them. However, no self-respecting Vuldrok would ‘openly admit to such a success If they did, it would drive down kit prices and eliminate many hoursof boastingabout tte perils faced while retrieving the little furballs The curiosity of the Skirt! is well documented in Vuldrok lore. Over inquisitive Vuldrok children are often chided with comparisons to the nosy rascals. The Vuldrok whocan afford them, use trained Skirt as retrievers (thieves) asoften as guards Most savvy Known Worlders believe that the Skirtl is nothing more than an elaborate joke meant ro scare visiting diplomats or merchants. Serfs on Leminkainen, however, claim that theSkirrlshavebeen released intothe wildsof that world, greatly harrying hunters there. Quote: “Stranger, you'te beyond nuts to be going into Skirel territory empty handed” ‘Appearance: Hargarcin Skirsls vaguely resemiblea saber toothed version of a normal squirrel, but are genetically un- related, Unlike squirrels, they have strong retractable claws and reach sizesof approximacely threefeetin body lengthand ‘weights of 15-20 pounds They have charcoal gray coats with bbrighe white under-fur. Their three-tofour-inch long upper, fangs curve well below their bottom jaw. Their bright amber ‘eyeshave warned off more than one potential intruder. Their tailsare as long as their bodies, Cost: Retriever Skirrl: 400 firebirds/2 Benefice, Guard Skirt: 150 firebirds/1 BeneficeTung uepaeBer|Tlinto Ba’ kamek (Shadow Spider) charge is insufficient, there will beno affect on the spider: if the charge exceeds the specifications, the spider will die of shock Ifthe process s successful, thespidercan then be trans- ferred toa thermal container for storage and transport. The shadow spider drainsheat and light forenergy. Ukati Strange things come from the bowelsof the planet Ukar (Kordeth to its inhabitants). Among them Is a creature the Ukari call Tlinco Ba’kamek—“light drinker” This bizare life form, more generally known asa Kordethian Shadow Spider, istrulyan oddity of nature. Theappearance of theKordethian, Shadow Spider makes i¢ very difficult to notice, An inky black shadow in the corner ofa poorly lt room or cavern crev ice hardly drawsattention to itself Little is known about the ecology of the Kordethian Shadow Spider, If the Ukari know anything, they are not making any information available. Because the Kordethia Shadow Spider dwells deep within the planet Kordeth, there is little access to its breeding grounds. Some suspect that shadow spiders were engineered by Ukari gods (Anunnak) toguard areas of Ur tech on Kordeth — possibly entrancesto the rumored terraforming engines. Foolhardy artifact hunt cers risk their lives following rumored sightings of shadow spidersin the "wilds' of Kordeth. The Ukatl trap Kordethian Shadow Spiders by luring. them to a single light and heat source chat is stronger than, ‘what can be found in thelr natural habitat. Then they dis able the spider with an electrical charge that paralyzesit fora short petiod of time. The electrical charge must be within 10 I5voltsand exactly 2ampsand be held forat least two but no more than three minutes. If the application of the electrical hhave been known to use them in several ways: they can be trained to keep an area cool, or fo hunt down someone and siewithin five feet of him, killing him through hypothermia inv hissleep. ‘Attacking the Kordethian Shadow Spider with a laser ‘weapon, ora fire producing weapon, witl only cause it to be “fea and encourage it to advance on the attacker. Attacking it with strong. continuous current electricity can be very ef fective ‘Quote: “Knowing the Ukaris pet ink spotsare there will only chill your blood. Not knowing...well, that won't matter, much. It isnt getting colder in heres it?” ‘Appearance: The Kordethian Shadow Spider is thtee feet in diametet,a half inch chick in the center tapering down to 1/32", surrounded by a fringe of thousands of quarter-inch long gossamer-thin,tendiril-like legs, Theshadow spiderflows, soundlessly alongon these rippling legs. They are totally non- reflectiveandappear when noticed (which srarely)asan inky, black spot or a hole000000000000000000 GQiK a pao 200000000000 Cee ALIIVLIA Ce ) Gemma (@) wondanieg os SOLISRILLOVAVHO| ONY ONG {P09 WU} =a iis (eapids mopeus) youe} Fe OWL)‘The Changed come in more than human forms. During the Second Republic many socialites demanded small, in- nocuous looking protectors. Out of that demand came the Doggoth Doggothsarestill bred to besmall, cute personal defense creatures Most weigh berween 10to15 pounds and are luty roly-poly things similar in size toa Persian cat, They tend to be fat and somewhat spoiled looking, Looks in this case are deceiving, Doggoth muscles are compacted at four times the aver~ ‘age ora normal animal of their size. This heavy compaction ratio gives Doggothsa vertical leap of more than fifteen times their eight-inch shoulder height. with jaw muscles that make snappingan ankle ot wrista real possibility. Iralsogives them amazing resilience against damage. Where the Church looks down upon Changed humans in nouncertain terms Doggoths have fared much better. Per- ‘haps, because most of them now reside on noble estates, the Church has chosen to overlook the unnatural creatures. Doggoths are born in Lierers of one or cwo but the sur vival rate is only about 50%. This is due to the extensive mu tagen process that created the bloodllinesand thecurrent limi- tations of intense inbreeding, During the Second Republic, there were many bloodlines available, but most have since been lost. Noone now knows how to start the mutagen pro- cess again: breeders ate limited to working with only the re maining stock. A-Malik nobility currently hold most of the Doggoth bloodlines Doggoths are taken from their mother when they are cubsonly six weeks old. They must be bonded withan owner in the next two weeks or they go mad and have fo be put down. Doggoths are single owner creatures and can only rarely Q in 20) be transferred successfully to a new owner, (Note: Roll 1420; if a "20" occurs, the Doggoth will appear (© have bonded with the new owner, but will turn on him ata later, inopportune moment) ‘An owner may intentionally transfer ownership to an- other: this is usually done only in the case of a dying owner ‘who wishes to leave his beloved pet to anther. Both owner Doggoth and prospective owner must regularly spend time with the Doggoth fora least four weeksasthe owner triesto teach the Doggoth to bond with its new owner. After that time, the previous owner must leave for good, never seeing the Dogzoth ‘again. The new owner may roll a d20: on a 13 of less, the Dogyoth bonds to her. If the roll fails, the animal goes mad, ‘The new owner can modify the roll with a successful Wits Beastiore roll,each victory pointaddsone tothe 13 or ess goal ‘The average Doggoth life span is 20 years. They ate ex- pensive co maintain eating nearlyasmuch per day as normal animals three times their size. Making matters worse, ‘Doggoths will eat only lean, fresh meats If a Doggoth is par ticularly well cared for, It isnotunusual forittoreach theage of 30. If the owner has Beast Lore, she may train her Doggoth to perform specific, moderately complex tasks. For example: Use a remote control to open doors and turn on lights, run bath water, engage a squawker, or grow! in a specific way if a particular person arrives, or a pre-tehearsed instance occurs. ‘Quote: “Time was. everybody who was somebody had a Doggoth for protection, Now they are getting so rare, thugs don't know what they are; they're actually becoming useful again” Cost: 600 firebirds/ 3 Benefice Attacks: These creaturesare trained vostrikeat arms legs ‘and throats Ifa critical hits scored, the Doggoth has latched ‘onto” one of these locations and cannot be dislodged until slain or called off by the owner Rolla d20 to determine the Tocation that is locked in its grip: 16 Right leg G12 Lefties B45 Right arm 1618 Leftarm 19-20 Neck The Doggoth will continue todo 3DMG each round af ter latching on, without having to make another successful goal roll If a legis grasped, the victims movement istedticed, by two meters. If an arm is grasped, Dexterity rollssuffera=4 penalty ifthe throat is grasped, all actions suffer a-6 penalty.Animalsabound on almest all worlds:even on the most barren, theres usually life of some kind, strugating to get by. Known Worlders likeall sentients, tend to use non-sentient beingsin a number of useful ways,from training dogsassen- tries to riding horses into battle, Hereare three such animals ‘often encountered in the Fading Suns universe: A typical guard dog, trained asa sentry to roam an area andattack anything that moves (except for itsacknowledged master) A hunting falcon, used by pastoral nobles in their courtly hunts. In the universe of the Fading Suns whatS old isoften new again, including many traditional past times of the rich and famous, Faleonty is just one such activity. This, «dis meant rohunt mice, volesand rabbits, but..itissome known to attack its owners rivals Beast sheet ‘COMBAT Perception (3) wi VITALITY OOOOO000000000000 CHARACTERISTICS Strength 6) Wand peabies -2 [wrrD_000000000000000000 Miscellaneous Animals ‘STR bonus COMBAT +A riding horse. While this one is not trained for war, it can keep calm enough in violent situations not to rear and bolt away — just don't run it straightat a Grackle Fox, cause its not going there {Also included is blank "Beast sheet” for gamemasters use in creating their own creatures. Harnessing Nature Since genetic engineering was quite popular during the second Republisitscommon rosee many variationson these themes stronger, faster or more intelligent guard dogs stu dierand larger falcons orextremely fst horses Indeed, many noble houses and some guilds make their fortunes off of, keeping such unique breeds thriving. The Hazat are known for theitsuper-Desriers and the al-Malik fr thelr trainable Init Goal DMG RNG ° E 3 VITALITY @@@®@®®000000000000 WYRD OOOO00000000000000 4 Wits) Wound penahies: ‘CHARACTERISTICS Strength (3) Endurance (3) +6 Critical success =x2tigers. Such Changed creatures often escape the ire of the (Church because they offer litle challenge co humanity’self Gamemastersshould feel free to take the templatesgiven here and tweak them in@ number of ways, While human- controlled breeding usually producessomewhat controllable beasts, ir fs not unusual for some members of dangerous, | _ breeds to escupe into the wildsand breed even more-ieadly progeny, harder for their creators to control and predict. tis, these beasts which parish priests condemn, along with their makers . Tn rural arensof most planets. the ravages of wild animals clever enough to harass humanityand escape captureare cre | ating a minor industry for animal catchers. Unlike safari hunters or circus huncers, these freelance individuals must be well armed, hardy and clever enough to out-think thetc prey. While sentience is on the side of the hunters, escaped genetic monstrosities usually havea few surprisesin store for those who come looking for them. 2 +1 per 3m Init Goal DMG RNG Perception (3 VITALITY ®@®®OO000000000000 Hunting Falcon (CHARACTERISTICS Str Dexterity (3) Endurance (@) 4 WYRD OOOOO0O0000000000000 Alien animalscan beeven more unpredictable especially since most xenological records explainingtheir behaviorand biologies were purged during the Fall Many old lifeformsare returningagain, but this time humanshave tittle experience Cf them, for the lore of their ancestors who once lived side. by-side with these animalsislonggone. The mystery around these rediscovered beings, such as the Kordethian Shadow Spider often smacks of demonology to the average Known, Worlder, The few who have tried to bring the eye of science upon such beingsareaccused of delving too deeply into dark ress and evil, and are often jailed before their studies ean be completed. Only the high-level guildsareexempcftom such superstition, and they keep their finds secret —all the easier ‘0 profit from them. Costs Guard Dog 510 freind Benefice fortwo dogs *Hluneing Fleon: 50 freinds Beneice (there ae laws insomeregionsagainst non-nobles using these fine birds “Riding Horse:25 frebiedL Benefice Init Goal DMG RNG VITALITY @©@@@@@@C@@8SB80D000000 Wiound pense: 2 2 CHARACTERISTICS @ Wits 3) Strength (3) Dexterity Riding Horse WYRD OOODOOOO0000000000000The Best of the Worst Rae. B a Here isa rogues gallery of people and creatures from the Known Worlds and beyond: noble yn rivals, well-meaning (and not so well-meaning) priests, spice pirates, deadly mercenaries, tell and will lead player characters into intrigyeand adventure. Eacl Ree ete a eeu . C assassins, alien animal: te predators), bizarre creatures and more. Each has a story to Pea eee res eee ee SUS + The Devil Beliah: One of the most feared pirates of the spaceways — for No one knows just what the “devil” on his face is... * Boss Maury Sumaka: Few dare to rile this crime boss, lest his associates. to the airlock. 3 S + Manager Natalie Snave: She’s going to make sure law and order ishonored at even if the player characters become examples of her rn a a . 3 i Se en en oe es sg eee nn Craig beautiful —in the Known Worlds. Their prey rarely ese Peay + Brother Francisco Domine: Returned from the Symbiot Wars, Domine was changed by what he saw there in ways no one yet suspect as et ear