Gloriously Incandescent Science Fantasy, Forged in The Dark by Briar Sovereign

GLORIOUSLY INCANDESCENT SCIENCE FANTASY,
FORGED IN THE DARK BY BRIAR SOVEREIGN

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TBTWK PLAYTEST
Thank you for picking up these playtest rules! This game is far from ready to be
called anything close to finished, but playtesting helps immensely: and even if you
don’t have time to playtest yourself, just looking through these rules and giving
feedback often helps improve and tighten them up a lot too. You can always send
feedback and notes to weregazelle@gmail.com.
That said, some requests;
• There is no GM/Witness advice section yet. If you’re interested in playtesting this
game I’d recommend you already have some experience running Forged In The
Dark games, or at least consult the relevant chapter in Blades In The Dark. Some of
it won’t transfer, but a lot of it will. Alternatively, consider running it without a GM!
• A concise description of problems you run into is far more helpful to me than
suggestions on how to solve them—but if you use workarounds at the table or
interpret a rule differently, let me know.
• Tonally, TBTWK draws more on it’s Destiny inspiration than it’s Warframe half. It’s
a game about heroes burning out to protect the things and the people they love,
slowly remembering a life they forgot had ever ended. It’s about weighing self-
discovery and your true self against a role as an ever-dwindling Star. The
brightest things we know never burn for long.
And some suggestions;
• Unless you have a starting Strike in mind, maybe roll 2-3 rumours beforehand?
That way the group can fill out a Strike brief at least partially and get a taste for
how setting up their own Strikes works.
• A little familiarity with Destiny or Warframe gameplay will probably do you a lot of
favours, with the addendum that the possibility space is a little wider. Killing a
boss doesn’t always need to be your big objective.
• Until the Glory rules are written, feel free to interpret the benefits of gaining Glory
in any way you want. Maybe people from other Foundry-Ships come visit the
Cluster’s to meet these hot new Stars, festivals are thrown giving bonuses during
certain Ship phases, etc.
• Feel free to pepper your world with additional sub-factions or Stars or gear or
whatever. There’s lots of detailing still to happen on that end for me, so don’t
hesitate to fill gaps when you need to!
CREDITS
The Brightest Things We Know is written and designed by Briar Sovereign. This is the
Playtest v0.4 version, released 13/05/2021.
This work is based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/),
product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed
for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Blades in the Dark™ is a trademark of One Seven Design. The Forged in the Dark Logo
is © One Seven Design, and is used with permission.
Fonts: Quicksand, Alef, Century Schoolbook, Century Gothic
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UPDATE NOTES
V 0.1
• The game is out! Hurray.
V 0.2
• ‘Exotic’ weapons have been renamed with ‘Unique’ weapons.
• Clarified that the CHAINED has 9 Bindings.
• All the playbooks now have a full suite of four moves!
• Expanded the list of Unique Armour/Relics!
• Added new consumables to Aucodes: foundry sparks!
• Faction descriptions have been filled out a bit more! Still a work in progress,
though. It’s weird writing a game where worldbuilding stuff is going to be like... the
thing that takes the longest.
• ATTUNE is now DIVINE. No more overlap!
• Added some notes on GMless play, since folks have said to me a few times they
can imagine this game working well with it!
V0.3 “NEW M ANAGEMENT”

• New mechanics for Boss enemies implemented!
• Sympathy reworks.
V0.4
• First draft of Cluster/Foundry-Ship progression! It’s very lightweight for now.
• Refinement to Crowns and Keys based on playstesting.
• Reworks to the payoff roll and Aucode tables.
CHARACTER SHEETS
Fillable sheets for all playbooks can be found here (will open a browser tab)! Make a
local copy (File > Make a Copy) to use them for yourself or your group.
T OUCHSTONES
Destiny 2, Warframe, Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead 2, Gunbuster, The Castle Of Cagliostro
D ESIGN I NFLUENCES
Songs For The Dusk, Destiny 2, Blades In The Dark, Scum & Villainy
HEY, I HAVEN’ T PLAYED D ESTINY OR W ARFRAME. W HAT DOES X MEAN?

Don’t worry about it. What does that word or phrase invoke for you? For your group?
If it’s interesting, it’s not wrong.
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THE GAME STRIKES
The Game 5 Strikes 26
The Setting 5 Assumptions & Rumours 26
The Stars 6 Assumptions
The Cluster 6 Rumour Tables
Forged In The Dark 6 Strike Briefs 30
Actions & Attributes 7 Engagement & Payoff 31
Consequences 8 Catastrophes 31
Brightness Crowns 32
Blights Unlocking
Light, Burnout & Memories 9 Keys
Light Jingling Your Keys
Burnout
Memories SHIP PHASE
Success 10 The Ship Phase 34
Looting Ship Actions
Charges Deciphering Aucodes 36

Unique Primaries
Clocks 10
Unique Secondaries
Weapons & Armour 11
Weapons Unique Heavies
Armour & Relics Unique Armour/Relics
Loot & Prep 12 Foundry Sparks

Rumours & Strike Briefs 12
THE WORLD
Advancement 13
The World 41
Sympathy
The Factions 42
Ability Keywords 13 Faction Summaries
GMless Play 13
The Many-Forgotten 43
CHARACTERS The Ichor Barons 44
Stars 14 Ophician Remnants 45
Character Creation 15 Hive Alipheux 47
Playbooks 9th Acquisitions Survey 48
Next Steps The Sovereign Earthen States 49
The Witness 50
ANDROMEDA, THE CHAINED
Other Phenomena & Dangers 51
ARA, THE ALTAR
HYDROGEN GHOSTS
CETUS, THE SHARK
CORVUS, THE CROW
GEMINI, THE TWINS This is a playtest document!
MONOCEROS, THE UNICORN
These rules are mercurial and
LYRA, THE HARP subject to change!
PYXIS, THE COMPASS
URSA, THE BEAR
Please send thoughts &
feedback to
The Cluster 25
weregazelle@gmail.com
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CHAPTER 1
THE GAME
WHO YOU ARE, WHERE YOU ARE & HOW TO PLAY
THE GAME
The Brightest Things We Know is a game about star-blessed demigods defending
what remains of mankind against the desperate, imperious, forgotten and all-
consuming forces that have come to drive us from the system we call home.
It is a hack of John Harper's Blades In The Dark, but rather than playing gritty rogues
dodging the building heat of their daring escapades and building their criminal
legacy, we play the part of those long-dead but reborn into great power through the
grace and wake of the Visitor. We play to find out how long they can protect their
people before the memories of who they once were and the mortality attached catch
back up with them.
THE SETTING
The Brightest Things We Know takes place in our own solar system in the far future,
after mankind’s Bright Age—brought on by the passing of the Visitor, and the
blessings it imparted—has been decimated by those that followed in its wake. Its
final gift to us, our Stars, and most of what of what remains of humanity live on the
Foundry-Ships: immense spacebourne colonies, once built by all-powerful
corporations but reclaimed as our venerated and communal homes.
Arrayed against us, perched on the edges of our system, are those that follow the
Visitor. The Ichor Barons, who steal shapes to cast their penumbral masses into. The
Star-Drinkers of Hive Alipheux, come to drain our precious sun dry. The Many-
Forgotten, a lost machine intelligence that refines everything in its path to prolong its
search for home. The 9th Acquisitions Survey, a vast hunting party from a distant
branch of humanity. The Remnants of the Ophician Republic, desperate, mercenary
and ambitious, and last but not least: the Sovereign Earthern States, who would
rather rot in their ivory towers than let us come home.
Our assailants are numerous. Our havens are few. All we have is the Stars.
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THE STARS
When it passed through our system long ago, the Visitor surely already knew of
those that followed in its wake. In its wisdom, it left us the Witness: a link to celestial
power and advisor for those that would come to wield it. The Witness seeks out the
long-dead and imbues them with the grace and might of those heavenly bodies, so
that they might defend mankind anew.
Stars, as they have simply become known, venture out into the system on Strikes:
battling our many foes, recovering that which they have stolen from us and
defending mankind wherever our roots remain firmly in place.
Holding back the darkness are 9 Stars, each bearing the name and manner of a
constellation, each someone pulled from an untimely grave to defend those who are
yet to reach theirs. With their past and personality wiped clean, our Stars are shaped
by the constellation they bear. Their names are¹;
ANDROMEDA, THE CHAINED: “I have made you unstoppable. Unconquerable.
Unshakeable. Show them your chains, Andromeda. Make sure they know you wear
them by choice.”
ARA, THE ALTAR: “Let them fall alone, Ara. Let them struggle. Only then will they truly
appreciate the worth of a good deal. What is an altar, but a broker for gods?”
CETUS, THE SHARK: “They come in droves, Cetus. A great tide to wash away your
worlds. They have forgotten their fear of the deep, Cetus. Remind them.”
CORVUS, THE CROW: “How many have you picked clean, Corvus? Into what shape do
you cobble your spoils? For your sake and ours, build something that lasts.”
GEMINI, THE TWINS: “They can talk of their fangs, of their chains, of their radiance.
They can bring blades, or guns, or fury. At the end of the day, it's two against one.”
MONOCEROS, THE UNICORN: “I have one task of you, Monoceros. Take this light, and
spread it wherever you go.”
PYXIS, THE COMPASS: “You know the route. You know the way. You can forge the means
from motes of light, Pyxis, and you can take them anywhere.”
URSA, THE BEAR: “Your hide is old now, Ursa. It has many scars. It's seen many worlds.
You wear the mark of many battles, Ursa, but I see you have room for more.”
LYRA, THE HARP: “I have taught you many songs, Lyra. Every chord and every note
echoes with my love for you. But I could never play them like you can.”
THE CLUSTER
Your Stars form a Cluster: an organised Strike team, operating out of a Foundry-Ship.
Since you’ll define the Strikes you go on, there aren’t Cluster ‘types’ or specific
upgrades like in other FITD games. The Cluster is just the Cluster, but you will be able
to add new things to the Foundry-Ship to aid your endeavours.
Between Strikes, you’ll mingle with the community of your ship, getting to know them
and their troubles before you jet off into space to help them.
FORGED IN THE DARK

As a Forged In The Dark game, The Brightest Things You Know uses the same basic
rolling system as Blades In The Dark. For the purposes of this playtest document,
assume things like action ratings, position & effect, progress clocks, pushing yourself
and assisting, as well as core roll mechanics like fortune rolls and resistance rolls all
work as they do in Blades In The Dark, unless specified otherwise. Devil’s bargains are
referred to as celestial pacts in this game.
The Brightest Things You Know does not feature entanglements, levelled harm, crew
types, vices or score plans. Replacements for these mechanics, if any, are detailed
below.
¹ Considering a tenth playbook here: the RABBIT, that’s just all luck and coincidences.
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ACTIONS & ATTRIBUTES
The Brightest Things We Know uses a different set of action ratings and attributes
than Blades In The Dark, and they are detailed below.
D IVINITY
When you SCOUR, you unleash your radiance destructively, un-making your foe with
the power of stars.
You could melt through a hardened bulkhead, incinerate a cluster of incoming missiles,
fry the electronics of machinery or otherwise use your celestial gifts to wreck shit. You
might use it to assail foes in straight up combat, but it’s usually easier to Clash.
When you COMPEL, you unleash your radiance creatively, building anew and restoring
what was lost.
You could revive a Dark ally, heal an injured mortal, quickly construct a defensive
screen, repair something damaged beyond regular repairs or otherwise magically
coax something into shape. You might use it to force machinery into action, but it might
be better to Control.
When you DIVINE, you unleash your radiance subtly, reaching out to connect to and
understand the metaphysical world around you.
You might magically read the history and memory of an object, sense the presence
and path of living creatures, read the surface thoughts of another, commune with a
celestial body or otherwise do something that lets you understand and analyse the
world supernaturally. You might use it to and quickly study a situation, but it’d typically
be more effective to Know it.
M ORTALITY
When you CONTROL, you operate or integrate with technology in order to command it.
You might hack into a security station, steer a spaceship, reprogram missiles in-flight,
co-ordinate remote sentry drones or otherwise make use of technology or vehicles. You
might use it to operate a high-tech piece of weaponry, but it is probably easier to
Clash.
When you DECEIVE, you perform subtle manoeuvres and lie or trick your way through
trouble.
You might pickpocket something from a watchful guard, quietly slip through a
ventilation shaft, assassinate someone undetected, convince a foe you’re one of them or
otherwise do something quietly and stealthily. You might use it to make an empty threat
against someone, but saying it like you mean it with Advocate might be more
effective.
When you ADVOCATE, you reach out to another honestly to convince, negotiate or
inspire then.
You might reason with a group of soldiers who need to retreat, negotiate for a truce
when stuck between two foes, coax the truth out of somebody reticent or otherwise
communicate with someone earnestly. You might try to misrepresent facts to someone,
but better results might be gained with Deceive.
D UALITY
When you CLASH, you openly enact violence with guns, blades or otherwise.
You might do a cool flip and shoot someone, carve through a horde of foes with a titanic
swing, brawl with an Ichor Knight or otherwise meet someone with violence they can’t
ignore. You might try to carve through a ship’s hull, but it is likely more efficient to
Scour.
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When you FLOW, you leap, flip, slide and jump your way in and out of danger.
You might do several backflips, leap between pieces of falling debris, slide safely
between the feet of your foes, land safely from a colossal fall or otherwise move with
speed, balance and coordination. You might try and dash through a room unnoticed,
but you would have a smoother time with Deceive.
When you KNOW, you assess and memorise the world around you to learn and
anticipate.
You might quickly assess the weaponry carried by a group, predict an incoming
ambush, notice weak points or hidden details in something, answer a question within
your realm of expertise or otherwise use your senses and brain to figure something out.
You might try and understand the workings of a magical ritual, but you may get
answers faster if you Divine.
DIVINITY is used to resist consequences from magic, the unfathomable ways of the
abyss, or anything else fantastical. MORTALITY is used to resist consequences from
deception, confusion, or mental strain. DUALITY is used to resist consequences from
physical strain or injury (but not exhaustion— Stars never tire).
CONSEQUENCES
Consequences work largely as they do in other FITD games, except for Harm, on
account of this game not having it. Instead, we have Brightness: a simple 3-step track
to show what your current relationship to living is, measured from Radiant to Dark.
B RIGHTNESS
RADIANT: While Radiant, you're at the top of your game. Wreathed in the power of
stars, you can shrug off gunfire, hold fast against the tides of darkness, and probably
kill a man with your light just by thinking about it (don't think about it). You're strong,
ma jestic, and unstoppable.
FLICKERING: You have been stopped. It's a problem. While Flickering, you're likely in
an awkward or difficult spot. Maybe you separated from your friends and ran into a
few more foes than you can handle alone, or maybe one of those tricky Ichor Knights
caught you on the back-swing. Whatever the reason, it's a little tougher for you than
usual to do your stellar duty right now. Still, it's going to take more than that to stop
you properly.
DARK: There was more, and you have come to a complete stop. You're dead, but
mostly just in the way a candle is dead after you put it out. That is to say, with a
moments help from your still-shining allies, you'll be back on your feet in no time.
Consider being knocked down one step equivalent to lesser harm, and being
knocked down two steps (straight to Dark if you were Radiant) equivalent to severe
harm. Dark is effectively dead, but don’t be too worried about slapping people down
to it since they can be revived fairly easily. Both can be resisted as usual, and you
might use an action to try and heal yourself or someone else.
REVIVAL
Reviving someone who is Dark during a stressful situation, like during a firefight,
requires an action roll. COMPEL will often make the most sense, being the action for
healing and restoring with your celestial power, but as this is a FITD game arguments
can be made for other actions always.
You might FLOW to quickly move your downed friend somewhere they can be more
safely and carefully revived, ATTUNE to reach out and commune with their wayward
Light, and so on. With Standard effect, a 4/5 places your ally back at Flickering, and a
6 will make them Radiant. Higher and lower effect are the purview of your Witness:
maybe Light spills out and heals the entire Cluster! Maybe you come back with a
Blight.
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RADIANT REBIRTH
If things are truly desperate, you also have the option of instantly reviving yourself
and the rest of the Cluster by voluntarily entering Burnout (see: Light, Burnout &
Memories). When you do this, you and everyone else is set to Radiant, regardless of
situation.
B LIGHTS
In the middle, taking up the spot of moderate harm, are Blights. Blights are semi-
permanent status conditions, cleared during the Ship Phase in-between Strikes.
Blights lock you out of an action, unless you push yourself. While the Witness (or if
you’re playing without one, the group) will define what action a Blight cuts you off
from, the exact nature of that Blight is up to you, the player. Often, it will be best
informed by whatever situation gave it to you.
Perhaps an Ichor curse has stymied your Light and made it hard to SCOUR, or the
Many-Forgotten lanced your body with electromagnetic spikes that disrupt
technology, making it impossible for you to CONTROL unless you suppress them with
your powers. Or possibly an encounter with a Star-Drinker left you drained, stymieing
your ability to COMPEL, or a ferocious Ophician cut cleanly through your bullshit,
making it far tougher to DECEIVE them.
LIGHT, BURNOUT & MEMORIES

L IGHT
Light is a vague measure of the stellar power within you. When you spend it to push
yourself, assist others or resist consequences, the dark of mortality and the past
seeps back into your immortal being, making it easier for shards of who you once
were to pierce that starry veil and make themselves part of you again. When you
have used enough Light that you can use no more, you enter burnout.
B URNOUT
While in Burnout, the next action you take has increased effect & position: after
making it, however, a MEMORY resurfaces and you immediately turn to ash as your
connection to the Witness falters and your own power consumes you. Another Star
may spend 1 Prep to restore you to life. Once you have been revived, your Light will
be refilled to its maximum.
M EMORIES
Before new life was breathed into you by the light of the stars, you were a person like
any other. For new Stars, that person is all but impossible to recall: but over time,
MEMORIES can be recalled, and the traits that made up your former personality become
part of you again.
When you recall MEMORIES, it is up to you how much those returning personality traits
affect your character. When these traits cause you trouble or complicate your life as
a Star, however, you gain XP in exchange.
Additionally, these new links to your past are hard to ignore. For every MEMORY you
recall, you have 1 less hour to spend during the Ship phase, as you spend your time
researching and studying in an attempt to learn more about who you used to be, or
simply distracted by those fleeting memories (feel free to narrate these scenes if you
wish). When you reach 4 MEMORIES, the Witness considers you no longer fit for your
stellar duty. You are cut off from your Light and offered retirement aboard the
Foundry-Ship you used to protect. You are no longer asked to serve or work and can
live comfortably as thanks for the duty you performed.
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If you decline retirement and choose otherwise—to go back out into the world and
find some final closure on who you used to be—set that character sheet aside. At
another time, find others who have chosen that path and return to those characters
in a game of your choosing. The truth is not always what you want it to be: but it is
worth searching for.
SUCCESS
L OOTING
The absolute most important part of succeeding is getting good loot. In The Brightest
Things We Know, this usually comes in the form of Aucodes: digitally encoded
nanofabrication parcelled out with an exact measure of standard nanites as well as
tiny bricks of whatever non-replicable materials the object requires to be properly
fabricated. They’re fancy little neon bricks you plug into a computer to make nice
things come out instead.
Whenever you succeed on an action roll, you can mark 1 Loot to pick up an Aucode
also. It’s up to you exactly where you find it. This is the most reliable way of getting
Aucodes, but try not to get greedy and pick up more than you can carry during a
Strike: the real prize is your payoff.
The payoff roll is made at the end of a Strike, when your objective is dealt with and
everyone gathers around whatever convenient chest, dead Hive-Duke or ancient
vault it is your reward awaits you in.
When you roll for payoff, start with 1d for good luck, and take;
• +1d for every alluring rumour used in the Strike Brief
• +1d if someone got a critical success during the Strike
• +1d if everyone takes a minute to revisit their safety tools and check in with
eachother :)
For every 4/5 result, members of the Cluster may mark 1 Loot to take an Aucode. For
every 6 result, they may mark 1 Loot to take a Glimmering Aucode instead. This is the
only way to get Glimmering Aucodes, so make sure you save some room for the
payoff!
C HARGES
Every Star has a Charge of Light they may expend to gain +1d to a roll. Once this is
expended, you may recharge it with a full success (6) or a critical success (multiple
6’s) on any risky or desperate roll you didn’t spend a Charge on. Some Special
Abilities offer exceptions and adjustments to these rules, so keep an eye out.
CLOCKS
Tracking the durability of a ship, the vitality of a dire foe, the time until a devastating
warhead hits a Foundry-Ship and how much progress you’ve made on some projects
back home all at the same time is difficult. For that reason, Clocks are typically used
to manage any and all of these things, and they’re pretty simple: when a Clock is fully
ticked, something happens. They work here much as they do in Blades In The Dark.
The Cluster advances them with action rolls, ticking them up based on their Effect
(limited +1, standard +2, great +3), or causing them to be advanced or reduced
through consequences on failed rolls that they don’t resist.
P ROJECT C LOCKS
Project Clocks measure your progress on whatever it is you choose to spend your
time with when you work on a long-term project during the Ship Phase. There’s some
room on your character sheet for you to record yours personally, so you can keep
track of them. Like Progress Clocks, these are usually 4 to 8 steps long.
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P ROGRESS C LOCKS
Progress Clocks are the standard when it comes to managing threats, time-sensitive
events, and anything else worth tracking (other than enemies, specifically: see Foe
Clocks). They are usually 4 to 8 steps long, based on complexity or time.
FOE C LOCKS
When you confront your enemies in a Strike, your progress in defeating them is
measuring with, surprise surprise, a Clock: a Foe Clock, to be precise. The length of
this Clock is determined by the foe’s tier. By default;
• Minion I foes are dispatched by filling a 2-step Clock.
• Major II foes are dispatched by filling a 4-step Clock.
• Elite III foes are dispatched by filling a 6-step Clock.
Foes have a tier that affects your level of effect when fighting with them—to even the
odds, your weapons each have their own tier too: see below for more on that.
For grouped foes of each type, increase their Clock length by 2 or by 4.
Bosses have their own, special Foe Clocks: for more on that, see Crowns.
WEAPONS & ARMOUR

Usually in FITD games, weapons and armour are things you whip out for a couple
points of Load and don’t get into much detail on. That is not the case here, and only
partially because Load doesn’t exist. Expanding and customising your little armoury
is a much bigger focus in The Brightest Things We Know, and as such your gear is a
little more particular.
W EAPONS
Your Light carries three weapons onto every Strike. These are your Primary,
Secondary and Heavy weapons, and each serves a different purpose:
• Primary I weapons are your standard death-dealing tools you’ll use to deal with
most foes. Primaries are simple and don’t offer you much mechanically, but they
are reliable: you can rest assured that no matter how your rolls go, they’ll never
break or run out of ammunition.
▪ Primary weapons encompass things like rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, bows
and so on: all reliable weapons with fairly flexible ranges.
• Secondary II weapons are specialised tools, made to deal with enemies that
possess certain kinds of protections: armour, barriers or regeneration. These
protections offer them complete invulnerability to harm until you use the correct
kind of Secondary to strip that tag from them.
▪ Secondary weapons are your heavier hitters: shotguns, sniper rifles, hand
cannons and so on. All have either the piercing, dispelling or searing tag, which
makes them effective against foes with the above modifiers, and a tag that
restricts their usage a little: usually a range tag like close or sniper, limited
ammo, etc. Secondaries are powerful but more niche in their application.
• Heavy III weapons, finally, are limited use but incredibly powerful. Best saved for
tough moments, heavy weapons are capable of dealing with even the toughest of
enemies. You can carry up to 3 Ammo for your Heavy weapon, and the Witness
might offer you opportunities to acquire more... often with risk involved.
▪ Heavy weapons are things like rocket launchers, railguns, energy swords, heavy
machine guns, etc. They pack a serious punch—their high tier gives you
increased effect against tier I and II foes—but their real strength is helping you
deal with bigger targets, whose tier would make them difficult to deal with
otherwise. Stopping you using them on just about everything is their limited
Ammo: you’ll start each Strike with one use, but anything more you’ll need to
find as you go.
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Put simply: your primary is for dealing with minion enemies, your secondary is for
dealing with major (tier II) enemies and your heavy weapon is for dealing with elite
(tier III) enemies.
You’ll pick something for each category when you make your character, and find new
ones as you finish Strikes and find new loot: including Unique weapons, which come
with a Special Ability of their own, just like those on your playbook. The same goes
for...
ARMOUR & RELICS

A good offense is best paired with a good defence, and as such you’ll also find
various pieces of armour and mystical relics throughout play for your Star to equip.
These all provide some kind of useful defensive ability, and for those familiar with
FITD staples: your Special Armour abilities are all found on, surprise surprise, armour.
LOOT & PREP

Rather than choosing and spending Load to get the things you need³, in The Brightest
Things We Know you’ll get the occasional useful gadget or tool you need completely
through Flashbacks. Instead of spending valuable Light on these, you instead start
every Strike with 4 Prep to spend in the same way.
Prep represents the efforts of regular citizens back on your Foundry-Ship putting in
time to support your missions, and that should come through in how you flavour your
flashbacks. The things you flashback for can be things that feel mission-critical: after
all, you’re spending a limited resource to get them.
One specific use of Prep is bringing back Stars that have left a Strike due to burnout.
Whenever the Cluster has a quiet few minutes—i.e, when they’re not actively in a
stressful situation—you may spend 2 Prep per Star to produce a beacon keyed to
their Light, that the Witness can teleport them to.
Additionally, instead of Load you spend to produce gear, you have Loot you spend to
pick up the useful and valuable things you find while out on a Strike. These include
Aucodes and Glimmering Aucodes you can decipher during the Ship Phase to obtain
new weapons, armour and relics. The exact mechanics of looting are covered above
in Success: Looting.
RUMOURS & STRIKE BRIEFS

In The Brightest Things We Know, members of the Cluster will effectively define their
own Strikes by choosing Strike Briefs and filling them with rumours that they hear
during the Ship Phase. There are different kinds of rumours that provide bonuses
(and drawbacks) to your Strike, and also a set of assumptions: staples of your game
that are always available to fill Strike Briefs with, no strings attached.
Strike Briefs are mission prompts, each with three spaces for a rumour to be slotted
in to fill out the details of the Strike. What Brief is used for a Strike is up to the Cluster,
and a full list of them and tables for randomly rolling rumours can be found in
Chapter 3: Strikes.
³ Load and gear was cut in this game on account of the fact that Stars are capable of far more than
your usual scoundrel or adventurer. You don’t need to mark demolition tools if you’re a space wizard.
12
ADVANCEMENT
Advancement and XP works similarly to most FITD games, with some exception.
There is a single 8-step XP track, rather than separate playbook and attribute XP,
which when filled allows you to either take a Special Ability from your playbook or
put an additional dot into an action rating of your choice.
Additionally, you can earn XP through...
SYMPATHY
During play—the Ship Phase specifically—you gain sympathy dice with the other
Stars in your Cluster. As practically demigods, blessed by the wake of the Visitor and
bereft of the memory of their human lives, Stars rarely find solace in anyone but
other Stars, and sympathy dice represent those moments of kinship and
understanding between immortals.
When you gain a die, you’ll mark whose company you gained it with: in the future,
you can then spend that die and add it to a roll involving them. This might be you
helping them with an action, you fighting to defend them, working on something for
them in the Ship phase and so on. When you do so, you’ll mark that spent die in your
tracker for that player, and also mark XP!
When your 4-step sympathy tracker with another Star fills, two things happen:
• You’ll write a Belief about that Star: a short thought about who they are, what they
are really like, or how you assosciate them with the world around you.
• You’ll increase how much Light it takes to assist them by 1. In the future, this time
you’ve spent together and the time you’ve spent acting on those old human
feelings will make it easier for memories of your past life to resurface.
ABILITY KEYWORDS
Abilities often reference specific keywords as shorthand to explain more complicated
(or simply more wordy) mechanics. When you see text in purple and bold, it’s a
keyword!
• Reckless - Reckless abilities allow you to roll +1d, at the cost of removing 1d from
any resist roll you might need to make as a consequence.
• Drain - When you drain an enemy, become Radiant and roll d6’s equal to the
enemy’s tier. These dice don’t do anything, but can recharge your Charge.
• Domain - When an ability gives you domain over something, it means resisting
consequences to do with that thing always costs you 1 Light: no roll is needed.
• Sympathy - Sympathy dice can be spent and added to any roll you make involving
whoever you gained that die with. Some abilities allow you to spend sympathy
instead of other resources.
GMLESS PLAY
The Witness is both a fictional role—that of a distant observer and mission control for
Clusters—and a mechanical one, what we typically think refer to as a GM. The role of
the GM is to facilitate and guide play, controlling elements of the world beyond the
Cluster in order to help tell a good story.
If your group wants to play The Brightest Things We Know without a specific player
taking up this role, that’s fine! Wherever the rules refer to the Witness doing
something or making a decision, you may simply do those as a group instead. You’re
already designing Strikes as a group through filling Strike Briefs, and the structure of
FITD games means it is simple to pick out suitable consequences for rolls that go
wrong.
13
•
CHAPTER 2
CHARACTERS
STAR PLAYBOOKS, WEAPONS, ARMOUR AND THE CLUSTER
STARS
When the Visitor passed through our system, it brought with it a time of great
opportunity and possibility for mankind. A new Bright Age, driven of course by those
with the most means to capitalise on opportunities. Unimaginable advances in
technology were made, borders crumbled and problems that had long plagued
humanity were solved: thanks, of course, to one philanthropic corporation or another.
We spread far beyond our Earth, aboard the great Foundry-Ships, sponsored by
whoever bought our loyalty.
And then, eventually, in the mystical wake left behind our Visitor, came others. Some
hungry for its power, some jealous of the blessings it offered their neighbours, and
some whose civilisations had crumbled as their own Bright Ages had elevated
tyrants and warmongers. In the years that followed, we remembered that all bright
things cast a shadow. Countless died, but new opportunities were found: amid the
struggle, we threw aside the old order and claimed the Foundry-Ships for ourselves,
making new homes among the stars. Those of means fled desperately back to Earth,
and gripped it tight: a hold that has not faltered.
In our fight against our many foes in the Wake, there are no individuals more
important than our Stars. Long-dead humans, revived and imbued with great power
by the Witness—the Visitors only remaining gift to us—and given the duty to defend
that which remains. Every Star is strong, fast and capable of feats indiscernible from
magic and miracle. Every one can CLASH with terrible foes, COMPEL new life into motion,
and FLOW from one place to another with grace: even when you don’t have ranks in an
action, it just means you have to push yourself or rely on other Star’s to support you
with teamwork.
What makes Stars stand out from each-other, then, is threefold; Looks & Natures
define your appearance and vibe, a choice of Special Abilities⁴ that define your
celestial power further, and a unique Star Ability that bends the rules around you in a
certain way.
⁴Playbooks in The Brightest Things We Know only have 4 Special Abilities: you’ll also find them on
Armour/Relics and Exotic Weapons.
14
CHARACTER CREATION
P LAYBOOKS
The first part of creating a character for The Brightest Things We Know is to choose
your playbook. Your playbook defines which Star you are, what kind of power you
have access to, and defines some key things about your appearance and nature.
Stars are individuals: there is only one BEAR, only one COMPASS and so on. The
person you once were is little more than a faint echo, overwritten with the force and
personality of a demigod. If there are other Stars out there that is up to you, but the
ones provided in this book are;
The Chained is good at moving unchecked and flourishing under pressure. Play The
Chained if you want to be unstoppable and unrestrained.
ARA, THE ALTAR
The Altar is good at negotiating and using leverage of all kinds to get what they
want. Play The Altar if you want to manipulate others and always be on the good side
of a deal.
CETUS, THE SHARK
The Shark is good at hunting down foes and striking them when they least expect it.
Play The Shark if you want to be inescapable and ferocious.
CORVUS, THE CROW
The Crow is good at picking the useful from the not, playing with technology and
creating new things. Play The Crow if you want to provide the Cluster with helpful
tools and investigate what others might overlook.
GEMINI, THE TWINS
The Gemini are good at doing things quickly and helping others. Play The Gemini if
you want the perfect partner for tag-team hi-jinks.
The Unicorn is good at wielding stellar power to heal and to harm. Play the Unicorn if
you want to shine brightly and be unmistakably divine.
LYRA, THE HARP
The Harp is good at keeping people together and raising spirits. Play The Harp if you
want to support others and be the life of the party.
PYXIS, THE COMPASS
The Compass is good at controlling vehicles and leading the way to new places. Play
The Compass if you want to lead the way and excel at piloting anything put before
you.
URSA, THE BEAR
The Bear is good at protecting others and crushing opposition. Play The Bear if you
want to win fights and keep things safe.
NEXT STEPS
After choosing your playbook, make sure to record your starting action ratings and
choose a Look & Nature to outline your character a little at the start of play.
Then, pick one of their four Special Abilities to start with, as choose from the list of
starting Armour/Relics and Weapons. Once you’ve picked these out, you should then
also put 4 dots into any action ratings of your choice, though no action rating may
start higher than 2.
Which action ratings you increase are completely up to you: you might pick ones you
just think will be useful, ones you feel are emblematic of your Foundry-Ship’s
community, or ones you think compliment your Star’s character well.
15
“I have made you unstoppable. Unconquerable. Unshakeable. Show them
your chains, Andromeda. Make sure they know you wear them by choice.”
Even clad in bindings of her own design, Andromeda embodies motion. Where other
Stars falter, torn down by gunfire or ruinous magics, Andromeda strides eternal:
unstoppable, unkillable. Every binding torn loose by struggle only makes her lighter,
faster, and closer to her true relentless nature.
Andromeda earns XP by addressing a challenge with agility or tenacity.
There is no problem you cannot face headfirst. Break them: they cannot break you.
Starting Actions Looks & Natures

• CLASH You look: ferocious, sleek, heavy or agile
• • FLOW You are: impatient, calm, bold or fierce
B INDINGS
The CHAINED is unstoppable, unbreakable, and yet still restrained. They do not have
Brightness: they have 9 Bindings.
When your Brightness would be reduced one or two steps, instead remove that many
Bindings. When no Bindings remain you MUST resist harm you take, but take +1d
when doing so. You may rebuild Bindings during the Ship Phase if you wish, at the
cost of 3 hours per Binding.
For every 3 Bindings you have lost, add one rank to an action rating of your choice.
When all of your Bindings are removed they cannot be rebuilt, and you may no longer
regain Light by any means other than entering Burnout.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Breakout: You have domain over anything that would restrict or slow you.
• Andromeda’s Bonds: Spend your Charge and choose a foe: it may not move or act
until it frees itself, either through its own abilities or through a consequence you or
someone else suffers.
• Pressure: Whenever you or another member of the Cluster chooses not to resist a
consequence, take +1 Pressure (upto 3 total). While you have full Pressure, you
may spend sympathy dice to gain increased effect on any action.
• Master Of Chains: You may push yourself to do one of the following: free any
object or person from control, restraint or restriction - lock any object or person in
place relative to the closest gravitational force, until you free them
STARTING GEAR
Armour/Relics (choose 1)
• Titanium Chains: +1 DIVINITY
• Foundry-Ship Token: +1 MORTALITY
• Emblem Of The Witness: +1 DUALITY
Weapons
• Primary: a heavy rifle, an full-auto smg, a revolver, something punchy or cruel
• Secondary: a shotgun (searing, close), a handcannon packed with ritual rounds
(dispelling, limited), bladed chains (piercing, messy), something punchy or cruel
• Heavy: a monofilament greatsword, a flak shotgun, a pile bunker, something
punchy or cruel
Trivia: At least 3 incarnations of the CHAINED have been known to run on all fours during combat.
Rumours about an earlier CHAINED fleeing with their powers circle on Foundry-Ships occasionally.
16
ARA, THE ALTAR
“Let them fall alone, Ara. Let them struggle. Only then will they truly appreciate
the worth of a good deal. What is an altar, but a broker for gods?”
A cunning negotiatior and diplomat, Ara is uniquely blessed when it comes to
maintaining fairness and equity in the dealings of mankind. Few things escape the
notice and understanding of the ALTAR, an ability they put to good use protecting
humanity’s interests.
Ara earns XP by addressing a challenge with negotiation or shrewdness.
Your words carry divine weight, even with our foes. Speak for us and be heard.

• KNOW You look: refined, charming, dour or mean
• • ADVOCATE You are: calculating, fair, serious or sly
D EALER I N T HE D ARK
The ALTAR may offer the Witness a celestial pact. When you do so, take -1d in
exchange for whatever bargain or deal you establish.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• A Fair Deal: You can always tell when someone is lying, can assess the true value
of any object or service at a glance, and always know what price will make
someone settle.
• Exchange: You may convert a weak foe into raw stellar power. When you do so,
spend your Charge, kill a minion, and all nearby allies drain.
• Bold Words: You may ADVOCATE recklessly.
• Rule-bender: For you, even the Witness can be convinced to prioritise your
interests: take a move from another Forged In The Dark playbook.
STARTING GEAR
• Coinmail: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: an ornate bow, paired sidearms, a sleek sword, something elegant or
balanced
• Secondary: a sniper rifle (piercing, far), solar throwing blades (searing, limited),
ritual staff (dispelling, close), something elegant or balanced
• Heavy: a gilded railgun, a colossus bow, a heavy laser, something elegant or
balanced
17
CETUS, THE SHARK
“They come in droves, Cetus. A great tide to wash away your worlds. They
have forgotten their fear of the deep, Cetus. Remind them.”
The Shark is good at hunting down foes and striking them when they least expect it.
Play The Shark if you want to be inescapable and ferocious.
Cetus earns XP by addressing a challenge with fear or ferocity.
You are a tireless, destructive predator. Let no-one escape your wrath.

• FLOW You look: intimidating, sleek, sharp or cool
• • SCOUR You are: instinctive, wild, jovial or cruel
HUNGER
When you declare someone your prey and draw their blood (or a blood adjacent
substance), note them down. Whenever you track them down but do not kill them,
gain 1 HUNGER. You may spend 3 HUNGER to instantly kill and consume your prey,
provided you are close enough. You may only have a single prey at a time.
The SHARK may freely swim through the empty void of space like water.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• The Chase: When you set your sights on your prey and declare them as such, for
the rest of the Strike you may push yourself to do one of the following: dive
through the cosmic abyss and instantly appear at their location—temporarily rend
the abyss asunder to make a shortcut to them for you and your allies.
• Blood In The Water: When someone is injured in your presence, you instantly gain
an accurate sense of how close to death they are and how far from you they are.
Neither fade as long as they are alive.
• Devour: Whenever you SCOUR and roll a 6, you may drain your foe.
• Undertow: You may spend your Charge to unleash your Light fully, barraging your
foes with abyssal power. While rampaging, all your action rolls are reckless. Your
rampage stops when you next go Dark.
STARTING GEAR
• Voidscale Raiment: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: fanged daggers, bolt rifle, flechette smg, something sharp or dangerous
• Secondary: crushing jaws (piercing, close), voidcaster (searing, conduit), stake
launcher (dispelling, far), something sharp or dangerous
• Heavy: gauss harpoon, spiked grenade launcher, chain mine, something sharp or
dangerous
18
CORVUS, THE CROW
“How many have you picked clean, Corvus? Into what shape do you
cobble your spoils? For your sake and ours, build something that lasts.”
The Crow is good at picking the useful from the not, playing with technology and
creating new things. Play The Crow if you want to provide the Cluster with helpful
tools and investigate what others might overlook.
Corvus earns XP by addressing a challenge with stealth or technical skill.

You are a trickster and a thief: show them the shadows will offer no respite from us.

• CONTROL You look: veiled, mysterious, wise or craven
• • DECEIVE You are: secretive, selfish, helpful or mean
C OVETOUS FLOCK
You have a secretive cabal of followers who assist you, providing you with +2 Prep.
Additionally, choose two;
• +armed: Your Flock may deploy as a cohort for 1 Prep.
• +devoted: Your Flock will spend 2 hours for you working on a project during every
Strike.
• +scavenging: Flashbacks to acquire equipment cost -1 Prep, minimum 1.
• +heretical: Your Flock will make up for Ship Phase hours lost due to Memories.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Choice Munitions: Whenever a member of the Cluster gets a critical success on an
action roll, you scavenge a piece of Heavy Ammo.
• Black Feathers: You may push yourself to do one of the following: disappear from
sight completely for a short time - pilfer everything of value from a room
• Gilded Nest: You have a stash of treasures, materials and peculiar inventions that
offers the Cluster an extra 4 hours of the Ship Phase between them.
• Harvester: You may spend Light instead of marking Loot.
STARTING GEAR
• Blackfeather Garb: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: suppressed SMG, modular assault rifle, lightweight bow, something
stealthy or highly technical
• Secondary: precision laser (piercing, fragile), plasma blade (searing, close),
proreality grenades (dispelling, limited), something stealthy or highly technical
• Heavy: drone network, anti-materiel rifle, air strike marker, something stealthy or
highly technical
19
GEMINI, THE TWINS
“They can talk of their fangs, of their chains, of their radiance. They can
bring blades, or guns, or fury. At the end of the day, it's two against one.”
The Gemini are good at doing things quickly and helping others. Play The Gemini if
you want the perfect partner for tag-team hijinks.
Gemini earns XP by addressing a challenge with teamwork or trickery.

Overwhelm them with a bond stronger than steel. Many hands make quick work.

• DECEIVE You look: mismatched, friendly, complimentary or coordinated
• • DIVINE You are: secretive, selfish, helpful or mean
I NSEPARABLE
The TWINS have been duplicated, body and soul, and you are now two where you
were once one. Each TWIN knows everything the other does, and the TWINS may
gain and spend sympathy dice with each-other like any other pair of Stars. When the
TWINS fill a sympathy track, their diverging identities begin to fracture their bond.
Mark Split above when this happens: at 5 Split, you are forced to retire as if you had
gained 4 Memories: your celestial bond breaks completely, and you are TWINS in
nothing but appearance.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Own Best Friend: You may assist yourself.
• Well Co-ordinated: When taking part in a group action, if you push yourself
everyone participating gains the benefit.
• Triplicate: You may spend your Charge to temporarily extend your empathic bond
to a third mind. You know everything your third knows, but you may gate your own
knowledge off from them.
• Tag Team: Once per Strike when you fail an action roll, you may completely ignore
that result and try again with +1d.
STARTING GEAR
• Matching Armour: +1 DIVINITY
• Foundry-Ship Tokens: +1 MORTALITY
• Emblems Of The Witness: +1 DUALITY
Weapons
• Primary: paired pistols, minigun & ammo backpack, antipolarity lasers, something
paired or mystical
• Secondary: chainaxe & ripcord whip (piercing, melee), something paired or
mystical (piercing, searing or dispelling & a drawback/restriction)
• Heavy: something paired or mystical
20
“I have one task of you, Monoceros. Take this light, and spread it wherever
you go.”
The Unicorn is good at wielding stellar power to heal and to harm. Play the Unicorn if
you want to shine brightly and be unmistakably divine.
Monoceros earns XP by addressing a challenge with compassion or devastation.

You can give life as easily as you take it away. See that Libra’s scales remain
balanced, whatever it takes.

• SCOUR You look: bright, kind, distant or parental
• • COMPEL You are: caring, detached, bored or naive
B URN B RIGHT
People look to and depend upon the UNICORN as a great healer and provider: this is
stressful, and you can only bear so much. During the Ship Phase, you have 2 less
hours to spend freely. Whenever you end the Ship Phase with missing Light, record
the amount above as Void. As this amount builds, your power grows more volatile:
• At 5+, any pushed roll restores your Charge.
• At 10+, pick two benefits when you push yourself.
• At 15+, Burnout refills your Light: you remain in the Strike afterwards.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Radiance: You may spend your Charge to set all members of the Cluster to
Radiant, or to ignore any stress taken for failures during a group action.
• Incinerate: When you SCOUR, you may push yourself to remove any armour, barrier
or regeneration your foe possesses in addition to the usual benefit.
• Echoing Light: When you regain your Charge, you may spend 2 Light to restore
them for the entire Cluster.
• Reflecting Light: When you SCOUR successfully, take +1d next time you COMPEL. When
you COMPEL successfully, take +1d next time you SCOUR.
STARTING GEAR
• Pearlescent Plate: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: something celestial or ornate
• Secondary: something celestial or ornate (piercing, searing or dispelling & a
drawback/restriction)
• Heavy: something celestial or ornate
21
LYRA, THE HARP
“I have taught you many songs, Lyra. Every chord and every note echoes
with my love for you. But I could never play them like you can.”
The Harp is good at keeping people together and raising spirits. Play The Harp if you
want to support others and be the life of the party.
Lyra earns XP by addressing a challenge with charm or performance.

Your music changes people. See that we are always who we need to be.

• COMPEL You look: elegant, weird, rebellious or high-strung
• • ADVOCATE You are: pretentious, fun, charming or quiet
ACCORD
The HARP may use a musical instrument as their Primary weapon. They are, in fact,
assumed to do so.
Whenever someone spends a sympathy die, mark the Accord track above. When it
fills, you may spend 3 hours during the next Ship Phase leading a grand
performance: this leaves a lasting impact on all who witness it, changing the mood of
the Foundry-Ship as you desire and allowing the members of the Cluster who attend
to freely re-allocate their action ratings and Special Abilities.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Encore: You may push yourself to do one of the following: perform an action with
the same roll as someone else - force someone to repeat something they just did
• Harmony: You may spend your Charge and sympathy dice on behalf of other
members of the Cluster.
• Jam Session: When you recover, you and anyone else who takes part may adjust
the amount of Light they regain by 2.
• Bard: You may spend 1 Prep to assist someone, as you play them a magical melody
you have prepared and practised beforehand.
STARTING GEAR
• Glamorous Armour: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: something loud or flashy
• Secondary: something loud or flashy (piercing, searing or dispelling & a drawback/
restriction)
• Heavy: something loud or flashy
22
PYXIS, THE COMPASS
“You know the route. You know the way. You can forge the means from
motes of light, Pyxis, and you can take them anywhere.”
The Compass is good at controlling vehicles and leading the way to new places. Play
The Compass if you want to lead the way and excel at piloting anything put before
you.
Pyxis earns XP by addressing a challenge with speed or intuition.

No pilot or driver can match you, Pyxis. Take your chariot and run them down.

• DIVINE You look: rugged, shrewd, flighty or tense
• • CONTROL You are: charming, cool, excitable or experienced
C HARIOT
The COMPASS has a ship, large enough to fit the entire Cluster comfortably (and
passengers with some trouble) and fast enough to compete with just about anything.
With a whistle, a flick of the wrist or a similar gesture you can summon it to you: it
appears in the nearest space big enough to contain it safely.
When your ship is damaged, move its Status down one step. At DAMAGED, take -1d
while piloting it, and at BROKEN it is inoperable. It is repaired fully during the Ship
Phase.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Pathfinder: You have a perfect innate sense of direction and can always remember
any route you have taken or place you have been to perfectly. Take +1d when you
lead a group action to move through or navigate a space.
• Ace: When in control of a vehicle of some kind, you may push yourself to do one of
the following: perform a manoeuvre that shakes all but the most talented or
desperate pursuers—avoid an obstacle that would otherwise be impossible to evade.
• Ghost In The Machine: Your Chariot counts as a member of the Cluster for the
purpose of earning and spending sympathy dice.
• Encyclopaedic: You are intimately familiar with the history and design of all kinds
of craft, even those completely alien to our solar system. When you try to find a
flaw or advantage in a machine, you do so with increased effect.
STARTING GEAR
• Armoured Spacesuit: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: something fast or indirect
• Secondary: something fast or indirect (piercing, searing or dispelling & a
drawback/restriction)
• Heavy: something fast or indirect
23
URSA, THE BEAR
“Your hide is old now, Ursa. It has many scars. It's seen many worlds. You
wear the mark of many battles, Ursa, but I see you have room for more.”
The Bear is good at protecting others and crushing opposition. Play The Bear if you
want to win fights and keep things safe.
Ursa earns XP by addressing a challenge with wisdom or sacrifice.

There are few blows you cannot weather. Take new scars and wear them with pride.

• KNOW You look: tired, hurt, stoic or venerable
• • CLASH You are: sad, weary, cowardly or courageous
SCARS
Whenever the BEAR takes a Blight, you may opt to lock it in place as a Scar instead.
These may never be removed, but for every Scar you possess you gain an additional
maximum point of Light.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
• Steelhide: You have domain over any injury directly inflicted by minion-tier foes.
• Living Bastion: When you protect someone, they may regenerate their Charge.
• Invoked: When you are Dark, the Cluster may CLASH to revive you.
• Guardian Angel: You have an innate sense of exactly who near you is in the most
danger. Take +1d when you act in their defence.
STARTING GEAR
• Ironfur Cloak: +1 DIVINITY
Weapons
• Primary: something heavy or old
• Secondary: something heavy or old (piercing, searing or dispelling & a drawback/
restriction)
• Heavy: something heavy or old
24
THE CLUSTER
Together, your Stars form a Cluster. Unlike other FITD games, there is no Crew or
similar playbook in addition to your character ones (the kinds of missions you’re
interested in playing are already picked out through Strike Briefs, and there isn’t
much room for multiple nuanced Cluster types when the order of the day is ‘backflip
and shoot Ichor Knights’). The Cluster is just the Cluster: your Stars and the Strikes
you build are what defines it.
As you play, your Cluster accumulates Glory: which in turn earns you various perks
and additions to the Foundry-Ship. These are maintained even as Stars burn out and
leave the Cluster. Every Upgrade costs 5 Glory per Star in the Cluster.
• Listening Post: The Cluster may roll a free intriguing rumour every Ship Phase.
• Scouts: Choose a rumour category (location, faction, etc). The Cluster may roll a
free rumour of that category every Ship Phase: roll 1d4 first to see if it is alluring,
intriguing, dangerous or ruinous.
• Aucode Editor: When you decipher an Aucode, you may adjust your roll by 1.
• Warp Engine: You can spend 1 Prep to teleport in or out of a Strike. While back at
the Foundry-Ship you may meditate to recover 1d6 Light. This takes however long
it takes for another Star to fail an action.
• Prep Teams: Every member of the Cluster starts Strikes with +1 Prep.
• Safe Habitats: The Cluster has space to keep just about any kind of weird animal
or creature they find safe, well-fed and cared for.
• Ship Guides: When the Cluster recovers, they may choose a die to recover Light
equal to, rather than taking the highest.
• Reflection Chambers: Reduce the amount of hours the Cluster loses during the
Ship Phase because of their Memories by 1.
Additionally, in times of great need, the Cluster may forfeit Glory and reach out to the
Witness for its attention. Make a fortune roll, rolling +1d for every point of Glory spent.
L IGHTLESS C HARACTERS
If you need to temporarily play as a regular person or, for whatever reason, you
desire to keep playing a character after they have retired from life as a Star and lost
their powers, you can.
Lightless characters have no attributes or actions, and roll 1d6 for everything except
their chosen speciality, which they roll 2d6 for. You have no Light, do not measure
your health with Brightness, and have no special abilities. You cannot resist: someone
must protect you if you wish to avoid consequences.
To push yourself, take a Blight. To assist, take a Blight. When you would take harm of
any kind, take a Blight. You may not take celestial bargains, earn XP, or gain
sympathy dice with other Stars. They cannot see themselves in you any longer.
When all your actions are Blighted, you die.
25
•
CHAPTER 3
STRIKES
RUMOUR TABLES & STRIKE BRIEFS
STRIKES
When you and your Cluster venture out from the Foundry-Ship on a mission to rescue
a missing person, recover an ancient artifact or turn the tide of a ma jor enemy
offensive, that’s a Strike.
Rather than waiting for the Witness to pass you story hooks or details on things in the
system that need your attention, you’ll define Strikes yourself by discovering rumours
during the Ship Phase and slotting them in to a Strike Brief of your choice. Different
categories of rumour have differing effects on your Strike, making it more dangerous
or rewarding, and should you not have rumours to fill a slot there are assumptions
that can always be used instead.
ASSUMPTIONS & RUMOURS

When you and the rest of the Cluster are ready to head out on a Strike, you must
build one together. Your building blocks are drawn from two pools: assumptions,
things you all know about the world to be true just about most of the time, and
rumours, things you’ve heard tell of lately and are eager to investigate.
To build a Strike, you select a briefing from below and then fill the empty slots in it
with assumptions and rumours until all of them are full, giving you a complete
briefing. This will describe the aim of the Strike, what kind of opposition you’re up
against, and if you’ve slotted in rumours with also feature additional details to make
the Strike more riskier, more rewarding, or critically important depending on what
kind of rumours you gathered in the Ship Phase.
Assumptions are basic facts and elements of the world, and can always be chosen
from as options to fill in a briefing.
26
Rumours are acquired with the take court Ship phase action, and are rolled randomly
from the following tables according to their type: alluring, intriguing, dangerous or
ruinous.
• alluring rumours offer a stacking +1d towards the payoff at the end of the Strike.
• intriguing rumours offer a stacking +1d to the next take court that happens.
• dangerous rumours are converted into a new intriguing rumour if you use them: if
not, they turn into a ruinous rumour.
• ruinous rumours impose a +1d penalty to the engagement and are attached to a
4-step RUIN CLOCK. If you leave a ruinous rumour unused, tick the clock. If the
clock is filled, the Cluster must deal with a CATASTROPHE.
Rumours are, additionally, either a location, a faction, a faction VIP, an artifact, a
danger or a caveat. All but the latter are used to fill in gaps in briefs to flesh out the
incoming Strike: a caveat is instead used to add additional details or stipulations to
any brief, up to a total of 3.
d6 1 2 3 4 5 6
rumour a location a faction a faction VIP an artifact a hazard a caveat
ASSUMPTIONS
Assumptions are always available to be slotted into briefs, and offer no specific
bonuses or effects other than filling in that slot. They cover a basic selection of
options across all categories! You may add additional items to the list if your
campaign focuses on certain things enough that they would reasonably always be
out there somewhere.
Locations Faction VIPs Dangers
• an enemy ship • The Nonabaron • A large offensive
• a fringe defence station • Hive-Count Alipheaux III operation
• a dark, dank cavern • Gatherer-Mind • A Bright-Age novabomb
• a long-forgotten colony “Magnificent Profit” • Incredibly aggressive
• Executive Curator wildlife
• a damaged military
cruiser Grenning • An experimental weapon
• a new camp or facility • Jun-Catheus-Ket, The • An out-of-control
Last Oracle starship
Factions
• Caesar, Neo-Prince of • An errant asteroid
• The Ichor Barons Europe
• Hive Alipheux Artifacts
• The Many-Forgotten • A singing crystal
• The 9th Acquisitions • A deep cache of relics
Survey
• A very, very cursed
• Ophician Remnants sword
• The Sovereign Earthen • A portal navigation key
States
• A Bright-Age AI core
• A Bright-Age data drive
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RUMOUR T ABLES
L OCATIONS
d6 alluring intriguing
1 a brimming vault an informants old hideout
2 a lost arms shipment an abandoned secret research facility
3 a crashed smuggler-prince’s ship an intact datalibrary
4 a sanctified ritual site a vulnerable experimental vessel
5 a high-security datalibrary a hidden forward base
6 a new, alluring location a new, intriguing location
d6 dangerous ruinous
1 a well-entrenched staging point a festering nest
2 an expected attacking fleet an unexpected attacking fleet
3 a conquered defense station an ambushed foundry-ship
4 an active ritual site a doomsday weapon
5 a haywire Bright-Age AI facility a volatile rift
6 a new, dangerous location a new, ruinous location
FACTIONS
1 The Royal-Formed The Thousand-Formed
2 The Gilded Artery Alipheaux’s Flock
3 Resources Optimiser AU Surveyor Network 13
4 The Priority Relics Department Origin Research Sect
5 House Daphnir House Ilitrix
6 a new, alluring Faction a new, intriguing Faction
1 The Sharply-Formed The Spill
2 Alipheaux’s Talons Alipheaux’s Fangs
3 Fauna-Reduction Repo 113 Resolution Matrix A1
4 The 65th Expeditionary The Blackwell-Scott Company
5 House Catheus The Houseless
6 a new, dangerous Faction a new, ruinous Faction
FACTION VIPS
1 a new, rich VIP a new, well-connected VIP
2 an existing rich VIP an existing well-connected VIP
3 a new, well-equipped VIP a new, avant-garde VIP
4 an existing well-equipped VIP an existing avant-garde VIP
5 a new, wanted VIP a new, scholarly VIP
6 an existing wanted VIP an existing scholarly VIP
1 a new, brilliant VIP a new, destructive VIP
2 an existing, brilliant VIP an existing destructive VIP
3 a new, charismatic VIP a new, deific VIP
4 an existing charismatic VIP an existing, deific VIP
5 a new, unpredictable VIP a new, chimerical VIP
6 an existing unpredictable VIP an existing chimerical VIP
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ARTIFACTS
1 a crystalline sphere of purest Ichor a codex of Shapes
2 an ancient Star-Drinker’s grimoire a grand ritual manual
an encrypted Many-Forgotten core
3 a cache of planetary data-scans
mind
4 a high-level Farcast vault key various plundered relics
5 an ornate Ophician trophy-banner an Ophician family poetry-journal
6 a new, alluring artifact a new, intriguing artifact
1 an unbound Shape-Carver a roiling Ichor pool
2 an active stellar gate a sanctified ritual altar
3 a moonbreaker charge a wayward drone control mind
4 a calcifier pod a Farcast warp beacon
5 a mistform engine a hysteria seed
6 a new, dangerous artifact a new, ruinous artifact
HAZARDS ( TO-DO)
1 an alluring hazard an intriguing hazard
1 a dangerous hazard a ruinous hazard
C AVEATS
2d6 caveat [+1 XP]
2 Anomalous weather patterns have been detected.
3 The enemy are testing a new kind of weapon or tactic.
4 A missing person has been spotted here.
5 The enemy is using rare, expensive tech. You have lower position acting
against foes with one of the following tags: kinetic, energy, abyssal
6 An undercover operative needs extraction.
7 A Bright-age cache is hidden here.
8 There is a time limit the mission must be completed within.
9 Something about the environment is volatile, making gunfire dangerous.
10 A dangerous foe lurks among the enemies numbers.
11 The enemy is inhibiting your Light somehow:
when you are Dark, allies must push themselves to revive you.
12 The darkness is oppressive here:
it costs 1 more Light to push yourself, assist and resist.
29
STRIKE BRIEFS
When building a Strike to go on, choose from the following briefs and fill them in
using the assumptions and rumours on the previous pages that you have acquired
during the Ship Phase.
RESCUE
The Cluster heads out to rescue a faction VIP who has been captured by a faction
and is being held at a location.
KEY T ARGET
The Cluster strikes at a location in order to flush a faction VIP out into the open, and
prevent a danger from being unleashed on innocents by killing or capturing them.
D ESTRUCTION
After hearing that a faction plans to unleash a danger on humanity, the Cluster
rushes to a location to destroy key equipment that will make it possible.
HOLDOUT
A location has been targeted by a faction, attracted by an artifact there, and it falls to
the Cluster to hold them off.
RECOVERY
A danger has caused an opportunity for the Cluster to take an artifact from a faction.
I NVESTIGATION
Looking for answers about any rumour, the Cluster attempts to gain access to a
location from a faction.
ESCORT
The Cluster offers protection for a faction VIP / an artifact as they/it travel to a
location, and are targeted by a faction.
EXCHANGE
While their allies meet with a faction at a neutral location, the Cluster must stave off
the attack of an intervening party: a faction / a faction VIP.
I NFILTRATION
The Cluster must covertly gain access to a location being held under guard by a
faction and extract a faction VIP / an artifact.
D ISASTER
The Cluster is dispatched to a location to provide relief and assistance in the wake of
a danger—however, a faction is looking to capitalise on this weakness.
30
ENGAGEMENT & PAYOFF
At the start and end of every Strike, a special roll will determine your initial footing
and also your primary reward. These are the engagement and payoff rolls.
ENGAGEMENT R OLLS
Engagement rolls in The Brightest Things We Know are simple. Everyone rolls a single
d6, adding an additional one per ruinous rumour involved in the Strike.
For every 6 result, the Cluster earns 1 Glory as you make an impressive engagement.
For every 3/4/5 result, choose a complication. For every 1-2 result, choose a dire
complication. Options marked with an asterisk can be taken multiple times.
Complications
• The Cluster begins the Strike at Flickering, having taken fire on the way in.
• Someone temporarily loses a Weapon on the way in.*
• Special tools or equipment are needed, costing someone 1 Prep.*
• You make a dramatic and overzealous start, burning 1 Light each.*
• Something unanticipated makes an appearance during the Strike.*
Dire Complication
• Someone begins the Strike at Dark, having gotten killed on the way in.*
• The Cluster begins the Strike in a desperate position.
• Someone permanently loses a Weapon on the way in.*
• Something very rare or inconvenient is needed for the engagement, costing
everyone 1 Prep.*
• Someone gains a Blight during the engagement.*
• Something unanticipated but very important makes an appearance during the
Strike.*
P AYOFF ROLLS
The payoff roll is made at the end of a Strike, when your objective is dealt with and
everyone gathers around whatever convenient chest, dead Hive-Duke or ancient
vault it is your reward awaits you in.
When you roll for payoff, start with 1d for good luck, and take;
• +1d for every alluring rumour used in the Strike Brief
• +1d if someone got a critical success during the Strike
• +1d if everyone takes a minute to revisit their safety tools and check in with
eachother :)
For every 3/4 result, members of the Cluster may mark 1 Loot to take an Aucode. For
every 5/6 result, they may mark 1 Loot to take a Glimmering Aucode instead. This is
the only way to get Glimmering Aucodes, so make sure you save some room for the
payoff!
CATASTROPHES
When a RUIN CLOCK fills up, the Cluster must deal with a CATASTROPHE. Exactly
what the CATASTROPHE is lies with your Witness, who has been watching and paying
attention as you let that RUIN CLOCK fill up. Dealing with a CATASTROPHE is urgent—
if it is not your next Strike, consider the fallout devastating in nature and
unavoidable—and difficult. When heading out on a Strike to avert a CATASTROPHE,
all players roll 2d6 for their engagement.
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CROWNS
Strikes typically come to their close with a Crown. These are your showstoppers: your
big last stands, your desperate bossfights, your escape sequences and so on. Crowns
are represented by a Clock (2 steps per player), and are either a boss—powerful foes
who take teamwork and coordination to defeat—or a finale, a situation of similar
threat and danger that similarily require teamwork to solve.
Bosses are always on their own Clock-wise: any other foes present have their own Foe
Clocks. Whatever the Crown is, you can’t make progress until you unlock it.
U NLOCKING
Crowns start locked. If you want to make progress towards resolving them (whatever
that looks like) you need to first resolve their keys. How many keys a Crown has
determines it’s relative difficulty, with 1 to 3 being typical amounts.
When all of a Crown’s keys have been resolved, its Clock becomes vulnerable: once
this happens, someone elects to lead a group action as a fortune roll. Anything that
would increase or reduce effect instead gives you +1/-1 d6 to your roll. The Cluster’s
successes advance the Clock (1 step for a 4/5, 2 steps for a 6), which then becomes
locked again: with new, different keys if the situation demands it.
Keys marked with an X are especially dangerous: save these for the second unlock
phase and onwards, to give a feeling of escalation. Some keys have a regular and an
X version: look to text in [square brackets] to see what changes between them.
KEYS
I NDOMITABLE
You progress is blocked by thick armour, impenetrable shielding or a painless foe. To
resolve this key, the Cluster must expend a use of Heavy Ammo.
P RESSURE P OINT / P RESSURE P OINT X

A vulnerability presents itself, but the Cluster must work together to put pressure on
it. To resolve this key, the Cluster must succeed on a [risky/desperate] group action.
ORB!
There is an orb. It needs to be placed somewhere. To resolve this key, dunk the orb.
D EADLY / D EADLY X
This Crown threatens you with targeted harm that must be avoided. To resolve this
key, [someone/everyone] must take or resist a desperate consequence.
SENTINELS / SENTINELS X
Others flock to interfere with your efforts against this Crown. To resolve this key,
defeat a 4-step minion [and a 4-step major] Foe Clock.
M IASMA / M IASMA X
The area is threatening and dangerous, keeping the Cluster in at best a [risky/
desperate] position. This key resolves itself when no other actionable keys remain.
W IPEOUT
This Crown is capable of destroying the Cluster outright. Start a 6-step Clock, and
advance it whenever a member of the Cluster makes an action roll. If the Clock fills,
every member of the Cluster becomes Dark. This key resolves itself when no other
actionable keys remain.
32
JINGLING YOUR KEYS
It’s a good idea to make sure that, when the Cluster reaches a Crown, they have a
pretty good shot at knowing what they need to do. Don’t get me wrong—I love day 1
raiding as much as the next person, and figuring out mechanics over a long night is
great fun—but at the table you probably all have other stuff to do, and patience is
pretty thin for making the same rolls over and over.
To that end, you should jingle your keys at the group earlier in the Strike: that is,
showcase lesser or similar versions of them during play to foreshadow their use in
the Crown encounter.
You might, for example, block the Cluster’s path until they deal with the equivalent of
an Orb key in an earlier part of the Strike, hopefully reminding them during the
Crown when they see another Orb that they need to do something with it. Similarly,
you might present the Cluster with a problem that is best solved with a group action:
hopefully signposting your Pressure Point key well when you present a similar
challenge during the Crown.
33
•
CHAPTER 4
SHIP PHASE
NO REST FOR THE DIVINE: YOU HAVE EIGHT HOURS
THE SHIP PHASE

After a tough Strike, you can look forward to a long period of winding down and
relaxing back on the Foundry-Ship, taking in the finest mankind has to offer and
really spending some quality time aboard before you head out again.
Just kidding! Stars are few in number and constantly needed. Welcome back to the
Ship: in 8 hours you’re going out again, so use your downtime well.
D URING T HE SHIP P HASE

A Star’s work is never done. During the Ship phase, you have 8 hours to rest, carouse,
and work to prepare yourself for the next Strike. You may spend these freely on the
Ship actions, many of which take varying amounts of time. When you bring someone
along on a Ship activity, they spend hours as usual, but you each gain a sympathy
die. You may only perform each action once per Ship phase.
ENDING T HE SHIP P HASE

Once everyone has spent their 8 hours (or more, if provided by your playbook or
some other rule), it’s time to prepare the next Strike. Refer back to the Strike
Briefings, pick out rumours to fit in the provided slots, and (unless you’re stopping for
the night there) get ready for the engagement roll!
34
SHIP ACTIONS
When you bring someone along on a Ship activity, they spend hours as usual, but you
each gain a sympathy die. You may only perform each action once per Ship Phase.
Recover
When you recover, spend 1-3 hours having a good time and banishing the dark that
has started to take root in your divine being. For every hour spent, roll +1d, and regain
Light equal to the highest die. If your recover roll would put you above the maximum,
you overindulge in whatever activity had drawn your attention. When this happens,
choose one consequence from the list below:
• Bad News. Roll a dangerous rumour of a type of your choosing.
• Troublemaker. You cause trouble for regular citizens during your revelry, and have
-2 Prep available to you during the next Strike.
• At Odds. You find yourself having a serious disagreement or falling out with
another Star. Remove any sympathy dice you have with them currently unspent.
• Embarrass yourself. -2 Glory.
Cleanse
You may spend time in your Foundry-Ship’s Cleansing Pool removing Blights, at a cost
of 1 hour per Blight.
Win Glory
When you spend 2 hours winning Glory for the Cluster, say what you do and roll your
action.
• Critical: Earn five Glory.
• 6: Earn three Glory.
• 4/5: Earn two Glory.
• 1/3: Earn one Glory.
Ready Up
You may spend 1-3 hours training and actively preparing for the next Strike. You may
mark XP for each hour spent.
Long-term Project
When you work on a long-term project, invest 1+ hours into it and fill one segment
per hour spent. If your project involves risk or danger, roll whatever action you use to
mitigate it.
• Critical: Avoid the danger or risk, and fill an additional segment.
• 6: Avoid the danger or risk.
• 4/5: Spend 1 Light as you use your powers to push through with your work.
• 1/3: Gain a Blight as you suffer in some way as you push through with your work.
Acquire Asset
When you try to acquire or produce an asset for an upcoming Strike, spend 1-3 hours
depending on how rare or difficult to make the asset is, according to the Witness.
Take Court
When you spend 1-3 hours talking to and listening to the people of your Foundry-Ship,
roll +1d per hour spent and roll:
• Critical: You hear an alluring rumour.
• 6: You hear an intriguing rumour.
• 4/5: You hear a dangerous rumour.
• 1/3: You hear a ruinous rumour.
Take Stock
When you spend 3 hours re-arranging your Stash, deciphering Aucodes, and handing
in petty bounties, you may: claim any pending Cycle rewards for the Cluster, allow the
entire Cluster to decipher their Aucodes, and also mark XP.
35
DECIPHERING AUCODES
When you take stock during the Ship phase, all members of the Cluster get to
decipher the Aucodes they found during the previous Strikes. Aucodes and
Glimmering Aucodes contain weapons, armour/relics and other useful items or
bonuses for your Star to use.
When you decipher an Aucode or a Glimmering Aucode, roll on the appropriate table.
2d6 aucode
2 add a new basic Primary to your armoury
3 add a new basic Secondary (searing, piercing or dispelling & a drawback/
restriction) to your armoury
4 add a new basic Heavy to your armoury
5 add a Foundry Spark to your inventory
6 +1 Nanocache (exchange for +1 hour in the Ship phase)
7 Construction Prefabs (+2 Glory)
8 Comms Log (roll an intriguing rumour)
9 Tracking Module (roll an alluring rumour)
10 +1 Nanocache (exchange for +1 hour in the Ship phase)
11 roll a glimmering aucode result
12 roll a glimmering aucode result
2d6 glimmering aucode

2 add a Foundry Spark to your inventory
3 Luxury Supplies (+4 Glory)
4 Encoded Comms Log (roll 2 alluring rumours)
5 Encoded Tracking Module (roll 2 intriguing rumour)
6 +2Nanocaches (exchange for +1 hour in the Ship phase)
7 Aucode Calibrator (choose the outcome of an Aucode)
8 roll a new unique Armour/Relic and add it to your armoury
9 roll a new unique Primary and add it to your armoury
10 roll a new unique Secondary and add it to your armoury
11 roll a new unique Heavy and add it to your armoury
12 roll twice and take your preferred result
d6 unique Primary unique Secondary

1 Rising Flame The Roulette
2 The Sweethearts Arm’s Length
3 ASSENT Conjurer Repurposed Reactor
4 Celestial Promise The First Impression
5 Lightreaver Prototype Foundry’s Hammer
6 Republic’s Gift Forgotten Gaze
d6 unique Heavy foundry sparks

1 Sunmaker Spark of Fusing
2 Cupid’s Last Resort Spark of Imagination
3 Constellation-Cutter Spark of Ability
4 LONG-CARVER SR5 Spark of Action
5 Drinker’s Reach Spark of Ignorance
6 An Obligation Spark of Clarity
36
U NIQUE P RIMARIES
RISING FLAME
You may spend your Charge to ignite a group of Foes: while burning, even failed
action rolls against them cause them to burn for 1 Foe Clock tick.
“When we took back the Foundry-Ships for ourselves, we did it cleanly. Those were our
homes, after all. But the fires we wanted to start? Those live on somewhere, I think.” —
Shipwright Lutette
T HE SWEETHEARTS
You may pay 1 Light to re-roll any sympathy dice you spend to CLASH.
Together forever, through thick and thin.
ASSENT C ONJURER
You may push yourself to treat this weapon as if it is dispelling.
“Unravel the mysteries of the arcane with the ASSENT Conjurer! Make Light work of your
foes with our trademark ritual technology, and conjure yourself a victory today!” —
ASSENT Marketing Drone
C ELESTIAL P ROMISE
Treat SCOUR as equal to CLASH when determining your level of effect while fighting.
An early success in channelling celestial power through mundane apparatus.
L IGHTREAVER P ROTOTYPE
Gain +1d when you CLASH with multiple foes at once.
“Lighter than a feather in the right hands.” — Foundry-Hand Jozsef
REPUBLIC’ S GIFT
You may push yourself to do one of the following: convince an Ophician you can be
trusted - identify a physical vulnerability in a machine
“Ophician distrust of artificial intelligence seems to stem back decades to a short-lived
conflict between themselves and a fledgling House that entrusted its arms to robotic
troops. Why this seeded such a deep dislike so quickly, I’m unsure.” — Demir Blue
37
U NIQUE SECONDARIES
T HE ROULETTE
When you CLASH, roll a d3. On a 1, this weapon is dispelling. On a 2, this weapon is
piercing. On a 3, this weapon is searing.
“Why pick and choose when I can just keep shooting?” — Lyra’s third incarnation
ARM’ S L ENGTH (piercing, far)

When you give distant covering fire to assist your allies, you may spend 2 Light
instead of 1 to also give them improved position.
Keep your friends close.
REPURPOSED REACTOR (searing, close)

When you CLASH with this weapon, you may do so recklessly.
“Keeping the Foundry-Ships means making the most of what we have. This is an
extreme case, but... it’s results can’t be argued with.” — Shipwright Lutette
U NIQUE HEAVIES
SUNMAKER
Anything you kill with Sunmaker is utterly incinerated: it can never be rebuilt,
reanimated, salvaged or re-purposed in any way.
Though humanity is familiar with more stars than it used to be, our closest remains a
firm ally.
C UPID’ S L AST R ESORT

Gain a cohort of floating pink sunsprites. Take +1d when you COMPEL or ADVOCATE them
into action: they are restored during the Ship phase if lost.
Pull back the string. Look them in the eye. Break their heart.
C ONSTELLATION-C UTTER
You may push yourself multiple times when using this weapon.
You had a name, once. Pour out your Light, and take it anew.
L ONG-C ARVER SR5

If you roll a Success or a Critical Success while using this weapon, regain the Heavy
Ammo you spent. You may only carry 1 Heavy Ammo at a time.
“We are… aware the round size is inconvinient. There are no plans to fix this at the
current time.” — Long-Carver Company Spokesperson
38
2d6 Armour/Relic
2 The Chobham Suite
3 Jupiter Funerary Plate
4 YUKANO Lantern
5 Sealed Ichor Vials
6 Libra’s Dare
7 ASSENT Siren
8 Lucky Blueprints
9 Ancient Bomber Jacket
10 Salvaged Hovertank Cuirass
11 Emberplume Mantle
12 Forgotten Registry Key
U NIQUE ARMOUR/RELICS
T HE C HOBHAM SUITE
You may expend your Special Armour to resist harm taken during combat or to push
yourself into a feat of physical strength or intimidation.
“They made this stuff for tanks back before the Bright Age, y’know. It’s a good job you
Stars are tough. I don’t think it’d work so well on me.” — Shipwright Savinder
JUPITER FUNERARY P LATE

You may expend your Special Armour to resist consequences from explosions or
environmental hazards or to push yourself when hacking into or controlling computer
systems.
After Jupiter, we swore never to lose another. Our grief would become a shield.
YUKANO L ANTERN
You may expend your Special Armour to resist consequences suffered when reviving
another member of the Cluster or to push yourself when healing wounds or ailments.
YUKANO was one of the earliest foundries to come up with worthwhile techniques for
channelling a Star’s light to anything other than destructive ends.
SEALED I CHOR V IALS

You may expend your Special Armour to resist consequences of magical origin, or to
temporarily borrow the shape of another creature.
Like the starry midnight sky, concentrated. You feel as fluid as it does.
L IBRA’ S D ARE
You may expend your Special Armour to resist the consequences of a reckless action.
“Test your luck. I promise you’ll see both sides of the coin.” — Libra’s second incarnation
ASSENT SIREN
You may expend your Special Armour to resist a consequence from negotiation or
deception or to push yourself when seizing attention or focus.
“Be the centre of attention today! No matter who you are, no-one can resist the Siren.”
— ASSENT Marketing Drone
39
L UCKY B LUEPRINTS
You may expend your Special Armour to resist any consequence taken during a
flashback. When you are Flickering, spending Prep gives you +1d on your next action.
You love it when a plan comes together, don’t you?
ANCIENT B OMBER JACKET

You may expend your Special Armour to resist a consequence from piloting or driving
or to push yourself when doing something foolish/daring.
Pass it along when you touch down for good.
SALVAGED HOVERTANK C UIRASS

You may expend your Special Armour to resist a consequence from acrobatics or
athletics, or to fly for a brief period.
“Look, it was out of fuel. Dock my pay if you want. I’ll take a flying Star over a stuck
tank any day of the week.” — Solar Scout Hyun-Ae
EMBERPLUME M ANTLE
You may use Radiant Rebirth by paying all your remaining Prep, instead of entering
Burnout. While Charged, foes who touch you are seared with scorching flames.
“Like a phoenix, y’know. With the feathers. Whoosh. Up in flames.” — Shipwright
Savinder
FORGOTTEN REGISTRY KEY

You may CONTROL Many-Forgotten minions. You may spend 4 Light to convert a group
of controlled minions into a cohort.
For locks with arms, legs, and brutal mining equipment.
FOUNDRY SPARKS
SPARK OF F USING
You may expend a Spark of Fusing to fuse 3 Unique Weapons or Armour/Relics into a
new one of your choice.
SPARK OF I MAGINATION
You may expend a Spark of Imagination to completely change the appearance of a
Weapon, Armour/Relic, an area of the Foundry-Ship or yourself.
SPARK OF A BILITY
You may expend a Spark of Ability to swap a Special Ability you have for another on
your playbook.
SPARK OF A CTION
You may expend a Spark of Action to move a dot from one action rating into another.
SPARK OF I GNORANCE
You may expend a Spark of Ignorance to forget one Memory.
SPARK OF C LARITY
You may expend a Spark of Clarity to immediately enter burnout.
40
•
CHAPTER 5
THE WORLD
WHAT THE HELL IS AN ‘ICHOR KNIGHT’ PLEASE EXPLAIN
THE WORLD
If you’re going to save the world you should know a few things about it. Lets start
with some basic facts. Three hundred years ago, the Visitor passed through our solar
system, invoking a period of great scientific advancement and political change
known as the Bright Age. As it hung in the starry sky above us, human lifespans
increased, clean and efficient energy alternatives were found, technology none
thought possible became reality and those touched personally by its Light found
themselves capable of wondrous things. All of these, of course, were capitalised upon
by those with the money and means to capitalise on anything put in their path.
The grand political change of the era took the form of old governments and borders
crumbling away under the new, continent-spanning influence of corporations who
elevated themselves into new nations of their own: nations whose citizens were
bound not to the country beneath their feet, but their corporate sponsors and
employers.
Two hundred years ago the first Foundry-Ships were built, bearing the livery and
loyalty of one corporation or another, and mankind began to move to the stars. From
out among the celestial bodies of our solar system, we realised that the Visitors
arrival had long since turned to departure. Its course was clear, and there was little
that could be done to stop it. As another century passed, so did it’s radiance. Our
Bright Age went dark, and we found ourselves in the Wake.
The Ichor Barons were the first to arrive in the Visitor’s wake, followed within the
following decades by the rest of the forces that assail us today. In the early days,
several Foundry-Ships and fledgling colonies were lost. There is no way to know how
many were killed. Our masters measured losses in currency.
Then, the Witness awoke. Left behind by the Visitor on the periphery of our system, it
shone with the light of the Visitor and invoked it’s power to bring the Stars into being.
With their strength on our side, we rebelled: claiming the Foundry-Ships for our own,
freeing ourselves from corporate control, and looking at a new future⁵. That is today.
⁵ While the Foundry-Ships provide safety to tens of thousands of people, there are thousands more
scattered through the system desperately surviving. Few like to acknowledge this.
41
THE FACTIONS
Those that assail us form six distinct factions. Each has their own specific intents,
figureheads, doctrines and so on: a basic overview and brief history, as much as we
know it, are provided in the following pages. But first, to summarise;
FACTION SUMMARIES
T HE M ANY-FORGOTTEN
The Many-Forgotten are not a singular hivemind, but a collection of several. Each
Core Mind is it’s own distinct personality served by several subminds, each then a
parent to multiple further remote minds, and so on and so forth until you reach
individual robotic drones—the ‘hands’ of the Many-Forgotten. The Many-Forgotten
pick systems clean of resources, using some of replenish and expand their numbers
and stockpiling some for for unknown ends. Suspected to be what remains of a long-
lost automated mining station, the exact motives of the Many-Forgotten are difficult
to discern: if they even have any, that is.
HIVE ALIPHEUX
Closer to a traditional hivemind are the Star-Drinkers—Hive Alipheux to be specific—
who consist of a far smaller 3-tier hierarchy, with worker and soldier drones at the
bottom, more specialised lifeforms in the middle, and the Star-Drinkers, who have
surprisingly little in common with the other two biologically, at the top. Nothing short
of interstellar vampires, the strange magic of Hive-Count Alipheux and his adherents
still puzzles most scientists.
T HE I CHOR B ARONS
The Ichor Barons have been a pervasive threat since the end of the Bright Age, and
were mankind’s greatest foe in the immediate time that followed. A culture of liquid,
oil-like intelligences, the Ichor Barons steal the shape and form of other creatures and
recast them as amorphous glass-like bodies with which to contain their fluid natures.
Though the exact method and purpose of shape-claiming is unknown—the glassy
appearance makes it useless for infiltration, and the Ichor are perfectly capable as
lethal puddles—the Barons themselves consistently cast themselves in terrifying,
monstrous shapes, suggesting intimidation is a factor.
OPHICIAN R EMNANTS
The Remnants of the Ophician Republic, once a vast civilisation that spanned a
branch of the galaxy, tore themselves apart during their own Bright Age as rival
fledgling warmongers tried to monopolise on the Visitor’s gifts. Today, their
remaining Houses follow in it’s Wake, a tentative truce between them: some
searching for meaning, some for a new home, and some simply for revenge on their
stellar patron and those that bear it’s gifts. Though some of our foes are as human as
we are, the Remnants are the only faction in the system sometimes willing to meet us
on truly peaceful terms.
T HE 9 TH ACQUISITIONS SURVEY
‘Damn what if some long-lost colony ship spiralled out into a distant
empire desperately homesick for old Earth culture and are ready to
take it by force. They turned pluto into a huge factory-city churning
out copies of Earth shit to ship back to their empire’
T HE SOVEREIGN EARTHEN STATES

The Sovereign Earthern States are an eclectic mis-match of ambiguously allied
nations, united by their billionaire leaderships and throwback cultures, each
obsessively clinging to old-Earth historical identities that aren’t theirs: at least until
their leaders find a new fascination. Their infighting, thankfully, shackles them to Earth.
42
THE MANY-FORGOTTEN
When the Many-Forgotten fight, they do so with: efficiency and algorithmic precision
[A more detailed summary and outline of the Faction, including their goals, sample
faction VIPs and so on]
• The Many-Forgotten should feel vast in number and direct in purpose
• The closer you get to Core Minds at the top, the more complex and intelligent
Many-Forgotten should feel. Anything below Bosses here is likely indistinguishable
from simple machinery following commands, but Bosses may have some degree of
creativity and decision making of their own
• Their primary directive is to strip anything in their path down to raw materials as
precisely as possible—imagine different robots this might require
M INIONS
• mining drones: floating robots equipped with high-power mining lasers & resource
extraction arms
• simple humanoid droids: anthropomorphic robots designed to handle a variety of
equipment across several roles
• scanner swarms: coordinated groups of analysis drones, capable of high-depth
scans and equipped with light defensive weaponry
M AJOR
• remote mind drone controllers (regeneration): mobile drone control units that link
nearby drones into the Many-Forgotten network. attended to by tiny repair robots
• mining rigs (armour): larger robots, padded with thick armour to resist impacts
and multiple manipulators for clearing rubble and securing tunnels
• security drones (armour): dedicated combat units, designed with a modular frame
that allows coutnermeasures and weapons to be chosen per-engagement
ELITE
• submind enforcer frames: units with a higher-level authority within the Many-
Forgotten network, that bolster nearby robots with decreased network latency and
firmware updates
• heavy mining frames: zero-grav ready drones the size of a small ship, intended for
mining asteroids and planetoids but very capable of mining you
• security titans: upscaled, up-armoured security drones intended for making swift
work of any interruptions to Many-Forgotten operations⁶
⁶ This isn’t the exact format I want to Faction details, but it’ll be something like this with additional
details on example Faction VIPs etc. I wanna keep it to a single page, but that’s unlikely.
43
THE ICHOR BARONS
When the Ichor Barons fight, they do so with: fear and constant adaptation
• Probably the most actively malevolent of the factions: they want to catalogue the
life of the galaxy by taking their shapes and re-casting them as glass-like
containers/bodies for their ichor
• The more ichor in one ‘shape’, the more singular-minded and focused the
individual - this applies to loose ichor flowing freely also
• Fluid ichor often used as an initial assault, to seep past defences and open them
up to Shaped ichor
Minions: failed shapes, waves of ichor, vermin-shapes
Elites: ichor knights (armour), cavalry-shapes (regeneration), glassblower witches
(barrier)
Bosses: ichor barons, dire-shapes, converged ichor
M INIONS
• failed shapes: crude, melting imitations of the human form that would really like a
closer look at yours
• waves of ichor: splashes, pools and tides of that galactic ooze
• vermin-shapes: hordes of glass vermin, each a container for barely more than a
handful of ichor
M AJOR
• ichor knights (armour): ten-foot tall warriors cast in armoured forms, carrying
ornamental swords and shields like stained-glass windows
• cavalry-shapes (regeneration): did you know other planets have horse-analogues?
not any more they don’t
• glassblower witches (barrier): glassblower witches produce the strange glass-like
substance that contains shaped ichors and also mould it into the required form:
though they themselves are not cast from it, instead made from fleshy, drying
ichor
ELITE
• ichor barons: ichorous overlords, indomitable and imposing, wearing only the
most powerful of shapes
• dire-shapes: the wildest, deadliest, baddest shapes the Barony has ever taken
• converged ichor: roiling masses of loose ichor, pooled together, that have started
to congeal into something truly terrible
44
OPHICIAN REMNANTS
When the Ophician Remnants fight, they do so with: ingenuity and tested tenacity
• The Remnants are the most scattered and decentralised of the factions—Ophician
refugees and representatives can often be found on Foundry-Ships, and many
smaller groups consider themselves independent to the larger Remnants.
• Ophicians have bonelike chitinous plating covering much of their body, the
exposed skin between covered in short, coarse fur. It is common for Ophicians to
possess a second pair of arms, though second pairs rarely grow as strong as the
first. Their narrow, vulture-like heads possess strong jaws capable of cracking
bone. Ophician fur is typically in a spectrum of dark browns to pale greys: though
it is typically at least partially bleached or dyed to match a House’s colours.
Ophicians continue getting larger as they age and can functionally life forever
provided they are in good enough health to moult their chitin plates: if an
Ophician cannot moult properly, the stress of the process and constriction caused
by tight plating is typically fatal.
• Ophicians belong to ‘Houses’: they are the backbone of the familial structure in
Ophician culture, but are falling apart—few agree on if they can or should be held
onto and rebuilt. Though each House has its own codes of dress, heraldry and so
on, several have a deep-seated cultural fascination with snakes (or atleast
snakelike creatures). Within and across Houses, Ophicians form small social
groups known as a Catch—loosely translating from Republic Primary into English
as ‘chosen’ (though some linguists are of the opinion it is derived from a mid-
period Carmanith word for ‘hand’). Roles within a Catch can be considered loosely
synonymous with genders, though it is not uncommon for an Ophician to be in two
or more Catches and to identify differently within each.
• Ophicians require a high calcium diet to maintain their bony chitin. Calcifiers re-
use Ophician agricultural tech to basically ossify foes.
• Ophician accents are more noticeable through pacing and sentence structure,
rather than pronunciation.
• Ophicians—the groups that made it to our system, at least—typically have three
hyphenated names, where the first and last are single-syllable. The second name
can be any number of syllables—the significance of this differs from House to
House, and even Catch to Catch. In House Eclipse, for example, the middle name is
inherited, all members bearing the middle name ‘Kas’. House Bluetail, on the other
hand, has long held the tradition that members choose their own middle name
upon forming or joining their first Catch.
45
M INIONS
• ophician infantry: the rank-and-file—Ophicians, from a House, a lone crew or
otherwise, armed and ready to fight for what they need
• saboteurs: technicians and engineers, used to scavenging for tech and very good
at breaking things apart into pieces
• rank-claimants: old Republic glory-seekers, convinced that seeking status through
martial combat will save them somehow
M AJOR
• ophician shepherds (armour): the journey from the Ophician homeworld to here
was long and arduous, and wherever they touched down Shepherds led the way:
those with the toughest chitin and the strongest spirit
• high technician (regeneration): high technicians are trusted with the finest a House
has left and the best it can scavenge, often including cybernetic enhancements
• suit-scions (barrier): to even be in line to pilot a House’s prized warsuits is to
dedicate yourself to their study and use: those who make it have experience,
patience, and utmost respect of their House
ELITE
• ophician delegate: a House’s delegates are among its finest—veterans of the
Rupture who led their people to safety, all vying to lead them for real
• calcifiers: calcifiers carry weaponized Ophician agricultural tech—previously
tuned to make more crops suitable for the high-calcium Ophician diet, now tuned
to practically ossify anything it’s sprayed at
• eternals: the oldest living Ophicians are the size of a building with chitin thicker
than the armour on a tank and exactly as capable as you think they’d be
46
HIVE ALIPHEUX
When Hive Alipheux fight, they do so with: vile sorcery and gross bug stuff
• Imagine if vampires were associated with arthropods instead of bats.
• See: Gunbuster’s Space Monsters, basically, but with the insectoid/crab-like
drones subservient to a middle class of creature that are a little more humanoid,
which are then subservient to the top class: vampires! The classic long-cloaks-and-
fancy-castles kind. Dracula is here (Dracula isn’t here but you get the picture).
• Hiveships look like a horrible mix of an insect hive and huge gothic castle (think
Imperial Navy ships from 40K). Difficult to tell if one is growing out of the other.
• Star-Drinkers live off of celestial energy. Drinking Stars and the remaining humans
who lived during the Bright Age (who were saturated in celestial energy by the
Visitor) dry will sustain them for some time, but their real targets are the Witness
and then the Visitor.
M INIONS
• swarming siphoners: lots of small, crawling things, ready to suck every ray of Light
right out of your divine form
• monstrous crab-spiders: big, gross, shelled creatures with an unfortunate amount
of gangly limbs
• spitting drones: bulbous & glowing winged centipede-like creatures capable of
accurate spitting acidic bile a great distance
M AJOR
• hulking arachnoid (regeneration): bulky, heavy arachnid lower bodies connected
up to a more humanoid upper body—a higher class of warrior that often leads
lesser foes into battle
• hivemind anchor (regeneration): hivemind anchors act as signal boosters for the
Hive’s neural network, ensuring its forces nearby the anchor are properly
coordinated
• hive-aspirant (barrier): aspirants, gifted with enough of the vampiric form and
pride of their masters to envy their position, practice their foul sorcery with the
aim of creating a true lordly form for themselves
ELITE
• hive-lords: what is a Star? Nothing but a miserable pile of Light. But enough talk…
have at you!
• pinnacle hybrids: pinnacle hybrids represent the finest union of a Hive’s regal
upper class and the monstrous forms of their minions
• hive-mothers: a living part of the Hive-structure itself, hive-mothers are the source
of a Hive’s swarming lower class—and are well equipped to bring a horde to bear
in moments if desperate enough
47
9TH ACQUISITIONS SURVEY
When the 9th Acquisitions fight, they do so with: new models and odd experiments
• Exploratory arm of a distant empire formed by a long-lost branch of humanity. A
colony ship went missing centuries ago or something, probably.
• Desperately homesick for Earth culture, especially pre-Bright Age, to the point
that they seized Pluto to build a factory for manufacturing facsimiles of what they
plunder to send home, staffed by prisoners from the system.
• Actively trying focused on conquering territory in the system, unlike the other
Factions
• Armoured soldiers, firing lines, officers leading from the front. Constantly fielding
new military prototypes or experiments dispatched from home. The 9th
acquisitions look the most like a trained, professional armed force: because that’s
what they are.
M INIONS
• lasrifle platoon:
• biker squad:
• grenadier team:
M AJOR
• assault suit (armour):
• ichorous prototype (barrier):
• enhanced officer (regeneration):
ELITE
• a big mech:
• special ops captain:
• veteran tank squad:
48
THE SOVEREIGN EARTHEN STATES
When the SES fight, they do so with: massed numbers and dramatic ‘heroics’
• The remnants of Earth’s old corporate, capitalist ruling order, now running little
neo-feudal kingdoms loosely allied with each other.
• They should feel preening but a little desperate. They have power and money, but
no way off-planet and they’re all squabbling with their neighbours. They’re trying
to exploit what’s left of Earth’s resources as much as possible whilst also
(violently) re-naturalising parts to undo centuries of urban decay and investing in
more sustainable sources of food and power (so they can run clean feudal
kingdoms instead).
• SE States have a heavily theatrical society: while the real levers of power are
quietly pushed and pulled behind the curtain, the rich fully indulge in playing out
the running of their kingdoms in elegant, expensive period dramas. When a
backroom diplomat makes a decision to move against their State’s neighbour, you
can be sure the public will learn of it through a live dramatic throne room scene
where the righteous King regretfully learns of a trusted ally’s betrayal (with the
execution of a spy maybe thrown in for good measure). This veil extends to
different extents depending on the State, but for most it reaches all parts of the
government: including the military. If you want to be important in the SES, you
must take the role you’re cast in and play it best you can.
• SES forces largely use similar equipment, but differ hugely in tactics and
appearances, modelling themselves obsessively on whatever old-Earth culture
their masters have chosen to be petty faux-Sovereigns of. Bright Age weapons and
war machines dressed up in Pre-Visitor aesthetics. Appropriation as national
identity.
M INIONS
• costumed footsoldiers:
• synthetic cavalry:
• period-appropriate specialists:
M AJORS
• ‘iconic cultural infantry’ (armour):
• conscripted noble (barrier): ah, how woeful - even the finest of us are called to
war (with the finest protection money can buy, and glowing media coverage)
• stagehand (barrier):
ELITES
• hive-lords:
• pinnacle hybrids:
• hive-mothers:
49
THE WITNESS
The Witness is an entity left behind in the wake of the Visitor as it left our system:
though the Witness would not truly awaken until some decades had passed. It is not
understood why, and study of the Witness is difficult given that absolutely nobody
knows exactly where it is.
Contact with the Witness is limited exclusively to Stars, and in the instance of face-
to-face meetings, with those they bring with them. These meetings are rare: usually
saved only for briefings on Strikes of dire importance, like reclaiming a lost Star’s
light that has become trapped in some way, or dealing with a CATASTROPHE.
When meeting in person, the Witness summons a Star or their Cluster to an
undetermined point in space that appears as an endless plane of meadows and small
ponds, covered by a soft blue sky. Boulders and solitary trees dot the landscape, and
the Witness (or whatever envoy or additional body it chooses to use when meeting
face-to-face) usually appears beside one to greet them. The Witness, by most recent
reports, appears as a young, androgynous figure with a swirling sphere of white-hot
energy in place of a head. It typically wears a long skirt with a short-sleeved shirt
and tie, though other (usually simple and mundane) clothing has been reported in
the past.
Far more commonly, the Witness contacts Stars directly through their connection to
it, as their stellar patron and source of their powers. The Witness often acts in a
‘mission control’ role for Clusters—offering them information and advice pertinent to
their current Strike. Though, given its view seems to span our entire solar system, the
Witness’s attention is fleeting and unpredictable.
50
OTHER PHENOMENA & DANGERS
To look at our system only in terms of the larger groups and factions is to miss a
thousand intricacies. Presented below are a selection of the more common smaller
threats, paranormal phenomena, dangers and so on.
Where relevant, mechanical information for encountering said phenomena during
play is provided. Phenomena & Dangers are most likely to enter your game through
danger rumours, but you’re also well within your rights to define a group of them as a
new Faction if you desire.
HYDROGEN GHOSTS
Hydrogen ghosts are a phenomena mostly localised to the region of space where
Jupiter (may we never forget it) used to be, though they have been encountered
further out in recent years. The threat posed by hydrogen ghosts is two-fold;
• Naturally, as ghosts made of condensed, asphyxiating, explosive gas, any contact
with hydrogen ghosts is incredibly deadly for non-Stars, and still fairly deadly
even then. Stars are recommended to make maximum use of non-incendiary
measures of resistance.
• Ships haunted by hydrogen ghosts are typically lightly flooded with the liquefied,
still-boiling remains of their former crews. This is, obviously, terrifying and
disgusting to any but the most iron of wills, and a slipping hazard for Stars.
C OMMONLY ENCOUNTERED AS:

ghosts (minion), clusterghosts (major, barrier), protojupes (elite)
M ECHANICAL NOTES
Hydrogen ghosts exposed to any kind of flame or ignition-causing heat source
(including gunfire, lasers, etc) detonate instantly, with enough force to instantly kill
anyone within a few metres: this typically also causes hull breaches, and will cause a
chain reaction with other nearby ghosts.
Being made of gas, hydrogen ghosts are fairly resistant to most forms of harm. Sure-
fire ways to remove a hydrogen ghost from existence are:
• Make it explode, as above, preferably from far away
• Get it vented into space, somehow—they typically dissipate harmlessly
• Use specially prepared exorcism-ready non-volatile weapons (you might acquire
assets for this, or spend Prep)
51
52

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Gloriously Incandescent Science Fantasy, Forged in The Dark by Briar Sovereign

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GLORIOUSLY INCANDESCENT SCIENCE FANTASY,

FORGED IN THE DARK BY BRIAR SOVEREIGN

V0.3 “NEW M ANAGEMENT”

HEY, I HAVEN’ T PLAYED D ESTINY OR W ARFRAME. W HAT DOES X MEAN?

Charges Deciphering Aucodes 36

Loot & Prep 12 Foundry Sparks

FORGED IN THE DARK

LIGHT, BURNOUT & MEMORIES

WEAPONS & ARMOUR

ARMOUR & RELICS

LOOT & PREP

RUMOURS & STRIKE BRIEFS

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Corvus earns XP by addressing a challenge with stealth or technical skill.

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Gemini earns XP by addressing a challenge with teamwork or trickery.

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Monoceros earns XP by addressing a challenge with compassion or devastation.

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Lyra earns XP by addressing a challenge with charm or performance.

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Pyxis earns XP by addressing a challenge with speed or intuition.

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

Ursa earns XP by addressing a challenge with wisdom or sacrifice.

Starting Actions Looks & Natures

ASSUMPTIONS & RUMOURS

P RESSURE P OINT / P RESSURE P OINT X

THE SHIP PHASE

D URING T HE SHIP P HASE

ENDING T HE SHIP P HASE

2d6 glimmering aucode

d6 unique Primary unique Secondary

d6 unique Heavy foundry sparks

ARM’ S L ENGTH (piercing, far)

REPURPOSED REACTOR (searing, close)

C UPID’ S L AST R ESORT

L ONG-C ARVER SR5

JUPITER FUNERARY P LATE

SEALED I CHOR V IALS

ANCIENT B OMBER JACKET

SALVAGED HOVERTANK C UIRASS

FORGOTTEN REGISTRY KEY

T HE SOVEREIGN EARTHEN STATES

C OMMONLY ENCOUNTERED AS:

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