Rim Path Prototypes

Prerequisites

Rim powers are all Longshots.

Technical Advancement

Global Tech Level: 10

Shipbuilding -5 [5]

Projectiles +5 [15]

15 points to distribute as desired, no more than +5 in any given field.

History Paths

The Breakdown

D1) The Breakdown

On the Edge (+15 SP, -100 Wealth, -100 CIP, -100 PIP, -150 Pop, -10,000 Military, go to N1)

The nations on the Rim, as isolated as they already were, were little-affected by the Breakdown. These backwater nations are small and industrially weak, incapable of becoming significant threats to a first-rate power, although they can certainly give bloody noses.

N1) Rim Sociopolitics

Nationalism! (+Morale, +100 PIP)

Given the isolation of most Rim powers by both distance and the Breakdown, it is obvious in hindsight that many would have

Regression (+200 PIP, +120 Population, -100 Application, -2 Global Techlevel)

There were more than a few Rim powers which never expected to need significant high-tech infrastructure and advancement, and had insufficient scientific infrastructure to meaningfully advance over the decades.

Pirate State (+Sneaky Stuff, +2,500 Military)

In the lawless fringes of human space, pirate states and other throwbacks to ages long-gone thrive.

Exhumanize (+Supersoldier, ++Transgene)

More than a few Rim colonies have been havens for modification scientists to work without the constraints of petty morality. Although cruder technology means cruder enhancements, the end results are oftentimes just as capable as transgenics from ZOCU or independent Expanse worlds.

N2) Rim Economics

Feudal Basketcase (+180 Pop, -2 Global Tech Level)

We're gonna party like it's 3025!

Scavenger World (+Scraphunters, +100 Application (Common)

A few Rim Worlds have traded for or outright stolen as much Expanse and Core technology as they could have gotten their hands on, and reverse-engineered it as best they could.

Pirate's Bay (+Logistics, +Doctrine)

We've graduated from internet piracy to space piracy.

N3) Rim Military

Death Spiral (+4 Global Techlevel, +200 Application (Common), +100 CIP, -100 Wealth, -2,500 Military)

There are those Rim governments paranoid (or insane) enough to attempt to build a military-industrial complex that approaches the League's in sophistication, but at immense cost.

Technicals (+2,500 Military, +Shipbuilding Application, +Logistics)

Many Rim "naval vessels" are modified variants of original UN exploratory vessels, with guns often literally bolted on.

Buccaneering! (+Stealth Application, +FTL Application, +Doctrines)

There's a reason treasure fleets were often heavily armed.

Drone Whaling (++Xenotech Application, +2 Global Tech Level)

With the Rim as isolated as it is, more than a few militaries have been threatened with funding cuts and have had to seek out alternative sources of funding. Some turn to piracy, while others turn to the much riskier, but more lucrative and less morally reprehensible method of harvesting Velan drones.

Lessons of the Magnate War (+Infantry Application,

Applications

+100 Application (Common), +0 Shipbuilding