TM

EDGE OF THE SUN

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 4

PART 1: STELLAR ENGINES 7

Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods 8
Chapter 2: Problems at the Edge 18

PART 2: THE SETTING 27

Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge 28
Chapter 4: Exploring the Engine 31
Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo 53
Chapter 6: Mapping the Engine 57

PART 3: THE NUMENERA 71

Chapter 7: Cyphers 72
Chapter 8: Artifacts 77
Chapter 9: Augmechs 84

PART 4: CREATURES 101

Chapter 10: Creatures 102
Chapter 11: NPCs 123

PART 5: ADVENTURES 125

Chapter 12: The Sun Doth Move 126
Chapter 13: Waking the Mega 155
 INTRODUCTION
W
elcome to the sun’s edge, where
architects of the prior worlds
built an engine without equal.
An engine designed to move the entire solar
Halo, page 53 system—the sun and all its children—out
Plasmar, page 116 of the way of a looming hazard hurtling
through space. This peril—call it the
Viridian, page 22 Viridian—threatened such an immense
swath of interstellar void that nothing short
of wholescale evacuation had any chance of
Even though the Engine successfully saving the solar system.
no longer burns, the sun Thus, the Engine of the Gods (as some
retains the velocity it had
obtained up until the
call it) was built to do just that: accelerate
Engine malfunctioned. the sun, and thus everything else in the solar
system “glued” to it by gravity, to safety over
a hundred-million-year period of time. This
“The Sun Doth Move,” engineering feat likely numbers among the
page 126 greatest undertakings of the prior worlds,
since it not only resulted in the sun surfing
just ahead of a catastrophic spatial inversion,
but also continually siphons just enough
Chapter 3: Reaching the material from the sun to avoid the gradual
Sun’s Edge, page 28 warming that would otherwise heat the inner
planets enough to kill off normal life.
Chapter 9: Augmechs, The Engine of the Gods isn’t generally
page 84 known by humans in the Ninth World. Even
those who study the skies and note the
rapid pace of the sun compared to other
stars consider it normal, having no other
situation to compare it to. Even before the
Chapter 2: Problems Engine’s fires were dimmed (see chapter 2),
at the Edge, page 18 it accomplished its job for time out of mind.
“Behold: an engine vast beyond imagination, one so magnificent that only the gods
could have conceived of and built it.”
4
Meanwhile, the entities that reside on the
Engine are not concerned with Earth or any
of the other children of the sun. Their entire
world is the Engine, an associated structure
called the Halo, and for some creatures
(such as the plasmars), the sun itself.
Unfortunately, events in the last few
centuries have endangered everything
the builders of the Engine made safe. The
special fires in the Engine’s heart that
accelerated the solar system through the
void fell cold. These and other problems
now loom starkly. Perhaps residents of the
Engine can rally to the cause. Then again,
it may be that the player characters will
be called on to provide aid, once they are
convinced that the sun should move.
Even if you don’t want to put PCs on
the hook for restarting the Engine of the
Gods, the structure makes an exciting and
unique location for exploration and other
adventures. While some might reach the
sun’s edge via “standard” methods such
as by flying there on a starship, others
could learn how to pilot augmechs via
telepresence or other control methods,
enabling them to move through and on the
Engine in prosthetic bodies. In addition to
providing them with agency on the Engine,
augmechs protect PCs from the deadly heat
and radiation that such close confines to a
star otherwise entails.
~Phius Livic

So welcome to Edge of the Sun. As
amazing a mechanism as it undeniably is,
the Engine of the Gods is in urgent need of
repair.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
If you’re looking for some direction on how
to digest the material in this book, look no
further.
Part 1: Read Chapter 1: Engine of the Gods
for specifics on what the Engine is, how
it works, who built it, and why. Chapter 2:
Problems at the Edge picks up immediately
describing the ways in which the Engine
isn’t working the way it was meant to
after so many millennia, and the various
unsettling repercussions.
Part 2: Chapter 3: Reaching the Sun’s Edge
provides specific options for getting the
PCs to the Engine of the Gods. In Chapter
4: Exploring the Engine, a variety of specific
locations on the Engine are described,
complete with options available for new
INTRODUCTION
arrivals, NPCs to help PCs understand
what’s going on, and lots of places to
explore. Chapter 5: Exploring the Halo is Chapter 5: Exploring
in keeping with chapter 4, but provides the Halo, page 53
options for exploring the ring of material
surrounding the sun that helps keep the
Engine fed (at least, when everything is
working properly). Finally, Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Mapping
Mapping the Engine provides a random the Engine, page 57
map-generating system specifically designed
for the Engine, useful for when PCs get lost,
go exploring, or otherwise want to see what Chapter 1: Engine of
lies at the other end of a framework strut. the Gods, page 8
Chapter 2: Problems
Part 3: Chapter 7: Cyphers and Chapter at the Edge, page 18
8: Artifacts provide useful and protective Chapter 7: Cyphers,
devices for PCs exploring the realm of the page 72
Engine (dangerous for beings of flesh), Chapter 8: Artifacts,
including many devices that actually page 77
require the radiant energy of the sun. Chapter 3: Reaching the
Then in Chapter 9: Augmechs, options Sun’s Edge, page 28
are provided for PCs to control, pilot, or Chapter 9: Augmechs,
even inhabit by telepresence a variety of page 84
specialized automatons called augmechs, Chapter 4: Exploring
which are ideal for operating in the extreme the Engine, page 31
environment of solar space.
5
 CHAPTER 3
REACHING THE SUN’S EDGE
A
bare handful of people in the Ninth
World know that the Engine of the
Gods exists. The few who have even
a passing familiarity with the name—such
as among those who study the stars—
gained their knowledge from a scattering of
old records, sculptures, or visual starfields
called up from the datasphere that include
the name, though without much context.
The name is usually assumed to be fanciful,
or wrongly assumed to be another name
for the sun itself. Only an in-depth dive into
old records, ones that reach back through
the prior worlds, will eventually put a
determined researcher on the track to learn
Chapter 1: Engine of the basics of what is described in chapter 1.
the Gods, page 8
TRAVELING TO THE ENGINE
Various methods can be used to reach the
Engine, should a character be motivated
to go. Specific examples include travel by
prosthesis, travel by direct transference, and
travel by spacecraft. Other means certainly
exist beyond the methods described here.
TRAVEL BY PROSTHESIS
Monopole, page 113 One of the safest and easiest ways a
character can “go” to the Engine is by
Chapter 9: Augmechs, using an augmech resting in a crèche
page 84 on the Engine via a telepresence or
Telepresence, page 86 datapresence controller located on Earth.
Datapresence, page 87 The Augmodrome is an example of a
telepresence option the PCs could discover.
Augmech throne, page 78
Augmech crèche, page 85
28
THE AUGMODROME
Located deep under Earth’s surface is a
crumbling ruin of the prior worlds. At its
heart is a dome-like structure of silvery
translucent synthsteel.
Thrones of Otherwhere: Under the dome,
several chair-like devices protrude from
the floor, forming a rough circle facing
outward. The devices are only the most
prominent of a clutter of other ancient
machines that mostly lie in wreckage. Each
“chair” is associated with several umbilicals
designed to connect with whatever creature
sits in the seat, but recognizing that is a
difficulty 5 understanding numenera task.
(A successful difficulty 7 understanding
numenera task reveals that the chairs might
allow someone who is seated to control
some distant piece of machinery.)
Fixing the Thrones: Success with that task
also makes it obvious that the whole place
is without power and in need of repair.
Those who want to use the chairs must
locate a power source. Potential sources
include an installation of level 6 or higher
designed for that purpose, a monopole, or
attempting to cobble something together
using a functioning artifact of level 7 or
higher, sacrificing it to the cause (but
only on a successful difficulty 8 crafting
numenera task).
Defeat the Defender: Returning power
to the facility allows each of the chairs to
act like an augmech throne, each keyed
to one or more augmechs located in an
augmech crèche on the Engine of the

It’s one thing to travel to the sun’s edge to explore. It’s another to survive the
heat, vacuum, and radiation encountered there.
Gods. However, unless a countermeasure
is found and neutralized, a defense system
fires up, waking a cyclops augmech from a
nearby crèche. Controlled by an automaton
intelligence, the defending cyclops ceases
its attacks if characters flee or if an
enterprising PC manages to rekey one of
the augmech thrones to take control of
the cyclops, which requires a successful
difficulty 7 understanding numenera roll.
TRAVEL BY DIRECT TRANSFERENCE
A potentially dangerous but relatively
quick way to travel to the Engine is via
a mechanism that directly transfers the
characters to their destination. Such a
transference method usually requires the
PCs to make arrangements prior to their
departure for protective gear; a sunsuit or
something similar will be necessary once
they arrive.
REACHING THE SUN’S EDGE
One direct transference method would be to
find a facility that folds space, allowing the PCs
to step through a portal on the Ninth World Cyclops, page 92
and step out on the Engine. Installations and
artifacts that provide this sort of instantaneous
access are rare. Characters might have more
luck finding a direct transference method
if they learn of, then travel to, the Celestial
Beacon. (If you run the adventure “The Sun Chapter 12: The Sun
Doth Move,” the characters may gain the Doth Move, page 126
benefit of a transference method called an
Empyrean Coach.) Empyrean Coach,
page 143
THE CELESTIAL BEACON
Broken chunks of land drift high above the
Sea of Secrets, each containing a portion
of an ancient ruin. The central floating
mass holds a two-pronged tower that
brackets empty space most of the time. Sunsuit, page 82
But sometimes the twin towers frame a
beam of scintillating energy that shines up
29
 ENGINE RESIDENTS
The Engine is fully inhabited, but almost
none of the residents are human. (The only
concentration of human presence is the
Sanctuary, page 49 colony of Sanctuary.) Instead, creatures more
suited to the conditions—usually automatons
or biomechanicals—are rampant.
Lliran, page 111 Lliran are encountered throughout
the Engine, usually performing one of a
Shudder, page 46 seemingly countless number of sacred
rituals to glorify the construct. They have
forgotten how their rituals were started, but
their ceremonies often include all kinds of
Wraith, page 122 ancient repair protocols (though lliran see
their rituals as worship, not repair). Their
continued activity in this regard keeps the
Engine from breaking down completely. The
center of Engine worship for the lliran is in
Wrawn, page 39 the holy city of Wrawn, which has developed
into one of the largest metropolises of any
reach; it’s so large, it is considered its own
reach. Many different groups live there, at
the sufferance of the lliran.
Spline, page 119 Splines are also common creatures of
the Engine, though when encountered,
these automatons are most likely inactive
in a sleeplike state, brooding (which
32
appears quite similar), or engaged in a
dreary activity to pass the time. Passing the
time until what, no spline seems to know.
Having evolved self-aware intelligence over
the epochs, they’ve lost easy access to
their original purpose: Engine repair. That
hollowness haunts them.
Many splines can be found in Wrawn.
But if the splines can be said to have their
own reach, it is the Shudder, where Engine
processes are so compromised that the
whole framework and attached cabling
constantly shakes.
Wraiths are a wilder, more savage group
of creatures that exist in tribes all across
the Engine, but especially in the Halo.
Weirdly, wraiths are biological in nature,
but so wildly modified by the numenera
(or, as the wraiths believe, specifically by
the Architects) that they hardly resemble
anything else alive. According to wraith
folklore, they were derived from an ancient
species that is long extinct. However,
should any human from the Ninth World
ever appear on the Engine, the wraiths react
with consternation. Apparently, humans
resemble the long-extinct race that the

Most creatures encountered on the Engine are automatons, some
are biomechanical, and a small fraction are some variety of flesh, though
never something as fragile as human skin (unless protected by a
vacuum- and radiation-proof suit).
wraiths believe were their forebearers.
While some wraiths might choose to accord
humans special status because of this
similarity, others react violently, believing
humans to be deceivers of some sort.
Other intelligent beings are littered
across the Engine, including plasmars.
Plasmars are actually native to the surface
of the sun. On the Engine, they tend to
conduct themselves peacefully, though can
become territorial if threatened. They also
can become dangerous if they fear that a
creature might disclose their presence and
location back to the “Solar Regime” that
they fled from.
Some entities of the Engine are
dangerously unstable. Pruthastans fall into
this category. They are seen as creatures of
strife and misfortune—or, even more simply
put, as demons. They’re intelligent but seem
intent on destroying the Engine, or at least
keeping it in a state of disrepair.
Finally, countless predators have
evolved on the Engine (or colonized it)
over deep time, such as Engine parasites,
lightning mourns, heliodurans, and many
others. After the Engine malfunctioned
and switched off, the problems posed by
predators only worsened.
Generally speaking, residents are
sometimes friendly to other creatures of the
Engine (and to visitors), and other times they
violently defend their territory, viewing others
as potential sources of loot or even food.
ENGINE CONFLICTS
Conflict is not a normal situation for the
Engine. If it were, the entire machine would
have long ago failed and fallen into the
sun. On the other hand, conflict is on the
rise. Thanks to the Engine’s malfunction,
all sorts of secondary systems that would
normally clear vermin, clean surfaces,
and provide energy for automatons and
EXPLORING THE ENGINE
biomechanicals have begun a long slide
toward failure. This has created resource
gaps, which means creatures that previously
got along sometimes skirmish. Tensions
continue to rise as the Engine remains unlit.
This situation is exacerbated by Denizen Denizen, page 124
and her many servitors, including several Plasmar, page 116
who unknowingly work toward her ends as
members of the Freedom Society. Sowing Freedom Society, page 51
lies and discord, they attempt to further
weaken bonds between allies, erode trust
of legitimate authorities, and otherwise
muddy the situation to create a fog of war in
which good decisions are difficult to make.
As an example, a major conflict between
two warring tribes of wraiths turned the
once-peaceful reach of Gaussian Swale into Pruthastan, page 117
a dangerous “wilderness” where anyone Gaussian Swale, page 47
passing through is seen as a legitimate
target, just in case they’re actually spies
working for the other side.
Other conflicts simmer on the edge of
becoming just as bad, though diplomacy and
careful investigation of the root causes could still
defray them. Ultimately, and not unexpectedly, Engine parasites, page 105
these conflicts can only really be solved if the Lightning mourns,
underlying malfunction is addressed. page 110
Heliodurans, page 109
EXPERIENCING THE ENGINE
First-time visitors to the Engine might
experience the scene described below when
they finally get close enough to the sun to
pick it out of the glare.
Characters who travel to the Engine will Traveling to the Engine,
first experience it according to the specific page 28
method they used. For instance, PCs who
travel by spacecraft will likely get a wide
view, and PCs who travel via instantaneous
teleportation or who wake up a prosthetic
augmech body already located on the Engine
may first experience it from a proximity view.
If you find it helpful, read aloud or
paraphrase the following text to describe
the situation as the PCs first experience
33
 SPATIOTEMPORAL RESET
Level: 1d6
Usable: Handheld device
Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): A target
in long range is effectively regressed
in time to the same state it was in at
the beginning of its previous round.
Anything it experienced personally
is wiped away, including benefits
conferred, damage dealt, and memories
accumulated, up to and including a
catastrophic effect, such as death. No
other creature is affected by the reset.
VACUUM PROTECTOR
Level: 1d6 + 2
Internal: Subdermal implant
Wearable: Bodysuit, belt
Usable: Injector
Effect: Keeps the user alive in vacuum for
28 hours by protecting against extremes
of heat and cold and eliminating the
need to breathe for the duration. If the
cypher is level 6 or higher, it also grants
5 Armor against environmental heat and
radiation of the kind generated close to
the sun.

SPLINE CODER
Level: 1d6
Wearable: Mask
Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): For 28
hours, the wearer has two assets on all
Spline, page 119 interaction tasks with splines.

SUN SHIELD
Level: 1d6
Wearable: Device-studded belt or sash
Effect: For 28 hours, the wearer has 5
Armor against damage from vacuum,
heat, and radiation.

SUN SHROUD
Level: 1d6 + 3
Wearable: Cloak of translucent fabric
Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): When
the cloak is activated, the wearer’s
body is shrouded in flames for up
to one hour. The fire doesn’t burn
the wearer, but it automatically inflicts
fire damage equal to the cypher level
on anyone who tries to touch or
strike the wearer. While
the shroud is active, the
wearer also gains Armor
equal to the cypher level
that protects against fire and
radiation damage from
other sources.

76

is provided through datapresence
control. Once a user goes through the
portal, no one else can enter it until the
user abandons control of the augmech
(and, in most cases, returns through the
portal).
An autarch actuator is usually found keyed
to a particular augmech, or with one of
several options available in an augmech
crèche anywhere in the solar system.
Once control is established, the user can
control the augmech indefinitely. The
user has no normal body during a control
session; their body is the augmech’s. If
the autarch actuator is destroyed while
a user is controlling an augmech, the
user in their augmech body suffers no
harm. However, returning to their own
body will require finding another similar
artifact or a vertice.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per control
session, no matter how long or short)
COURIER AUTOMATON
Level: 1d6 + 2
Form: Cylindrical automaton about the size
of a human
Effect (Prefers Extreme Sunlight): Carries a
message or a physical object across large
distances, usually around the Engine, but
it could be dispatched to other planets.
The courier’s ability to accelerate high
gravities means that messages or objects
ARTIFACTS
are delivered within 1d6 + 2 days of being Datapresence, page 87
dispatched, though objects subject to ill
effects from high gravity (like most life
forms) are crushed in transit. Courier
automatons of level 7 and higher can
transport objects of up to human size in
a stasis field that keeps them safe from
high gravity and vacuum, at least during
the transit.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
DIMENSIONAL MODULATOR
Level: 1d6 + 3
Form: Marble-sized crisscross shape of
unknown material
Effect: A target within immediate range
loses their dimension of breadth
(which folds into a higher dimension),
rendering them as flat as paper. The
target adheres to whatever surface it was Vertices, page 87
attached to, set upon, or standing upon,
and resembles particularly realistic
art. An affected creature enters stasis. One out of every four
While in stasis, it is unable to take pruthastans (page 117)
carries a dimensional
actions, doesn’t age, and is immune to modulator.
damage and effects. It remains in stasis
indefinitely, or until the user returns the
target’s missing dimension by using the
artifact again, or the artifact depletes.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
79
 CHAPTER 9
AUGMECHS
T
he Architects of the Engine required
mighty tools to build, service, repair,
and protect their amazing creation.
Many persist to this day. In the traditional
sense, physical objects of all sorts can be
“There is no greater found in the many workshops of the great
thrill than taking over structure. In a figurative sense, “tools” in
an augmech directly,
controlling it as you
the form of automatons, biomechanical
would control your creatures, and even a few flesh-enrobed
own body.” descendants of servitor species left behind
~Carsis Than, recent can still be found in the Engine and Halo.
discoverer of an
augmech crown
AUGMECH LOCATIONS
Bloodfist, page 91 The majority of augmechs are
ensconced in crèches on the Engine
Infiltrator, page 93 of the Gods, waiting for users to bring
them to life. However, a few can be
found elsewhere, including several
Cyclops, page 92 resting in silent stasis on Earth. If a
GM decides to include augmechs in
a terrestrial adventure, it’s worthwhile
keeping in mind that allowing PCs
Augmech Model, page 87 unrestricted access to an augmech
in the Steadfast, for instance, could
unbalance things. Consider using
mitigation strategies, such as calling
The Mega, page 99 for depletion rolls and requiring regular
infusions of high-level iotum to prevent
malfunctions.
Iotum, page 107
An unused augmech is inactive in its
crèche, which itself is usually hidden.
Anyone who physically discovers a
crèche usually also finds one or more
control methods. If an augmech is
roused from stasis by use of a control
method, it may be just fine. Then again,
after a sleep of a million years or more,
sometimes minor repairs are required.
84
However, by far the mightiest tools
created by the Architects were the
augmechs.
AUGMECHS
Augmechs are artificial bodies a character can
temporarily use. Augmechs grant users an
entirely different shape and suite of abilities
than they normally have. Often, an augmech
can be controlled remotely, which allows a
character’s actual physical body to remain
protected while the augmech is active.
Some augmechs, like the bloodfist,
are designed for combat. Others, like
the infiltrator, are perfect for getting into
small places without notice. Most have
a single specialty, but a couple have two
specialties, like the cyclops that can either
snipe or protect a nearby ally. The full
number of constructed augmechs stored
in crèches across the solar system is not
known. However, most fall into one model
category or another, each with their own
strengths and weaknesses. (According to
clues in the datasphere, there is a singular
model of augmech called the Mega. Unlike
other augmechs that require only one user,
several characters are required to activate
and use the Mega.)
Characters can access augmechs in a
variety of ways.
AUGMECH CONTROL
Four broad augmech control methods exist.
Characters are usually not in a position to
choose which method they use; instead, it’s
a function of what method they find during
 AUGMECHS

PARAMEDIC
This bulky, white machine stands about 15 feet (5 m) tall and about half that around, with
the barest humanoid form. The paramedic can walk or hover as the situation warrants. In
addition to a couple of larger manipulators, it can extend a variety of smaller tools, medical
instruments, or umbilicals specialized for repairing other augmechs and machines, as well If not controlled by a
as for healing any living creatures it has internal files for. PC, treat the paramedic
as a level 7 creature
In addition to a cockpit, the paramedic has two cramped cavities into which it can pop with 25 health.
wounded creatures and store them in stasis for up to several months. Those in stasis do
not suffer further harm from wounds or diseases, if any, while they remain encapsulated.
Motive: As controlling character; if NPC-controlled, usually to aid allies
Environment: Engine or Halo
Might Pool: 22 (Edge 1)
Speed Pool: 22
Intellect Pool: As controlling character
Damage Inflicted: 4 points
Armor: 1; Armor 5 against environmental heat and radiation
Movement: Short when flying
Modifications: Three augmech shifts to restoration, easing healing tasks by three steps and
providing three additional recovery rolls a day, which the augmech can save for itself, or
dole out to other augmechs or living creatures.
Combat: Though not kitted out for fighting, a bulky paramedic can inflict 4 points of
damage with an arm slam. They prefer to support allies. Thanks to their onboard
systems, they can restore 5 points of health (or points to a Pool of the controlling
character’s choice) to an adjacent target, as long as the paramedic takes no damage GM intrusion: A
during the round (it acts in initiative order if using this medical reagent
reservoir in the augmech
automatic healing option). begins leaking. Until a
If forced to, a paramedic can use onboard successful difficulty 7
chemicals to create an repair task is completed,
electrostatic spray that numbs all healing tasks are
hindered by two steps.
the senses of living machines
and creatures alike, stunning
all such beings within
immediate range on a
successful attack so they
lose their next turn. Each use
of this ability uses up one of
its three extra recovery rolls for
the day.
Interaction: As controlling character.
Use: Someone the PCs need to talk to
is stored in one of the stasis cavities
of an augmech that is nowhere to be
found.
Loot: A paramedic can be broken down and
salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and maybe an
artifact.

95
 DRAHQ 8 (24)
A solar storm is a disturbance on the sun that can affect the entire solar system, reaching
all the way to Earth. Sometimes these storms birth self-aware entities of knotted magnetic
force churning with rage, plasma, and metal-fusing induction. A drahq resembles a flare,
miles long, with an interior “skeleton” of twisted magnetic field lines, creating a creepy,
clawlike body limned in plasma.
Drahqs can move under their own power, independent of the storm that created them.
Usually they prey upon other entities that live in the upper layers of the sun. Sometimes
they’re drawn to the nearby Engine, where they delight in causing as much destruction as
possible, especially among automatons and biomechanicals sensitive to magnetic attacks.
Motive: Delights in destruction
Environment: Engine and Halo (and sun’s surface)
Health: 40
Damage Inflicted: 12 points
Armor: 3 (see Combat)
Movement: Very long when flying
Modifications: Perception as level 9; Speed defense as level 3 due to size
Combat: A drahq can scour an area up to a very long distance away with violent magnetic
flux, inflicting 12 points of damage to all creatures in an area up to a short distance in
diameter. Automatons and biomechanicals (as well as augmechs, or even fleshy beings
in bulky protective suits) in the area must also succeed on a Might defense roll if they
are touching a solid metallic surface. Those who fail are fused to the surface and can’t
move until they break free (inflicting 8 points of damage to themselves in the process).
In areas of particularly strong energy fields (strong enough to damage regular creatures),
drahqs regenerate up to 10 points of health per round and can double or triple
their maximum health. If encountered directly on the surface of the sun, they can
increase their health by an order of magnitude, rendering them effectively immune
GM intrusion: On a to the immense damage that would otherwise destroy most other life (except for that
failed Might defense roll, engineered to live on the sun).
the character is effectively
blinded by the drahq’s
Interaction: A drahq possesses the instincts and intelligence of a predatory creature, and
attack, as mechanisms will attempt to flee back to the sun if faced with a credible threat.
that normally provide Use: The PCs are asked to deal with a marauding drahq by someone who the characters
sight or similar sensing want a favor from in return.
abilities short out.

104
 CREATURES

PHANTOM ARCHITECT 9 (27)

Half composed of metal and half of fluid nanites held in a cradle of invisible force, phantom
architects are sometimes witnessed moving along a strut or wandering through a station in
the Halo. Most other beings give them a wide berth, because their name alone suggests an
important lineage. If indeed these creatures are echoes of the Architects themselves, how
could they be anything but disappointed at what has become of the Engine?
Phantom architects don’t seem to have lairs—or, at least, not physical ones. Instead,
they are somehow physically printed from special devices (which some call vertices), and Vertice, page 87
remain for only a little while before returning to whatever non-realm they came from.
If a phantom architect ever manifests near a pruthastan, the phantom does everything Pruthastan, page 117
within its power to utterly destroy the pruthastan, demonstrating a brutal instinct to
eradicate them.
Motive: Defend the Engine
Environment: Engine and Halo
Health: 50
Damage Inflicted: 13 points
Armor: 4; Armor 10 against heat, radiation, and effects of vacuum
Movement: Long when flying Pocket chamber, page 60
Modifications: Speed defense as level 7 due to size
Combat: In addition to being able to make two battering
attacks each round, inflicting 13 points of damage
per strike, a phantom architect can employ its
deep connection with the Engine to create a
variety of effects. These include raising an
arbitrary number of level 5 long-range laser
weapon turrets (one each round), opening
previously undetected pocket chambers,
creating force field barriers, and so on.
Essentially, a phantom architect has a
sort of remote control of nearby Engine
devices and machines, including those
lying inactive beneath a strut plating
or just out of sight along a length of
cable.
Interaction: Generally, PCs must do
something destructive to get the
attention of a phantom architect,
though that could lead to a
conflict. However, sometimes
a phantom architect decides
that characters could be useful in an
obscure repair project, and it sets the PCs
on a task in return for something they want,
popping up display screens out of a nearby
Engine component to communicate visually. GM intrusion: The
Use: When the PCs accidentally destroy a piece of character is sucked
into a nearby pocket
Engine equipment, a phantom architect appears. chamber and (on a
Loot: A defeated phantom architect can be salvaged failed Speed defense
for several cyphers and a couple of artifacts. roll) trapped when the
entrance fades away.

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