Rim Path Prototypes

Example NPCs

Prototype Rim Powers

Prerequisites

Rim powers are all Longshots.

Technical Advancement

Base Tech

Global Tech Level: 10

Shipbuilding -5 [5]

Projectiles +5 [15]

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

Path Bonuses

Political Paths:

[Exhumanize]: +5 Transgene [15]

[Pirate State]: +3 Stealth [13]

[Grand Ambition]: +3 to any one weapons technology [13]

[Saturn's Children]: +5 AI [15]

[Firewalled]: +3 Electronics [13]

[Unburdened]: +1 Global Tech Level [11]

Economic Paths:

[Regression]: -2 Global Tech Level [8]

[Pirate's Bay]: +5 Shipbuilding [10]

[Feudal Basketcase]: -2 Global Tech Level [8]

[Scavenger World]: 5 points, max of +3 in any given field.

[Genejacks]: +3 Transgene [13]

[The Monolith]: +3 Global Tech Level [13], +22 Basic Theotech [35]

[Total Technological Failure]: -4 Global Tech Level [6]

[Get Digging]: +3 Mass Production [13]

[Pod People]: +3 Mass Production [13]

Military Paths:

[Death Spiral]: +2 Global Techlevel [12], +2 to any one weapons technology [14]

[Buccaneers]: +3 Stealth [13], +2 Shipbuilding [7]

[Technicals]: +3 Shipbuilding [8], +2 Propulsion [12]

[Drone Whaling]: +20 Xenotech [30]

[Lessons of the Magnate War]: +3 Infantry [13], +3 Transgenics [13]

[Unbreakable]: -2 Global Tech Level [8]

[Power Projection]: +5 Basic Theotech [15]

[I'll Take The Low Road]: +5 Ground Vehicles [15]

History Paths

The Breakdown

D1) The Breakdown

On the Edge (+15 SP, -200 Wealth, -200 CIP, -200 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 giving a determined major power more than a bloody nose. They are often targets for colonial aggression or strong-arming.

Political

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 forged an entirely new national identity.

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 (++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.

It'll work this time, I swear! (+Morale, +10 SP)

What do you know? Sometimes it does.

Ideological Purification (+2,500 Military, ++Morale, -pop)

Just shoot everyone who disagrees.

Law of the Gun (+5,000 Military, +100 PIP, -morale)

The minorities are protesting again? Then let them eat bullets.

Keep On Keeping On (+60 pop, +10 SP)

125th year since founding, and we still haven't gone crazy. Pretty good for the neighbourhood.

Grand Ambition (+3750 military, +doctrines, -relations)

In the Rim, ARROWS can't hear you scream.

The Podunk Union (+relations, +morale)

The Zodiac did it, and even the League. A united front shall shine a light against the darkness.

Saturn's Children (+ 100 Fabers, + AI Application, convert every 60 population units into 100 Fabers)

Master, come back :(

Firewalled (+ 3,000 military, + Electronics Applications, - Non-Rim Relations)

The first and best line between what the Core has become and freedom.

Unburdened (+1 Global Tech Index, +100 wealth, +single bloc relations)

Oh god you're back please take over.

Get Out (+6750 military, +fortifications, -FTL application, -relations)

And stay there!

Economic

N2) Rim Economics

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.

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.

Refugees! (+60 Pop, +100 Fabs)

When things started going bad from the Breakdown, they started flocking en masse to those powers which could take them in, often taking portable infrastructure like fabricators with them.

Genejacks (+Transgene, +60 Pop, +100 PIP, -Morale)

"My gift to industry is the genetically engineered worker, or Genejack. Specially designed for labor, the Genejack's muscles and nerves are ideal for his task, and the cerebral cortex has been atrophied so that he can desire nothing except to perform his duties. Tyranny, you say? How can you tyrannize someone who cannot feel pain?"

A New Gilded Age (+200 PIP, +100 Wealth, -Morale)

Sure, your people are suffering in tedium and unsafe working conditions but their necessary sacrifice buys the nation prosperity, security, and shiny new trinkets for the well-to-do.

The Monolith (+3 global tech level, +100 theta)

With so little to work with out here, posthuman artefacts of any note often become the centre of their colonies.

Get Digging (+100 PIP, +100 CIP)

Many rim states never expected to be contacted, and still others never were. They invested in native industry, expecting to have to build a new independent economy.

The Wild Frontier (+2500 Military, +100 PIP, +100 Doctrine, -100 Wealth)

It's a harsh world out there. The law is the law of the gun, and civilization gathers in the pockets of the heavily armed and those that employ them.

Total Technological Failure (-100 fabbers, -4 global tech level, +120 pop, +200 PIP, +morale)

If the fabbers stop working, then, er... shit.

Pod People (+ 60 Population, +100 Fabers)

If it can build a person, it can build other things!

Crossroads (+60 Applications, +100 Wealth)

Worlds at key jump route convergences can reap benefits from passing caravans.

Military

N3) Rim Military

Death Spiral (+2 Global Techlevel, +300 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, +100 CIP, +100 Fabbers)

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, +Doctrine, +Supersoldiers)

Want these Series VIIs cheap? They just "fell off the back of a Dawnie transport."

Salvation Armada (+7,500 military)

Some Rim states had vast fleets of warships marshalled at them for various Core purposes, which were then abandoned when the breakdown struck.

Lord's Army (+5,000 Military, +Morale, ++Logistics, -Doctrines, -100 Applications)

They might not be well-trained or well-equipped, but they're certainly numerous and motivated!

Unbreakable (+7,500 Military, +++Doctrines, -2 Global Tech Level, --Morale)

First rule of ground warfare: Never invade a country where even the kids learn how to fire a RPG before puberty.

Power Projection (+FTL application, +logistics, +100 dust)

War is an extension of politics. We extend it more than others.

I'll Take the Low Road (+2500 military, +ground application, +ground doctrines)

Ships are hard. Just put boots on the ground.

Applications

+100 Application (Common), +0 Shipbuilding

SP

Peel 13:46, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

10 PIP

8 CIP

8 Wealth

10 Dust

10 Theta (minimum production 100)

10 Drexlers (With Drone Whaling)

5 Population

225 Military

1 to Tech Indices of choice (no index may increase by more than 6 points of pre-SP value)

8 Application Points

2 Transgene Points

2 Doctrine Points