Haydee Chronicles

Welcome onboard the Trinity Revolutionary Army frigate Haydée, formerly the Marigold of the Emmerian Expeditionary Force. Lost along with the rest of the 7th squadron during the astral jump from Emmeriaspace, the Marigold and her squadronmates unexpected reappeared six years ago, having skipped over the intervening eighty-nine years since the rest of the fleet arrived. While all the ships of the 7th squadron were modern at the time of departure, the intervening century had left them completely out of place in the present-day Concord fleet.

They languished in an orbital parking pattern for years while a decision was made as to their fate. Eventually it was decided the entire squadron be sold to a friendly government. It was then, three months ago, that the Trinity Revolutionary Army struck, having managed to recruit a surprising number of former EEF starsailors from the 7th squadron.

Background

What has gone before

It has been ninety-five years since the Emmerian Expeditionary Force emerged from an astral fold in Rubiconspace in an attempt to bring a long war to a close.

Eighty-five years since the Mastery of Suns was finally extinguished, the EEF and its new allies having defeated the clone-satraps or brought them to heel. The subsequent decades saw the Emmerization of the former Mastery worlds, with the postwar Concord of Suns coming to represent many of the former Mastery worlds.

Sixty-two years ago a permanent treaty is finally signed between the Concord and the Vauzon Empire, the last splintered remnant of the Mastery.

Fifty-three years ago the Final War arrived at distant Emmeria and hundreds of Concord warships made the astral jump back to Emmeriaspace to relieve the home cluster, so difficult to reach by conventional means.

Fourty-four years ago, the first Cardo Front uprising shook the Concord, hitting worlds as close to the capital as Malazkand before being stamped out. Their target was, among others, to stop the activation of a Godspath between the Rubiconspace and Emmeriaspace to cross the River Melpomene. This was unsuccessful, and limited but continuous contact was established between the EEF and its distant former home.

Thirty-one years ago the Concord fought a two year civil war in several systems over the legality of succession and the excessive Emmerization of various high offices. The splittists called themselves the Free Suns and managed to blockade the Godspath for long enough to achieve a significant number of military victories. Unfortunately for them, the blockade was eventually lifted and reinforcements from Emmeriaspace tipped the military balance against the Free Suns.

Twenty-nine years ago the Vauzon Empire formally aligned itself with the Concord as civil war was won, coinciding with a new wave of Alashiyan raids from Tiamat's Shroud. It is believed that this bolstering of Vauzon defense saw the Alyashans turn and throw their full strength against the UAN, ending in a mutual bloodbath and the effective extinction of the Alyashans.

Twenty-five years ago the Gaelic Empire to the south succumbed to an internal succession war, exposing a host of border worlds formerly treated as neutrals and buffers. Concord political influence moved into the power vaccum exposed by both the collapse of the Impiragh and the UAN.

Nineteen years ago the second Cardo Front uprising ignites, with multiple other insurgent and nationalist-revolutionary groups springing up over the following decade. These various conflicts occurred in all corners of the former Mastery of Suns space.

Three years ago the Trinity Revolutionary Army broke the previous interval of quiet, unsuccessfully attempting once again to sever the Godspath to Emmeria space. The survivors scattered to many corners of the Northern Leaf and the TRA's constituent groups split while going to ground.

Trinity Revolutionary Army

The Trinity Revolutionary Army is only the latest in the line of forces that have set themselves against the Concord of Stars over the past half-century, nor is it the only one still extant. Made of up of three former national-revolutionary groups - hence the term trinity - their former unity has been sorely tested. They have been licking their wounds in the aftermath of the Trinity War three years ago, with Trinity high command trying to maintain a semblance of control over the three groups that are now starting to drift in their own seperate directions.

Cenote - Trinity HQ

An old, metal-poor and geologically-dead hinterspace world orbiting an orange primary, Cenote lost much of its atmosphere aeon ago, resulting in the progressive loss of its oceans and the shutdown of most plate tectonics. Today it has a disconnected set of hypersaline seas in the deepest parts of its former seabeds with the only breathable atmosphere in the now-empty ocean basins - the air pressure on the continents now breathable only with assistance.

The dry oceanic crust is mostly covered in thick, low-lying xenojungle, with vegetation being reduced to lichen-equivalents partway up the continental slope. The continents proper barely have that, with thin air and minimal precipitation. Unsurprisingly, the small human population lives in the ancient ocean beds, generally along the equator. Temperature swings over the long days tend to be heavy.

Other than its geologic history, Cenote is unique in that it is host to the secret Trinity Revolutionary Army headquarters, known by its codename Monte Cristo. Originally used as a bolthole and hiding place for gravity-resist ships in the numerous large lava tubes dotting the continents - legacy of mantle hotspots that erupted massive Olympus Mons sized volcanoes - these were eventually expanded and connected to form an underground base of surprising size, capable of housing all but the largest warships and complete with industrial-grade manufacturing equipment.

The Trinity has taken great pains to keep the existence of its HQ on Cenote secret, to the point of not allowing any contact between the local inhabitants and any but a few trusted agents and, more broadly, not even allowing most Trinity cells knowledge of its existence or location. Care has been taken to conceal any communications from the planet to the several stealthed relay satellites in orbit, though the likelyhood of the simple civilian systems used by the inhabitants of Cenote intercepting or even being aware of low-sideband transmissions from Monte Cristo is unlikely.

The main purpose of the Monte Cristo facility is a combination of planning, training and manufacturing. The delibate distance and isolation of Monte Cristo - not to mention the fragmentation of the movement - makes control of dispersed Trinity assets difficult and as a consequence the Monte Cristo facility is generally preoccupied with long-horizon planning, leaving tactical implementation to individual commanders.

Akkad Faction

The Akkad Faction is primarily made up of individuals from the far north, mostly from the various independents that were long raided by the Alashiyans and now under the political sway of the Concord. They emphasise martial and melee skill along with spellcasting, using a grab-bag of equipment sourced from the former UAN, Vauzon and the Alashiyans.

• Sword and Starship

Second Interstellar Fleet of Freedom

Largest of the Trinity's three main military groups, the 'Second Fleet' as it is popularly known is a mobile fleet based force and is made up of several disparate military and paramilitary groups that have came together in opposition to the Concord. Most notable is the remnants of the Free Suns fleet, much of which fled into hinterspace instead of obeying the recall order at the end of the war. The Second Fleet has the most military assets with a broad assortment of warships and mobile weapons spanning over half a century and multiple different states and sources.

• Heavy Metal

Alliance Against Imperialism

The smallest of the 'big three' members of the Trinity Revolutionary Army, the Alliance against Imperialism is publically committed to the elimination of imperialism in all its forms. Informally it was a front for the promotion of socialist revolutions in the near abroad, though much of the economic ideology has been replaced by straight populism. Equipped with advanced weapons sourced from the south, the Alliance is also rumored to use various human enhancement technologies for its small cadre of pilots.

• Infospace

Antagonists

The Concord of Suns

A century ago the Emmerian Expeditionary Force called themselves heroes, appearing to throw down the corrupt and arbitrary rulers of the Mastery of Suns, replacing it with the egalitarian and fair Concord. So says the official histories. Today, the media says that they're a force for stability, protecting the downtrodden and maintaining peace in a continually roiling galaxy.

This may even be right, but in practice surprisingly little has changed from the era of the Masters. The leaders are not enigmatic figures, there is democracy instead of autocracy and there is nominal mobility to even the highest ranks, but for those in the Mastery, life has simply continued on.

For all that the EEF went native upon arriving in Rubicon, the marriage of crusading militarism and laissez-faire artisanism backed by unquestioningly loyal clone-satraps has been an uneasy one. While Rubicon's cossetted civilization has undoutedly been revitalized by the addition of the EEF, other sectors of the Mastery have sometimes chafed under new and sometimes unacceptable dictates. Fundamentally, political power in the Concord is split between several groups of elites; the Expeditionary Rubicans, the Emmerian Loyalists, the Concord Consensus, the Continualists to name the most signficant. The friction between these groups - most notably between the first two and last two - led to a messy civil conflict that spilled into open war with repercussions lasting to the current day. Furthermore, popular trust in the Concord's democracy is low and on the top level is effectively a one-party state due to the inability of any other parties to give the ruling clique more than temporary and nominal electoral setbacks.

The crusading roots of the EEF has also instituted a 'might makes right' philosophy in the Concord. While hardly using the proverbial bazooka to swat a fly, the Concord as a whole is a state that was founded on military victory; the velvet over the iron gauntlet is very thin. This has caused as many problems as it has solved.

The Vauzon Empire

The final and most ambitious conquest of the Mastery, the Vauzon Empire sits to the north-west of the Concord. Brought under the sway of the Mastery at the same time as the EEF was warring on the Mastery's core, what was to become the Vauzon empire eventually struck a ceasefire with the nascent Concord at the end of the decade-long war.

As unlikely as it seemed at the time, the Concord and Vauzon eventually achived raprochement and in the current era they are solid allies, forming a military alliance stretching right from the River Melpomene to Hinterspace.

Prone to expeditionary militarism on its frontiers, the Vauzon Empire has added several minor systems over the years and is likely they will do so again in the future.

SOLAR

The elite Emmerian special task force from the far side of the godspath, SOLAR (Special Organization for Law, Analysis and Response) wields the most advanced technology of Emmeria in its ceaseless mission to bring stability to the galaxy. Various agreements and norms have kept the number of SOLAR units in the Concord low, but this can always change.

In addition to its already high quality of equipment and training, SOLAR has another edge; a large cadre of trained wizards. Emmeria proper has long held to magecraft traditions as part of its Paradisium heritage, though for centuries much of this has been centered on the planet Sachiel. While a small number of mages were present in the original expeditionary force, it was not until the opening of the godspath after the Fourth Reflex War that Emmerian mages in number appeared in Concord space.

Concord Associates

A number of small states on the border that have aligned with the Concord for various reasons.

Republic of Sargon

A single-system republic on the Hinterwards side of the Concord, the Republic of Sargon is weak and somewhat dysfunctional, propped up by various forms of aid from the Concord. A small Concord base supports long-range patrols, with the locals having a mix of old UAN gear and only somewhat never Concord equipment.

Involved Neutrals

The UAN

Having suffered heavy losses during the Third Alashiyan War, the UAN was forced to abandon many of its peripheral worlds in the wartime and postwar winnowing. Some of these have been taken into the Concord's orbit, which has spurred both remilitarization and efforts to reform the moribund UAN into a power that can again properly stand up to the Concord.

It is no secret that significant quantities of UAN weaponry have ended up in the hands of various anti-Concord militant groups. Perhaps the only reason that the Concord has not responded more strenuously to this is the difficulty in determining if these were sold under government auspices or simply 'lost' for personal profit out of the groaning stockpiles of obscelescent UAN hardware spread across half a dozen star systems. The sheer amount of materiel remaining after the war has made any thorough inventory almost impossible, particularly for munitions, and there is probably sufficient unaccounted hardware spread across various battlefields to outfit (albeit poorly) an entire battle squadron with everything save the warship hulls themselves.

Xannis & COMINSTEL

For much of the past century Xannis was only rarely visited, a scorched ash-world inhabited by the survivors of an ancient shipwreck who had little desire for contact with the outside galaxy. It was only in the past few decades that they have emerged onto the local stage as the head of the Communist Interstellar - COMINSTEL.

It is unclear as to the exact relationship between Xannis and the other COMINSTEL members; both Polyarny and Kampayra underwent communist revolutions circa half a century ago. The COMINSTEL was a reaction to a hostile galaxy, albeit one that saw them as mostly-irrelevant backwaters. In the current period it is considered an open secret that Xannis had some part in the revolutions, particularly in the aftermath of the Levchenko Affair three years ago.

More recently, COMINSTEL has been active in a number of border worlds, competing against directly against Thetis and, to a lesser extent, the Concord for influence. The competition between COMINSTEL and Thetis reached its pinnacle roughly a decade ago and fell precipitously thereafter. In the post-Affair period they have moved to a policy of mutual nonintereference, seeing the solidification of Concord influence as a mutual concern.

Militarily COMINSTEL makes heavy use of guided weapons and electronic combat systems. Of note is the EMILI (Encephalized Military Initiative Link Interface), which is a mecha control system that uses cloned neurons to create a psychic bridge between pilot and the EMILI pack installed on the machine. Unfortunately, despite the high performance of the EMILI, the wetware component means that pilots have a year or longer waiting period for proper growth and stabilization of the psychic bridge. EMILI packs themselves are interchangeable and carry with them all the various piloting software quirks and habits built up over the lifetime of the EMILI. Xannis-built equipment has a generally higher quality and includes significant stealth features and extremely effective command and control.

Thetis

For most of the century-and-change since the massive waystorms blocking access to the Erebus system dissipated, Thetis was one of several associate states to the Gaelic Impiragh. Handing over military defense to the Impiragh in exchange for unfettered market access, Thetis spent most of a century getting rich. While the lack of political power occasionally rankled, particularly at the start and towards the end of the association period, support payments for gaelic ground and aerospace forces was cheaper than a proper military.

The unexpected collapse of the Impiragh thrust Thetis into a leading position almost overnight. While already one of the dominant trading economies of the Northern Leaf and with significant soft power, Thetis had few arms to back this up as the Gaelic fleets burned south. Scrambling to maintain some semblance of order - any order - in the border worlds, Thetis rapidly expanded its hard power under a crash militarization plan. In fact, Thetis is unique in the Leaf in that its fleet, while now merged into the monolithic unified Thetan Forces, has its roots not as a military organization but as an intelligence agency; most of the early Thetan 'war'ships were actually spyships hurridly converted to carry missiles.

The Thetan military, unsurprisingly given its heritage, is centered around the reconnaissance-strike complex combining some of the best sensors in known space to high-performance smart weapons, with electronic defenses being the main protection. This is a near total 180 from the Impiragh, but without the heavy industry of the gaelic worlds (which was busily being turned on itself) Thetis used what its own industry was best capable of supplying.

Others

Samara

Small industrializing fantasy world

Sazlite

The region's private banking and storage center. Where everyone stores their ill-gotten money, no questions asked. Shares a world with one of the Vauzon Empire's outer districts.

Setting Data

Haydee Chronicles Technical Briefing
Haydee Chronicles Mecha Briefing
Haydee Chronicles Warship Briefing

Character Generation

Character Generation Basics

Base state cost table
Level 1 - 1 CP
Level 2 - 3 CP
Level 3 - 6 CP
Level 4 - 10 CP
Level 5 - 15 CP
Level 6 - 21 CP
Level 7 - 28 CP
Level 8 - 36 CP
Level 9 - 45 CP
Level 10 - 55 CP

In short, the base cost to improve a stat costs (current level + 1).

Milieu

All characters have a milieu, representing the sort of environment they grew up in and what sort of skills and paradigms they were trained in. Milieus provide two main aspects to a character:

• Initial skills
• Favored Arete

• Heavy Metal gets the Grit arete specialty
• Sword and Starship gets the Elan arete specialty
• Infospace gets the Concentration arete specialty

Attributes

Characters have a set of attributes representing key elements of themselves. Each has a distinct but broad effect. They are as follows, with the following six being Core Attributes. All core attributes have a cost modifier of x5.

Physique: This is the raw physical prowess of your character while she is on her own two feet, governing everything from strength, agility, endurance and athleticism. It also covers general physical fortitude and G-resistance.

Wits: This is your character's ability to react well to rapidly-changing situations and not be caught with your jaw on the floor when something unexpected occurs.

Perception: How finely-tuned your character's senses are, as well, it covers fine detail work and hand-eye coordination (yes, this means you play videogames with Perception).

Intellect: This is your character's mental acuity and memory, both short and long term.

Charisma: This is your character's ability both to sway people to your side and to pick up on subtle social clues.

Willpower: This is your character's mental fortitude and stick-to-it both mentally and physically.

Pluck

Plus is just how well your character thrives against adversity. Pluck has no direct effect on dice rolls, but is instead used to modify rolls, or reroll them. While not considered a core attribute, Pluck also has a cost modifier of x5.

Pluck Conditions

All characters have one (or more) special conditions under which they recover Pluck. The first is free, every additional Pluck Condition costs 5 Character Points.

Pluck recovers slowly (ie, full recovery at the end of a full story arc, or some major successful milestone), but it can also be recovered by deliberately throwing rolls. The first time in a session that you throw away successful roll (ie, converting it to a failure), you recover 1 Pluck. To recover an additional Pluck, you must throw two additional rolls. To recover three, you must throw three more, etc etc.

Heavy Sleeper

You automatically recover 1 Pluck at the start of each session.

Mama Bear

When a friendly units is shot down, you recover 1 Pluck. If you're present when a bunch of civilians are killed, regain all Pluck.

Crusader

When you personally shoot down an enemy, you recover 1 Pluck. This can be destroying them outright or forcing them to pull out (only applies if they have lost at least 50% of their Durability).

Nightmare of Solomon

If you inflict Severe damage on a ship or other large vehicle, you regain 1 Pluck. If you sink it with your attack, regain all Pluck.

Second Wind

If you are reduced to 50% or less Durability, you recover all Pluck.

Psychopath

If you personally kill a lot of (innocent) people, regain all Pluck. You sick fuck.

Arete

This is essentially the generalized 'excellence' of your character, even more holistic than the core attributes. The primary use of arete is to activate a character's special abilities. Arete abilities cover a broad number of options, and range from the mundane (overcharging the power core) to the fantastic (summoning forth the spirits of those who died in this battle to empower allies). All, however, are cinematic to a greater or lesser extent.

Arete comes in three subtypes, listed below. All characters have access to all three arete specialties - in a pinch a cosmo-knight could still buckle down and overcharge a power core if things depended on it and a hacker can still stop bullets with their trusty katana - but each of the three milieus strongly favors one arete specialty.

Grit is the ability to do the right thing correctly and without any undue fuss, often in the nick of time. While this may not sound sexy, it is the solid get 'er done that gets things done. Grit is particularly good at getting the best performance out of hardware and keeping a plan or group together through adversity.

Elan is the energy of motion and enthusiasm, the stereotypical stylish heroics. Elan is in fact all about motion and enthusiasm, with high risk, high reward tactics being the providence of Elan - be it on the battlefield or in the ballroom. Sometimes this even goes to the points of inflicting self-damage in the rush to perform.

Concentration is putting all faculties to the task at hand. It is the most intellectual of the three arete specialties, letting one come up with flawless plans or smoothly executing through a chaotic situation.

Skills

Unlike attributes which are generalized across all characters, skills are specific fields of study and practice. Skills are also divided up into three difficulty ratings; Favored (F), Neutral (N) and Unfavored (U). These have a cost multiplier of x2, x3 and x4 respectively. Some character generation choices may adjust the difficulty rating of skills, adjusting them up or down.

Notable skills:

• Pilot: Every rank of Pilot provides +1 to gunnery defense, along with any roll involving piloting a vehicle.
• Gunnery: Every rank of Gunnery provides +1 on offense when using non-guided weapons.
• Melee: Every rank of Melee provides +1 to both Melee offense and defense in both person and in melee-capable vehicles.
• Electronic Warfare: Every rank of Electronic Warfare provides +1 to all offensive and defensive rolls involving guided weapons, sensors and the like.
• Gunplay: Every rank of Gunplay provides a +1 to all relevant rolls when fighting in person, with the exclusion of melee weapons - from handguns to rocket launchers.
• Leadership: Every rank of Leadership provides +1 to all Command rolls.
• Zero-G:
• Mechanic:
• Fieldcraft:
• Terrorism:
• Helm:
• Command:
• Etiqutte:
• Streetwise:
• Leadership:
• Academic:
• Athletics:

Backstory Traits

Backstory Traits are those that represent important elements of your character's history before the OVA. While it is possible to acquire them in-game, this a function of story events. The value in (brackets) is their CP cost during character generation.

Veteran (8)

While most protagonists tend to be relatively new at this whole ‘heroing’ thing (though not, let it be known, does this mean it is solely the domain of the young – see James Links) there are some who have had their time in the spotlight in the previous anime. These characters are better pilots, generally higher ranked and simply more skilled, having had an entire season or more of combat under their belt (or the backstory equivalent, if you’re Roy Fokker). They get +1 rank in Piloting and Gunnery or Command.

Hot-Blooded! (0)

God certainly must protect fools and lovers, because you're a fool that loves a good challenge and you haven't died yet. Your entire life is a litany of guts, determination and sheerest foolhardiness. At the start of any turn you can channel your inner heat and by spending 1 Pluck, get a +2 to all rolls and defenses for the turn. Furthermore, the first time a friendly unit is shot down, you get +1 to all rolls and defenses for the rest of the battle. However, you can be psychologically vulnerable and be easy prey for enemy deception and tricks. You're also unable to understand that your subordinates might not be able to keep up with you or that your commanding officer has a plan more subtle than 'Charge and win!'; consequently you only get (and provide) half the bonus from any Command effect.

Paragon Interrupt (5)

Your past includes some notable incident of heroism in the line of duty. Perhaps you held the line around the perimeter of the refugee camps on Rwanda Minor, or saved the Loum Colony from crashing. No matter the specifics (which should be detailed in your bio) you are seen as an exemplar of proper behavior. This gives you a charisma bonus of +1 to +3 in most situations, especially where being a hero would be relevant and even your enemies will give you a certain amount of respect. The downside is that you are bound the expectations of your history; there are few things more despicable than a fallen paladin. Note that this does not imply a code of honor - a code of honor is internal to the character, whereas Paragon Interrupt is the expectations of others. It is entirely possible to be an atrocious monster and yet still have Paragon Interrupt - so long as you manage to keep people from drawing a connection between one and the other.

Photosynthetic (2)

Your physiology has been modified to include a layer of photosynthetic cells in your skin; while this doesn't mean you can subsist solely off sunlight and water, it does give you a pleasant feeling energy during the day. During daytime, you get +1 to all your rolls and defenses. During night, you get -1.

Rival (+5)

In the past you’ve cultivated a rivalry with another skilled pilot, often the inevitable side-effects of not managing to finish the job in the previous season. They will often bedevil you and while they can cause serious setbacks, they also mean that you can have episodes centered upon you and only you. Plus, spoiling their undoubtedly villainous plots is sweet sweet victory.

Cyber Newtype

You’re a government experiment in pilot uniform. You got the benefits of being able to control funnels, dodge incoming blasts you shouldn’t really be dodging, but you also got the downside of ranging from ~moe pill~ addition, being eccentric to batshit crazy and also technically being government property. You automatically get the Aleph Skills Newtype Flash and one other combat related ability at no Aleph point cost. For the purposes of power level, you have an Aleph rating of 4.

Earned Traits

Earned Traits are those that can be acquired during the course of the OVA - as a character matures, they may develop new abilities or quirks. All Earned Traits may also be bought during character generation, in which case they are already-established elements of the character.

No Such Thing As Overkill (5)

You love big guns, though you'll also gleefully accept lots of guns. If you are in a vehicle with more than one weapon system, you can opt to do an 'Alpha Strike', firing all your weapons at once. You may engage multiple targets as well, with -1 to all attack rolls for every target after the first engaged. While doing an Alpha Strike you may not move, as you're too busy firing away, and you take a 25% reduction to all defenses. As well, you ignore melee weapons as useless and always have a -1 to Melee rolls and defenses.

Blademaster (5)

The way of the (beam) sword is the one you follow, and you have become particularly skilled in deflecting enemy melee attacks by doing a continuous parry and dodge. This gives you the ability to increase your defense in melee by sacrificing your opportunity to attack. SPECIFICS TBD Additionally, if properly equipped with energy melee weapons or similar, you can even potentially defend against ranged attacks with your melee weapons.

Made Of Iron (10)

Your character shields are so strong they extend to your mecha, like some sort of slasher film bad guy. And like them, whatever you're flying just seems to soak impossible hits as it cra-a-a-a-awls across the screen. Maybe you know how to angle your torso block just right so the shots deflect, or perhaps you're just supernally lucky. No matter how you do it, anything you're flying increases the thresholds for all non-glancing hits by +2, however, your vehicle also suffers a -1 penalty to Speed and Thrust the moment you get behind the controls.

Type Master (10)

You’ve intensive trained, having never been defeated in 2000 simulated engagements. Unfortunately your winning streak comes to an end when you encounter a Gundam. But just wait until you face off against a force of Mobile Dolls . . . You are particularly skilled against a particular type of unit or pilot, such as Mobile Dolls, Super Robots, Mobile Armors, Gundams, Newtypes, White Rose Guards, etc. Due to your almost instinctive understanding of their strengths and weaknesses you get a +2 bonus to all rolls and defenses when fighting them. Note that ‘Conventional Mecha’ or other similarly broad types are not valid choices.

Fan Favorite (5)

You are The Patrick. You might not be omnicompetent and flying the top-end craft like some, but your popularity ensures that you’ll survive all but the most ridiculous situations (or, of course, deliberate self-sacrifice). Note that generally this advantage won’t apply if you’re the best of the best; Kira Yamato never needed to be a Fan Favourite to survive. Fan Favorite adds your Charisma to your mecha's Durability.

Char Custom (5)

This ability adds Charisma to Thrust.

Zealot (5)

This ability adds 50% of Charisma to all Melee rolls. It might also make you a bit of a prick.

Idealist (5)

This ability adds 50% of Charisma to all Melee defenses.

Adventurer (5)

You get a +2 bonus to all rolls and defenses for survival, tracking, fighting, etc when acting outside of a vehicle. Undoutedly comes with many stories of the time you narrowly escaped the Lizard-Gorillas of Ceti Alpha Seven.

Quirks (variable)

Quirks are minor things about that character that are distinctive to them. They may have minor situational effects, but in general they are intended for roleplaying fodder. The number of quirks required for a given number of bonus points is as per attribute ranking - ie, to return 1 point it requires 1 quirk, to return 2 points it requires 3, to return 3 it requires 6 (!), etc.

Advanced Character Generation

Careers

Careers are what your character has been trained to do and presumably continues to do. Each Career is a set package of stats, skills and traits and is generally the summation of a number of years of both experience and learning. Unlike Heritages, Careers do not provide modifiers, they provide base values which can then be increased as normal per skill improvement.

Most Careers also have the option of taking one or more Vocations, which can represent additional or unusual training for the chosen Career or time spent doing 'something else.' If a Career and a Vocation have bonuses to the same skill, the bonus from the Vocation is converted to points and then added against the cost to get to the next skill rank(s).

Some Careers might also have minimum stats - nobody's going to make it through special forces training with a physical of 1.

Universal Careers

Spacer

With hundreds of solar systems large and small connected via wormholes and thousands more (mostly uninhabited) reachable via continuous-wormhole drive, interstellar starships fill the same role as surface ships did back in the pre-space era on Earth. And where ships go, crewmembers go onboard. Of course those on interstellar ships are merely the tip of the iceberg and Spacers also includes crews for in-system ships as well as people who operate the myriad deep-space stations that support the human economy.

Spacers cost

Spacers get Physique 2, Intellect 3 and Charisma 2

Spacers get Zero-G 3, Pilot 2, Awareness 2, Bureaucracy 1, Engineering (starships) 2, Helmsman 3

Spacers may take any Universal Vocation

Guardsman

Most worlds maintain some form of standing military in the vein of National Guards, tasked with roles ranging from planetary defense to disaster relief to riot control. Typically more lightly-equipped than heavy army 'shock' units or marines/espatiers, Guardsmen are also stereotypically seen as less well-trained. That said, defending your loved ones can be a real morale-stiffener . . .

Guardsmen cost

Guardsmen get Physique 3, Intellect 2 and Charisma 2

Guardsmen get Fit (Physique specialty) 2

Guardsmen get Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Melee 2, Firearms 3, Endurance 2, Drive 2, Artillery 2, Awareness 2, Tactics 1, Etiquette (military) 2, Intimidation 1

Guardsmen may take any Universal Vocation

Clearance Contractor

The living machines created millions of years ago by the Nephilim still haunt the galaxy, ancient terraforming robots with hardwired orders to go forth and multiply. Unfortunately the arrival of humanity's starfaring ships and quantum-gravitic babble has woken them from their long slumber. Some systems of strategic or commercial import have become infested with these ancient feral drones and consequently many contractors now make a living clearing them out with attack ships and mecha.

Clearance Contractors cost

Clearance Contractors get Physique 3, Intellect 3 and Charisma 2

Clearance Contractors get Perceptive (Intellect specialty) 1

Clearance Contractors get Zero-G 3, Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Melee 1, Firearms 2, Endurance 1, Drive 1, Pilot 3, Gunnery 4, Mecha Fighting 3, Artillery 3, Awareness 2, Academics (feral drones) 2, Engineering (weapons) 2, Tactics 1

Clearance Contractors may take any Universal Vocation

Special Forces

Not everything happens in space and all polities in the universe require personnel whose foremost proficiency is on conducting operations on his her feet. (+1 Physical, +1 Physical (Chosen Specialty), +1 Wits (Alertness), +1 Intellect (Security))

Federation Careers

Solar Fleet Pilot

The many, the proud, the Solar Federation Pilot Corps. This overarching term masks the many subgroups that make up the Solar Fleet; not only functional ones like mecha pilots vs transport pilots, but also the national militaries that are the actual components of the Solar Fleet. Nonetheless they are all trained to the highest standards using both VR sims and extensive 'stick time' (the concept of actually using flight sticks being slightly archaic but the term has stuck) and they are some of the most effective warriors in space. Few pilots are anything less than B-type transhuman, though particularly talented C-types are not unheard of.

SolFed Pilots cost

SolFed Pilots get Physique 3, Intellect 3 and Charisma 2

SolFed Pilots get Zero-G 2, Pilot 3, Gunnery 3, Firearms 1, Brawl 1, Athletics 2, Awareness 3, Tactics 2, Artillery 3, Electronic Warfare 3, Etiquette (military) 2

SolFed Pilots may take any Universal or Solar Federation Vocation

Solar Fleet Officer

The brains of the most powerful war machine humanity has ever seen, commanding warships against the SolFed's foes. To carry out their task they have +1 Command (Spaceships), +1 Command (Mecha), +1 Education (Intelligence), +1 Education (History), +1 Conspiracy (Solar Fleet) and High Rank.

INTACT Lictors

Lictors are the public face of INTACT, front-line warriors and troubleshooters. Due to stringent testing and requirements, most Lictors are S-type transhumans, with a few A-types and some truly skilled 'lessers'.

INTACT Lictors cost

INTACT Lictors get Physique 3, Intellect 3 and Charisma 3

INTACT Lictors get Zero-G 2, Pilot 2, Gunnery 2, Firearms 2, Brawl 2, Melee 2, Athletics 2, Awareness 3, Tactics 2, Etiquette (military) 2, Etiquette (diplomacy) 3, Subterfuge 2, Savoir-Faire 2, Command 2

INTACT Lictors must take an INTACT Focus.

INTACT Lictors may take any Universal or Solar Federation Vocation

INTACT Censor

Those few humans who have been born with exceptional Aleph powers are often enrolled in INTACT to serve as Censors. These mentalists recieve special training to focus their neuroquantum powers. As such, they recieve +1 Education, +5 Aleph Points and +2 Conspiracy (INTACT), and require a minimum of Aleph 5.

INTACT Legate

The Legates are the commanders and leaders of INTACT, typically having authority over one or more warships, bases or ground operations group. They recieve +1 Command (Universal), +1 Education (Politics), +1 Charisma (Diplomacy), +2 Conspiracy (INTACT) and High Rank.

INTACT Foci

All INTACT members have specializations once they finish their extremely involved basic training. Some go on to be investigators, others special forces leaders, others spymasters, yet others mecha pilots.

League Careers

League Combatsystem Operator

The League has few pilots, instead having 'operators' acting as telepresent squad leaders. These men and women are rigorously trained to capably time-share their attention between various viewpoints and react to shifting engagements from a rear-area perspective.

Combatsystem Operators cost

Combatsystem Operators get Physique 2, Intellect 3 and Charisma 2

Combatsystem Operators get Quick-Witted (Intellect specialty) 1

Combatsystem Operators get Zero-G 2, Gunnery 3, Awareness 3, Firearms 1, Brawl 1, Athletics 1, Tactics 2, Artillery 3, Remote Operations 3, Etiquette (military) 2

Combatsystem Operators may take any Universal or League Vocation

League/Union Battlemanagement Director

With the League's predisposition towards automated weapons, their leaders must be just at home managing complex info-combat systems as they are at managing people.

Battlemanagement Directors cost

Battlemanagement Directors get Physique 2, Intellect 3 and Charisma 3

Combatsystem Operators get Intelligent (Intellect specialty) 1

Battlemanagement Directors get Zero-G 2, Awareness 3, Firearms 1, Brawl 1, Athletics 1, Tactics 3, Strategy 3, Artillery 2, Remote Operations 2, Etiquette (military) 2, Command 3

Battlemanagement Directors may take any Universal or League Vocation

Union Mechanized Vanguard

Union command frames are typically piloted by Alphas, leading squads of robotic soldiers into combat. To this end they have +1 Pilot (Mecha), +1 Gunnery (Mecha), +1 Command (AI Mecha) and Mid Rank.

Republic Fleet Officer

The Republic entrusts these officers with some of the most powerful weapons ever invented by man. To defend the Republic's interests, Republic Fleet Officers have +1 Command (Spaceships), +1 Education (History), +1 Conspiracy (Republic Fleet) and Command Rank.

Miscellaneous Careers

These careers are generally exclusive to a certain polity or zone of space and consequently should only be taken if specifically relevant.

Seraphim Consor

It's a rough galaxy out where civilization fades into the hiss of radio background and as an organization that has many investments in the Rim, the Seraphim maintain their own small but well-trained and equipped group of pilots and soldiers. These Consors are called in for situations where locally-sourced security is either unavailable or insufficient for Seraphim needs.

Seraphim Consors cost $$$$ and must be a Seraph transgenic template

Seraphim Consors get Physique 3, Intellect 3, Charisma 3 and Aleph 3

Seraphim Consors get Zero-G 2, Pilot 3, Gunnery 3, Awareness 3, Firearms 1, Brawl 1, Athletics 2, Mecha Fighting 2, Tactics 1, Artillery 3, Subterfuge 2, Telepathic Weapons 3

Seraphim Consors may take any Universal or Solar Federation Vocation

Royalty

The extended de Godsforde royal family of the White Rose kingdom are accountable to no one. They are trained to lead and maintain the interests of themselves, their subordinates, and ultimately the state through policy. (+1 Charisma, +2 Conspiracy (White Rose), High Rank, License Holder)

Heritages

There is a much greater variety of people than the simple cosmetic differences in skin or hair color. The Dawn Era was a time of several millenia-long breeding programs; even centuries later the fruits of these still exhibit unusual strengths. Some have also been guidelines for more modern attempts to either return them to ancient potency or develop entirely new ones de novo. As such and thanks to thousands of years of breeding programs, population movements, isolations and faddish upgrages, known space is a patchwork of various types of humans, near-humans and meta-humans, along with various nonhumans that are also part of the collective galactic civilization.

Heritage bonuses modify the effective value of your character's stats; heritage modifiers do not increase (or decrease) the cost of a given stat, be this at character generation or during gameplay. Otherwise, they act in all ways as if they were simply part of a character's basic attributes. In essence, they shift the baseline as opposed to being an 'extra'.

Orthodox Human

Skin color, hair color, eye color, height, weight, athletic, mental and etheric abilities are all 'normal'; orthodox humans are the primordial stock from which other human heritages are derived and still make up the bulk of known space. Many have been touched by Dawn Era programs, with many alive today living without worry of genetic diseases, wisdom teeth, myopia or other unfortunate foibles thanks to ancient efforts to improve the 'sorry lot of man'. Others have slightly more obvious heritage, such as unusual hair colors, pointed ears, etc. All that aside, orthodox humans are fundamentally, statistically homogeneous.

Orthodox humans can also represent nonhumans that are sufficiently close to humans in physical and mental abilities to be effectively equivalent. Several such exist, such as lizardmen, though by and large nonhumans comparable to humans have at least some notable difference, be it nothing more than thermal tolerance and lack of cold tolerance.

• Bonus to Pluck
• Most humans in the Northern Leaf (and elsewhere) are orthodox humans.

True Atlantean

Atlantis was a mageocracy for its entire history, and one with a sharp divide between True (or sometimes Ancient) Atlantis which exercised all sovereign power and its numerous satraps, or Greater Atlantis. It was possible to socially climb from the latter to the former, or sometimes fall the opposite direction, but the two did not mix casually. While the inner workings of True Atlantis remain esoteric and often unknown to this day, it is no secret that one of the main preoccupations of the Atlantean population was the creation of ever more powerful mages.

True Atlanteans are direct descendants of these arcane breeding programs, not the common folk of Greater Atlantis who were by and large orthodox humans. True Atlanteans have significantly improved ether retention and often show a particular talent for magic. On the more physical end of things True Atlanteans are almost universally tall and with less sexual dimorphism than the human norm.

• Bonus to magic and ether
• While the Northern Leaf was home to several antideluvian Atlantean satraps, True Atlateans are rare even in this part of known space and more commonly they are the fruits of experiments to replicate their powers; cyber-newtypes, designer children, etc. The Strigoi of Moldoveanu are

Dia Lyonessan

Lyonesse has a long and storied history of mingling with beings from the astra; notorious as witches when such beings were still feared as demons, the ancient Lyonessans and their fellows sought the power of the astra. They bound these beings to themselves willingly or unwillingly, traded mental, physical and sexual favors and even embraced them as parents to their children. These wild and sometimes feckless adventures led to many things, but one difference between Lyonesse and other similar witches - and in part why Lyonesse became a great power - is that the men and women of Lyonesse never mistook embracing the other with becoming the other.

As Lyonesse expanded and shifted from an ethnic signifier to a cultural one, care was taken to fix traits deemed collectively important. In parallel, the quest for power or other advantages became an artistic, aesthetic one. Various aesthetically pleasing traits became sought-after and other, more subtle aspects were propagated through the Lyonessan pan-diaspora. The Dia Lyonessans are the archetypical Lyonessan and commonly have various inhuman but attractive changes, often of a fanciful take. In addition, the silver blood of the astra has given Dia Lyonessans an uncanny ability to sense flows of ether.

• Bonus to socialization and navigation
• In addition to Thetis which is mostly Dia Lyonessan, various pockets of Dia Lyonessans exist in places such as Samara, Larsan's World and Belet-Seri.

Alfar/Dokkar

An ancient offshoot of humanity, the Alfar/Dokkar are colloquially known as 'elves' today. While sharing a similar origin to the planetouched, they lack the more otherworldly features of the Dia. The Alfar have long exhibited heightened magical sensitivity while the Dokkar were best known for wiry, unexpectedly powerful physiques. One of the other common members of the Lyonessan pan-diaspora, elves were also favored servants (or slaves) to the Atlanteans.

• Alfar bonus to magic/ether??
• Dokar bonus to agility
• The largest concentration of elves in the Northern Leaf is in the Samara-Larsan's World corridor

Prime Murian

Captain America!

MMO dimorphism?

• Large physical and related bonuses. Also probably very good looking.
• There were relatively Murians in the Northern Leaf and consequently even fewer Prime Murians. Excluding immigrants, those that do exist are the druids of Sarkandis, on Samara.

Fantasy Races

Multiple possibilities

Generated upon request

Other Game Aspects

Magic

Specifics very much TBD and will be iterated upon during gameplay. The following are basic elements:

• Conceptually, magic is naturalistic to the world. It has cause and effect, following internal logic.
• Several 'schools' of magic exist. Note that the dividing line between each can be blurry.

• Body Magic is the simplest and most common form of magic, essentially magically-enhanced martial arts and physical exercises. Body magic is internal-focussed, the use of a body's natural ether to boost various aspects of physical or sometimes mental performance.
• Hedge Magic is closely related to body magic, though externalizing the ether effect instead of internalizing. Hedge magic tends to generate relatively unsophisticated effects, limited by the mental control the pracitioner has over the ether flow.
• Low Magic is a comprehensive, refined form of magic that, while not necessarily more powerful than body or hedge magic, can perform more sophisticated efects. Low magic supplements or externalizes the magical process with a focus. Colloquially, when people talk about everyday magic, they are talking about low magic.
• High Magic is essentially the logical endpoint of low magic, moving effectively all the actual magical processes are outside of the mage. At this point the wizard fills a controlling role as opposed to being an active participant in the magical process itself - given the magnitude of the energies used in high magic, in many cases this would not be survivable.

• Spells are defined in ability and result, but have variable effects due to both roll (quality of spell) and ether expenditure (more raw power).
• In addition to being predefined, spells are not universally available; they must be practiced and/or be present in an appropriate focus.
• Spells can be modified with add-ons; ether reduction, improved or modified effect, etc.
• Spellcasting and spell defense attributes vary, there is no one specific 'magic stat'.

Gameplay Rules

AE Milieu and Design

Specifics very much TBD and will be iterated upon during gameplay. The following are basic elements:

Standard dice rolling is 2D10 + attribute + skill + situational modifier

The stat value used is always temporary attribute or skill. Permanent stat values are the baseline for your character while healthy, rested and generally unstressed. Temporary stat values reflect various internal and external effects, ranging from wounds to pushing yourself 'past the limit' (see rerolls below) to distraction or the like. All changes to stat values come into effect immediately after the roll in question.

Rerolls

Any attribute-based roll may be rerolled. There are two options for this:

• Using a point of Pluck to reroll any check, or to force an opponent to reroll an attack or effect directly affecting the character. Pluck is regained as per a character's pluck regain condition(s).

Pluck can also be used to boost a roll or a defense, providing a bonus equal to the current temporary Pluck. This option must be exercised before any dice are rolled, and costs one point of temporary Pluck as normal.

• An attribute-based check can also be rerolled by spending a point of temporary attribute; this must be the attribute being used. It may also be used force a reroll on an attack or effect directly affecting the character, again, the attribute point being spent must be the same one as being used on the defense. Unlike Pluck regain which can happen as a result of a character's actions, spending temporary attributes is generally taken as pushing the body or the mind to the limit. As a consequence, regaining temporary attributes requires some sort of rest or relaxation of the appropriate type, starting at one day for a single point and increasing logarithmically from there; a nice sleep will soothe weary eyes and muscles, but PTSD and bone fractures from too many G-forces requires time and therapy of the mental or physical sort to properly recover from.

The most severe (longest rest time) attribute points is recovered first, followed by the second longest, etc. While multiple attributes can be regained at the same time, it is recommended that characters with significant and broad attribute lost be in rest cycles for longer than normal.

Mecha Fighting

• Energy is essentially useful momentum and can be spent to boost defense or offense. Energy is recovered by thrusting (moving), either picking up speed or regaining full control.

• Expending more energy than your mecha can generate in a turn (or use, if these values are not equal) means you are putting significant strain on it; piloting checks will be required to not inflict damage.

• Multi-turn acceleration is possible; turn radius goes up and minimum movement speed is equal to previous amount moved.

Damage Model

Roll damage and compare against Protection Track The protection track is the levels of increasing damage taken, with the following steps. The entries in < brackets > are where defenses go, increasing the values of all subsequent, more critical thresholds. < Shields> - Skin Damage - this represents damage to surface fittings such as radars or unarmored gun mounts. < Armor > - Internal Damage - this is damage that has penetrated the vehicle's skin and armor. - Severe Damage - this represents strikes deep into a vehicle's internal volume, often resulting in one or more systems being taken offline. - Vital Damage - this is damage that will inevitably disable multiple systems and has a likelyhood of completely totalling the vehicle.

Internal damage and above also have stress trackers which represents accumulating generalized structural damage (metal stresses, collapsed bulkheads, loosened armor plates, etc). Every hit that reaches a threshold inflicts 1+ stress and has a critical roll, potentially causing more stress, knocking systems offline, etc. Four events happen every time the stress track fills: 1) The stress tracker is emptied. 2) A critical damage roll is made against the next level up. 3) The stress tracker's length is reduced by 1. (making it faster to fill the stress tracker) 4) The damage threshold is reduced by 1. (making the unit easier to damage)

Larger units have longer stress trackers; it takes more shells to put a meaningful number of holes in a battleship than it does a destroyer. Stress 'ticks' can be shed in battle; loss of protection track thresholds and lengths cannot short of the use of magic.

Lower damage thresholds are primarily provided by protection measures (as shown by the placement of shields and armor), while stress tracks and the highest damage thresholds are mostly up to bulk and construction; consequently the latter are essentially fixed, though obviously removing all the armor makes a shell more likely to pass through.