Field Guide:

The Aun Ascendancy

Compiled For: Union Administrative Department, Distal Division
Reference Name: NOMAD WATCHTOWER

Administrator Bijan Ardakan,

Solh (UDJHR REG: 004489UAD, CYCLE 16)

Original: UniGal Common

Distribution: SOLEMN VIGIL

Faction Expansion Module for Lancer v 1.7

Written by Miguel Lopez
In dark times take this mantra
and repeat it twice:

You are not your body

You are not bound to a corpse
You travel along The Path always.

You are not alone

You will not be forgotten
You carry in your left hand the harvest of history
You carry in your right hand the seed of destiny.

You are born of the stars

You are the water
You are the earth
You are the air
You are the blood.

You bear the mantle

You were chosen
You are the light in heaven
You are Ecumene
You are all there is.

You will feel soft ground beneath your feet.

-- Book of The Path, Charts and Navigations, 1.1

1
I am a well-traveled soul,

and I have found the knowledge that I sought among the wreckage of the fallen ark. I do
not write this to deny the faith. I only write to educate -- after all, what is a journey but a
series of trials? Does not the Book of The Path dictate as much?

Attend to its words:

“We shall all be tested. Faith is a practice, not an assertion. Prove through your works
that you are claimant to salvation, and salvation shall be yours.”

In service to The Path I speak. May we all find the promised land.

Attend to my words:

From the cradle of our kind’s birth ten ships were cast. These exiles were our ancestors.
They were told: find new land, our garden is no longer fecund for you.

Each ark held a self-sustaining world at their core, curved plains upon which the exiled
could live and create life, these orphans of Earth. But how to ensure that the children of
exile would continue along their path? Their children’s children?

To this I ask you: what force is stronger than duty, than sure knowledge?

Faith.

Do you ken, my children? Do you ken how the Navigator and all his court lie?

We do not make our home on the promised land. We were cast out from it.

It is time we find for ourselves a new Path forward.

-- Book of the Ascendant Path, OS, 1.1

2
Table of Contents
The Once And Future King
Location in Union Space
OCCLUSION TOWER First Contact
Host of Hosts
THE DEADSTAR, HERALD
THE DEADSTAR, REVELATOR
Aun, Ascendant
On Crusade

The Aun - Notes for GMs and Players

Aunic Timeline
A Promised Land, A City Invincible
The Steward and The Heir
My Mirror, My Sword
Hardlight
The Firmament
Souls
Metat Aun
Aunic Castes
Aunic Military
The Chosen and Ofanim
In Glory Wreathed
The Path

From Many, One - The Aunic Peoples

Ascendant Aun
Demiaun
Apollonians
Ecumenical Aun

Where Union and the Ascendancy Meet: Boundary Garden and the Distal Reach
Over There - Flashpoints In Boundary Garden
Cornucopia
Dawn Throne
Events Of The Crusade
Important Groups and NPCs
Timeline of the Ascendant Crusade in Boundary Garden

NPC Templates - Aunic Ascendancy

Ascendant Aun - Infantry
Manqueller Section
Manqueller Trancilos

3
 Manqueller Kavalieros
Dismounted Chosen Squadron
Ascendant Ofanim
Ofanim de Linio
Ofanim de Trancilo
Ofanim de Kavalerio
Ofanim de Pafanto
Ofanim de Kuratoro
Ofanim de Konscio/Animo
Aun Templates
Standard Templates (Grunt, Veteran, and Ultra)
Other, Non-Standard Templates

4
The Once And Future King
The Aun present a unique threat to Union: a cultural challenge to Cradle, backed by a strong,
centralized ecclesiastical government and a population of billions motivated by deep cultural
trauma. They are not a small civilization, and a concentrated one; unless stopped now, they
may prove able to shape themselves into a point, a dagger to deal a fatal blow to Union.

As a people, the Aun claim the mantle of succession from Old Humanity. Though humanity
persisted on Cradle -- Earth, as the Aun call it -- through the events of the Fall, only the Aun
can trace a direct line to the precursor race. There was no break in their timeline: only
movement. Where Union lost the thread, the Aun extended it. This makes them, in their eyes,
first among heirs, and Union simply upstart stewards.

This dominant cultural narrative is no doubt exacerbated by the circumstances of first and
second contact -- explained in the following sections.

Before I continue, an important note: the Aun are not a monolithic people. They are a people
stratified by caste, religious schism, and ethnicity; despite the regimented appearance and
discipline of their armed forces, the Aun are just as diverse as we Cosmopolitans and
Diasporans.

The majority of their population are the Ascendant Aun, followed by Demiaun (their colonial
subjects) and Ecumenical Aun (the remnants of the prior governing body of the Aunic peoples,
descendants of their now-defunct Navigator caste).

Both distant and recent history have caused civilizational strife among the Aun, a fact future
administrators may be able to exploit should we find an acceptable detente (or ultimate
resolution) to the current conflict.

Location in Union Space

Union marks the proximal border (Union-relative) of Aunic space as a feature in BOUNDARY
GARDEN, a section of far distal development space just beyond the ANNAMITE LINE. Prior to
its destruction by elements of the Aunic Crusade Fleet “GLORY WING” (previously ID’d as
Ecumenical Grand Host 1), Boundary Garden was served by the blink gate Fansipan Station.

The Aunic homeworld is Aun’Ist. Aunic space -- that is, Ascendant Aunic space -- lies
somewhere beyond Boundary Garden. Its exact location is classified, and I refer all interested
parties to UN Order REVOLVER MIDNIGHT.

5
OCCLUSION TOWER First Contact
The OCCLUSION TOWER1 first contact event represents a massive break in Pre-Ascendant
dogma and cultural history, and a primary fixation upon which the current regime justifies its
crusade.

The popular text From First Light To Union: A Primer marks the departure of ten
generation-class colony ships from pre-Union Cradle to ID’d potential Gaia worlds. As of the
filing date of this report (5410U) joint USB and UN far-field missions have identified the
locations of only four such vessels: XXXXXXXXXXX2

Of these four, the Rihla and the Armstrong have been positively ID’d as the origin point for the
Aunic peoples. The nearlight ship XXXXXXXXXX3 can account for otherwise anomalous
presence of post-Fall genetic data.

Flight telemetry extracted during the OCCLUSION TOWER first-contact comp/con handshake
indicates that, of the two colony ships, the Armstrong was able to successfully lock into an
ICARUS4 orbit above the world that would become Aun’Ist, NW03. The Rihla, the Armstrong’s
sister ship, had experienced a catastrophic, cascading system failure; its ICARUS protocol
failed, resulting in partial atmospheric penetration and total loss of life.

We know the Rihla’s crash occurred in 1998U, as the XXXXXXXX’s comp/con colony
administrator logged the exo-atmospheric event as it transpired.

Here the early Aunic history encounters the consequences of relativistic travel: the XXXXXXXX
had traveled at nearlight speed, bolting from shipyard THESEUS to NW03 upon completion.
Automated systems aboard the XXXXXXXX guided the colony ship to orbit around NW03 and
began to establish a colony structure on the ground, aided by a team of six volunteer
engineers. Meanwhile, internal creches activated on the ship to grow the first generation of
colonists from gene seed material. Colony settlement was underway, and a name for the
colony was chosen: Anthem.

The Rihla and the Armstrong, despite departing millenia before the XXXXXXXX, arrived after the
XXXXXXXX, as they had been travelling at considerably less than lightspeed. The XXXXXXXX,
as it had bolted to .99 lightspeed from Cradle, was able to arrive at NW03(Anthem) and
establish an initial colony settlement, observe the Rihla’s crash, birth its first generation of

1
See report OCCLUSION TOWER for detail
2
See report ODYSSEY CANNON for detail
3
See report RED QUEEN for detail
4
A planned graveyard orbit. Comp/Con handshake exchange indicates this was a hard­coded feature of
pre­Fall colonial planning ­­ for reasons unknown, I might add.
6
colonists, and welcome the arrival of the Armstrong nearly one hundred years after viable
colony establishment (circa 2088U).

This curious scenario -- a result of time, distance, and subjectivity -- struck the Aunic mind as
fundamentally anomalous. Heretical, antithetical to their thousand-year cultural history aboard
the Armstrong. I refer you to the epigraph to this report: their holy text, developed by
successive generations after departure during the Fall, assured them their ancestors (and, for
the medial generations, children) had not died in vain. Their holy texts assured them that they
would arrive at an edenic paradise, an unspoiled world eager to welcome their tired souls to a
terrestrial kind of Heaven.

Instead, they found a young Union colony, ten thousand strong, expanding across what they
had grown to think of as their holy land5.

Initial contact was not violent. The occupants of the Armstrong, colonists numbering in the
hundreds of thousands, were contained aboard their ship. Anthemites worked to process them
in strict accordance with early Union quarantine and immigration protocol, but the ship’s
ICARUS orbit was irreversible, and contemporary scenario projections indicated that the
colonial administration did not have enough time to process and assimilate all passengers
before crashdown.

A crisis was brewing, and its resolution would echo across time and space, where it has
metastasized into the defining conflict of our time.

What I know of the initial contact I have been able to collate from a number of sources. My
primary source, marked where applicable in the footnotes, are the records of harvested from a
contemporaneous terrestrial resource extraction firm, New World Massive. Secondary sources
include oral histories, excerpts from my translated copy of The Book of The Path, and limited
personnel records scraped from the Armstrong and the XXXXXXXX’s central computers.

5
Contemporary transmission, pulled from OCCLUSION EVENT report (declassified):

COL.AD++ALERT++ALERT++1998U++EYES ONLY
MESSAGE ORIGIN:WATCHTOWER:SEND ID 0024736(ATTACHE)
MESSAGE START:

+++POSITIVE ID ON ESO.1+++APPEARS TO BE UNREGISTERED SUBLIGHT VESSEL+++AS

BEFORE NO DEVIATION FROM PREDICTED COURSE+++NO RESPONSE TO HAILS
///OPTICAL/NEARLIGHT/SHORTWAVE///+++ESO.1 TRANSPONDER PINGED…AUTOMATED
RESPONSE FOLLOWS: ///ADMIN. NOTE: REDACTED DATA PACKET. REPLACE WITH SHIP NAME:
RIHLA///+++ADVISE HOW TO PROCEED+++IMPACT STILL LIKELY+++CONTINUE WITH TIER 1
EVENT CONTINGENCY AT FOLLOWING SITES: BOREA/CALVARY/DODONA/OLDUVAI+++SUGGEST
FIRST CONTACT AT SAFE BREAK POINT+++ADVISE?+++
MESSAGE END:REPEAT CHARGE: 2

7
No further conversation was possible with either the initial colony pre-comp/con or the
Armstrong’s analogous system, as their initial handshake corrupted most all data.

The result of the Armstrong’s ICARUS protocol saw the end of the initial Union colony on NW03
through a combination of planetary trauma and cultural integration. The first and neophyte
second wave of Union colonists, vastly outnumbered by the flood of colonists from the
decaying Armstrong, integrated, rather than resist.

Second contact with Union would not come until late 2880U, during the First Expansion Period,
still pre-blinkspace. The nearlight ship sent to recolonize NW03(Anthem) was intercepted
outside the orbit of NW06(Borea), interdicted, and lost with all hands. In response, Union
declared all BOUNDARY GARDEN space a quarantine buffer zone6, and non-SIGINT
observation of the Aun withered.

It has been a little over 2100 years since that order, a time of peace-through-mutual avoidance.
Now, we face a mounting Aunic crusade.

My observations are as follows.

Host of Hosts
This may come as a shock to the average marine or spacer, but there are more than one kind of
Aun. Manquellers we face on the frontline are, in general, a monolithic group, but on outlying
worlds you may find Aun who fight for a different future -- one, I should note, that may not
necessarily be compatible with the direction that Union has set for the galaxy.

This current crusade is the product of a thousand years of internal strife between two major
factions: the remnants of the Aun Ecumene, and the revivalist Aunic Ascendancy.7

The Aun, prior to a dramatic series of events and cataclysmic religious schism, had been run
by an Ecumenical Congress. This Congress represented a confederation of Aunic worlds
settled throughout the BOUNDARY GARDEN sector -- the Aunic faith and church still held
incredible cultural sway, but was not yet the unipolar, unified ecclesiastic structure it is in the
modern era.

According to texts and interviews I have conducted with Ecumenical historians, the Aunic
peoples are organized under, ministered to, and governed by the Ascendancy, an ecclesiastic

6
Refer to UN Order REVOLVER MIDNIGHT, p 75­83
7
To fill in the gaps in my available texts, I must cite the oral histories relayed to me by a number of
passing Albatross wings who have encountered the Aun. A particular thanks to First Wing Mahmoud Ibn
Salah, First Archivist for Albatross Wing Shujae, who granted me access to his library.
8
dictatorship helmed by a divinely-ordained Herald. Where Union is a hegemony of states
aligned under a central administrative body, the Ascendancy is an all-encompassing
centralized government.

The Ascendancy is the government throughout Aunic space: their officials run every township,
every city, every province, and every world. In Aunic space, there are no other states but the
Ascendancy, and while there are other ethnic, political, and dogmatic divisions among the
Aunic peoples, the Ascendancy recognizes all Aunic peoples as their people in a direct
state-to-citizen relationship.

This is contrasted with Union, where local control outside of Cradle is usually ceded to the local
or system-local state, instead of being directly administered by Union; likewise, most people in
Union space see themselves as subjects of their local states first, Union second (if they even
know that Union exists). There is no such ambiguity in Aunic space: as one of the Aun, you are
a subject of the Ascendancy, even if your political, dogmatic, or cultural leanings/ beliefs
disagree with them.

Pushback to Ascendant rule comes in the form of a remnant state, the Ecumene, a
dictatorship-by-committee that lost a brutal civil war about two thousand years prior to the
current day. As Ecumenical bastion after bastion fell, refugees fled further out from the heart of
Aunic space, eventually finding their way to Union colony worlds where they settled and
established a government-in-exile.

Now, a small core of Ecumenical Aun continue a grossly one-sided fight against the
Ascendancy, while less radical elements attempt to work within the Ascendancy’s
ecclesiastical structure to effect political and/or dogmatic change.

While simple political and theocratic disagreement would be enough to slowly split an
interstellar state with no access to the blink network, the Aun were hit with an existential event
that tore their people in half.

9
THE DEADSTAR, HERALD
Ecumenical records make note of a celestial event that occured prior to second Union contact:
in a time of relative peace and stability, the Ecumenical Aun encountered an entity they call
Metat Aun, or, translated, The Deadstar8.

An excerpt from an Ecumenical text written shortly after first contact:

“AND it was the time of harvest, when the grains were their fattest, and the game-beasts
their most fed. This was when METAT AUN, the DEADSTAR, appeared above ANTHEM,
our most holy city.

“Fifteen beams across and the same again as high: a black stone, dark as a square of
starless night. Its shadow stretched across ANTHEM and the valley beyond, eclipsing the
sun.

“For ten days it hung above the city: the clouds of our summer sky parted before it. Our
aeros would not approach: their systems, their very souls, would cry out in agony.

The streets beneath METAT AUN thronged with penitents, overwhelming the manquellers
that tried to hold them back. Our orbitals went dark, streaked across the vault in
decaying loops.

“For ten days it hovered, unmoving, its planar faces absorbing light. The restless crowds
beneath spoke of ghosts, visions.

In the Orrery, our Ecumon consulted their charts, the spheres, listened to the wise
counsel of their machine souls. They urged the Ecumon to be patient, to not fire their
weapons. To attend.

“And so the Ecumon ordered the citizens of ANTHEM: ‘Be calm. Go about your
business. Do not disturb the stone.’

And to the Ecumenical worlds, they said : ‘Make no approach to Aun’Ist space. Prepare
contingency vaults. Open your worlds to the stranded. Pray for your home, and keep
watch.’

“For ten days, silence gripped ANTHEM. And on the eleventh day, METAT AUN spoke.”
-- Book of the Ascendant Path, 1.4

8
A note on translation. Aunic Common is a mixed language, and numerous translations of older words
are possible. “Metat” is one such word ­­ in the context in which I was exposed to it, “Metat” is best
translated as “Dead” or “Death”, though it is often used in reference to harvesting, especially in the
context of agriculture. .
10
The excerpt seems to suggest a first contact situation. What corroborating records I was able
to find while preparing this report indicate that the object’s Aunic name, Metat Aun, was
applied well after initial contact -- no records indicate (or were made available to me) what the
Aunic peoples called Metat Aun before that name was given to it.

As we can well surmise given the current situation, the Ecumene not only survived this first
contact, but underwent rapid, exponential growth and technological advancement as a result
of it9.

THE DEADSTAR, REVELATOR

The arrival of The Deadstar (Metat Aun) marked the beginning of an epochal period in the
history of the Ecumene. Its interaction with the Aunic Ecumon begat rapid technological and
cultural development that mirrors our own development following the discovery of the Massif,
the Deimos Event, and the conclusion of the RA incursions.

Again, as in our own history, this uplift period is marked by moments of note. Events that mark
a “before” and an “after”.

Circa 2890U, following our second disastrous encounter with the Aun Ecumene and
CentComm’s REVOLVER MIDNIGHT order, oral and written history mark a second period of
awakening10 -- another arrival of Metat Aun.

9
Far be it from me to posit answers to questions I do not know how to properly ask, but it is this Administrator’s
assumption ­­ based off of this excerpt and many other oral histories attached to this report ­­ that “Metat Aun” ­­ if it is
indeed an single entity ­­ may be related to the RA entity. While the dates ascribed to this encounter do not line up to
our internal records of the Deimos Event and its associated developments, given the nature of paracausality I’m more
inclined to believe legends than rigid fact ­­ I recommend an immediate move to grant MONIST­class status to Metat
Aun.

The looking glass is far behind us, as we all know.

10
An important note: in my discussion with Aunic traders, military, and Ecumenical personnel, there seems to be
mixed agreement on what constitutes a dormant period v. an active period for Metat Aun. Since its arrival, it has
disappeared and reappeared three times, each manifestation bringing with it a burst of epochal civilizational growth
and change.

These appearances seem to have no triggering event -- i.e. to prevent a catastrophic natural disaster, or to mark an
auspicious beginning to a season, etc -- but these appearances are widely viewed as indicative of active periods,
times when Metat Aun itself is active in Aunic space.

Persistent artifacts of Metat Aun’s presence do linger throughout periods where the thing itself is not present in
Ecumenical space (at the risk of footnoting a footnote, refer to my previous report NOMAD WALL)

11
Various records Solh (UDJHR REG: 004489UAD, CYCLE16-DORMANT) and I have managed to
pull from contemporary Ecumenical incident reports indicate that, following UN’s REVOLVER
MIDNIGHT order, Metat Aun broadcast across Ecumenical space a vision11 of TBK PISTON-1.

An excerpt from a contemporary Ecumenical text:

“It was as if I had fallen, my foot simply disappearing through the world as I stepped
forward. I remember the basket of bundled wheat in my arms, I remember clinging to it
as if it would pull me back from the drowning step. It did not, and I died there.

I could not tell you how long I remained in black space, but I could tell you what I saw,
what I heard:

A grinding sound of a mill-stone, or of wind through tearleaf trees; a vast and terrible
ocean of needles, fat at one end, tapered to a point. I saw them silent and still in the void
but I knew (and how did I know? I could not) that they were hurtling towards me, towards
my heart. I could feel this death-in-waiting and I realized the mill-stone sound was the
sound of the trillion dead. My sons, my daughters, my children. Dead, by their hand.”
-- Custodio Chart, 3.1

This phenomenon was not localized to Anthem: Ecumenical documents indicate that nearly
one in every four Aun across all Ecumenical space experienced this vision.

Widespread demonstrations gripped the Ecumenical metropoles and their colonies,

culminating with an emergency meeting of the Ecumon to resolve the crisis. On the table: how
to respond to the Damoclean threat posed by Union’s impending TBK kinetics, and how to
respond to the presence of Metat, once again above Anthem.

Again, from the same text:

“I had never seen the streets of ANTHEM, our HOLY CITY, so full. From the low steps of
the ECUMENICAL TOWER, down the length of the PLAZA MONOLITHIC and beyond,
there was nothing but the mass of the public beneath banners and glories. The songs
echoed up the building flanks, and always the rain of torn confetti, leaflets, from out the
windows of every tower.

“I had heard word that Navigator Sign-Marker was holding a public congress of the Path
on the steps of the ECUMENICAL TOWER, but I could not reach the steps, much less

This lingering presence leads to some friction among Aunic scholars over whether or not Metat Aun is truly ever
dormant. However, for this text I will assume the majority position and use “active” to refer to eras where Metat Aun
itself is present in Aunic space, and “dormant” to refer to eras where Metat Aun is not present in Aunic space.

11
As it has been described by contemporaneous popular texts. I have not been able to access Ecumenical technical
or eyes­only documents detailing the specifics of the phenomenon.
12
 cross the plaza. Instead, I was trapped in the foot-traffic of the marchers beneath
METAT-AUN, a shadow that was not cold.

“Rumor traveled like flame through us: ‘The Ecumon had fled’, ‘The Ecumon’s shuttle
had been turned to dust as it tried to leave the world’, ‘Metat appeared just there, just an
hour ago, a being of pure light on the steps of the ECUMENICAL TOWER. I did not know
who to believe, and never have I been more lost”
-- Custodio Chart, 3.1

The meeting would, ultimately, prove fruitless. The Ecumon squabbled over territorial claims
and military objectives while Anthem burned with protests demanding action. The Ecumon had
fled their compound in Anthem for an offsite world in the hours after Metat appeared, and the
billions left behind were furious.

Responding to a call for action, the Ecumon decided to stage a strike against Metat Aun.
Accounts provided to me by Ecumenical record-keepers indicate this strike was unsuccessful,
and further proved the Ecumon’s ineffectiveness.

A period of widespread rioting and sectarian conflict raged across the Ecumene. My interviews
with scholars of Ecumenical Aunic history point to this moment as the first opening of fissures
that would later split the Ecumene in two.

Aun, Ascendant
Here, my access to official documentation is limited, as Ascendancy bureaucrats do not deign
to grant me much access to their databases. I will continue to petition for a meeting with one of
their Minds12 in order to build a more clear picture of early modern Aunic history. Ecumenical
Aun in my orbit are likewise cagey on the history of the schism, though gladly share with me
other information (read: Aunic Minds, the Firmament, and so on) that, to Solh and I at least,
seem to be of far more tactical importance. In any case, what I have learned:

Some time following the second manifestation of Metat Aun, a folk hero named Os lead a
crusade to overthrow the Ecumenical government and install themselves as the sole parochial
and state leader of the Aunic peoples. This effort was successful, and brought us the current
theocratic regime, the Aunic Ascendency.

12
A gift for you paracausalists ­­ Aunic Minds seem to point towards the organic­synthetic intermixing
hinted at by the RA tablets. More detailed transcripts can be found in my companion report, UAD
reference name NOMAD DOORWAY.
13
What contemporary records13 I have been given access to describe this coup as the
culmination of a decades-long political and military campaign waged across Ecumenical
space:

“And in my sixteenth year, I was counted to be among the Ekumenical man-quellers.

Wept my mother did, for she knew I would Step among the Firmament, and though I
would fight with Angels at my side, she Feared for my Soul. Wept my Father did, but for
want of his name being Drawn; I, his only son, would see Wonders and Miracles, and
leave him behind in Time and Space.

“And among the honored ranks of the man-quellers did I fight for the Ekumon: with
Lance and Shot did we Scour the Ardent Host. And the Wonders! I stepped from one
world to the next, a simple Son of a Pottery-Man! With Angels at my side I marched the
Hall of Doors on Anthem, songs lusty at my lips, and dove upon the Ascendant.

“But, with every Summer comes Winter.

“At the Siege of Col d’Mer my section and I were captured and brought before OS,
FIRST CHOSEN OF METAT AUN. Expecting to be put to Sword, I collapsed to my knees
and claimed filial martyrdom14 over my men.

“I will never forget their words: ‘RISE, MARTYR, AS MY FIRST CHOSEN’

“In those words I was saved. OS blessed me with their15 blade, and then handed it to me.
I would use it for six hundred years before passing it on to my Chosen.”
-- Text fragment, page unknown, Memoir Of Host-Marshal Kuraga Potisto

We know that the Ecumon lost this civil war, though their remaining partisans16 insist that the
civil war still continues17 in the present day.

A detailed estimate of the Ascendancy’s military strength, particulars, and current cultural
practice is forthcoming.

13
Accessed with permission via First Wing Mahmoud Ibn Salah, First Archivist for Albatross Wing Shujae.
14
Filial Martyrdom is a form of honored surrender endemic to boundary Aunic worlds; among tight­knit
groups, one member may claim filial martyrdom and sacrifice themselves to spare the group.
15
Aunic pronouns are not gendered.
16
See report DEEP MANTLE
17
In a sense, they are not wrong, though to call the ongoing purge and prosecution of Ecumenical Aun a
“civil war” is to assume the Ecumenical remnant have roughly an equal power relationship to the
Ascendancy. Frankly, they do not. Using the UNDOJ/HR Uniform Code of Human Rights, the Ascendancy
is engaged in political cleansing akin to ethnic genocide.
14
On Crusade
So what explains the current Ascendant incursion into Union space?

Unfortunately, we can only surmise their strategic goals, as our human intelligence teams
dispatched into Ascendant space must travel without access to both the Blink and the
Omninet; we’ll know if their mission is successful if and when we receive their data.

However, we can make educated guesses based off previous and current flashpoints, namely,
the attacks on Borea, Dodona, and Calvary in 5000U, and the incursion at Fansipan Station
earlier this year.

Borea, Dodona, and Calvary are old, minor colony worlds, contemporaries of Anthem that were
set up as fallback environments in case the initial colony collapsed. Settled in the years
following initial contact with the Aun, Borea, Dodona, and Calvary had remained small, placid
worlds, with total populations numbering only in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Together,
they formed a loose constellation, a thin line along the most distal stretch of Union space far
removed from Fansipan Station, the most distal blink station from Union space.

The three constellation worlds had limited omninet access linked though Fansipan’s relay
stations, with which they could queue regular communique packets for Corespace delivery. It
was in this communication gap between packets that the Aunic vanguard struck.

Fansipan station only received one communique packet from the colonial triumvirate:

CALVARY.ADMIN++ALL-SECTOR ALERT++PRIORITY BLACK

MESSAGE ORIGIN:WATCHTOWER:SEND ID 0034529(GOLGOTHA)
ATTN: ANNAMITE LINE COMMAND, ET AL

MESSAGE START:

+++OPFOR KILL INTENT ASSURED+++TOTAL BIOME KILL (TBK) EVIDENT ON:::

BOREA//DODONA+++OPFOR ORIGIN::ANTHEM SPACE+++WE ARE NOW ENGAGED
IN -- TIER 1 -- TBK CONTINGENCY+++REQUEST IMMEDIATE TAC/COM
INTEGRATION+++REQUEST IMMEDIATE BLINK PRIORITY+++REQUEST
ALL-THEATER ORIENTATION+++BREAK

+++NOT LOOKING GOOD ON OUR END+++ATTACHED IS COLONY MANIFEST FOR

OFFSITE RECORDS+++BREAK

MESSAGE END:REPEAT CHARGE: N/A

Annamite Command immediately dispatched a nearby Union battlegroup, Comet, to

investigate the situation, blinking them through Fansipan station. Additionally, I was activated in
my capacity as Union Administrator to negotiate with the Cornucopian Revolutionary Guard

15
(CRG) to ensure their smooth integration into battlegroup Comet upon its arrival. My project
would prove to take months -- catalyzed, of course, by the destruction of Fansipan station.

The data echoes we were able to capture with our high-orbit listening stations showed the
following: A long patrol picket, the Yalta, was the first Union ship to encounter the incoming
Aunic forces. En route to a stable Centaur planet, 5001MP48318 before continuing on to scout
the triumvirate worlds, the Yalta sighted a massive kill-cloud of leashed asteroids and subline
ships. This vanguard would continue on to crash into Fansipan station a month later.

The Yalta was able to divert course and return to Cornucopia to assist in the evacuation
process; 5001MP483 was completely consumed and pulverized by the vanguard kill-cloud.

Given the ruthlessness with which the Aun have attacked their targets, we can assume their
Crusade is motivated by irrational narratives -- that is, there is seemingly no geopolitical aim
behind their strikes -- and no diplomatic narrative with which to assume motivation.

Given these developments, we do have a small range of probable motivations:

First, that the Aun are motivated by irrational clash-of-civilizations narrative that pits them
against Union. This is a broad and possible motivation, one that accounts for the widespread
attacks on civilian centers and military installations alike. More intelligence is required to
confirm this narrative -- we await word from our joint clandestine teams operating in Aunic
space.

Another option is that the Aun are mounting a limited-overwhelm campaign, a posturing attack
meant to stun Union into a diplomatic white peace that sets clear limits on its zone of influence.
Fansipan station, the triumvirate worlds, Cornucopia -- even Anthem, in millenia past --
represent encroachment into space that the Aun see themselves as masters of. By showing
their overwhelming strength and rapid, non-blink dependant interstellar travel (though
seemingly limited in range), the Aun could position themselves as power players in Distal space
by forcing Union to sue for peace. This would, of course, prove their power across the galaxy --
no other state or state-analog has ever brought Union to the negotiating table -- and shift the
polarity of galactic power to be split between Anthem and Cradle.

A final, similarly limited option is that the Aun are simply mounting a shock and awe campaign
to root out the last vestiges of the Ecumene. The Ecumon does run an enclave on Cornucopia,
after all, and Cornucopia seems to be the immediate main strategic objective since the fall of
Fansipan station.

18
Or, with apologies, Bijan’s World, named in my honor by the Cornucopian Revolutionary Council after my formal
posting. I do believe it was a joke, as the world is a small, misshapen rock, useful only as a refueling station for
long­haul or long patrol ships heading out towards Boundary Garden. An interstellar pit stop, if you will.
16
I presume the real answer to be a combination of these three options. Given the mysticism
surrounding the Ascendancy’s leadership, I would offer that there are probably alternate
scenarios and justifications that neither I nor Solh can posit.

The attack on Fansipan station has found Union and the Cornucopian Revolutionary Guard
caught on the back foot. One by one our long-range monitoring stations have fallen -- it would
appear that the Ascendancy either has advance intelligence, or they have made a series of
improbably lucky strikes.

At present, I write and dispatch this report with the intent of transferring some posthumous
knowledge on to my superiors; battlegroup Comet has been scattered across the system, and
the Cornucopian Revolutionary Guard have gone to ground to prepare their homeworld, once
more, to defend against a besieging fleet.

Solh, my dear partner, has been cycled and set to a dormant state. You will find her casket
stowed aboard the lifeline probe I have embedded this report upon. See to it that you allow her
to remember me when she is reactivated, we did love to play chess in idle times.

Assuming a happy end to the war, I will continue to compile reports on the Ascendancy, their
tactics, and their social structures.

In service and solidarity,

Bijan Ardakan,
Senior Administrator,
Cornucopia City, Cornucopia.

17
The Aun - Notes for GMs and Players
A note for the reader: unfortunately, Bijan cannot narrate this section going forward. Forgive the
change in narrator, it is necessary to provide you with the information needed by GMs to
properly integrate the Aun into your campaign.

For information beyond this point, assume that only PCs or NPCs with high clearances would
have access to this information; even then, assume the access they have is -- extremely --
limited (unless, of course, they are Aunic themselves).

Aunic Timeline
-4800U Estimated departure date of Rihla during the Fall

-5000U Estimated departure date of Armstrong during the Fall

-5000U - 1998U Intervening period of travel. Aunic social structure, religion, culture coalesces
aboard the Armstrong.

1998U/198A First Contact with Union. Cornucopia settled as part of contact contingency,
Boundary Garden named.

1998U-2880U/198A-1080A First Dawn Period. Ends sometime during this date range.

2880U/1080A Second contact with Union. TBK PISTON-1 launched.

2890U/1080A Estimated beginning of Second Dawn Period. Estimated start date of the Aunic
Civil War.

2890U-5000U/1080A-3190A Second Dawn Period. Conclusion of the Aunic Civil War at the
end of this period. Aunic re-contact with Apollonians. Aun introduced to Firmament, Minds.

4700U/2990A Second Cornucopian Civil War. Seeded Ascendancy agents steal plans for GMS
chassis following failed invasion of Dawn Throne by a Minor Crusade. Development of Ofanim
begins.

5000U/3190A Estimated beginning of Third Dawn Period. First contact of Crusade forces
reported at Borea, Dodona, and Calvary -- all minor colony worlds in the Boundary Garden
sector of Union space.

5014U/3202A Narrative present.

18
A Promised Land, A City Invincible
The vast territory of the Ascendancy is unknown to Union. Most of what Union knows of Aunic
space is the liminal no-man’s land of Boundary Garden, where the Ecumon makes its
capital-in-exile in an enclave inside Boundary Industrial City, on Cornucopia.

Union, in conjunction with cooperative elements of the Ecumene, has opened a joint
clandestine mission into Ascendancy space. Already, UIB intelligence agents are en route to
identified Ascendant territories: together with their Ecumenical partners, they will work to
infiltrate the Ascendancy.

The Ascendancy’s homeworld is Aun’ist, known to Union as Anthem, and roughly translated
from Aunic to Bastion. Other Aunic worlds lie beyond Boundary Garden: based off of their
crusade force strength Union assumes them to hold at least ten worlds of Core classification,
double that as Colonies -- a population numbering in the hundreds of billions.

Boundary Garden represents an incursion point into Union space, a littoral zone where, before
the Crusade, Ecumenical (later, Ascendant) Aun mingled with and lived among Diasporans on
Dawn Throne, Calvary, Dodona, and Borea. There are no Diasporans or Cosmopolitans in Aunic
core space.

The Steward and The Heir

The Aun -- as a people -- have undergone a cultural trauma that, like Union, is a foundational
keystone. However, where Union’s bildungsroman was one of rediscovery following collapse,
the Aun were always cognizant of their place in human history. Their coming of age, when it
came, was as a shattering of faith in a moment that was supposed to be the triumphant
culmination of their people’s long and penitent journey. For the Aun, this Fall can be attributed
to an external people, an other: Union.

The Aun can and do trace their culture back to pre-fall humanity. For them, unlike Union, there
is no break in history, no dark age divide that separates them from their ancestors. To an Aunic
person, those who came before are their ancestors, not a forgotten people whose
disappearance left mysteries to be uncovered -- Old Humanity, for the Aun, are very much alive
in memory, text, and cultural practice.

The foundational religious text of the Aun, the Book of The Path, writes of the beginning of the
Aunic people’s journey as an exodus, a turning away from the old world in search of a new land
-- the New World -- a promised land that only the penitent may reach. The pre-Ascendant Aun,
at first, were an exiled people, but as they grew into their interstellar journey so too did they
grow in their own narrative. In time, the Aun began to see themselves not as an exiled people,

19
doomed to wander the stars, but a chosen people, bound on a holy journey to a land promised
to them as just reward for a penitent life.

For a thousand years the Aun were confined to the increasingly desperate interior of a massive
generation ship, the Armstrong, as it burned slow to a potentially habitable world, flagged long
ago in the twilight age of Old Humanity. The promise of an Edenic paradise at the end of their
journey was the north start of the Aunic peoples, their reason to make sure the ship survived,
that there was order and peace aboard the ship. They would be rewarded in the next life, their
good deeds assuring them their rightful place on a real world, with blue sky and fresh water,
and no fear of the vacuum outside.

None expected to reach an actual world: it had been a thousand years, tens of generations
since their ancestors first stepped aboard the Armstrong. So many had died of age and of strife
between decks, over resources. The ship had nearly been lost to plague, to war, to famine. And
yet, one day, ancient systems whirred to life, calling for engineers and technicians to attend:
they had arrived.

Not only had they arrived, but there were messages waiting for them: a ship in parallel course
to them, hailing them over their comms.

The Aun, a lost people, the last of Old Humanity, had arrived at the New World to discover two
things: they had not traveled alone, and their New Eden was already inhabited, a colony having
been established there a hundred years before they had arrived.

This was the Aun’s great cultural trauma, their watershed moment. They discovered that their
great journey, their penitent path, had taken ten thousand years in real time; in that time,
humanity back on Cradle -- Earth, as the Aun call it -- had nearly died out, but hung on, and
grew fresh from the waste of Old Humanity. They discovered the technology of the Aun’s
ancestors, found the old wonders that were discovered too late to save the old world, and built
them. In the course of that rediscovery, these new humans -- Union -- found records that
showed where the refugees of Old Humanity had fled.

So Union built new ships, using the wonders of technology -- Nearlight drives, stasis caches,
comp/con computers -- that were discovered too late to save Old Humanity, and launched
them to these new worlds. A thousand years the Aun had been accelerating to speed, turning
over, decelerating on approach; Union was able to jump to nearlight and beat the Aun to the
world that had been chosen for them, set up a colony, live there for a generation. The Aun
weren’t even the first of the Old Human generation ships to arrive: the Rihla, the Armstrong’s
sister ship, arrived first. It was a derelict, a dead ship whose people had all succumbed to the
ills that threatened the Aun aboard the Armstrong. It entered a decaying orbit and broke up in
the New World’s atmosphere, peppering the fledgling colony below with bomb-like debris.

20
The Union colony was understandably nervous when the Armstrong arrived, this time intact
and with a complement of hundreds of thousands of people onboard. The Aun, meanwhile,
were shaken to their core to discover that their paradise -- their literal idea of heaven, their
reward for a thousand years of exile -- was already claimed, inhabited, and hostile to them.

In the view of the Aunic people, they were the heirs of humanity, the carriers of the direct and
unbroken line of humanity that first stepped out from Africa nearly two million years ago. Their
ancestors, sensing the doom of their world, had set them on the most dangerous path to find a
new one, upon which they would perpetuate this unbroken line. However, to discover that their
paradise, their reward for all those generations of suffering, was inhabited by the upstart
stewards of a dead world, ignorant of all that history, was too much.

The Aun rejected Union’s control. With their numbers, they overwhelmed the colony and
established their Aunic paradise on the New World. Union, unable to support their small colony,
abandoned the world and the Aun.

The Aun never forgot who had shattered their story, who had proved their religion to be a false
promise. Because of Union, they were now a people without a driving cultural story: the Path
was not a religion, but a simple plotted course on an ancient navigational chart; the New World
was not a literal heaven-as-penitent-reward, but just a habitable world, stolen from them and
polluted by a cold, bureaucratic people who treated them as an unwelcome arrival, an
administrative imposition.

Over thousands of years, the Aun built their people up, colonizing and building out the New
World. They were spiritually lost but animated by a hatred of Union, who they expected to
come burning from the night sky to steal their lands from them once more. The Path, their
religion, seemed insufficient, incomplete, and largely receded from the public sphere.

It took the sudden arrival of Metat Aun to rekindle their faith. Once more, their cultural story
was complete, and the Metat’s revelations showed them that what they thought was their
destined world was only a waystation on a longer path. No, the Aun were not finished as a
people, their story had not been shattered. They were still heirs to a glorious future -- would
Metat have chosen them otherwise?

The revivalist Ascendancy now sees its charge as to lead its people along the Path and return
home, redeemed after millenia of wandering.

Their promised land waits for them where they left it, minded by a steward-race: Union.

21
My Mirror, My Sword
Aunic technology is marked by clean lines, seamless construction, and an emphasis towards
the functional. Their technological lineage is that of Old Earth: elegance and functionality are to
be considered equals, beauty is found both in form and perfect function.

Aunic art, architecture, and dress reflect the bounty of empire. Functional dress (uniforms,
casual clothing, work clothing) is similar to Aunic technology: clean lines, sturdy construction,
emphasis towards the functional.

Following the end of the schism war, the culture of the Ascendancy is, for lack of a better word,
ascendant. There is a heavy emphasis towards the colors of Os (gold, indigo, white), art that
glorifies the Ascendancy’s mission, and a revival of classical architectural styles. The old way --
the Ecumenical culture -- is present, but in decline. Ecumenical civic dress is less fashionable,
as are Ecumenical rituals, rites, and texts. A number of Ecumenical civic officials still hold
important office, as they have renounced their faith and pledged to serve the state.

While a number of technologies the Aun possess would be familiar to a Unionite, there are a
few major diversions: hardlight, Firmament affinity, and Souls, all “gifts” of Metat Aun.

Hardlight
Hardlight is a technology unique to the Aun. Observation of the technology suggests it should
be a stable particle beam that demands little energy to sustain, can transmit information, and
can support orders of magnitude more weight than its power supply should allow.

In the field, Union regulars and auxiliaries have observed hardlight used in both defensive and
offensive roles, as beam weapons, personal shielding, and “blade” edges. It seems that the
Aun have the ability to contain, sustain, and shape hardlight, though how they contain static
hardlight is unknown.

Captured hardlight weaponry has given Union some insights into the technology19 though the
particular advanced, miniaturized function the Aun are able to extract from theoretical
principles remains elusive. Joint Union and Harrison Armory testing of captured and
reverse-engineered hardlight equipment have lead to the creation of the Hardlight Defensive
System. However, hardlight that Union and the Armory are able to produce is burst light,
unfocused, only effective as a defensive system, and not yet possible to miniaturize for
individual trooper use.

19
For specific technical descriptions and specifications, refer to joint USB/ThinkTank report ACRE FALL
22
The Union Science Bureau, Paracausality Division, has delved into hardlight (along with other
Aunic technologies) and returned tests that have proved frustrating to USB/HA as a whole.
Hardlight, by the USB/PD’s determination, seems to be a blended technology, a mix of
theoretical physical functionality with auto-ontologic/ applied enactivistic manifestation
consistent with the influence or presence of a MONIST-class entity; The most complete
operating theory suggests that hardlight systems perforate the Firmament in order to cast a
directed beam Firmament-adjacent energy towards their target.

Hardlight seems to necessitate a power supply, despite its odd-science particulars.

Manquellers’ hardlight rifle systems are fed by power packs worn on their back, light
backpacks typically integrated into their cuirass that can be swapped for charging or
replacement. Their rifles are fed by these packs via a cable, though it does appear that they
can receive “magazine” style power packs as well.

Field reports from Union marines and auxiliary troopers indicate that captured Aunic hardlight
weapons, equipment, and personal defense measures have a fail rate of roughly 99.7% when
activated. It would appear that these systems and equipment require some kind of permission
structure to use, one that non-Aunic humans are not privy to. Rest assured, USB is hard at
work attempting to uncover what, exactly, this permission structure is.

The Firmament

First encountered at the beginning of the Third Dawn, the Firmament has been described
in-text as the domain of Metat Aun, a place inaccessible to all but those Metat themselves has
deemed worthy. A place of power, the Firmament exists in one capacity as a metaphysical
thing, and in a different capacity as something that is demonstrably real and capable of
affecting the physical world.

The beginning of the Third Dawn was marked by Metat Aun appearing above Anthem, pulling a
third generation ship, the Apollo, along with it. Of the hundreds of thousands of colonists
aboard the Apollo, a small number of them appeared to be able to manifest many of the same
miracles that Metat Aun could. Initially, this gift manifested as a hostile response to Aunic
incursions aboard the Apollo, but as contact was established and a language shared, the two
peoples established a tenuous ceasefire.

During truth and reconciliation discussions, the Apollonians gave name to the Firmament and
their practice of interaction with it, and the Ascendant leadership recognized its potential for
exploitation.

The Firmament as described by the Apollonians is the wall between real space and the Great
Deep: an omniscient superstructure that hums behind the plane of reality. Apollonian stories

23
describe it not as a physical space, but one of the heavens, a domain both above and
inextricably bound to ours: in it lives our souls, our minds, and our dreams. All, in turn, are held
in the dream of a godlike figure they called Apollo (though the Aun now recognize as Metat)
who keeps the chosen people safe from the darkness outside.

While the Firmament is often spoken of as a dreamspace, manifestations of supernatural

abilities in the field demonstrate that this dreamspace is quite real and capable of impacting
our physical space.

It appears that the Ascendancy was introduced to this technology and went through a period of
adoption, indicating the same might be possible for Union.

In my youth, I questioned the wisdom of the Navigators. Who were they to guide us
along the path, when all who walked the path did so without clear vision? Were we not
taught that the righteous way was one that must be sought? That the most holy spoke of
the word not in confidence, but in curiosity?

I alone among my peers thought these questions. They scribbled dutiful notes, I ignored
the Navigators’ ministrations and listened instead to the wind. I did not want to study the
charts: instead, I pondered the fall of sere leaves. I went out among the people,
ministered to them where they lived under the shadow of the METAT. I pulled on the
heavy garb of a celestinaught and worked the shipyards, welding plate to spine.

When the Navigators’ edicts came down from their Orrery, I did not heed them. They
expelled me from the seminary, and I did not weep, for I had already left them. My fathers
and mothers expelled me -- save for Patria Endo, who alone believed.

I returned to the places I had searched for the Path. I returned to the vendors, to the
celestinaughts, to the shadows under METAT.

And when METAT brought us the Apollonians and showed to us the FIRMAMENT, I did
not seek arms. I did not consult the feeble text of the Navigators for answers to questions
they did not care to ask. I accepted, and welcomed, and I alone became the first
Ascendant to walk the FIRMAMENT.

I will say of it this, as you embark on your journey: I cannot guide you through the
FIRMAMENT. I can only see to it that you find the first door.

And yet! Do not despair! It is meant for us. It was realized for us. In it, you will hear
METAT’s song, and your Path will be made clear for you.

The first door is here. Open it. Step through.

-- Book of the Ascendant Path, 2.1

24
Perhaps the most existentially terrifying manipulation of this dreamspace -- to Union -- is its
utility for interstellar travel. It would appear, unless the Aun have achieved FTL travel through
more conventional means of ignoring physics, that the Firmament can be pierced and
traversed.

Precisely how the Firmament is travelled is unknown to Union, but it can be used by individuals
and large vessels to convey themselves from one location in physical space to another with
seemingly no relativistic effects. This, it seems, accounts for the Ascendancy’s ability to
maintain an interstellar empire without the omninet or blink network.

Effective range, drawbacks, fidelity, and ease of use are all unknown to Union; measurement of
size, potential energy, shape, or location of the “Firmament” is likewise unavailable at this time,
as no conventional instruments are capable of registering the particle, wave, or other method
of being. As an additional consideration, the Firmament seems to interfere with omninet
communications; after-action reports and transcripts indicate a minor, but noticeable,
message-fail rate between units engaged in combat with Ascendant troops.

Manifestation of Firmament affinity is rare and prized by Aunic leadership: those born with the
affinity are viewed across the Aunic interior as blessed, marked by the divine. It is possible to
train oneself to access -- or, at the very least, sense -- the Firmament, though these students
never quite attain the mastery that those born with the affinity do.

First contact with Aunic Minds occurred on Acre, where Administrator Bijan Ardakan met with
Ecumenical Minds during his diplomatic mission to the Ecumon. Little of their combat,
administrative, logistical, or paracausal capabilities were known then; an outline of their
capabilities has been compiled through reports filed by legion-NHP Lorenzo (UDJHR REG:
127390UND, CYCLE 327) following the loss of Fansipan Station and the defense of
Cornucopia.

USB/PD believes the Firmament to be the same outside-space as Blinkspace, but without
stable access/ sufficient data, and without a way to establish definite architecture and behavior,
there is no way to be sure.

25
Souls
Recently encountered by Union and Cornucopian coalition forces, Souls seem to be analogous
to Union NHPs. The first was encountered by combat elements of coalition forces inside
Boundary Industrial City, during after-action patrols following the first Ascendant assault.
Contained inside a wrecked Ofanim was a paracausal entity that interfaced with the marines
that recovered it, though it passed within an hour of capture.

This entity referred to itself as a soul. Specifically, as the soul of a pre-Ascendant manqueller in
the service of the Aunic military for two thousand years; however, without application of a
Balwinder-Bolaño test to confirm sentience, the machine intelligence displayed by the “Soul”
remains unconfirmed. In the meantime, Union High Command (under guidance of the USB),
has designated Souls as unconfirmed NHP entities, pending a full debrief and application of a
clinical BB panel.

At present, here is what Union knows of Aunic Souls:

Souls seem to operate in ways similar to NHPs, though the extent of their permissions is
unknown. Ascendancy doctrine for milspec NHPs may or may not be different than their
civilian, technical, liturgical, etc, doctrines.

Souls confound both targeting and application of Union NHP memetic-suite20 systemic attacks.
On debrief, NHPs indicate that the Soul is seen to them as a void or blank space similar to a
blinkspace signature -- a reading they equate with a number of associated Ascendant
technologies (most notably, the Aunic disc, a mark of rank among the Ascendant armed
forces).
Memetic combat doctrines for all Union forces deployed against the Ascendancy have since
been updated to prioritize awareness of this void signature, and updates to specific tactics for
NHPs facing Souls in combat have been pushed to their handlers.

As indicated by first contact, it would appear that Souls are held in containment similar to
NHPs, though after extensive testing by USB it appears that their containment systems
themselves are quite different. Where NHP containment “coffins” require metafold blinkspace
vaulting, Soul containment appears to lean on a fractal, semi-organic medium housed inside of
a spherical shell. It is not known if a Soul is contained within this housing, or if it is an
end-chain component of a networked system.

Souls are known to have memetic/ontologic abilities capable of targeting NHPs and organics,
and at present seem contained to Ofanim. USB is currently developing systems for hardening
NHPs and organics against these attacks -- until such standardized systems are developed,
Union High Command recommends targeting and eliminating Ofanim with extreme prejudice.
20
Ontologic, acausal, subjective syzygy, etcetera.
26
Metat Aun
Union has limited information on what, exactly, Metat Aun is, though from all associated
anecdotes and descriptions they classify it as a MONIST entity, one assumed to be on par with
RA.

Metat Aun has a physical form21: a massive planar monolith of dark stone, rectangular and
solid, that can move without discernible methods of transportation. It is understood to be the
only physical form of Metat Aun in Aunic space, and in the narrative present it hovers ten
kilometers above the Aunic capital. This is the monolith’s third appearance above Anthem, an
occasion that is viewed as a good omen; pilgrims and penetints both flock to Anthem, and the
city is now less a functioning city than a site of constant pilgrimage and worship.

Metat Aun speaks through a chosen Herald, by all accounts a person who has ascended to a
kind of demigod status through Metat’s divine intervention. The current Herald is Os, a folk
hero who was a leader of the Ascendancy movement before it became the state power it is in
the narrative present. It is not known how Os has prolonged their life: that is viewed as a
miracle of Metat’s making instead.

Prior to Metat Aun, Aunic religion spawned from the teachings of their priest class, Navigators,
who ministered to them their ship-born mythos of The Path. Their teachings counseled the Aun
that their journey through space was one of great import; it was not simply a migration from
one dying world to a new fecund planet, but the redemption pilgrimage of a penitent people
exiled from The Garden. They were blessed-through-exile to wander the heavens in search of
the True Path that would lead their people to a metaphysical promised land.

Os was raised in this religion under the tutelage of the Navigators. Os, too, studied the charts
and the word of the good book, sought The Path, and lived in accordance with Navigational
Doctrine -- for a time.

When Metat revealed itself to them, Os was of the class of Navigators who bore witness to a
miracle. The Path, Os ministered, was no longer lost -- it had only been obscured for want of a
guide. Metat was that guide, Os declared, and the people began to listen.

Metat showed how its Word22 was a real power through repeated miracles affected by Os and
their followers, as well as Metat’s manifestations. Adherents to The Word -- the Ascendant

21 Or, has a physical form that is chooses to manifest as

22 Important to note: instances of or references to Metat Aun being able to “speak” to people should not be read as Metat Aun literally talking to
a person in its own voice. Metat Aun does not have a discernible voice of its own: instead it speaks to people in dreamspace images, compiled
voices of their peers, through sign and metaphor. Instances of someone speaking with Metat Aun or being spoken to by Metat Aun are rare,
indicative of miracles or beatification.

27
Path, as Os called it -- began to grow in number, rejecting the Navigators’ teachings of penitent
wandering with Metat’s evidence of exultant ascension.

While Metat itself has not spoken direct orders to the Ascendancy, their priests have
interpreted its presence as clear dogmatic explication: the Path is obscured unless revealed,
and beloved now as it is, Aun’Ist is not the true home of the Aun. Their Path continues, and to
find it they must return to claim their throne -- Earth -- from the stewards that keep it.

The human race, after all, is a race of wanderers, cursed and blessed to follow The Path. The
Aun see it as their holy duty to ensure they do not stray from the Path, less humanity plunges
into the Great Deep as a result.

Aunic Castes
Aunic society is stratified by caste; there is limited mobility between castes, but what is known
indicates that it is much more common to move up than down. Caste promotion is achieved
through deed, training, and education. Caste demotion is a formal process, the result of
judgement by a mixed jury of those in the caste immediately above yours, of members of your
own caste, and, occasionally, members of the immediate lower caste.

The castes are as follows:

Celebrant
The spiritual leadership caste. Only caste allowed to interact with Os, aspects of Metat Aun. A
subordinate caste during the Ecumene, Celebrants have deposed Navigators as the spiritual
and civic leadership of the Aun peoples.

Ecclesiastic
State apparatchiks, bureaucrats, governors, and district representatives. Members of this caste
run the civic, municipal, and provincial systems that dictate daily civilian Ascendant life. A
plurality of these caste members are Ecumenical, their ancestors having proved too useful to
purge during the schism.

First Chosen
Explicitly subordinate to the civic and religious leadership of the Ascendancy. Their original
leaders were killed or exiled during the schism. The modern Ascendant High Command traces
their lineage back to the first Ascendants, the First Chosen of Os, and work in harmony with
the Celebrant Caste

28
Pregejo
The elite of the Aun Civila, a common transitional caste for Aun on an upward social trajectory.
Minds are generally weighed at this level, though they are much more strict about admittance,
and their unique abilities afford them more cultural leeway than most. Chosen of the Celebrant
Guard and the Outremer, along with the middling priesthood of the Ascendancy are counted at
this rank as well.

Civila
A vast and varied class, encompassing the rank-and-file soldiery, skilled artisans, bureaucrats,
agricultural divisions, and all stripe of the Ascendant Aun. The Civila is the broad base of the
Aunic peoples, the majority of the population of the Ascendancy.

Rabulo
Another vast and varied class cobbled together from the Aunic peoples who are not considered
Ascendant. This includes Ecumenical Aun, the Apollonians, Demiaun, and any Aun who are
viewed as profane, having turned from Metat’s light or chosen to worship one of its aspects.

Outside of the caste system is Union and the rest of Humanity. Ascendant Aunic dogma views
Union and Humanity as the Kurr-Fah, “Stewards”, or, “Those Who Crawl”.

Aunic Military
The Aunic military is split between regular troops and local levies, similar to the Union Navy. All
enlisted soldiers of the Aunic military are called manquellers. Only some manquellers may
become Chosen, fewer yet may become Minds, and fewest of all may be both.

The Aunic military bureaucracy is vast and bifurcated: the Celebrant Guard is the domestic
standing army, and the Outremer are levies, militias, and reservists raised in the event of a
crusade or necessary defense of the homeland.

The Celebrant Guard is the Ascendancy’s standing military force. It is the domestic garrison of
Chosen, Minds, and professional manquellers maintained for the defense of the Aunic interior
and colonies. It has its own command structure, naval organization, ground tactics, and
institutional history. It reports directly to Os and their ecclesiastic priesthood. The Celebrant
Guard is marked by standardized equipment, advanced training, access to personal hardlight
weapons, and a combat doctrine that blends infantry with Ofanim support.

Most Chosen, owing to the length of time necessary for training and pairing with their Ofanim,
are members of the Celebrant Guard. They are permitted to mark their Ofanim with the Indigo
of the Celebrant Guard. Manquellers in the Celebrant Guard occupy the upper echelon of the

29
manqueller caste -- when assigned to their Outremer regiment as a unit, they fill elite roles
(often operating with a much wider mission parameter and operational freedom than
counterpart Outremer units). If spread out among Outremer units as individuals, they’re often
partnered with their squads’ Standard in an advisory role.

The Outremer is a cyclical military structure, largely dormant when not in use, though all Aunic
peoples are subject to conscription into service in times of need. When active, the Outremer is
a crusade force comprised of conscripts formed into temporary classes of manquellers,
Chosen, and Minds, raised to fill the global quotas demanded by Ascendant leadership. Their
equipment conforms to a standardized set of parameters, though is not standardized across
the fighting force; likewise their personal and mechanized armor. Hardlight technology is not
ubiquitous among the Outremer, who are more commonly armed with gaussian kinetics and
other conventional weaponry.

The Aun, regardless of their world’s development level, are required to serve their municipality
for a period of two realtime years in a civic, religious, or military role. After that service period,
they are subject to the call-up in the event of a Crusade.

The Outremer field Ofanim, Minds, and other specialized infantry, though across the board the
quality of these units do not match their counterparts in the Celebrant Guard -- the Guard
simply has more time and resources to recruit and train their elite soldiers than the Outremer.

Outremer high command is equal to Celebrant leadership, though navigating the political ballet
of Aunic military command is a skill that most seasonal or reserve commanders leave to the
Celebrants. When in doubt, an Outremer officer will cede command to their Guard counterpart.

While there have been Crusades in the Ascendancy period, there has never been one so large
as the current push into Boundary Garden; as a result the Outremer is massive in number, and
whole worlds have sent generations of their able-bodied to the fight.

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Celebrant Guard Ranks (Union equivalent in parenthesis)

First Marshal (Ring Admiral)

Host-Marshal (Section Admiral)
Marshal (Admiral)
Major (Commander)
Host Captain (Line Commander)
Captain (Captain)
Minor (Lieutenant)
------------
Standard (Warrant Officer)
Caporal (Sergeant)
Demicapo (Corporal)
Manqueller, First Order (Marine, 1st Class)
Manqueller (Marine)

The Chosen and Ofanim

Ecumenical Ofanim -- mechs -- are a relatively new tool in Aunic combat doctrine, developed
following observation of and encounters with Cornucopian and Union Lancer corps in the
Second Cornucopian Civil War, circa 4700.

Despite the novelty of the platform, adoption of chassis/shell systems has moved quickly, as
has the general skill and veterancy of their Ofanim pilot divisions. This is due in large part to
existing structures of the Ecumenical military, namely the extant structure, training, and
cultivation of the Chosen of Aun, a caste of military nobility well suited to prestige combat.

Ecumenical Pilots are members of a clearly defined caste, the Chosen, who are differentiated
from other civilian and military castes by their birth, and/or their training, and their unique
relationship to the Soul imbued in their chosen chassis.

Chosen are both born into their roles and uplifted to them. Those that are born to the role are
raised in tight-knit communes helmed by a Patria, a trainer and parent figure both, and
introduced to meditative sessions in search of their Souls as early as ten years old. After a
successful integration period with the Firmament, their are paired with a Soul and begin their
training.

Uplifted Chosen are a more mixed bunch, given to a wide spread of ability and affinity. Uplifted
Chosen are plucked from their homes after their Firmament sensitivity is identified, usually
around their early teens, though some slip through and are not discovered until they are older.
After a rigorous training process, those that do not wash out and are able to maintain a stable

31
bond with their Soul are enrolled in Chosen academies, placed alongside born Chosen
equivalent to their ability.

Even before the advent of the Ofanim in Aunic military doctrine, the Chosen were soldiers apart
from regular levies. They were bred and chosen for their Firmament affinity, trained in exo
combat, paired with Souls, and trained the use of hardlight as an offensive weapon.

The transition to mechanized chassis combat came after third contact with Union, in combat at
the edge of Boundary Garden during the Second Cornucopian Civil War in 4700U. Here the
Ascendant Aun faced their first major defeat at the hands of Cornucopian Monarchal Renewal
(CMR) chassis regiments both in space and on terrestrial worlds.

Three regiments of Chosen and twice the number of manquellers met their end23 during the
invasion of the Dawn Throne, the CMR homeworld, due to the efficacy of the CMR’s
mechanized regiments. Few Aunic ships escaped through the Firmament, but seeded teams of
Ascendant clandestine agents were able to retrieve and transmit printing plans and data for a
number of early GMS chassis variants used by the CMR.

The Ecumene emphasize attachment to and harmony with their Ofanim. Chosen are typically
unwilling to pilot others’ Ofanim, though they can, and are slow to make dramatic changes to
their cores and shells. Their paired Soul has a say in the outfit and makeup of its Ofanim, just
as much as the pilot.

Earning one’s colors through assignment, deeds, certifications, and family association is a
mark of pride among the Chosen; earning a Glory through service and heroism is the highest
honor among the Chosen, and commands respect from manquellers, navigators, and the
civilian population.

Chosen wear dress white uniforms with gold accents. Their colors, painted onto their Ofanim’s
shells, are represented by simple colored bars. A Glory is worn as a crimson sash; multiple
Glories are marked by corresponding gold bars across the sash. On an Ofanim, a Glory is
represented by a crimson bolt of woven silk.

Once one graduates and is formally paired and presented before the Review with their Ofanim,
there is no official distinction between Chosen born into the caste and Chosen uplifted to it.

23
Unfortunately for the Cornucopian Monarchal Renewal forces, this victory would prove pyrrhic; while
they scrambled to reorient their invasion forces after defense of their homeworld, the armies of the
Cornucopian Revolutionary Guard invaded, catching the beleaguered CMR forces and retreating Aun at
their most disorganized and vulnerable. The Second Battle of the Dawn Throne was a dramatic, final
defeat for the CMR and a bloody nose for the Ascendancy. In one fell swoop, Cornucopia ended their
long war and guaranteed the next.
32
It is possible for Chosen to be Minds as well. If that is the case, they wear an off-white uniform
and a silver, anonymous mask. In battle, a simple silver circlet marks their station. Minds may
earn colors and Glories the same as other Chosen.

In Glory Wreathed
Glories are the highest honors that an Ascendant Aun may win. Not all who win them did so
through military service. Chosen have their own culture behind displaying and marking Glories,
as do Manquellers, officers in the Aunic Navy, and Minds.

Glories are represented by a deep crimson bolt of sturdy, fine cloth, worn on the body as a
scarf, a sash, or a shoulder-cape. The glory itself may be displayed on the holder’s Ofanim or
ship, but most prefer to simply mark their hulls or armored carapaces with a simple crimson
bar or livery.

Glories are awarded to Ascendant Aun who complete miraculous deeds, not only for acts of
heroism but for acts of miraculous charity, martyrdom, or pious accomplishment. Like the
penitent, the glory-holder does not need to serve the Ascendancy’s militaries to win Glory.

The Path
The Aunic faith has been tested twice: first when they arrived at the New World, and then again
when Metat manifested itself. It was a shipboard faith, created to give purpose to the medial
generations of colonists aboard the generation ship Armstrong as they crossed the void of
space.

Arising from the desperate conditions and existential worry of the third and fourth generations
aboard the Armstrong, The Path laid out a story of exodus, redemption, and salvation; after
multiple tests -- The Great Crises -- the prevailing Aunic dogma teaches that the modern era is
once more an age of miracles, backed by the wonders worked by Metat Aun. The Book of the
Ascendant Path is the new faith text, replacing the Ecumene’s Book of The Path after the
schism.

The Book of The Path, compiled by the Armstrong’s navigators, told a story of a people’s
exodus from Earth, a dying eden. Only the chosen were sent, saved through their ancestors’
sacrifice. Do not despair, the Path taught, for though the journey is long and its end uncertain,
you have been chosen to embark upon it. Such a privilege must end in a glory and salvation; it
is, after all, the responsibility of the honored to live up to their given glory.

33
At the same time, the Book of The Path attempted to wrestle with the existential terror of a
journey of unknown length to an uncertain end. This is a struggle, the Path teaches, that all
must engage with on personal and civic levels, one not so different from the experience of
being a living thing in a mortal world. Act righteously and charitably, the Path teaches: we’re all
in this together.

The Path is a quiet, contemplative religion, one that is meant to be deeply personal and, at the
same time, foment a sense of community. “We are all in this together, attend to your worries
and the worries of your kin,” the Path teaches. There is an emphasis on leaning into one’s
ignorance, on bond-building with your comrades, and on the redemptive power of contributing
to the well-being of Aunic society.

This served the Aun well for thousands of years, a scholarship of dogma and apocrypha
building upon the back of the first text, the Book of The Path. Navigators became holy leaders,
students of the text and its associated miracles, troubles, and charges. They built out the
scripture, wrestling with it to explain the trials their people faced while in transit, but ultimately
could not reconcile the contradiction of their holy land being taken from them with the
teachings of past clergy.

The Aunic people’s first contact with early Union colonists on the world that would become
Aun’Ist caused many to turn from the faith, and the rest to turn their faith inwards. Following
the establishment of the Ecumene, the Aun named the Book of The Path as their holy text, but
the fervent adherence their people held to the faith never really came back.

It took the arrival of Metat Aun to rekindle the widespread, fervent, and total adoption of the
Path among the majority of the Aunic peoples. In the darkness of their people’s wander, a
herald arrived above their capital city on their capital world; on the eleventh day after its arrival,
it “spoke” to the Aunic people, manifesting a voiceless speech in the subjectivity of the Aunic
people across all Aunic space.

Metat cast to the Aun a vision of their people in glory, once more upon the Path. When it fell
silent, the Ecumene was reinvigorated, and work began on a massive undertaking: attain that
glory, and walk the Path once more.

34
From Many, One - The Aunic Peoples

The Aun are a caste-based theocratic society of many peoples, recovering after a long
civil war shattered a population that saw itself as the true heirs of Old Humanity. Earth is
their home, one that cast them out after they fell from grace, but if they stay true to The Path
they may find their New World, their promised land.

With the formal end of the Aunic civil war signed and codified into law, the Aunic Ascendancy
stands as the sole legitimate state power in Aunic space. The losers of the Aunic Civil War, the
Ecumene, have retreated to fringe Aunic space, where the Ecumenical loyalists make a minor
government-in-exile in the no-man’s land border between the Ascendancy and Union.

The Aunic people are ruled by the Aunic Ascendancy, a theocratic monarchy led by the
millenia-old Herald of Metat Aun, Os, the First Chosen. Os is the spiritual, civic, and military
leader of the Aun and speaker for Metat Aun, the Aunic god. They make their home and palace
in Anthem, the holy city of the Aun, on Aun’Ist, the Aunic homeworld.

Ascendant Aun
Attend! The Firmament is alight once more, and behind all things sings the
chorus eternal. Each dawn that greets the holy land reveals METAT AUN, perfect
of plane and angle, watchful above ANTHEM, the most holy city; so it has been
for two thousand years, and so it shall be for two thousand more.

Now, more than ever, the path of the Aun is assured. Metat, Herald of Glory,
Protector of the Fundament, Light-In-Heaven, has shown your people the way.
No longer will the Aun wander the wilderness: the Path is lit and the veil has
been dropped from your eyes. Now, take up the Lance and Light, board the
great ships! The Aun are ascendant, and you shall lead them.

The Herald Os, First Chosen of Metat, they who helm the holy see, has already
discovered the new Aunic people’s first step: purge the profane and heretic from
the holy land, capture or kill the last of the old Ecumon who cower among the
Unionite worlds. See to it that their stain is wiped away!

Then, with the homeland secured, the true crusade can begin…

-- Introduction, Pamphlet On Glory, On Ascendancy

35
Ascendant Aun were once the minority, upstart Aun who followed the light and word of Metat
Aun when it first spoke. They heard the pure voice of God, the Herald of Glory, Protector of the
Fundament, the Light-in-Heaven, and they sang in its shadow the salvation chorus that will
stop Damocles. Though Metat’s first assumption was thousands of years ago, some Chosen
(and others of the higher classes) who witnessed that day still live, miracles-through-life.

Now, the Ascendant Aun number in the hundreds of billions. They count themselves as
subjects of Metat and its First Chosen, Patria Os. Soldier or farmer, navigator of the heavens or
simple store clerk, each Ascendant Aun see themselves as the realization of all human history,
the latest link of a pure, unbroken chain that will persist until the end of time. The Ecumene was
a mortal government, fallible and profane, astray from the path until the Herald Metat arrived to
show a lost people their way; therefore, the Ecumon and its hangers-on should be stamped
out, forgotten from history.

In the narrative present, Ascendant Aun live in the dawn of the golden age of the Aunic
peoples: The Ascendancy. It is time for every citizen to do your part, whether as a simple
worker, a humble soldier, or pious patria. Now is the time of miracles, the time of Metat Aun
once more.

Ascendant Aun, more so than even the Ecumene, consider themselves the correct and final
iteration of humanity, the people who will greet the golden age and be assumed into the form of
Metat Aun.

Ascendant Aun are found throughout the Aunic interior and colonies. They are by far and away
the more dominant culture in Aunic space. Other Aunic cultures exist, and are detailed below,
but the Ascendant are the most numerous, and see themselves as the true, pure heirs of Old
Humanity.

Popular -- Ascendant, that is -- culture teaches the Aun that the Ascendant are the only ones
with affinity for the Firmament, the only to have been Chosen by Metat Aun.

36
Demiaun
Homunculi of your great-great grandparents speak of the day it happened.

Out from a calm blue sky, great white ships -- blades, trailing crimson banners --
appeared, wreathed in boiling clouds and sky-trauma lightning. The Ecumene,
the Aun -- whatever you want to call them -- spilled forth from these blades,
glittering, their mirrored armor shining in the morning sun. Your grandparents
speak of the battle that followed, a short terror, the feeble militia of your home
swept aside in the first hours of the invasion. “Union never came,” they say, their
eyes rimmed red. “We called for help, and no one came.”

Your parents were born Demiaun, colonial subjects of the Ecumene. Some tried
to resist the occupation, but they aren’t around anymore. You were born to those
who didn’t resist, who knuckled under. Survival, after all, demands compliance.

On holiday nights, or anniversaries, or on remembrance days, some of the elders

gather to talk of old times. They can have it -- you’ve only known the Aun, and
despite only being Demi, you enjoy the comforts of empire...

-- excerpt, Pro-Ascendancy leaflet Welcome Home, Lost Ones.

Demiaun have been a cultural class in the Ascendancy for the past thousand years following
first and second contact with Union, especially in the aftermath of the Second Cornucopian
Civil War. Prisoners first, Demiaun have slowly been integrated into Ascendant society over
generations of colonial subjugation; nevertheless, ties to Union space still remain, and
Demiaunic worlds are often cosmopolitan meeting places healthy with interstellar trade --
Dawn Throne, the once-seat of the Cornucopian Monarchy, is once such world now.

Since the fall of Fansipan station and the outbreak of war between Union and the Ascendancy,
the Demiaunic worlds have become sites of resistance and zealotry both, as the different
loyalties of the Demiaunic peoples have finally come to a head.

Demiaun occupy a seemingly contradictory role in Ascendant society: looked down upon as
second-class citizens by Ascendant policy, Demiaun are still invaluable to the Ascendancy for
their knowledge of, cultural affinity with, and ability to interact with Union and Union’s
representatives. Three hundred years of occupation have not yet seen the Demiaun fully
integrated into Ascendant society, though Demiaun do serve in the military, among
administrative castes, and minders of the Firmament.

Demiaun represent an unnerving truth in the Ascendancy: they display Firmament affinity at the
same rate as Ascendant Aun, contradicting the church’s leading narrative of the Aun as the
chosen people and true inheritors. The rarity of Demiaunic Minds and Chosen is not a result of

37
percentages, but numbers: they are a minority in the Ascendancy and not recruited at an
institutional level, and many fall through the cracks.

Apollonians
Your home hangs above you now, a little star tracking over the night sky of this
ground. Apollo, homeship to you and yours for nineteen gens. You never knew
how small it was.

A cough draws your eyes back. Your kinson, your “child” the Aun call it, hot in
your arms as coalfire. He’s ill -- his lungs. You rock him gently, and look up the
line. Not many more Apollonians ahead of you before the medtech.

The water here is bad. You know this, but what can you do? Worldship doesn’t
got scrubbers or waterlords to ‘force the waterlaw. No scat next to the source,
the law says. Seems these Aun don’t heed it, and you gotta drink it, and boiling
won’t do it clean.

“Next,” the medtech, hale and tall, beckons you on. “State your name and deck.”

You do, speaking in broken Aunic. It’s a hard language, close enough to your
own, but some sounds are alien to your tongue.

“And your child?”

“He’s ill. Bad Water.”

The medtech takes your son from you. “Go back to your home,” they say. “We’ll
come and find you when he’s better.”

You do. You never hear from them again. Your Light is gone.

Every night, you watch the Apollo track across the thing the Aun call sky, and
wonder if life would have been better if your navigators never answered the
aliens’ hails.
-- Excerpt, Ecumenical VR Drama Bad Water

Apollonians are refugees from Earth, an unknown generation of colonists from one of the ten
generation ships, the Apollo, manifested by Metat Aun in a secure orbit around one of Aun’Ist’s
moons. They were bound for a different world, still in transit when Metat pulled them to Aun’Ist
-- the miracle that marked the beginning of the Third Dawn.

38
Initial contact did not go well. The Apollonians were traumatized by their sudden relocation in
space-time; they were well aware of their ongoing journey and the smallness of their world, and
to have that change in a moment was a civilization-shaking event.

The Aun moved fast, dispatching first contact teams to the Apollo to greet and integrate its
colonists. The Apollonians, fearing for their people, mounted an effective defense, sending their
Minds and militias to fight the Aun. A months-long battle raged throughout the curved habitat
inside of the Apollo, Ascendant boarding parties attempting to make a beachhead while
Apollonian Minds and their militias manipulated the Firmament to hurl paracausal attacks at the
invaders.

Months of this bitter combat came to a stalemate, as the Aun could not advance into the
Apollo, and the Apollonians could not guarantee their people’s freedom from the Ascendancy
-- they were a small hundred thousand against a civilization of billions, and their ship didn’t
have fuel or time enough to flee.

The two parties came to negotiate a peace: aboard the Apollo, the Apollonians would hold
sovereignty. In return, they would tithe their finest Minds to the Aun and teach the Aun of the
Firmament, and the Ascendancy would not crack the Apollo open with their hardlight.

A number of centuries later, the Apollonians are a people whose culture is trapped in a liminal
space: half of their population remains aboard the Apollo, quarantined into their own
semi-autonomous nation. The other remain contained on the world below -- Iai -- in a
resettlement camp, meted out as holy icons, curiosities, and powerful Mind candidates.

Few Apollonians, who are taken to be developed off-world into Minds are ever allowed to
return home. Those who take the Aun up on their offer to join the Celebrant Guard tend to do
so out of desperation or a desire to show that Apollonians are loyal to the Ascendancy. The
dominant cultural narrative throughout the Ascendancy is that Apollonians are simple folk, pure
reminders of a bygone era.

Ascendancy dogmatics and investigators with sufficient access know that the Apollo’s
long-corrupted nav computer suggests the impossible: while the technology present on the
Apollo is consistent with ancient pre-Aunic humanity, records lifted from the ship’s flight data
indicate that it has been in transit for twenty thousand years -- nearly ten thousand years
beyond the present date.

39
Ecumenical Aun
In underground groups and small, tight-knit circles, you work to keep the old
glory of the Ecumenical state alive. These Ascendant Aun are brash fanatics,
backwards in their mysticism, slavish in their desire to serve the first miracle they
witness. Have they not read the book of the Path? Do they not know they will be
tested? The Ecumon was the light of civilization -- Metat is an idol, a false god,
one that seeks to lead your people astray.

The Ecumon exists in exile on the Union world Cornucopia. You work alone or in
small cells across Aunic Ascendancy space to keep the Ecumon informed,
recruit mercenaries and those loyal to the cause, and wait for the right time to
strike…
-- Back matter, Cornucopian dramatic nonfiction novel Partisan

Ecumenical Aun are the old guard of the Aunic people. Loyal to the old order, Ecumenical Aun
work both undercover and overt to bring back the deposed Ecumenical state, the ruling council
of which (the Ecumon) currently operates on Cornucopia. They are followers of the old faith,
The Path, which

The Ecumon, the ruling council of the Ecumene, ruled the Aun until the second manifestation of
Metat Aun. The Ecumenical Aun lost the following schism war, a civil war that raged across
Aunic space for thousands of years.

Since then, the Ecumon has been a government in decay, fighting with the Ascendancy for
smaller and smaller shares of power, territory, and loyalty in Aunic space. They are, in the
narrative present, reduced to a government-in-exile, their faith seen as an old and backwards
thing.

Ecumenical Aun can be found in cells throughout Aunic space, living dual lives as both their
primary profession and Ecumenical agent. They may never be called upon by the Ecumon to
commit direct action against Ascendancy targets, though they have a passive task of sending
information along to their handlers, who pass any and all intel back to the Ecumon.

Ecumenical Aun may also be found in borderland Union space, with one exclave operating in
Boundary Industrial City on Cornucopia, the major world in the Cornucopia system; here they
collect their remnant state, recruit mercenaries and Cosmopolitan fighters, launch raids, and
coordinate their sleeper cells across Ascendant state.

Ecumenical Aun have a tenuous relationship to Union and its subject states. Previous
encounters with Union have left both civilizations with a bloody nose, but in the narrative
present both Union and the Ecumenical Aun have the same goal: stop the Ascendancy. To this

40
end, Union has engaged Cornucopian assets to attempt to build a working clandestine
relationship.

Ecumenical Aun have access to the Firmament. They keep this a closely guarded secret, one
that Union Intelligence Bureau agents are constantly attempting to uncover.

Where Union and the Ascendancy Meet:

Boundary Garden and the Distal Reach
Boundary Garden, the most distal point of Union Space, is a no-man’s land between the Aun
and Union. To Union, it is a development zone, an area where there is one core-tier world,
Cornucopia, and a number of other colonies and colony prospects. To the Aun, it is a
borderland, a place where their pure people begin to mix with a divergent spread of humanity,
beyond which lies the ancestral home they had been exiled from. To both it is a distant sector
of space, a wild frontier to their central worlds.

Boundary Garden has one world of Core classification: Cornucopia. The rest -- Calvary, Borea,
Dodona, and Dawn Throne -- are considered “lost” colonies to Union: isolated, without
immediate blink or omninet access, and set to a low development priority.

The colonies in Boundary Garden were settled by Union in the 2800’s. Concurrent to their
founding and unknown to Union, the Aun had split into a brutal, system-spanning civil war. A
front of this war spilled over into Boundary Garden, absorbing the colonies into what would, at
the conclusion of the war, become Ascendant space.

Towards the end of the Aunic Schism, the Cornucopian system erupted into its own civil
conflict, as Monarchist Renewal forces launched an attempted reconquest of Cornucopia from
Dawn Throne, an arcadian estate world and ancestral home of the deposed Cornucopian
monarchy. This campaign would be cut short before the Monarchist forces could leave Dawn
Throne, however, as a division-equivalent of Ascendant Chosen entered Throne space.

A three part battle ensued, as the division-equivalent of Ascendant Chosen attempted to

secure a freshwater resupply site on Dawn Throne. Planetside, the Monarchist invasion force
marshalling to attack Cornucopia hurried to reorient to fight what they thought was a
Cornucopian surprise attack -- one such attack was on the way, but wouldn’t arrive until a
month later, when both the Aun and the Monarchists were engaged in pitched battle.

41
When the Cornucopians arrived, they attacked, hammering the ground-oriented Aunic fleet and
stranding the Chosen on Dawn Throne. They blanketed both ground forces with orbital
bombardment, targeting the Monarchist leadership with orbital strikes until nothing was left of
the royal estate. After, they pulled back, leaving a weakened, stranded Aunic force to mop up
the rest of the Monarchists.

The remaining Monarchist Royal Command, victorious but beleaguered by the assault on their
estate world, eventually sought peace with the Aunic invaders. In a few short months, more
battlegroup-strength groups of Aunic ships arrived in orbit above Dawn Throne, firmly
establishing their dominion over the world. The Cornucopians, in their orbital strikes, had
destroyed any omninet capabilities Dawn Throne had: as the Aun had no connection to or
knowledge of the omninet, no connections were ever re-made, and the world was lost to Union
as the Aunic sphere of influence expanded.

As a result of Metat’s manifestation of the Apollo and the Ascendancy’s realization of the
Firmament, blanket Firmament coverage has been extended across the colonies and Dawn
Throne, isolating Cornucopia as the single Union world left in Boundary Garden. This has been
exacerbated, of course, by the destruction of Fansipan station, further isolating Cornucopia
from Union communications or reinforcements.

At present, Union has dispatched three UEFs from the Annamite Line to re-establish logistics
and communication with Cornucopia. Using the most current nearlight drives, these UEFs will
reach the Cornucopia system in 50 years (subjective travel time for the UEFs will be 7 years, 1
month).

Over There - Flashpoints In Boundary Garden

The Ascendant Crusade has smashed into the modest Union presence in Boundary Garden,
destroying in the first wave of their attack the only blink station that served the sector, as well
as a significant bulk of the Union military strength that had been resupplying and re-arming at
that station.

Boundary Garden is isolated. The most optimistic projections see Union reinforcements arriving
in 45 to 50 years subjective to actors in the Garden, 7 and change for Union forces travelling at
.99LS from the Annamite Line, roughly 50 light years away.

Listed below are areas of interest, flashpoints where potential game sessions and narratives
can take place.

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Cornucopia

Cornucopia is the only Union-held world in Boundary Garden: at present, it is besieged by the
main force of the Crusade, a force numbering in the millions. Cornucopia is an old world, of
strategic value to Union in that it is developed, populated, and of gaia classification.

Settled as a contingency colony during first contact with the Pre-Ascendant Ecumenical Aun,
Cornucopia has grown steadily, proving to be an ideal candidate for human habitation.
Reinforced in both the First and Second Expansion periods by waves of Union colonists,
Cornucopia’s population has grown exponentially; when Boundary Garden was selected to be
networked to the blink, Cornucopia’s system was a natural choice to host the station.

Cornucopia has been a settled world for thousands of years. In its history, it has experienced
two major civil conflicts: first, a populist, left-wing revolution against its hereditary monarchy
that established a communal, marxist state. Then later, a counterrevolution led by descendants
of the deposed monarchy and a collection of loyal, exiled nobile houses and hired mercenaries.
This counterrevolution was unsuccessful.

Cornucopia’s relationship with Union was tenuous before the Aunic incursion: prior to
Cornucopia’s first revolution, Union was appealed to by revolutionaries for assistance in
removing the monarchy. Union demurred, and even assisted the monarchy by granting them
access to limited Union intelligence. When the revolutionaries won, Union worked to establish
diplomatic connections with the ruling labor council; during the counterrevolution, Union stayed
out of the conflict, refusing to assist either side. As a result, Cornucopia has a frosty view of
Union’s reliability, though this current conflict has forced them to set aside their past history to
face a common enemy together.

Union’s primary goal is to secure Union interests planetside through lifting the siege. With
control of the factories on the ground, Union can begin to construct the major sections of a
replacement blinkgate -- unfortunately, the black box technology that will get it to work must
arrive from a facility in the Annamite Line. If Union fails to life the siege, they will attempt to
secure all essential personnel and begin a guerilla campaign against occupying forces until
reinforcements arrive.

Cornucopia has three major cities of note in this campaign:

Boundary Industrial City, a sprawling municipality that is home to the Ecumenical government
in exile, as well as the primary chassis fabrication depots for the Cornucopian Revolutionary
Guard (CRG). Boundary Industrial is hardened from orbital and ground threats, screened by
orbital platforms, and garrisoned with the largest number of CRG regulars and conscripts. It is
the Ascendancy’s primary objective, and the target of an ongoing bombardment campaign
broken only by mass ground/air assaults.

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The city, a brutalist industrial arcology in peacetime, has been converted to a municipal
fortress, with barricades blocking off major arterials, gun emplacements dug into city parks and
plazas, and the metro system used as barracks by the defending forces. The streets are empty
but for rubble and soldiers, and the civilian population largely evacuated out of the city or gone
underground to the metro tunnels, shelter-bunkers, and basements of the massive chassis
fabricators.

The city’s chassis fabricators work around the clock, churning out arms and armor for CRG and
Union regulars and conscripts. Boundary Industrial has the highest concentration of CRG and
Union troops of any location on Cornucopia.

In peacetime, Boundary Industrial was a thriving metropolitan center home to millions, with
high rise buildings arcing thousands of feet into the air, factory districts, and its population
housed in massive arcologies, apartments, and stackhomes. A concrete-directed river flows
through Boundary Industrial, crossed by hundreds of stone bridges and lined with docks,
tunnels into the underground, and heavily used by barges and skiffs. The city is a sprawl
divided East from West by the Boundary River.

For all of its concrete and urban development, Boundary Industrial was a city’s city: stinking,
busy, cosmopolitan, crowded with people, and never quiet. Boundary Industrial was
Cornucopia’s first city before the invasion, though not its capital. Now, it is a raw ruin of
ferrocrete and fire, each day plagued by battles fought block-by-block.

Cornucopia City is the capital city of Cornucopia and the location of the Civil Committee, the
steering council of the Cornucopian state. An early target of the Ascendant Crusade,
Cornucopia City was scored by a combination of precise hardlight orbital lancing and kinetic
carpet-bombing. Once a fine arcology built over and around a fertile river delta, Cornucopia
City is now a wasteland of flooded rubble and remains. Some of the administration’s arcology
complexes still stand, but they are largely vacant, the population having moved on -- the initial
bombardment was strong enough to deform the rivers the city was built around, destroying
their banks and flooding the entire delta. Cornucopia City, or what is left of it, is entirely
flooded.

A small element of guerilla fighters occupy the remains, scavenging the ruins for the
salvageable remains of the grand capital that once stood here. They maintain a small outpost
where the center city once was, and store their findings in the drier of the city’s ruins. They’re
not one for a stand up fight, and it is not often that there is a chance for one in Cornucopia City,
but their presence is valuable as a method of cultural preservation and forward observation
post for a nearby Ascendant MOB.

Finally, Gardenport is the last major city of note on Cornucopia. A once-middling city outside
Cornucopia City, Gardenport was little more than a waystation for its spaceport that served the

44
world’s geostationary skyhooks. These hooks connected terrestrial and low-orbit shuttles to
Cornucopia’s orbital ports where heavier cargo, civilian, and military ships docked between
runs to and from Fansipan Station. In the early days of the siege, Gardenport’s population
surged as desperate Cornucopians fled Cornucopia City, heading down the coast to
Gardenport in the hopes of catching a shuttle off-world. When word reached Cornucopia that
Fansipan station had been destroyed, people still fled to Gardenport, as it had not yet been hit
by the Crusade fleet.

Now, the blockade envelops Cornucopia, and Gardenport is a massive refugee camp, an
open-air prison city swollen with civilians who flood in from around the besieged world. Its
population grows by the thousands each day, as a single refugee corridor remains open to the
city, watched over by distant Ascendant manquellers.

Disease and famine is rampant in Gardenport, and what remains of the Cornucopian civilian
government is trying to work with limited resources to fight it. Meanwhile, despite the cordon
around the city, there’s talk of building an organized resistance and attempting to break out.

Gardenport is the one location where the Ascendancy has an open channel for dialogue, but it
is beginning to feel like a matter of time before they give up on a humanitarian solution to the
problem. While the war continues on the other side of the world, the population grows restless;
however, to suppress the growing anti-occupation sentiment would mean mass killing on a
scale that even the Ascendant commanders are uncomfortable with now that the Crusade -- to
them -- seems to be winding down.

The Ascendancy keeps a cordon of Outremer manquellers and Ofanim around Gardenport. The
city is built on the coast, and there is one refugee corridor leading in and out of the city. The
Ascendant troops shoot to kill those who approach their lines, a kilometer back from the
outskirts of the city. The fields outside of Gardenport are littered with the dead; the ocean is
calm and seemingly unguarded, but assumed to be monitored by ships in low-orbit.

Dawn Throne

Dawn Throne was, once, Cornucopia’s sister world. A fine gaia world in orbit around a warm,
young star, Dawn Throne was a resort world of the ruling dynasty of Cornucopia ­­ it was a soft
world of rolling grassland, valleys, and evergreen old­growth woods. Untouched by the initial
revolution, Dawn Throne would be scoured by the Cornucopian Civil War, then occupied and
assimilated by the Ascendancy following the end of hostilities.

Dawn Throne, prior to the revolution (often called the First Civil War by Monarchists), was a
resort world for the Dynasty and ruling families of Cornucopia, a retreat for the nobles, bankers,
magnates, and their retainers. It was a place of peace, dotted by magnificent chateaus and the

45
quaint towns that supplied them, with a permanent population numbering only in the low
millions. A regular rotation of noble houses summered on the world, escaping Cornucopia’s
monsoon and hurricane seasons for the far more mild climates of Dawn Throne. It was, at this
time, a resort world: with no government but the dictates of the closest (and highest­ranking)
noble, the Dynasty and its many subhouses were free of the pressures of formal court and the
agitations of the union leaders. They could act as they wished.

The world changed after the revolution: it quickly became a refuge for the dynasty, the noble
houses, and the monarchists that supported them. The influx of people changed the world from
bucolic resort to bustling depot. The single spaceport on Dawn Throne never quieted, as ships
queued for months in orbit, waiting for their turn to offload their holds full of refugees.

The revolution ground on and when it became apparent the Monarchists would lose, the noble
houses on Dawn Throne decided to settle in, to make Dawn Throne a livable world rather than
one the wealthy vacationed on. With their edicts and the heavy military presence, the world
transformed into a fortified network of cities, together called the Dynastic Chain.

The revolution ended having never touched Dawn Throne: the Cornucopian Revolutionary
Guard and their hundreds of constituent partisan groups had nothing resembling an interstellar
fleet, and the invasion that the Monarchists feared never came.

All the same, they prepared. Generations passed and the Monarchists settled into Dawn
Throne, rolling back some of their siege protection in favor of beauty, opulence. The world was
still held in feudal thrall, but the people in power wanted it that way and their workers suffered
short lives. The dynastic ruler of Cornucopia passed on without a legitimate heir, and the ruling
nobility created a stewardship to helm the government while they ran it via a hereditary
parliament. Life continued, a little less comfortable as it had before, but there were still balls and
hunts and pristine places in the world.

Hundreds of years passed in real time. The Monarchists observed Cornucopia, seeded spies
among the civilian population and worker’s councils there. They began to think that the time
might be ripe for a reconquest. For want of a pure heir, the ruling noble parliament identified the
most­pure bastard son of the old dynastic ruler, elevated him as prince and heir apparent, and
sounded the call to arms.

It was a short and brutal war. The Monarchists opened with an indiscriminate orbital
bombardment of Cornucopia, but their invasion force was caught in interstellar space by the
newly minted Cornucopian navy. The Cornucopians pressed their advantage, burning towards
Dawn Throne with the entirety of their navy. As they arrived, however, a third player in the war
entered: the Aunic Ascendancy.

The Ascendant detachment had just finished the total conquest of Borea, Dodona, and Calvary;
they made for Dawn Throne, thinking it to be the hiding place of the fleeing Ecumon. Their

46
invasion of Dawn Throne would arrive right when the Cornucopian Monarchal Renewal Army
(CMR) was preparing a second invasion force for Cornucopia; the ensuing battle there was a
pyrrhic victory for the CMR, for though Dawn Throne withstood the invasion, the bucolic planet
suffered terrible orbital bombardment and debris-fall from naval action in low orbit/high
atmosphere.

The Second Cornucopian Civil War halted with the surviving noble houses on Dawn Throne
surrendering to the Ascendancy and agreeing to a ceasefire with Cornucopia. Three hundred
(and change) years have passed since then, and Dawn Throne is once more a healed world --
one that is integrated into the Ascendancy -- and, interestingly, one of the most diverse and
cosmopolitan worlds in all human space: on Dawn Throne, Ascendant Aun mix with Diasporans
and Cosmopolitans, living together in bustling, modest cities built around the new geography
of a world that has suffered untold trauma.

Now, though, war has returned to Dawn Throne in the form of the Ascendant Crusade. The
Glory Fleet uses Dawn Throne as its base of operations, ten-thousand ships parked in orbit
around the world. The Outremer forces are heavily drawn from the Aunic/Diasporan
descendants of the first integrated peoples, and are animated by a patriotic desire to retake an
ancestral homeland. Surviving noble houses raise levy armies from their peasantry, clad them
in their livery and Ascendant ranks, and fight alongside the Crusade forces.

Dawn Throne knows war and suffering. It is seemingly all the world has ever known, even in
times of peace. Now, its fabricators burn all night, its shipyards fuel and re-arm, and its
population streams into recruitment halls.

The eponymous throne that sits the high court where the Dynasty once ruled is empty now,
save for a drawn sword, stabbed into a Cornucopian flag. It will not be removed until the war is
over.

Locations of interest on and around Dawn Throne include Vasily House, the de-facto
palace-capital of Dawn Throne and seat of the Noble Parliament, where the old throne of
Cornucopia sits; the Orbital Crown, the newly built shipyards that ring Dawn Throne; Hadley
House, a once-vacant, now occupied estate that has been converted to house the general
staff of the local Outremer; Causeway City, the sprawling recruitment city that has sprung up
around the main Outremer spaceport; and Glorianna, a large civilian city with a population that
serves Vasily House and a number of other minor noble houses in the region.

47
Events Of The Crusade
Fansipan Station has been destroyed. The contingency colonies have fallen. Dawn Throne, a
tenuous point of contact between the Ascendancy and the Cornucopians and Ecumene on
Cornucopia, has gone dark. Cornucopia itself is blockaded, pounded into a premature and
lasting winter by orbital bombardment.

And yet, the Cornucopians fight on. The survivors of Battlegroup Comet launch desperate raids
to stem the advancing Ascendant tide. Lorenzo’s physical architecture is still out there, and
from the endless night of space his subalterns harass and harry the Crusade fleet. And on
those gone-dark worlds -- Dawn Throne, Borea, Dodona, Calvary -- Ecumenical agents plot in
secret to sneak a small team of UIB officers deeper into Ascendant space.

From pitched battle in and above the streets of Boundary Industrial City, to quiet vigilant
observance of an Ascendant MOB across the ruins of Cornucopia City, to negotiations in the
refugee camps of Gardenport, there is something for any play style; beyond and above, Comet
and Lorenzo still plague the fleet, trying to solve just how the Ascendancy can blink without
gates or engines. Deeper into Boundary Garden, a secret team of UIB and Ecumenical agents
attempt to crack the Firmament.

The Ascendancy’s objective is simple: separate Boundary Garden from the rest of Union,
defeat the last of the Ecumon, and secure their territory. Cornucopia is a prize worth stealing: it
is rich with Union technology that the Ascendancy doesn’t have access to, and defeating the
Ecumon would finally put to rest a long and bloody period of Aunic history.

Important Groups and NPCs

The Cornucopian Revolutionary Guard (CRG), 102nd Dragoons, 3rd Armored Corps

The CRG is the regular army on Cornucopia; the 102nd Dragoons, 3rd Armored Corps, is a
division-strength unit of chassis and Cornucopian regulars led by Tello Basra, a hero of the first
Cornucopian Civil War who returned home after a long period of service in the Union Navy.
They are based out of Boundary Industrial’s developed, extensive metro system, which shares
access points with the city’s municipal shelters and contingency command structures built
deep under the Cornucopian earth. Their numbers are small compared to the Aunic invasion
force, only 50,000 regulars with roughly a thousand armored chassis, but their defensive
position and knowledge of the terrain is unmatched. They are seeded throughout Boundary
Industrial in battalion and company-strength elements, with a rapid strike doctrine that
emphasizes guerilla combat.

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Tello Basra has a long history with Lorenzo, a Union system-defense NHP that had managed
Fansipan station before its destruction. Tello also knows Commander Mayura Song, the
ranking Union Navy officer in Boundary Garden following the surprise attack that destroyed a
number of Battlegroup Comet’s capital ships and command staff.

The CRG is fighting a defensive war, pinned to their positions by Aunic orbital control. Their
high command is ensconced in command bunkers hidden in the Cornucopian earth under
Boundary Industrial City, and works to achieve two objectives: defend the fabricators in BIC,
and hold out against the encroaching ring of Ascendant ground forces.

Theirs is a grim resignation to resist as long as possible, but elements of the CRG are wavering
in their resolve. The present narrative space is only a number of months after the initial
bombardment of Cornucopia; High command has their battle predictions mapped out by their
attache NHPs, and as of yet they can find no outcomes where they win given the forces they
currently have. However, most of the rank-and-file’s morale has been buoyed by recent
victories against the Aun, and they are fighting for their homeland against an enemy that, so far,
seems to want to exterminate them.

In peacetime, most of the troops in the CRG were reservests, built around a small corps of
professional career soldiers. Now, the vast bulk of CRG soldiers are conscripts, replacements
and soldiers-by-circumstance who survived the initial bombardments and battles, found their
way to their units (or units that needed their numbers refreshed), and then dug in for the long
haul. They are, by and large, not professionals: they are factory workers, civic employees,
farmers, shuttle drivers, students, and so on, supported by surviving reservists and
professional soldiers. They’ll fight, but their desertion rates are high, same as casualties.

At this point, the 102nd Dragoons, 3AC holds most of its professional soldiery in its pilot corps,
but they’re working on developing candidates and getting them into fresh-minted, local-variant
Shermans, Saladins, and Barbarossas. The vast bulk of the 102nd’s mechanized infantry are
conscripts and volunteers, veterans already after two long months of brutal city-fighting. At this
moment, the fabricators in BIC are still running, and the 102nd do not want for ammunition and
supplies.

Dog Company

Dog Company is the primary Union presence on the ground in Cornucopia. Stationed in
Boundary Industrial city following their reassignment from the UNS Loa, they have been
integrated under the command of Tello Basra. They are an armored company, 200 pilots
strong, drawn from worlds in the Annamite Line, primarily New Mahangaatuamatua, Iwi, and
outlying colonies. These worlds are roughly 50 light years away from Boundary Garden.

49
D Company -- Dog Company -- is the 4th Company of the 1st Annamite Ring Corps, the
marine corps that was assigned to Battlegroup Comet. They have a strong camaraderie and
tend to stick to themselves when bivouacked, but are not hostile to CRG troopers. If anything,
they are standoffish, dismissive: most of these CRG soldiers aren’t going to make it, and the
members of Dog Company expect to pull through.

The 1st Annamite Ring Corps suffered heavy losses when Fansipan station was destroyed: 3 of
the 4 transport carriers in BG Comet were destroyed in the initial attack, killing tens of
thousands of embarked marines and pilots.

Battlegroup Comet

The primary Union military strength in the Cornucopia system, Battlegroup Comet was dealt a
brutal blow early in the conflict when a surprise martyr attack destroyed Comet’s flagship, the
UNS Cumberland, killing nearly all of BG Comet’s senior staff.

The commanding officer of BG Comet is Commander Mayura Song, whose flagship was the
UNS August, scuttled above Cornucopia following an engagement with an Aunic orbital
platform. CMDR Song is currently MIA, presumed to have gone down somewhere within a
two-hundred kilometer radius of Boundary Industrial City. In the meantime, the de-facto
commanding officer of BG Comet is Line Commander Mau Rodriguez, of the UNS Hawaiki, a
schedule 1 Union battleship.

Battlegroup Comet is heavily drawn from Annamite Core worlds New Mahangaatuamatua and
Iwi.

The ships and status of BG Comet is as follows:

UNS-L Cumberland - Flagship. KIA
UNS-L August - Frigate, Schedule 1. KIA - scuttled
UNS-L Yalta - Frigate, Schedule 1. KIA
UNS-L Gardner - Frigate, Schedule 2, MIA
UNS-L Hawaiki - Battleship, Schedule 1
UNS-T Maui - Transport Carrier, Schedule 1, KIA
UNS-T Pius - Transport Carrier, Schedule 2, KIA
UNS-T Tupaia - Transport Carrier, Schedule 2, KIA
UNS-T Loa - Transport Carrier, Schedule 2
UNS-SL Mahia - Cruiser, KIA
UNS-SL Aotearoa - Cruiser
UNS-SL Waka - Cruiser, KIA
UNS-SL Wake - Destroyer, KIA
UNS-SL Kurahaupo - Destroyer
UNS-SL Arahura - Corvette

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UNS-SL Tainui - Corvette, KIA
UNS-SL Tokomaru - Corvette, KIA
UNS-SL Takitimu - Corvette
UNS-SL Midway - Corvette
UNS-SL Cook - Corvette

BG Comet’s surviving complement of marines is scattered across the Hawaiki, the Loa, the
Aotearoa, and the Kurahaupo. All together, they number nearly 10,000 strong.

BG Comet’s surviving complement of Union-trained and equipped lancers are stationed aboard
the Loa and the Hawaiki. Of the ten companies of the 1st Annamite Ring Corps, only four are
left: B Company, D Company, I Company, and J Company. B, I, and J Companies are still
embarked aboard the Hawaiki and the Loa, D Company has been dispatched to assist in the
defense of Boundary Industrial.

The surviving ships and crew of BG Comet are wrestling with their essential-dead status back
home; they never thought that the blink gate they came through would be destroyed, and
assumed that they’d see their families a few years older when they returned. Now that it is
gone, the fastest journey they could take would see them home in ~50R/7S -- their older family
members would be dead, and any children they had before they left would be older than they
are.

This has BG Comet in an unresolvable long-term situation. It is good, then, that their mission at
present is simple: repel the Aunic invaders, secure the skies above Cornucopia. They can think
about what’s next if they make it out alive.

Cornucopian Home Fleet

The Cornucopian Home Fleet is a large flotilla of subline ships, loosely classifiable as gunboats,
torpedo boats, corvettes, heavy bombers, and multirole fighters. Most are converted civilian
ships --yachts, shuttles, freighters, and converted racing craft -- built around a small core of
milspec security ships that rate as cruisers. The CHF has a little over 200 ships at its disposal,
currently dispersed among BG Comet as scouts and irregular attack wings.

Their captains and pilots, mostly militia and civilian volunteers, have been integrated into the
Union Auxiliary command structure under the command of the acting CO of BG Comet. They
operate largely in support roles of the Union-flagged ships, guarding the flanks of the warship
they’re assigned to escort.

The Home Fleet has a small core of ten or so cruisers, built to Cornucopian standards. They’re
fast, compact ships with small crews, meant to carry external-mounted chassis for boarding
actions.

51
Lorenzo

Lorenzo was the system-administrator NHP that had been tied to Fansipan station before its
destruction. A longtime occupant of the role, Lorenzo has been cycled many hundreds of
times. He is familiar with Tello, who he knows that he knew from a previous cycle, and
subordinate to the CO of BG Comet.

Lorenzo, under authorization from Commander Song, has been shifted from an administrative
posture to a war posture; as a result, he has hidden his casket deep in Boundary Garden and
reactivated old subalterns and protocols. His permissions have changed accordingly, and his
subjectivity is tuned to seek strategic and tactical success: Lorenzo thinks in numbers, metrics,
statistics -- he is willing to order his drone and subaltern units, as well as organic units, into
high-fatality scenarios if it means a favorable outcome in a more important engagement.

Lorenzo has subalterns and drones seeded across Boundary Garden, along with automated
fabrication plants, leashed asteroids, and previously dormant defense stations. His reach
spreads as far as the local omninet, which still blankets Boundary Garden; unfortunately, since
the fall of Fansipan station, Lorenzo has been restricted to just the local network, and cannot
find a way to contact Union proper.

Inside Boundary Garden, Lorenzo has wide autonomy to accomplish his directives: preserve
critical Union infrastructure, assist Union personnel in accomplishing their objectives, and
collect intelligence on the Aun to send back to Union via skip-drone courier.

Ascendant Crusade - Command, Celebrant Guard Ofanim Retinue

The head of this Crusade is Warpriest Kudra Bin-Metat. Warpriest is the highest military rank,
available only to members of the Celebrant caste who serve. They are a chosen of Os, given a
functional immortality through constant attendance by retinue Minds’ manipulation of the
Firmament around them. While Warpriest Kudra Bin-Metat is not a mind themselves, they favor
the Minds under their command; after three hundred years in service to Aun and Metat, they
have learned of their power, and chosen to recruit many Minds into their retinue.

Warpriest Kudra commands a crusade force unlike any seen before in the Ascendancy. Their
combat-facing troops number in the millions, ships and Ofanim in the thousands. Expecting to
face a Union response fleet, Warpriest Kudra has chosen to hold the bulk of their forces in
reserve above Dawn Throne -- the blockade around Cornucopia represents a small portion of
their overall strength, only a few hundred thousand manquellers, a scant hundred capital ships,
and ten thousand Ofanim.

Warpriest Kudra’s objectives on Cornucopia are simple: shatter the Cornucopian resistance,
capture the fabricators in Boundary Industrial City, and eliminate the remaining Ecumenical

52
Aun. He is single minded in this objective, a loyalist incapable of being swayed by persuasion.
That being said, he is a curious choice to lead a crusade: cautious, slow-moving, he prefers to
wait for orbital support to blanket an area before sending in troops under conventional artillery
fire. With numbers on his side, he frequently orders massive wave attacks, pulling artillery and
orbital support at the last moment possible.

Being functionally immortal, Kudra is planning on a display of strength to force Union into a
negotiating stance. In roughly 50 years a large Union fleet will arrive in-system. Kudra will
smash their ships from the sky and prove the might of the Ascendancy; it is in this way Kudra
will bring the galaxy to peace and open a corridor to Earth for the Aun once more. If it takes a
scouring a world and destroying a fleet to prove it, then so be it.

Kudra is commonly found aboard his flagship, a massive dreadnaught -- Orbital class -- in orbit
around Cornucopia. He does, on occasion, venture to the surface, but is most commonly found
in seclusion in his sprawling chambers on his flagship.

Ascendant Crusade - Outremer Forces

Drawn primarily from Dawn Throne and the triumvirate worlds of Borea, Dodona, and Calvary,
the bulk of the Aunic crusade force are descendants of the Cornucopian Monarchists who
fought against the Cornucopian Revolutionaries. They have had a few hundred years of
integration into Ascendant society, however, and their ranks are mixed with Ascendant Aun
who were born on Dawn Throne.

Their mission is simple: Cornucopia is a world that has long haunted the people of Dawn
Throne. Their Holy Lord deposed, their people killed in purges or exiled to barren moons, and
their refuge-world, Dawn Throne, scoured by Cornucopian orbitals, this Crusade presents to
them a chance to enact their righteous and long-promised revenge.

Buoyed by a long material and training buildup, the Outremer of Dawn Throne are equipped
with a mix of hardlight and kinetic main rifles, and outfitted in a localized blend of manqueller
carapace marked up in the old livery of the remaining Cornucopian noble houses.

Ecumenical Partisans

Freedom fighters to some, terrorists to others, Ecumenical partisans are the descendants of
the Ecumenical refugees that fled the Ascendant purges during and after the Aunic civil war.
They run a government-in-exile-and-name-only, their Ecumon serving more as a diasporan
cultural leader than any actual political power.

The majority of Ecumenical Aun generally lived normal lives prior to the arrival of the Crusade.
A minority on Cornucopia, they nevertheless enjoyed the same benefits of citizenship as any
naturalized or native Cornucopian. Where they differ is in their general insularity and tendency

53
to enclave: Cornucopians are not particularly religious, where Ecumene still follow the
teachings and prophecy of the Book of The Path. Following the arrival of the Ascendant
Crusade, many Ecumene joined the Cornucopian Revolutionary Guard to defend their adoptive
homeland. They serve alongside their fellow Cornucopians, Aunic or no, as pilots, troopers,
marines, sailors, etc, with only an ethnic and religious distinction to set them apart.

Some Ecumenical Aun chose a less comfortable path before the Crusade. Now that it is here,
they are catalysts and specialists, liasons between the CRG, the Ecumon, and their people.
These partisans generally operate outside the command structure of the CRG and Union,
obeying no orders but those of their known superior -- generally a more senior (through age or
experience) partisan -- who gets their missives direct from the Ecumon and their attendant
Minds.

Partisans operate alone or in small teams, dressed in plain clothes with surreptitious armor.
They generally use concealed, suppressed weapons and off-book systems to accomplish their
objectives. Their Minds, such that they have them, are known to be Minds by their companions
and do no wear anything to set them apart from “normal” Ecumene.

Partisans on Cornucopia are tasked with gathering intelligence, scouting, and assassination
missions first; rarely are they called to the line to fight in pitched battle. They operate far afield
in small teams, usually unsupported unless the CRG can spare a corvette for orbital coverage,
and typically dismounted with chassis in reserve.

The current Ecumon is Steadfast Abel, a mixed Cornucopian-Ecumene who was himself a
partisan for decades before stepping into his current role. His parents were Navigators, as is
his brother Sturdy-Hand.

Timeline of the Ascendant Crusade in Boundary

Garden
5000U/3190A Estimated beginning of Third Dawn Period. First contact of Crusade forces
reported at Borea, Dodona, and Calvary -- all minor colony worlds in the Boundary Garden
sector of Union space. Battlegroup Comet arrives at Fansipan station.

5014U/3204A Narrative present. The Ascendancy blockades Cornucopia. Battlegroup Comet

has been scattered across the Garden, at this point all ships marked as KIA or MIA are
status-true. Fansipan station has been destroyed. Boundary Garden is isolated.

54
NPC Templates - Aunic Ascendancy
The Aunic Crusade force is a well-supplied invasion force that numbers in the millions; when
you encounter them, expect escalation. The classes and templates presented here are unique
to the Aunic Ascendancy -- to a lesser degree, the Ecumenical Aun. The templates associated
with the Aun may only be applied to the Aun.

Ascendant Aun - Infantry

Manqueller Section

The stalwart backbone of the Aunic military dating back to the days of the Ecumene, manquellers are the
professional soldiers of the Ascendancy, fitted with finely crafted arms and armor and trained to face any
enemy.

They wear uniforms of khaki and dull olive green under ablative carapace armor, and carry hardshot
hardlight rifles. As an individual, a manqueller has pledged service to the Ascendancy, and to Metat Aun
-- Manquellers are Aun first and soldiers second, but fight with the assurance that their lives are
guaranteed by the Metat, and that their crusade is a righteous one.

Manqueller combat doctrine is mobile, treating them as dismounted members of a mechanized cavalry
force; even the lightest Ofanim are typically equipped with rails for manquellers to hold onto. Working
together with their Ofanim, manquellers are a deadly, motivated, and mobile fighting force.

Manquellers of the Celebrant Guard are used to fighting in rapid, tip-of-the-spear engagements. They do
not like to sit and hold; that they leave for Outremer conscripts -- after all, there is Glory to be won!

Manqueller Section

Squad, Biological

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

-1 +1 +0 +0

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

30 9 8 -

Armor Speed Sensors Size

1 5 10 4 (individual:
½)

55
HP per member: 2
Number of members: 10

Base Systems
Hardlight Rifle
Main Rifle
+1 vs evasion, +1 1 Accuracy/tier
Line 15
2/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)
This weapon can be fired four times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it can
only be fired twice.

Hardlight Lance
Heavy Cannon
+1 vs evasion, +1 Accuracy/tier
Line 20, Heat 1 (Target)
5/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)
Disable this attack if the squad is under ½ HP

Tier II:
HP: +20 (+10 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

+0 - - -1 +3 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0

Tier III:
HP: +20 (+10 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

+1 - - -0 +3 +0 +0 +11 +0 +0

Optional Traits, Tactics, Doctrines, and Equipment for Manqueller Sections:

Armored In Light
Trait
The squad gains +1 armor and resistance to kinetic, energy, and explosive damage, but cannot
take the boost action. Reduce their speed by 1.

Wide Aperture Beam

Trait
The squad may choose to gain a +2 bonus on a single attack roll made with their heavy
weapon once per encounter. If they add this bonus, they cannot make an attack with their main
weapons on the same turn.
56
Stubborn
Trait
The squad may fire their heavy weapon when below half strength, but their Accuracy/tier bonus
becomes one Difficulty instead, regardless of tier.

INCOMING!
Reaction
Once per round as a reaction, the squad gains resistance to all damage from an incoming
attack, but cannot move or boost on their following turn. They must decide before the damage
is rolled.

Upon The Shoulders of Giants

Trait
As a move action, when adjacent to a willing mech or vehicle of size 1 or larger, the Manqueller
squad may embark. When the target of this trait moves, so does the Manqueller squad; they
may disembark in an adjacent space as a move action.

The target of this ability gains resistance to all incoming damage while the manqueller
squadron is embarked; all damage that would be resisted is instead applied to the embarked
manqueller squad.

While embarked, the manqueller squad cannot be targeted directly by attacks or reactions; all
attacks are made against the target they are embarked upon.

Overlapping Advance
Trait
As an action, the squad may choose to give covering fire to a friendly NPC or squadron. The
target of this ability counts as being in light cover against any enemy that would attack it
directly.

Additionally, the target of this ability may, on their turn, use a this ability as a free action. If used
in such a way, this ability does not continue to chain.

57
Manqueller Trancilos

Manquellers are trained first in the basic methods of combat, and then specialized further
alongside their section Ofanim. Trancilos are manquellers trained alongside Ofanim that
underwent secondary training at Acre Fields; like their mechanized counterparts, trancilos have
been specialized to engage the enemy in CQB and melee combat.

Trancilos carry short-pattern hardlight carbines and braces of quarter-blades. Some prefer to
wield heavier melee weapons, osmium-tipped to puncture armor, or carry hardlight
tower-shields to counter incoming fire.

Manqueller Trancilo Section

Squad, Biological

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

-2 +2 +0 +0

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

30 10 8 -

Armor Speed Sensors Size

1 6 10 4 (individual:
½)

HP per member: 2
Number of members: 10

Base Systems:

Short-Pattern Hardlight Carbine

Main Rifle, CQB
+1 vs evasion, +1 Accuracy/tier
Line 10, Heat 1 (Target)
1/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)
This weapon can be fired five times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it can
only be fired three times.

Quarter Blades
Melee, thrown
+2 v evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Range 5 (if thrown)
2/tier kinetic damage

58
The squad may attack four times with this weapon. The squad may always perform four
attacks with this weapon, until they have fewer than four members left. Then, they may perform
attacks once per remaining squad member.

Tier II:
HP: +20 (+10 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

11 - - +0 +0 +0 +0 +2 +7 +10

Tier III:
HP: +20 (+10 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

12 - - +1 +2 +0 +0 +3 +8 +11

Optional Traits, Tactics, Doctrines, and Equipment for Trancilo Sections:

Armored In Light
Trait
The squad gains +1 armor and resistance to kinetic, energy, and explosive damage, but cannot
take the boost action. Reduce their speed by 1.

Upon The Shoulders of Giants

Trait
As a move action, when adjacent to a willing mech or vehicle of size 1 or larger, the trancilo
squad may embark. When the target of this trait moves, so does the trancilo squad; they may
disembark in an adjacent space as a move action.

The target of this ability gains resistance to all incoming damage while the manqueller
squadron is embarked; all damage that would be resisted is instead applied to the embarked
manqueller squad.

While embarked, the manqueller squad cannot be targeted directly by attacks or reactions; all
attacks are made against the target they are embarked upon.

Hardlight Tower Shields

Equipment
This trancilo section is equipped with hardlight tower shields. Reduce their number of ranged
attacks to 4 (and lower their attack reduction threshold to 4), but add +2 armor to the squad as
long as they have a third (rounding down) of their total number remaining.

59
Monolith Blades
Equipment
This trancilo section has trained with monolith blades, osmium-tipped greatswords given only
to trancilo sections who have excelled in battle and proven themselves worthy upon the Acre
Fields. Monolith blades are sharp, heavy melee weapons, straight swords made heirlooms by
their wielders; the ultimate mark to tie around the hilt of one’s monolith is the white band, an
honor given only to trancilos who destroy or incapacitate a mech in melee combat.

Monolith blades replace the trancilo sections’ quarter-blade attack with the following:
+1/tier v. evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Melee
3/tier kinetic, AP.
The squad may attack twice with this weapon. The squad may always attack twice with this
weapon, unless it has been reduced to fewer than 2 trancilos.

Between The Trees

Tactic
While adjacent to an allied mech or vehicle size one or larger, the trancilo section is treated as
being in light cover

EVA/BOARD Kit
Equipment
When this option is selected, the trancilo section is outfitted in sealed battle suits and can
operate without hindrance in vacuum, microgravity, or other environments where there is little
to no gravity and/or little to no (or hostile) atmosphere. Their suits are armored, but not
powered enough to be considered hardsuits, and allow for normal tactical operation in addition
to limited-distance, compressed-air assisted travel through vacuum.

Fanatics
Trait
Limited (1)
This trancilo section has been tempered in the crucible of Acre Fields tested in battle alongside
their Ofanim. They’ve lost brothers and sisters in battle to disease, to terribly costly attacks
made through the vacuum halls of capital ships and over shattered ground. They’ve killed for
Metat Aun, and died for it; these trancilos are iron in their faith and will never break.

This squad cannot suffer a reduction in attacks through abilities, statuses, conditions, or from
any other source that would cause them to reduce their attacks.

60
Manqueller Kavalieros

Kavalieros are the light infantry of the Guard -- scouts, rangers, force recon troopers who
operate far afield from the main body of the Aunic crusade force. Often seeded on a target
world months before the initial invasion force, Kavalieros are used to operating unsupported for
extended periods of time.

Equipped with low-weight hardlight rifles, half-carapace armor, and a suite of specialized
equipment, kavalieros run lighting-fast raids and extended guerilla operations both. In the
months leading up to a battle, kavalieros target sensitive installations on-world and off in order
to cripple enemy defensive positions.

When the crusade force arrives and the invasion begins, kavalieros operate as scouts and
rangers, identifying previously marked high-value targets for orbital bombardments, harassing
enemy supply lines, and infiltrating enemy civic centers in order to foment chaos and terror.

Manqueller Kavalieros

Squad, Biological

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

-2 +2 +1 +1

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

30 10 9 -

Armor Speed Sensors Size

1 8 12 4

HP Per Member: 2
Number of Members: 10

Base Systems

Mobile-Pattern Hardlight Rifle

Main Rifle
The Aunic MPHR is a stripped down, carbine variant of the manqueller’s MBHR. Built using
composite materials, powered by a slim, hip-mounted pack, and tuned for a sharper beam, the
MPHR reduces the kit weight on kavalieros.

61
Line 15, Heat 1 (Target)
+1 v evasion/ tier. +1 Accuracy/tier
1/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance unless target is resistant to both
damage types)
This weapon may be fired five times per attack. If the squad is under half strength, it may be
fired three times.

Hardlight Lance
Heavy Cannon
+1 vs evasion, +1 Accuracy/tier
Line 20, Heat 1 (Target)
5/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)
Disable this attack if the squad is under ½ HP

Tier II:
HP: +20 (+10 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

11 - - +2 +2 +1 +2 2 9 12

Tier III:
HP: +20 (+10 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

12 - - +3 +2 +2 +2 2 10 13

Optional Systems

Target Designator
Equipment
Limited (1), refresh 6+ (Limit 1 Refresh)
+2 v evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Blast 6, Range n/a, AP
10/tier explosive and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)
The kavaliero section carries a target designator, allowing them to call down a pinpoint orbital,
aerial, or terrestrial strike against a designated target area centered on the painted target. Any
unit within the blast missed by this attack still suffers half damage.

Mounted Patrol - Coil Bike

Equipment

62
The Kavaliero section is mounted on nimble, rugged all-terrain bikes, improving their range and
speed of scouting.
The Kavaliero section may be encountered either mounted or dismounted; it takes an action for
the section to dismount or mount their coil bikes.

While mounted, the Kavaliero section’s speed becomes 16, regardless of tier. They may not use
heavy weapons while mounted, nor can they paint. Their speed is reduced by half when
moving through difficult terrain. While mounted, they may use Main, Thrown, or Deployable
weapons.

Plate Mines
Thrown, Deployable
Limited (3)
+2 v Evasion/tier, Range 7
Flat, half-meter discs of dull green composite, plate mines are simple planted or thrown
high-explosive anti-infantry weapons.
10 Explosive/tier, Blast 4

As an action, instead of throwing a Plate Mine at a target, the Kavaliero section may instead
plant a single mine within Reach 1 of the section. This Plate Mine then triggers if an enemy unit
enters its blast radius or ends its turn within its blast radius.

Battlescape Uplink
Equipment
The Kavalieros have scouted the area well before the engagement. They may, as an action on
their turn, relay firing solutions, terrain intelligence, etc, to their allies, giving them +1 accuracy
OR reducing the effects of cover, target’s choice.

Cover cannot be reduced if the ally’s target is invisible or otherwise in total cover.

Firmament Mapping
Trait
Limited (1), Refresh (6)
The kavaliero squadron has had time to map any “thin” areas of realspace -- places where the
Firmament is close, and manipulating it is easier than it usually is.

As an action, they may nominate a single Mind, Animo, or othered allied unit with the
Firmament Affinity trait. The next Firmament ability they use costs d6 less Heat.

63
Dismounted Chosen Squadron
The final years of a Chosen’s training sees young cadets outfitted in their first real hardsuits,
sent to serve as squires, of a kind, to full-chromatic Chosen in the field. There they learn the
practical maintenance of a frontline Ofanim, see the true strength of the machines they will pilot
on the field of battle. They learn how to move as their manquellers will, how to fight and survive
should the worst happen and their Ofanim be destroyed. It is an experience not all cadets
survive, but it is one they will never forget if they live -- if they finish their tour, they will earn the
White, and progress to the final step of their training: pairing with their Ofanim.

Dismounted Chosen are young, eager, and unafraid. They seek the front, to prove to their peers
and to their trainer that they are worth the White -- if they should die seeking it, then they still
die a Chosen.

Dismounted Chosen

Hardsuit Infantry

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

-1 +4 -2 -2

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

5 14 8 -

Armor Speed Sensors Size

1 6 11 .5

HP Per Member: 5
Number of Members: 5

Base Systems
Hard-Burn Mobility System
Boost for mobility, ignore terrain through movement flight, perfect flight in vacuum, once per
round may take d6 damage to avoid other incoming damage, but if they do this they may not
attack before or after this reaction.

Heavy Hardlight Rifle

Main Rifle
+1 vs evasion, +1 Accuracy/tier
Line 15
3/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)

64
This weapon can be fired four times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it can
only be fired twice.

Tier II:
HP: +15 (+3 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

14 8 - 0 +4 -2 -2 1 5 11

Tier III:
HP: +10 (+2 members)
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

14 8 - +1 +4 -2 -2 2 5 11

Optional Systems
Trait
Embedded Mind
Reaction
One of the Chosen cadets is also a Mind, embedded in this section before they earn their
White. This one is attuned to defensive aspects of the Firmament: they can shape the
Firmament in defense of their section, nullifying incoming fire.

If this section is hit by a blast or cone, the Mind embedded in this section may, as a reaction,
grant the squad resistance to the triggering attack.

Starlight Lance
Heavy Rifle
+2 v evasion/tier, +1 accuracy
Range 15 (Cone 3, Target)
A variant lance system employed by armored infantry, the Starlight Lance is a long, insulated
weapon not unlike a hardlight lance in appearance. Where it differs however is in its application:
if the hardlight lance is a scalpel, the starlight lance is a butcher’s knife.

The initial beam of the starlight lance is invisible, but the moment it impacts its target it blooms
into a howling cloud of plasma and arc discharge, rippling out behind its target in an
all-consuming wave.

3 energy/ tier, 5 heat (target)/ tier.

65
The Chosen squad may fire once with this weapon, and only as long as there are at least 2 HP
worth of Chosen alive.

If the Chosen squad hits with this weapon, they may orient a Cone 3 plasma wash originating
from that target. All units within the cone -- excluding the original target of the attack -- are
dealt 3 energy/tier and 5 heat/tier

The Chosen section may choose an unoccupied square within range of the Starlight Lance as a
target as well. If so, they may position the resultant Cone 3 originating from that unoccupied
square. All units within the cone are dealt 3 energy/ tier and 5 heat/tier.

Sound-Of-Rain
Main Rifle
+2 v evasion/tier
Range 15, Inaccurate
The Torrent rifle is an old, effective Ecumenical weapon, a long gauss rifle that spits out a
torrent of electromagnetically accelerated superdense pellets. While the projectiles are small,
the sheer volume and velocity of them make for a deady, formidable weapon platform.

2 kinetic/tier. The Chosen section may attack with this weapon 2d6 times.

Thrown-Spear Pack
Main Launcher
Indirect, Loading
+1 v evasion/tier
Three Blast 2 (target) areas within range 20
3 explosive/tier

Dragoons
Trait, Action
Nominate a friendly Ofanim as initiative is being decided. If the Chosen section is adjacent to
that Ofanim, they may use an action to climb onboard and use externally-mounted heavy
weapons. They may dismount as an action as well, as long as they can fit into an unoccupied
space large enough to accommodate them adjacent to the Ofanim.

The Chosen provide damage reduction for the Ofanim, and gain resistance to incoming
damage, but all damage dealt to the Ofanim is dealt to them instead. The Chosen squadron
may not be the target of attacks; all attacks are performed against the Ofanim instead.

The Chosen section, when mounted, ads either a Hardlight Lance OR a Quadlink Nest to their
attack profile, in addition to any other weapon systems they have. They gain an additional
single attack that MUST use the added weapon.

If the Chosen section dismounts, they lose this additional attack.

66
Armored In Light
Trait
This Chosen section, in addition to their elegant Aunic hardsuits, has an additional layer of
hardlight armor.

The squad gains +1 armor and resistance to kinetic, energy, and explosive damage, but cannot
take the boost action. Reduce their speed by 1. They may still use their Hard Burn Mobility
System as normal.

Ascendant Ofanim
Ofanim de Linio

Ofanim de Linio are the most common mechanized chassis in Aunic space. Modeled after early
Union GMS and Harrison Armory line-pattern chassis, the Linio is an umbrella category given to
all mechs of the line fielded by both the Celebrant Guard and the Outremer. A versatile platform,
most Chosen pilot Ofanim de Linio due to its reliability, function, and wide selection of
compatible weapons and systems. As a platform default, their armor seems to be of stronger
construction than most line mechs -- UNI recommends Union and Auxiliary quartermasters and
logistics NHPs supply their troopers and armored divisions accordingly.

Aunic combat doctrine places Ofanim de Lino in infantry support roles, though recent
encounters during the First Siege of Boundary Industrial City show this doctrine is evolving to
match Union and Auxiliary combat patterns. Linio may be encountered in mech-only armored
sections, as a transport for a section of manquellers or dismounted chosen, or as support for
larger Ofanim.

Ofanim de Linio

Mech

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

+2 +1 +1 +1

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

15 8 8 6

Armor Speed Sensors Size

1 5 8 1

67
Base Systems
Hardlight Lance
Main Rifle (when carried by an ofanim)
+1 vs evasion, +1 Accuracy/tier
Line 20, Heat 1 (Target)
5/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)

Hardlight Lance (melee pattern)

Auxiliary Melee
Reach 1
+0 vs evasion with +1 Accuracy at tier II and +2 at tier III
2 kinetic damage/tier, Heat 1 (Target)

Tier II:
HP: 30
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

9 9 7 +2 +1 +1 +1 1 5 8

Tier III:
HP: 45
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

11 12 10 +2 +2 +2 +2 2 5 10

Optional Systems
Manqueller Section
Doctrine
This Ofanim De Linio is the caporal of a manqueller section. It deploys with one attached
manqueller section of the same tier. This section cannot take any of its optional systems, save
for Upon The Shoulders of Giants.

Waterfall Cloak
Equipment
A shimmering, ever-shifting half-cloak of aqueous, oily living metal spills in constant circulation
over the Ofanim. Any enemies within Reach 2 of this Ofanim take 2 kinetic damage at the end
of their turn. Any enemy that moves into reach 2 of this Ofanim takes 2 kinetic damage. All
terrain within Reach 2 of this Ofanim counts as difficult terrain to enemy units.

68
Tight-Focus Hardlight
Modification
The hardlight lance carried by this linio has been tuned for a tight-focus beam. It loses the
energy damage tag, but adds +2 kinetic damage per tier to its final damage role. If this
modification is selected, no other modifications to this linio’s main weapon may be selected.

Patria de Quellers
Trait
The Chosen that pilots this linio bears the affectionate title “Patria”, given to them by its
manqueller section. Together, they fight as a well-oiled unit. If this trait is taken in conjunction
with Manqueller Section, the manqueller section associated with this linio gains a flat +1
Accuracy.

Short-Cycle Lance
Modification
The hardlight lance carried by this Ofanim has been shortened and tuned for a quicker cycle.
Instead of doing 5 kinetic and energy damage by tier, it does 3 kinetic and energy damage by
tier, but may perform one additional attack per turn. If this modification is selected, no other
modifications to this Ofanim’s main weapon may be selected.

Quad-Linked Hardlight Rifle Nests

Auxiliary Weapon
Line 10, AP
1 kinetic and energy damage/tier, may make 1d6+1 auxiliary weapon attacks per turn.
This linio is equipped with two nests of quad-linked hardlight rifles, mounted on a secondary
set of manipulator arms or gimballed hardpoints under the linio’s main brachial construction. If
used to attack an enemy squad or an enemy unit of size .5, the Linio may make 1d6+3 attacks
instead.

Firmament Hood
Equipment
This linio is equipped with a Firmament Hood, a unique Aunic system that allows for nearby
Minds or Animos to better focus their abilities. Once per round, if an allied Mind or Animo
performs a Firmament Attack against an enemy unit within range 10 of an Ofanim equipped
with a Firmament Hood, that Mind or Animo reduces the heat cost of their attack by 1/tier.
Additionally, they may use this Ofanim as the origin point of their attack.

EVA Module
Equipment
This Linio is outfitted for operation in vacuum, hostile atmospheres, and microgravity. Unless
this system is damaged, this Linio has oxygen to outlast its pilot, and gains Fly(Perfect) while in
micro/null-gravity.

69
Starburst Grenade
Indirect, Limited (2)
+1 vs evasion/tier
Range 10, Blast 3
4 energy damage/tier

Starlight Cannon
Main Rifle
+1 v evasion/tier, +1 accuracy/tier
Range 20, Blast 3 (target), Heat 2 (self), Heat 4 (Target)
6/energy tier
The Starlight Cannon is a heavier, less precise version of the Starlight Lance. It projects a
searing beam of plasma at its targets, igniting and catalyzing a cascading chain of explosions
as vital systems melt down, hard ammunition cooks off, and power cores overheat.

Any target caught in the affected zone is dealt initial damage, and then 1 additional point of
damage at the start of its turn.

Torrent Rifle
Main Rifle
+2 v evasion/tier
Range 15, Inaccurate
The Torrent rifle is an old, effective Ecumenical weapon, a long gauss rifle that spits out a
torrent of electromagnetically accelerated superdense pellets. While the projectiles are small,
the sheer volume and velocity of them make for a deady, formidable weapon platform.
3 kinetic/tier. The Ofanim may attack with this weapon 2d6 times.

Thrown-Spear Pack
Main Launcher
Indirect, Loading
+1 v evasion/tier
Three Blast 2 (target) areas within range 20
3 explosive/tier

Glory
Equipment, Tier III Only
The Chosen of this Ofanim has won a Glory.

The Ofanim de Linio gains Resilience to all attacks. The Ofanim de Linio may select an
additional trait from the Ultra enemy template.

Additionally, the Ofanim de Linion gains the following:

70
Precise, Unrelenting Light
Trait
This Ofanim’s Chosen is a master pilot. The Ofanim may Overcharge as an end-of-turn action;
efficient heat systems installed on this Ofanim reduce the heat cost by half, rounded up.

Ofanim de Trancilo

Seeded throughout frontline Ofanim deployments and among the holds of Crusade fleets are
Ofanim De Trancilos, the Ascendancy’s purpose-built close quarters combat Ofanim. Smaller
than other classes of Ofanim, Trancilos operate as breachers and breakthrough troopers,
punching holes in enemy lines and clearing decks for secondary waves to follow.

Despite their smaller size, there is nothing subtle about Ofanim de Trancilos. They attract a
character of Chosen that seek the thick of combat, the most Gordian tangle of foes, and wish to
undo them with hardlight and blade.

Trancilos are encountered where the fighting is most thick, where breakthroughs or breaches
must be made, and always as precursors of much bigger foes.

Ofanim De Trancilo

Mech

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

+2 +3 -2 -1

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

20 11 6 5

Armor Speed Sensors Size

2 7 5 1

Base Systems
Monolith Blades
Main Melee
+1/tier v. evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Melee
3/tier kinetic, AP

71
The Trancilo may attack twice with this weapon. If both attacks hit, the target is Impaired on its
next turn.

Quad-Linked Hardlight Rifle Nests

Auxiliary Weapon
Line 10, AP
1 kinetic and energy damage/tier, may make 1d6+1 auxiliary weapon attacks per turn.
This Trancilo is equipped with two nests of quad-linked hardlight rifles. If used to attack an
enemy squad or an enemy unit of size .5, the Linio may make 1d6+3 attacks instead.

Tier II:
HP: 40
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

12 6 7 +3 +4 -2 -1 2 8 5

Tier III:
HP: 60
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

14 7 10 +6 +4 -1 +0 3 9 6

Optional Systems

Interruptor Shield
Equipment
This Ofanim mounts an interruptor shield, fixed to its forearm. The Ofanim gains +2 armor and
gains resistance to all damage that is not AP.

Inexorable
Trait
When this mech gains the Immobilized tag, it is instead Crippled. When it is knocked Prone, it
does not cost movement for it to stand back up.

Onward
Trait
As part of its move action, the Trancilo may nominate an allied unit. The nominated allied unit
may move half its speed towards an enemy as a free action on the nominating Trancilo’s turn. If
the nominated unit is Prone, it may stand as a free action on the nominating Trancilo’s turn.

72
Memories of Acre
Trait
As an action, the Trancilo drops into full defense. Any attacks made against it until the
beginning of its next turn are performed with +1 difficulty. In addition, the Trancilo immediately
regains d6+3 hp/tier, as living metal flows across its wounds.

Mountain Fall
Heavy Melee
Reach 2 - OR - Cone 5
-1 v Evasion, Variable Accuracy
10 kinetic/ tier
A Mountain Fall is a massive hammer, a dense slab of polygonal metal shaped to crush armor.
It is a status weapon; even employed by an Ofanim it is slow to attack. However, some Chosen
still haul a Fall off the rack as they deploy, however, relishing the chance to use its massive bulk
against their foes.

When attacking with a Mountain Fall, the Chosen may choose to either perform a melee attack
with reach 2, OR Cone 5. If they choose to perform the reach attack, they attack as normal. If
they choose the Cone 5 attack, they may add 1 accuracy die to their roll. They must attack all
targets inside the Cone 5, even if this includes allies or environmental hazards.

Starfall Blade
Main Melee
+2/tier v. evasion, +1 difficulty
Melee
4/tier kinetic, AP

A Starfall Blade is the polished, elegant form of the Monolith blade, shaped by artisans on Acre
to be awarded to officers and honored manquellers who earn them. The blade appears to be
worked from a similar stone as Metat Aun, and its single edge glows cold blue-white with an
embedded hardlight razor.

Ofanim equipped with a Starfall Blade may attack twice. If they hit with both attacks, they may
attack a third time with this weapon.

Martyr Shell
Reaction
The Ofanim’s Soul, aware of its impending death, acts to save its Chosen, ejecting them and
sacrificing itself to buy them time.

When this Ofanim is reduced to 0 HP, instead of dying it may use this reaction. The Ofanim
flares in a Cone 5 explosion, dealing 8 explosive damage/tier to all units inside of the cone.

73
At the same time, it ejects its Chosen to a free spot within range 3 in the opposite direction of
its cone attack. Remove this Ofanim from the battlescape. Its Chosen counts as a single,
hard-suited Chosen with default weapons as listed in this module. If there is no free space
within range 3 of the Ofanim as it uses this reaction, the Chosen dies.

Wrapped In Glory
Trait, Tier III only
The Chosen of this Ofanim has won a Glory and wears it proudly, usually wrapped tight around
the grip of its main melee weapon.

When performing a melee attack, this Ofanim always attacks with a +1 accuracy, and gains the
following additional trait:

Glorious Charge
Trait, Movement, Recharge (6)
Instead of taking its turn as normal, this Ofanim may perform a glorious charge.
It may move up to its movement speed +1 in a straight line, performing a single
melee attack against all hostile targets within its reach. If it ends its movement
adjacent to an enemy of its size or size +1, it may knock that target back equal
to half the distance it traveled. That target is then knocked Prone. If this
movement ends adjacent to an enemy of a smaller size, then that enemy is
knocked back the same distance that this Ofanim moved.

After this Ofanim finishes its glorious charge, up to three allied units may move
their speed as a reaction.

74
Ofanim de Kavalerio

Ofanim de Kavalerio, like their infantry counterparts, are built to dive towards combat. They train
in a rapid-strike doctrine, learning to operate in close pairs far afield from the main fighting force
as scouts, skirmishers, and guerilla fighters.

Kavalieros in combat are difficult marks to maintain, thanks to their counterfactual doctrines and
soul proclivity for persistent anticognition memetics. In galactic common: they never move the
way you think they’re going to, and their presence makes it hard to think straight in the first
place. Survivors of engagements with Kavalieros suggest building a squad-band legionspace to
break through their anticognition memetics, but this is taxing for chassis-class NHPs to maintain
for extended periods of time.

Use caution when facing Kavalieros without proper cognitive defenses, and be sure to schedule
drawdown/debrief sessions with your ship’s doctors. Remember: not all wounds are visible or
physical.

Ofanim de Kavaliero

Mech

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

+1 +1 +0 +0

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

15 10 9 9

Armor Speed Sensors Size

0 8 10 1

Base Systems
Counterfactual Movement Patterns
Trait, Movement
Any attack performed against this Kavaliero must be performed with +1 difficulty. Once an
attacker hits this Kavaliero, it no longer has to add +1 difficulty to its attack from this trait.

Folded Hardlight Lance

Main Rifle

75
Line 20, AP
+1 v evasion/ tier. +1 Accuracy/tier
4/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance unless target is resistant to both
damage types). Heat 1 (Target).

The Kavaliero may attack twice with this weapon, though its second attack must add +1
difficulty/tier

Tier II:
HP: 25
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

11 9 9 +3 +2 +0 +0 1 9 11

Tier III:
HP: 35
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

12 10 10 +4 +4 +1 +1 2 10 12

Optional Systems

Inexorable
Trait
When this mech gains the Immobilized tag, it is instead Crippled. When it is knocked Prone, it
does not cost movement for it to stand back up.

EVA Module
System
This Kavaliero is outfitted for operation in vacuum, hostile atmospheres, and microgravity.
Unless this system is damaged, this Kavaliero has oxygen to outlast its pilot, and gains
Fly(Perfect) while in micro/null-gravity.

Target Designator
Equipment
Limited (1), refresh 6+ (Limit 1 Refresh)
+2 v evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Blast 6, Range n/a, AP
10/tier explosive and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)

76
Starburst Grenade
Indirect, Limited (2)
+1 vs evasion/tier
Range 10, Blast 3
4 energy damage/tier

Torrent Rifle
Main Rifle
+2 v evasion/tier
Range 15, Inaccurate
3 kinetic/tier. The Ofanim may attack with this weapon d6 times. The Torrent rifle is an old,
effective Ecumenical weapon, a long gauss rifle that spits out a torrent of electromagnetically
accelerated superdense pellets. While the projectiles are small, the sheer volume and velocity
of them make for a deady, formidable weapon platform.

Sliver of Light
Main Melee
+1 Evasion/ Tier, +1 accuracy
Reach 2 / Range 10
4 energy/tier. This Kavalerio is armed with a long, slim spear, tipped with a hardlight point and
edge. Used to stab and sweep, a Sliver of Light is a fast weapon that adds a dangerous reach
to any CQB focused chassis.

The Sliver can be used in melee or thrown. When not held by the Ofanim, it hovers within
reach. It may be “fired” while suspended in this way. If so, it returns to its Ofanim at the end of
its user’s next turn, and cannot be fired again until it returns in this way.

Turncoat Suggestion
Trait
+2 v e-defense/tier
This Kavaliero’s Soul performs a memetic attack against an enemy within range. If successful,
it implants a suggestion in the enemy’s mind that its allies might not be as friendly as they once
thought. The target of this ability must spend its next turn attacking its closest ally.

Glorious Vanguard
Trait
This Kavaliero has won a glory. Typically, Kavalieros wear their glories as half-capes over their
hardsuits; if mounted, they tie their glories around the barrels of their folded lances.

A Kavaliero with a glory adds an additional +1 accuracy to all ranged attacks they make. In
addition, they gain the following trait:

77
 Acausal Stuttering
Trait
The Chosen of this Kavaliero has a slight affinity for the Firmament, and can
manipulate it enough to confound optical and systemic targeting systems by
creating microperforations in the fabric of reality.

All enemies attacking this Kavaliero must do so with +2 difficulty until they score
their first hit. Once they score their first hit, then all subsequent attacks against
this Kavaliero must be performed with +1 difficulty. After they score their second
hit, they may attack without additional difficulty die added from this trait.

Ofanim de Pafanto

An Ofanim variant first identified by data salvaged from the omninet ripples of the Yalta’s
destruction, the Ofanim de Pafanto is a unique tactical system among the Ascendancy’s arsenal
in that it barely uses any schedule 2 (hardlight) weapons.

Translated from Aunic to “Falling-As-Hail”, the Pafanto’s missile rack systems are deadly at long
range or short, operating as a select-fire ordinance that can be tuned for blanket area
destruction or hardened, point-denial arcs. The Pafanto’s Hail system is a confounding weapon,
one that seems to fit any role at any time; the missiles themselves are self-propelled,
single-stage slivers of metal that can be made volatile at range and inert in close proximity to
the launcher.

At all distances, the Hail system is deadly. Its heavier variant, the Skyshatter system, doubly so.

Ofanim de Pafanto

Mech

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

+0 +0 +2 -1

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

9 10 10 5

Armor Speed Sensors Size

0 6 20 .5

78
Base Systems
Falling-As-Hail
Main Launcher
Indirect - OR - Cone
Range 35 - OR- Cone 5
+1 v Evasion/ Tier, 2 targets/tier - OR- all within cone.
3 explosive/tier
Falling-As-Hail is the frontline Ascendant missile system. Micro-Missiles packed by the
hundreds into helical magazines, the Hail system allows for rapid indirect fire and danger-close
sweeps. Common observed doctrine sees Pafantos advancing under cover of their Needle
PDWs, firing indirectly until close, when they level their Hail systems and fire directly at their
targets.

Needle PDW
System, Equipment.
+1 armor
While this system is active, all attacks directed against the Pafanto have a 50% chance to
miss. Roll this percent chance after the attack roll has been made, but before a hit has been
determined. Blast and Cone attacks that include the Pafanto ignore this system.

Tier II:
HP: 18
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

13 10 5 +0 +2 +3 +0 0 6 25

Tier III:
HP: 27
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

16 12 7 +1 +2 +3 +1 1 7 30

79
Optional Systems
A Step Between Them
Reaction, Refresh 5+
As a reaction to being targeted by an attack, the Pafanto directs an optical/systemic burst
towards its attacker, and goes invisible. The triggering attack must then be resolved. After the
triggering attack is resolved, the Pafanto is no longer invisible.

A Step Away From Them

Reaction, Refresh 5+
As a reaction to being hit by a melee attack, the Pafanto may move half of its speed away from
its attacker. This move does not provoke a response. The triggering attack must be re-rolled,
but as if the Pafanto is in light cover -- if the attack hits, it damages the Pafanto as normal. This
reaction must be refreshed before it can be used again.

A Step Towards Them

Reaction, Refresh 5+
As a reaction to an attack that targets this Ofanim missing, the Ofanim may move up to its
speed towards the enemy that attacked it.

Whispers Through The Leaves

Trait, Action
The Pafanto may choose a single enemy unit. That unit is marked, and remains marked until it
is dead, or the Pafanto uses an action to move its mark, or it uses an ability that would break
lock on. Note that movement conditions that would break lock on (such as entering cover) do
not break lock on in this case.

The Pafanto gains +1 accuracy when firing at the marked target.

Soulbound
Trait
The Pafanto’s Chosen gives main fire control to its Soul in order to focus on other tasks. The
Soul may act on its own initiative immediately following the Pafanto, and may only perform a
single attack action. A Soul may not overcharge. A Soul may take an overwatch reaction. All
soul attacks are performed with +1 difficulty.

Nest of Thorns
System, Equipment
+1 armor
This system replaces the stock Needle PDW system.
All attacks directed against the Pafanto and all allies adjacent to the Pafanto have a 50%
chance to miss. Roll this percent chance after the attack roll has been made, but before a hit

80
has been determined. Blast and Cone attacks that include the Pafanto and/ or its allies ignore
this system.

Skyshatter Inundator
Heavy Launcher
Indirect - OR - Cone
Range 30 - OR- Cone 7
+1 v Evasion/ Tier, 2 targets/tier - OR- all within cone.
4 explosive/tier
This system replaces the Falling-As-Hail weapon system.
The Skyshatter is a heavier variant of the portable Hail, with heavy integrated missile pods able
to fire kill-clouds of anti-armor missiles indirectly at painted targets, or in close proximity as
inert (or activate-explosive) flechettes.

Sliver of Light
Main Melee
+1 Evasion/ Tier
Reach 2 / Range 10
4 energy/tier. This Pafanto is armed with a long, slim spear, tipped with a hardlight point and
edge. Used to stab and sweep, a Sliver of Light is a fast weapon that adds a dangerous reach
to any CQB focused chassis.

The Sliver can be used in melee or thrown. When not held by the Ofanim, it hovers within
reach. It may be “fired” while suspended in this way. If so, it returns to its Ofanim at the end of
its user’s next turn, and cannot be fired again until it returns in this way.

Distant Glory
Trait
This Pafanto has won a glory. Typically, Pafanto Chosen who have won glories wear them as
tabards down the front of their chassis.

A Pafanto with a Glory may choose 3 targets per tier when firing their Hail or Skyshatter
system. A Pafanto with a Glory may choose 2 targets per tier when using their Sliver of Light in
melee combat.

Additionally, the Pafanto’s optical camouflage is so great that it always counts as invisible.

81
Ofanim de Kuratoro

Kuratoros have no infantry analog, and no Ofanim that rivals their bulk. Massive and sturdy in
stature, bristling with external hardpoints for manquellers to operate, and equipped with
powerful defensive systems, Kuratoros shape and control any battlefield they’re dropped into.

The Kuratoro platform has only been witnessed in engagements on Cornucopia. Assumed to be
a new variant of Ofanim, theater command has identified Kuratoro doctrine to be one of steady
movement. Constant pressure, the reward being breaking the line or drawing enough fire that
smaller, more vulnerable units and manqueller infantry do.

Worryingly, the Kuratoro has introduced an alternate form of hardlight -- one that USB scientists
are scrambling to develop an answer to -- that, for now, appears to be used only in a static
defensive capacity. Soulless, the nickname given to the technology by CRG conscripts. Only
capable of being imaged by hyperspectral imaging systems, to an organic staring at a wall of
Soulless is akin to staring at a muddy, indistinct visual tear.

As with other new Ascendant technologies, theater command recommends engagement with
an intent to kill, but a hope to capture for debriefing.

Ofanim de Kuratoro

Mech

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

+2 -3 +0 +2

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

20 5 8 8

Armor Speed Sensors Size

4 4 9 3

Base Systems

Waterfall Cloak
Equipment
A shimmering, ever-shifting half-cloak of aqueous, oily, living metal spills in constant circulation
over the Ofanim.

Any enemies within Reach 2 of this Ofanim take 2 kinetic damage at the end of their turn. Any
enemy that moves into reach 2 of this Ofanim takes 2 kinetic damage.
82
All terrain within Reach 2 of this Ofanim counts as difficult terrain to enemy units.

Quad-Linked Hardlight Rifle Nests

Auxiliary Weapon
Line 10, AP
1 kinetic and energy damage/tier, may make 1d6+1 auxiliary weapon attacks per turn.
This Ofanim is equipped with two nests of quad-linked hardlight rifles, mounted on a
secondary set of manipulator arms or gimballed hardpoints under the Ofanim’s main brachial
construction. If used to attack an enemy squad or an enemy unit of size .5, the Ofanim may
make 1d6+3 attacks instead.

Tier II:
HP: 50
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

7 8 9 +4 -3 +0 +3 4 5 9

Tier III:
HP: 80
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

8 8 10 +6 -4 +1 +4 6 6 10

Optional Systems
Firmament Hood
Equipment
This linio is equipped with a Firmament Hood, a unique Aunic system that allows for nearby
Minds or Animos to better focus their abilities. Once per round, if an allied Mind or Animo
performs a Firmament Attack against an enemy unit within sensor range of an Ofanim
equipped with a Firmament Hood, that Mind or Animo reduces the heat cost of their attack by
1/tier. Additionally, they may use this Ofanim as the origin point of their attack.

Memories of Acre
Trait
As an action, the Ofanim drops into full defense. Any attacks made against it until the
beginning of its next turn are performed with +1 difficulty. In addition, the Ofanim immediately
regains d6+3 hp/tier, as living metal flows across its wounds

Great and Terrible

Trait

83
This Ofanim has been scaled up in size, made terrible and awesome in appearance by
ornament and stature. Camouflage appears to not be a consideration for this Ofanim: it is
meant to be seen, meant to inspire its allies and strike fear into its enemies.

Increase this Ofanim’s size by 1. This may increase the Ofanim’s size beyond 3. Increase its
armor value by 2. Increase its HP by 15. All enemy units targeting this Ofanim gain +1 accuracy
to their first attack roll performed against this Ofanim each round.

Shard Of The Throne

Equipment, Reaction (Refresh 5+)
This Ofanim bears a shard of the throne of Metat Aun, which it displays inlaid into an exterior
armor panel. It is a person-sized slab, flat and rectangular, black as night. Holy cloth hangs
around it, scrawled over with scripture and bangled with the ID tags of fallen manquellers and
Chosen.

It seems to act as a great attractor, pulling incoming fire to it in defense of its allies -- and the
Ofanim to which it is affixed. NHPs cannot see the stone, but feel an attraction to it.

As a reaction, once per round when an enemy targets an allied unit within Range 10 of this
Ofanim, this Ofanim may choose to become the target of the triggering attack instead. This
ability cannot be used against Cone ranged weapons. If used against a Line weapon, the Line
does not penetrate through this Ofanim. This ability does not affect melee, reach, or threat
weapons. Any Blast (target) weapon still explodes, but treats the Ofanim as the origin point of
the blast.

In Osmium Clad
Equipment
This Ofanim is armored in extra layers of ornamental Osmium. In addition to gaining +1 armor,
reduce this Ofanim’s speed by 1.

Interruptor Shield
Equipment
This Ofanim mounts an interruptor shield, fixed to its forearm. The Ofanim gains +2 armor and
gains resistance to all damage that is not AP.

Monolith Blades
Main Melee
+1/tier v. evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Melee
3/tier kinetic, AP
The Ofanim may attack twice with this weapon. If both attacks hit, the target is Impaired on its
next turn.

84
Hardlight Lance
Main Rifle (when carried by an ofanim)
+1 vs evasion, +1 Accuracy/tier
Line 20, heat 1 (target)
5/tier kinetic and energy damage (choose to ignore resistance, unless target is resistant to
both)

Anthem’s Glory
Trait
This Kuratoro has won a Glory. Kuratoro Chosen typically carry their Glories wrapped around a
distal brachial section, as if it were a crimson gauntlet.

The Kuratoro gains +1 armor, +2 Hull, and -1 Agility. Additionally, it gains the following gear:

Soulless Barrier
Equipment
The Kuratoro mounts a massive, barrier of Soulless, a wall of hardlight
projected from a central buckler that covers not only the majority of the
Kuratoro’s bulk, but nearby allies as well. Soulless appears to either be a
corruption or evolution of Hardlight, as best the USB can tell, and the full
extent of its properties is not known.

The Kuratoro can activate and deactivate their Soulless Barrier as an

action. It provides total cover to the Kuratoro and up to two adjacent
allies covered by the barrier. While active, the Kuratoro’s speed is
reduced to 3, and cannot be increased in any way. While active, the
Kuratoro adds +1 difficulty to any attack rolls it performs; adjacent allies
add +1 accuracy to any attack rolls they perform.

This barrier extends 2 squares on either side of the Kuratoro. Enemies

may not pass through this barrier while it is active.

85
Ofanim de Konscio/Animo

Rare on the field of battle, the Ofanim de Konscio combines the terrible physical and tactical
power of the Ofanim with the uncanny abilities of a fully-trained Mind.

Ofanim de Konscio have only been encountered on Cornucopia thus far, engaged in combat by
elements of the 134th Cav CRG, during the defense action around Gardenport Orbital Uplift for
the first half of 5013U. After-action reports indicate that the de Konscio platform is a formidable
enemy that leans heavily on apparent paracausal technology to manipulate its environment in
order to accomplish its tactical goals.

Even less common is the Ofanim de Animo, which appear to be entirely automated, “hollow”
Ofanim variants. Similar to the Ofanim de Konscio, de Animo variants appear able to manipulate
the Firmament to accomplish their strategic and tactical goals; however, combat data retrieved
from KIA Lancer and CRG units indicate that de Animo variants have the ability to strike and
destabilize extra-dimensional superstructures, including previously secure ontologic bridging
patterns and NHP shackling systems.

Immediate optical identification is relatively easy, given the disparity in size between the two
variants of Firmament-capable Ofanim: the Ofanim de Konscio is smaller, more conventionally
structured. The Ofanim de Animo is larger and it is unclear as to where a pilot would be housed.

Ofanim de Animo

Mech, Mind

Hull Agility Systems Engineering

+1 +0 +3 +2

HP Evasion E-defense Heat Cap.

13 8 11 14

Armor Speed Sensors Size

0 5 20 1-2

Tier II:
HP: 26
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

9 12 18 +2 +0 +4 +2 0 5 30

86
Tier III:
HP: 39
Evade E-D Heat H A S E Armor Spd Sense

10 14 22 +3 +1 +6 +2 1 6 35

Base System, Choose 1

Mind
Trait
This Ofanim is piloted by a Mind, one of the Aunic peoples who displayed a strong enough
affinity for the Firmament that they were trained in its use and navigation. If this Ofanim is
piloted by a Mind, then it any attempted Invasion attack automatically fails.

If this Ofanim is piloted by a Mind, it may choose up to three actions that have the Firmament
or Mind tag.

If this Ofanim is piloted by a mind, its base size is 1.

Animo
Trait
This Ofanim is piloted by a collection of ancient or unclaimed Souls, working together in
concert to manipulate the Firmament to their ends. If the Ofanim is piloted by an Animo, then
abilities that specifically target mech pilots automatically fail.

If the Ofanim is piloted by an Animo, then it may choose up to three actions with the Firmament
or Animo tag.

If the Ofanim is piloted by an Animo, then its base size is 2.

Action List

SLING
Action, Firmament
+2 v. evasion/ tier, +1 Accuracy
Range 20
4 kinetic/tier, 1 heat (self)
The Ofanim holds an ring of tungsten (or other dense metal) bearings in its orbit. With a
thought, the Mind or Animo inside snaps a bearing across the Firmament and into its target.
The resultant rupture as the bearing suddenly occupies space that it should not is catastrophic.

SHATTER
Attack Action, Firmament

87
+2 v evasion/tier, 1 heat (self)/tier
Indirect 15 or Cone 5
5 energy/ tier
The Mind or Animo inside the Ofanim reaches across the Firmament towards its enemy and,
with a single thought, shatters the metastructure before it. The shattered superstructure vents a
wash of radiation, particles, and gravatic destabilization in a wave before it heals, making for an
effective bombardment technique against unseen or entrenched enemies.

RUPTURE
Attack Action, Firmament
Blast 4 or Line 16
3 energy/tier, 2 heat (self) tier
The Mind or Animo parts a fissure in the Firmament, chaining detonations across a slice of
realspace.

REVEAL
Action, Firmament
As an action, the Mind or Animo exploits the Firmament to reveal a hidden enemy. The Mind or
Animo may nominate a known enemy in total cover or who is otherwise obscured or rendered
invisible.

The nominated target may then choose to either Shut Down as a reaction until the end of their
next turn, or perform a Grit check with 1 disadvantage to avoid detection.

A unit detected in this way is revealed to the detecting Mind or Animo, and is immediately
Locked On.

SUCCOR
Action, Firmament
3 heat (self)/ tier
Range 30
The Mind or Animo reaches across the Firmament to aid an ally in need. As an action, they may
target an allied unit within Range 30. The targeted unit may regain 5 HP/ tier.

If the Mind or Animo nominates itself as the target of this ability, it does not regain HP, nor does
it accrue 3 heat. Instead, reduce its accrued heat by 4 per tier.

COURAGE
Action, Firmament
2 heat (self)
The Ofanim nominates up to two allies it can see, or any ally equipped with a Firmament Hood,
regardless of whether or not the Ofanim can see them. Those units gain 5 temporary hit
points/tier, which much be spent first when taking damage.

88
If used on itself, the Mind or Animo may perform a Purge action.

BEGONE
Action, Firmament
+2 v. evasion/tier, 1 difficulty
2 energy damage/ tier, 5 heat (target)/tier, 2 heat (self)/tier
The Mind inside the Animo wrenches open a door in the Firmament and shoves a target unit
through. This door only holds for a moment before the Firmament rejects the Ofanim’s target.

If this attack hits, deal damage as normal, then the target of this attack takes a systems save. If
they fail that save, they are removed from play for a round. At the end of a full round, they
return to a free space of their choice within Range 5 of where they departed (they may return to
the space from where they were banished). If they cannot be placed in a free space, they
immediately suffer a critical hit.

KNEEL
Action, Firmament
3 energy/ tier, 3 heat (target)/ tier
As an action, the Ofanim pummels its target with a crippling solipsistic inversion suggestion,
momentarily wiping away the target unit’s subjectivity. It returns, but the invasion is traumatic,
and the ease with which the Mind dominated them echoes.

This ability affects one target within Range 10 of the Ofanim. That target must pass a systems
check, or be dealt damage, and are Immobilized and Impaired until the end of their next turn.

ATTEND
Action, Firmament
2 heat (self), 2 heat (target)/tier
As an action, the Ofanim may target a unit with this ability. If the targeted unit is an allied unit,
the targeted unit may immediately move their speed towards them. The targeted allied unit
counts as being in light cover until the start of their next turn.

If the targeted unit is an enemy unit, the targeted unit must move their speed towards them.

SUNDER
Action, Firmament
Refresh (6+)
Variable heat (self), variable heat (target)
As an action, the Ofanim may spend heat points up to its cap, minus 1, to reduce its targets
armor by the same amount for the duration of the combat. The target of this ability is dealt an
equal amount of heat as armor reduced.

89
TERROR
Reaction, Firmament
2 heat (self)/tier, 2 heat (target)/tier
The Ofanim may use TERROR as a reaction to an enemy unit entering melee range, or as a
response to being grappled.

Target enemy must take a system check. If they fail, they must disengage. Disengaging in this
way does not provoke opportunity attacks.

TRAUMATIZE
Action, Firmament, Tier II+
2 heat (self)
As an action, the Mind or Animo targets an enemy unit. That unit must pass a SURVIVE check,
or suffer a traumatic subjectivity realignment. They are INCAPACITATED until the end of their
next turn. After the end of that turn, they must pass a second SURVIVE check. If they fail, they
suffer +1 disadvantage for all attacks against the Mind or Animo that used this ability for the
rest of the encounter.

Should the Mind or Animo escape this encounter and the target of this ability fail both of their
SURVIVE checks, they will have a permanent +1 to difficulty in all checks or attacks made
against this Mind or Animo.

TREMOR
Action, Firmament
2 heat (self)
Range 25, Blast 5
As an action, the Mind or Animo designates a Blast 5 area within Range 25. That area begins to
shudder and fracture as the Mind or Animo drags a raw plane of the Firmament close.

All units inside the zone immediately become CRIPPLED. This status lasts as long as they
begin their turn inside the zone.

As an action, the Mind or Animo may choose to sustain this zone. If they do so, they may either
move it half of their base movement speed, OR they may increase its Blast size by 1, to a
maximum of Blast 10. If they choose to sustain this zone, they gain heat as if they had just
activated the action.

VOID
Trait, Animo
Any attempt to Lock On, Scan, or Invade this Animo automatically fails.

90
Additionally, NHPs cannot detect, communicate, or perceive in any way the presence of this
Animo. Instead, they “see” a blind spot, and report their shackles as thinning while in the
presence of this entity.

DRAG TO EARTH
Reaction, Firmament
If an enemy unit flies into the sensor range of this Mind or Animo, as a reaction the Mind or
Animo may force them to move half their speed straight down towards their plane of action.

If an enemy unit begins or ends its turn flying in the sensor range of this Mind or Animo, as a
reaction this Mind or Animo may force that unit to use its move action to move its full speed
down towards their plane of action.

If moving straight down would cause the affected unit to crash into terrain, an object, or
another unit before completing its movement, it takes falling damage equal to how far it moved
before impact.

NO
Reaction, Firmament
Refresh (6)
Variable Heat (self), Variable Heat (Target)
As a reaction to a target unit making a save, hitting an ally with a ranged or melee weapon, or
hitting this Ofanim with a ranged or melee weapon, but before the result of the save or attack is
determined, this Ofanim may choose to accrue X heat to alter the final roll.

Once the roll has been altered, it resolves as normal. If this alteration causes the target to fail its
check or attack roll, then in addition to any consequences from that failure, the target gains X
heat.

THE WORD MANIFEST

Action, Animo, Tier III only
5 heat (self)
Limited (1)
The Animo manifests the pure voice of METAT, a killing-utterance that unshielded minds cannot
comprehend, reducing their target to an anoriginary state.

With no ability to defend against a direct ontologic attack, or, indeed, the perception to
understand that an attack on their subjectivity is even occurring, pilots are left defenseless. If
they survive, they have no memory of the event. Long term consequences of this subjective
reduction are as-yet unknown; USB paracausalists are not scheduled for relativistic return to
study contemporary candidates for another hundred years. Current theory is undeveloped, but
naval doctors currently monitoring survivors report symptoms consistent with prolonged

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unshielded blinkspace exposure, chiefly dysmorphia, acontextual temporality, a sense of jamais
vu, and other symptoms consistent with Capgras delusion syndrome.

Nominate a single target. That target must succeed on background-related skill check of their
choice, or immediately lose 1d6+1 pilot hitpoints. If such a roll would send the target pilot into
a down-and-out state, instead reduce the pilot to 1 hit point.

Additionally, the target must succeed a Grit save with +1 disadvantage or lose their
background, and cannot gain bonus accuracy from their background. Once they reach a base
and have a long period of rest, they regain their background and all associated skills and
benefits.

Their background, once regained, is not how they remember it; either their memory has been
fundamentally altered, or it is revealed that their background is now correct.

LIGHT OF AUN’IST
Attack Action, Mind, Tier III only
8 heat (self)
Limited (2), Recharge (6)
Line 35
The Mind inside the Ofanim reaches out into the Firmament and opens a travel-door, revealing a
slice of a nearby star’s surface. The beam of heat and radiation released by this momentary
opening is tremendous, and its passage forever scars the place upon which it is used.

The Light burns a line 35 squares long, 3 wide, and 4 high, originating from the Mind that uses
this ability.

All enemies caught in this beam take 45 Energy damage and accrue 8 heat.

After this weapon is fired, the targeted line persists for 1d6+1 rounds. Any units who enter or
end their turn inside of this zone take 2d6 energy damage and 3 heat. The terrain inside the
zone counts as difficult terrain.

The Mind must recharge this ability before it can be used again.

SALVATION
Reaction, Mind, Tier III
Limited (1)
When an attack would reduce this Mind to 0 or fewer hitpoints, as a reaction it may instead use
this ability.

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By sheer force of will and desperate manipulation of the Firmament, the Mind holds their
Ofanim together. Instead of dropping to 0 or fewer hitpoints, the Mind regains 1d6, and may
immediately take a turn, even if it would interrupt a PC’s turn in the initiative order.

ASCENSION
Trait, Move Action, Firmament
A Mind or Animo who knows this ability gains Hover, in addition to their normal movement.
When moving as an action or reaction, this Mind or Animo may choose to fly instead.

DIE
Action, Mind, Tier III only
Limited (1)
As an action, the Mind nominates a target within its sensor range.

That target must pass a SURVIVE check, or roll as if they were Down And Out.

UNWIND
2 Actions, Firmament, Tier III only
Limited (1)
As a response to their death, the death of a higher-ranking or especially important ally, or a
catastrophic event, the Mind or Animo reaches into the Firmament and unwinds time.

Reset the turn order to the top of the initiative order. Reset all counters, hit points, actions,
reactions, etc, as if no one had acted yet. Proceed as normal.

Organic pilots capable of stable memory who survive this encounter will be haunted by
memories of this event, though they have nothing concrete to tie them to. Any traumas suffered
-- i.e. if UNWIND would bring a previously deceased character back to life as a side effect of it
being used -- are felt as an uncanny separation, a distant memory.

UNBECOME
Action, Animo, Tier III only
Limited (1)
As an action, the Animo nominates a target within its sensor range, or within the sensor range
of an ally equipped with a Firmament hood.

That target must pass a SURVIVE check. If they fail, their chassis (and all systems and
weapons installed) begins to dissolve into the Firmament. Roll 2d6. The result is how many
turns the target has until their chassis has completely dissolved. At the end of the target’s last
turn, they fall from the ruin of their mech with only their hardsuit and pilot gear available to
them.

Note: for the purpose of resolving this ability, you count all PC and NPC players’ turns.

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PUMMEL
Attack Action, Firmament
+1 v. evasion/ tier, +1 accuracy
Reach 1
3 kinetic/tier, 1 heat (target)/ tier
The Mind or Animo enters melee combat unarmed, wielding the local Firmament itself as a
weapon. Wreathed in uncanny heat-shimmer, the Mind or Animo’s chassis shrieks with a
terrible unsound, a warbling, bell-like tone that pierces the sound-dampening construction of
most shells.

The Mind or Animo may attack twice with this action.

IN GLORY WREATHED
Trait, Mind
Only one Gloried Mind has ever been sighted; previously, their existence had been an
unknown-known.

Witnessed by Battlegroup COMET’s SIGINT officers spooling through data from the initial siege
of Boundary Industrial City, this so-rare-as-to-be-unique Ascendant has no theoretical ceiling to
their threat envelope.

The Joint Union-Cornucopian Theater Command recommends prioritizing Gloried Minds above
all other targets (use of paracausal weapons is not recommended, as the USB has not yet had a
chance to review how paracausal technology interacts with Firmament affinity).

This Mind has won a Glory, making them a member of a rare cadre whose numbers are so
small they could sit around the same table. These Minds wear their glories how they wish.

A Mind that has won a Glory may select either two additional Firmament actions, or they may
select one Animo action to add to their action pool.

A Mind with a Glory doubles their maximum heat pool.

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Aun Templates
Standard Templates (Grunt, Veteran, and Ultra)

Outremer (Grunt)
Applying the Outremer template to an Ascendant unit caps its maximum hit points at half of its
Tier I hit points.

Additionally:
The Grunt can’t have any more than 1 optional system
The Grunt can’t take the Veteran, Squad, Elite, or Ultra templates
The Grunt can’t make any more than 1 attack roll or attack with one weapon, regardless of how
many it has.
None of the grunt’s attacks can deal more than 5 damage per tier (5 at tier 1, 10 at tier 2, 15 at
tier 3).

Penitent (grunt)
As with Outremer, the Penitent template caps the units maximum hit points at half of its Tier I
hit points. As a grunt, this unit cannot take the Veteran, Squad, Elite, or Ultra templates.

Additionally, Penitents gain 1 of the following traits:

Nothing To Lose - Penitents ignore statuses that would slow or halt their movement.

Everything To Win - Penitent units have no cap on damage, nor attacks per turn, beyond what
their weapon descriptions indicate. However, the Penitent cannot select more than 1 optional
system from their class list.

Forlorn Hope - When a Penitent-template unit dies, all Penitent-template units within Range 5
may, as a response, either move their speed --OR-- make a single attack against a target of
their choice.

Celebrant Guard (Veteran)

All Veterans get the following features added to their base NPC type:
­ Bonus resilience: If the veteran has no resilience, the Veteran gains resilience equal to
4+ its hull score. If the veteran has resilience already, it gains +2 resilience.
­ Veterancy: The Veteran gains +1 accuracy on all checks of one statistic: Hull, Agility,
Systems, Engineering (choose on creation)

In addition, they may choose 1 to 2 of the following traits:

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Soulbound
Trait
The Guard’s mech or vehicle gains the AI tag. The veteran can use the AI on its turn to activate
one additional system or fire one weapon with +1 Difficulty. The veteran’s mech or vehicle is
autonomous and can function even if the veteran is not piloting it. The AI can be unshackled,
invaded, or disabled as normal, with the same effects as player AI.

Steadfast, Unbroken
Trait
When the veteran moves or boosts, it can fly 3 after the move or boost completes. This flight
does not provoke reactions and ignores engagement.

Hardlight Overpenetration
Trait
The first time in a round this mech scores a critical hit, damage blows through the cockpit of its
target, causing its target to pass a pilot skill check or be dealt d6+1 damage. This can knock a
pilot out of the mission as normal.

EM-shielding
Trait
The veteran is resistant to heat

Living Metal
Trait
The Veteran can take the repair action:
Repair (limited 1): This mech heals 7 hit points per tier and ends one condition
currently affecting it (impaired, crippled, immobilized, shut down, jammed)

To The End
Trait
When this enemy would be destroyed, it is instead knocked prone as if it has been destroyed.
At the beginning of its next turn, it stands back up with half of its Tier I HP total restored.

Masino Minor
Trait
The veteran gains +1 Accuracy on all Invasion rolls and can make all regular tech actions.

Pinpoint Accuracy
Trait
The veteran’s critical hits deal +1 critical damage

Hardened Target
Trait
Invasion, scan, and lock on attempts on this target are made with +1 difficulty

Blessed of Os

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The veteran is immune to the vulnerable condition and when it makes a critical check, it can
re-roll (but must choose the section result). Disable this trait if the Veteran enters the CRITICAL
state.

First Chosen
Trait
The veteran can enter the CRITICAL state (like the player) instead of being destroyed when
reaching 0 hp.

Lesser Sight
Trait
Within range 3 of the Veteran, the Veteran treats total cover as heavy cover, targets cannot hide
from it, and cannot benefit from invisibility against it while inside that area.

Limitless
Trait
The veteran can use Overcharge

Lightning Reflexes
Trait
Reaction (1)
The first time in a round the veteran is targeted by any weapon system of size heavy or larger,
roll a d6. On a 5+, the weapon automatically misses this mech.

Martyr’s End
Trait
The veteran can use the Self Destruct action.

Giant-Killer
Trait
The veteran can jockey (in a hard suit) and gains +1 Accuracy on jockeying attempts

Living Metal Armor

Trait
The veteran has resistance to damage from main size weapons

Skirmisher
Trait
1/round the veteran can move or boost as a reaction to any enemy movement or action that it
can see.

Deft
Trait
The veteran does not provoke reactions and ignores engagement with its move (its boost still
provoke reactions)

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They Shall Feel No Pain
Trait
The most damage an auxiliary weapon can do to the veteran is 1.

First To Fight
Trait
The veteran always takes its turn first, even over player characters. If there is a question of who
acts first (in the story, or combat), it is always the veteran.

Aspect of Metat Aun (Ultra)

All ultras get the following features added to their base NPC type:
­ Bonus activations: The Ultra can be activated again (take another turn) each round. If
the Ultra is facing more than 4 players, it takes three activations each round.
­ Hardened target (trait): All hostile tech actions are made at +1 difficulty against the
Ultra
­ Exclusive templates: The Ultra can’t take the Elite or Grunt templates.
- Juggernaut (trait): At the start of its turn, the Ultra ends one condition affecting it
­ Legendary (trait): The Ultra can enter the CRITICAL state and is not destroyed when
reaching 0 HP.
­ Resilience: The Ultra gains resilience equal to 8+ its hull score
­ Bonus module: The ultra should gain +1 more optional module than normal.
­ Bonus HP: The Ultra triples its HP, including increases to HP per tier
­ Reflex (trait): The Ultra can make any number of overwatch attacks per round (instead
of just 1).

Then choose 1-2 Ultra Traits. You can also choose up to 1 Ultra module to replace another
optional module (you don’t have to choose one, however).

ULTRA traits:

Acre’s Chosen
Trait
The Ultra gains +1 Accuracy on all melee attacks, grapple, and ram attempts. It can make 1
melee attack roll, grapple, or ram attack as a free action on its turn.

Shake The Firmament

Trait
Once per turn, when the ultra hits with an attack, all targets visible to the ultra take 2 kinetic,
explosive, or energy damage.

Deadly
Trait
The first critical hit the Ultra deals per turn does +1d6 critical damage/tier

98
Evasive
Trait
The Ultra gains +4 evasion, up to a maximum of 20, but its HP bonus is reduced to 2x instead
of 3x.

Fortress
Trait
The Ultra gains the Fortress trait instead of its Hardened Target trait (lock on, invasion, and
scans are made against it at +3 difficulty). To electronic systems, it doesn’t appear to even be
there.

Unknowable Glory
Trait
The Ultra can use overcharge.

Unstoppable
Trait
The Ultra always counts as larger than any enemy mechs for the purposes of obstruction,
grappling, etc and cannot be knocked back or knocked prone

A Light Only I Can See

Trait
Targets cannot hide from the Ultra and cannot benefit from invisibility against it.

Lightborn
Trait
The ultra has resistance to one of the following damage types: kinetic, energy, explosive

Unshakeable
Trait
The ultra is immune to the crippled and immobilized conditions

Everburning
Trait
The ultra is immune to the stunned and shut down conditions

Guided, Chosen
Trait
The ultra ignores all cover, and treats total cover as heavy cover.

Perfect Function
Trait
The ultra is immune to the Jammed condition and can reload one weapon with the loading
property as an end of round action

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The Last
Trait
The Ultra can use the Self Destruct action. When it takes this action, it emits an EMP pulse. All
vulnerable targets (mechs, vehicles) in a blast 15 area from it must pass a system check or be
shut down.

The First
Trait
Refresh (6)
Once per round, the Ultra may take the place of an ally who has already acted in the initiative
order.

Other, Non-Standard Templates

Animo Masino
Trait, Animo
The Animo contained within the Ofanim is an Animo Masino, an Animo type trained to engage
with hostile systems and NHPs -- grotesques. All of its attack actions and reactions must target
e-defense instead of evasion. Additionally, any Limited power adds 1 more use to its pool.

Additionally, if an attack from an Animo Masino would cause a CATASTROPHIC TRAUMA

critical result, any installed NHP immediately unshackles as an additional effect. Once
unshackled in this way, the NHP will attempt to incapacitate its pilot.

If this trait is selected, ANIMO FANTOMO cannot be selected.

Animo Fantomo
Trait, Animo
The Animo contained within the Ofanim is an Animo Fantomo, a penitent Animo type
composed of Souls that have been deemed too dangerous or caustic to interact with Chosen.
Combined into one being, the Fantomo is a barely contained thing of rage, forced into
dormancy by its handlers until activation for battle. Fantomos are sepulcher-beings, holy icons
of war, and are typically never recovered after a battle in which they were deployed.

A Fantomo may perform an additional action each term. Fantomos add 4 Speed to their base
speed. If a Fantomo would score a CATASTROPHIC TRAUMA critical result against an organic
enemy pilot, that enemy suffers 1 pilot damage in addition to all other critical effects.

The Fantomo burns out in 10+d6 rounds, determined at the beginning of its first active turn. At
the end of its final turn, the bindings on the Animo inside fail, and the souls contained within
bleed out into the Firmament.

100
Taxiarch (Commander)

All Taxiarchs gain the following features added to their base NPC type:
­ Bonus resilience: If the Taxiarch has no resilience, it gains resilience equal to 4+ its hull
score. If the commander has resilience already, it gains +2 resilience.
­ Command: Once per round, the Taxiarch can cause an allied target it can see to re-roll
any single attack roll or check as a reaction. The commander can’t use this reaction if it
is Jammed.
­ Commander Traits: The Taxiarch can choose one of the following commander traits.
These traits don’t function if the commander is Jammed.

Taxiarch Traits
Attune Firmament
Trait
While the Taxiarch is alive, all allies the Taxiarch can see gain the hardened target trait (+1
difficulty on all hostile tech actions against them). The Taxiarch does not benefit from this trait.

Covering Fire
Trait, Reaction
1/round, an ally the Taxiarch can see can attack with one weapon as a reaction against a target
hostile to the Taxiarch that just made an attack against that ally or a different ally.

Ascend!
Trait, End of round action
1/round, the Taxiarch can pass a systems check as an end of round action to end two of the
following conditions on an allied target it can see: prone, crippled, immobilized, stunned.

Reposition
Trait, End of round action
1/round as an end of round action, one ally that a Taxiarch can see can make the boost action
as a free action. This action does not provoke reactions and ignores engagement

As One
Trait
Allied targets adjacent to the Taxiarch gain +1 Accuracy on all attacks and checks.

The First
Trait
Refresh (6)
Once per round, the Ultra may take the place of an ally who has already acted in the initiative
order.

Perfect Function
Trait
The ultra is immune to the Jammed condition and can reload one weapon with the loading
property as an end of round action

101
Airburst Advance
Trait
The Taxiarch, as a reaction to an ally declaring movement, calls down covering fire. That ally
may move as normal, any any attacks made against it until the end of its turn must be made at
+1 difficulty.

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Advanced Uncorrected Proof
Written for Lancer (1.7+)
By Miguel Lopez

103