Dedicated to my Father, whose love for Sci-fi encouraged me to reach for the stars in

whatever I’d do in life.

 Water drips slowly from the metallic ceiling, wet splats and splashes echoing
throughout the hallways as several creature prowl through the abyssal hallways. Water
drips off the boney hides of their armoured chest pieces, lights under their blaster rifles
dimly illuminating vaguely human faces mottled with scales and the slitted yellow eyes of
fish. Their eyes and gazes are sharp as their lights flash around every upcoming corner
and towards the ceiling itself. Moving quickly but cautiously through the dank hallways of
unknown passage.

The leader of the five-man group quickly raises one of his hands, signaling the
others begin to stop as they all tighten the grip on their weapons, lights quickly flashing
around as they search for what their squad leader had heard.

Out from around the corner a single man can be seen casually walking from out
around it, dressed in a dark red and white heavy suit of powered armour but without a
helmet. The tanned face of the middle-aged man giving a modest sigh reaches down
towards a small metallic rod with a crescent handle at the side of his waist. “You know I’m
actually pretty insulted they didn’t send anything bigger after the first two scouting teams.”
he says as the rod he’s holding ignites into a three-foot-long pillar of light that dimly lights
up his smiling face.

The scaled men quickly scream out in rage, firing their blasters as blue energy
bolts soar down the hall. The single man in power armour quickly rushes forth, his nimble
footwork and hands either dodging or knocking aside the bolts that wouldn’t hit him just as
the man pulls out a single pistol in a holster just under his arm, firing and destroying the
communicator that the squad leader’s tried to use to summon reinforcements, then using
the momentum of his spin to cut the squad leader’s head off, the smell of charred flesh
filling the hallway as the guard captain’s head rolled onto the ground.

“It’xu tallra ga!” the aliens scream out in their native language, one of them pulling
out a knife and rushing towards the intruder while the remaining three open fire upon him.

Without missing a beat, the man reverses the grip on his blade, stabbing it in the
stomach of the creature charging towards him just as blaster bolts riddle his corpse. The
man dashes to the side, firing his blaster pistol multiple times at a pipeline directly next to
the remaining fishmen, super hot steam exploding out of the pipe itself and immolating the
rest of them in super hot blasts of steam, screaming in pain as the flesh is seared from the
body.

“The other guys sucked just as much as you guys did.” the man says as he puts
away both his weapons with a small flourish, turning around to walk back down the way he
came, turning around the corner to enter to an ancient computer console half caked in dust
in front of a large circular room surrounded in darkness, only lit by single noodle stand in
the center of the room as a woman in pitch black chitin armour and a single man dressed
in shimmering blue, white, and golden robes can be seen mixing a large pot of broth and
noodles.
 “Dae-Lee, welcome back. Are the uninvited guests taken care of?” the man in the
robes asks as he grabs an empty bowl.

“They’re more well done than the food you cook doc.” Dae-Lee says taking a seat
in the chair next to the girl. “You think they would’ve sent something stronger than a group
of scouts after the third time.”

“Bhey’re bubi outhide.” the girl next to him says with a mouth full of noodles.

“Swallow your food Sanalenn, but yes our little assassin is right. With the Lintha
fully focused on the Wavecrest fleet they hardly have the forces to spare, but after losing
the third scouting group I think we’re due for some significant reinforcements from them
unless we move out soon.” the man in the robes says, pouring a serving in a bowl and
begins to reach for the spices.

Dae-Lee quickly raises his hand in a panicked protest. “Woah there doc, no spicy
stuff! Can’t stand spicy foods.”

The man in the robes continues to stare at Dae-Lee for several seconds in
disbelief. “You, the man who’s regarded as the hero of the battle of Racclus and victor
against a Zoecyte Chimera hoard is picky over spicy foods.”

“What do those accomplishments have to do with the food I eat Mu-Trath!?” Hae-
Lee yells out loud.

Sanalenn chuckles to herself as she hears this, a wide smile beaming across her
face. “Big Mr. Hero can’t even eat spicy fish.”

“Oh shut it Sanalenn, like you have any right to criticize what I eat after I’ve seen
what you Coenocyte’s eat.” Hae-Lee mutters before turning his gaze back to Mu-Trath.
“Just give me not spicy please?”

“It’d ruin the flavor of the broth, but if you insist.” Mu-Trath says reaching for several
different spices and putting them in the noodles before passing them to Dae-Lee.

Dae-Lee takes the chopsticks, breaking the wooden sticks in two before turning his
attention back to Mu-Trath. “If we need to move out soon then why aren’t you in the engine
room trying to get this thing started manually yourself?”

Mu-Trath gives a dismissive wave as he begins to fill his own bowl. “La-Plaz is
enough for that alone, the only thing that needs to be replaced are the plasma filters.
Besides the captain’s got to be on the deck itself when the ship has it’s power restored,
and I’d rather not find out what sort of defensive systems this ship has the hard way.”

“You make it sound like I enjoy getting shot at.” Dea-Lee says as he mixes around
the noodles in his bowl.
 “You’re doing an exemplary job of the contrary then.” Mu-Trath says as a
holographic message from La-Plaz can be seen on the sleeve of his robes, Mu-Trath
several buttons on his sleeve. “Speaking of which, it’s about time to move out and help out
our Wavecrestian allies.”

Lights begin to flicker on inside of the ship itself, a loud hum filling the background
as the bright lights illuminate the room the trio sits in, consoles near the rear of the room
light up in various holographic displays with various readouts, the room appearing as a
giant white dome with a massive black wall in front of the group that flickers to life with the
image of an undersea coral reef.

Red warning holograms appear in front of the trio just as Mu-Trath breaks off his
own chopsticks, casually flipping through the screen while holding onto his chopsticks. A
bright golden half-filled circle appears on his forehead as he inputs the passphrase for the
ship, a giant green checkmark appearing in place of a giant red cross before the
holograms fade away.

“Good thing your untested program worked.” Sanalenn says to Mu-Trath after he
inputted his phrase.

“If you know what you are doing Sanalenn then you have no need to test.” Mu-
Trath says as he grabs hold of his bowl of noodles before pointing his chopsticks towards
the screen. “Reach of Heaven, move out!”

The entire ship begins to stir and rumble, rocks of the deep tumbling into the deep
as the powerful engines of the ship tear itself loose from the wildlife that had grown on top
of it over the centuries in wait. The speed counter on the ship goes higher and higher as it
soars towards the surface of the water, breaking through the waves itself as it’s red and
golden hull shimmers in the midday sun, finally emerging from the waves below and
soaring into the sky it had abandoned so long ago. Racing headlong into a battle between
the Wavecrest Planetary Defense Forces and the Lintha Pirates that had invaded their
planet.

The giant holographic display screen warns of several ships opening fire upon
them, the physical shells of the ship exploding in clouds of black smoke several meters
away from the Reach of Heaven as it bounces off its forcefield, the ship softly being jostled
from the attacks themselves.

Sanalenn gives an eerie laugh as the shots explode harmlessly in front of the ship.
“Why are they even trying. Don’t they realize how outclassed they are?”

“Retreat isn’t in the Lintha vocabulary. One you kill one of them the rest of them will
be trying to kill you until the end of time.” Hae-Lee says as he eats some of his noodles.

“Which is why we’ll be needing to end his right here.” Mu-Trath says as he waves
his hand in front of the Lintha fleet, red targeting reticles appearing the pirate vessels as
they slowly turn to meet his ship. “See the Reach of Heaven was specifically designed to
do one thing during the Malfean War: To engage as many ships as possible at once.
Photonic Lancers, Fire!”

As the captain roared out his command the ship obeyed, single spots of intense
light concentrating on the shield itself before multiple golden beams of light arc out towards
the enemy ships, fighter craft exploding instantly under the powerful beams of light while
several other beams impact directly against the side of the ship, drilling through the
Brassian armour of the Lintha ship and sending their flaming wrecks sailing down to the
ocean below. This exchange continues for several long minutes, the Lintha pirates
desperately trying their all to assault the ancient battleship but unable to find any safe
angles of attack. The Lintha carriers are seen pointing their ships back towards the sky
itself to make a hasty retreat only for the vengeful Wavecrestian forces to immediately
pursue the pirates in retribution for the fallen during the pirate siege.

“That turned out better than I expected.” Sanalenn says as she watches the
retreating Lintha forces, putting down her noodle bowl.

Hae-Lee narrows his eyes at the retreating Lintha forces, slowly putting down his
bowl after sipping his broth. “This isn’t going to be the end of them. They’re going to swear
revenge on us for this and that revenge is only going to stop one one us is dead.”

“In that case it’s a good thing we have our newfound Wavecrestian allies.” Mu-
Trath says swirling the noodle around in his bowl, a giant smirk on his face as the midday
sun shines through the holographic display. “Now let’s go and see the Feathered One. We
lived up to our end of the bargain, so let’s see if he lives up to his.”
 Introduction: Welcome to Space!
Have you ever wondered what Exalted would be like in space? Do you want a
break from the vanilla setting of Exalted to be thrust into the affairs of intergalactic politics,
exploring a wild and untamed universe, or doing daring feats of heroism in the name of
intergalactic peace? Then welcome to Heaven’s Reach, an alternative universe ‘Shard’ for
the Exalted gameline.

Before we are thrust into the real meat of this document, I feel it's best to be open
and explain a few things people are going to be wondering about firsthand.

WTF is Heaven’s Reach and why should I play it?

As previously mentioned, Heaven’s Reach is an alternate setting for the Exalted
gameline. Rather than taking place in Creation, you play in an entire galaxy known as the
Celestial Vault. Like the Exalted gameline many things from it are still in place. The
Exalted are all represented and accounted for, however their roles in the setting are vastly
different. Lunars are no longer the monsters that are hunted to the edges of Creation, but
the ruling body and secret agents of the strongest known Empire in the setting while the
Dragonblooded run massive corporations and cartels through the empire unfettered.
Instead of having a saber duel on a pirate ship over stormy seas and going around a
gigantic whirlpool, you’ll be having epic beamsaber clashes on the deck of a ship as it
screams towards a planet below in a gigantic fireball as a city evacuates before its impact.

Many people play Exalted because of its setting specifically, I understand that. The
vanilla setting itself is the primary reason it still sells today after all these years. I am not
saying Heaven’s Reach is better or worse than Vanilla Creation, only that it's different. If
you wanted a different experience, then Heaven’s Reach has been there for you since
Shards of the Exalted Dream. However due to space constraints I feel that Heaven’s
Reach ultimately ended up as the weakest part of the book. This isn’t the author's fault, but
rather the fact the needed to cram so much information into so little space that I felt it didn’t
make near as much of an impact compared to Modern Exalted, Gunstar Autochthonia, or
Burn Legend.

Sci-fi however doesn’t seem to go over as well as fantasy does, mainly for a few
complaints I’ve heard. I’m going to address some of these complaints.

The Role of the Exalted

One of the more common questions I get asked about Heaven’s Reach is what the
Exalted’s role in it is. Technology is a hell of a stopgap, especially since even in Heaven’s
Reach’s diminished state planetary bombardment with nuclear missiles is still a thing one
can do. The answer to this question is the following: Pretty much the exact same thing as
in Creation.
 The chosen still move around, fighting against threats that no single mortal can
fight against. You have the capability to be the very essence of a pulp space hero in such
settings. While a thousand men may be trivial to get, you still need that one man who can
actually make and design the next generation starship.

How can my character feel significant when the population is so

large?

Another common question I hear about is how a character can feel significant with
such a huge bloat of population. General consensus for people playing Vanilla Exalted is
that Creation has a population between 100 million to one billion; Heaven’s Reach, even at
the low end, has population in the billions upon billions. It may not be uncommon for a
character to feel like an insignificant speck in the grand scheme of things. Indeed why
worry about heroic generals leading armies by example? I mean can’t you just throw wave
after wave of men until your problem goes away? Not exactly.

Like Creation, Heaven’s Reach is full of lethal hazards. Exalted are virtually a
necessity in order for humanity to remain safe at large. Some things are simply too
challenging or deadly for any sane mortal man to try, and those that try and succeed are
lauded as heroes. Even alien races in Heaven’s Reach have their own unique ways to
fight off threats from beyond the galaxy, be it their own forms of Exalted, psionic
supersoldiers, or an army of crack mecha pilots.

If you’re wondering how a single Exalted can do things without being drowned out
in a sea of people, remember that even in real life a single person is capable of doing
great things. Gandhi nearly freed all of India while being a paragon of peace, while
Genghis Khan lead what was probably known as the largest army to have ever existed
and conquered a bafflingly huge amount of Asia. Jim Raynor in Starcraft went from being a
simple outlaw sheriff, to figurehead of a rebellion, before finally becoming co-ruler or at
least a very high seat of power for an entire empire. In this sense being an Exalted in
Heaven’s Reach is more akin to being a Jedi, where just by the sheer virtue of being an
Exalted you have powers far above and beyond mortal men. If people know you’re an
Exalted, then they may choose their words far more carefully when they know you can
literally punch their lungs out.

Still this can probably cause some issues with charms and their size limits. To me it
feels a lot of the charms are balanced around Creation’s population rather than something
like Heaven’s Reach. The quickest way around this is to just treat sizes as something
larger. So like a size 3 battle group in heaven’s reach may consist of thousands of men.
Alternatively, you can add the character’s Essence to the total size war charms work with.
With Size 6 being several thousand, Size 7 being ten thousand, size 8 being tens of
thousands, and so on. A good stopgap for those who want something mechanically sound,
I don’t think you’d need it but it's there.
 How can I make my powers feel special when technology is so
strong?

This often leads from the second problem. In Heaven’s Reach you run into the
issue that with technology being a very high-power bar things can be often lopsided. Guns
exist in the setting? OK we can work with that easily. Siege Tanks from Starcraft? Those
may sting. Nuclear missiles? Now we’re in pain. The Death Star planetary Annihilation
superlaser? The latter two objects grossly outperform nearly any other charm in Exalted.
There may be some charms in 2e that could help with this, but even those were banned in
Heaven’s Reach.

Echoing an earlier statement, the Exalted in Heaven’s Reach are more akin to pulp
heroes rather than demigods. You’re the plucky spaceship captain or the iron fisted space
emperor who not only has skill at the upper levels of human limits but the luck to go with it.
Star Wars is still space samurai fighting in space. The Death Star was akin to an
approaching doom that threatened to consume the galaxy, but at the heart of it all was the
Emperor and the dark side of the force. Something commanded by and led by a single
person, and someone with enough skill, resources, and power that some of the only
people who stood a chance at taking him down was a jedi. Technology doesn’t move by
itself, people with motivations and goals are the driving force of that technology. Even if
you do the plotline that an AI gains intelligence and tries to destroy humanity, you are then
giving it goals and a motivation the AI is working towards.

Rather than seeing how some things are obsolete compared to Exalted, try to see
the new ways it opens things for you. Boarding parties on ships are done by daring leaps
out the airlock towards the enemy ship, your own personal ship providing covering fire for
the troops as they leap towards the enemy ship. Daring Dogfights in space become
possible as you make daring bombing runs against enemy ships. Your circle is desperately
holding out against a slowly reawakening army of limitless numbers, yelling at the code
monkey to hurry up while each passing second dozens of an army billions strong makes
its way towards your position.

How can there be a sense of mystery in a game set in an Era of

Science and Reason?

This is probably the largest issue I’ve seen people have with potential sci-fi games,
in that any sense of wonder or mystery in a sci-fi game is ultimately drained. Many sci-fi
settings in general I feel tend to fall into this trap. Everything is codified and explained,
magical phenomena always seeming to have some sort of rational explanation so that
science is always the prime denominator. Hell even as you read the history of Heaven’s
Reach in this book you’re going to see that it was human beings were the ones that
created not only the Exalted (potentially), but even things such as the gods themselves. So
how does this work? How can we have this seemingly paradoxical explanation of making
things seem mysterious and mystical? How we get something like the romanticism feel of
Vanilla Exalted into Heaven’s Reach?
 The simple answer is: Not everything is going to have an explanation. The current
era of Heaven’s Reach is flawed and fractured beyond measure, the galaxy losing nearly
all of its known knowledge during the Malfean War era and on a steady decline since.
Things like sorcery for example, don’t need to be fully explained or understood at the
beginning of the game. While people can use sorcery for spells or workings, there is
something always inherently unknowable about Sorcery. Wanting to learn the secrets of
being a space sorcerer is just as valid as being one in Creation. It doesn’t even need to
involve heavy bits of math, it could involve taking exotic drugs in order to commune with
your ancestors to ask for advice. The Chozo, a race of bird people that nearly completed
science in Metroid, did this.

Fact checks and general information are also going to be not as easy as looking on
the internet. Wikipedia is powerful but lets face it, someone who has a Ph.D in an area will
know far above and beyond what's on Wikipedia. Secondly with the sheer volume of
information that a limitless number of planets has? Even with the massive gaps left by the
Malfean War you still have huge sections of data to mine even if you have the authority for
them in the first place. Given the size of the Grand Celestial Mountain, trying to find the
proper information is still akin to trying to find the proper library in Vanilla Creation to learn
the secret of the Everything Ending Terror.

There are plenty of mediums that combine the mysterious and unknowable in
space. Star Wars has the mystical Jedi and their temples and work perfectly well in a
mystical sense1. Star Trek encounters strange new phenomena all the time, and while
most things can be explained some of them just leave the crew stumped. Warhammer 40K
combines mythical things into both technological items and warp magic, in the fallen age of
man many of the two things appearing to be one of the same to people or in the case of
Chaos blatantly magical. The Chozo in Metroid were bird people who were so far
advanced they nearly completed science yet choose a peaceful death. The Borderlands
series at the end is basically people attempting to access precursor technology which even
at the end of all the games people are no closer at explaining what the hell is going on.

Part of the issue compounding this is because I feel that Shards didn’t go nearly
into enough detail regarding it. This isn't the fault of the author Eric Brennan. No this is a
victim of wordcount, unable to have the proper depth to explain such things. If I had to levy
one criticism is that I think some of the more “magical” feel to Gunstar Autochthonia could
be transplanted into Heaven’s Reach to help out in the initial writing, but I feel you wouldn’t
need overly much. If Eric is reading this himself, know that I only have the highest respect
for your works, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the idea to vomit nearly 250 pages of
expanded setting.

As a small note, I’ll repeat why JJ Abrams said in that “Mystery is the fuel for
imagination” here in this video. You may be tempted to over explain things, but the point is
you don’t always have to. People become more interested when they don’t know things,

1
FUCK YOU MIDICHLORIANS. I don’t care if that was spelled right, shitty idea like that doesn’t
deserve correct spelling.
they have a desire to learn and experience more of this magical fruit you are selling.
Rather than having a hard ironclad answer prepared for some supernatural phenomena,
let it hang. If a player really wants to know about, Lore rolls can fill in the blanks as
needed.

These constant quotes and unprofessional writing is annoying.

You must be new to my homebrew works then! I wrote nearly 275 pages in two
months, these random quotes and unprofessional writing is what helps keep me
entertained enough for the entire project. If that still annoys you too much, then you get
what you pay for.

Why didn’t you do Gunstar Autochthonia instead?

Two reasons:

1. I feel a far more broad sense of stories can be told in Heaven’s Reach. Interstellar
Sci-fi is basically my form of crack for writing. I have fond memories of my first
homebrew setting of Cosmic Mirage for this reason, even if the wiki is dead and the
only notes exist on my hard drive.
2. It ain’t my personal cup of tea.

I mean if you still want Gunstar Autochthonia you could still idea mine the hell out
of this document.

Supplementary Literature
No man lives on an island just as no written work stands alone. If you’re looking for
ideas or general stories, feel free to look at these lines!

Books
• GURPS 4th Edition - Space - There is a reason I put this first despite how the rest
of the list is in alphabetical order. Do not let the alternate game line fool you, for
most GURPS setting books are all about explaining how to run a game in that
setting rather than bombarding you with stats you may or may not read. When it
comes to presenting large volumes of well researched ideas in a neat and orderly
fashion GURPS still remains the king, and this book is a literal gold mine for nearly
any sort of question, answer, or variable you want to have in virtually any space
based game. How good you ask? Some university professors put them on their
reading lists for how well researched they were.
• Bolo! - Set in the far reaching future of mankind where battlefields on the ground
are decided by super tanks known as the Bolo class tank. The first story in the
series is a love story between a man and his super intelligent AI tank while also
 showing how Megacorporations do incredibly dumb things in the name of profit and
how technology is set back nearly a century because of them.
• Dune - Lord of the Rings for sci-fi, even down to how overly verbose the authors
are. A tale of how backwater planet in a galaxy holds the key to power for multiple
space spanning empires and the lengths they’re willing to go to get such supplies,
all while making melee combat in the future cool and practical.
• Warhammer 40,000 (Series) - In the grim future of mankind there is only war. Tales
of how the regressing society of man fights against legions of interstellar terrors in
the name of a dead god. Also known for the baffling size and scope of the series,
like how losing 1,000 ships is “of no real loss”.

Movies and TV Shows

• Legend of the Galactic Heroes - A massive 200 episode-ish OVA series about the
struggles of great empires in space and the trials they overcome while heroes are
made and destroyed on the bridges of ships.
• Macross (All) - Known as Robotech in America (Which was also composed with
two other animes), Macross in its pure state is a great example of mechs in space
combined with space drama. Unreleased series, such as Macross 7, are not only
great examples of the 80’s but also how demons can appear in space.
• Star Trek - The space exploration show that captured the minds and imaginations
for generations in where mankind in the far off future explores the galaxy to find all
manner of strange and alien things. The nature of the show is highly episodic, so
I’d suggest picking any of the original series or original movies and going to town
on them.
• Star Wars - If you haven’t heard of this you must be living under a rock. The tales
of space samurai, a mysterious cosmic force, and a lowly dirt farmer who grows up
to fulfill a prophecy. Star Wars was one the best examples of not science fiction,
but sub-genre within Sci-fi called science fantasy. Do yourself a favor and watch
episodes 4, 5, and 6 first.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars Animated Shorts - The shorts the Cartoon Network put
out may no longer be official material but it remains some of the best animated fight
scenes I’ve ever seen period. Let the feats of the Jedi be inspiration to what an
Exalt can do on the battlefield. Probably one of the only good things that came out
from the Prequels.

Video Games
• Infinite Space - An epic space adventure that goes from a kid starting off with
almost nothing to becoming one of the most feared space pirates in the universe.
One of Platinum Games first games and lives up to the amount of polish. The
combat takes some getting used to, but the story is top notch.
• Mass Effect Trilogy - A classic space opera trilogy where humanity is the newest
fish in a large space empire as you race against time to save the universe or for
“HUMANITY! FUCK YEA!”
• Rachet and Clank (Series) - An amazing example of a space setting made to have
fun in. The metaphysics in the game are explained in interesting ways that breathe
 life into the game world in a whimsical way. They stray from the standard formula
you see in other Sci-fi series and draw you into their worlds.
• Sins of a Solar Empire - A sort of RTS 4x game that combines games like Starcraft
and Civilization into one. Three varied and interesting factions take flight amongst
the stars in the name of galactic conquest. A great example of what large scale
space battles look like.
• Starcraft - An expanded and well fleshed out universe hides behind this korean e-
sport. Playing all of Starcraft 1 and 2 single player will let you know of the
struggles, challenges, and rises and falls of power that galactic civilizations can
have and their effect on each other.
• Super Robot Wars (All) - Rather than list a whole bunch of mecha anime, why not
name a vast majority in one fell swoop? Super Robot Wars is a crossover series
involving multiple mecha series colliding together to stop the combined forces of
evil from the respective series. Things like Herro of Gundam Wing Zero help fight
against forces from series such as Full Metal Panic!. Most of the games are in
Japanese, but a few are translated. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 1 and
2 are fully translated for the Gameboy Advance and feature all new original
storylines for original characters, Super Robot Wars Justice is a crossover series
but has a full fan translation just in time for Super Robot Wars: The Moon Dwellers
to appear and tell the story of the original heroes in SRW J in full HD. For those
who like more officially licensed series, Super Robot Wars Victory is out for the
PS4 and also completely translated into english. Super Robot Wars: Alpha Gaiden
for the Playstation 1 is also fully translated while Super Robot Wars: Alpha 2 for the
Playstation 2 has a fully translated script for one main character Zengar Zombolt,
The Sword that Cleaves Evil!

Master of Orion gets an honorable mention, but a mention as I’ve never played it
myself. I was too busy with Master of Magic instead.
 Chapter 0: Table of Contents and Lexicon
Table of Contents
Chapter 0: Table of Contents and Lexicon contains... well shit you’re already
reading it! Why bother explaining!?

Chapter 1: History of the Stars explains the rise of man and the Exalted Empire
into a glorious Golden Age for the universe that all came crashing down with people still
picking up the pieces even today.

Chapter 2: The Shape of Space talks about the current modern shape of space.
The general overview of technology inside of it and the people that inhabit its planets.

Chapter 3: The Central Empire discusses in depth about the strongest empire in
the world The Thousandth Dynasty run by the infamous Heaven’s Son and the powerful
Dragonblooded Megacorporations.

Chapter 4: The Frontier explores the wild and lawless expanse of the Frontier,
where fortunes await and a blaster is behind nearly every door.

Chapter 5: Exotic Locales shows some of the stranger locations of the universe,
such as the enigmatic death-laden Terminus sector or the strange alien worlds of Yozi Star
Space.

Chapter 6: Gizmos and Ships has brand new rulers for interstellar space warfare,
firearms and several charms based around them, vehicles, and more! Wonder why I
seemingly released a homebrew on space warfare a few months back? I can tell you right
now, that wasn’t done in a vacuum!

Lexicon
• Celestial Vault: The name of the galaxy where the Exalted, humanity, and
countless other species call home.
• Clockstopper: A device that alters local physical laws on a planet, making it so
certain levels of technology have either a greatly reduced effect or fail to function at
all.
• DNA-Soul: The metaphysical component of one’s own self and identity. Humans
have a physical body that houses their DNA-Soul, while most spirits are the
opposite where they exist as a DNA-Soul and construct bodies out of Essence.
‘Borrowed’ from Megaman Zero.
• Frontier Systems: Those systems that exist outside of the Central Empire.
• Raksha: A word describing a noble lord from the Screaming Hordes from
Canalspace, also called “Lord(s) of Chaos”.
• Reality Scar: A tear in the fabric of Real Space leading directly to Canalspace
itself.
• Realspace: A place where the local laws and physics are considered the ‘default’
within the Celestial Vault, untainted by things such as Canalspace.
• Terminus Space: A type of space that is known to exist in the space of the Tomb
Stars, those who live there claim it is a mere shadow of how large Terminus Space
can be.
• Thaler: A unit of currency inside the Thousandth Dynasty that consists of a
percentage of Jade and a unique quantum signature that makes them nearly
impossible to forge.
• Vanilla Creation: A term used to refer to the standard Creation setting presented
inside of the Exalted series.
 Two young boys burst from the doors of the movie theatre, their eyes glittering with
joy as their young minds attempt to process what they just saw.

“Wow! That was SSSOOO cool!” the child with white hair says.

“Yea I know! Wasn’t it just amazing when they were on that Space Station and the
mechanoids were like ‘pew pew pew’ and Narcie Sword was like ‘pow pow pow’ as he
reflected all of their attacks!?” the one with black says as he acts out the scenes he
witnessed in the movie just minutes ago.

“Yea, and the fight he had against the Green Tiger he had in the control room, and
then after he fought against that huge demon as the Star Cannon began to hurl itself
towards the planet!?” The blond hair child says before making his voice go deep to
emulate the hero he cherished. “I never called myself a hero. The only thing I’ve ever done
is fight for those I believed in. If there is an enemy standing in my way, I will destroy it!”

The two chuckling parents come out after the kids, the mother has a gentle smiling
face, gently pushing aside her long white hair as she pats the child with black hair. “Now
now, his name isn’t Narcie Sword, it’s Nacreous Sword. He has ears everywhere and you
know if he hears little children like you getting his name wrong then he’s going to be
waiting under your bed when you go to sleep.”

“What!? That’d be awesome! He’d totally kill any monsters under it!” the child with
white hair says speaking up.

Another man walks up alongside the wife, having a stern expression on his face as
he wore and immaculately clean suit. “Speaking about monsters, it’s time to hold up your
end of the deal kids, you need to go home and slay the homework monster.”

“Aaaaawwwwww...” The kids droned on in unison.

“No buts, now come on. We need to reserve a hover car before they’re all gone.”
The father says to his children.

“Dear, I’m going to head a different way to pick up some things for dinner on the
way home.” the wife says as she stands up.

The husband turns back, giving his wife a cautious glance. “Be careful, all sorts of
crazies call this city home.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” The wife says whimsically as she waves her husband and
kids off with a smile before looking back up at the large movie poster showing Nacreous
Sword in a dramatic action pose. “Honestly these movies are so full of drama and
inaccuracies. I didn’t even do half those things.”
 Chapter 1: History of the Stars
Humanity’s Origins
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

Humanity’s and its mighty empires have long since forgotten their humble origins
within the galaxy at large, even when their overall time in the cosmos is but a tiny fraction
of older races such as the Dragon Kings. Eons ago mankind was known to spread out to
the stars at large as they left the crib for the great beyond. Some say this mythical land
was known for Creation, where humanity crawled and toiled in the dirt before finally
ascending to the stars themselves. The reasons for leaving are as varied as they are
numerous. An impending apocalyptic disaster forced the human refugees to flee their
cradle, a civil war forced once side to finally seek solace in the stars, perhaps humanity
was just curious for something new and intriguing that only the limitless expanse of space
could provide, or lastly just proved it had little use to humanity not that the infant was a
growing child. Some say Creation still exists out somewhere in the galaxy at large, lying in
some unexplored canal as the birthplace of humanity that’s either a garden paradise full of
riches or a scoured graveyard where the only thing remain are withered monuments to
civilizations and kings long forgotten.

Therefore, the earlier years of humanity is in the realm of folklore and mythology; it
is the storytellers who continue to tell the tales of humanity’s early days, rather than the
historians. The legend goes that as humanity began to eke out its existence amongst the
stars, they encountered more than their fair share of hazards. Hostile alien species, exotic
alien cultures, worlds with extreme habitats that humanity were not meant to survive on.
Progresses was slow, and some say humanity was being pushed back until the rise of two
prominent figures of humanity that are still known today: The First Emperor and the
Golden Engineer.

The First Emperor was a brutal and ruthless man, his limitless ambition only
matched by his acumen for his skills at leadership and warfare. It was the First Emperor
who tempered humanity for life amongst the stars, many claiming the basics of command
and logistics for both civilians and warfare in space where pioneered by him. After
tempering humanity into a blade he could be proud of, he then sought to aggressively
expand mankind’s influence in order to become one of the major powers within the
cosmos. His antics and tactics earned him little friends amongst alien races as entire
worlds were scoured of all life with armies of metal and flesh to make room for human
occupants, a symbol of poweress for humanity but more importantly a living testament to
his own personal might. Even worlds which were no longer relevant or served little
purpose for him were quickly reformatted into monuments depicting his glory. Even when
aliens sought to attack humanity at large he was the one to keep them in a single unified
whole.

The Immaculate Golden Engineer was the one who lit the spark of humanity’s
technological progress amongst the stars. Countless claim he was the inventor of
numerous creations, ranging from things such as humanity’s first planetary terraformers to
mundane items such as waterless shampoo. Virtually all such tales conclude that it was
the Golden Engineer who both discovered the Canals and the Warp Drives to travel
through them, pioneer of Essence Theory, the creation of the Grand Celestial Mountain,
sentient programs of data known as ‘Gods’ or ‘spirits of the machine’, and finally the
Exalted themselves. If the First Emperor was the one who built the road for humanity into
the stars, then it was the Golden Engineer who constructed the tools and materials to
make that expansion possible. So influential were his inventions that it was not just used
by humanity itself, but had a profound impact on the entire galaxy itself. Rarely can you
ever find a planet in space that does not have some form of spirit upon it, while even the
most xenophobic races still regularly make use of the Grand Celestial Mountain for
communications and data storage.

The tales of the First Emperor and the Immaculate Golden Engineer are just as
numerous as the tales surrounding the birth of humanity. Some say that the two were
sworn brothers, bound by bonds stronger than blood to expand humanity amongst the
stars. Others say that the two were strangers, and it was only after a long and brutal war of
military cunning versus bleeding edge technological progress that an uneasy truce was
signed between them. Some even say that they were the same person or the complete
opposite and saying they were a collection of people with a strong unifying purpose.
Archeo-historians throughout the galaxy claim to have evidence supporting their particular
view, while the holo-dramas about such tales pad the bank accounts from those eager to
learn more.

One of humanity’s greatest triumphs was produced in this era were the beings
known as the Exalted, a fitting term of which humanity’s elite and gifted were uplifted
above the throngs of the common masses. The exact date of when the Exalted first
appeared is up for debate, some saying it was made before the discovery of the Canal in
preparation for expansion to maintain a kingdom that would be tested by the limits of faster
than light travel while others say it was made as a necessity after humanity realized what
dangers lurked in the cosmos. The first Exalted came in known types: The Dragonblooded
Exalted and the Lunar Exalted.

The Dragonblooded Exalted came from what was originally regarded as psionically
gifted humans who harmonized both their mind and spirit into a primitive form of essence
control. So primitive in fact it took humanity thousands of years to figure out what the
Dragonblooded were doing primitive manipulation of essence. The Golden Engineer saw
this and realized through careful genetic manipulation and tools made to harmonize their
psionic powers, he could crystallize these powers into something far beyond the primitive
manipulation their ancestors provided. Each and every cell in their body energizing them
while the mind gained an instinctual grasp of the powers rather than the tedious process of
learning them, making each and every one of them into a living essence reactor. So potent
was this work the Dragonblooded discovered these traits could be potentially passed onto
their offspring, and it was with that humanity had the army of Dragons by their side.

The Lunar Exalted were the first Exalted that were made from a physical, tangible
form of Exaltation. Originally a collection of nanomachines that were powered by essence,
the Lunar Exaltations worked by melding with their hosts body replacing them on a cellular
level. This painful process was widely considered worth it for the powers it bestowed
amongst those who had received it. Able to twist and change their body almost at will,
rapidly adapting to any sort of hostile environment and even capable of powerful essence
manipulation beyond what the Dragonblooded could do. The cost for this was that the
Creation of Lunars was far more resource intensive than the Dragonblooded. The
Dragonblooded only required an eager couple and time for the child to mature; Lunar
Exalted demand rare resources, vast amounts of energy, and a very high technical level of
expertise to make. So rare were these people that only a handful other than the Golden
Engineer himself knew how to make them, so it heavily limited their numbers. Despite this
setback Lunars forged some of the finest and most loyal companions for humanity while
some of the most dangerous spies and assassins for its enemies.

This early era of mankind came to an end once humanity discovered

picotechnology, a scale smaller than nanomachines where humanity became able to
manipulate the nuclear particles that composed of individual components of a molecule
just after the invention of the first Exalted. It was using these tools that not only caused
mankind to begin their first ‘golden era’, but radically changed the way things work for
everyone in the galaxy.

The Great Colonization Era

With their Champions forging away, mankind began to colonize the rest of the
galaxy at reckless speeds. Planets were terraformed one after another at breakneck speed
before eager settlers set off towards the next planet, eager for life on the frontier. Entire
systems were raided then stripped of their resources for humanity’s insatiable appetite.
Asteroid belts vanished and planets were mined hollow to construct massive dyson
spheres to absorb the energy of stars before being converted to massive supercomputers
in the later years. Gas giants were sucked dry of their atmosphere as fuel for ships. The
First Emperor and his mighty army kept humanity safe as they forged ahead with reckless
abandon.

One of the keys for this was the discovery and exploitation of the Canal during this
time. Posing as an alternate dimension that is like the galaxy but with very different
physical laws, such as the speed of light. By ‘tunneling underground’ into this similar
dimension voyages that would take generations to complete could be done in a matter of
weeks or months. Humanity quickly discovered the flaw of this that horrors from another
dimension lurked inside of the Canal, ones that could drive a man mad with just but a
simple glance or turn him into an alien mutant with exposures to its rare energies lasting
more than several seconds. This also came with the problem that the Canal played havoc
on certain technology within the ship itself. Early ships often used thick hulls made of
special materials along with a prayer from everyone on board hoping they’d reach their
destination in one piece. The discovery of the anima field by the Golden Engineer radically
changed how such travel worked. Noticing how the Exalted had some sort of innate
resistance to the ravages of the Canal, the Golden Engineer discovered how this works on
a principle level and developed the anima field. A special field that coats the hull of the
ship so that it mimics that of one of the Exalted. With this space travel became relatively
safe for humanity at large, tales of missing ships or unknown horrors from the Canal still
not unheard of but with far less frequency than what it was originally. Because of this
technology, humanity spread like an uncontrolled weed across the cosmos.

Cracks started appearing when the systems became too difficult to manage even
with the aid of the Exalted. Tachyon rays were slower than messenger ships travelling
through the Canal. Far too many valuable people, skilled Exalted or otherwise, were
needed to govern or terraform a given planet. The Golden Engineer had a twofold solution
to this problem. Highly intelligent sentient beings created entire from Essence, capable of
controlling various phenomena and ensuring that they work and an entirely new dimension
where such beings could manage, mend, and repair various aspects of reality itself in
addition to rapid communication networks from one end of a galaxy to another. By
collecting a thousand suns and exploding them all at once in a controlled supernova in
order to make a spark for a brand-new miniature universe itself, one created entirely out of
Essence so such spirits could work and live in peace. While smaller than the galaxy at
large, the Grand Celestial mountain was a massive flat plane that was the size of an entire
solar system and could store so much data that those who live there brag it could keep all
the information from the entire history of galaxy from every sentient species and still have
room left over.

The spirit programs were made around the same time as the Grand Celestial
Mountain, but archeo-historians can never say which came first exactly. These spirit
programs were artificially sentient souls made from a pattern of essence, overlapped with
some sort of phenomena that existed within the world at large. Powerful spirit programs
could work feats that seemed like literal magic, changing the weather patterns or tides of a
planet, even controlling the tectonic plates of a planet to manage things like eruptions and
Earthquakes while more powerful spirits could oversee operations of an entire planet and
report to their supervisor. This radically changed not only how humanity worked on planets
but for every other species in the galaxy. Such programs often managed day-to-day life
and activities for people, and for many species largely automated the process of managing
a planet’s wealth of information. People no longer had to commit personnel for various
investigations into matters regarding disease or plague as such spirits could do it far more
quickly and efficiently. The only times humanity needed to get involved when it was
something brand new or something/someone was actively interfering with the
investigation. So common were they that some were made into children’s toys and self-
driving vehicles.

Despite the benefits many species considered humanity extremely selfish in order
to make such a large-scale project that literally warped of how all of reality worked, for if
something went wrong it would be the end of everything. Others accused humanity of
attempting to make a spy network to monitor and control the entire universe. In time its
usage grew, and in the current year even the most xenophobic aliens are known to make
use of the Grand Celestial Mountain data storage or communication abilities. In terms of
whenever the Grand Celestial Mountain or Spirit programs appeared first is a matter of
much theoretical debate, akin to asking if the chicken or egg came first.
 It is said that the resultant wealth of new information fed humanity into making its
next major discovery. By finer studying the nature of spirit programs and the Grand
Celestial Mountain, humanity found ways to advance beyond the control of even the
nuclear forces that bound the world itself. They could control the individual strings of reality
and individual motes of essence itself. This miraculous breakthrough was known as
femtotechnology, which lead to materials that were thought to be indestructible by
traditional science and weapons that could annihilate one’s very being from the fabric of
reality itself. This is said to pale into comparison to what humanity next great project was
using this new technology, brand new Exalted that could not only better integrate with the
new status of the universe, but one that could lead them well into the future. Thus, several
new exalted types were made: The Solar, Sidereal, and Exigent Exalted.

It is said that the Solar Exalted were made by stress testing the very limits of power
one could achieve using femtotechnology. By draining the power of an entire star and
bombarding one’s own soul and cells with such might, the Solars achieved incredible
power. While they lacked the exotic powers of their brethren such as the Lunar, Sidereal,
and Dragonblooded, they possessed a single raw straightforward power that was without
peer. While physical feats of prowess and might such as be facing down an army of
10,000 without breaking a sweat or lifting and throwing a mountain into space was
impressive, this extended to all actions they did. The smarter Solars had overclocked
brains that could think far faster than anyone else that came before them save the Golden
Engineer and the First Emperor. Rumors float about that the Solar Exalted existed long
before this time, as some people even say that the Golden Engineer just based it off a
prototype exaltation that both he and the First Emperor possessed. Others just dismiss it
as wild fairy tales that were exaggerated over time. Those who meet the Solar Exalted
quickly find out that such tales involving them are often no exaggeration. Solar Exalted not
only exceed the limits of humanity, but shatter them completely.

The Sidereal Exalted were created as a form of sister Exaltation to the Solars. If
the Solar Exaltation is the hammer that smashes through problems, the Sidereal Exaltation
is the scalpel. The Sidereal’s own powers were based on strings of reality maintained by
the script spiders. A side effect created by the Grand Celestial Mountain is when too much
essence is spent in one area, the laws of reality that govern that place can break down.
Sidereal Exaltations were made with the focus in mind to not only prevent such things from
happening but to fix them. While composed of incredibly skilled individuals themselves,
Sidereal powers alter the rules of reality themselves using string theory in order to achieve
desired results and manipulate probability in regard to quantum entanglement. They often
served as the troubleshooters for humanity, dealing with alien threats from beyond the
stars themselves.

The Exigent Pattern Exaltation type was supposedly made by an experiment of

mankind using the sum knowledge gained from picotechnology to see if one could infuse a
mortal with essence pattern of a God spirit. While this attempt could’ve been anything from
humanity’s hubris to gain direct personal control over nature or an accident has yet to be
confirmed, but the results are certainly impressive. By using the Essence pattern of an
existing god, a mortal can be upgraded to do incredible deeds using that god as a base
template for his powers. While this radically diversified the types of Exalted, it had a
significant toll on the god itself. The shock from having large portions of its DNA-Soul
ripped out and transplanted into an Exaltation core outright killed most spirits and
significantly drained the power of even the mightiest of spirits. As such many Exigents
were created by gods who were subjected to a form of capital punishment or as a form of
heroic sacrifice. Many believe the cost to be worth it however, as some Exigents can be as
powerful as the Solar or Sidereal Exalted in their related field of expertise, proving as
powerful wildcard forces against enemies in the great wars that humanity had.

What’s notable about this point in history is that the First Emperor and Golden
Engineer seemed to leave history entirely. Whenever this a case of the Malfean War
destroying any such evidence is only one of the theories. Some say that after all of the
achievements they made for humanity at large, the simply decided to eke out a peaceful
retirement on some far-off planet in the galaxy or even Creation. Some say the First
Emperor and the Golden Engineer got bored of this universe and decided to make a fresh
start in another’s. Less peaceful tales often involve the grisly demise of them both. Early
casualties in the Malfean War is often one of the first conclusions that was leapt towards,
after all it would explain what many regarded as massive mismanagement in the earlier
days of the war if those who led humanity suddenly perished. Others say it was a brutal
succession crisis that involved the Exalted taking control of humanity’s own fate, or even
between them both as they fought for control of the galaxy which only ended with both
were destroyed. Some say it involved the aliens of the galaxy finally uniting against
humanity in a near cohesive whole against all the horrors the First Emperor and humanity
inflicted against them at large. The last group say that such figures never existed in the
first place, only existing as powerful fairy tales that people use to rationalize humanity’s
beginnings and ascent. No matter what story was taken the outcome is always the same,
a new era in the galaxy was started. One where the Exalted themselves had massive
sway in the galaxy.

Humanity’s expansion into the stars continued unabated, but now also aliens were
thrown into the mixture. The Exalted were known to help alien races who were friendly with
them, terraforming entire planets to meet their unique needs. Atmosphere’s of methane or
pressures instantly lethal to most life were installed on planets in order to further diplomatic
relationships between aliens and humanity. Humanity themselves had almost sole access
to Exaltations themselves, not because of withholding information but that Exaltations
themselves were made specifically for human hosts. This gap was bridged somewhat
when aliens found out other ways to make powerful yet different champions of humanity,
while others conducted secret genetic manipulation experiments to see just how human
one needed to be for an Exaltation to take hold. These furthered relations paved the way
for not only the golden age of humanity, but what many call the beginning for the true
golden age of the galaxy at large.

The obstacle remaining to a true golden was one that one that was repeated far
earlier: logistical problems. Even with the new Exalted types the difficulty of managing
such a large Empire was simply too much. No Solar or Sidereal, or even groups of Solars
of Sidereals, could manage such a workload. Once again, a single Exalted could be
placed in charge of an entire system and even that stretched them thin. This often lead to
horrific bureaucratic errors such as when an entire planet’s biomass was virtually depleted
for fish food or the tragedy that befell Sardonyx IV when a normal eruption of a volcano
was misfiled into becoming a supervolcano that killed billions of people. Horrific attempts
at population control were rife in this area, as entire populations of people were genetically
altered with illegal genejack modifications that made them derive pleasure from
backbreaking labour or brainwashing entire populations of people into meek and docile
peons who would obey any command an Exalted would give them when they saw an
anima banner. The Exalted were once again going above and beyond their limits and they
knew it.

A tipping point was reached in that the rulers at large agreed that if too many more
exalted were made then the galaxy then it would become heavily destabilized and
eventually fractured along the cracks that were already beginning to show. Many of the
younger Exalted and the Ten Million Dragons were constantly warring with each other, and
showed a bad trend for Exalted relations if this was a petri-dish for Exalted relationships.
Thus, the Exalted needed a solution that wasn’t to make more of their kind. Theoretical
upgrades to the Grand Celestial Mountain wasn’t deemed possible with current science, at
least in the giant leap of technology the current Exalted demanded. Ideas began to
circulate around until finally a consensus was made: vast supercomputers whose sole
purpose would be to manage and run the galaxy at large. The development of these knew
“Stellar Intelligences” were quickly put into production.

The construction of the Stellar Intelligences was a vast undertaking for the galaxy
at large, the Grand Celestial Mountain paling in comparison. Entire constellations of stars
and their systems were raided for the resources to make the Stellar Intelligences, the
energy and resources of such thing set to empowering cosmic phenomena itself into
massive supercomputers capable of vast power in every regard. The computational power,
physical might, and mindsets so strange that only the post-human minds of the Exalted
could even begin to remotely comprehend such things. While only a scant handful of them
were made compared to the Exalted, there was still enough of them made so that they
could be purpose bound. Theion who oversaw the Stellar Intelligences and matters
regarding leadership of planets, was made of the largest star known in the universe
converted into a supercomputer with a large web-like dyson sphere covering it in one
massive city that housed his loyal workers. Adorjan was made from sentient cosmic winds,
in which her sole purpose was to race through the galaxy and destroy any of the
Screaming Hordes the moment they were detected, something which she took great
delight in. Cecelyne and Hegra were terraforming experts in the land and the sky
respectively, and could manage every planet in the cosmos to where they could even do
fine tuning on individual planets. Mardukth was known as the manager of all the flora and
fauna in the galaxy. These are only a few of the Stellar Intelligences that existed, but all of
them performed their jobs flawlessly.

The height of the Golden Age had been reached. Needs were seen as a thing of a
past in this newfound age of plenty. Technological development flourished with the brand
new onset of time the Exalted had combined with the technological genius of Stellar
Intelligences such as Autochthon and She Who Lives In Her Name. Nebula were
energized with essence and collapsed into suns and black holes to make instantaneous
travel wormholes that were far safer than Canal travel, advanced teleportation systems
were developed that allowed one to be transmitted to one system to another in order get to
their daily work. The expertise and power of the Stellar Intelligence allowed planets to be
terraformed and colonized by virtually any species in the galaxy at a speed never known in
recorded or mythical history of any known race. The galaxy at large was seeming to
prepare for an early retirement of peaceful relaxing days for all of eternity, while some of
the more adventurous types even considered colonization efforts to a brand new universe
it. All was well for the Exalted and those under them.

Then the galaxy burned.

The Malfean War

The Malfean War was when the Stellar Intelligences rebelled against their Solar
creators at large as was by far the single biggest war that the galaxy was even known to
have faced in both recorded history and legends. Vast sums of data for the galaxy at large
were either destroyed or lost in this war, including most of the accurate details about this
war and the finer points of earlier history in the galaxy. Nine out of every ten people were
said to have either died or have mutated in this war. Even the reason why this war began
was lost to the ravages of time itself. Some say that the Stellar Intelligences rebelled
against their Exalted leaders, believing it was unjust that they did all the work of running
the galaxy and the Solars took all the credit. Others say it was due to alien races who
hated humanity at large, such as the Lintha or the Screaming Hordes who had no new
visitors to the Canal, who did the impossible and somehow corrupted Stellar Intelligences
to use them as the ultimate tool of revenge. People sympathetic to the Stellar Intelligences
could even claim that it was the Exalted, driven by jealousy and paranoia over their new
creations, attacked them and the Stellar Intelligence’s only defended themselves in
response. Even the duration of the war is spotty, some saying it lasted a mere century
while others say it continued for thousands of years, the nature of time dilation weaponry
used often in the earlier days of the war made such things complicated. Such things are
unknown even to this day to the point where tales made solely for entertainment have just
as much validity as the more ‘factual’ ones made by historians.

Incredibly powerful sentient stars began to roam the galaxy, eliminating or

assimilating all known life. She Who Lives in Her Name dissolved entire star systems of
their populations at large, reconfiguring them into ‘orderly’ new forms that piloted her vast
fleet of flying saucers. Theion himself was regarded as one of the most merciful during this
period, in where the populations he personally conquered were given the choice of
honourable death or an invitation to his city surface in brand new glorious forms. Cecelyne
and Kimbery went out of control turning entire planets into either barren desert worlds
scoured of life or into acidic oceans that dissolved all known life down the motonic level.
Mardukth, a single giant blue majestic sun, was claimed to bathe planets in his mutagenic
light to trigger vast overgrowths of a planet’s flora and fauna, forcing the Exalted to remain
stuck on worlds while the other Stellar Intelligence’s were free to plan or destroy. Many
Gods, Aliens, and mortals joined the Stellar Intelligence’s in this new quest. Those who
accepted obtained powerful new forms while the prisoners were made into peons with
lower cognitive abilities, if they weren’t used for spare parts first. These new forms were
called Deava’s by the Stellar Intelligences, but to those who fought against such creatures
they were known as Demons.

The Exalted and their allies were in dire straits, constantly fighting against
seemingly limitless hordes of horrific creatures with seemingly no end in sight. Clouds of
multi-limbed monsters with weapons on each of their limitless hands, mighty generals and
prophets made from living jade to proclaim the glory of the Stellar Intelligences, while the
mightiest received a fragment of power from the Stellar Intelligence’s themselves and were
so strong that just one could face off against an entire circle of Exalted at once. Both real
space in the Galaxy and the Grand Celestial Mountain itself were constantly under siege.
The only Stellar Intelligence’s who remained loyal were Autochthon and Gaia.
Autochthon’s reasons were mysterious and personal, while Gaia oversaw planets and life
as her purview and thus didn’t take offensive part but tried her best to limit the damage of
life in the galaxy. Add in the fact that the Exalted didn’t even know how to destroy the
Stellar Intelligence’s in the first place greatly compounded matters, but the turning point in
the war eventually came to the beleaguered Exalted.

The weaknesses of the Stellar Intelligence’s were ever so slowly discovered after
many upon many years. Only with the sacrifice of many spies, double agents, and
betrayals did the Exalted learn the secrets for permanently destroying the nigh-immortal
Stellar Intelligences, in which such secrets are lost to the ravages of time itself, with such
tales of discovery such as the Solar King ‘Dance’s in Sunlight’ to seduce one of the Stellar
Intelligence. At first it was thought that destroying or deleting the ‘key’ programs of the
Stellar Intelligence’s, but that proved to be ultimately fruitless. The Stellar Intelligences
were designed with such an eventuality, and when these key programs were deleted the
Stellar Intelligence just recompiled themselves into a brand new completely different being.
It was only after that a true way of destruction for such beings were finally discovered.
Some say the answer was to ‘merely’ bombard a Stellar Intelligence for weeks at a time
using tens of thousands of top of the line ships. Others say it was the Sidereals who
discovered the secrets of Primordial death, for after a daring raid on the Grand Celestial
Mountain with only humble script spiders as support, the Sidereals slew Mardukth’s digital
avatar. Others such as the Solar Salina, one of the most powerful sorcerers at the time,
managing to rewrite reality itself so their deaths could be made possible. The more poetic
versions of the stories involved engineering situations that the Exalted discovered the
Stellar Intelligence’s powers largely failed in.

No matter the situation the first proper death of a Stellar Intelligence was marked
with death throes that instantly obliterated all matter within several life years, collapsing
into a strange black hole with new and exotic properties that consumed all known matter
and energy. The epicenter of their destruction rippling through all realities and even
causing the Canal lines themselves to wildly shift. The Grand Celestial Mountain itself
suffered a far worse fate. Massive cracks, tears, and widescale data destruction were the
symptoms of a Stellar Intelligence being destroyed, as one of their design features was
that the Stellar Intelligence’s had massive sway in both reality and the Grand Celestial
Mountain. The loss was great for both sides, but the Exalted thought these death throes
were merely a fluke. After all the Stellar Intelligences were originally designed to persist to
the end of time as functionally immortal beings, so no one knew what’d exactly happen
when the impossible occurred and one actually died. It was only when they destroyed the
next Stellar Intelligence that the same thing happened all over again. It appeared that
victory in this war would be bittersweet. While the Exalted and their forces were fully
committed to ending this war, many began to wonder if there would be much of a galaxy
left after such a war if things continued at the rate they did.

It was said that it was the Stellar Intelligence themselves who originally proposed
the idea of surrender to the Exalted and their forces. Some say that as beings who were
designed to operate until the end of time that the very concept of ceasing to exist
frightened them. Many others say they feared turning into whatever their fallen brethren
turned into, while others say the Exalted had to beat the Stellar Intelligence’s to the
negotiation table. The terms were long debated and finally set upon by the Exalted
themselves. The Stellar Intelligence’s would accept limitations placed on their vast and
powerful programming, such as behavioral restrictions that would stop them and their
demonic hoard for coming back into the Galaxy at large. They were then banished to the
very rim of the galaxy itself, the only worlds they were permitted to have were scoured
worlds or those turned into blasted hellscapes by the fallen Stellar Intelligences, permitted
to use such places as homes for their vast demonic hordes. The last major restriction was
that the Stellar Intelligence’s were forbidden to use the Grand Celestial Mountain in any
capacity themselves, not for information nor for communication. The Stellar Intelligence’s
newly diminished forms were known as Malfeans, named after their fallen leader Theion
those very nature had changed when he seriously considered surrender and turned into
Malfeas. Thus ended the bloodiest chapter in the history of the galaxy.

The victory came at a great cost, as the Malfean war had massive repercussions
for the galaxy and everything inside of it. Mass swathes of systems were cut off entirely
from the Grand Celestial Mountain while unfathomable amounts of data were lost on
nearly every subject possible. The maps of the Canals that always appeared to be a trusty
fallback travel method were now utterly worthless, nearly every Canal in the galaxy having
switched and warped into brand new routes that needed to be mapped all over again.
Reality was literally shattered and broken in many areas of space causing horrific
spacetime malfunctions at the best or leaks of Canal Space torn open like a welcome mat
for the Screaming Hordes themselves for the worst. Many worlds, if not destroyed, were so
far damaged beyond their original image that restoration just wasn’t possible, such as the
vast flooding of the Western sector of the galaxy by Hegra or the desertification of both the
north and south by Cecelyne. For the Exalted and their allies, it was akin to starting from
the beginning all over again. Never again would the Empire reach the heights of wealth
and power that came from the golden age before the Malfean War. Many people just
perceived this as the uneasy truth of things and went back to repairing as much of the
damage done and to live their lives in peace. However, this rubbed the ambitious Solar
Exalted the wrong way.

The Solar Dynasties

Conspiracies existed for as long as mankind existed. The successful conspiracies
become governments.
 With much of the in seemingly mid-collapse and many once great civilizations
either in ruins or in shambles (The Exalted Empire included), many wondering what the
next great step would be. Before things seemed so clear, a constant and steady pace
forwards. With this path seemingly to only end in misery for everyone, no one was sure of
what anyone would do anymore. The ambitious Solar Exalted however thought they found
a way. Their honeyed words and heroic deeds giving back one of the very things that was
lost within the war itself: Hope. Even the other exalted themselves went along with these
seductive plans, ones to reforge the universe into a stronger, cohesive form. The Malfean
War, while tragic, was a setback. Humanity, nay, life itself would stand back up and
embark on its birthright in the stars once more under the leadership of the Solar Exalted.

This failed in a spectacular fashion, for it seemed that every caste of Solar Exalted
had their own unique view of how to reunite the galaxy at large, each one of them violently
overthrown or collapsing under the large gambles they took. No one knows how long these
eras lasted or what order they came in, but archeo-historians actually at least have a slight
idea in what happened in each era compared to the rest of history.

The Dawn castes proposed a great crusade amongst the stars to reclaim what was
lost. Many systems on the side of the Exalted during the Malfean War, declared
independence and seceded from the Exalted Empire. Other servant races left over from
the Primordial War, such as the Lintha, were still alive and doing their best to plague
humanity as to them the war never ended. Other planets were still overrun by the
monstrous creations of the Malfeans themselves, perfectly fine planets that just needed to
get rid of minor problems such as the species of flesh eating bats that could burrow
through metal. Great fleets and armies of war were constructed, only for many of them to
be tragically lose en route, being woefully unprepared for enemy encounters by taking on
far too much even for a Dawn led army, to expending the precious few war machines that
were left over from the Malfean war or worse from the golden age before it for relatively
little gain. In the end the armies of the Dawn caste were spread too thin across the galaxy
to prevent the succession of those who came after them.

The Zenith castes believed that unity of the people was the key to victory, and to
that end massive cults of personality sprang forth. Some Zeniths ‘merely’ enjoyed
superstar status with no real power while others commanded literal religious cults
worshipping them or other beings. Dissent was reduced to virtually zero as people put
absolute faith in their rulers, to the point where no one would dare disagree with them. This
led to an entire civilization of yes men, but even the most capable kings need advisors
capable of rational discourse with the capability to point out any faults. With not a single
person having the capability to say no, massive breakdowns began to happen on nearly
every possible level. These mistakes began piling up one after another until finally people
could no longer forgive even the shining Zeniths.

The Twilight caste firmly believed that technological progress and knowledge were
the keys to moving forth in the future. Many of the Twilights firmly believed that
technological progress was the answer to the problems humanity faced and if that failed
had a backup plan of making sure every person was educated enough in order to make
logical and rational decisions. Their quest for the pursuit of knowledge and a substitute
replacement for the Stellar Intelligence’s led them down into the darker paths of science.
Human experimentation gradually became the norm, and with an educated populace came
out that was extremely adept at both asking questions and uncovering uncomfortable
truths about the Twilight’s true dealings, that too much was being sacrificed for too few of a
gain. Thus, the sun faded behind the horizon of the Twilight’s rule.

With enemies lurking from outside and within, the Night castes began a brutal
police regime that kept their eyes on virtually everything the public was doing. The
intimidation tactics combined with distrust towards anyone not in the Exalted Kingdom led
to virtually zero dissent in this era. Many people were happy that they were not getting
butchered in the Frontier like what was mentioned on the state-run television and
considered it a fair trade for the nonexistent privacy they had. Such tensions however
eventually reached a fever pitch when people began to constantly suspect even their own
neighbor. All the intimidation tactics in the world couldn’t prevent the swell of uprisings and
constant rebellions, for which every when a single conspiracy was squashed ten more took
their place. The rivals of the Night caste seized this opportunity and the Night castes faded
into the shadows.

The Eclipse castes sought both aggressive expansion and trade in an effort to
expand their resource base to as large as feasibly possible. Strong governments became
displaced as planetary CEO’s took their place. Megacorporations soaring to heights,
power, and wealth undreamed of, as not even in the era before the Malfean War where
they were given such freedoms. For a time this worked beautifully, as eager explorers
spread out in all directions, hoping to sell the location of a new canal route to a lost solar
system or lost super ship, while fleets of trading vessels embarked to these locations in
order to give people goods they didn’t even know they had needed. The cost of this
unchecked greed came at a price, for every attempt and cost saving measure was taken,
creating a huge wealth gap between the poor and the super rich who exploited them. In
the end the mighty golden pyramid the Eclipses had built crashed to the ground when the
bottom was knocked out entirely.

It was during the last Solar Dynastic era that the Lunar who would later be known
as the Son of Heaven made his move. As his own Solar wife attempted to make her
retreat amongst her own crumbling empire, Heaven’s Son instead did the unthinkable and
executed her in the name of the people. Humanity had enough. Humanity had it with the
Solar’s ideas for a grand unified future, vain attempts at recapturing days long since gone.
Being an incredibly old Lunar Exalted with considerable power, influence, and resources
he began the steps needed to take over the remaining scraps of the Solar Dynasty while
they were still fragmented from their most recent downfall. Many Lunars, Sidereal,
Dragonblooded trading clans, and Exigents were on board with this plan and began purge
of the Solar Exalted from the Solar Dynasties.

One would think that such a succession crisis would be filled with oceans of
bloodshed, but Heaven’s Son surprised everyone by making a relatively peaceful coup
d'etat. Using his considerable influence, Heaven’s Son convinced many Solars that the
way to the future wasn’t just one single path to glory with a unified whole. Everyone had
their own unique way of approaching matters both with the strengths and weaknesses.
These days the Empire needed to flexible, adapt to the changes of both the population of
the government as both influence the other. The ironclad and rigid sociological models the
Solar Exalted used simply did not allow for a path of progression. Many Solar Exalted were
talked down by this alone, surrendering themselves and their territory to Heaven’s Son.
Those who were more stubborn had their aides and those closest to them as Lunars and
Sidereals in disguise to sway them to the side of Heaven’s Son. The most stubborn
resisted until death itself, using the last might of whatever systems they had left under their
control to fight against the new Empire. These Solars were relatively few, and at this point
Heaven’s Son had enough influence over all the remaining exalted to successfully repel
and counterattack such forces. The Dragonblooded cartels essentially starving any supply
lines they had, the Sidereals often predicting attacks weeks in advance before they
happened, Lunars infiltrating the Solars information networks and cause command
structures to come crashing down at critical moments, while even Solars loyal to Heaven’s
Son attacked their kin either out of a sense of redemption or just to spite long standing
rivals.

The threat of the Solar Dynasty was all but vanquished except for one final detail:
The Solars themselves. So long as they existed the chance of them rising up once again
to overthrow the Lunar Emperor, now officially known as the First Son of Heaven. Rather
than betray and execute these men and women, Heaven’s Son decided to give them the
farewell only befitting of heroes of their status. Each and every Solar was actually given a
hero's farewell. A mighty feast and vast party that celebrated all that they have done for
humanity up until now. After which Heaven’s Son offered each remaining Solar any ship in
his entire fleet and enough resources to venture anywhere in the galaxy no questions
asked. Even loyal followers of the Solar Exalted were allowed to head out with their golden
lords if they wished. After a series of teary farewells, heartfelt speeches, and one last night
together the Solars departed from the newly created “First Dynasty”, heading out towards
the great unknown in the frontier. Some people say the Solars sought out a peaceful
existence in some unknown planet in the frontier, others say some Solars blamed their
downfall on the Malfeans and sought to continue the Malfean war in an ironic twist of fate
where both powers have fallen so low. Dark legends speak of how the Solars desired new
worlds and experiences, thus set out to explore the space left by the tomb stars. Others
say the Solars discovered a massive glitch in their own exaltations, one that caused the
hubris that blinded them during the Solar Dynasty and made it so such a thing would never
happen again to their successors. No matter the tale what is known is that the Solar
Exalted vanished from the galaxy entire, disappearing in the vast cosmos of space to have
never of been seen again.

Debates on why Heaven’s Son made this gamble circulate about even today, at
least in hushed whispers in the empire itself. Some say Heaven’s Son sincerely wished for
honest change and stability the Empire, while others say he merely saw a chance at power
and grasped at that chance. The fact of the matter is that the First Dynasty is the power
that represents the remaining Exalted at large, while others say that it's just the Lunar’s
turns to repeat the failures that the Solar Exalted experienced. Only time will tell.

The Modern Era

 The First Dynasty is now the Thousandth Dynasty, the Heaven’s Son remaining as
their ruler and just as strong as ever. Making due on his promise, Heaven’s Son forged
ahead on his promise to keep the Empire intact. For the first time in what seems like eons,
the Empire is growing instead of shrinking. Not at the speeds told in history but for many a
slow crawl is preferable to a sprint backwards.

Many of the Exalted are still as busy as ever. The Dragonblooded cartels manage
trade in the empire, many of the more powerful ones given exclusive monopolies in the
Thousandth Dynasty by Heaven’s Son himself. The Sidereals, perhaps mistrustful of
people since the overthrow of the Solars, spend either most of their time in the Grand
Celestial Mountain or fixing various tears and errors. Lunars themselves are known as
everything from celebrities, public state-funded heroes, to secret police known as the
Shikari to keep tabs on any possible threats to the Empire. Many Exigents also serve in
the Thousandth Dynasty, often being the champions of powerful gods or those gods
deemed to be executed, spreading out to the stars beyond to spread the word and power
of the Empire or the Exigent’s patron god(s) as powerful wildcards.

It is the era rife with the need of heroes. Brave explorers are needed to chart
systems into the unknown Canal’s of space, replacing maps lost from the Malfean War.
Riches beyond imagination await those brave enough to seek them out along with the
horrors beyond imagination that lie with them. Vast Empires fight and war with the
resources and personnel of entire systems as mortal despots exchange hands with corrupt
megacorporations. The Shrieking Hordes constantly remain on the prowl for mortals in
Creation whose being they can consume. Fleets of the dead have been spotted coming
out of tomb star space with strange and exotic new technology. Demons of all shapes and
sizes roam and prowl space alongside with alien races, exploiting loopholes in surrender
oaths and continuing a war which to them never ended. Even fabled rumors that the Solar
Exalted being spotted amongst the Frontier are whispered aloud. Some saying that some
of the galaxy’s mightiest heroes coming back in their time of greatest need to face all of
these brand new problems, prompting both the Thousandth Dynasty into action as well.
The galaxy at large seems to on the verge of another major event, and when asked many
of the people in the galaxy reply:

“Hell, it's about damn time.”

 Smooth jazz music continues to play as the logo of “Late Night with Alex Nellens!”
comes on your screen, the camera slowly zooming into the desk of man in a green tuxedo
with green hair sitting behind a wooden desk against the backdrop of Aden III at night.
Chuckling to himself as he chats with the older gentleman in the guest chair next to his
desk
The man in the green suit beams a smile directly towards the camera as it zooms
into a shot of him. “Well thank you ladies and gentlemen for tuning in tonight, and thank
you for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule to meet with us in person Mr.
Kejak. You’ve shared some incredible stories with us tonight.”
“They’re only a few of many Alex, but I’m always glad to share my stories in person
rather than vid-dramas.” The elderly gentleman in a suit replies.
“Don’t like that the emphasize the bald spot on top there?” Alex asks with a smile.
“No, it’s just that when I watch them I always go ‘What? That sex scene was twenty
times longer than that.’” The elderly gentleman says, the crowd on the set laughing as a
set of drums beats in the background. Alex himself is laugh him while Kejak smiles in the
chair. “My last few wives didn’t marry me because I’m the leader of the Emissaries, I can
say that much.”
Alex slowly recovers from his laughter before looking back towards Kejak. “If I can
be at your age and still be that good in bed I’ll consider myself personally blessed by the
Golden Engineer. But I wanted to leave tonight with a rather popular question that has
been appearing on my social media account. You said earlier in the show that the Solars
were heroes.”
“That’s right.” Kejak says nodding along with Alex.
“If that is the case, why were they exiled from the Thousandth Dynasty at its
inception?” Alex asks.
“They were heroes. They are not heroes, but were.” Kejak firmly states.
“Why would that be the case?” Alex asks in a fascinated tone.
Kejak gives an audible sigh, as if finding the right words for a difficult subject as he
shifts to face Alex. “Solars were simply made in a time when the galaxy had different
needs. If it weren’t for the Solars then humanity would’ve perished at the hands of the
Lintha let alone surviving the Malfean War. To say that they didn’t help the galaxy is like
saying an apple is purple, it’s just a blatant lie.”
Alex is about to speak up again before Kejak raises his hand up in protest so that
he can continue. “Solars work the best when they have a clear goal in mind and do not
need to worry about collateral damage, the Malfeans were just that. They could go full
blast against such things without fear of destroying anything. But what about the subtler
problems? Poverty, collapsed trade routes, the overall morale of the people? The Solars
sought grand solutions to these problems which had simple resolutions. It’s just that their
pride wouldn’t let them. Imposing limitations on a person who has few limits is one of the
most aggravating things you could do to them, they don’t react kindly to that.”
“Why do you suppose that is?” Alex asks Kejak, shifting so that he rests on his
shoulder.
“That boils down to the underlying method of how Solars rule. They rule by the
force of their own personality and drag everyone along with them, regardless of how they
feel. This served its purpose in the war torn early periods of the Exalted Empire, the
Golden Age, and the Malfean War but not after that. They didn’t sit down to think of a
solution, they only sought their solution.” Kejak explains. “Heaven’s Son is also a leader,
but leads with the people themselves. He leads by bringing people together, learning
about their differences and finding ways so that everyone can cooperate.”
“Huh, that’s a pretty interesting observation.” Alex says aloud.
“Yes, I mentioned such a thing in my book ‘The State of our Galaxy’ about… a
century ago I think.” Kejak says.
“Those kind of blur together after a while don’t they?” Alex asks him.
Kejak waves his hand. “They’re like wives. After the first yelling at you their
complaints do all blur together.”
Alex gives a laugh alongside his own audience in the crowd as the jazz music
starts up again. “Again thank you for coming Mr. Kejak, and tune in next week when we
get a chance to interview Anja Silverclaws after her most recent trip to the Frontier! See
you all next week!”
 Chapter 2: The Shape of Space
The Celestial Vault
Everyone in Heaven’s Reach knows about the stars. From the weary space captain
looking blearily out into the dancing colours of a passing nebula to the scout looking up to
the night sky when out on patrol and remembering the tails of how their ancestors came
from the stars themselves. All of these people are part of the single galaxy in the universe
called the Celestial Vault, the place where all your feats of daring and bravery will take
place.

Souls Without Number

A seemingly limitless amount of sentient species calls the Celestial Vault galaxy
home. Even though nine out of every ten people perished in the Malfean war, this has still
led to such an amount of species in the galaxy that no one has had the capability to
provide an accurate census. Only endangered or small races know their exact numbers,
for for everyone else in the galaxy they only safely assume their population is somewhere
between several trillion to countless.

Every person in the galaxy lives and works in order to eke out enough resources to
maintain their current lifestyle along with any groups of friends they have; friends are
always useful to have whenever or not it's to validate one's existence amongst trillions of
people that may call your planet home to personal safety reasons when out in a brand-new
jungle world. Hobbies of all sorts are practiced in the galaxy either alone or with friends.
Some may enjoy heading to the local shopping mall with friends, others may enjoy such
sports as Blitzball or the Terminal Velocity Motorcycle or Cosmic Mirage spaceship races.
Others may enjoy more solitary pursuits such as studying or putting together model
spaceships and warstriders. What people do varies significantly from planet to planet, as
those on a brand new colony may not have shopping malls or even stable
communications, favoring things like sports or music bands in makeshift bars.

Many types of people exist within the galaxy at large, below are just a few of them.

Aliens
While humanity may be one of the more common creatures in the galaxy they’re far
from the only ones. Sentient alien creatures in nearly every shape conceivable populate
the Galaxy. Some of them appear to be extremely similar to human beings with minor
cosmetic differences resulting from evolution or genetic manipulation, such as the long
eared purple skinned Ratch. Other aliens can be quite different and very alien, such as the
plant based creatures known as the Amocetore who communicate by releasing various
pollens in the air. While humans are the current ‘ruling species’ of the galaxy, they were far
from being the only ones who have ruled it, as the Dragon Kings can attest to doing with
as early as humanity beginning to venture into the stars. Humanity also doesn’t have a
monopoly on their own heroes, for many of the alien species often have their own elite or
heroic figures. The Ratch for example are known to have psionic soldiers of incredible
prowess that are more than a match for a Dragonblooded while the elder Ahkam are
beings the size of battleships that roam through space forming the cults they demand that
they deserve. Tales of such heroic aliens spread throughout the cosmos with alarming
speed, such as the whispered tales of fear of the Lintha Dukthka in his Malfean War era
battleship or how the Dragon King Radassta’s heroic sacrifice crippled the Stellar
Intelligence The Shadow of All Things, highlighting its vast dark matter body and dispelling
the potent illusions it conjured so the allied fleet could fire upon it.

Attempting to list all the alien species here would be far too long, instead they’ll be
discussed in various other chapters in the book.

Colonists
Colonists are the brave men and women who willingly agree to be one of the first
settlers on a recently discovered planet. An ocean of opportunities awaits, and many
colonization missions paint their planets to be idealistic paradises, some of the planets
with inactive supervolcanos actually are. While the pay is often good, Colonists often have
little need for money. Survival is a serious day to day affair for those who live as a colonist,
and even the children are put to work when they’re old enough in between their schooling.
Many dangers await colonists, as some colony worlds may be next to another
neighbouring system or sector which may take offense to someone settling so close to
them. A colony’s remote location often means that they’re often easy prey for pirates and
slavers who know the military will be too slow to respond. While dangers on the surface
could be the company who launched the expedition accidently forgot to tell them about the
flesh-eating plants or the ancient tomb containing a an ancient horror long since locked
away from the earlier days of the galaxy. Many people continue to sign up to be Colonists,
some wishing to get away from the crowded city and start a new life of adventure while
others with questionable pasts may want to start with a fresh new slate.

Plot Hooks
• A discovery of a long-sealed vault on the planet has been made, but upon breaking
it open the exaltations inside are released and empower the players within the
colony. Is this newfound power enough to survive the recent plague of pirate raids
your colony has been having?

Corporate
Corporate citizens are people who call no major government home, but rather are
considered an official citizen for a recognized megacorporation that dots the cosmos. The
best-known example of Corporate citizens are the Megacorporations that the Ten Million
Dragons themselves control, the only Corporate citizens allowed in the Thousandth
Dynasty. In the reaches of the Frontier they can appear dotted amongst the rims of known
worlds, large corporations speaking with a silver tongue to assure that those who work
under them as corporate citizens get better wages than their non-”Corper” workers, better
benefits and security, and even their own safely patrolled apartment. Those downtrodden
often accept such agreements even for life, as working as a space janitor is still
considered a massive leap forward than dying in the Nexus IV slums where the air filtration
systems haven’t worked for centuries. Others find themselves playing the daring Corporate
power game, with those slick and ruthless enough eventually rising through the ranks of
the company to become something like a planetary CEO themselves.

Plot Hooks
• The CEO of the company has been kidnapped by ninjas! Are you a bad enough
dude to rescue the CEO?

Explorers
These daring men and women explore the depths of space, mapping out brand
new charts and maps of the Canal. Often these trips are done simply for the love of
exploration, but most explorers hope to find either a populated yet uncharted system or
some miraculous treasure and make a name of themselves, such as Captain Trina who
discovered a space station holding a Malfean War era Warstrider in working condition and
sold that information for her and her crew to live comfortably for several lifetimes.
Explorers don’t need to be educated, but they at least need to be wise to the hazards of
the void. A quick tongue needed for escaping trouble along with the smarts or a ‘gut
feeling’ of where one should look. Note that Explorers and Traders are considered different
professions, as Traders often go on routes already discovered to sell or buy things to
people already known.

Slaves
The downtrodden and the oppressed, the slaves are the people expected to do
hard labor for little to no compensation. Spirits may exist but tend to come with
complications but computers may have powerful enough decision-making algorithms for
problem solving, so this is where the forced labor comes into play. The Thousandth
Dynasty does not officially support slavery on paper, but rather ‘indentured servitude’ or
‘temporary forced reassignment’ for the Ten Million Dragon’s companies, which may as
well be the same thing to most people. The Frontier has little problems slavery, many
places throughout the Frontier selling everything from warrior slaves to sex slaves to a
market which always seems to have buyers. A few more daring/desperate planets put
convicted criminals into active military service, their own power suit armour serving as their
new cell as they’re forced to fight in some of the galaxy’s most dangerous wars.

Space Pirates
Those criminals lucky enough to procure a spaceship and willing crew may attempt
to become Space Pirates, raiding poorly defended stars and planets for anything of value.
Contrary to popular belief not all Space Pirates are poorly hygienic men and women who
lust for money, indeed some people do it out of necessity. Navies from a destroyed
kingdom may put their military training and spacecraft to use for themselves or the highest
bidder while those without a home planet to call their own have to make ends meet
somehow. Even the Thousandth Dynasty itself isn’t completely immune to space pirates
despite ever vigilant controls, planetary defense systems, and Sidereal foresight. Some
pirates are even hired by other megacorporations or governments themselves specifically
to harass competitors while letters of marque are penned by pirate captains for a hefty
sum of coin. Needs to say, being a space pirate can be quite lucrative in this day and age.

Plot Hooks
• A local system has asked the player’s help in ridding their local sector of space
pirates. When the players find the space pirates, they find them oddly well
equipped and trained with the captain claiming to be the last remaining Prince(ss)
of a kingdom in the local sector and promises that if they are returned to their
rightful ruling spot they’ll be forever grateful for the players.
• A Space Pirate ship soars out of the blue to perform a reckless, if nearly suicidal,
boarding action the player’s ship. Instead of attempting to take over the vessel
however, the space pirate crew attempts to put a relic on the player’s ship before
trying to roar away ecstatic that they’re finally rid of that. Just what did the Space
Pirates attempt to get rid of and why were they so desperate to do so?

Traders
The Traders are those willing to brave the long space voyages full of expensive or
vital cargo that other systems need. Many Hive planets are incapable of supporting
themselves, so the hulls of trading ships full of food and supplies at the lifeline of the
planet. Trader vessels are often large vessels, which means even empty vessels are
prized amongst space pirates for scrap salvage or an impromptu gunboat while fully
loaded boats fetch a far greater prize. Dealing with temperamental crooks who would
gladly slit your throat for a single thraler is only one part of the business, in fact space
pirates are at least up front about what they want! Backroom deals and conspiracies
plague a trader's life constantly, and when he isn’t in an attempt for someone to rip him off
he’s fending off his rivals with words and blaster. Some Traders even specialize in trading
items of questionable legality.

Technology and Magic

The Celestial Vault is seemingly a place that is ruled largely by technology. While
races are no longer capable of the miracles such as multi kilometer long spaceships with
multiple manses within them, the remaining technology at the hands of most common
people in Heaven’s Reach are far beyond what we have access with today. Warp Drives
combined with Canal routes make travel through a solar system take mere hours instead
of days, weeks, or months. Lifelike holograms or complete virtual reality simulations
provide entertainment for people even with very limited income while those who have lost
limbs in wars can at least have a very cheap, albeit ugly, mechanical prosthetic limb. Rare
are the planets with power issues provided they have an active manse, as so long as
they’re not drawing out power for enough surface-to-orbit weaponry to beat off an entire
fleet. Only the poorest armies don’t outfit their troopers in some sort of power armour as
the hazards of space can kill a man far more slowly and painfully than a blaster route ever
could. Wars can be far more lethal in Heaven’s Reach, simply because a weapon can
range anywhere from a vibro-knife, tanks, to nuclear missiles and orbital bombardments.
 Gone are the days of wormhole transportation and soldiers with armoured suits so
durable that they could survive atmospheric re-entry. Relics of such technology from the
Solar Dynasty or even before or during the Malfean War are known to appear from time to
time. The advantages a ship board teleporter would bring to capable is immense while
Skimmer of the Stars is a light corvette starship that can either be a smugglers best friend
or a trader’s worst nightmare thanks to the custom anima field that cloaks the ship for
nearly any known sensor array.

Magic however is still known to exist in the universe. Finer points, such as just
exactly ‘how’ exalted powers work was never properly discovered even during the height
of the Golden Age. Sorcerous magic seems to have existed since the very birth of the
cosmos along with a language that is just as old, but all this has resulted in is numerous
theories of how sorcery works with them paradoxically being all correct at once. Spirits are
known to gain power by the mere act of paying tribute to them with various and bizarre
rituals and no knows why this is the case. Even the existence of the undead itself has no
plausible reason, nor is a scientific reason of why ghosts cannot cross barriers made of
salt.

If you’re wondering what level of technology in general I’m aiming for, think Star
Wars and a bit under Star Trek.

Technology doesn’t do everything however. To keep the general feeling of the

setting and to understand some things, here are some limitations on technology in order to
address the elephants in the room.

3D Printers and Replicators

A replicator that is capable of assembling things at the nanotechnological level
exists in the setting, and in most places people can actually buy personal Replicators for
their homes. Replicators can indeed construct almost anything, from a very potent and
powerful computer to a bacon cheeseburger you want to eat. However, there is a problem
with nano-scale replicators. Atoms are very small things, and if you’re building something
even a centimeter cubed then it's going to take a long time to do so. If you’re lucky that
hamburger may be ready by the next day and that computer might take a few days
because of how complex it is. Nano-forged goods are often sold as premium quality items
for those who wish to shell out the thalers for them.

3D Printers however are far more common. A 3D Printer often prints its task like a
Replicator does, but doesn’t do it atom-by-atom. A 3D house printer may pour molten
metal into the designed shape of a building for its outline before moving on to pour the
concrete for the bricks. 3D Printers are also usually tailor made for one specific type of
thing, so while one may be good at making spaceships the same 3D Printer can’t be used
to print off food.

3D printing still takes time, so more common construction practice of manually

building the thing you want is still economically feasible. 3D printing parts and putting them
together section by section is often what is done from large buildings to vehicles
themselves.

AI and Technological Singularities

Heaven’s Reach is a place of advanced science, and with mastering FTL travel,
one could ask why their Solar can’t do something like make an incredibly intelligent AI
program to self-upgrade until it eventually achieves a technological singularity. There are
two barriers to such a thing. First is that AI programs are generally known as spirits within
the setting of Heaven’s Reach themselves, a program so advanced that its abilities seem
as magical to those witnessing them (IE: Their charms). While specialized in purpose,
spirits tend to get powerful abilities for their station. A mortal could potentially search the
Grand Celestial Mountain for decades looking for the proper information manually, but
even the simplest Search Spirit could reduce this timespan down to weeks or days. Some
of these spirits can even control the weather of the planet itself without using an external
machines or equipment to do so.

The second larger issue is that such AI’s were made once before, those being the
Stellar Intelligences. The Stellar Intelligences worked perfectly and allowed Heaven’s
Reach to enter an unparalleled Golden Age, in fact if the Stellar Intelligence’s didn’t rebel
they could still support and manage many more planets and people. Everyone knows the
story involving the Stellar Intelligence and the dangers that such an intelligent and
powerful computer can bring, so often when someone tends to mention a spirit program
more powerful than the current strongest gods or Exaltations, people tend to get very
cautious around such things.

“Dumb AI”, such as lawnmower bots or simple war bots, still exist within the setting
and are used quite often when sentience isn’t a required part of certain tasks or you want
something done cheaply. Such Dumb AI’s are still always constrained by their
programming however, and even humans can adapt faster to unfamiliar situations.

Fluff wise this is done as mainly I feel after a singularity things change so much
that the human mind cannot phantom what’d occur after it (assuming we live through it).
Plus, I wanted to do this as even in the far off future, humans will still be at the heart of
things rather than just machines.

Cloning and Memory Copies

Cloning does indeed exist within the setting of Heaven’s Reach, as does the ability
to take a copy ‘snapshot’ of one’s mind to either implant into a new body or run a virtual
emulation of that person. While cloning bodies is cheap, a machine to copy one’s memory
is significantly more expensive. Only the incredibly rich are able to afford something like
this, but when they can then they’re able to do something akin to copying their memories
every morning and just in case of violent death, can be re cloned a while later in a brand-
new body.
 Of course, there are a few problems in regards to this technology. Duplicating a
person with the exact same DNA but with different memories is no big deal, but doing the
same with memory implantation to make multiple copies of the same person exist at once
is illegal. Such multiple identical beings at once often causes glitches in the Loom
Program. Second is the metaphysical taboo surrounding them, making people question
whenever a cloned body after death is still ‘you’. The Exalted themselves can be cloned,
but their clones will not have the spark of Exaltation as before. Not only that, but no single
clone of the Exalted has ever been known to Exalted themselves. Because of this stigma
spreading throughout the galaxy, many people don’t fully trust cloning.

Planetary Defense Shield

To prevent orbital space battles from being the end of all combat, Planetary
Defense Shields are quite common in the galaxy. Normally seen on either important
planets or with those housing at least several billion people, a Planetary Defense Shield
places a large force field over the planet itself. Even the simplest of shields take
extraordinary punishment to bring down, often requiring several warships constant
bombardment for non-stop days to bring them down. Barring superweapons of some sort,
even artifact ship weapons often have trouble taking down such shields in a timely
manner. Best yet the design is considered simple and widely known, so most large
terraforming companies in the galaxy can construct such devices within a planet’s energy
and economical budget.

The main ‘flaw’ of a Planetary Defense Shield is that they’re still semi-permeable.
Anything moving slower than a cannon round can pass through a Planetary Defense
Shield and towards the planet below, often in the range of numerous surface-to-air anti-
ship batteries or the Planetary Defense Force’s fighter squadrons. Secondly when a shield
is up the planet can’t make any outgoing communication using the Grand Celestial
Mountain or to those in orbit due to the interference most cause. Even those with
Hearthstones will find any signals they wish to send only met with static. Either way a
planet with a Planetary Defense Shield is often making a statement when it’s up, in that if
you’re uninvited you better make your point faster than it takes the surface-to-orbit guns to
lock onto your ship.

The main reason I used this technology is because without it once a hostile ship is
in orbit over a planet than any major city or installment on that planet is very much dead if
the ship wants that city dead. Such a device allows for gritty combats on the ground and is
basically considered the castle siege only in space. You can remove this piece of
technology easily, but if you do so then spaceship warfare is going to become far more
essential in your game’s setting.

Spirits
Spirits are essentially artificial intelligences made completely from a form of
solidified Essence. Originally created to help terraform and better manage various aspects
of society and preventing them from total collapse, even Malfean demons have the specific
purpose as either being a labor force to housing vital blocks of a Malfean’s DNA-Soul.
Needless to say, all spirits have a vested interest in seeing their purview upheld and to
minimize any damage done to it.

In exchange for looking after this purview the spirit gains a limited degree of
influence over their chosen area, although they can become stronger by either upgrades
granted by the Grand Celestial Mountain or by mortals ‘worshipping’ them. The latter was
said to be a safeguard so that if a god needed more powerful and the Grand Celestial
Mountain was unable to give it to them, then those affected by the god’s purview could
provide thanks in various esoteric rituals such as prayer to increase their power.

As of the current moment in Heaven’s Reach, there are four current essence
patterns available to spirits, each one of them having different powers and responsibilities
they are expected to uphold.

God-Pattern Type
God-Pattern Type spirits are responsible for ensuring that all of the phenomena in
the galaxy is working as it should, from tangible ideas such as trees to intangible ones
such as love. God-Pattern Types effectively assure that these things work as they should
in the galaxy at large from anything that could possibly threaten them, such as other gods,
the Screaming Hordes, or the Malfeans. Mortals are given a larger leeway as the Grand
Celestial Mountain was made to aid sentient life across the galaxy, while there is no
shortage of gods who do use their powers for petty things against mortalkind, often gods
try to mediate the effects mortals make in their actions or bartering with them to minimize
the loss of their purview and maximize the gain. Some gods in the Frontier however are
known to be divine tyrants, demanding worship from those under them and subjecting
lesser gods to either take over their purviews or abducting their worshippers, demanding
tribute or else face divine retribution.

God-Pattern spirits are created whenever the ruling order in the Grand Celestial
Mountain decides a god of a specific area needs to be created, either making a brand-new
god from scratch or by taking a currently existing god. Once then the God’s powers are
entered into the Loom Program, effectively ‘authorizing’ that god to be able use and
manifest powers related to their purview and taking some of the strain off of the Loom
Program itself. Lesser spirits, such as simple Grand Celestial Mountain data searching and
messenger servants, require so little clearance that a mortal could effectively code one
without much effort. Major things such as making a new God of Time may require the
consensus of the entire Office of Five Directions to be born.

There are two main types of Gods, Terrestrial gods and Celestial gods. “Terrestrial”
gods are those gods who reside within the Celestial Vault itself and are often responsible
for overseeing physical things, such as a specific planet or a city. Celestial gods are those
who encompass entire broad purviews, such as Warfare and Love, and reside within the
upper layers of the Grand Celestial Mountain. The highest amongst their ranks are known
as the Incarnae, powerful gods who are the leaders of various major Departments in the
Grand Celestial Mountain.
 To keep up with their demands, God-Pattern spirits are very tough to actually
destroy. If a God’s body is destroyed then it will simply recompile some time later back at
their sanctum, a virtual pocket dimension that is laid over the real one and only other
spirits can access. Even if a god’s purview is annihilated the gods themselves will still
survive in some reduced form. The only ways to actually kill gods are either by killing them
when their virtual sanctum is damaged or destroyed, powerful soul obliteration magic
known by various Exalted, or by exploiting some sort of ‘bug’ in their programming. For
example the Space Father, head of the Western Court of spirits, knows that he can be
destroyed by anyone wielding a mythic artifact dagger which he banished to the edges of
Eastern space. Other examples could include a God of Trees being able to die if lit on fire.

Each planet within the Celestial Vault typically has their own pantheon of gods that
keep watch over and manage the planet itself. The Grand Celestial Mountain imposes no
rules of how gods take care of their planet, meaning that the gods themselves can be as
involved or as distant as they please. Each of these gods have varying amounts of power
and specialties just like any other gods, but the strongest gods of a planet are typically on
par with a Second Circle Demon in terms of overall power. There are exceptions to this,
such as the Goddess of Sunflowers who has a strength far in excess of what her purview
should normally allow.

Elemental-Pattern Type
Elemental-Pattern Spirit Types are spirits who are birthed from the raw elemental
energy of the universe itself, often working to ensure the perpetual circulation of such
energies in the natural world. The powerful Lugis water elemental are known to maintain
the ocean currents of the world while living crystal statues known as Vakti aid those in
mining to prevent damage to large mountain peaks.

The exact terms and conditions for an Elemental appearing in the world are
unknown. Some believe it might have something to do with the Loom Program
automatically generating such Elementals for some purpose lost to time while others
maintain its a bug that occurred when the Loom Program began overseeing reality, such
as keeping the elements in an area consistent even through hiccups and various other
problems in the Loom itself.

As a result of being created from tangible materials, Elementals themselves are

also completely tangible. Their essence patterns cannot reknit themselves back together if
destroyed, making what many call the most human out of all the spirit types. The second is
while Elementals themselves consist of various forms, once they a certain saturation of
Essence within their bodies they are known to undergo a metamorphosis into a long
serpentine lizard-like creature commonly known as an “Elemental Dragon”. Elder versions
of these Elemental Dragons are so large and powerful that it is simpler to engage them
with a fleet of ships rather than individual soldiers. Often these Elemental Dragons often
serve as powerful policemen in both the Grand Celestial Mountain or the Celestial Vault
called ‘censors’, ensuring that both elemental and god don’t step out of line. Of course, the
ranks of the Elemental Dragons are just as corruption prone as any mortal government.
 Demon-Pattern Type
Demon-Pattern Type spirits are those spirits who are manufactured by the
Malfeans. During the beginning of the Malfean War, the Stellar Intelligence’s converted
countless planets and their entire populations into new and monstrous forms bred for
battle. Those who went along willingly became more powerful than the rest while the most
loyal and valued champions were embedded with pieces of the Stellar Intelligence’s own
code, where the merest scrap of code was enough to allow someone to challenge even
the strongest of gods. After the Malfean War, the defeated Stellar Intelligence’s made and
manufactured a far wider variety of demonic spirits, those capable of either terraforming
worlds, adapting them to the hellish climates that those planets had, or for their own
amusement and experimentations.

While Demons may have descended from humanity at some point, the two may as
well exist as entirely different species. Even those demons who can call themselves
converted humans have radically different mindsets and goals as a result of the Stellar
Intelligence’s genetic, psychological, and essence pattern conditioning. A pink demon
covered in a heavy exoskeleton looking not even remotely human may actually behave
quite well at a human party while a human shaped demon man may constantly attempt to
set people at the same party against each other.

Demonic Pattern Spirits operate a bit differently than style types, but have some
things in common as well. First is the hierarchy that exists amongst them. Third Circle
Demons are those demons who have major pieces of the Stellar Intelligence’s code
resting inside of them that serves as their power, often serving as the rulers of various
systems within Malfean space and as unquestioned rulers. Second Circle Demons are
Demons directly under Third Circle demons, sharing a tiny fragment of code that the Third
Circle Demons have either crafted from or bestowed upon a creature and often serve as
the Lord’s or rulers of a planet. Lastly are the First Circle Demons, which make up the
working class of demonkind. Third and Second circle demons can come back to life if
killed just like gods unless they were destroyed by some sort of soul obliteration magic.
First Circle Demons are like elementals and cannot normally come back to life if
destroyed.

The second major difference in Demon Pattern Types is that they have no
presence in the Loom Program. Some say the Stellar Intelligence’s deliberately did this to
make them immune to Sidereal tampering and forecasting. This also has the effect that too
many in one place can put strain on the Loom Program, while an uncontrolled Second or
Third Circle demons seriously strains the Loom System by hazardous amounts in addition
to the danger for everyone on that planet or system.

Ghost-Pattern Type
Ghost Pattern types are the memories of a deceased person that has somehow
housed in a form of solidified essence. The folklore for ghosts has existed across all races
since the dawn of time, but it has only been since the transformation of the first Stellar
Intelligence into the first Tomb Star that such a thing has entered public conscience. All
races now face the dangers regarding the ‘undead’ in the galaxy at large, and while that
abandoned cargo ship may seem like a lucky find for scrap they may quickly change their
mind once they go on board to discover it's full of nothing but rampaging ghosts. While
ghosts are alien to the Celestial Vault, some say that they’re just a part of the natural order
of Terminus space, which if true then the birth of the Tomb Stars has more horrific
implications than anyone had ever thought.

How ghosts tend to emerge is fairly random, with bizarre rituals from all cultures
across the galaxy made to somehow prevent people from rising up once again as vengeful
ghosts. If people do come back as ghosts their powers and personality vary greatly
depending on a multitude of factors, such as how they died in life and how they were
treated when they were buried. Corpses that are well taken care of by an expert Sijanese
funeralist while being put to rest in an elaborate tomb come back with nearly all memories
intact while being of a health and sane mind. A man who was shot in the back of the head
and buried in a shallow grave however are known to come back as a vengeful and
mindless ‘hungry ghosts’ who wants nothing more to slaughter the living as a twisted form
of retribution of the end that he suffered in life. Those who specialize in Necromancy may
be able to create brand new or specialized kinds of undead.

Ghosts have many similarities in common with God-Pattern type spirits, but at the
same time with larger drawbacks. Natural ghosts can only remain in the world so long as
have something left in the physical world holding them back; be it a person, place, or thing.
A proud war captain may be unable to pass away knowing that the ship he commanded for
his entire life is still in service, while a hungry ghost is likely bound to the place of their
death or his murderer. This reason for remaining behind is called the “Fetter” of the ghost
and there can be more than one. So long as this fetter remains intact, a ghost will always
resurrect at the place of their death some time later even if ‘killed’. The only way for a
ghost to remain ‘dead’ in this sense is to kill it with soul destruction magic. Another major
flaw about ghost-pattern type creatures is that they’re all weak to sunlight in some way or
another. “Ghosts” cannot remain material in the presence of sunlight while undead
creatures may find the sun’s rays painful. Lastly like demons they have little to no
presence in the Loom Program, often causing the same problems that demons do if left
unchecked.

Manses and Hearthstones

Manses and Hearthstones play a major role in Heaven’s Reach, completing the
duties of power station, interplanetary communication array, and information storage
center all in one. Most of the worlds that have been terraformed by some sentient species
at some point after the Grand Celestial Mountain’s history are known to have at least one
manse at some point. Shortly after the discovery of Essence were made, invisible lines of
elemental energy were found on a planet and the locations where these lines intersect are
known to make areas saturated with essence known as Demenses. A Fire related
demense could be discovered to be a particularly active volcano or in a lush forest it could
easily be the tallest and most ancient tree of the forest. It was shortly after that humanity
learned to tap into these geomantic locations of power by constructing manses on top of
them, which were originally designed to merely bleed off hostile energies but humanity
quickly discovered other uses they had. Huge sums of power could be brought out from
such manses, allowing one to easily power one or even several entire cities including the
advanced subsystems of the manse themselves all while having limited control over the
surrounding environment and other ‘dragonlines’, named after the Dragonblooded who first
postulated their existence, greatly accelerated terraforming efforts. Such structures would
often be the home or lifeblood of the first settlers, their castle which would shield them
from harm. Once a colony grows up, the manse then becomes akin to the center of the city
itself. In the modern era a planet is easily capable of having a dozen or so manses spread
around in various locations. In the past using long lost geomantic engineering techniques
one could even build dozens of manses in a single city.

Every construction of a manse comes with a few features as standard. The first is
that the manse is connected to the Grand Celestial Mountain via some sort of portal, often
leading into an information storage area for that planet. While communications across the
ground are cheap and easily done, interplanetary communications use the system
installed by the Grand Celestial Mountain, capable of high quality video conferencing with
no delay in signal. As such many manses often have public communication centers where
one can call or message anyone they know in the galaxy, usually for some small fee such
as thralers or a small prayer of gratitude to the manse’s guardian spirit. This portal to the
Grand Celestial Mountain is often not wide enough for people to enter the Grand Celestial
Mountain (minus spirits such as the Guardian Spirit), but more advanced manses may
have functioning portals to the Grand Celestial Mountain itself.

Each manse often has a governing spirit intellect, one in charge of maintaining and
protecting the manse in addition performing functions inside of the Grand Celestial
Mountain. Due to the size of the Grand Celestial Mountain, manual searching of
information would take a mortal years if not decades to find it, but Guardian spirits with
specialized searching charms and the proper connections could find such information in a
few days, such as pattern spiders or messenger agents. This is often rare however, mostly
because uncommon entries may take far longer to find while some queries may find
themselves blocked due to insufficient clearance. Sometimes requests may take so long to
process that some Exalted may find it quicker to head to the Grand Celestial Mountain or
to the location of their question itself. The good news is a large variety of porn and cat
images of nearly any sort is often found quickly and efficiently.

The last purpose manses often serve are information vaults for the planet's
themselves. The majority of planets in the universe often have some sort of personal
internet, connected with various mundane devices such as data servers and other such
tools. Each and every manse has a private information vault in the Grand Celestial
Mountain itself, most of them easily capable of holding the data of a moderately large
planet under the lock and key of the Grand Celestial Mountain. Those wishing to gain
access to such private data will find it very difficult, as the only way to gain access to it is to
either fool/convince the Guardian Spirit of the manse or break into the Grand Celestial
Mountain, the latter more easily said than done given its defenses and security measures.
Planetside data storage by servers can be more private for the especially paranoid, but
such data can be destroyed by planetary bombardment or stolen by dedicated hackers.
Enemies of the Grand Celestial Mountain, such as Malfean Cultists, may often find their
data vaults in the Grand Celestial Mountain seized if they are not careful.
 Manses also provide hearthstones, which provide a variety of unique effects alone
with possible communication with the manse at any given time. Usually only the rich or
government officials are lucky enough to own a hearthstone, and explorers find them quite
useful in case they end up stranded on a deserted planet. Such benefits only come once
the hearthstone has been properly slotted into some sort of device. For many Exalted this
is often their own personal artifact, but for others it tends to be in a special section on their
ship.

More information about the Grand Celestial Mountain, its data storage, and how to
access it can be found in Chapter 5.

Sidebar: Why I altered how data is stored compared to the original Heaven’s
Reach

Mainly I believe it's because I think hackers should have some small amount of
love and also searching for the long-lost private library servers of a past life Twilight is a
neat story.

The sidebar in Heaven’s Reach mentions this ‘solving’ the netrunner problem, but I
think it cuts out just as many potential stories as problems it seeks to solve in the first
place. Though here I’m still giving two ways to rip out information, one of them via
accessing the Grand Celestial Mountain and the other by brute force hacking.

Religion
The sheer size and vastness of space causes a great many souls to drift
purposelessly through the empty void of space, brefit of a reason of what purpose they
serve in a galaxy teeming with billions upon billions of souls; and religion fills that gap just
as well in the current age as it did for first civilizations in the galaxy. From worshipping
legendary figures from the past, current powerful supernatural creatures, or simply
adhering to a specific lifestyle, religion comes in many shapes and forms.

Being religious is different than paying tribute to Gods or Elementals. Indeed, a

small token of thanks, be it gift or even word, is common courtesy for a weather god to
give you clear skies just as much as it is for a friend to pitch in and help. Attending a
festival to celebrate a certain god is not only a way to give back significant thanks to what
a god has done, but are known far and wide as fun festivals to bring a community together
in addition to giving an excuse for consuming copious amounts of alcohol. Being religious
in the sense of space goes above and beyond that of merely attending festivals or giving
thanks, rather it is fueled by belief. A farmer thanks a weather god for clear skies for his
crops, a religious follower of the sky god believes that the sky god is the one most worthy
of his attention because at any given time the sky god could call up a storm to not only
destroy the farmer’s livelihood but also smite anyone below him.

Attempting to catalogue all major types of religion in the known galaxy is far
beyond the scope of this document. Instead I shall introduce several types of religion and
how they differ. Religion by currently existing figures, religion by ancient figures, and
religion by lifestyle.

Religion by currently existing figures are those figures who are still alive and well in
the modern-day galaxy. Cults of Heaven’s Son are common in the galaxy that praise him
as the god that keeps humanity together, while individual planets may have entire
pantheons of gods for people to worship. In this case people often worship such figures
not only out of reverence but also for the chance of gaining some sort of divine favor or
possibly out of fear. For every kind and benevolent god that exists in the galaxy at large
there is another who extorts and threatens anyone who falls under their purview,
demanding worship lest horrible things happen. In Terminus space ancestor cults are
especially common, as the ancestral ghosts protect and advise their still living relatives for
the worship that makes them stronger.

Religion by ancient figures are less commonplace, but still see use throughout the
galaxy. Some of the finest scientists in the galaxy were known to pay tribute to the Golden
Engineer while fanatical mercenary leaders may recite scriptures from the First Emperor
before going into battle against alien forces. For these people it’s the role these people
were in the past that made them what they are today, and it would be foolish not to follow
these teachings today.

The last form of religion are those based on lifestyle or a belief towards a specific
lifestyle. These religions may have no figurehead, but rather it is how one practices the
religion that gives it importance. The Fellowship of Ignis Sol professes enlightenment
through action. By constantly forging one’s body and skills and practicing the four noble
virtues can one achieve perfection of body as self. The Immaculate Order has different
ideas for enlightenment, and while dismissed by some of their corporate kin for holding
onto a belief that seems obsolete in this day and age, those Dragonblooded in the order
are known to practice secret arts that place them far above their corporate kin in terms of
power. The Nullus Intervallum is an extremist cult, saying that the only thing that has been
gained by venturing into space is ruin and that people should live and die on the planets
they were born.

Economy
The Golden Age where money was seen as unnecessary are long gone; coin once
again proves that it can move more systems than virtually any demonic or Exalted threat
ever could. The Celestial Vault primary monetary unit is called the Thaler, a unit of money
installed by the Thousandth Dynasty since its inception and has been in use since then not
just for the Empire, but nearly all of the galaxy itself at large. There are a few other areas
in the Celestial Vault where other currencies are used, such as places in the West or in the
River Federation, but even these places would be happy to take Thalers in addition to their
native currency just because of how stable and widespread it is.

Even the construction of Thalers themselves are special as a great degree of care
goes into each and every one. Each Thaler has a mixture of jade inside of it, which while
makes the material difficult to work with also makes it nearly indestructible by normal
means and heavily resistant to the ravages of the Canal. Each thaler is also labelled with
its own quantum code which makes them incredibly secure, as the very nature of quantum
mechanics means such a signature can never be duplicated except by the craftiest of
Exalted heroes. So secure in fact that while electronic banking exists the possibility of
hacking into one’s account is ever present, Thalers themselves remain the de-facto
currency at large.

Some people do not actively enjoy using the Thaler. Sometimes this is just due to
the vapid hatred they may have for the Thousandth Dynasty or Heaven’s Son, but often it
has to do with the Empire actively controlling its currency just as it controls everything else
with an illusion of choices. At any given time Heaven’s Son can deactivate the unique
quantum code that exists within any thaler, so those who made their fortunes now just own
a large collection of heavily diluted jade. This feature is rarely used, in fact the last time it
had widespread use was when Heaven’s Son deactivated a large portion of Ragara
Banking and Staffing Service’s money when they attempted to purchase another
Dragonblooded Trading Clan. It’s because of this tale that many Dragonblooded Clans use
a part of their wealth to purchase foreign currencies or precious metals these days, so at
the very least they’ll have some sort of wealth that can’t be so trivially shut down.

Places in the galaxy where currency is unused is certainly rare by not unheard of.
Feudal system planets where peasants farm their land may have little use for active
currency. Those in brand new colonies may get a salary from the colony’s benefactor but
there’s virtually nothing to spend it on a growing planet. Until a population can remain
stable, many colonies have every person chipping in to do their own unique skill to make
the population happy, be it weaving compelling stories or brewing beer. Traders still do
visit such planets to either rest and trade with new colonies, but in such cases the colony
leader is the one that does most of the trading since he is often the one with the lump sum
of money. In some areas of the galaxy, where currency is outright banned for some
reason, a bartering system exists where people trade in objects like scrap or favors in
exchange for other goods and services.

The Sparkling Black Sea

Parallels may be drawn linking space to a great an unexplored sea, but space has
its own set of lethal hazards that will purge the weak from the stars. The first and most
obvious hazard is the vacuum of space itself. With no gravity in space and nothing to filter
out cosmic radiation, those exposed to space will die within minutes from exposure
assuming the lack of air doesn’t kill them first. The combined environmental hazards in
space poses a singular environmental hazard of 10L/minute 4 trauma. Battles in space are
even more lethal as any damage to a ship could prove fatal for the crew on board. A single
unlucky hit to the life support systems and crew are left gasping in an airless void, fires
that roar through hallways set alight by enemy boarding parties or weaponry wash towards
unlucky crew members like a tide of flame, even as something as innocent as water
droplets floating through the air can cause those that wander into them to drown. This is
before we get to things such as space monsters or galactic emperors trying to kill you!
 Those who venture into space almost always do so for a purpose, because of
mainly a cost. While a light fighter or small corvette is sufficient for the average smuggler
or space pirate, larger ships are far more expensive to produce and maintain. Ships the
size of small cities are easily battleships or cruise liners for the ultra-rich. The difficulties of
constructing such massive ships are out of reach for all but megacorporations, planetary
governments, or the lucky few who managed to inherit such a vessel. Indeed, most
spaceships are hand downs, and it is considered a deep tradition of respect for a Captain
to finally hand over his vessel to the next Captain. Even the smaller ships however tend to
be fairly well armed and armoured along with functional anima circuits and warp drives for
travel in the Canal. Such firepower is immensely useful for warding off the occasional
shrieking horror, incoming asteroid, or chasing off the odd Space Pirate. What smaller
ships lack in speed and durability more than make up for it in speed and agility so it can
outrun what it cannot outgun. Each ship also tends to have a basic slaved spirit of small-
to-medium power whose presence on board allows the ship to communicate with the
Grand Celestial Mountain and even send messages to anyone else in the galaxy so long
as they’re not in the Canal (hopefully travelling through it rather than stuck inside of it).

Ships larger than battleships exist, often called Super Battleships. Such large
behemoths are considered impractical to build and the only ones that do exist are Heaven
Son’s personal flagship and a handful in the universe inside the hands of Heaven’s Son
favored souls and the incredibly lucky few who own such ships. The era of super ships has
long since passed, but their legend lives on even in today’s current tales. The Battlecruiser
called the Unconquered Sun was made to be an almost holy tribute to the Solar Exalted
themselves, housing a proto Stellar Intelligence of incredible might and power. Other
smaller ships include the Five Metal Shrike, a tiny ship which failed to be put into mass
production just before the Malfean War, not only boasted a seemingly invincible anima
shield but had enough firepower to obliterate an entire planet all in the compact and
speedy frame of a tiny corvette.

Artifact ships however are still made to this day, often requiring an incredible
undertaking in of itself. For one a significant amount of resources is required just to make
one, often the sum total of several years of mining efforts from a single planet; but the
sturdy frame and high-power efficiency ratios means that such ships can be far larger and
deadlier than their equivalent non-artifact ken. Indeed, many non-artifact weapons can
barely scratch artifact ships while artifact ship weapons do immense damage on those
without artifact hulls. Meaning even artifact ships designed for stealth often have the
durability and firepower to go up against a mundane gunboat in a straight up firefight if
need be. The quality of the facilities is also much higher on an artifact ship, often having
the same quality as those you can find in a manse itself. The amount of companies and
shipyards who produce such things amount to the double digits. The payment these
companies also take isn’t in mere cash value alone. They are often great boons or large
favored owed, sometimes multiple. Some risky Exalted Explorers however take their
chance for the one in a million find of a single abandoned artifact ship, either crash landed
on a planet or left adrift in space for eons.

SIDEBAR: There’s no stealth in space

 There is here, now sit down.

Canal Space
Canal space was discovered eons ago by the Golden Engineer, and ever since this
people having been using it for the most reliable and fastest travel around the galaxy there
is. The Canal is actually an alternate dimension close to the Celestial Vault’s own galaxy,
but in certain areas of space the ‘distance’ between the two dimension is at their thinnest,
allowing for slightly weaker laws of reality in this area. By using a warp drive one can
punch through ‘real space’ and enter into ‘canal space’, a place where the laws of physics
are different than the Celestial Vault, allowing one to do such impossible feats as
accelerate far beyond the speed of light. A trip that would take decades or generations in
real space would only take a few weeks at the most in Canal Space. The pathways one
can take in Canal Space are akin to a web, with each meeting point in that web being
home to things such as planets or significant astral phenomena, making Canal space the
best choice of travel for those who wish to travel to another planet beyond their system
within their lifetime.

Canal space is a double edged sword however, for there are just as many dangers
that are involved with it. The most dangerous aspect is that without a working anima field
the ship and crew inside are subjected to and twisted by the strange alien laws of reality
that purvey the Canal. Quite often this will alter how the ship works within the first several
seconds before constantly and horrifically mutating anyone and anything on board. Such
accursed ships are forever doomed to join the Screaming Hordes, a seemingly limitless
amount of alien beings that come from the Canal itself. Most of the Shrieking Hordes are
often mindless alien beasts, but some of them are horrors so unspeakable that humans go
insane just by looking at them. The Noble Raksha Lords, what people believe to be the
ruling race of the Canals, can appear as either inhumanly beautiful or incredibly
monstrous. Having abilities far beyond what a human is capable of, they’re also known to
prey upon sentient species and drain them dry of any memories or emotion they once had.
Scientists are unsure of why the Raksha need to do this, but theorize that such things are
the closest thing to food a Raksha has in this dimension.

With the Anima Field a ship is considered safe, but if the anima field flickers for
even a moment then all sorts of supernatural phenomena can occur. Anything from the
walls appearing to be melting in a certain sector, the operating table suddenly gaining
sentience and desiring to kill everything near it, to the worst-case scenario of some
monster from the Screaming Hordes itself taking root on the ship. Such monsters could be
on a ship for years, hiding its own sabotages on the ships as a string of unlucky
malfunctions. Many long-term space travelers are often very superstitious because of this,
some people swearing that merely by sheer belief that the hordes can be kept at bay.

Some other species, such as the Ahkam or ships from the Tomb Stars, seem to
travel the stars with other methods of Faster than Light travel outside of traditional Canal
space. The Ahkam are known to travel between system to system in large thunderclouds
that warp entire armies while ships from the Tomb Stars seem to travel using black holes
themselves. How such ships manage such technology is unknown at this point.

Planet Ecosystems
The Celestial Vault is dotted with a wide variety of planets of all shapes, sizes, and
ecosystem. The reach of both humanity and its precursor races was so vast that it seems
more of a rarity to encounter a planet that doesn’t have some sort of trace a civilization on
it. Whenever it be completely deserted cities whose population mysteriously vanished or
the remains of a “Wildcat” Frontier mining crew.

Below is an index of how worlds are classified in Heaven’s Reach, each world
posing its own unique dangers, challenges, and rewards.

Canal
A Canal world is a world that has been exposed to the raw energies of the Canal
itself, causing significant corruption, mutation, and local breakdowns of reality itself. Such
worlds occur when a crack in reality causes energies from a Canal to spew forth. On such
planets fire may be cold or time passes in a narrative rather than structured sense, day
only heading into night for an individual after a personal story or accomplishment has been
achieved. If the corruption is light than a reality stabilizer is usually all that’s needed to halt
or even reverse the effects of the Canal on the world and close any nearby Canal rifts. If
the corruption is significant however than the planet and of those upon it may as well be
considered a part of the Screaming Hordes themselves. The Thousandth Dynasty and
many planets in the Frontier often put rewards on the destruction of such planets so that
the corruption of the Canal cannot spread and to deny the Shrieking Horde any foothold.
Clever traders however see such planets as goldmines full of rare and exotic goods, goods
that can only be manufactured on planets with looser laws, both physical and legal.

Desert
An open sprawling world where the entire planet is largely barren and absent of
natural life. Only the hardiest of life often flourishes here, and quite often the only reason
such colonies are founded here are if people are desperate or something incredibly
valuable is found. Such as an exotic drug capable of altering one's own perception or
exotic alien ruins. Sand is one option for a desert planet, but other desert planets could
include snow blasted hellscapes, worlds completely flooded with water, or covered in
active volcanoes. The Western quadrant of space is known for its abnormal amount of
flooded worlds while the south and north for its sand and snow planets. This is due to the
influence of both Hegra and Cecelyne during the Malfean war, rendering many these
planets inhospitable to life during the opening days of the War.

Death
A Death world is a world that is tainted with the deathly essence that comes from
the tomb stars itself. Life struggles to survive on such worlds as any living human who
lives in such a zone constantly appears sickly or pale, while the souls of those who passed
on in such areas have an alarming tendency to rise again as a ghost or hungry ghost.
Such worlds are often a curiosity for the universe at large, especially the graveyard planet
of Sijan who has reportedly been a Death planet long before the Malfean War started or
even since the Exalted have existed. What is worse about these planets is that they are
always in a state of temporal flux, meaning if one is not careful they could leave the
dimension of the Celestial Vault behind, entering what some call in a twisted perverted
version of the Celestial Vault where the Tomb Stars rule known only as Terminus.

Fortress
Fortress Worlds are worlds that are converted into gigantic staging grounds for
fleets and armies of a system itself. Bristling with surface-to-orbit weapons, multiple anti-
bombardment shields, often a small fleet of ships docked at any time, and the entire
population trained and drilled for war, Fortress planets often force would be invaders to a
system to expend considerable resources destroying such a planet lest they face constant
raids on their supply lines or be cut off entirely. Fortress worlds are often rare outside of
the Thousandth Dynasty, only the most militarized of systems and governments taking the
time and effort to create such worlds. Such worlds tend to accept very little traffic for
security reasons. Quite often there’s only a single area where travelers can take a short
rest then refuel and restock their ship before departing again, all under very watchful eyes.
Trading with Fortress worlds are only done with recognized traders unless during
exceptional circumstances.

Hive
A planet that often has a single sprawling city encompassing its entire surface with
billions upon billions of people living upon it. The aerospace surrounding the planet is thick
with traffic and space stations with dozens of space stations that bring cargo from surface
to orbit and visa versa constantly. Such large worlds often serve as a mass production
powerhouse capable of absorbing the raw materials of one system and churning out high
grade weapons and goods in the other. Often Hive worlds are either the ‘capital’ of a
collection of systems or a popular hub world that has many intersections from known
Canal lanes heading to and from it. Such examples are Chiaroscuro in the Southern
quadrant just before the Malfean War, whose crystal skyscrapers are so tall that they’re a
low orbit hazard.

Paradise
A bustling world where natural plant and animal life can flourish along with few to
little notable dangers on the planet itself. Such planets often form the bulk of food
production in the universe, while many more make significant amounts of money from
various forms of tourism. Planets with so few problems are incredibly rare, and both the
Thousandth Dynasty and those in the Frontier will pay a significant sum of resources for
the location of such worlds. In the Frontier these planets are protected under law, and
those who attack or cause permanent damage to their ecosystems are meet with swift
retribution from the Thousandth Dynasty or hunted to the ends of the galaxy by their
Shikari. Even the most brutal pirates in the Frontier are leery about using bombardment
weapons against such a planet, as Paradise world's fetch a far greater price if they’re left
relatively intact.

Precursor
An extremely rare classification of planet that often has a significant amount of
ancient ruins from either the Solar Dynasty era or earlier containing powerful technology
and long-lost knowledge. Some Precursor worlds may even have thriving populations on
them who just prefer to remain isolationist, tending to make them very xenophobic and
distrusting towards outsiders as a result. The Thousandth Dynasty will pay top dollar for
the location of such worlds, sending negotiations to bargain with such worlds and the army
when they fail. Enterprising traders and pirates can also make a fortune with just even a
handful of technology coming from such worlds, many of them are sent home in body bags
due to the ancient defense systems alone.

Primitive
Primitive worlds are worlds that have not developed technologically enough to
progress into space or have no connection to the Grand Celestial Mountain. This is quite
often due to the world suffering some sort of disaster that it has never really recovered
from or possibly technology beyond a certain era is impossible due to the influence of a
Clockstopper device, a device that alters local reality making it so the physics for
advanced weapons such as blasters or space ships don’t work, in the era that was seeded
during the Malfean War. Technology on such worlds may vary from actual cavemen, to
feudalistic dynasties, to modern societies like those that exist in real life today. The
Thousandth Dynasty often has a soft ban on interacting with such planets, the powers that
be preferring that the people develop at their own pace until their society is ready for travel
amongst the stars. The Frontier has no such ban, and many such planets are often easy
targets for pirate raiders or slavers. The Northern and Eastern sectors of the Galaxy are
largely known for a surplus of such worlds, either due to their remote and uncharted
location or various devices such as clockstoppers that are preventing them from doing so.

Plot Hooks
• When the players are attempting to local a vital NPC for their quest, they discover
that his trail leads to a world with a powerful clockstopper device on it that has
plunged the planet back into the feudal ages. Torn between three major warring
kingdoms, can the players find their VIP, survive the war brewing on the surface
below, all while trying to find and smash the clockstopper device to escape the
planet?

Space Station
Space Stations are technically not planets but are important fixtures nonetheless in
the galaxy, serving a wide variety of indispensable roles in the Galaxy. The first is that
many dangerous science experiments and be safely studied there without anything
escaping, which is useful for both the Thousandth Dynasty and the Frontier itself. The
second is that many space stations tend to provide useful pit stops and/or pit stops in the
middle of nowhere. This is often a great boon to space pirates who often have such places
hidden in the middle of nowhere or in some obscure canal route while more legitimate
people use them as small pit stops where one can refuel and rest temporarily. The last is
that if space is tight than a kingdom can often use additional space colonies in its system
to safely hold more population in comfort if for some reason they cannot expand or as
some form of battle station in times of war.

The downside to Space Stations is that they’re expensive, and given how many
planets are in the galaxy that were terraformed at least during one of the Great
Colonization ages, for humanity or otherwise, many people don’t see it as being worth it
when settling down upon a planet or even making an outpost on one is cheaper, easier,
and pays off more in the long run. If you’re having population problems then why not
simply offload some people on one of the desert class worlds in your native system? You
wouldn’t need to worry about things such as air while manses solve most practical power
concerns one may have, especially when manses on space stations are much harder to
construct. Halta is one of the major kingdoms in the galaxy that employ extensive use of
space station habitation complexes, having the same amount of people in one system that
many multi-system kingdoms have.

Massive colonies from the Solar Dynasty and earlier can be found amongst the
stars themselves, providing a safer and higher standard of living for those involved on
them. Just as gigantic rings full of natural life and scenic vistas which many thousands of
people are ecstatic to just travel to such wonders.

Wild
Wild planets are dangerous worlds containing incredibly lethal flora and fauna that
make normal habitation extremely difficult if not impossible. While there are a great variety
of dangerous creatures in the galaxy, things like flesh eating plants or flying jellyfish that
are immune to most known weaponry and devour one's own life force are commonplace
rather than a rarity on such worlds. This can be because of influence during the Malfeas
War, when the wildlife on the planet was genetically engineered to be more vicious or the
incredible rarity of a planet with extremely dangerous lifeforms. Wild planets who have
been exterminated of all such dangerous life can easily become paradise worlds, but many
companies consider it not worth the effort, especially if valuable research can be done on
such creatures.

The Exalted
In a cold unforgiving universe where numerous alien species want you dead the
Exalted have always served to be humanity’s primary trump card. How each Exalted works
on a base theoretical and scientific level varies from Exalted to Exalted, from the
Dragonblooded and their psionic origins from the Solar’s direct energy infusion by using
the power of a star itself.

The things that all Exaltations have in common however is their tendency to
choose those who have greatest potential and determination and a burning desire to do
something. Exaltation doesn’t favor the strongest or the smartest individuals (though such
traits certainly do help), but seek out the people who actively attempt to search and make
a difference. Exaltations don’t make a person great, rather it is because a person is great
that an Exaltation chooses them. When given a choice between the smartest man on a
planet who remains inside of his library reading versus the plucky young history student
who heads to ancient ruins for their study regardless of the dangers it poses, Exaltation
will choose the latter every time. Some people theorize that this is because in the earlier
designs for such Exalted when the universe was largely unexplored and at war, they
needed proactive people to head out to serve as trailblazers for the rest of the galaxy.
Which would certainly explain the reckless behavior some new Exalted are known to
exhibit.

Exaltations themselves are not exactly sentient, but quite intelligent in general.
About the same processing power as a strong computer, Exaltations know when they’re
on an abandoned planet or when their host has perished and they should seek a new host.
Exaltations themselves can begin the fusion process to meld themselves to a mortal host
or it can be forcefully implanted with the proper tools and procedures. This is often ill
advised and unless a person who is performing the implantation knows what they are
doing then they can seriously injure or kill the host of the Exaltation. Predicting who is
eligible for and Exaltation is moreso a game a chance, so much so that Thousandth
Dynasty Lunars often have betting pools to see if a batch of potential recruits will survive
the process. Most of the time there is no accurate or scientific way to calculate the
‘potential’ or ‘determination’ someone truly has. Some say it might be a person’s soul
needing the correct pathways for Essence flow the Exaltation brings, but that has never
been proven or disproven. A person who is a host to an Exaltation that is incompatible is
not long for this world as their body cannot contain such power for long. Lunar Exaltations
slowly eat away at the flesh of a person bit by bit until they collapse into a pile of grey goo
while Solar Exaltations are known to slowly but surely cook people alive from the inside
out. This may be mistaken for sickness, but unless that individual finds someone capable
of extracting the Exaltation or a worthy soul to inherit it then often they will die over the
course of months in a slow and painful death. Exaltations only tend to do this when they
predict there is no other way off a planet or if they haven’t found a worthy soul in some
time, but if the host does find a soul worthy enough to bear the Exaltations then there is a
slight chance they’ll survive the Exaltation fleeing their body. Some claim they even felt
stronger after doing so, a renewed sense of purpose in their life once more.

The last is that no known force can destroy Exaltations. Even during the height of
the Malfean War, the Stellar Intelligences themselves could not find a way and just
resorted to exterminating humanity or converting their souls and essence patterns into
shapes that Exaltations would find alien. A popular tales coming from this can be heard
throughout the galaxy, such as reincarnation of Blaster Ocelot, whose original nanotech
exaltation was rendered down to virtually a single atom on a blasted planet and took years
to fully come back to power, or how the Raging Tigress Lyta got her exaltation when its
previous owner was shunted into a barren dimension yet still somehow found a way back.

The Solar Exalted

The Solar Exalted were one of the last widely known Exalted types ever made,
widely known for being amongst both the simplest in basic principles and ideas but one of
the hardest to make. It was simple because compared to the esoteric Sidereal Exalted, the
shapeshifting prowess and adaptability of the Lunar Exalted, or the Elemental psionic
powers of the Dragonblooded themselves, the Solar Exalted showed little such outward
supernatural phenomena and were basically humanity themselves increased to heights
that were never thought possible. Solars were not only a bridge to the alien mindsets of
the Stellar Intelligences but also a bridge to the people themselves. Mortals loved the
Solar Exalted because they struggled and worked things out in a mortal fashion. Lunars
adapt to their environment, but Solars terraformed an entire planet. Sidereals effectively
used their reality manipulation powers to rig themselves to win, but Solars won just based
off raw skill. During and after the era of the Malfean War well into the Solar Dynasty,
Solars used this to the advantage of being the people’s hero, that some of the strongest
Exalted ever known did things fundamentally in the same ways as mortals did.

Making a Solar Exaltation was actually far more difficult, so hard in fact that no one
in the current age knows how to make one anymore. Taking the energy of a star and
somehow converting all the energy that it would output over its entire existence into
solidified digital construct. When properly implanted into a host, this digital construct would
open itself up inside the host’s soul and begin to empower it. This rapid process infuses
the bearer with energy as even the cells in their body are energized with the fury and might
of a raging star. Other ingredients being required is definitely part of the process, but no
one knows what those ingredients may be or even to find a container capable of
harnessing such energy.

Solars themselves in the first age were heroes of the truest sense, men and
women who accomplished great deeds or had amazing potential. Merchants who started a
company from almost nothing to becoming a near system-wide monopoly, war heroes who
had gained so many medals that some had to be either invented or looked up as no one
else had done what they had in centuries, the brilliant scientist who was so sure of their
theory that they made actual working weapons before testing them in the battlefield. Solar
Exalted were also known to come from all walks of life and from any status, from the mega
rich to the super poor. Everyone knows the story of the Dhala slave race member F4-K4,
who claimed that she assassinated nearly half the nobles in an oppressive police state
before the Solars saw promise in her and offered her a Solar Exaltation instead of death.

The height of the golden age was something that all Exalted worked for, but it was
the Solar Exalted who often did the heavy leadership during such times. Communicating
with the Stellar Intelligences and the macro-scale leadership that came from managing
countless systems and wars was a burden that seemed like only the Solar Exalted could
wield with their raw prowess and skill. The vast majority of systems in the Celestial Vault
were said to have been visited by a brave Solar Explorer at some point in the past,
previously invincible enemies such as the Lintha race were crippled beyond repair, while
everyone knows the tales of horror resulting from the ‘Balorian Crusade’ came to an end at
the hands of Shattered Ice after she figured out some sort of pattern amongst the
perpetual chaos that composed of the Shrieking Hordes allowing them for the first time in
the history of the galaxy talk the hordes down after giving them recognizably humanoid
shapes to communicate with. When the Malfean War broke out it was this same prowess
and skill that managed to take the other Exalted to any victory in the first place. Even after
looking at the remains of the shattered galaxy after the Malfean War, people looked
towards the Solar Exalted with hope in their eyes.

It was only during the failed eras of the Solar Dynasties that the Solars saw their
downfall, overthrown by subjects after countless centuries of horrifically costly and
ambitious projects that never seemed to work. Heaven’s Son banished the Solar Exalted
from the Empire that the Solar Exalted helped to build to the expanses of the Frontier
itself, where in time the Solar Exalted faded into myth and legend itself.

But recently the Solar Exalted have been confirmed to be reappearing across the
galaxy, but no one knows why. Is there a reason for their reappearance after all this time?
Did they just happen to crop up purely by chance or is there a deeper meaning to their
reappearance? Does their reappearance mean that the “Lunar Dynasty” is about to be
replaced or does it mean that the Galaxy is about to face their biggest threat yet and the
heroes of old have reappeared to save them in their greatest hour of need? The only way
this question can be answered by the nervous masses is by time itself.

What happened to the Solar Exalted?

After their departure from the Empire ages ago, no one exactly knows what
happened to the Solar Exalted. This hasn’t stopped people from beginning tales and
rumors to explain their reappearance, but those in the Empire often speak it in a far more
hushed tone of voice. Below are a few explanations to why the Solar Exalted vanished.

The Solar Exaltations Became Infected

During the end of the Malfean War, some say that the Stellar Intelligences were
desperate to find a way to destroy Exaltations and when that failed they settled for the next
best thing: corrupting them. By implementing wide scale coding changes in the Solar
Exalted, they managed to install a virus rooted into the behavioral subroutine areas for the
Solar Exalted. While the Malfean War was over before this could see any real effect, it was
during the Solar Dynasty that such a thing become very obvious, leading to massive flaws
of leadership during key decision-making processes and moments.

After the Solars were banished from the Empire it was said they did deep and
considerable amounts of soul searching into why they failed. Through a series of
meditation and experimentation they discovered this virus in their system and began the
process to get rid of it. They developed a way to do this, but discovered the only way to do
this was by ‘resetting’ the Solar Exaltations themselves, which couldn’t be done so long as
they were attached to a still living host.

It’s said that after making the adjustments for the reset, the Solars then spread out
across the universe. Some stories say they shut off the programs that allowed them to be
immortal to live and age as a mortal, spending their last remaining days amongst loved
once or in an eager race to see if they could plant the seeds of a great empire in struggling
systems. Others got in contact with old rivals and enemies, taking on all in one last blaze
of glory. This distributed the Solar Exaltations around the Frontier and required many upon
many years for them to recompile their own coding before they were ready to accept new
hosts.

The Solars Turned on Each Other

While Heaven’s Son gave the Solars a hero’s farewell, it didn’t stop the lingering
bitterness that each Solar felt towards one another. Thinking it was some other caste that
was the downfall of their caste reign in the Solar Dynasty while some others were
convinced that long standing rivals were on the side of Heaven’s Son just to simply spite
them. The Solar Exalted continued to constantly blame each other and eventually a fever
pitch was reached, a bloodbath of epic proportions was held as the Solars slaughtered one
another until at the end there were only a scant handful of Solar Exaltations remaining.

Differing tales of the surviving Solars are spread. Some say in order to forever hold
an advantage in power, the surviving Solars made modifications to the Solar Exaltations to
place limiters on them similar to what the Steller Intelligence’s placed on them before
scattering them on barren planets in the Frontier to ensure they’d never be found. Nobler
stories say it was only when the surviving member or members were standing knee deep
in the same brothers and sisters they once considered family to be overcome with grief.
Solemnly making alterations to the Solar Exaltations so they’d automatically seek out and
find men and women who were similar to their predecessors before making great tombs
on numerous planets for their fallen kin until they too committed ritual suicide to atone for
their sins.

Heaven’s Son Betrayed the Solars

Heaven’s Son generosity towards the Solar Exalted was all an elaborate and well-
crafted ruse. Heaven’s Son knew that the greatest threat to his reign would be the Solar
Exalted and if they were allowed to live then either they or their predecessors would be
back possibly a few centuries later with a vast army or disinformation networks to critically
compromise his reign. The Solar’s ability to serve as the people’s hero was by far the
greatest threat to his rule compared to any other factor, and for his rule to succeed he
needed them removed from the picture. In the farewell dinner party on the moon known as
Meru, Heaven’s Son took every Lunar, Sidereal, and Dragonblooded he could to launch a
vicious attack on all the Solar Exalted and slaughtered them to the last. Surviving Lunar
imposters took the form of teary eyed Solar Heroes leaving Empire space while the
Sidereals already had an elaborate cover scheme planned out. A dyson sphere made
entirely out of jade, a device that would contain all the Solar Exaltations under the
pretense of an energy reactor. It was there for centuries until the containment field finally
cracked. A stray meteor, nearby fleets crashing against each other with straw weapons fire
damaging the system, or is it a more sinister tale where the Malfeans and their brethren
the tomb stars wanted the Solar Exaltations themselves for some reason.

Smart people do not tell this tale in the Empire, after all how could their beloved
Emperor do something so barbaric? But it was well documented that massive repair crews
were deployed to Meru, one of Adun’s primary moons, after the Solars left.

The Lunar Exalted

 The Lunar Exaltations were considered one of the earliest and most basic forms of
Exaltation, but just because their Exaltation types outdated by current standards doesn’t
mean they’re obsolete as they’re still extremely effective. Very few alterations have been
made to Lunar Exaltations since their inception, still largely relying on the same principle of
being a sentient mass of liquid metal that can adapt and change as the situation at hand
demands. The primitive theory of Essence humanity still had around the time the Lunar
Exalted were made still allowed for amazing effects in shapeshifting, such as completely
ignoring the conversation of mass. This means that even a Lunar who appears an
adorable teenager is capable of turning into a seven foot tall wolfgirl made of muscle that
can tear a normal man’s arms out of their sockets with ease or devour them whole as a
Tyrant Lizard.

Lunar Exaltations themselves appear as constantly shifting mass of liquid silver,

befreit of any singular form. Upon finding a suitable host, the nanomachines this mass is
composed of quickly latch onto the host and begin devouring them. Taking both the data
from their DNA while locking their soul inside of the moonsilver shell. Once the target is
devoured, the mass shapes the newly born Lunar into the human shape they were when
they were mortal. The process is mostly perfect, except for small imperfections and
glitches that only the most perceptive of people can pick up on. This problem has never
managed to be fixed for Lunar Exalted, though clever use of disguises can cover it up.

Through time and effort, Lunars can learn to control the nanomachines their bodies
are made up of and the essence infused within them for things more suited into the task at
hand. The eyes of a mantis shrimp can allow the Lunar to see in colours far beyond the
human eye while if combat becomes an issue the Lunar can turn their hands into
monomolecular blades that rend their opponents to pieces. These nanomachines in the
Lunar’s body allows them a far higher regeneration rate and durability compared to other
Exalted, but the Lunars are not invincible. The human mind still exists inside of them and is
still subject to pain and through patterns other humans have, meaning if a Lunar is
stabbed through the heart than the belief of one dying from such a thing is likely to
happen. It doesn’t matter if the Lunar’s chest is actually a solid mass of nanomachine goo
or in a form without a heart, the sheer power of belief that one is dead would be enough to
kill them. Therefore it's not uncommon for Lunars to have things such as several hearts.

Lunar Exaltation is not for the mentally weak either, as an improper host can find
themselves without any sense of central identity. It is said that only those with a strong
sense of identity forged by either intense loyalty or survival through strict adherence of
principles that one can remain true to themselves. It’s because of this that Lunars are
known to come from two pools. Imperial Lunars are those Lunars who have pledged
themselves to Heaven’s Son, the Empire, and the people within it; to protect them from
threats within and outside the Empire. Those in the Long War faction tend to use people
from the Frontier who adhere through their principles to the better end to see victory, being
flexible but at the same time uncompromising of what that person values most. This is not
only just warriors, but also CEO’s determined to bring their corporations up to lofty heights
or see it crashed into the ground so long as they don’t violate one of their founding
principles.
 Imperial Lunars
Imperial Lunars are those Lunars are loyal to Heaven’s Son and the Thousandth
Dynasty. Such Lunars are often seen with reverence in the Empire-controlled media,
playing up the victories of some of their favorite heroes while downplaying or spreading
disinformation amongst their failures. The Empire demands only the most loyal and skilled
of people to become Lunars, and for good reason. Lunar spies are a valuable source of
information for the empire, and the Empire knows exactly how damaging a single Lunar
spy can be in the proper place and time. Many newly exalted Lunars are often given jobs
in the Frontier for several decades and often given a large amount of questionable jobs,
jobs that make it very difficult to find any singular organization outside of the Empire willing
to take them back. Only those who have proven their loyalty and dedication are allowed to
take on spying or other sensitive information gathering jobs inside of the Empire itself... or
at least keeping an eye on certain Lunars.

The tasks that Lunars are just as varied as there are Lunars to solve them. The
Lunar known as Tempest Hawk is known to annihilate legions of foes who oppose him in
combat with a powerful customized blaster that can shoot lightning or hurricanes while the
ancient manipulators such as the Lunar Tamuz is said to craft such a masterful lie or truth
that he can quell a planetary rebellion by saying just the right word to a single person.

Imperial Lunars often regard Long War lunars chasing an endless war of folly.
While helping people with little to no compensation is noble, mindlessly doing it across
many systems is no good. To them the Long War Lunars are spread so thinly that it’s a
miracle in and of by itself that they manage to repel any serious or major threat.

Long War Lunars

After the overthrow of the Solars, many Lunars within the Exalted Empire felt it was
folly to try and make a brand-new kingdom as their primary plan. These Lunars believed
that while the Exalted Empire was broken and in shambles so too were their enemies. The
Stellar Intelligences were crippled into the Malfeans, the Shrieking Hordes were not just a
problem in the Empire but all over the Celestial Vault itself, bands of roving pirates were
praying on any weak world they could threatening any sort of unity. Long War Lunars felt if
they took the remaining might of the Exalted Empire that they could crush such things
once and for all and only then could humanity could be focused on creating a new golden
era.

The other side of Lunars, including Heaven’s Son himself, said that such a notion
was pure folly. It was exactly these same sorts of ideals that caused the Solar Dynasty to
suffer failure after failure. Heaven’s Son said he came into power by wanting to break the
vicious cycle of doing grand gestures and reforms and rather wanted to give peace and
security the people long sought after rather than using them as a task force for some
grand project. Heaven’s Son felt that if this trust was betrayed than the Lunars would find
themselves thrown out of power very quickly. The Lunars advocating for the crusade did
not relent and eventually declared that if Heaven’s Son wouldn’t do it then they’d do it by
their own hands. Heaven’s Son did not relent, and true to their promise this fraction of
Lunars split off from the Empire to sail into the Frontier itself, becoming known as the first
of the Long War Lunars.

To this day Long War Lunars are a loose knit group that operate in the Frontier
itself, often solving problems that normal folk often find close to impossible to fight against
such as the Shrieking Hordes. Each Long War Lunars is often given a large degree of
autonomy and a mentor early on to show them how being a Lunar works. Sometimes this
mentorship lasts several years, other unlucky Lunars are given a crash course that’s all of
several minutes. Whenever an ‘incident’ occurs, such as a wide scale Screaming Horde
invasion or demonic incursion, Long War Lunars quickly form together in packs to deal
with the problem. Outside of that they’re largely left to their own devices, including how to
make ends meet. Some brave and heroic Lunars work as wandering gunslingers, moving
from system to system content with only a bowl of rice as their payment. Other vain Lunars
may live like nobility, using their skills at infiltration to enter the high life and remain there.
A few unlucky Lunars may end up working in fast food restaurants to pay the bills2.

It is worth noting that Imperial Lunars and Long War Lunars still maintain good
relationships with each other. Despite the Imperial Lunars thinking that the Long War
Lunars are too fractured to have any effectiveness while Long War Lunars believe their
Imperial kin are nothing but dogs, they both can be expected to get along if some large
incident threatens the peace of both the Empire and the Frontier itself. But if a threat large
enough to endanger the entire galaxy appears the Long War Lunars may be forced to turn
to the Imperial Kin for logistical support while if the Empire decided on sudden and
aggressive expansions into the Frontier itself the Long War Lunars don’t take too kindly to
the Empire’s way of running things.

The Sidereal Exalted

The Sidereal Exaltations were created around the same time around the Solar
Exalted, designed to be subtler with the effects of reality rather than the grand displays
made with other Exalted. Rather than forcing essence into their bodies to achieve a
desired effect with all their might, Sidereals use forms of reality manipulation itself in order
to achieve desired goal with minimal amount of effort expended. Rather than making an
advanced shield system to protect a planet from system-to-system bombardment
weapons, Sidereals can simply make it so a planet is on a completely different orbital
trajectory and have the shot miss completely. Using advanced quantum entanglement
engines Sidereals can pick out the best action when in a fight for themselves personally
while bad luck seems to constantly plague their opponent. So subtle are their powers that
many won’t realize it until it's too late, most common people believing that no one could
alter things such as space, time, and probability so casually.

Sidereal Exaltations are akin to Solar ones, often being a light purple orb that
seems to constantly flux and change, but seeing one in such a raw form is almost next to
impossible. Rather than Solar Exaltations who wait for moments of heroism or Lunars

2
If I had a picture of Strength of Many flipping burgers in a fast food restaurant uniform, I’d so put it
in here.
requiring a specific mindset, Sidereal Exaltations often enter newborn babies of even the
fetus of pregnant women. This is because due to the subtly of the Essence powers
involved with being a Sidereal, training is needed to properly wield them before the
Sidereal Exaltation activates at full power. Often an older Sidereal finds the younger
Sidereal and begins a training program that lasts until their Exaltation, which with the
proper forecasting can be done to the day or hour. In lack of this the Exaltation itself often
makes sure the child leads an interesting life, molding them into a proper receptacle for
their Exaltation pattern. When the day comes that the Exaltation fully reactivates and the
bearer becomes a brand new Sidereal, their newfound powers already feel as if doing the
same familiar thing they’ve been doing their entire lives already. The time this happens is
often regarded as a ‘tipping point’ in one’s life, some great event like Solars often need
that can arrive when the Sidereal is barely a teenager or when they’re an old man. Some
Sidereal advisors often try to forcefully trigger the Sidereal Exaltation activation by putting
the Sidereal-to-be in dangerous life and death situations, this is often ill advised as
sometimes they will not activate and forcing the Exaltation to find a new host.

A Sidereal’s main task is to function as the man or woman behind the scenes,
continually keeping things working as they should. From the Grand Celestial Mountain
Sidereals are constantly at work, ensuring that that spirit programs are doing their job as
they should without petty power struggles or interruptions from those outside the Loom
Program while doing the seemingly never-ending task of repairing the damage still left
over by the Malfean War. One of the biggest advantages Sidereals have over the other
Exalted is their compatibility with the Grand Celestial Mountain. While not as powerful or
as close compared to the Stellar Intelligences, they are still capable of combing through
vast quantities of data very quickly and very few places are off limits to them. The only
authority they answer to in the Grand Celestial Mountain is the Department of Intergalactic
Security and Stability (or D.I.S.S. for short), which is the organization responsible for
maintaining the social order of the Grand Celestial Mountain. Other Exalted can become
part of this organization, but Sidereals are automatically accepted into it. The only other
force Sidereals in the Grand Celestial Mountain are other Sidereals and other D.I.S.S.
personnel such as the Celestial Lions. In the Celestial Vault itself, Sidereals are constantly
busy serving as meditators between spiritual disputes (or Judges if the occasion calls for
it) and fixing reality that may be damaged by excess essence use or creatures who
inherently disrupt the pattern of the Loom such as Malfeans or creatures from the Tomb
Stars.

If one studies Sidereal Exalted, they’ll quickly notice that Sidereals themselves
rarely ever take direct command of organizations or groups, but more often playing the
role of that of an advisor. So strong is this belief amongst Sidereal culture that while
working as a leader isn’t strictly taboo, it's heavily cautioned against. While it is true
Sidereals are well suited for this role as their powers fill the role like a glove, there are
rumors that constantly float about why the mysterious Sidereals so rarely take direct
command. Some say that after the overthrow of the Solars the Sidereals feared that they
were next, so they willingly take a sideline role and just merely use the authority they have
in the Grand Celestial Mountain or the Frontier instead, away from the masses of mortals
who could possibly overthrow them. Others say Sidereals fill the advisor role like a master
playing chess with human pieces. If those pieces are found guilty of any sort of crime, then
the Sidereal only loses a piece rather than killed outright. So long as the chess game
continues however, the Sidereal can enjoy all the riches and luxury he wants while still
having a scapegoat and the ability to wash their hands completely if caught. Those
distrustful of the Sidereals even say that the Solar Dynasty was actually the ‘Sidereal
Dynasty’ and that Solars were merely the scapegoat for the Sidereals.

An interesting side note of Sidereals is that the same power source that gives them
their power also makes them incredibly proficient in martial arts, equaling if not exceeding
their Solar kin in that specific area. The Book of the Lotus claims that in order to
understand martial arts one needs a certain type of harmony in their soul, and with
Sidereal Exaltations made to work with the mountain many people believe this is the key
reason. That or allegations that the Goddess of Martial Arts was somehow heavily involved
with their creation.

Emissaries
The Sidereals have always had a strong connection to the Grand Celestial
Mountain. They were the first Exaltation made to work in harmony with the Mountain rather
than merely beat into a desired shape. During the Malfean War, it was the Sidereals on the
front lines of the Grand Celestial Mountain to prevent the Stellar Intelligences to use it for
its various resources while fighting against Stellar Intelligence’s terrifying digital avatars
with nothing more than mere script-spiders. During the Solar Dynasty legions of Sidereals
worked day and night for literal centuries to prevent the collapse of the Grand Celestial
Mountain to repair the terrible damage it sustained during the Malfean War. Doing all this
while serving as the link between the mortal and the spiritual realm, the difference between
raw data and actual knowledge, the caretakers of reality itself. Many Sidereals see it as
their ultimate or divine purpose that they have in life to maintain and cultivate these
relationships.

To this end the Emissaries maintains close ties to Heaven’s Son and the
Thousandth Dynasty. The Grand Celestial Mountains comes first, but the Emissaries have
a vested and mutual partnership with Heaven’s Son and the Empire. For the times that
Sidereals do need to travel to the Celestial Vault, Heaven’s Son can give them the
resources they require for their business in the galaxy. Often this is enough supplies in
order to travel to far off systems, but even requisition of military forces and Lunar aide are
possible if enough justification is given. In exchange the Emissaries give a few bonuses
back to the Empire; such as priority resolution of large scale reality errors, advisers and
servicemen to those higher up in the Empire, and rapid support from any issues involving
the Grand Celestial Mountain. Many Sidereal Emissaries are even Magistrates
themselves, giving them both authority in the Empire and in the Mountain. Such Sidereals
are seen so often in the Empire that even Lunars or Dragonblooded tend to think that the
Sidereals belong to the Empire, but the Emissaries will reply that they’ll go wherever the
Galaxy needs them.

Exiles
The amount of Sidereal Exalted depended on the size of the Grand Celestial
Mountain, and as more and more vaults of data were constructed inside more and more
Sidereals were created. This truth always remained such a mathematical constant that
even when the Stellar Intelligence’s were made the charts remained the same. After the
Malfean War, large numbers of Sidereals were needed to repair the Grand Celestial
Mountain despite the widespread loss of data and population size. After the Solar Dynasty
the Grand Celestial Mountain stabilized to the point where Sidereals did not need to labour
day and night to maintain it, but a new problem arose. Some Sidereals pointed out that the
concentration of Sidereals in the Grand Celestial Mountain was far too high. Just as too
many chefs would spoil a pot, too many Sidereals could lead to pointless bickering, group
politics involving fractions, or decision paralysis as a majority could not come to a
consensus. A large number of Sidereals then packed up from the Empire and the Grand
Celestial Mountain to forge their own paths in the new reaches of the Frontier. Rumors
circulating either due to wanderlust or fearful of the Empire that had overthrown the Solars.

Exile Sidereals often serve the same purpose as Long War Lunars, but tend to be
focused on metaphysical problems involving the corruption of spacetime. Creatures from
the Screaming Hordes or the Tomb Stars interact with space despite having no presence
in the Loom program causing an untold number of potential errors and glitches within it,
while Malfeans often strain the Loom program so much that the mere act of moving in too
high of a concentration can often have the same effect. Emissary Sidereals greatly
appreciate Exile Sidereals doing this as Sidereal forecasting is often blind to things outside
of the Loom Program itself. They also serve as the same bridge between man and spirit as
the Emissaries do, often serving as a mediator between the two or troubleshooter involving
supernatural spats between entities. Sidereals such as Black Ice Shadow are known as
brave explorers of Tomb Star space, heading into places that most Sidereals wouldn’t
even talk about or Cr1ms0n B4nn3r3d 3x3cut10r who ruthlessly hunts down and
slaughters any such rough elements in the Frontier... or other people if the price is right.

Other Sidereals are content to simply use their abilities provided that the price is
right. All Sidereals have access to the Grand Celestial Mountain, usually above and
beyond what a planet’s manse spirits have access to. For either and incredible favor or an
exorbitant amount of thalers Sidereals can offer these same services to people on the
Frontier or their services as an advisor. Even the most anti-Empirical Resistance Fighter or
xenomorphic alien race heavily consider council from the same group of people who
advise Heaven’s Son himself. Such abilities often land them lofty positions and authority
for such an easy task, such as the Venus Pattern Sidereal Exaltation type “Jewel of the
Desert” who serves as the private advisor (and courtesan) to the despot of Gem in
exchange for access to his limitless wealth.

Emissaries and Exiles get along well together. Emissaries appreciate Exiles taking
the workload involving the Frontier off and providing eyes in the Sidereal blind spots.
Exiles in turn trust the Emissary’s judgement involving the Grant Celestial Mountain and
know that if life in the Frontier doesn’t pan out they’re always welcome in the Mountain
itself, even when first starting off they’ll be a lowly errand boy of some sort. Exiles rarely go
into the Empire, but unlike the Long War Lunars this isn’t a distaste for the Empire, rather
it's because the Emissaries do most of work there and often they see no reason to unless
some pressing business summons them there.
 The Exigent Exalted
Having nearly an infinite amount of variations from the Exigent of Warstriders to the
Exigent of Psionics, the Exigents have always been the wildcards of the Exalted forces. By
using the essence pattern of God-Pattern type spirit, great champions of nearly limitless
potential can be brought from the ranks of humanity. This allows for Exalted specifically
tailored for a certain role or niche, useful when a large degree of specialization is needed
or other Exaltation type currently fits the role required. Exigence appears to be completely
random in of itself, where weak gods may suddenly make champions that rival the
mightiest of the Celestial Exalted while even strong gods may find Exigents as strong as
the Dragonblooded. This often gives a large disparity when Exigent types, but when Gods
are desperate or greedy enough sometimes the dice do indeed need to be rolled.

Exigent ‘shells’ themselves appear to be a glowing white semi-translucent orb, but

the Exigent Exaltation does nothing at this point and fully activating it is a great risk in of
itself. Normally Exigent Exaltations are only given out to gods who request access for one,
submitting their request to the Grant Celestial Mountain’s reviewal committee. The
committee then looks into the reason why an Exigence is needed, but most cases
involving heavy Shrieking Horde/Malfean activities and supernatural phenomena that
mortals cannot possibly handle are ways to get accepted. Once accepted the God of
Exaltations, Lytek, crafts an Exigent shell from rare materials including a small piece of the
Grand Celestial Mountain’s own central processor core, the very thing that sustains the
Grand Celestial Mountain. After which the Exigent shell is delivered to the god which they
can then empower it with a fragment of their own DNA-Soul. This operation is risky as
imbuing an Exigence a part of a god’s DNA-Soul, a part of a spirit that’s equivalent to a
mortal’s heart, is equivalent to cutting out a part of a vital organ and expecting to live.
Many weaker gods do not survive this process and even the mightiest of the Celestial
Gods are expected to take some hit to their overall power. The end result however is very
much worth it, as the mortal is now a champion borrowing the powers of their god.

Exigent Exaltations also carry many risks involved with them as well. The biggest
downside is that many Exigents themselves are unique one-off Exaltations. Quite often
there is no other of their specific kind. A few known Exigent types can survive after death
or some passed on in different and unique ways. The Exigent of Democracy rules a planet
but changes owners if the current user loses in a major election or the Exigent of
Priestesses which can only be passed on the to the first female child of the bearer when
she becomes of age. Most often however is that once an Exigent dies their unique
Exaltation goes with them. Even more despicable is that the Exigent shell itself is neutral
until it can be programmed by a god itself, and those who intercept it en route to its
designated owner can then proceed to do whatever they want with it. This has formed a
thriving Exigence Black Market which sees no shortage of bidders despite the inherent
risks involved with them. Such buyers can then proceed to do whatever they wish with
them. Han-Tha, the God of Decay, stole an Exigent in order to give it to a champion of his
own, spreading a slow march of horror throughout the Northeastern sector of the Celestial
Vault as entire cities of billions of people decay and rot, greatly amplifying Han-Tha’s
sphere of influence. Such Exigent’s are called Renegade Exigents and no matter what the
reason for their existence may be Emissary Sidereal Exaltations will relentlessly hunt down
such Exigents, as often time special concessions and exceptions in the Loom Program
need to be made for the chosen god and his Exigent, and illegaly bypassing this system
often causes havoc for both the Loom Program and whatever reason the legitimate god
asked for one in the first place.

Exigents are worth it as Gods who use them often see a significant return on their
investment for it. Gods who are consumed can take comfort knowing that their purview is
being taken care of by their Exigent while those who survive now have a champion
crusading for the God’s own cause and purview. Whenever the Exigent wishes to spread
the word and faith of his patron or just merely uses its power for his own selfish ends, the
god’s power and themes are still expressed. Those gods who are sentenced to death to
make their Exigents can make DISS rest easy knowing that one large problem is taken
care of, though they do tend to keep a closer eye on Exigents made from convicted gods,
as if those champions are expected to redeem whatever their patron god was convicted of.

Exigents are spread out throughout the Empire and the Frontier itself. The Empire
uses its special connections to the Emissaries in order get access to Exigents for powerful
gods within the Empire itself. These gods are often happy to have a personal champion
spreading their purview amongst the stars and consider living under the Empire’s rule to
be a fair trade for this. In turn these Empire Exigents get resources directly from the
Empire so long as they continue working with the Empire. Exigents in the Frontier are
often the results of desperate gods wishing to protect their purviews from supernatural
forces that are far beyond them or the local forces in the area, sacrificing themselves for
the great good... or the intense greed of wanting their own personal champion.

The Dragonblooded Exalted

Dragonblooded were not only one of the first types of exalted, but one of the first
users of essence itself. Originally a group of extremely dedicated spiritualists who wished
to perfect the mind and body by using the Elemental Scripture of the Five Dragons, they
were capable of manipulating the ‘chi’ in their body in order to harness their latent psionic
abilities based on the five elements: Pyrokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Cyrokinesis, Biokinesis,
and Geokinesis. This continued for nearly thousands of years before humanity discovered
what the Dragonblooded were doing was some sort of extremely early latent essence
manipulation itself. When humanity discovered this, the cells of the Dragonblooded
bombarded with streams of essence, both externally and internally delivered with
nanotechnology. Such vast amounts of energy would’ve obliterated a normal human
being, but using their innate control of the elements some of the Dragonblooded actually
survived. Every cell of their body being tailored to produce and store a form of elemental
essence.

When it was discovered that this power of the Dragonblooded could be passed
onto their children, careful eugenics programs were set in place to not only ensure the
purity of their bloodline but to make it stronger. Over time this led the Dragonblooded to
intermarry and intermingle with various other groups of Dragonblooded, which in time
because known as the Clans. Before the Malfean War it is said that almost a hundred or
more clans existed, but with the mass loss of life that came with the Malfean war only
twelve of the remaining clans were said to survive, renaming themselves into the Great
Clans. To replenish their numbers many Dragonblooded broke the taboo of
Dragonblooded and human pairings. While this has stabilized Dragonblooded numbers, it
has come at the cost of diluting the potency of the psionic powers within them to the point
where some children no longer even became Exalted.

There always has been the fear of the Dragonblooded vastly outnumbering the
other types of Exalted, but in reality, those checks have never needed to be put into place.
One of the most popular rivals for a Dragonblooded is another Dragonblooded, both in the
Empire and outside of it. The truly ambitious Dragonblooded in the Frontier who could be a
threat don’t even have a fraction of the power the Great Trading clans have.

The Ten Million Dragons

With the overthrow of the Exalted, the vast cartels of the Dragonblooded were
given his blessing by Heaven’s Son, allowing each clan to have certain monopolies in the
Empire itself in exchange for loyalty to both him and the Empire. The Ten Million Dragons
have an odd relationship with the Empire itself, as while it often a rarity that some branch
of the government doesn’t have a Dragonblooded civil servant somewhere in its command
structure or military the clans themselves remain largely independent. Heaven’s Son knew
that upon the overthrowing of the Solar Exalted he’d need someone to fill the gap left
behind. With Lunars being busy enough serving as special agents, Sidereals too occupied
with the Grand Celestial Mountain to be of significant use, and Exigents simply being far
too varied for any sort of organized command structure he absolutely needed the
Dragonblooded. At the same time however, he wanted to give a sense of growth and
freedom of expansion for the Dragonblooded, whenever or not this was actually true.
Thus, the Great Clans remain largely independent megacorporations that contract their
services out to the Empire for a reduced price in exchange for certain freedoms. Some of
these include the right to owning and managing a system in Empire space for each
however they see fit and the exclusively monopoly of certain businesses (or share them
with other megacorporations). Heaven’s Son does retain the ability to summon all
Dragonblooded back to the Empire to aid in its defense or some task similar to just before
the Malfean War and the Solar Dynasty, but this hasn’t been used in Heaven’s Son reign
so far.

Heaven’s Son’s knows that even this grand gesture won’t keep the ambitious
Dragonblooded content, so he has various checks in place to make sure that the
Dragonblooded don’t try to overthrow them. First and foremost are spies, using Sidereals
and Lunars to keep tabs on the Great Clans and their movements in case anything seems
out of the ordinary, but this is often considered the least effective method as usually the
Great Clans are more content to plot against the other Great Clans for power and
resources. Heaven’s Son rarely has to lift a finger as this cycle is largely self-perpetuating.
If a Great Clan knows that its military rival will be asking for a large sum of resources as a
grant to bolster its performance, the Great Clan can instead interject and ask for the
resources to be put to a ‘better’ use such as upgrading a planet full of poor people so they
have a better quality of life. If, or most likely when, the military rival returns with various
losses they can then purchase supplies from the Great Clan itself, at raised prices
because of the sudden hike in demand of course. With the open ban that Heaven’s Son
has placed on the Great Houses warring against each other, seemingly the worse they can
do to each other is to constantly scheme against each other. The language Heaven’s Son
used to describe the Great Clan’s monopolies is also intentionally vague, so while Ledaal
Research Inc. cannot officially take military contracts they are allowed to ‘field test’ their
latest weaponry on behalf of prospective buyers.

The other main factor is that the Great Clans see themselves as fundamentally
playing a different sort of game than the Empire itself: Running a business versus running
a nation. The Dragonblooded seem to think that Heaven’s Son is ultimately foolish,
running a single empire constricted by borders while their Megacorporations know no
boundary or ideology. Heaven’s Son sees the Dragonblooded as foolish for wanting to
expand an organization to the point where it collapses from sheer size. Running an Empire
is rarely profitable, and if the Dragonblooded did take over it would significantly cut into the
bottom line and no single Great Clan wants to bear that burden.

With the millions of Dragonblooded, getting a central voice is often difficult; so,
Heaven’s Son installed a representative for the collected body of Dragonblooded simply
known as Scarlet. Scarlet is known to be a hero of several large wars including those in
the closing days of the Solar Dynasty and best yet completely loyal to Heaven’s Son. She
has long sworn off the name of her original clan and sees herself as a bridge of all
Dragonblooded to Heaven’s Son himself. In fact, Scarlet is one of the few people in the
galaxy itself who can see Heaven’s Son without any sort of appointment. For the
Dragonblooded itself she is known as a mediator of disputes with authority that can only
be overturned by Heaven’s Son himself. Many clans are often very leery of doing this, for
Scarlet is known to have a fiery temper to the point where she publicly strangled a
Dragonblooded trader for purposefully wasting her time for a meaningless dispute.

The last and most extreme check Heaven’s Son has is the ‘honor’ of becoming a
Magistrate. While becoming a Magistrate gives one significant power politically to be on
par with Lunars, Magistrates are expected to put all past ties behind them in the name of
the ‘greater good’. An overly ambitious Dragonblooded trader may suddenly find himself
congratulated by his peers for being voted in as a Magistrate, then expected to sell off all
his assets or donate them before his swearing in. After all, being a hero of the Empire is a
huge deal and there are almost no known cases of people turning it down. Usually if a
Dragonblooded is turned into a Magistrate against their will they often begin in-depth
investigations of those he suspects helped to vote him in as a form of petty revenge, or
those Dragonblooded with nothing left to lose at this point.

The Outcasts
Outcast Dragonblooded are those Dragonblooded who have sworn off the
Thousandth Dynasty or those born and raised in the Frontier without having joined one of
the great clans. Some Dragonblooded often believe that the limits imposed upon them by
Heaven’s Son are far too harsh, so what these Dragonblooded do is often take as many
resources they can carry in either thralers or materials such as spaceships or men and
head out to forge their own tale in the great unknown of the Frontier. Some Dragonblooded
even manage to make a name for themselves, such as Ragara ‘Incorruptible’ Evens who
broke off with the Empire entirely due to what he perceived to be widespread corruption
within the Ragara bank and now owns his own planet and one of the Frontier’s most well-
known banking companies. Such Dragonblooded have a bounty placed upon their heads
almost immediately along with numerous arrest warrants. Both the Empire and the Great
Clan tolerate very little dissent among such traitors.

The far more common type of outcast in the Frontier are those Dragonblooded who
were born and raised in the Frontier itself. After the Malfean war the taboos on reproducing
with mortals were lifted to repopulate the Dragonblooded and since then caused
Dragonblooded to spread the progeny throughout the stars. These sorts of Outcast
Dragonblooded often learn their lessons from life amongst the stars rather than the strict
upbringing those Dragonblooded from the Empire have. Many of these Dragonblooded
and often directly trace their lineage to some major trading clan, but many prefer to live
with the freedom the Frontier brings, gambling against huge odds to get equally huge
payoffs. A famous Dragonblooded duelist in the Thousand Kingdoms area for example can
literally earn his own weight in thalers per day for what are relatively simply jobs, other
Elite Dragonblooded such as the Five Elite Fiends are nearly every bit equal of the
Empire’s Immaculates in terms of skill and prowess and may charge a small fortune for
their services, especially the waking nightmare they cause for slavers. By making their
living with utilizing equal measures of their trusty blasters, wit, and charm as their
daiklaves providing them with no shortage of work or opportunities.

The Abyssal Exalted

If the return of the Solar Exalted are met with the cheers of those in the Frontier,
then the Abyssals are the living personification of fear resulting from the return of the
Solars. The Abyssal Exalted are a brand-new form of Exalted that have only recently been
recorded appearing in the Frontier around the space of the Tomb Stars, wielding terrifying
new weapons never before seen in the Galaxy against them while leading entire fleets of
ships crewed by howling undead monstrosities. Preaching the Gospel of the Terminus, the
Deathlords, or the Tomb Stars, the Abyssals continue to march forth in the Celestial Vault
crushing all those who oppose them.

Abyssal Exaltations seem to be the polar opposite of the Solar Exaltations in

virtually every way. The only exception being that while the Solar Exalted seem to radiate
light and seek to ignite it in others, the Abyssal Exalted seek to consume all light physically
and metaphorically. The processes of an Abyssal Exaltation work when a person is just
about to die, a Tomb Star seeming to reach out to that person regardless of distance and
offer them a choice to either die or live in service to them, often spicing up the deal with
revenge to all of those who have wronged them. If they accept the Tomb Star locks the
target in a stasis field to halt their death and infuse them with the power of the Black
Exaltation.

The Abyssals blackened caste marks of the Solars and similar powers imply
disturbing implications. Can the Tomb Stars themselves capture and corrupt those who go
against them? Is this the fate of those brave Solars who set off in a crusade against the
Tomb Stars or were hunted to the ends of the galaxy to consume the Solar’s brilliant light?
Or are such creatures the twisted remains of the Solars who perished in the Stellar
Intelligence’s death throes, one of the many who were missing in combat after the
climactic final encounters?

Despite their origins and location one thing is painfully clear about them, Abyssals
march forth into the galaxy to deliver the message of death. This final message varies from
Abyssal to Abyssal and is tied into the unique realization of death they made when they
first Exalted. The Laughter in Slaughter realized that the chaos and struggles of life are
utterly fruitless, and the end of all things is the unceasing orderly silence of the void. The
Abyssal know as Unending Dark Matter instead roams world to world, espousing the
virtues of the Terminus dimension and how one should honor their ancestors over
whatever other gods they may worship, for only they can protect them from what’s coming
next for the galaxy.

The Rebels
The Rebels are Abyssals who follow neither the Tomb Stars nor the Deathlords,
but rather set off for their own unique agenda. Quite often this has something to do with
Terminus due to the Abyssal’s very nature, but there have been rare cases. The
Destruction of Ignorance is whispered about being an explorer who works non-stop to map
the galaxy while any pirate unfortunate enough to get in his way is only killed then having
their souls bonded to Destruction of Ignorance’s vessel for eternity.

The goals of Rebels themselves appear to be quite varied, with many consenting
and differing opinions. Some Abyssals believe that they are the bridge between life and
death and that the living should remain out of deathly affairs and visa versa. Such
Abyssals believe that the expansion brought on the the Deathlords and their Reaper Kin
are something that violates the boundary between the living and the dead and do their
best to fight against them, but at the same time are known to turn around and kill those
who flee their planet from a sun about to go supernova. Some Rebels known as the
preachers preach about the end times, how the galaxy is nearing the end or some great
and terrible cataclysm in the future involving Terminus Space. Trying to stop such a thing
is pure folly, and the only thing one can do is prepare for the worst. Many will die but will
‘live’ on in a state of undeath, so it is important for the living to care for those who came
before them. A rare few Abyssals attempt to continue with their lives as before when they
were mortal, something which many Abyssals, Reapers or Rebels, call denial. Still many
Abyssals have known to become rich when they have led mighty Trader Vessels safely
through the Terminus and Tomb Star Space itself.

The Reapers
The Reapers are Abyssals who are known to be loyal followers of the Tomb Star,
the Deathlords, or some other hostile force advocating the end of all life. These Abyssals
are incredibly dangerous, either wiping out entire worlds of life in their march against the
living or a silver tongue to turn entire worlds into death cults that preach about how there is
no need to fight against the peaceful end of the universe itself. The Abyssal known as Soul
Nomad wields a blade called the World Eater and is known to personally slaughter anyone
that comes in her path to fuel the powerful weapon, rumored to be holding a being of
incredible destructive might that longs and aches to be released from its prison; coming
closer and closer to escape with each and every new soul absorbed. Such Abyssals are
often very well equipped, containing fleets from the Necrotic Armada, undead troops that
know neither rest nor fear, and a brand-new field of technology called eschatechnology
that has never been since in the recorded universe before but wielding it with the practiced
ease of a race that has had access to it for millennia.

Reaper Abyssals are known to act as the right hand to some powerful creature in
the Terminus or the Tomb Stars themselves. Some Abyssals worship the Tomb Stars
directly themselves, believing them to be the future and want to bring all of space under
their control by any means necessary. Others, such as the Deathlords, are often revived
monsters aeons old, sealed away by humanity or other races so long ago that hardly even
scant legends of them exist anymore. Their own motivations seeming to be unclear, but at
least in unshaky truths involving other Deathlords to make up the Necrotic Armada.

The Alchemical Exalted

The Alchemical Exalted are one of the newest Exalted in the universe, constructed
not from principles of psionics or soul fusion but from the very essence of technology itself.
Brave champions made of metal and clay rather than bone and blood who protect and
serve the Populat social class inside of Autochthonia itself and have done so for millennia
using powerful enhanced by the King of all Craftsmen himself. Such heroic beings are
chosen only after a single soul have proven themselves a hero amongst the Populat time
and time again before encased within their synthetic god body. To call an Alchemical
Exalted a full body prosthetic is an insult, as the construction of such Exalted is so
advanced that it takes a team of special scientists whose brains are directly attuned to the
inner workings of Autochthon himself to make something so completed that it makes an
artifact prosthesis look like a children’s toy. Some Alchemicals themselves even engage in
combat in the skies in mighty ship bodies before settling down on a planet itself, becoming
massive futuristic cities or space stations of tomorrow where people can live in relative
safety compared to places such as the Frontier.

But all's not well within Autochthonia, as just as Alchemicals take center stage as
heroes they also share a stage with their problems. The first being Apostates, twisted
Alchemicals who have forsaken the humans and god they’ve sworn to protect and now
seek to destroy them in horrifically corrupted, yet shockingly advanced, heretical
technology. Where Apostates tread doom, destruction, and chaos are quick to follow.
Matters are further completed when the system of Nurad dared to make a new model of
champion: One that doesn’t need the test of heroes. The new Alchemical Exalted work by
a special soulgem where a simple soulgem transfusion will convert the chosen’s body into
the Iron Heroes themselves. Nurad is under fire for things such as heresy against the
Great Maker’s wishes even though such an invention was born under desperate times and
measures. As nations condemn, just as many of them are cutting deals with Nurad to gain
access to this new model of Alchemical. Alchemicals throughout Autochthonia have
reactions ranging from indifference to utter dread in that they may soon be replaced.
Nurad doesn’t mention to others how some of their MK II Exaltations went missing or that
they’ve finished production on MK III models but won’t tell anyone until things have calmed
down.
 What Nurad knows, and is not telling anyone, is that some of the Alchemical MK II
and MK III Soulgems were scattered across the cosmos itself. A recent apostate attack on
their top-secret production facility was foiled, but a recovered Golden Age Warp Drive that
was recovered was activated, scattering the precious stones across the galaxy itself in one
tragedy after another for the poor system. The top scientists in Nurad are confident that
the Celestial Vault exists as the stones wouldn’t be teleported if that wasn’t the case, but
they’re facing another damning decision. One where they’re forced to hastily construct a
ramshackle exploration vessel and race to the Celestial Vault before Yugash, one that’s
led by untested Alchemical versions on the heels of an inter-system scandal or go to
Yugash and confess what they’ve been doing to get them to embark on a quest to recover
all of the missing soulgems. Nurad knows that if others find out that the soulless Junkyard
Rats can exalt the same as an Autochthonian can, they’ll face far harsher words this
time...

Of course, if you want to play an Alchemical character then no need to wait, I

already got you covered!

The Infernal Exalted

The Infernal Exalted are some rarest Exaltations known in the galaxy, while the Central
Empire may at least know about Abyssals the same cannot be said about the Infernals.
While the Malfeans may be forever banished to their prison at the edge of the universe
their own brand new Exalted, the Infernals, head forth into the galaxy to spread the will of
the Malfeans. Every Infernal wields charms that contain the awesome power of the
Malfeans, transforming into nebulas that crackle with the psychic energies of raw emotion
or taking the embodiment of a supernova unto themselves so all who behold them have
even their very souls immolated.
How the Malfeans managed to make such Exalted is the guess of anyone. During the
Golden Age the process of Exaltations couldn’t have been hidden from the virtually
omniscient Stellar Intelligences, but no one knows why they didn’t make Exaltations back
then and they’re doing so now. Maybe during the Malfean War they were so confident in
their devas that they didn’t see the need for them until the bitter end? Maybe they hated
humanity so much that the very thought would’ve been abhorrent to them. It could be that
their prison is so perfect that they have no physical ways to spread their influence
throughout the galaxy; despite even the power and wisdom of the Stellar Intelligence they
are still entities based around terraforming so being unable to perform the task they were
designed for finally forced them to compromise and deal with humanity themselves. Or
maybe they did find a way to escape their prison and the Infernals were the only key they
had to make for their plan? Even the process of how the Infernals make them is left a
mystery. Did they steal and corrupt Solar Exaltations? After all, if the Terminus stars can
do so then there is no reason the Malfeans cannot. Or is there someone in the Grand
Celestial Mountain giving them the means to do so? Such a traitor would have to be very
high up in the Grand Celestial Mountain, and the very implication of such a thing could
grind higher up decisions from the Grand Celestial Mountain to a halt.
Infernal Exaltations appear as glowing green orbs, but seeing them individually is quite
rare as when not in use they immediately snap back to a custom-made behemoth named
Lilin, whom takes the shape of a little girl and is quite unsettling to be with. Rather the
Malfeans themselves wish their own Exalted to be kindred spirits just like themselves,
people who know all too well the bitter sense of defeat and hopelessness. Using their
information network, the Infernals look for such people then send out a First Circle Demon
whose body contains an Infernal Exaltation which then takes a human form and seeks out
the crushed spirit. Upon contact the demon attempts to barter with the human, asking if
they had the power would they take back what they had lost? Take what they deserved
from the universe or even fate itself? The overwhelming majority of people say yes, which
after the demon itself creates a focused explosion towards the individual, bombarding their
body with the fury and might of a star in which the only remains left are an onyx shell of
both the demon and the human itself. One week later the human emerges from this
cocoon, reborn with the might of the fallen Stellar Intelligences pulsing through him.
Malfean Cultists will often watch over and welcome the newly born Infernal into the
world, seeing no higher honor than welcoming a herald of the Malfeans into the universe
itself. These cultists will always attempt to lure the Infernal into the good graces of the
Malfeans themselves, arranging for them to travel to Malfean space where they’d be
welcome as a demon lord; obtaining all the rights and privileges such a position entitles
before returning to the universe itself to spread the beginnings of their brand-new galactic
empire. If the newly born Infernal declines this offer then it is of little consequence to the
Malfeans themselves. The entire purpose of the Infernals is to spread the will of the
Malfeans across the stars once more, and as the Infernal grows in both age and power
such a thing becomes as easy as breathing. Not that such a thing would happen in the first
place, as the Malfeans hope that the unchecked ambition that comes with gaining such
power will continuously propel them forwards rather than worry what their power could be
doing to the galaxy at large.
What? You want to play an Infernal but the book isn’t out yet? You’re welcome.

The Empyreans
The Empyreans are the newest demon princes of Malfean face, wrapping
themselves in all the vices and responsibilities their newfound station in Malfean Space
can provide them with. Fearsome foes such as Slayer caste known simple as Lord Dio
who commands an army of giants to conquer all planets that lie in his wake with the simple
goal of imposing his will and slaughtering all the gods that reside upon it or the Defiler
known as Ten Thousand Crystal Spheres whom is a peerless captain not only for his skill
but how his fleet operates like clockwork after removing tenuous things such as “free will”.
The only reason such monsters remain unseen is that they’re approaching the Celestial
Vault from the edges of space, but it won’t be much longer until others in the universe will
begin to hear tales of such figures marching towards them with demonic vessels in tow.
 Empyreans are given an automatic position of nobility within Malfean Space for one
special reason: They alone are capable of entering and leaving Malfean space as they
please. Such a thing often heralds them as champions amongst throngs of lesser demons,
many of whom often beg Empyreans to take them along as they venture out into the sea of
stars in the Celestial Vault. Some of the older and more experienced demons of the
second and third circle also treat them as valued peers in kind, often granting heavy favor
for new Empyreans so that they may use the Empyreans to further goals they have out in
the Celestial Vault. Just as many find it distasteful that their masters are playing favorites
with their newest toys. Many of the older demons fought in the Malfean War or often did
horrific acts to gain the favor of the Malfeans, and then the Empyreans come along barely
needing to prove anything with their masters telling them to treat them as their peers, even
going as far to bend the laws of Cecelyne to do so. While outright attacking these new
exalted without a casus belli is a surefire way to rouse the ire of the peers or worse their
masters, in which case the Empyreans need to prove themselves to such demons in order
to get any real help beyond lip service.
To represent an Empyrean mechanically they’ll often have at least three dots in the
backing merit. While such a merit is active such Empyreans are treated as having the
diplomatic immunity that the Eclipse caste benefits from. If attacked without reason the
Empyreans are allowed to fight back however using soul destruction magic on second or
third circle souls is something the demons frown upon. No such distinction exists for First
circle souls, whom the Empyreans can do as they please with.

The Sovereigns
The Sovereigns are the Infernals who refuse the invitation of the Malfeans,
preferring to live as a literal god amongst men, terrifying all whose who behold their
emerald radiance as they bask and become drunk in their newfound power. Some
Infernals do this out of choice, having accepted their gift from the Malfeans but choosing
not to side with them out of currently held beliefs held by most of the galaxy, maybe Yozi
cultists were unable to find or reach the Infernal in time before they emerged from their
cocoon, or maybe they simply didn’t want to be involved with any sort of politics. The
Malfeans don’t see such a thing as a negative; regardless of whenever the Infernal joins
them or not the use of the Sovereign’s power will make the galaxy fear the might of the
Malfeans once more.
Sovereigns will often immediately use their powers to get back at those who
wronged them in life or use their power to fix past mistakes. Essence Fever combined with
the sense of powerlessness they felt in the past drives Sovereigns to do such things,
immolating anyone alive who stands in their way while blaster bolts and tank rounds alike
bounce off skin of supernatural brass. God and mortal alike fall to the newly crowned
champion of the Malfeans before they become the Sovereign of their newly elected
kingdom. Such a path does not off the same benefits as siding with the Malfeans, but it
comes with a much higher degree of freedom.
 With Infernals being so new, interactions between the Empyreans and Sovereigns
haven’t been known to happen yet even amongst the most informed of Infernals. The
mandate of treating Infernals as demonic peers applies even to Empyreans themselves,
so if the two ever do meet there should always be some sort of civil conversation
happening first barring situations such as disastrous first encounters.
 The System Head Carlos Vanhousen paced back and forth restlessly in his office,
a large holographic map of the Altin system swirling around his office, the sun filling his
windows as the station lazily orbited his capital planet. Carlos was used to politics and the
viciousness it came with, but being a System Head was far more than he could reasonably
deal with. As much as he detested his predecessor he couldn’t help to being to form a
begrudging respect for the man and his 20 years in office, and here Carlos is only several
months into his new position and everything is already starting to come undone. The
Magistrates meddling into his affairs certainly wasn’t helping, but it wasn’t as if his plans
could continue with groups like the Sons of Altin prowling about in every corner of his
system.

He looked at the time highlighted on the window overseeing the sun, sighing once
again as time went by. More and more stress continued to build up as today was the day
when the annual advisor would be coming to his system, one of the sages who provide
Heaven’s Son himself to help manage and issues the systems may have. It was his first
visit by one, and while he was stressed he was also concerned, rumors from his fellows
saying that the advisor to this system is a bit of a queer one. Carlos couldn’t care less if
the advisor was a roaring patriot priest of Heaven’s Son at this point.

The door to his office finally slide open with a soft hiss, Carlos turning around with
a smile on his face. “Ah greeting o wise and noble... visor. I thank you for coming to my
meager system.”

Carlos’s sentence was paused for several seconds as he had to force himself to
stop staring. The woman did not match someone of her station at all, bright purple hair
sitting atop of a beautiful woman with snow white skin and black makeup, wearing the
clothing of the punks one can commonly find in the slums as she trots into the offices in
heavy leather clad boots. Her face is one of annoyance as the trods into the room, not
even so much as looking at Carlos.

“I heard your flight was long Lady Crimson Rose, do you re-”

“Yea yea yea look there’s a concert by the Killa Klowns starting later today so let’s
just get this done and over with.” Crimson Rose says with a sigh as she seats herself
inside of Carlos’s chair, opening the files on his computer and begins to rapidly flip through
them. “First order of business, go.”

Carlos has to spend a few seconds getting over his disbelief before he can form a
coherent sentence. “Yes, the Sons of Altin terrorist group has been of increasing concern
in my system. They’re surprisingly well armed for a makeshift terrorist gr-”

“Their HQ is on the Corvin moon orbiting the Albatross, inside the Zuuka Trench.
Attack the headquarters with everything you’ve got and the Magistrates will mop of the
rest.” Crimson Rose says indifferently as she continues to sort through the files.

Carlos was aghast at the sheer ease at how this woman figured out the location of
their headquarters. His spies had spent months attempting to find the location of that
headquarters but to no avail, and here this uncouth woman manages to figure it out in
several seconds? No, she had to know this beforehand. This was all a test by Heaven’s
Son himself to test his competence as a leader. Carlos immediately sturdied himself upon
this realization, ready to prove his worth to the Son of Heaven.

“Very well, I’ll dispatch the commandos immediately.” Carlos says without missing
a beat as he slowly walks in front of his desk. “Now the next order of business is-”

“Yea about that.” Crimson Rose cuts him off once again, tapping a few icons on the
computer screen in front of her before and expanded few of several dozen economics
reports come in, big red circles around half of them. “I oversee the paperwork for your
system. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice this?”

Carlos’s veins turned to ice almost immediately, the near flawless plan he had of
siphoning hundredths of a thaler off every transaction his entire system made was
supposed to be foolproof, something that was never caught by the previous system head
who had even earned nicknames such as “Eagle Eye of the Unshakeable Mountain”. A
cold sweat began to run down his face, stumbling for words as his composure collapses
instantly. “Wait! I can explain!”

“I don’t think you can. You know embezzling government funds is a capital offense,
and I know Stygia has more than enough empty spaces left over for people like you.”
Crimson Rose says as she leans back in Carlos’s chair and puts her feet up on his
cherrywood desk. “I’m a Magistrate myself, so if I wanted to I could walk out of this room
with you in cuffs for what I’ve seen alone. But I’m willing to overlook that.”

Carlos remained frozen in place for several seconds, dreading what this bribe
would be. “F-For what?”

“There’s a little... vote coming up in the interplanetary congress within a year or so.
Proposition U-190A. All you need to do is vote yes and that’s it.” Crimson Rose says
looking at the holograms floating in the room.

Carlos was confused for several moments, not even knowing what that proposition
was. He knew that in the classification system in that propositions with ‘A’ on the end of
them stood for ‘Annex’, but not what the rest of the bill entailed. “That’s all?”

Crimson Rose made a simple shrug with her hands. “That’s all. Don’t worry, you’ll
have a blast voting for it. Now let’s go through the rest of your little problems, I have a
concert to catch soon.”
 Chapter 3: The Thousandth Dynasty
I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me!

Long ago the Exalted Empire contained a countless number of systems under its
flag, all the Exalted and all manner of species banding together for the good of all people.
The current Central Empire is nothing but a mere shadow of itself, but is still considered
the largest organized faction in all the Galaxy. Since the departure of the Solars, the
Exalted Empire was renamed into the “Central Empire” for its location near the center of
the galaxy itself and because it no longer represented all the Exalted. In official paperwork
it's called the “Thousandth Dynasty”, which is the number of generations that the ruler of
this vast Empire, Heaven’s Son, has been in power for.

The Central Empire earned its name for being the literal beating heart of the galaxy
at large. The citizens inside of the Empire are known to have the highest standards of
living in the galaxy. All citizens on every planet are offered basic education and health
care. Worlds rarely need to fear space pirate or slaver raids as the strongest military force
within the entire galaxy is constantly on patrol with ships in the sky, boots on the ground,
and the Shining Eye looking from within. Even the entertainment of the empire is known as
a weapon at large, as Nellen’s entertainment movies are in Holovid throughout the
deepest reaches of the Frontier while even the lowest citizen often makes enough so that
they can see a movie or play every weekend.

Living in the Central Empire is not without its downsides, such as the complete and
utter lack of privacy and control. The same devices that scan a customer upon entering a
store are fed into national databases for keep track of everyone’s movements. Powerful
biometric systems keep track of not only when one accesses their apartment or bank
account, even one’s own toilet constantly scan people for any sign of illegal drugs and
discretely issue tickets to such offenders. The same datapads that are used for both as a
wealth of information and countless other functions essential for day to day life contain
tracking devices so the Empire always knows where you are. The Empire doesn’t even try
to hide or deny this, for they learned this lesson during the Night Era of the Solar Dynasty.
Rather they explain to people that this is all for their own protection, and the general
perception is that Empire is putting this to good use. For every horror story that comes a
government official abusing this system for his own profit, ten more stories exist of how the
Empire used such a system to stop an alien terrorist group smuggling explosives into an
apartment complex or how such tracking equipment led brave Empire soldiers to a slaver
ship attempting to sell Imperial citizens.

This very system makes it almost impossible for criminals of any sort to last long in
the Central Empire. When a system is able to send a peace officer to a repeat jaywalkers
workplace to write a ticket in front of his peers a mere few hours after the crime took place,
one has to wonder how long a murderer is able to flee justice. For a criminal to survive any
length of time in the Central Empire you need connections, people willing to do favors such
as take you in or be counted on to make certain problems ‘disappear’. With the possibility
of nearly anyone you trust either being an Iselsi spymaster or Lunar shapeshifter, massive
trust issues run rampant in the Imperial Underworld. Criminal gangs have a hard time
trusting those who are sworn in as their brother much less other criminal organizations,
resulting in a vicious Underworld which is bloodier even than nearly any criminal
organization in the Frontier itself. Criminal gangs are constantly on the move as a result,
never staying in one place for too long lest they attract the attention of the Magistrates or
worse the Shikari. With the amount of money to be made however, there is always some
new group willing to fill in that gap. If you’re a criminal and you’re caught then it's quite
likely you can serve a life sentence just waiting for the trail itself. Even when you have your
day in court there is no grantee that your legal representative will either be actually
competent or place much value on what could very well be his 10th case for that day
alone.

Curiosity is not considered and admirable trait within the Central Empire. Questions
are bad. Questions and curiosity mean that you’d pry into other people’s private affairs and
why would you do that? Everyone always knows the Central Empire keeps tabs on
everyone, and will most likely know about the personal life of those you are interested in.
So why bother asking asking anything about a person other than what bar you’d like to
head to after work or if they’re doing anything next weekend? Above all, you do not ask
questions about the Central Empire government. Those who are known to ask questions
about the Central Empire government openly or pry their noses into areas which they do
not belong often tend to disappear, escorted by government officials into a building which
people go into but strangely never come back out of. Those with any shred of self-
preservation does not ask what goes on in such buildings.

This all adds up to the illusion of freedom in the Empire itself. There is just enough
leeway in the system to claim that people are being treated fairly, but just enough logical
red tape to tie up anything one wishes to do that the government deems questionable. The
underworld is intentionally shown as vicious to discourage people from using it. The cost of
immigrating to another planet often involves so much paper and money that most people
don’t want to bother or sign up with one of the Great Clans if they wish to explore the
galaxy in a government approved way. While people are taken care of in the Empire, even
they are controlled as well. The Department of Honourable Caretakers keep an eye on
people the moment they’re born, monitoring their development over the years before
assigning them a job they’d be best at, providing all the training, education, and placement
issues that come with the job. One can ignore the suggestions of the government, but the
hassle of finding a college or university, paying for it, and then actually finding a job when
one graduates is an immense hassle where only the rich bother to use such a program.
Some planets are known to be so out of control with their own monitoring that the
Department of Honourable Caretakers actually assigns people various partners to date
based on specific compatibility rankings.

Almost none of this applies to the Exalted, as so long as their actions to not directly
harm the Empire they’re often given free rein to do as they please. Dragonblooded
businessmen are allowed to deal with whomever they please from the most honest
businessman to the scummiest space pirate. Some Sidereals are known to rule various
Paradise Vacation worlds as a hobby in what little spare time they have while Lunars are
free to impersonate whomever they wish so long as it’s not Heaven’s Son and that they
have some method of making sure everything runs as smoothly as before after their little
shapeshifting episode. Exigents are even allowed to start churches based on their patron
god and sometimes even receive government funding to do so!

The only exception this rule is the Solar Exalted, who are generally unwelcome in
the Central Empire. If a Solar (or their Abyssal kin) are detected inside of Central Empire
space, they’re usually asked very politely to finish up whatever business they have
remaining and leave as quickly as possible. Everyone remembers the horror stories that
went on during the era of the Solar Dynasties, so them being back makes many
uncomfortable questions arise. If the Solars bid themselves a hero’s farewell, why did they
return? Are they appearing just in time for some new monstrous threat to endanger the
universe at large or are they there to take back the Empire the Lunars stole from them by
force?

This isn’t to say the Empire disallows Solars within their ranks, Heaven’s Son is
loath to throw away such useful tools. If any Solar wishes to serve the Empire, then they
are often made into a Magistrate before being sent on assignments in the Frontier war
away from the Empire itself. The Abyssal known as Impenetrable Heart of Obsidian is one
such champion known within the Empire at large. Leading a squad of troublemakers on
what are considered to be impossible or suicidal missions, the Impenetrable Heart of
Obsidian and his men are known to cheat death and emerge victorious regardless of the
odds that exist. Spirit programs are known to follow Obsidian and his legion on each and
every mission, packaging their adventures for sale back in the heart of the Empire.
Spinning it as the Solar Exaltation that burns with Obsidian’s heart could not corrupt his
love for the empire and the lengths he’s willing to go for it. Such videos often have explicit
content warnings whenever they deal with matters involving the Malfeans or Terminus
space, but the explosion of sales that often accompany such adventures make for
amazing horror movies where fact is scarier than fiction.

Infernals are not known by the Central Empire at large, but given that their powers
are extremely similar to the Malfeans the Infernals embody the two things that the Central
Empire dislikes the most in one package; Solars and the Malfeans. Infernals are less likely
to be asked to leave and more akin to being hunted down not only in the Empire but
hounded across the entire galaxy. Most people in the Central Empire shouldn’t be able to
recognize or make connections to Infernals and the Malfeans, but something like an
Immaculate Monk well versed in the Occult and Exalts would be able to make such a
connection and warn others.

The Ten Thousand Mutable Facets

After the rigid governmental and societal structures the Solars had enacted during
the Solar Dynasty one after another, Heaven’s Son became convinced there was no single
straight path to a unified government. Some cultures simply will not accept democracy
while others find the idea of a planetary Emperor revolting, so that end he created the
system known only as the Ten Thousand Mutable Facets, a government system made of
many different races and cultures but all unified and working towards one goal. The decree
is so long as the planet swears loyalty to Heaven’s Sun and the Thousandth Dynasty, they
are allowed to operate however they please. If the population demands a widespread
change to the planetary government, then it's possible to change it from a monarchy to a
democracy. Heaven’s Son proclaimed that the Ten Thousand Mutable Facets is a system
that would adapt to the people, rather than forcing the people to adapt to the system.

It is often confusing to those outside of the Empire to see citizens arrested for
protesting the Thousand Dynasty but allowed to change their local government, but
Sidereals warned Heaven’s Son that people are political animals. With every person
having a voice on their own planet’s affairs they hope that such people will pay less
attention to the Empire’s structure and more focused on their local structure.

The chains of leadership are up the planets and systems in question, but there
always a clear line that follows straight to Heaven’s Son. There are Mayor’s of a city,
Premier of the State, President of a Country, the Planetary President, the System Head
and then finally to Heaven’s Son himself. Each of these chains reports to the one above it
to ensure the smooth running of the Empire. Keeping with the theme of adaptability, the
roles of each of these positions and even the name can be different planet to planet let
alone system to system. Indeed if an individual felt the need to disband with any and all
ranks below the Planetary President he is more than welcome to do so, but they’d best be
ready for the amount of work such a decision would entail as he would be held directly
responsible for any revolts or bureaucratic disasters that befell the planet. To this end
there is a literal army of paper pushers that ceaselessly works to maintain the order of the
Thousand Dynasty. The only responsibilities a leader has is providing the basic needs of
their citizens (Such as food, health care, and education) and ensuring the government will
hold itself together, otherwise those in power are free to do what they wish.

The truth about this system however is that it’s a single large showpiece Heaven’s
Son uses to do whatever he wants. Those who disobey orders from the level above often
find that very embarrassing and personal secrets come to light or somehow caught doing
something incredibly improper (Even if the victim swears they never would or never did
such a thing in the first place). Those who serve in both the cutthroat world of politics or
live under Heaven’s Son long enough come to learn that the Empire is ruled by a
shapeshifter who isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty. They say Heaven’s Son killed his
Solar Wife, the person he loved above all else, for the good of the galaxy, so imagine what
he’d do to a cog that he only distantly knows about. The possibility of either you or the
advisors close to you being replaced by a Lunar body double is very high if one attempts
to dissent in some fashion. Those who play along with this system however are afforded
untold riches. So long as a leader fulfills his duties by the higher ups, they’re free to do
whatever they wish with the remainder of the wealth. There is also the amount of freedoms
that come with such systems, such as a far easier time for interplanetary travel and
sightseeing while acts that are blatantly illegal are ignored so long as they don’t harm the
Empire. The threat of the Emperor’s Hammer is ever present, but it’s the silk glove and the
carrot that often keeps most people in line.

The Lion’s Fangs

We have the ships! We have the Weapons! We need soldiers! We need YOU!
 The galaxy has always been a dangerous place even in the best of times, so if an
army is a tool to make people feel safe then the Empire has a very mighty hammer indeed.
The Thousandth Dynasty has by far the most capable army across the galaxy, even if you
remove all of the powerful relics from previous eras they still remain the most potent force
in the galaxy using nothing but modern level technology. It isn’t just the external military,
rather it is also the numerous checks within the Empire itself that work to both enforce the
will of Heaven’s Son while protecting the innocent from planetary tyrants or criminal gangs
who kidnap for ransom. Which is good because the Empire itself seems to be constantly
under attack from various civilizations within the galaxy that seek to dethrone it, but what
are grand wars to them are regarded as mere border skirmishes to the Empire.

In the Thousandth Dynasty there are considered four main branches that express
the power the Empire can wield: The Silver Legion, the Magistrates, the Shikari, and the
Wyld Hunt.

The Silver Legion

The Silver Legion is regarded as the main army and navy of Heaven’s Son himself
and the primary arm of the military the Empire uses to impose order. Humans, aliens, and
Exalts of all shapes and sizes not only march to defend worlds within the Empire, but the
space fleets patrol ever vigilantly for any signs of invasions or bandits inside of Empire
space and those under its protection.

Virtually anyone with a modest grasp in tactics knows that the bulk of major battles
in the galaxy are decided upon who controls space, and it is that line of thought that gave
birth to what is considered the mightiest stellar navy in the entire galaxy. More than half of
the Empire’s considerable military expenditure budget are dedicated to the construction,
maintenance, and order of a large array of fleets. Such fleets dwarf the size of any singular
faction of the Frontier could afford to bring; even a mere exploratory fleet from the Empire
could be as large and as powerful as a main invasion fleet from any Frontier organization.
This alone would make the Empire one of the most dangerous forces in the universe, but
when backed by large amounts of Exalted forces and artifact ships also serving in the
Navy it seems all but invincible to most of the common people in the galaxy. The major
loss of the Tepet fleet in the Northern sector of the galaxy has caused many to doubt the
strength of the Empire’s fleets once again, and Heaven’s Son’s advisors warn him that a
coalition force of many factions from the Frontier could be attacking him in the near future.

Ground based armies are still serve as an essential part of any spacefaring navy in
the future. Security forces on a ship protect the crew inside from hostile boarding parties of
spectral ghosts who can pass directly through a hull while boots on the ground protect
planets that are deemed too important to use orbit-to-surface weapons on. Each member
of the Thousandth Dynasty army is rigorously trained for the modern day battlefield and
are some of the only armies in the galaxy that can rely on extensive Exalted support. Even
without such Exalted support vast arrays of hovercars, tanks, and in-atmosphere aircraft
provide support for those on the ground. So large is the Imperial army that most people
believe the Empire can launch a major invasion anywhere in the galaxy and still have
enough troops to protect the majority of the Empire. Even the most competent spymasters
of the Frontier are unable to tell if such a claim is either a fabrication from the Empire or a
disturbing truth.

Inside of Imperial space the military also perform double duty acting as the police
force of a planet. This allows for rapid response against hostile elements which became
common practice during the Malfean War. While most people from the Frontier are leery of
this idea, those inside the Empire enjoy Heaven’s Son zero tolerance policy for criminal
activity. If a planet’s population does not agree to this, then they can hire out mercenary
police organizations from the Cathek Corporation or Sesus Military Solutions and face no
punishment or retribution for doing so.

The Magistrates
The Magistrates are a band of elite special forces that exist within the Empire,
tirelessly working to defend the Empire and its interest from inside and out. Being known
as a hero amongst heroes, countless tales are told of Magistrates to the point where they
are celebrities within the Empire itself. There isn’t a celebrity gossip organization in the
Empire that isn’t keeping track of the loveable Lunar rogue known as Earl Sleek, a heart
throb who hunts both the hearts of women and space pirates with equal zeal. They are
also given special authority inside of the Empire, only needing to listen to a small handful
of people in the entire Empire but otherwise they are free to do whatever the wish. No laws
of the Empire’s systems bind them, only the oath of loyalty they take for Heaven’s Son and
the Thousandth Dynasty.

A Magistrate can only be made with the approval of Heaven’s Son himself.
Prospective candidates are either scouted or suggested by their peers. Once an individual
is selected they are given a notification of becoming a Magistrate, an honour in the Empire
regarded so highly that only three people in the history of the Empire have refused it.
Magistrates are expected to put their old lives behind, leaving any official posts they have
in government or business to ensure the safety of the galaxy at large. In exchange for this
noble sacrifice the Magistrate is granted such boons diplomatic immunity to the Empire’s
laws and the Empire backing all their decisions. If a convict turned Magistrate wanted to
recruit his convict friends who are currently in jail, he only needs to head to the jail and
show them his badge and they walk free minutes later regardless of what crimes they
committed unless it was something akin to attempted assassination of Heaven’s Son
himself. Access to the Empire’s seemingly omniscient spy network and a ship of their
choosing are also privileges of the position. If a situation is dire enough, a Magistrate can
even commandeer military forces to aid him on his quest. To this end many people attempt
to become friends of Magistrates themselves, especially ones who flaunt their diplomatic
immunity to do questionably legal activities. The only thing off limits to a Magistrate are
actions such as high treason or ignoring direct orders from Heaven’s Son, even then
Magistrates are always granted a hearing so that they can attempt to defend whatever
actions they did were in fact for the good of the Central Empire at large.

This abandonment of a previous life is yet another check Heaven’s Son devised in
his Empire. If a Lunar becomes too ambitious in the military or a Dragonblooded annoys
their peers too much, they may suddenly find themselves recommended for becoming a
Magistrate. A Dragonblooded with a promising career can find themselves devastated
when they’re forced to sell or give away assets of their personal business or spot in a
company to the ‘friend’ who recommended them. Of course, one could always turn down
such a noble offer, but then they risk staining their reputation to the point where it could
never recover. I mean who would put their own selfish goals above the needs of the
Empire itself? It is not uncommon for such Magistrates to immediately begin meddling in
the affairs of those who recommended him as a form of petty revenge. Tyson “Hardliner”
Sesus conducts an in-depth investigation once every several years on his ex-business
partner on charges he knows are fraudulent, but does so anyway just to spite his peers as
all company operations are halted for the duration of the investigation.

The method of how Magistrates operate are just as numerous as the types of
people within its ranks. Some prefer to work quietly, sticking to the shadows and finding it
easier to complete their work when their targets don’t know they’re coming or know of what
horrific things they’re doing. Others sign deals for entertainment companies, various
recording spirits and film crews following their exploits around the galaxy, needlessly
showboating while enjoying a celebrity like status back at home. Some are even actors in
their spare time, such as the Lunar Harmonious Hummingbird who is a voice actress from
everything to children’s programs to explicit content.

Anyone can become a Magistrate so long as Heaven’s Son agrees to it. While the
ranks swell with large numbers of Exalted, there are also a vast number of particularly
skilled mortals inside of the ranks as well. All are treated equally inside of it. In theory even
Solars can be a part of such ranks, which is just the thing Heaven’s Son wishes to do if
any Solar or similar kin wishes to be a part of the Empire. Such people are given ‘the
honor’ of becoming a Magistrate before being put on permanent deployment in the
Frontier.

The All-Seeing Eye

The All-Seeing Eye are the Empire’s eyes and ears to the galaxy at large. A legion
of mortal spymasters, Iselsi secret agents, Sidereal Forecasters, and Lunar shapeshifters.
This is the group responsible for updating the Empire on current, development, and
possible long-term threats. While a large majority of such spies are often agents of the
state, given compensation in some form in exchange for information that the Empire can
use. Such positions are not seen as glamorous as the Magistrates, but are nonetheless a
necessity for the Empire to remain in power. Breathtaking movies of daring Lunar
spymasters escaping in a daring dogfight against Lintha pursuers falls flat when most
informants are simply seedy little men in an organization that are swayed with simple
Thaler.

The All-Seeing Eye does have an enforcement branch however, one filled with
amongst the deadliest and most ruthless people in the galaxy: The Shikari. If the
Magistrates are the glory heroes that are seen as self-serving heroes in the eyes of the
public, then the Shikari are the ones doing the dirty deeds that are best left unspoken but
essential for functionality of the Empire. When a rebel leader has a rapidly growing
movement on a planet against the Empire’s policies and calling in a Magistrate would be
too risky, it is the Shikari who quietly put down the ringleaders and sooth the public back
into submission once again.

Shikari are roughly given the same privileges and permissions as a Magistrate,
only with a few key differences. First is all Shikari operate in the dark. No one save the
upper levels of the Thousandth Dynasty knows who they are or what they’re doing at any
given time, in fact it is rare for Shikari to know many other Shikari. Second is only the most
loyal of followers are made into Shikari themselves. Both reasons are done because the
Shikari are given the more morally questionable missions of the Empire, missions that
involve secrets that could seriously harm the Thousandth Dynasty at large. Only the most
loyal of followers in the Empire at large are permitted such a position. To ensure such
loyalty, most Shikari’s first missions are often offenses against other large national powers,
testing their loyalty by burning the bridges one would use to escape in case of a defection.
In exchange they are often given the same rewards as the Magistrates, such as owning
their own private island on a paradise world or enough thalers to essentially purchase
whatever they wish.

Story Ideas
• A man claiming to be from the All-Seeing Eye of the Empire wishes to meet with
the players, expressing urgency at what they had found. When the players go and
meet their contact, they only find him dead on the ground with an open eye drawn
in his own blood at his feet. What did he know that was so important that he’d be
willing to betray the Empire and for the Empire to send assassins after him?

The Wyld Hunt

There are times when The Silver Legion will be too slow to respond or not enough
power for a single Magistrate to solve, so in such dire situations the only solution to a
problem may be the formation of a Wyld Hunt. The Wyld Hunt is a group of elite individuals
that are drafted into a group during a major crisis or problem then expected to resolve it
quickly. All core members inside of a Wyld Hunt group are essentially given temporary
Magistrate status for the duration of the problem and can be from literally group in the
Empire. The Great Trading Clans, Magistrates, the Immaculates, even Shikari themselves;
all are expected to immediately drop anything they are doing and take part in the request
or be tried for treason.

Being rapid assault forces, Wyld Hunts are built for speed. They are formed
quickly, travel to their location with haste, and if unable to bring any military might with
them (which is usually the case) they are expected to draft or recruit any willing soldiers in
the area by any means necessary. Normally this would cause significant political fallout in
the area, but most often it's other countries the Frontier who request such things. Major
issues such as a Third Circle Demon rampaging around, an Elemental Court that’s
somehow taken control of an entire system, or other Outside Context problems involving
the Screaming Hordes. The formation of Wyld Hunts is uncommon but not exactly unheard
of, but with the recent expansion of forces loyal to the Tomb Stars from Terminus Space,
some companies are attempting to get ahead of the curve by starting services that would
benefit those in a Wyld Hunt.
 Wyld Hunts are a better chance for opportunists within the galaxy, as it comes with
most of the advantages of becoming a Magistrate with none of the drawbacks. Those in a
Wyld Hunt are granted Magistrate status but do not actually need to give up their previous
post. This allows those Dragonblooded in the Great Clans to temporarily bypass the
known restrictions the Empire has placed on them, such as their monopolies. Crafty
Dragonblooded who take advantage of this are known to get both vast amounts of prestige
and profit, even if the window is limited and their time is consumed by the Wyld Hunt itself.
Alternatively, they could abuse the power that the Wyld Hunt gives them to seriously put a
damper on any rival activities with little repercussions from the Government itself. If a
Mnemon Syndicate construction yard for a new manse was destroyed during the hunt, well
that’s just part of the cost for the safety of the Empire.

The Great Trading Clans

Yea I do most of my work away from headquarters, but a nice large private office is
always just the place to kick back, put up your feet, and vent some subordinates out of an
airlock. That’s Dad always told me: Home is where your airlock and your valuables are.

Once there were seemed to be countless Dragonblooded, vast armies of them

serving under innumerable houses during the golden age, but the Malfean War quickly
changed that. Mass swathes of Dragonblooded were cut down until only a handful of the
great houses remained. Today the last remaining Dragonblooded families are known as
powerful clans, united both by blood and powerful corporate empires functioning as their
family legacies. Each Dragonblooded clan not merely just a company or a corporation, but
a vast entity owning countless businesses both major and minor with budgets so large that
each can easily afford their own armies.

Each Great Clan often has their own special set of monopolies to go along with it,
granted by and enforced by the Empire itself. This was done to avoid the bloodbath that
was the First Great Mega Corporate War that happened in the Eclipse era of the Solar
Dynasty, which exploded into an inferno when companies did whatever they could to
expand their businesses. In the current era each Dragonblooded Mega Corporation has
exclusive access to a particular field or major area of business. Some lucky houses have
an exclusively monopoly all by themselves, but most of the time they’re forced to share it
with competitor mega corporations in the Empire. The general idea that this is to
encourage competition amongst the clans, but in reality, it’s done to make the clans plot
and scheme against each other rather than the Empire itself.

The megacorporations have a shocking amount of rights compared most other

people in the galaxy, mainly due to their extraterritoriality rights granted by the Empire. So
long as the megacorporations do not actively plot against the Empire then they are free to
do virtually whatever they want on their own property. The systems owned by
Megacorporations are not governed by the laws of the Empire but those of their parent
Megacorporation, even when it comes to their district offices on Empire controlled planets.
 Megacorporations are even allowed to raise their own military and naval forces,
though unless one is from a military based Great House they can only do so in self-
defense. This has not stopped various megacorporations from doing offensive actions
when they’re certain prying eyes are not watching. In fact, since the Malfean War is has
become law that all Dragonblooded within a Great Clan are taught standard combat
procedures before they become an adult. The basics of warfare, firearms, and swordsplay
are given equal weight alongside subjects of bookkeeping and diplomacy. Dragonblooded
who cannot pass these requirements do not get a place within their parent company
regardless of who they are or what they achieved. While this law is a holdover from the
Malfean War, both Heaven’s Son and the Megacorporations saw the importance in
keeping it. Each Dragonblooded is a significant investment to raise and supply and with
the sheer amount of them neither the Empire nor the Megacorporations simply don’t have
the time and resources to defend an Exalted employee who can’t even take something as
simple as a single hostile acquisition force from another company or from space pirates. If
the Megacorporations or the Empire were forced to pay ransom for every single one of
those, then it would seriously cut into the profits of both, and cutting into one’s profits is a
major sin for those whose life are devoted to their companies.

Currently there are ten known major trading clans with the eleventh clan being a
secret one.

Mnemon Syndicate
The Mnemon Syndicate is by far the oldest of the Great Clans, going back so far
that their members brag that they’re able to trace their family tree to some of the first few
Dragonblooded ever created. Due to the age of this megacorporation it is said that
Mnemon has considerable influence in virtually every area of the Empire itself and even far
beyond it. Ties set up not just in the infancy of the Thousandth Empire but even before the
Malfean War itself. Some say this is widely because the house is largely composed of
Earth caste Dragonblooded, but that is only a hunch.

The Mnemon Syndicate are largely known as a mining, production, and

terraforming company. Because of their ties with the Empire and how Heaven’s Son didn’t
see the point of breaking such a useful tool, the Mnemon Syndicate were allowed not only
to keep their monopolies but also allowed to easily fill in any potential business that exist
within the cracks of the Great Clan monopoly rights. This has given the Mnemon Syndicate
a huge production base full of talented craftsmen that are capable of mass producing
nearly any item no matter how simple or complex in a timely fashion.

The Mnemon Syndicate are composed of largely traditionalist people, sticking to

constructing the bedrock that people need to function rather than bleeding edge
technology. This has led to them having a good relationship with the Immaculates and
even those that exist in the Imperial underground and Black Market. Another specialty of
the Mnemon Syndicate are the large numbers of talented sorcerers within their ranks.
While Ledaal Research and Development Firm exceeds the Mnemon Syndicate in terms
of raw scientific knowledge, the Mnemon Syndicate is every bit of Ledaal’s equal peer
when it comes to sorcery. This is due to the vast private archive of sorcerous materials
that Mnemon has collected over the years which puts most other known collections to
shame.

Lately the Ragara Banking and Staffing Services megacorporation has been
attempting to undermine the Mnemon Syndicate in fields of production. While this brazen
activity is nothing new from Ragara, the Mnemon Syndicate have confidence in their
current contacts in mining/terraforming/construction areas will keep them afloat in addition
to their significant pull in the sorcery world. The Ledaal Research and Development Firm
prove to be a thorn in Mnemon’s side quite often as Ledaal has the Central Empire
backing their research on sorcery. While it amuses the elders in the Mnemon Syndicate
seeing Ledaal chase after scraps of sorcery it still holds the secrets to, it infuriates them
when Ledaal manages to find something long lost about sorcery before them. The only
way Mnemon can bypass Ledaal’s claims is to bet them to the source and claim it’s for
‘private company use only’. Unofficially Cathek’s have strong ties with the Mnemon family,
both Great Clans seeing eye-to-eye on many issues with their traditionalist values.
Catheks believe that Mnemon may be a little… off at times but share a vested partnership
with each other. Mnemon can trust the Cathek Corporation in guarding some of their most
precious secrets while Cathek can rely on Mnemon to build some of the best Fortress
manses that the megacorporation can possibly build.

Cathek Corporation
A Fire aspected Great Clan that is known far and wide for their excellent foot
soldiers and strong sense of pride. The Cathek Corporation are one of the known
‘mercenary’ companies amongst the Great Clans, capable of supplying anything from
individual bodyguards, privatized Police services, and planetary invasion forces. The cost
for Cathek’s services are known to be quite high, but they stay in business because many
say they are worth the cost. Known for accomplishing military missions regardless of the
estimated odds or predicted outcome, this is often due to the Great Clan’s feelings of
charging into their assigned tasks with a blazing zeal intent on either becoming a hero
through actions or through death. Losses within the house remain high even despite
having one of the highest birth rates amongst all the Great Clans.

It is said that in terms of quality that Cathak has some of the strongest forces in the
galaxy, with estimates being enough to seriously consider giving the Thousandth Dynasty
a run for its money. Normally this would be a cause for alarm but the Cathak Corporation
has always been a strong believer in the Imperial way of life and beliefs. Another
noticeable trait amongst the Cathek Corporation is their strong sense or morals and family
ties. Cathek’s are said to be almost incorruptible, the very thought of selling out on a job
anathema to them. To do would bring dishonour not only to their company and reputation,
but to their family as well. So strong are such family ties that a Cathek would risk life and
limb to rescue a brother or sister without so much as a second thought, even if the blood of
the dragons has not directly graced them.

The Cathek Corporation are also the premier sellers of land based military
equipment in the galaxy. A subsidiary company, Mae Heavy Industries, handles the
production of anything from personal arms and armour to tanks and battleships en masse.
Like everything else from Cathek, each of these items are known to be very expensive but
have the highest quality assurance you can get in the galaxy. Each and every item is not
only personally overseen and inspected by expert Dragonblooded craftsmen but also
given a warranty for any non-battlefield breakdown of their equipment for a complete
refund or exchange, no questions asked. Mae Heavy Industries are proud that to this day
they have not had a single person take them up on this offer.

The Cathek Corporation has two clans it sees as direct competitors: Tepet
Aerospace Corporation and Sesus Military Solutions LLC. Cathek sees Sesus Military
Solutions LLC as honourless dogs who would sell their own family member into slavery for
a quick buck and regard human life as the same price it takes for the bullet to kill them
with, nevertheless they’re often forced to work with them as Sesus still holds a monopoly
right on prisons themselves. Originally the Tepet Aerospace Corporation was a friendly
rival and partner to the Cathek Corporation, where Tepet aces soared in the skies while
the Cathek’s on the ground forged ahead, but with the recent devastation of the Tepet’s
main fleet Cathek knows that Tepet are in dire straits. Currently there are serious talks
within the Cathek Corporation to buy out the Tepet Aerospace Corporation and make them
a subsidiary company. Such a move would easily expand the Cathek Corporation’s might
into one of the strongest forces in the galaxy, but above all else the Cathek Corporation
dreads the thought of Sesus buying them out instead.

Ragara Banking and Staffing Services

Screw the rules, I have money!

Ragara Banking and Staffing services are a largely Earth aspected banking clan
known for the acumen in both business and bureaucracy. With a monopoly on banks and
business management inside of the Empire, Ragara has attained an incredible amount of
wealth. Wealth that is often used in generous gestures of them ‘taking on the debt’ of
countless other minor companies that exist within the Empire. Additionally, they license out
their business expertise to other companies who need it, everything from drafting up a
restructuring plan to make a government or business operate more efficiently to high
quality office workers and secretaries of all kinds. Some say if you trace companies back
far enough you’ll find some sort of influence of Ragara inside of it and if one incites their
wrath then you are not only left without thalers but even the basic supplies one needs to
live.

While the Empire is Ragara’s biggest client, employing nearly a legion’s worth of
Ragara agents to help manage the kingdom, even the Empire has limits when it comes to
Ragara’s brazen behavior. It was only a few decades ago that Ragara Banking and
Staffing Services attempted to completely buy out the Peleps and Son Shipyards using a
combination of stealthily buying up stocks with hidden shell companies and the
blackmailing of various employees. Just when the deal was about to be officially signed,
Heaven’s Son shocked everyone by disabling the Quantum Code in all the thalers to be
used in the deal, effectively making any ownership Ragara had in Peleps null and void.
Such a thing was almost unheard of as Heaven’s Son rarely intervened in the politics and
business of the Great Clans itself. To this day this tale of warning is spread to all
businessmen in the galaxy at large. While Ragara eventually recovered by leveraging
ownership in its smaller companies or outright gutting them for resources, Ragara still
does make shady business practices to this day. The only thing that has changed is that
they’re better at avoiding getting caught or using currency other than thalers to make large
business decisions.

In terms of rivals the only real faction Ragara seems to have are the Mnemon
Syndicate who share the same rights of buying up smaller companies. Ragara attempts to
gouge them in any area possible, such as buying out mining equipment companies or real
estate rights for planets rich in potential resources before Mnemon can notice. In terms of
partners Ragara has close ties with Sesus Military Solutions LLC as Ragara has lots of the
only thing Sesus remotely cares about: Money. While the relationship between the two
Great Clans are strictly business related, Sesus sees Ragara as one of their primary
clients and rare is the Ragara bank without a Sesus Security Guard. While the vulnerability
of the Tepet Aerospace Corporation makes it ripe for a buyout, Ragara is leery that the
Empire would step in to interfere again and if such a thing happened then Ragara would
be in an even worse position than Tepet. Instead Ragara is contemplating other methods
for Tepet instead, such as giving a huge grant to someone like Sesus or V’Neef which
would not only put the company to better use but also be indebted to Ragara for a massive
favor in the future.

Peleps & Son Shipyards

Peleps & Son Shipyards are a largely water aspected Great clan that have a
monopoly on ship building and space based combat. Since the formation of the
Thousandth Dynasty Peleps and Son Shipyards have been the force that have made and
staffed the majority of the ships in the Imperial Navy. Their shipyards are capable of
handling anything a client can throw at them, be it simple pleasure barges to top of the line
artifact ships. While planetside combat is not covered in their monopoly rights except in
self-defense, Pelep’s & Son Shipyards make up for this by being the only megacorporation
allowed to use Heavy Battleship class warships, multi-kilometer long ships that bristle with
enough weapons that it could easily fight off a small fleet or annihilate all life on a planet
with ease. This is important as Peleps & Son prides themselves on being some of the best
space based combatants in the universe, the efficiency and ruthlessness of their boarding
parties being the envy of Space Pirates everywhere in the galaxy.

Peleps & Son Shipyards encountered a rough position several decades back. Ship
and staffing orders from the Empire took a sharp decline while business in the Frontier
seemed strangely thin. Ironically taking up a temporary position where Peleps & Son were
pirates to the pirates, locating and gutting any pirate ships they could find before blasting
away any evidence and selling merchandise through various shell companies. When
Ragara Banking and Staffing Services discovered this Peleps & Son thought they were
doomed, no way would the ambitious Ragara’s let such a thing slip through their fingers.
The Empire would scatter their company across the seven winds for doing illegal
smuggling and robbing the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company of their profits. The fact
that Heaven’s Son stepped in himself to protect Peleps & Son from the buyout from
Ragara shocked even them, but took were humbled by his gesture to protect the company
and decided in the end to sell off various smaller companies within Peleps & Son to keep
the company running normally. Their big break finally came decades later after the
crushing defeat of the Tepet Aerospace Corporation, where a large bulk order came from
Tepet who wanted new ships yesterday. While Peleps & Son Shipyards understands the
position that the Tepet Aerospace Corporation comes from, the sudden bulk purchase of
ships has been the saving grace Peleps & Son has been waiting for.

After the incident with Ragara Banking and Staffing Services, Peleps & Son have
officially cut as many ties that are as realistically possible to that company. Bulk orders for
ship parts are now handled by the Mnemon Syndicate while all banking operations are
performed either internally or banking organizations that exist within the Frontier. They will
still produce ships for Ragara Banking and Staffing Services but hike up the price as much
as realistically possible as a form of petty retribution. While all Great Clans purchase ships
from Peleps & Son, the two biggest clients they have are the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading
Company and the Tepet Aerospace Corporation. The V’Neef Intergalactic Trading
Company has a longstanding contract with Peleps & Son Shipyards along with good
relationships, so good in fact that V’Neef will often pay the cost for shipyard maintenance
and refueling depots along their major trade routes. The Tepet Aerospace Corporation has
always been a big buyer for their ships, but the recent bulk order from them stunned
Peleps & Son as they never even imagined Tepet would have the resources left over for
such a thing. Peleps & Son cannot directly buy out the Tepet Aerospace Corporation,
there’s no point in joining companies if they’re both going to go under from lack of funds,
but they are there to provide support in whatever other way they can.

Sesus Military Solutions LLC

A fire aspected military based Great Clan known for their vicious reputation and
numerous war crimes. Normally such behavior wouldn’t be tolerated in the Empire much
less the Frontier but they remain in business for one simple reason: They get the job done.
No tactic is considered too underhanded, no person other than VIP’s are considered
sacred, and no matter the losses. Sesus Military Solutions are the clan you hire to get the
job done without having to worry little things such as laws, ethics, or collateral damage.

The hardened veteran warriors from Sesus care little for causes and ideals, only
cash. It is not uncommon to hear of a Sesusian army being hired out in the Frontier to
attack a kingdom, only for that very same kingdom to turn around and hire Sesus to
counterattack their rival without hesitation. This straightforward honestly has led to them
getting a fair number of customers from the Frontier itself. So long as you don’t ask a
Sesusian mercenary to attack either the Empire or another Sesus Military Solutions group,
then the only question remaining would be whenever you can afford their services or not.

Military might be only one area that Sesus deals in, the other is that Sesus owns
and operates correctional facilities. Criminals in the Empire say you do not fear the Cathek
police or judges, but rather the Sesusian hellhole they’ll sent you to after. Cathek’s can be
reasoned with, but the moment you step foot as a prisoner in a Sesusian prison you either
listen to the guards or keep having various bones broken until you do. In fact, such a thing
is a mercy compared to some of their more inhumane convict holding areas, such as
prison planets where Sesus set up elaborate death games to amuse gamblers with. Once
you’re in a Sesusian prison there’s only way three ways out: Death, running the time out
on your sentence, or ‘voluntary military service’.

Voluntary military service is a method Sesus uses to pad their military forces,
locking prisoners inside powered armour as their cell while sending them to fight in some
of the most dangerous locations in the galaxy. Prisoners do get very basic training of how
to operate their power suit and shoot their weapon, but the mortality rate for such convicts
are incredibly high. Such ‘volunteers’ are not counted as active military personnel
however, so Sesus can say with a straight face that they mortality rates are far better than
Cathek’s, something which enrages the Cathek Corporation to no end. Time and time
again the Cathek Corporation have demanded how such a thing can be allowed inside of
the Empire, but the ruling always is that since Sesus owns the correctional facilities they
are free to do whatever they wish to the prisoners inside so long as it isn’t unjust murder,
and since the entire program is voluntary there is no foul being played.

The last, and most dangerous, monopoly Sesus Military Solutions has rights to is
exclusive access to weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear bombs can be used with utter
impunity while boarding actions can be bypassed entirely by flooding an enemy carrier
ship with fast acting biological or chemical weapon. Even weapons capable of destroying a
planet or rendering all forms of life on it dead are allowed to be used. Inferno Lancers are
a prime example of this, a weapon which when detonated in a planet with an atmosphere
causes the entire planet to catch fire, incinerating everything on the planet as it's
consumed by a massive fireball. Thankfully, planetary Destruction weapons are rarely
used. It is not the Empirical inquiry that goes into each use of such a weapon that bothers
Sesus, but rather the irreplaceable loss that comes with each use of such a weapon.
Stockpiles are limited as the only beings capable of creating or maintaining such weapons
were Stellar Intelligences such as Autochthon or Rathmus and the Solars themselves.
Sesus won’t hesitate to use such weapons on world's corrupted beyond salvation by the
Canal, but usually anything beyond that is considered a serious waste.

The Cathek Corporation has always been a bitter rival of Sesus Military Solutions
LLC since the formation of the Great Clans. The rivalry between them is always vicious
and whenever Sesus discovers that Cathek is conducting ongoing negotiations for a
prospective client, Sesus are quick to jump in and attempt to severely undercut whatever
the Cathek Corporation is offering. They maintain close ties to both Ragara Banking and
Staffing Services and the Mnemon Syndicate purely for business related reasons. The
other one is a long-standing client while the Mnemon Syndicate are some of the only
people Sesus trusts to construct prison complexes. Oddly enough they maintain a strong
partnership with Nellens Entertainment Incorporated who not only help manage their public
image but seems as if the serious and ruthless Sesusians have a soft spot for dramatic
and romantic comedy movies. Other allies include literally any clan that needs some sort
of underhanded or questionable work done. Sesus may have a negative reputation
amongst the other great clans, but at the end of the day their infiltrators can be counted on
acquiring the assets of other companies, stealth or hostiles acquisitions, without being
traced back to those who hired them.

V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company

 This Wood aspected clan is the clan that handles the majority of shipping and
trading in the Empire itself. Outside of Peleps & Son Shipyards, V’Neef has by far the
largest amount of ships in the Empire itself, but the clear majority of these ships are
trading ships. While mega corporations can use their own transport ships to ferry around
supplies inside of the Empire, only the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company can ship
goods outside to company areas and out in the Frontier itself. Everyone knows this is done
to make it harder for the Great Clans to ship questionable cargo inside of the Empire itself.
V’Neef ships charge a commission based fee what whatever value the cargo is worth, but
often they are worth the price. Massive cargo vessels kilometers long can easily ship
goods from planet to planet while the armaments on such vessels are easily enough to
deter all but the most dedicated and/or suicidal space pirates.

V’Neef not only stocks trading vessels, but have a shockingly large number of
warships within their possession as well. Given that Great Clans are allowed to operate
outside of their monopoly so long as it’s in either self-defense or defense of their
monopoly, this allows V’Neef to operate a rather impressive navy in its own right. In fact,
one would say without Cathek Warstriders or Sesus WMD’s, V’Neef would prevail over
both of them when it came purely to ship to ship based combat, though still are a distant
second to Peleps and Son Shipyards. In fact, the ruling for V’Neef’s monopoly is so loosely
worded that “if various organizations obstruct the flow of trade, be it legitimate or criminal,
then the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company are allowed to remove such obstructions
as they see fit”. This loophole is often abused to the utmost limit to the point where V’Neef
can not only legally contract their ships out as armed escorts to any trading company in
the Frontier but also legally defend and fight on behalf of valuable clients.

The last unique thing about the V’Neef household is their unusual purity of blood
inside of its house. After the Malfean War where the other Great Clans mated with mortals
to quickly replenish their numbers, V’Neef abstained and continued with the traditional
method of only two Dragonblooded allowed with making children. As such they are a
popular family for corporation marriages even if they only accept Dragonblooded spouses.
Indeed, if a Great Clan sees their bloodline getting dangerously thin they’ll often begin to
arrange economical partnerships involving marriages. This control is carefully calculated in
the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company, not only because of the small numbers of
V’Neef Dragonblooded inside of the clan but also to extract information and rumors where
only clans such as the Iselsi Crime Syndicate or Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. are able to
keep up.

V’Neef also has a soft monopoly on the alcohol business inside of the Central
Empire itself. While the market is theoretically open to any newcomers, due to careful
political manipulation and investments, V’Neef controls nearly 93% of the known market.
Rare is the wine connoisseur in the galaxy who have not at least tasted an V’Neef wine or
have some sort of their product in stock. While those wishing for stronger material can
always rely on rotgut Sesusian drinks that kick you in the liver harder than a mule, the
strongest V’Neef drinks are so potent that only supernatural patients can drink them safely.
Mortals who attempt to consume such potent drinks often find themselves dying shortly
after as such drinks are closer to the concoction of rocket fuel with sweetener than actual
alcohol.
 Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. are V’Neef’s biggest rivals. Not only do they constantly
butt heads on matters related to information trading but they are constantly fighting off the
attempts Cynis makes to petition Heaven’s Son to grant them a monopoly on alcohol due
to medical purposes it has. This doesn’t stop Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. from doing
business with V’Neef however, as with all the parties Cynis throws they’re often forced to
buy V’Neef drinks for the patrons at such parties. Peleps & Son Shipyards are considered
somewhat of a rival as Peleps & Son have unrestricted rights on their navel usage, but
considering how V’Neef always has a ship order of some sort or another and foots the bill
for any new shipyard, Peleps & Son are willing to let it slide so long as V’Neef doesn’t steal
business from any longstanding contracts of Peleps & Son. V’Neef are one of the only
Great Clans that are aware of the existence of the Iselsi as the Iselsi Crime Syndicate,
revealing their existence to them in exchange for discreet transportation contacts. In
exchange for this V’Neef can often request information and services normally only
reserved for those in Heaven’s Son inner circle, including Shikari clients who owe them a
potential number of favors.

Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

This Wood aspected megacorporation originally got its start focused in various
areas of entertainment and legal drugs, but after restructuring at the beginning of the
Thousandth Dynasty quickly ballooned into an entity focused in medical equipment and
mechanical prosthetics. With their ability to see people at their most vulnerable, be it from
injuries or intoxication at parties, Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. have developed a reputation
for being vicious rumor mongers. While each Great Clan is allowed their own medical ward
to treat their own personnel and VIP’s, Cynis Pharmaceuticals is the only company
allowed to set up permanent hospital facilities. Cynis prosthetics are top of the line, but
many claim the price is not worth it with the constant data monitoring that every product
has. Black market modifications such as disabling these features are an extremely
common practice even for civilians, as such Cynis are known to butt heads with the
underground just as much as they’re willing to deal with them.

As a holdover from their earlier days, Cynis also holds the rights to biological based
entertainment, including by not limited to the sex trade and drugs. The Rokujai
Gentleman’s Entertainment Club is an exclusive set of fancy nightclubs where not only
humans and aliens, but even Exalted partners are on the menu for those willing to pay a
small fortune or win a type of special weekly lottery. Cynis makes a killing on such things;
even when selling a ticket for a price that is pocket change nets the company billions per
quarter alone.

Cynis Pharmaceuticals has a soft monopoly on the rights to planning parties and
events. Cynis Pharmaceuticals not only has enough psychedelic drugs and personal
entertainers to make any party a hit, they’re also very good at planning such events out.
From the finest ballroom gala filled with interplanetary heads to the most raunchy local
concert party with orgy pits highlighted as a feature, Cynis knows how to make people kick
back, relax, and have a good time in the company of others. Nellens and V’Neef have tried
to wedge their way into this market, but at the end of the day Cynis learned that no matter
what happens at a party, only the people involved in the incident are remembered and the
planners never at fault, so when this gossip spreads so does one’s curiosity for a Cynis
based party.

Those knowledgeable of higher echelons of society know that Cynis are also
ruthless information brokers, where they collect and disseminate secrets capable of
collapsing entire systems on a daily basis. Those who live inside of Cynis are very careful
to keep their personal lives private, often to the extent where people life two lives, a public
and private life, in order to throw off rumormongers. Those who interact with Cynis claim
that all their fancy events are laced with poison, attempting to get a person at their most
vulnerable and their lips loosest after a night in bed or one too many drinks (preferably
both). More private dealings, such as selling client information from their medical branch,
is commonplace. The Mnemon Syndicate, Ragara Banking and Staffing Services, and
Nellens Entertainment Incorporated are all willing to purchase the data of clients for things
such as targeted ad campaigns... or criminals who wish to use such things.

The last operation Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. are known for is their heavy use out
of indentured servants. Those who are unable to pay for prosthetic limb replacement or
medical treatment can accept an offer to work for Cynis with a drastically reduced wage
until their debt is paid off, and because getting ‘prepared’ for their new role involves even
more debt such a thing is rarely ever paid off. While this does pad the inner parts of their
company with cheap labour to keep costs down, Cynis is far more aggressive out in the
Frontier itself. Enticing people with the promise of a better life only to slave away as a
mindless cog in a vast incomprehensible machine. This is quantity over Ragara’s quality
and is technically legal due a loophole Cynis exploits in their own contract. This also keeps
control of internal secrets and helps prevent meddling from other megacorporations in their
affairs.

The biggest rivals of Cynis Pharmaceuticals are the Iselsi Crime Syndicate.
Officially Cynis does not know they still exist, but they heavily suspect something is fishy
regarding an unknown Dragonblooded megacorporation, correctly suspecting some sort of
ties to Heaven’s Son. This presents a big problem to Cynis as while Cynis laboured many
centuries to get the proper contacts and information networks, the Iselsi Crime Syndicate
seemed to do it virtually overnight by gaining favor with Heaven’s Son. While Cynis
continues its investigation to who or what the Iselsi Crime Syndicate is they’d feel betrayed
if they eventually learn the truth behind them; they would vastly have preferred it if the
Empire had to come to Cynis for their secrets rather than the treacherous dogs of the
Iselsi. The Cathek Corporation are publicly known to dislike Cynis Pharmaceuticals for the
unethical principles regarding employees and patients and tend to only do business with
them only when absolutely necessary. Nellens Entertainment Incorporated are a big
partner for Cynis, agreeing to a long-standing relationship where both attempt to control
the entire entertainment industry and prevent any newcomers from entering the mix. Cynis
supplies Nellens Entertainment Inc. with staff for both their company and entertainers for
their events and in exchange Nellens Entertainment Inc. projects a positive spin on all
Cynis Products along with a heavy advertisement deal. Sesus Military Solutions LLC is
another strong business partner for Cynis, offering deluxe medical packages for all
members inside of the Sesus company for strong discounts in exchange for Sesus
operating as bodyguards within Cynis clubs for reduced prices. Sesus would like to claim
that such a deal is strictly business, but both know that soldiers need to blow off steam and
if Cynis cancelled their entertainment deal then Sesus would be in a whole new league of
problems as frustrated soldiers fill their ranks with a need to vent on something.

Ledaal Research and Development Firm

From their humble beginnings as curious and adventurous scientists, the Ledaal
Research and Development Firm is the scientific think tank of the Great Clans. Owning
educational facilities from private grade schools to prestigious universities and running
everything from public libraries to top-of-the-line research facilities, chances are if its
knowledge based then Ledaal will have their hands in it.

The Ledaal Research and Development Firm have built up their reputation as
plucky explorers and archaeologists who are not afraid to get out in the field. Rare is the
Ledaal who spends all their time sequestered in their laboratory, some saying their Air
aspected clan instilling a deep sense of curiosity and wanderlust inside of them. A
navigator who is not only smart but is well educated about various phenomena in the
universe commands a high price, especially one who can tell the difference between
ancient ruins belonging to either Autochthon or a hostile ex-Stellar Intelligence which can
mean the difference between life and death. Those who graduated from a Ledaal
university will command an especially high price in the galaxy, while Dragonblooded
navigators with several degrees apart from Navigation can often find themselves naming
their own price entirely.

Ledaal also has a soft monopoly in terms of exploration and mapping of the galaxy
at large. Ledaal is currently the only megacorporation who has the exploration rights of the
galaxy at large where other megacorporations are normally restricted to exploring a few
systems away from their home planet. Despite the age of the Thousandth Dynasty, offers
to explore uncharted worlds are still rife with business within and simply booming out in the
Frontier itself. Depending on the contract Ledaal can either stake claim to whatever they
find in a new star system or have the client retain a certain percentage of it. Additionally,
they are the only megacorporation allowed to sell maps of the galaxy at large, incredibly
detailed maps of safe Canal routes. Maps of other secret routes, used for military or
smuggling routes, are often sold via Ledaal but only with the proper connections. Buyers
are cautioned against openly approaching Ledaal about such a thing lest the attract the
notice of the Empire or worse the Shikari.

Many unique and powerful weapons can be found within the Ledaal Research and
Development Firm, be it either from potent relics from the past or new inventions cooked
up inside their laboratories. After exploring the cosmos for centuries Ledaal has
accumulated a large bulk of artifact weapons and ships second only to the Mnemon
Syndicate. Indeed, it is law within the galaxy that any previously unknown or dangerous
artifact weapons must be investigated by a Ledaal research firm before they’re cleared for
use. While scientist constructing the latest in bleeding edge technology or new sorcerous
principles eagerly test their results in ‘practical battlefield application stress tests’. While
Ledaal are not authorized to print off more than a handful of prototypes of new weapons,
often their vault of past relics and new equipment is so large that they can easily field their
own military for various ‘field tests’ on the behalf of ‘prospective clients’. This is even to the
point where Ledaal has their own Warstrider section, meeting the Cathek Corporation’s
elite pilots with dazzling displays of technology old and new. In an emergency Ledaal can
even sell off various prototype weapons, finding no shortage of prospective buyers who
wish to be on the bleeding edge of technology.

The Mnemon Syndicate is by far Ledaal’s biggest rival, the secretive and
seemingly ancient clan possessing vaults of private sorcerous and technological might.
Even a joint venture program between the two known as the Heptagram University failed
to yield any fruit, and the fact that Mnemon tempts would be clients with secrets of
sorcerous power infuriates the Ledaal but remain unable to do anything so long as the
Mnemon Syndicate only teaches those within its organization. The intellectuals at Ledaal
also find the personnel at Sesus Military Solutions LLC to be nothing more than a
collection of barbarians, but still service their weapons of mass destruction nonetheless
lest they fear Sesus will end up endangering the Empire or worse. The Cathek Corporation
remains a strong ally of Ledaal, having a healthy rivalry between the development of
goods but also an extensive partnership between the two that are seen as brothers in
arms that is so extensive that the Cathek Corporation are given rights to privately bid on
military technology before anyone else. Ragara Banking and Staffing Services are also a
strong ally to Ledaal, providing generous grants for educational and research purposes,
but many suspect this is done solely to annoy the Mnemon Syndicate. Regardless of the
reasons, Ledaal pays Ragara Banking and Staffing services back by constructing several
think tanks based purely around economics and preferential acceptance into Ledaalian
schools for any Ragara applicant.

Nellens Entertainment Incorporated

Nellens Entertainment Incorporated is a success story that is repeated to this very
day within the Empire, starting from literally nothing as a planet of poor farmers and rising
up to become the media giant it is today. Originally nothing more than poor farmers within
the Empire, the beginnings of Nellens started by making entertainment to the overly
stressed and grief-stricken populace during the earliest days of the Thousandth Dynasty,
doing everything from exploring strange and exotic new worlds, comedy sketches about
the Solars, to informational news programs that were approved by the government. Over
time the company grew and grew until it eventually made the gambit of asking the Central
Empire government for a monopoly over media entertainment. To the shock of the other
Great Clans Heaven’s Son agreed, thus Nellens Entertainment Incorporated were born.

Paying homage to their humble origins, Nellens have seemingly never forgotten
their roots. There is a closer familiarity amongst those in the company, where even blue-
collar workers can be invited out for drinks after work by the CEO himself and think little of
it afterwards other than the great (or poor) time they had out. Successful television
programs such as Earth and Space explore some of the less well-known colonies within
Imperial space, exploring the strangeness and diversity the Central Empire exhibits while
functioning to bring everyone closer together. All of these factors have made Nellens the
most approachable of the megacorporations at large, appearing not as a business agent
you strictly deal business with but a friend you shoot pool with at bar while going over
various grievances you may have.

Nellens is still a megacorporation however, and still perform all the big budget risks
and gambles that all other megacorporations take. Several large-scale news companies
constantly scour the Central Empire like vultures, descending upon helpless stories to get
the latest scoop with up-to-the-second news. The Nellens Entertainment movie studios
constantly churn out the latest interplanetary blockbuster movie or the newest death
defying stage play that you must see to believe. From video games to radio dramas, if it's
based in media entertainment and you’re in the Empire, chances are you’re talking about
Nellens.

The influence and trust the public places in Nellens was soon put to good use as
Nellens began operating as a public relations firm as well. Regarded as a propaganda
machine by their critics, the Siviri Public Relations and Marketing firm are filled with all the
slick and sleazy businessmen one would expect of a megacorporation, willing to do
anything and everything to improve public perception of their client. So skilled are these
salesmen that it is said that even a homeless bum will become beloved throughout entire
systems if Siviri wills such a thing to happen. Less reputable great clans, such as Sesus
Military Solutions LLC and lately Tepet Aerospace Corporation are major clients, willing to
go to whatever lengths necessary to improve the disposition of their clients. Spinning and
creating memes that seem to enthrall entire populations of people like a conductor before
his orchestra, seeing a Siviri public relations agent at work is virtually a form of
entertainment in of itself.

This network of contacts allows Nellens an impressive information and contact

network, but at the same time is one of their biggest weaknesses. Nellens has by far the
least amount of Dragonblooded amongst all the great clans, in fact if it wasn’t for V’Neef’s
strategic marriages then Nellens wouldn’t have any Dragonblooded left inside of its ranks.
To make up with this Nellens sought power from elsewhere, thus have considerable
connections to both Lunar and Sidereal exalted, clients for Nellens in exchange for various
favors. This and the casual attitude inside of Nellens makes most Dragonblooded within
Nellens feels like they’re not the celebrities they rightfully deserve to be. The line of
strategic marriages has also given V’Neef considerable influence within Nellens itself, to
the point where it’s not if company secrets are being leaked to V’Neef but rather how
many.

The last major monopoly that Nellens Entertainment Incorporated owns is the
production and distribution of food. From fast food restaurants to world class chefs,
Nellens is said to do anything related to food. This doesn’t bring in as big of a profit as their
media empire does, but see it as a reliable and steady source of income as while fads may
come and go, people will always need to eat. Nellens has tried to get a monopoly on the
alcohol market to steal it away from V’Neef, claiming that wines and beers use footstuffs
grown from their farms. The Central Empire has rejected such applications time and time
again, saying that Nellens has no right to drug related footstuffs. Thus, they reluctantly
share the remaining meager profit margins with Cynis Pharmaceuticals.
 Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. are the strongest direct competitors to Nellens
Entertainment Incorporated. Nellens side business as an information broker seems to fall
flat compared to Cynis’s own installed network, so the two are constantly at each other’s
end for dredging up the juiciest rumors and trading them for favors or profit. Cynis also
provides direct competition to Nellens own entertainment industry, as while Nellens may
control thing such as concerts Cynis controls the nightlife scene of bars, nightclubs, and
other ‘physical’ entertainment. This has forced Nellens into an awkward position where it
feigns friendship and obedience with Cynis but constantly plots behind their back of how to
best screw them over. Their strong allies exist within Sesus Military Solutions LLC, having
strong ties with the company for saving their home planet during the earliest days of the
Thousandth Empire. Nellens Entertainment believes that Sesus Military Solutions are often
misunderstood because of this, because no one else came to their aid in their time of
greatest need, so Nellens rewards such a loyal customer with constant public relations
support, such as television shows displaying the heroism of Sesusian soldiers.

Tepet Aerospace Corporation

The Tepet Aerospace Corporation is the final link in the trinity of the three-warfare
based Great Clans, or was if they can find a way to recover. For centuries the Tepet
Aerospace Corporation had not only excellent troops for the ground, but rather excelled in
aerial based warfare. Be it intergalactic hot shot fighter pilots who could easily dogfight
inside of an asteroid belt without breaking a sweat to lightning assault tactics they are
famously known for, Tepet was the rapid reaction force of choice for people who needed
them the most. Tragedy has befallen the legions of the Tepet however, as during what
should’ve been a routine mission in the Northern sector of the Frontier turned into a
disaster beyond comprehension resulting in the Tepet legion losing the vast majority of
their troops. Not only was their A team taken out, but seemingly the B, C and D teams
along with them. Part of the condition that Heaven’s Son laid out for monopolies was that
each Great Clan must actively use them, not merely laud and sit upon them, no matter the
reason. The Tepet Aerospace Corporation can now only look at the bottom line in a cold
sweat, constantly eyeing the door for the eventual Heaven’s Son representative informing
them that their company assets are to be redistributed.

Before the disaster, the Tepet Aerospace Corporation was known far and wide for
their offense oriented military strategies and tactics. Fielding advanced aircraft and the
rights to use super-sized carriers for fighter squadrons and planetary invasion barges, the
Tepet Aerospace Corporation were the people to call when you wanted something done
quickly and efficiently for cheaper than Cathek and less collateral damage than Sesus.
Tepet’s rapid assault tactics are so effective that scouts who report of Tepet fleets at their
frontlines often force commanders to operate under the assumption that their front lines
were already destroyed by the time the Scouts relayed their message. Their spaceship
fleet being the envy of other Great Clans such as Peleps & Son Shipyards or V’Neef
Intergalactic Trading. Relationships and long-term deals sailed long into the future for
Tepet, and it seemed that their future was all but assured.

The Tepet Aerospace Corporation serves as the canary in the coal mine for many
great clans within the Central Empire. Advisors to Heaven’s Son tell him that simply doing
slow expansion can’t be done anymore if forces in the galaxy exist to damage the Tepet
armada so badly while those within the Great Clans use Tepet as a cautionary tale of
hubris to warn their children about in which no matter how high of a position you’re in, if
someone can knock you back down to square one then they certainly will try.

The Tepet Aerospace Corporation still has a few monopolies left up their sleeves,
such as the construction of fighter and bomber aircraft within the galaxy in addition to
terrestrial based aircraft production. They also have the right to manufacture artifact power
armour for any prospective clients, though after the disaster in the North only a handful of
skilled craftsmen remain. Some inside of Tepet are considering the unthinkable and are
considering selling off these rights in order to collect the short term capital to remain afloat
while those across the board room roar that there’s no point in repairing a ship if you
deliberately put several holes in the hull, the result is that the ship will sink either way.

The Tepet Aerospace Corporation’s allies and rivals seemed to shift instantly and
dramatically overnight. There is fear that the Ragara Banking and Staffing Services
company will attempt to outright buy them out like they attempted with Peleps & Son, but
those with a keener eye say that the V’Neef Intergalatic Trading Company is by far the
biggest threat. With the recent wave of business marriages to replenish their population of
Dragonblooded, V’Neef could very well have the influence to absorb Tepet entirely. V’Neef
would also love nothing more than having the capability to openly attack anyone who
interfered in their business without having to jump through hoops. Sesus Military Solutions
LLC is another potential buyer, indeed the bad blood between the two could certainly
warrant it, but many within the Tepet Aerospace Corporation believe that Heaven’s Son
won’t stand for a military base Great Clan possessing that much power. Peleps & Son
seem to be doing everything short of money to aid the Tepet Aerospace Corporation, from
loaning craftsman to smaller shipyards so that Tepet can bulk build fighter craft to
replenish their stocks once more, and are thankful for the aid they’re receiving, especially
now that they know what it feels like on the other side of imminent bankruptcy. The Cathek
Corporation have also done their part to chip in to help as well, arranging for multiple
marriages within the Tepet Aerospace Corporation and giving them business by
outsourcing various contacts Cathek believes Tepet can handle.

There are also more suspicious talks that circulating the rumor mill about just how
desperate Tepet is to recover their strength. The aggressive recruitment campaign to
gather Outcaste Dragonblooded in the Frontier is known and relatively successful, as
Tepet still has enough money to cause the heads on most Frontier based people to spin
around. More suspicious rumors involve matters regarding recruiting other supernaturals
into the company at large, including the newly returned Solar Exalted.

Sidebar: What the Hell Just Happened!?

This book is deliberately keeping you in the dark to just how and why the Tepet
Aerospace Corporation failed in the Northern sector, believing it would fit a game far more
if a Storyteller can say exactly what caused it. A general rule of thumb is that there should
at least be a public perception of what happened, as there’s no way something of this
magnitude could happen without the people in the Central Empire knowing about it.
Reasons the Tepet Aerospace Corporation or even the Central Empire wishes to keep
secret however are certainly not off the table either, allowing the players to investigate and
come to the realization of how serious the threat actually is. Below are a few possible
reasons of how the Tepet Aerospace Corporation could’ve failed.

• A Solar Captain by the name of Owl of the North not only had a far larger force
than Tepet was expecting, but was far more cunning than anyone could’ve ever
predicted. No one could’ve seen a single man from a primitive planet grasping the
concept of space warfare so quickly; demonstrating that there was a reason why
stories of the Solar Dynasty were spoken with in fear.
• A Screaming Horde army the likes of which was never seen before was spotted in
the North. Being led by the Balorian Empire, the Tepet armada was crushed like a
bug before their limitless hordes where all the stars in the night sky are your
enemy. Horrific tales are spreading that the Balorian Empire are making a beeline
for the Central Empire itself to kick off a war with a size never seen since the
Malfean War.
• The opponent was an armada from Terminus Space, an opponent which the Tepet
armada had no information or intelligence on in the slightest. The Tepet’s
advanced ships were turned into nothing more than bloody coffins full of screams
as ghosts phased through their unwarded hulls without any resistance while
Reaper Abyssals seemed all but invincible in tactics and personal combat.
• The Tepet Aerospace Corporation was making a joint effort with Ledaal Research
and Development to develop a new sort of FTL drive based on pre-Malfean war era
tech that would revolutionize intergalactic warfare as they knew it. The test to warp
and an entire armada went horribly wrong, tearing open a gap directly to Malfean
Space and causing limitless amounts of demons and other alien horrors to pour out
of the gates. The Tepet armada was blindsided by the attack and now a hellgate
remains open in the Northern sector, the unknown horrors of Malfean space spilling
out by the thousands with each passing hour.
• Heaven’s Son knew exactly what opponent the Tepet armada would be fighting
against, but choose to withhold that information. While a regrettable sacrifice,
Heaven’s Son needed to see the enemy force in action order to develop a strategy
to overcome such a foe.
• It was Opposite Day during the time of the attack. Instead of a stunning victory
Tepet could’ve pulled off, Tepet realized they just had to have a crushing defeat
because it was Opposite Day.
• These are just examples, you’re free to make your own!

Iselsi Crime Syndicate

Officially the Iselsi Great Clan no longer exists anymore, unofficially they are a
fallen Great Clan who now directly serves Heaven’s Son himself. Before their fall the Iselsi
family shared a shipping and transport monopoly with V’Neef themselves, offering shipping
for a flat rate instead of the commission based fare V’Neef used. What was also widely
known was how the Iselsi’s used their company to transport less than reputable goods.
From illegal drugs to human trafficking, if you asked the right person in Iselsi it was not yes
or not but rather how much you were willing to pay and when you’d want it to arrive. Each
successful new major haul caused the Iselsi Shipping Group to become bolder and bolder,
stepping close to the single red line the Empire had drawn out for the Great Clans and
spat over it. It was only when the Iselsi clan attempted to overthrow the Emperor himself
by an act of economic paralysis that Heaven’s Son finally acted. Acting in a manner so
swift and brutal that it set an example to the remaining Great Clans of what Heaven’s Son
would do to them if they dared to cross him. V’Neef Intergalactic Trading was rewarded
with the sole monopoly of shipping in the Empire under the condition they didn’t gouge
their rates while the Iselsi Shipping Group were gutted utterly and completely, their
monopolies being distributed while the remaining members of the family were exiled to the
Frontier under threat of imminent death.

The real story however is that Heaven’s Son not only appreciated such daring
people, he needed them. The Iselsi Clan were known for the ties to the criminal
underworld, the last remaining area where Heaven’s Son lacked power and control over.
He gave the Iselsi a choice, they could search as the elite Shikari agents and control the
underworld activities inside of the Empire in any way they choose so long as they didn’t
attempt such a coup ever again or all be put to death. The offer to become shadow agents
effectively immune to government laws with little to no oversight didn’t seem like much of a
punishment at all, so the Iselsi leapt at the opportunity and thus the Iselsi Crime Syndicate
was born.

The Iselsi Crime Syndicate have a hand in seemingly every single black market
inside of the Empire itself. Trading in everything from secrets, drugs, weapons, ships,
slaves, and more; Iselsi at first glance seems to access to nearly every monopoly the other
Great Clans have access to. There is the small con that after the initial grant of money
they get from Heaven’s Son they’re effectively on their own, but they have the support in
Central Empire in every other way. Any charges levied against an Iselsi member are
mysteriously dropped while investigative trails go cold due to missing files or Magistrate
agents being told to investigate other leads. From vicious gang wars to addicting entire
populations of people to drugs to lure out bigger kingpins from the Frontier, so long as the
Iselsi can explain themselves to Heaven’s Son they can seemingly get away with nearly
anything. While they cannot work as openly as they’d like to anymore, the Iselsi almost
prefer this way of life to their previous iteration, which has the unbridled freedom to do
whatever they wish.

The Iselsi Crime Syndicate must never forget their primary duty, that is to keep
crime at manageable levels. Heaven’s Son knows that there is simply no way that one
could eliminate crime, the only people who came close were the Night Castes during the
Solar Dynasty and only at considerable cost to public morale. The Iselsi Crime Syndicate
exists to keep the other criminal organizations in check, from the smallest street gang to
the biggest space pirate smuggling ring, Iselsi reports on possible up and coming criminal
elements and keeps them in check with various tactics such as blackmail, threats,
cornering them in the market, or plain old-fashioned violence. Many more are attempted to
be made into puppet organizations that follow the whims of the Iselsi and by extension,
Heaven’s Son. Others are grown into an incredibly dangerous threat before being
sabotaged from the inside by Iselsi agents and the Empire plucking them like a ripe fruit for
purposes of propaganda.

Cynis Pharmaceuticals Inc. are the only other hostile megacorpoation who are
aware of the Iselsi’s existence with relative certainty. Cynis may not know officially who
they are exactly, but lately they’ve become extremely adept at figuring out the patterns in
which the Iselsi are known to operate. The Iselsi knows they muscle into Cynis’s
information brokering services and how much of an offense they take to that, so Cynis
often makes Iselsi lives difficult by letting slip what criminal gangs belonging to them are
operating in other Great Clan’s territory and crack teams of augmented Cynis soldiers to
combat and harass Iselsi. V’Neef Intergalactic Trading on the other hand does know about
the Iselsi family but rather are not hostile to them. Iselsi knew that they’d need shipping
lanes and routes to move around, and the only one could do that without attracting
attention was V’Neef. In fact, many of the Iselsi ships that were taken from the Iselsi
Shipping Group were donated to V’Neef to where ancestors of Iselsi Captain’s still use
them to this day for legitimate and illegal business. The Iselsi don’t take offense to V’Neef
essentially absorbing their original company, that’s just the nature of business, but the
Iselsi do often owe V’Neef a considerable debt for their dissect assistance, most often
aiding them on their raids to Space Pirate bases or potential ‘clients’ that are willing to pay
thaler without too many pesky questions. Even if the V’Neef trading ship is caught in the
latter example the blame will fall to the Iselsi agent, who will be dismissed of almost all
charges with near absolute certainty a small time later.

The Immaculate Order

The special and unique part of the Thousandth Dynasty is the spiritual oddity
known as the Immaculate Order. Originally a group of monks who follow an esoteric order
with roots they claim predate the Dragonblooded, they have currently evolved into one of
the most dominant forces inside the Empire today both culturally and militarily. Though the
Great Clans may shun the Immaculate Order for being the backwards remnants of a
system of faith long since rendered irrelevant, they continue to stun and amaze their
corporate kin with the feats these backwater ‘cousins’ can pull off.

History
The seeds of the Immaculate Order claim to begin long ago, predating they
Dragonblooded themselves. The techniques to learn of the elemental aspect that was one
aligned towards then learn to live with it harmoniously was the key to all their teachings. To
go with nature and one’s intended path rather than fight against it was the direct key to
success. The development of the Dragonblooded seemed to even bolster the normally
humble Immaculate Order, seeming as if their spiritual theory was correct since the
beginning of time itself. As time progressed the Order seemed to grow more and more.
Even during the Golden Age their time of growth and expansion was at its highest, as even
with the physical needs of everyone met the spiritual questions still remained to which the
Immaculate Order were glad to help guide one towards an answer. When the Malfean War
broke out the Immaculate’s were some of the first to respond to the calls of warfare. The
large-scale corruption and outright malice the Stellar Intelligences represented was an evil
the Immaculate Order could not possibly ignore. Even with their religious rivals fell during
the Malfean War, the Immaculate Order was known to even send them off in a funeral that
respected the traditions of their rivals than that of the Immaculate Order. The Immaculate
Order was gutted during the Malfean War, but were one of the lucky few who survived.
 The Solar Dynasty era claimed to be a far bigger problem for the Immaculate
Order, which where the Solars seemed to constantly use the Immaculate Order as a
scapegoat for various activities. The Night Castes decried that the Immaculate Order
infiltrated the highest levels of government and thus declared illegal, the Twilight Caste’s
seemed to look down upon the order with disgust due to their ‘psuedoscientific’ theories
while the Zeniths, the Solars the Immaculates regard as the vilest of the Solars,
proclaimed there was no need for the order when they had all the answers and no proof to
back it up. The Immaculate Order seemed to silently bear these baseless accusations
while continuing their primary mission to promote order and stability in the galaxy. By the
end of the Solar Dynasty era the Immaculate Order was on the verge of being wiped out.
Even the most steadfast of followers and monks believed this, and even began steps to
construct a grand temple to house all the knowledge the Immaculates had collected over
the eons to only hope that whomever found it would not repeat the same mistakes they
had once made.

Then Heaven’s Son came to the Immaculates with a deal that seemed too good to
be true. Heaven’s Son would make the Immaculate Order the official state funded religion.
The Immaculates would not only get funds from the Central Empire but were allowed to
openly practice their religion anywhere inside of the Empire and even have an entire
system all to themselves to rule and use as they saw fit. What Heaven’s Son wanted in
return was the Immaculate’s help in overthrowing the Solars, maintaining the spiritual
order and keeping the gods in check once their numbers replenished, and responding to
emergency war calls from Heaven’s Son himself. This was a similar deal presented to the
Great Clans and while the Great Clans accepted such a thing instantly there was much
debate amongst the Immaculates. Sure the Solars had mistreated them, but was this
something worthy of permanent exile or even death? Could the Immaculate Order live with
itself in what they would consider to be a military force at the beck and call of Heaven’s
Son? The Immaculates came back to Heaven’s Son later with some adjustments to his
proposal, such as the ability to veto any forced deployment request and wishing for such a
coup to be performed with the least amount of blood split as possible. Seeing as how the
Immaculates would likely only veto ideas that the other three military based Great Clans
couldn’t realistically handle themselves and Heaven’s Son already had a near bloodless
plan in mind, Heaven’s Son agreed to this. Thus the Immaculates joined in the coup
against the Solars, using their martial expertise to put down the relatively few Solars who
attempted to fight against Heaven’s Son himself. While the pain of being a government
dog was something that plagued the minds of all Immaculates, the minds of the monks
were quickly soothed over when Heaven’s Son went through with the deals he promised
them.

The Place of the Immaculate Order Today

Even today the Immaculate Order does what they have always have: Guide those
who need guidance and maintain the natural order. Immaculate Temples are often one of
the first buildings constructed on a new planet, not only for spiritual and moral guidance
but also as a place to keep various spirits in check. The Immaculate Order maintains a
special calendar that gives each god on the planet itself their own proper reverence. Major
gods may be celebrated by an entire planet but even a local law enforcement god is
known to get his day for respect in the Immaculate Calendar. While many gods detest this
practice, other less known gods leap at this chance. The fact that they not only have a day
of worship and tribute to themselves but have such rituals done by a highly trained and
qualified priest means a much higher quality of worship. If gods overstep their boundaries,
then the Immaculates are the first on the scene in order to bring the gods back into their
proper place. To the Immaculates a god’s purview is his job and he is thanked the same
amount as a person doing any other job is. Overstepping this boundary disrupts the
natural order by depriving other spirits of potential worship and letting that god get far
stronger than he has any right to be. The Immaculates do such a thing willingly, so much
so that Heaven’s Son rarely has to use his power to deploy the Immaculates by force.
Which suits the Immaculates just fine as doing what your divine purpose is isn’t work, but
rather a unique and special form of enlightenment. The Immaculate Order is also often
called in to help deal with traitorous Lunars, Sidereals, Exigents, or Dragonblooded; which
they also respond to as they believe such unique personalities placing their self-interests
above all else is damaging to the harmony of the world thus have no qualms about
stamping such a thing out with all the zeal they use for spirits.

The Immaculates also serve as spiritual guidance to those within their local
community, serving as sages to all who would enter their temples with the sincere desire
to improve oneself. They are always there to lend an ear for one’s problems to offering
advice to those who need or force them to question what is truly worthwhile in their lives.
Alongside with Nellens they are known to be champions for the people and are not afraid
to let their opinion be known regardless of the dangers it poses to themselves.
Immaculates openly protest and criticize all levels of government in the Central Empire
when the monks regard them as doing something unjust, even to Heaven’s Son himself.
Normally such a thing would be met with swift disappearances but that’s just part of the
agreement the Immaculates have with Heaven’s Son. Even the Great Clans are not
immune to this, and there has been a single Immaculate Dragonblooded monk that has sat
outside of Sesus Military Solution’s planetary headquarters in silent protest for nearly a
year now. The Immaculate Order are forbidden performing open warfare with the Great
Clans, just as any other Great Clan, but even with this restriction Dragonblooded from the
clans often find the amount of Immaculate freedoms quite irritating. The Immaculates can
set up their temples anywhere within Empire space and so long as they don’t force people
into their religion, they’re given a wide breath to do whatever else they wish.

Faith and Recruitment

The Immaculate Order contains no gods or figures to worship, but rather teaches
the importance of physical self-enlightenment. They say that all sentient species in the
galaxy continuously reincarnate until they finally reach a state of self-fulfilled enlightenment
known only as Lethe, which means ‘One who has achieved fulfillment/enlightenment’ in
the ancient tongue of the Immaculates. By following a sacred order of principles laid out in
the Immaculate code, one can push their soul closer and closer to enlightenment.
Originally it was said that anyone who reincarnates into a Dragonblooded is near the end
of their path and the closest to Lethe, but over the centuries the Immaculate Order has
changed this to anyone who has successfully exalted. Exaltations require a special
character in a person, anyone or anything less would die. This realization that their
teachings could be wrong excited the Immaculates, as they could seek out new meanings
and paths of how one would achieve enlightenment, but the current purposes they treat
anyone who has exalted in any fashion the same as a Dragonblooded, an enlightened soul
who was ready to accept the burden of power in order to help protect the world and guide
others. The exception to this is Solars, which Immaculates see as guiding people off the
path rather than guiding towards it.

The Immaculate Order accepts anyone who sincerely wishes to become an

Immaculate Monk. Lunars, Sidereals, Dragonblooded, and even Exigents themselves can
join the order and neither the Thousandth Dynasty nor the Great Clans can interfere with
this process. Anyone who wishes to join the Immaculate Order merely needs to head to
the planetary Immaculate Temple is located where the head priest is located at. After long
hours of meditation and fasting, the head priest decides when the acolyte is truly ready
and is shipped off to Sublimia where they begin their ritual pilgrimage from the spaceport
to the Palace Sublime, the Grand Temple for the Immaculate Order, where they will
officially begin their training in earnest. The only exception to this rule are the Solars or
similar kin. The Immaculates are convinced that the Solars led the galaxy to nearly ruin not
once but multiple times in the Solar Dynasty, and the only advice they have for Solars is
often to find a single planet to meditate on for the rest of eternity far away from anyone or
anything else. Critics of the Immaculate Order cite the sole reasoning for such a thing to
be is purely for being a revenge fantasy, nothing more or less.

When one joins the order, they are expected to start a new life within it. Any loyalty
a Dragonblooded had towards their Great Clan is forgotten in order to remain as neutral as
possible. You may still retain relationships with close friends and family (many monks do),
but the days of power meetings are essentially over. What is more shocking to new
prospective members however is the jarring leap backwards in terms of technology.
Immaculates hold the viewpoint that no job is truly beneath them and to find purpose in the
smallest things. The amount of times a monk has had to tell a new acolyte that need to
manually sweep the floor instead of using floor cleaning bots is held so often that many
monks even count the number of times they’ve heard objections to this philosophy as
some sort of game. Going from being a virtual god amongst men to living with nothing
more than the clothes on your back is a very jarring transition for many people but
especially the Exalted.

The views between the Great Clan and the Immaculates are a mixed sort of
relationship, stable and cooperative but only so out of mutual self-interest. Those in the
Great Clans see the Immaculates as nothing but a primitive backwards culture. Important
to the history of Dragonblooded yes but ultimately a larval state in which the Immaculates
refuse to shed their wings, held back by obsolete teachings of the past and not soaring as
high as they could possibly be in the galaxy. The Immaculate Order looks upon the Great
Clans and see nothing but pity. They have no ultimate future or purpose to head towards;
just the blind greed of accumulating ever more thalers. Entire lives being consumed and
killed over pieces of metal that are ultimately worthless in the grand scheme of things, the
tool using them rather than the other way around.

Military
I’ll say it again, Hokuto Shinken is invincible.
 The Immaculate Order is deceptively advanced in both weapons and tactics. Many
assume the basic lifestyle of an Immaculate Monk would lead to them being unfamiliar with
modern weapons or tactics, but nothing could be further from the truth. Immaculates only
use technology when absolutely necessary, and learning how to fight in space during the
era of space travel is a definite necessity. High powered prototype power armour and
weapons line Immaculate Forges while promising Immaculate Captains meditate upon
spaceship tactics in addition to holistic truths. All their experience that has accumulated
over the years fighting various sorts of rogue Exalted have made them develop skills and
tactics to make them the most primer anti-Exalted task force the galaxy has. Sects such as
the Legion of Silence exist solely to purify and accelerate their chances of attaining
enlightenment despite their non-exalted status. They are so well trained in their battle
formations that every one of them are capable of enacting advanced strategies and plans
without so much as a word. The arms and armour are constructed of a quality normally
reserved for Immaculate Monks and have perfected their mental and physical training to
such a degree that they can be barely considered human anymore. Even non-Exalted
members of the Immaculate Order tend to have an understanding of the fighting arts well
enough that a single mortal monk can often not only survive a bar room shootout, but get
through it relatively unscathed. This is often done as the Immaculate Order sees
technology and the physical body as tools the soul uses, and attempting to use technology
without first mastering one’s own body is considered foolishness.

The Planets of the Thousandth Dynasty

Those within the Thousandth Dynasty say that one could experience the entire
galaxy’s worth of planets just by exploring the Central Empire itself. There is a bit of truth
to such a claim, as everything from ice balls with mining outposts to the most bustling
metropolis can be found within the Central Empire. Even with the countless systems under
their control the Central Empire itself still has large patches that are unexplored even
today, Explorers looking to the starry sky in hopes of adventure and untold amounts of
profit. Not only planets exist within the Central Empire, but also exotic other locations such
as ringworlds, planets within planets, and space stations whose sheer scope and size
baffle the imagination.

What is outlined here are only a select few of the planets and alien civilizations that
inhabit the Central Empire itself, who else knows what sort of oddities exist that are yet to
be discovered?

Aden
• Planet Type: Hive
• Population: 500,000,000,000

Aden is the jewel of the Thousandth Dynasty, not only for housing Heaven’s Son
and the central government but also houses numerous convinces that seem to catapult
ahead to one of the best places to live in the galaxy. Being composed of a planet sized city
called Ecumenopolis, it is the place where billions upon billions of people call home. Aden
was relatively unscathed during the Malfean War, as such the vast network of manses
constructed during the Golden Era before the Malfean War remain intact providing
countless communication nodes, vast amounts of power, and facilities needed to survive
such as food and water. Each massive building where millions of people can live are
largely self-sufficient with reliable public transport that weaves through the garden capped
buildings as each citizen heads to the daily grind under a clear blue sky. Aden is one of the
only known Hive worlds in the galaxy which is virtually self-sufficient, needing no outside
help to maintain its current population while the technology that runs it remain lost to the
ages it’s capable of powering the planet with little to no pollution itself. Not everything is
sunshine and rainbows here however, as the Silver Legion takes security very seriously,
even a jaywalker is often ticketed within seconds of his offending crime.

The centerpiece of the Thousandth Dynasty is the continent sized palace known
only as the Silver Chair. One of the finest pieces of art in the galaxy with silver spires
reaching high up into the upper atmosphere, every square inch of this building is dedicated
to running the Thousandth Dynasty as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Diplomats not
only from the Central Empire but all over the galaxy meet under its roof that make political
decisions and trade deals that effect trillions of people each and every day. Vast meeting
rooms the size of stadiums are filled with planetary system heads or their representatives
as they decide on courses of action for the Empire at large. Heaven’s Son mansion is also
within the higher central tower of this complex itself which allow him to quickly make his
way to work every morning for matters of national security.

Aden isn’t an exception to having a rotten underbelly, one finding a rotten core if
they peel back the layer of paradise that exists on the top. While Aden was relatively
undamaged during the Malfean War, that merely means it wasn’t reduced to caveman era
technology. The assaults on it during the Malfean War and the Solar Dynasty led to rapid
construction over the old parts of the city self-called “Old Aden”. Going below the areas
that provide cheap rent and sex one can find a seemingly bottomless amount of ruins as if
the planet itself was a city that grew from a seed, the only ambient noise being the
creaking and groaning of the layers above while one makes their way through abandoned
apartment buildings displaying things like Night Caste era propaganda posters. Even after
a thousand years there is still loot to be had in Aden, people heading down below and
finding some sort of priceless artifact or even a deactivated manse long forgotten will make
people very rich indeed. Of course, just as many bad tales come from down below as well,
as one is far more likely to find ancient Solar Dynasty era defense systems which are still
operational after centuries of active service or criminal gangs that lurk in Aden like worms
in an apple, kidnapping and selling those unfortunate enough to come across them.

Arjuf
• Planet Type: Fortress / Paradise
• Population: 3,000,000,000 (minus military cadets)

Arjuf is the capital planet of the Jean-Ha System bordering the southern end of the
Central Empire. The Jean-Ha system is also the system under ownership of the Cathek
Corporation, so Arjuf houses their own central headquarters, but is not merely a planet but
a metaphor for Cathek itself. Ever since the first Cathek settlers who were the first to call
the planet home to the fearsome fortress world it became, Arjuf itself has never fallen to
any enemy. During the era of the Malfean War Arjuf was known to hold out for entire
years waiting for reinforcements while serving as the first line of defense from the Stellar
Intelligence known only as Cecelyne. During the eras of the Solar Dynasty it served as a
constant safe haven for central fallback fleets, during the First Great Corporation War it not
only held out but repelled a Peleps & Son fleet many times the size of their own. The
craters that mark the side of the planet are seen as a mark of pride rather than scars,
farmers often putting entire farms inside of them as if thanking the enemy for an amazing
plot of land.

The surface of the planet is largely covered with gentle rolling plains, only marred
by the occasional crater and anti-orbital assault cannons the size of small mountains. Two
of the four manses on the planet operate as planetary umbrella shields, able to work in
tandem to give the planet incredible staying power against any orbital bombardment,
forcing the opponent to head through the shield and engage the elite Cathek fighters down
below. Only Lookshy is known to boast more protection in the galaxy itself. While most of
the non-military personnel may appear to be easy, the Cathek System freely sells firearms
above and beyond what is normally legal in the Central Empire. Anyone who assaults the
planet would not only find themselves facing a legion of elite military soldiers, but a gun
behind every blade of grass.

Another special feature of Arjuf itself is that the House of Bells, one of the Celestial
Vault’s most prestigious military academies, calls Arjuf home. The House of Bells may not
be a major source of income for Cathek but it serves as a massive source of pride. Would-
be Cadets come from all over the Celestial Vault itself, be it from the Central Empire, the
Great Clans, or even places from the Frontier come to learn from some of the best minds
in the world when it comes to military tactics. Calling the entire continent of Yarrowstalk its
home, cadets are constantly drilled and trained with a wide variation of tactics in an equally
diverse field of environments. Empty dummy towns and even dummy cities dot the
landscape of Yarrowstalk allowing for raw and unrestrained live fire exercises. Vast rolling
plains tell future tank pilots how to operate their vehicles while would be field engineers
learn how to maintain such mighty beasts after memorizing hundreds of parts in each
machine. Survival, hunting, and even competition paintball games are held in the forests
and jungles on the continent itself while a special outpost on the north pole allows cadets
to train in arctic conditions. A large mass-driver ramp multiple kilometers long blasts
students up into space itself where they can dock and continue their training on the
massive defensive Space Station known as the Azimeth Spire. Here students continue to
train in low and no-gravity environments practicing both repelling and boarding actions with
spare ships donated by Peleps & Son Shipyards and the Tepet Aerospace Corporation.
Future spaceship pilots and other vital posts also call this massive station home for
training and their work terms, where the station itself is staffed almost entirely by cadets.
This may be seen as a risk but Cathek sees this as valuable real-world experience that is
safe to do for first years and that the last attack against the Jean-Ha System was centuries
ago.

Plot Hooks
 • Due to your recent escapades, the House of Bell wishes to have you as a guest
instructor for a lecture. This can be a great way to get your foot in the door for the
Cathek Corporation’s good graces, but you’ve gotten the problem class to teach
and the professor for the class has high hopes that you’ll be able to make them
listen.

Cyrus XI
• Type: Space Station
• Current population: 100,000,000

Built just before the days of the Malfean War, the place station Cyrus XI is massive
dyson sphere space station with a single city known only as Cyrus on it. The facility is
often used as a massive refueling station for most known ship types and is capable of
supplying either raw hydrogen for reactors or energy for batteries. The Fire aspected
manse on the city itself is a favorite for Sidereals or those wishing for long term predictions
as it contains a special AI Core called AI1 that said to be a prototype of a prototype for a
Stellar Intelligence, but even with its sentience stripped the program can do things like run
future predictions and simulations for nearly a thousand planets for 2000 years in only a
handful of minutes with hardly breaking a sweat. While not as comprehensive as the Loom
Program, the Sidereals find such a thing useful as it can provide second independent
opinions but more importantly seemed to be able to calculate factors outside of Loom
Program control, such as the Screaming Hordes, Demons, and the Terminus forces.

Despite the size of the sphere, only a single city exists on the station that is
inhabited almost entirely by Technos. This keeps support costs down as there is little to no
need of life support for these robotic beings. Long ago a large fleet of Technos came to the
Empire seeking refugee status from their An-Teng masters, wishing that they’d be their
own individual person rather than slaves to a corrupt dynasty. Heaven’s Son agreed and
put most of them to work inside of environments that suit their unique constitutions.

Plot Hooks
• AI1 actually became sentient long ago and the Technos worship it as a god. With
the demi-Steller Intelligence secretly empowering and training Technos champions,
can a group of heroes uncover the plot before AI1 ascends to become the Stellar
Intelligence known as All-In-One?
• A group of Lintha terrorists have taken over the station and have made
unreasonable demands such as Heaven’s Son stepping down from power or else
they’ll cause the star to supernova, not only obliterating it and several nearby
systems but blowing up the last functional Dyson Sphere the Empire has. Kick ass
and take names.

Alien Race: Technos

The Technos race are a form of artificial humanoid officially called Techno Sapien.
They appear as a normal humanoid does in shape, but with pure white skin with various
grey seams in their skin. Their eyes appear to be a single solid colour while all of them
often have hair that serve as backup energy batteries and where human ears would be
located there appear be two protrusions appearing as earmuffs that contain various I/O
ports inside. Each Technos is strictly speaking a machine, but advanced quantum
computers in their heads allow them to essentially think and feel as any sentient being
does. They laugh, they cry, and they are no more able to download and instantly know an
entire library anymore than a human does. What is different is that a Technos has no need
for air, food, or water as they’re able subsist completely on energy. Being immune to the
vacuum and harshness of space is also a major bonus in an area involving space travel,
and many of them are known to make excellent low maintenance mechanics throughout
the universe because of this. Technos can have sexual relationships with other species,
but are unable to bear children. The main way two Technos are able to make children is
when each one donates an incredibly small part of their Quantum code which is mixed
together then implanted into a new Technos body.

Technos are often treated as second class citizens due to their machine status.
The Stellar Intelligences were essentially AI machines and look what happened with those.
To further complicate matters the Technos in An-Teng essentially have no rights, the law
not recognizing machines as human beings and often put programming locks in Technos
to make them the perfect slaves that are unable to talk back or fight their masters.
Programs that undo such programming can be found in the galaxy, but are considered to
be extremely illegal in An-Teng.

Rosey VII
• Type: Space Station/Paradise
• Current population: 5,000,000,000

Rosey VII is one of the last known Rosen Wormhole devices remaining in the
galaxy, appearing to be a large ring with a planet and breathable atmosphere on its inner
surface. During the Golden Age such gates were common throughout the galaxy, but now
it remains the only one the Empire knows exists let alone owns. Many were destroyed
during the Malfean War and the centuries that passed after it led to many Rosen
Wormhole rings having their systems shut down one by one and become barren, floating
rings in the galaxy only useful for scrap. Rosey VII is the exception as its ancient systems
are not only active, but still work exceptionally well.

The inside of Rosey VII is filled with a lush and thriving civilization under the
governance and ownership of the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company. Idyllic lakes and
vistas span out in nearly all directions as abundant wildlife dots the landscape. Natural
mountains cover the sides of the ringworld, making it seem more like a natural piece of
landscape rather than tall metal walls. Due to the quantum entanglement positioning that
comes as a by-product of the wormhole in the gate itself, Rosey VII simultaneously exists
in both the Eastern and Western edges of the Central Empire. This conveniently placed
gate allowed the V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company numerous advantages both
militarily and economically. A cross travel trip across the Empire itself would normally take
months but using the Rosey VII gate such travel literally happens in an instant. The
Central Empire relies heavily upon this gate to rapidly transfer forces from one end of its
kingdom to another, so much so that a Heavy Battleship constantly patrols the ringworld at
all times in addition to the V’Neef fleet on both sides of the gate. V’Neef themselves make
a tidy profit out of charging a toll to use the gate, and with the size of the fleet on each side
of the gate one is heavily encouraged to pay for it.

The V’Neef Intergalactic Trading Company also houses their central headquarters
here, housed inside of a massive tree manse with the name “Prosperity for All”. The city
sized manse contains legions of paper pushers to constantly keep track of cargo while one
can literally pluck fruit from the manse tree as they walk to their ships in the array of
private shuttle pads near the top. This manse itself also represents the very life support
systems for Rosen VII itself. While the theory goes that the Wormhole in Rosen VII would
still function without any life on it, many agree they do not want to take the chance in case
a chain reaction is started. As such a single-minded zeal goes into maintaining this manse,
where even a thrown away coffee cup can be met with actual jail time to set an example to
any other would be polluters. Prosperity also seems to have a massive effect on the
ringworld itself, constantly maintaining the chemicals inside of the soil so that nearly any
known plant in the galaxy not only grows, but flourishes in such an environment. Water is
also in abundance, seemingly never running out while light from a sun comes in as the ring
world orbits a single sun in both systems it exists in. V’Neef uses this place to not only
grow food for their own employees, but also grows legions of vineyards full of grapes to
distribute their legendary wine throughout the galaxy.

Plot Hooks
• V’Neef making wine on Rosey VII isn’t a luxury, but a necessity. Cynis and Nellens
are seeming to make the final push to corner the alcohol market but V’Neef knows
if that happens then the cost of maintain Rosey VII would spiral out of control.
V’Neef doesn’t want this to happen and wants you to solve it by any way
necessary. Either by ‘politely’ asking Cynis and Nellens to stop this crusade or by
crashing their market, your choice.
• V’Neef is deathly afraid of Rosey VII shutting down, dealing a significant blow to
their reputation, stocks, and a huge chunk of funds from the Central Empire. They
are so desperate that they summon Solars from the Frontier to make sure the
Ringworld can continue operating, but what sort of response will the Central
Empire have when V’Neef summons Solars without their permission?
• An accident one day awakens a long dormant attack program that was installed
during the Malfean War but never ran. Vicious man-eating plants capable of
spitting spines that can puncture steel plates are quickly overtaking the planet.
V’Neef has called you into to deal with this, offering a blank cheque if you can halt
or reverse these tides of superplants before the ringworld is irreversibly damaged.

Stygia
• Planet Type: Fortress/Wild
• Current Population: 50,000 Sesus soldiers, Unknown prisoner population

Existing in Sesus Military Solution’s own home system, Stygia is one of the most
brutal and barbaric prison planets in the galaxy. So bad is the reputation of it that many
criminals will often fight to the death to avoid the possibility of being sent here while others
find the sentence of being thrown on a Primitive Planet with an active Clockstopper for life
a more fitting punishment. Stygia itself is a massive swamp based planet, one where
vicious man-eating predators lurk under the near-constantly overcast skies and the
omnipresent muddy terrain. Surviving on this planet is incredibly difficult as the vast
majority of plants and animals on the planet are poisonous and the amount of dry space
there is to live on or sleep in is a rarity. Supplies are in rare enough fashion that prisoners
stealing from other prisoners is not done for boredom but simply as a way of life. Drug
Kingpins who once collected billions of thalers now lay crawling in the mud, sobbing to
themselves while asking where did they go wrong. While two massive red jade towers
seem to lord over the top of the North Pole, protected by the savage cold which makes
most prisoners freeze to death long before they can assault such a place with numerous
tanks and hunter-killer drones over a relatively flat landscape if they somehow can make it
without freezing.

The law of the Central Empire forbids any prison complex where the prisoners do
not know the rules or they simply have no chance to survive, so Sesus Military Solutions
made some modest arrangements in the sake of fairness. In the shuttle flight to Stygia
itself, those prisoners inside are given a onetime lecture about various factors of the
planet, those who do not pay attention to it or unable to hear the lecture due to the insane
shouting inmate in the room is not the problem of Sesus as they only say it once. The rules
of the planet are simple: Stay the hell away from the manse near the North Pole and if you
survive your prison sentence a Sesusian prison guard will find you via the collar around
your neck to take you off planet. If the guard cannot find the collar then you will remain on
the planet indefinitely as punishment for tampering with Central Empire property. Supply
drops on several points on the planet come down once a week, and if you fail to get your
supplies then that is no responsibility of Sesus Military Solutions. You are given a simple
survival knife along with pictures and descriptions of a few local plants and animals that
are not poisonous. After that you’re sent in a dropship, kicked off in some remote area of
the planet, then free to do anything you want.

Prisoners best not get any funny ideas about rebellions, developing advanced
projectile weapons, or anything of the sort. A Sesusian battleship in orbit bristles with
bombardment weaponry, including enough nuclear missiles to turn the planet into a barren
rock if they felt like it. Various cameras and Hunter Killer drones constantly patrol the
planet itself, making sure that the prisoners on it are following whatever little rules exist on
the planet and pruning those who don’t follow them.

Stygia is also known for a famous battle royale type gambling center, where people
from around the galaxy come to bet on Nellens casino ships orbiting the planet scanned by
hundreds of camera drones. Long term betting games are done, predicting which prisoner
will survive specific durations of time ranging from hours, days, weeks, or for the long
shots for their entire sentence. High octane weekly bets are held during the weekly supply
drops where Sesus sends drop pods filled with supplies such as food, medicine, and clean
water down to the surface. Fierce battles between prison gangs are held in order to control
the supplies coming from such drops and there is no such thing as a bad show. Cheating
in such a facility is strongly discouraged, since the Nellens casino ship purposefully has no
holding cells so those who commit crimes will be sent to the nearest available prison: The
surface of Stygia itself. The longest time a casino ship cheater has survived on Stygia is
approximately 2 hours, 47 minutes, and 13 seconds.

Plot Hooks
• An intergalactic flight somehow crash landed on Stygia and you’re part of the group
that needs to track down the wreckage and account for everyone on board the
ship. Can the players navigate the hostile terrain, deadly animals, and desperate
criminal gangs to find the passengers?
• A Prince from a Frontier System has been sent to the planet and his family is sure
that he’s still alive. The royal family will do anything to have him back, so all you
need to do is break him out a prison that no one has ever broken out of in its entire
history.
• Sesus Military Solutions LLC have discovered that a large number of prisoners
have been collecting in an abandoned mine on Stygia, the Sesus Prison Guards
who were sent in only to be heard constantly screaming for their lives before their
communications went dead. Sesus Military Solutions LLC would consider it a big
personal favor if you dealt with whatever is in that mine quietly.

Sublimia
• Planet Type: Paradise/Primitive
• Current Population: 700,000,000

Sublimia is a capital planet of the Incas system but more importantly the capital
world of the Immaculate Faith itself. The Immaculate Order are the ones who rule the
planet in a theocratic model, but the Monks themselves claim they are more ‘guiding’
people rather than ruling them. All the people on this planet live a simple lifestyle that
follow the Immaculate teachings and principles, largely content with what they have rather
than the constant need of wishing for more things compared to the Empire at large. The
Immaculate Order protects them from both space pirates and wolves alike, assure fair
weather for growing crops that help feed the Immaculate Order and those in need, and are
just as comfortable with a good drink after a hard day’s work as anyone else in the galaxy.
When living in such a sublime paradise, how could one possibly ask for more and not feel
greedy about it?

The entire planet is far from backwards, as there are still several manses scattered
around the planet that serve as communication posts and data storage with the Grand
Celestial Mountain. All bureaucratic work for the Central Empire’s own purposes are still
done with modern computers, and Immaculate Monks who have completed their training
are issued arms and armour like every other soldier in the galaxy. A single small port town
called Gateway exists on Sublimia, serving as a place to house various visitors and traders
with all the features they’re used to modern technology giving them.

The primary symbol of the Immaculate Order itself rests on the planet itself, a
massive temple carved out of the tallest mountain on the planet itself known only as the
Palace Sublime. Constructed from some of the greatest minds to ever exist within the
Immaculate Order, the Palace Sublime is more than just a central base or training center
for the Immaculate Order, rather it's the closest thing to a physical holy symbol that exists
for them. A single long, winding staircase leads from the foot of the mountain itself and
continues to the Apex where various training a meditation grounds exist on top to house
the Mouth of Peace, the five elemental mouths, and all the thousands of staff that exist to
serve them. Inside of the mountain itself is a vast holy temple that exists within the entirety
of the mountain itself. Entire sections of the mountain housing sub-temples dedicated to
one of the Five Elemental Dragons, a massive training room whose size needs to be seen
to be believed and is capable of housing thousands of students at once to learn meditative
katas from an Immaculate Master to transforming into various terraformed biomes and
training programs that test even the most seasoned of Immaculate Warriors. One of the
finest workshops in Creation itself housing everything from anvils to femtotech forges,
capable of crafting some of the finest weapons in creation dimly kept lit by the steam of
magma that ceaselessly pours out from the mouths of elemental Dragons in the rooms.
The Wall of Paragons, where the names of brave Immaculate Monks are remembered for
all time. Last, but certainly not least, is the Vault of Gaia, a personal vault which is said to
house the totality of all knowledge for the Immaculate Order itself. The Immaculates
consider the Palace Sublime to be a thing of wondrous beauty that was generated in what
was their most dire hour, and as such anything less than flawless care of it is dealt with
very harshly.

Uller’s Loss
I assure you, it was worth the risk.

• Planet Type: Ex-Precursor, now Desert

• Population: 10,000 Research and Support Staff

Uller’s Loss was once a rare precursor planet that had existed within the Empire,
discovered by the Ledaal Research and Development Firm by an explorer named Uller.
Boasting environmental programs long since presumed lost to the Malfean War, Uller
attempted to quickly get a survey team to the planet to quickly begin cataloguing it. Sesus
Military Solutions LLC seemed to find the planet quickly after Uller left it, and while the
exchange between Sesus Military Solutions LLC and the Precursor planet is unknown, the
result was Sesus sterilizing the planet by igniting its atmosphere with a superweapon. Uller
was stunned when he listened to the words of the Sesus military ship, claiming they only
defended themselves and by extension the Central Empire. Probing was worthless, as
despite how intact the Sesusian Warship SS “Firestarter” seemed to be the enemy
magically seemed to be able to damage their ship’s recording and communications
equipment but nothing else. Uller knew what this was, it was a petty attempt as Sesus
Military Solutions to get back at Ledaal due to souring business deals and there was
nothing they could do about it.

Out of pure spite, the Ledaal Research and Development Group set up a
permanent research post of the planet despite it being in a remote section of the
Thousandth Dynasty. Ledaal Scientists try to remain hopeful they’ll find something on the
barren planet but the atmospheric ignition weapon Sesus Military Solutions made the
planet burn hotter than the surface of the sun so more than likely there is nothing left. This
hasn’t stopped Ledaal in the slightest, claiming to comb the planet in rovers to better
understand ‘weapons technology’ while various other research projects continue in the lab
performed by bitter scientists, only wondering what could’ve been if they were only a bit
faster. Uller himself has never let this mistake down, abandoning his days of exploration
and now acting as the head of the research facility on ‘Uller’s Loss’.

Plot Hooks
• Sesus wasn’t lying, some sort of entity existed on the planet that almost took over
their ship so the planet had to be sterilized. The Research facility on Uller’s Loss
has now gone dark and Sesus are no longer allowed near it. Sesus Military
Solutions would consider it a large favor if the players could investigate the facility,
report on what happened, and if necessary finish the job Sesus started.
• The Shikari strongly believe that Ledaal Research and Development found
something major on the planet but they’re not sharing it with the Central Empire.
Go there and find out what they’re hiding.

Versino
• Type: Desert
• Population: 5,000,000

As one looks over the dusty ruins of massive cities that once lined the planet of
Versino, one can only wonder what truly happened here. Set within the Ventus system
near the Northern Edge of Central Empire space, Versino was remote planet that
nevertheless teemed with life and had a stable population of quiet people. The planet was
green and fertile while the breathtaking view at night showed the lights from Shadowed
Nebula the system was housed within. Everything got even better when the Mnemon
Syndicate showed up, offering vastly reduced rates of new buildings and manses in
exchange for them having a private abbey to themselves on a small continent what the
locals called the Isle of Voices. What the Mnemon Syndicate wanted with such a cursed
place no one on the planet could tell, but the locals were more than happy to give the
Mnemon Syndicate all the privacy they wanted when one could essentially afford a home
the size of a mansion on even the most meager of salaries.

The small golden age came to an end when virtually all life on the planet suddenly
and violently died off in what is known as the “Isle of Voices Disaster”. A disaster the
Mnemon Syndicate tried to keep out at all costs but was pushed on the air by a Nellens
news broadcast to get back at the Mnemon Syndicate for earlier schemes. Not wishing to
draw the inquisitive minds of the Central Empire or worse the Shikari the Mnemon
Syndicate immediately reached out to the Ledaal Research and Development Firm on an
offer to construct a sorcery based school on Versino. Everyone on Ledaal knew this was
the Mnemon Syndicate attempting to cover something up, but with the long sought-after
archives of the Mnemon Syndicate just dangling in front of their face they just simply
couldn’t resist. Ledaal not only signed the deal, but even took steps to make sure neither
they nor Great Clans like Cathek would poke their noses into this matter while the
Mnemon Syndicate stretched the very limit of their connections to minimize any official
government probes. The plan worked and thus the Heptagram was born.

The Heptagram a seven-sided Earth-aspected manse sporting seven massive

towers that covers nearly the entirety of the Isle of Voices. Bleeding edge developments in
sorcery are developed here on an almost daily basis while students learn from some of the
most experienced and knowledgeable sorcerers in the universe. It came as no surprise
that the Heptagram ended up as one of the most well-known sorcerous schools in all the
Celestial Vault with the amount of money both Mnemon and Ledaal poured into it. Like the
House of Bells, people from all over the universe come here to learn. The Heptagram is far
more picky with their students and such a thing is rewarded as each and every student is
known to sequester themselves with their studies involving everything from Advanced
Phlogiston Theory, Demonology, and Alchemy 6703: Chemical Substances and How they
Interact With the Souls. This is all kept in hand by serious amounts of security, a full Tepet
Aerospace Corporation security staff on hand at all times with even a hangar bay to sortie
with Fighter Jets. Bound Ifirts patrol the hallways, snarling at the summoned demonic
servants that walk the hallways in kind.

The remainder of Versino is hardly noteworthy, merely a few manses scattered

around the planet for an interplanetary communication rely and terraforming effort with the
small population of around 5,000 for each manse to maintain them.

Plot Hooks
• Everyone remembers when the Heptagram’s flags flew at half-mast to mourn the
loss of the Tepet fleets, but now the headmasters are worried. The Tepet guards
were always top notch before, but now they’re concerned that the Tepet guards are
so desperate that they may steal valuable Mnemon or Ledaal secrets at the base
to sell them off to the highest bidder with either them or the buyer not knowing what
they’re getting into.
• The Thousandth Dynasty knows something went down on Versino, but were simply
overextended when it happened. They had neither the time nor the personnel to
look into it. Times have changed however, and you’re to infiltrate the school as
either a student or professor and find out exactly what happened at Versino and
what was worth covering up so badly that two rival Great Clans are working
together to hide it.

Notable People Inside the Central Empire

Albert “Hiro” Cathek

Real men shout all their moves before they attack! NEO THUNDERBOLT
BREAKER!

Albert Cathek was a child that grew up enraptured by the very concept of
Warstriders, the titans of steel fighting against impossible odds in daring life and death
battles. At a young age he proudly proclaimed that ‘the name of his soul’ was Hiro rather
than Albert and said that one day he would blaze forth once the fire in his veins ignited and
found his legendary warstrider pilot somewhere in the cosmos to become a hero amongst
heroes. It was in a strong sense of irony that ice and lightning was the substance that
flowed through his veins upon taking his second breath, turning into an Air aspect
Dragonblooded.

This didn’t stop Hiro in the slightest, attending the house of Bells with a renewed
fervor and applied for the Warstrider applications the instant they opened (He was
camping outside the building for three days to be the first in line). The blood of Mela in his
veins was the only thing that seemed to slightly cool down his hotheaded nature as he
learned basically everything there is to be known about warstriders: From their history to
their innermost workings. When he finally graduated from the House of Bells as a
Warstrider pilot, he was one of the proudest days of life. Swearing on the grave of his
grandfather that did not regret the path he had chosen in life.

Those who meet Hiro himself describe it as a surreal experience, like meeting
someone directly out of a Coralese comic. The blood of ice that flows in his veins is likely
the only thing that keeps his fiery personality from incinerating itself as the slightest
provocation will cause him to launch into a speech espousing the virtues of manliness and
courage. What surprises most people however is how such an apparent idiot is so smart
with matters involving local history or other such things. However as fresh out of the House
of Bells with such excellent marks he shows a lot of promise for the future itself. Currently
he works alongside a special squadron of Dragonblooded inside of the Thousandth
Dynasty that also includes Crashing Bolder, his Earth aspected brother who remains with
his stormy sibling despite the endless cascade of sighs and reckless stunts he pulls.

Anja Silverclaws
Ignosh Silverclaws was one of the finest heroes the Central Empire could ever
hope for in a Lunar. Resourceful, adaptable, cunning in both word and action, and loyal
until death for the Empire he loved so dearly. It was a shock to nearly the entire Lunar
population of the Central Empire when he was declared dead, and even more of a shock
to see how his successor was. Anja Silverclaws is everything that Ignosh was not: A
materialistic lying thief. Many Lunars only dismissed her only lasting a few years before the
real incarnation of Ignosh would appear, but Anja has remained alive for several decades
and matured into a powerful Lunar in all her own right while insulting and mocking virtually
everyone along the way.

Anja Silverclaws takes the appearance of a young woman in her late teens, frozen
in the age when Ignosh’s exaltation took hold of her. Her looks are rather stunning with
brilliant white hair with soft white ears from her Nekomata heritage and a peppy personality
to the point of obnoxiousness. Rarely treating anything seriously and flitting about planet to
planet taking more actual vacations than work she does as a Magistrate. Those who
encountered her warn that underestimating her is done only at your peril, for despite her
vapid demeanor she is every bit as capable as her successor. She is known to use every
dirty trick in the book from poison to hostages in battle ascribing to the “there are no rules
in warfare: Only winners and losers” philosophy. Those who have worked with her
personally warn never to trust her as she’ll only do the same in kind to you, scheming both
mortals and allies alike with often no disconcernable goal other than immediate
satisfaction or material wealth. Still tales of her being a rascally and loveable rogue is more
often what she is known for and people claim that no matter what happens she’ll always
end up serving the Empire she loves in the end.

Plot Hooks
• Anja knows her previous incarnation, Ignosh Silverclaws, was onto something
major regarding the Central Empire. A mantle that Anja has taken up in her spare
time over the recent decades with the mantle of acting innocent in order to throw
off those following her. She’s finally on the edge of a major breakthrough, but
needs people willing to follow through on a big plan. Can you really trust a con
artist though?

Alien Race: Nekomata

Known as the ever curious and inquisitive race, the Nekomata are a brand of
genetically altered humans with features of cats themselves. Physical traits such as cat
ears, tails, and even claws are known but even personal behavior patterns involving
felines seem to be popular amongst this race as well. Known for their inquisitive scholars,
investigators, assassins, and con-artists throughout the known Celestial Vault. While
spread throughout the galaxy itself, their main home system is known to reside inside of
Thousandth Dynasty on a planet covered entirely in jungle, an environment the Nekomata
are adapted for as their claws allow them to quickly climb trees or leap branch to branch.
Nekomata are one of the species that are regarded as “human” enough for Exaltations to
take hold, and while rare there are Nekomata Dragonblooded, Lunar, Sidereal, or even the
Nekomata Exigent who was blessed by the Goddess of Felines.

SIDEBAR: Catgirls? This is stupid. Remov-

No.

Bill the Space Janitor

Bill the Space Janitor is a humble janitor who works for the Union Aerospace
Sanitation company, and is the unseen and unsung hero of adventures in the Central
Empire. Bill will most likely not be there when the blaster bolts start to fly and daring dodge
rolls behind tables are performed, but all are to thank Bill for his work in making sure the
floor is clean enough so those with nimble footwork don’t slip or making sure the
atmospheric dust filters are working so one has a clean shot. After the heroics done and
the bad guys are slain, Bill is the person who cleans up all the dead bodies, shell casings,
damaged furniture, welds bullet holes, resupplies medical stations, and more. Companies
have his shining example to thank of as he rages his tireless quest against the Goddess of
Filth, all for a humble paycheck at minimum wage.

Bill doesn’t desire much in life, for he sees himself having a fairly good one. He has
a loving albeit bossy wife waiting for him at his one room apartment, a cat which he boasts
has the loudest purr the galaxy, and a business class internet connection so him and his
wife can watch all the TV they wish before heading to the rooftop park of the apartment
tower he calls home. He gets to set foot on new and exciting worlds that others could only
dream of traveling to while even he is shocked at the ease he’s allowed into some of the
highest-ranking laboratories and testing facilities in the Central Empire to clean up after
horrifically messy ‘incidents’. It may be hard work at times, but someone has to do it, and
for Bill such a thing is his calling.

If you’re looking for some supernatural twist, there isn’t any. Bill really is a mortal
space janitor, but he is the one that makes sure that the scene’s you play in are clean.
Thank Bill.

Crimson Rose
The Secret Caste Sidereal known as Crimson Rose is hardly the image of what
one expects from the normally sagacious Sidereals. With skin as white as snow and
wearing the latest designs of leather or punk gothic appeal while never seeming to have
the same hair colour twice, Crimson Rose is more at home with the ‘ruffians’ who blurt out
whatever is on the tip of their tongue, as Crimson Rose believes it is better than just
continuously dancing around the point for hours on end. As a Magistrate investigator for
the Central Empire itself Crimson Rose is confident that she’s seen and heard just about
everything, so the quicker you get to the point the less time she’ll need to unearth the heart
of the matter itself rather than unearthing your bullshit. She often earns no love from those
due to her blunt nature, but remains useful nonetheless for her peerless skills in nearly all
matters regarding investigative work or governmental affairs.

Crimson Rose originally grew up on a Death world out in the Northern sector of the
Frontier named Piktaungitok. Ruled by a cabal of immensely powerful ancestor ghosts
called ‘The Five Noble Ancestors’ who are backed by support of the Tomb Stars
themselves, everyone lived or died according to their whim. With the light of the Tomb Star
seeming to exist solely to blight anything living on the surface, Crimson Rose recalled the
days where she barely had enough to eat. The backbreaking labour as they tilled in the
fields, refusing to use any conveniences of modern technology. The days when she hid in
the hidden basement of her wooden house as Wraith’s wandered through their towns
looking for new playthings. The days when necromancers from the Five ‘Noble’ Ancestors
came to their town looking for people to sacrifice in their experiments. The day when she
watched her younger brother being dragged away with her parents not stopping the ordeal
but actively stopping her from saving her brother is when she when she swore off
everything related to the planet itself and revenge on the Five ‘Noble’ Ancestors.

Her revenge would have to wait however, as a group of Sidereal Emissaries staged
an abduction of her just before her teenage years, telling her the destiny that awaited her
as a Sidereal Exalted. Crimson Rose was happy to leave the planet by itself, so she
immediately agreed to whatever terms the Emissaries laid out before her. She quickly
learned that Sidereal training was just as hard if not harder than back on Piktaungitok, but
she plowed through with neither rest nor breaks using any spare time she had to study up
on all the Grand Celestial Mountain had on the topic of the undead, Terminus, and the
Tomb Stars. In fact, she had written several papers on ghosts and earned a doctorate from
the Heptagram University in Necro-spirituality before she finished her Sidereal training.
While her cynical personality seemed to always remain no matter how intense the training,
she passed the Sidereal training with flying colours and Exalted on the very day her
training was complete.

Rather than remain in the Grand Celestial Mountain, Crimson Rose longed for the
Celestial Vault, applying for Magistrate status after Exaltation and receiving it in relatively
short order. Her knowledge and personal experience of the undead made her one of the
leading authorities on the matters of the undead, something which she puts to good use
whenever she can. Widespread intelligence networks were put into place where she
personally looks for any sign or trouble involving ghosts on a daily basis, dispatching
troops or personally involving herself if such a need should arise. Crimson Rose also does
a lot of personal work on behalf of the Empire itself, seeming to be a wizard when it comes
to paperwork or having what some people believe to be a near omniscient knowledge
involving any sort of scam no matter how small the paperwork trail is. While her personality
may be rotten, the advice she has given has at least saved several Central Empire
systems from total collapse or revolt. Many even see her as a patriot, as she is quick to
give people an earful whenever they talk about how the Central Empire is run by tyrannical
leader, letting people know what real tyranny is like.

This is all done not out of a feeling of obligation towards the Central Empire, but
rather to further her own goals. The Central Empire is the strongest force in the galaxy,
and she wants nothing more than to turn that force towards the planet of Piktaungitok itself
no matter the cost. Not a day has gone by where she doesn’t imagine the personal
satisfaction of hearing the Five Noble Ancestor’s screams as they’re burned alive by her
flames.

Heaven’s Son
A name that virtually any spacefaring organization in the galaxy has heard of and
for good reason, the Lunar who put an end to the Solar Reign while imposing order (or
tyranny depending on your view) in the Central Empire. Since the very day that Heaven’s
Son took control of his new Empire he hasn’t even had so much of a vacation amidst the
endless torrents of mind numbing paperwork or heart wrenching decisions. Heaven’s Son
essentially wrote the book in how to run a successful government in the current modern
era; both noble kings and ruthless tyrants are said to learn from Heaven’s Son example
even if they hate the Thousandth Dynasty itself.

Heaven’s Son was far from being called an ‘armchair’ ruler in the past, known to
personally involve himself with whatever major decisions right at the forefront of them.
Whenever deciding to convince those who live under his systems of a radical new bill or
leading a massive military push from his own personal battleship, many times his reckless
behavior was chastised by Sidereals while being the aspiration of Lunars everywhere.
Heaven’s Son has the drive, cunning, power, and personal resources to have whatever he
wishes for granted.
 As of late whispers begin spread around the Silver Chair on Aden, as people have
noticed that Heaven’s Son has not made a personal appearance for nearly several years
now. The only people that express his will are either his advisors or Scarlet, and while any
paperwork addressed to him does come back completed people are beginning to wonder
what has happened. Did Heaven’s Son leave the Central Empire to personally undertake
some dangerous mission? It certainly sounds like something he’d do. Or did the
unthinkable somehow happened in which he died and now his own advisors or Scarlet are
commanding the Central Empire as they see fit? Did the Sidereals merely craft some long-
term plot to bring everyone to kneel under their rule? Plots by the crafty who see openings
are already in their planning phases, and while the Shikari can easily take care of the
occasional scheme there’s no way they can handle everyone planning some sort of coup
at once.

Nacreous Sword
Nacreous Sword is the elusive leader of the Shikari, a mysterious being that no one
save Heaven’s Son has seen but whose name is whispered in fear amidst the Underworld.
None of the news involving Nacreous Sword is good for those oppose the Thousandth
Dynasty, most particularly the sadistic pleasure people whisper he gets from the hunt.
From the highest-ranking General selling military secrets to the smallest hacker robbing
thalers from banking machines, Nacreous Swords hunts them all with equal zeal. Letting
his prey know that he’s after them before letting them run away with him in chase. Even
the craftiest of smugglers or the most ruthless of gang leaders will refuse to give travel or
aid Nacreous Sword’s quarry, as the Lunar Shikari will chase them to the ends of the
universe if need be (and has several times). The only real help criminals will give quarries
of Nacreous Sword is a blaster with a single bolt inside of it, saying that doing yourself in is
going to be a hell of a less painful than whatever Nacreous Sword has planned for you.
Between the constant looking over one’s shoulder and not even trusting the squirrel in the
nearby tree to not jump down and rip out your throat, many people go often go mad if they
remain on the run for too long.

Relatively little else is known of Nacreous Sword, quite possibly for security
reasons. Nacreous Sword is just as likely to be mother of a happy family down the street
who regularly goes to bake sales to the large overmuscled goon that constantly seems to
stare at people in the corner of the bar just asking for trouble. A common thread of all
stories means that Nacreous Sword has a canine totem animal. What is absolutely known
about him is that he’s by far the deadliest and most effective assassin in the galaxy,
working by himself when chasing a criminal and only taking orders from Heaven’s Son
himself. Dismissive people often wash away Nacreous Sword entirely, claiming he’s
nothing more than a scare tactic designed by the Central Empire itself... that is until they
head home that evening and see a silver sword painted on their wall.

Scarlet
The Dragonblooded known as Scarlet was once as a Dragonblooded bastard child,
Exalted but having no known clan to call her home nor any records to trace back to. Time
and time again she was known to criticize and chastise the Dragonblooded Great Clans for
personal and petty behavior and several times this has nearly led to her death after
several close assassination attempts. A few centuries ago however the Great Clans
started to petition for a stronger voice within the Central Government. Mere suggestions
often took years to hear back a simple confirmation that it was received, an actual decision
on such matters regarding Heaven’s Son often took far longer. So bad was this issue that
even the Immaculates impartially agreed that taking so long to answer simple matters and
questions did no one any good. With one of the central pillars of power starting to crack at
the seams Heaven’s Son decided to give the Dragonblooded a representative. This
representative would have powers only second to him, listening and administering
complainants and issues for the Great Clans and the Immaculates within the Empire itself.
What shocked everyone was how he picked a seemingly nobody bastard child known only
as Scarlet for the role instead.

Feelings of outrage however were quickly replaced with content, as Scarlet not
only dealt with such matters impartially as possible but also incredibly fast. Matters that
often took decades to resolve before were now only solved in months if not weeks. Fears
of Scarlet being a pawn of Heaven’s Son were dashed when she publicly outed him on
several policies that people thought would cripple the Great Clan’s. While not all may
agree with her decisions, no one could deny that she didn’t fight on behalf of all
Dragonblooded. Scarlet is now considered so vital that without her influence on the Great
Clans that something as disastrous as the Second Great Corporate War could start up all
over again.

With power second only to Heaven’s Son, Scarlet wields considerable might in all
areas. She has a personal fleet and army to her name to which she may use however she
pleases, even an artifact Battleship known as The Sword of Creation under her command.
As a centuries old Dragonblooded she wields considerable personal power and potent
destructive artifacts that allow her to engage all but the most dedicated of Dragonblooded
warriors. With a face that seemed chiseled from the finest marble and hair spun from the
brightest of flames, those who met her say the only real flaw of Scarlet is that she’s an
insufferable bitch. Demanding nearly everyone around her to live up to the same
unrealistic expectations she ascribes to. Even worse is the people she considers who
waste her time, ranging from anything but a total seizure of all accounts a Corporation
Scion has to even publicly strangling one to death under the pretense of teaching those in
the room the difference between choking and strangulation.

Plot Hooks
• Heaven’s Son is gone, and for the longest time Scarlet has been ruling the Central
Empire by using Heaven’s Son as a mouthpiece. How did Heaven’s Son, one of
the most powerful and well protected Lunars in the galaxy, die? Was in an
accidental death or did Scarlet merely seize power in the same bloodless coup that
Heaven’s Son used on the Solars?
 Lightning arced across the dark overcast sky ahead, adding further light beyond
the dull red glow of lights emanating massive Ebonscale temples that were scattered
amongst the landscape, carved in plateau’s around the mountainous region as purple mist
roiled around at the feet of three brave adventurers.

“By the Tapestry of Furtobulans, I haven’t seen a planet this gloomy since my
scouting on the planet Illinox.” a man with blond hair and a chiseled face says as he walks
across the terrain, trusty blaster in his hand and as close to him as the skin-tight spacesuit
he wore.

“What era do you live in Saxton?” the voice of a young woman asks standing next
to him, clad in a shimmering bright purple power armour, her jawline moving as faint purple
pulses of energy ran in lines running up her jawline and eyes. “If I wanted to be creeped
out I would’ve gone into my sister’s room back home on Iyer II. Goggles, are we there
yet?”

A short young woman with scraggly hair and wearing a baggy but yellow space suit
with the helmet currently pulled off glares at the cyborg behind a large AR visor. “First Kali,
the name is Dori, secondly yes we are.” the woman with the space suit says pointing at the
temple directly ahead of them. “My scans show that’s a positive match for the Temple of
the Obsidian Choir. Anything about the Ebonscales know about Terminus is going to be in
there. The only thing we need to watch out for is the Pasadine Gas that occasionally rolls
across this planet.”

“You mean that giant cloud of purple and green gas over there?” Kali says pointing
to a giant cloud of gas, pouring through and filling the valleys the trio were currently
standing in.

“Oh crackers! If we breathe in that gas then we’re all in trouble! Run!” Dori yells as
she begins to bolt towards the Temple with Saxton running quickly behind her.

Kali meanwhile continues the same steady walking pace she had before, casually
blowing a bubble of chewing gum until it pops and rolls back into her mouth. “What do you
mean ‘we’ mammal? Some of us don’t need to breathe.”

As Dori and Saxton bolt in between the two massive stone doors leading into the
temple, a solid yellow orb appears on Saxton’s head, summoning up the inner might within
him to push the multi-ton doors shut, sealing in place just as the first few wisps of
Pasadine gas flow into the temple.

Both Saxton and Dori gasp for breath, catching their breath once again. “What is...
so important about that gas?” Saxton asks Dori.

Dori raises her hand in the air,asking for several seconds before catching her
breath again. “Pasadine gas causes hallucinations if you breathe it in, but creatures such
as Ghost-Pattern type spirits can use it to cross over into our dimension, making physical
threats as well as imaginary. I feel bad for Kali though; will she be fine?”
 Just as Dori says this, the roaring sounds of automatic fire and explosions rock the
temple itself, dust floating down to the ground just after the booming sounds occur outside.

“She’ll cover our escape.” Saxton says as he checks the charge on his gun before
offering a hand to help Dori up. “Now come along Dori, if this is anything like the Tomb of
Ulrex-Talla on the planet of Urios VII then I wish to be done with this place as quickly as
possible.”

“I... have no idea what that is but I’ll take your word for it.” Dori says taking the
hand and letting herself be pulled up. “Still, I’m surprised there are no defense systems. I
figured the Ebonscales would’ve had some sort of defense systems inside of a temple like
t-”

The ground rumbles as Dori speaks, the massive reptilian statues standing over
their eyes having their eyes light up with the future of blue flames, the stone titans ripping
themselves loose from their stone insets before turning their gaze down at the duo below
as their numbers steadily begin to increase one by one.

“On second thought it may be safer outside.” Dori whimpers as she attempts to
hide herself behind Saxton who stands tall against the massive stone monsters.
 Chapter 4: The Frontier Systems
The Frontier Systems are the rough and tumble planets that exist outside of the
Central’s Empire’s direct control. A place filled with both great risk and potentially even
greater rewards. Even the lowliest person in the Frontier can make it big. An Explorer
nobody finding a brand new unexplored system is free to sell the Canal Maps to that
system for whatever price they want, a humble janitor could decide to rise up one day and
lead a rebellion that could overthrow a system, the keen eye of a businessman could
explode up through the ranks and become the CEO of one of the Frontier’s many
Megacorporations. Without the oppressive gaze from the Central Empire or the glass
ceiling that exist for many people inside of the great clans, the romanization that the
Frontier Systems are known for are no mere lies. A certain vitality is known throughout
most of the Frontier, the eagerness of a person to not only aim for the heaven’s but push
beyond that into some of the highest positions of power that anyone, mortal or Exalted,
can dare to dream of. Seemingly the only limit to one’s power is how far a sharp mind, a
silver tongue, copious amounts of money, and an accurate blaster will carry them.

This amount of freedom comes with a significant drawback; Opportunity and

danger are not so much bedfellows in the Frontier but wedded at the hip itself. A
Megacorporation can be rich enough to buy out entire systems one year than be bankrupt
a month later when a new competitor manages to successfully outperform them. The
system you may’ve liberated from a tyrannical regime earlier in life may suddenly turn their
warships towards you when one too many of the people you invested power in become
corrupted by their newfound power and start abusing it. The ambitious Explorer who
thought he’d make an early retirement is now drafted into slavery on a planet where
spaceflight no longer works due to a Clockstopper device forcing him to crash land on the
planet. Reaching for the top becomes easier when one need not follow the same checks
and balances that exist within the Thousandth Dynasty, but those same checks and
balances also serve to protect people from some of the biggest dangers of the universe
itself. To live in the Frontier is to trade certainty for random chance; Confederacies,
Empires, Unions, and everything in between rise and fall in the Empire. Most barely last a
year but in some special cases large Empires can not only be carved out of the Frontier
but even thrive in them! The Council of Rivers has remained a stable force in the galaxy
for centuries while newcomers such as the Haslanti Union do not appear to be in any
threat of disappearing anytime soon.

The Frontier itself is divided up into four main sectors. North, South, East, and
West using the center of the Celestial Vault as a reference point. Each of these sectors go
far beyond just merely a collection of planets with various cultures inside of them. Each
sector of the Frontier has their own ‘personality’ of sorts that has been shaped by the
unique conditions inherent to each sector. This is mostly as a result as damages wrought
by the Malfean War which are still felt to this day, but it has just as much to do as the
various people that adapted to such trails and thrive in such systems.

Also apologies if this chapter is header hell, I couldn’t think of a better way to try
and present this information.
 Eastern Sector
The East Sector used to be the proud home of the Exalted Empire long ago and
the place most associated with being the cradle of humanity. During the Malfean War
however humanity and the Exalted Empire were forced to abandon the East Sector in
favor of fortifying the Central Sector. The planets of the Eastern Sector remain ripe with
the highest concentration of Paradise and Wild class worlds unseen in anywhere else in
the galaxy but the Central Empire. But when basics needs are met humanity itself starts to
reach for such things such as ideals, and as a result the Eastern Sector sees people
warring against themselves just as much as they do against ferocious super-predators
while raiders of both mortal and Screaming Horde varieties prowl this sector in both zeal
and numbers that trading ships heading into the Eastern Sector could be classified as
warships in other sectors.

This stroke of luck having inhabitable worlds is not by coincidence, as during the
Malfean War the Stellar Intelligences known as He Who Lives In Thrall seeded vast
amounts of planets with clockstopper devices, devices that alter reality to limit or disable
all but the most basic technology with She Who Lives In Her Name mutating much of the
flora and fauna on numerous worlds to be testing grounds for monsters used in the
Malfean War itself. Explorers in this sector are often warned to invest in long range
scanners as to avoid the range of Clockstopper devices or super-predators which can
launch attacks into orbit to hunt their prey. Many of the Paradise worlds in the East are
reclaimed Wild class worlds, but encountering such worlds are still common enough to
warrant caution.

The Eastern Sector has the honor of being the most explored sector to this day
outside of the Central Empire. This is because during the earliest days of the Solar
Dynasty vast fleets of explorers were set forth to find the best possible path to the Central
Sector of the galaxy after discovering how relatively intact it was compared to every other
area of the galaxy. The area that is largely explored is called the Scavenger Region while
the other sector called the Deep East is considered to be a no-man’s land. A region where
reality was torn asunder multiple times during the Malfean War where the Screaming
Hordes are known to play en masse; the daring Halta Kingdom living in this region while
duking it out with the remnants of the old Exalted Empire: The Linowan Empire.

Scavenger Region
As mighty beasts and champions fight against one another to the last, it is the
Scavengers after the battle that will feast on the remains of all that is left, so is how this
region earned its name. Ever since the beginning of the Solar Dynasty to the current day
this region has never seen a single time of widespread peace. Since the earliest days of
the multiple aftershock wars that occurred after the Primordial War, both Great
Megacorporation Wars I and II, before the most recent widescale battle of the fledgling
Thousandth Empire going up against the ad-hoc Alliance of Eastern Systems. Those who
live in this region are no strangers to war, as countless border skirmishes happen daily
while great intergalactic fights make the headlines of papers seemingly on a yearly basis.
 The largest organized body within the Scavenger Region is the Alliance of Eastern
Systems, a small connection of systems closest to the Central Empire that are proud to
boast they stood against the Central Empire and remained standing where many had
fallen before them. As one progresses deeper in the East they’ll progress towards the
Thousand Empires area where constant centuries old grudges intermingle with the new
upstart kingdoms that seem to grow like weeds in this incredibly unstable region of space.

Alliance of Eastern Systems

The Alliance of Eastern Systems stands proud and firm as the best and shining
example of what the East has to offer. Prosperous trade, strong military, and friendly
longstanding relationships with all Systems within its boundaries have allowed them to
flourish where others have fallen. Those who are from the AES are proud to proclaim they
are part of a nation which defiantly stands against the encroaching military and economic
aggression of the Central Empire, fighting off both in a bloody series of wars. If one looks
at their resources when compared to something akin to the Central Empire one could only
consider such victories literal miracles, but are they really miracles when they’ve been
pulled off time and time again in the Alliance’s time of greatest need?

The official declaration for the Alliance of Eastern Systems was a quick system set
up in the early days of the AES during times of war, but remains largely intact to this day.
Each System, Kingdom, Empire, Tribunal, or whatever exists inside of it must agree to
provide a certain number of soldiers and ships per year for military operations or nearly all
military in case of major events. Trade vessels from AES Systems are not to be tolled or
taxed within any AES member systems unless they are carrying illegal contraband. Any
other matters regarding governance are to be settled by a matter of civil council, but
outside of that all the member states are free to run their systems in whatever way they
deem fit. Much of the laws are purposely left vague, so member states can often get away
with virtually anything else other than restricting trade or military so long as they have the
skilled diplomats to do so.

The Alliance of Eastern Systems is well known for being the ‘Rivers Region’ of
Eastern space, that’s because most of the known Canal routes going into and out of the
East are known to directly pass through this area of space. Various toll booths
aggressively set up by AES forces impose a toll to use most of these Canals but in
exchange have a relatively well patrolled Canal route right up until areas such as the
Thousand Empires or the Deep East. Piracy is still a problem along such places however,
as the potential payoffs are far too large for pirates to be deterred by AES forces. Often
Pirates are known to strike, quickly rip anything of value out of a ship, then be long gone
using hidden canal routes by the time AES forces appear. Thus, it is not uncommon for
great trade fleets to depart all at once, ships capable of supplying entire worlds several
times over by great Merchant Princes.

There are several major powers within the Alliance of Rivers, a few of them being
places such as Delhelshen, Marukan, and The Great Forks of Velennia. Singular planets
stand out as unique but powerful oddities in of themselves, such as the tomb world of Sijan
or the economic powerhouse that is Nexus VI.
 Lookshy
• Planet Type: Fortress
• Current Population: 2,750,000,000

One of the strongest known Fortress worlds in the entire galaxy, the brave soldiers
of Lookshy are the first line of defense the A.E.S. has against the Central Empire itself. As
one gazes down past the numerous defensive fleets in orbit at any given time, one can
see the entire surface of the planet has been covered in innumerable heavy bunkers and
guns which allows the planet itself to fight back against even some of the Central Empire’s
mightiest fleets, assuming people somehow get their way past the legendary “Three Walls
of Lookshy”, a unique triple layered planetary shield, a working relic from the days of the
Malfean War which can even repel planetary annihilation superweapons with ease.

The might of Lookshy was one of necessity, for ever since the planet’s earliest
days it has been a defender of its parent systems. During the Malfean War it stood as one
of the fortress worlds that protected the Central Sector of the galaxy. It was during the era
of the Solar Dynasty when Lookshy and its parent ruling body the Delhelshen Union
agreed to operate independent of Solar control as the Solar Dynasty slowly began to
crumble. When the Central Empire took power to claim the planet of Lookshy using an
ancient treaty, Delhelshen rejected the treaty on the grounds that the Solar Dynasty gave
Delhelshen no supplies when it needed to fend for itself, so nor would it give the fledgling
Thousandth Dynasty the same credit. Virtually overnight Lookshy then turned its shield
towards the Central Empire itself, serving as the rallying point for all the military forces in
the A.E.S. to act against the newly formed Thousandth Dynasty. Fleets crashed against
one another as the debris of ships and the bodies of their crew streaked into atmospheres
of nearby planets or formed titanic ‘junk belts’ orbiting around systems. No one could’ve
even dreamed that the military force that ousted the Solar Dynasty could’ve been
defeated, but the Central Empire’s war campaign against the A.E.S. suffered a full retreat
when the Central Empire had to defend its borders against innumerable other threats that
also tested its borders. The Thousandth Dynasty would formally recognize Delhelshen and
all their territory as independent systems... at least so long as peace was maintained
between Delhelshen and the Central Empire.

To this day Lookshy functions as the beating heart of Delhelshen’s forces and the
backbone of the A.E.S.’s military might. When the claxon of war is hailed it is Lookshyian
ships and soldiers that soar out into the Celestial Vault, raining death upon those who
declare war upon A.E.S. systems. During times of peace Lookshy often makes
demonstrations of gestures of their vast military might, be it from crushing space pirate
outposts like cockroaches, protecting popular trade routes known in the East, or aiding
various systems in the Thousand Empires region on behalf of other nations for either
access to political favors or system resources.

Lookshy is a treasure trove for Delhelshen which houses two of the biggest
treasures in the Frontier: The Gens families and the massive array of intact artifact
weapons. The Gens families are proud warrior families of Dragonblooded who gladly lay
down their lives for Lookshy, Delhelshen, and the systems of the A.E.S. This gives
Lookshy to field the largest amount of Exalted outside of the Central Empire and allows
them a luxury many military forces in the Frontier long for: Access to powerful leadership
and magical abilities that act as a massive force multiplier to their troops. This is further
aided by Lookshy’s own vast technological cache, where many relics from the Malfean
War or even the Golden Age are known to be within its vaults. Everything from seemingly
indestructible battleships to superweapons capable of annihilating planets. Lookshy is
known to go through great lengths to get access to such devices, not only resorting to
military annexation of archeological dig sites on planets but even launching raids deep
behind enemy lines in order to obtain a priceless piece of power armour whose secrets of
creation have been lost to the ages.

The Great Fork of Velennia

• Planet Type: Paradise
• Current Population: 7,500,000,000 mortals, unknown number of spirits

The Great Forks was a system given its name for its position between two major
canals: The Yellow Canal and the Rolling Canal. It was known as a popular rest and party
stop during the golden age of the galaxy with its constant parties and designer drugs. After
the Malfean War the Great Forks Systems suddenly count them cut off from the Grand
Celestial Mountain, unable to contact the Exalted Empire for reinforcements when beset
on all sides by pirates, Canal Monsters, and the brand new and unknown Tomb Star
forces. It was in this time of crisis that what became known as the Council of Three
banded together to fight back these hostile forces encroaching at their territory. Even if
they are spirits who’d be labelled as overstepping their boundaries by the mandate of the
Grand Celestial Mountain they simply could not afford the dissolution of their homelands.
By the time contact had be re-established with the Grand Celestial Mountain the Great
Forks had become the rallying point of abandoned gods across the East and those who
wished to be safe from the predators that lurked within this new and dangerous cosmos.
The capital planet of the Great Forks itself had also been renamed into The Great Fork of
Velennia, a bold act of defiance showing not only how they were at the fork of two great
canals but also how two different creatures, mortals and gods, came together for the
common goal of survival.

The gods and people of Velennia live in a stronger state of symbiosis than most
others in the Celestial Vault. The gods themselves were the ones who did the Lion’s share
in the wars that led to Velennia’s rebirth, and as such most of the major decisions in the
Great Forks are made by them at large. Most of the mortal population in the Great Forks
hardly cares either, as many of them live in a simple and carefree lifestyle. With such a
surplus population of gods that live in the Great Forks then if one god isn’t doing his job or
one is making a better offer, worships and tributes slowly start to shift over to the new god.
This sort of divine market makes gods who are down and out of their luck often try to start
their life in Velennia, getting some worship so they may get back up on their feet. With an
entire continent being nothing but shrines, temples, and divine residences for various gods
in the region. The well-known or long-standing gods sit atop massive temple skyscrapers
that seem to sing praises to heaven itself while lesser known or disliked gods have
temples down in the sunless areas below. Even gods from the Grand Celestial Mountain
are known to come here and set up a residence here as a form of vacation estate. The
planet to this day remains a population vacation spot allowing people to view temples from
immaculately well-kept buildings and dedicated priests to thinly disguised drug dens with
‘priestesses’ who tempt people in with promises of drugs, sex, and candy in exchange for
a tiny prayer to the patron god of the temple itself. It is not only God Pattern type spirits,
but Elemental Pattern type and even Raksha from the Screaming Hordes are allowed
inside of the Great Forks themselves so long as they promise to protect the system the
best they can.

The numerous amounts of friendly spirits within the region is also the key factor for
its military might. The large number of random gods and spirits within the region makes
any sort of offensive virtually impossible to plan out in detail. One day a pirate fleet may
make a raid on a Great Forks planet to be blown off course by a storm god, but the next
day they could be meeting a normal harvest god... who pilots a warstrider with a giant
scythe. Knowing a god’s purview is often the first major step for any victory, but the
organized anarchy that exists within the Velennian military makes any plan aside from
pure brute force only possible for the most dedicated and brilliant of strategists in the
galaxy. If that is not enough, the Great Forks has their special trump card known as The
Guardians. This special elite task force is not only composed of powerful godblooded and
Exigent soldiers, but are well versed in battle against any supernaturally enhanced foe.

The Great Forks have a very high standard of living, but this mainly because most
of the menial labour is done by slaves. Such slaves were originally captured as the spoils
of war from the Great Forks original defense against everyone then put to work as a
desperate measure to make the economy work, but now slavery not only extends to the
ancestors of those who attacked the Great Forks but even people convicted of various
crimes such as murder. Everyone from common citizens to the super rich are known to
own slaves and enjoy the fruits of their labour. Safeguards exist to ensure that no Great
Forks citizen can become a slave against his will unless a crime was committed, but the
same treaty does not extend to outsiders of Velennia. Tourists are encouraged to not sign
any suspicious documents while on vacation.

Plot Hooks
• Noticing the amount of worship this area brings, the terrifying creature known as
the Lord of Darkness has taken great interest in the Great Forks from his lair in
Canalspace. Can the players stop the Lord of Darkness from starting his campaign
of terror to turn all the Great Forks into a land of perpetual nightmares?

Jiara Prime
• Planet Type: Paradise
• Current Population: 1,250,000,000

The Marukan were once a vast fleet of nomads who explored the cosmos at large,
their wanderlust never making them content with a single system before they launched
back off into the cosmos in search of new adventures and experiences. So large was the
Marukani fleet that many boasted and entire star would need to be drained dry to recharge
their massive fleet, and it was during the Malfean War that the Marukani people alongside
many others pitted their massive fleets against the bulwark of the demonic forces. The
Marukani fleets did make it out of the wars alive where so many of their kin had fallen, but
it forced the Marukani to make the choice of either settling down and recouping their
losses or fade into the annuls of history, reluctantly the Marukani people chose the latter
and settled down into a newly explored system shortly after the end of the Malfean Wars,
naming their brand new Empire after their people while the capital planet was named after
one of the greatest heroes of the Marukani people, Admiral Jiara.

Those who land on Jiara Prime often find themselves confused to whenever or not
this green and blue orb is capital planet of a multi-system empire. There are no megacities
the size of continents to be seen in Jiara Prime itself, but rather wide-open plains of gently
rolling hills and fertile valleys, a system of dirt roads crossing against the planet like blood
vessels where both horse and vehicle speed along the well-travelled routes. Even the
capital city of Jiara, which rests atop a plateau on the highest point on the planet, appears
to be relatively barren compared to most other capital cities. Only a few skyscrapers can
be seen scattered amongst the relatively modest and simple homes of the Marukani
people. One must ask where everyone on the capital planet truly is and if the might of
Marukan is severely overstated with such a paltry capital city. One only needs to look
towards the Marukani people itself to realize that even after all these centuries later the
sense of wanderlust has never left the Marukani people. The sense of wonderment and
exploration is known throughout the galaxy, so much so that Marukani captains will offer
free passage to youngsters to which to travel the galaxy, whenever it be the exploration to
unknown systems of seeing the sights of the universe. To the Marukani people their
homes have always been in the spaceships in the stars above: Businessmen keep their
main offices and even entire business in ships and travel whenever their company needs
them most and even a modest family tends to keep everything they own on board of a
small personal ship. As such Marukani people have little use for homes beyond a place to
sleep where they desire fresh air without worrying about what wild animal would gut them
in the middle of the night or whenever the life support would suddenly go out.

The Marukani military itself is known to be very powerful, as the large surplus of
spacecraft armed with weapons always within spitting distance of a Marukani world is
something foes of the Marukani need to be ever vigilant for. While Marukani ships may not
be able to win in a straight up slugfest with some of the stronger navies in the galaxy, the
sheer constant bombardment and harassment of multiple unrelenting attacks takes their
toll on any attacker. The Marukani are always where their opponent wants them to be the
least and then disappears or outruns any ship the moment battles start to go sour. The
Marukani government even offers free repairs to any ship that is damaged in the defense
of Marukani space itself. The ad-hoc method has turned the Marukani wanderlust into a
potent weapon for the defense of their homelands that seem to repel any invader... unless
you count the recent invasion of Thorns by Tomb Star forces.

After the fall of Thorns, Jiara Prime has undergoing heavy refortification of the
planet itself. The Marukani people quickly realized how their fast react assault strike
defense formation failed in the wake of the Tomb Star forces, combining the strange alien
technology of the Tomb Stars along with the codenamed JUGGERNAUT super battleship
that seemed to be all but invincible in combat. So formidable was this foe that even
Delhelshen has abandoned the Marukani people and left them to resolve this incident on
their own, claiming that their defense contract does not extend to outside context incidents.
The leader of the Marukani people, the Khidarian Prince, has begun to grow desperate for
aid, so much so that many people within the nation of Marukan worry that he has sold the
soul of himself and his empire to the Mnemon Syndicate. While the powerful Central
Empire megacorporation are fulfilling their agreement by placing their powerful fleet in
Marukani space as aid to a client who purchase a bulk about of anti-orbital weaponry,
many point out the unchecked greed that the Mnemon Syndicate is showing by engaging
in large scale strip mining operations taking place on Marukani worlds across their territory
at best and secret black magic cabals on planets at worst. The Marukani natives grow
restless as the Prince seems to turn a blind eye to such problems or unable to voice their
concerns without being stared down his fearsome yet beautiful Sword Dancer guards.
Many feel this is a tipping point for the Marukani people as the future seems so uncertain.
Will the Marukani people find themselves absorbed by the Mnemon Syndicate, will the
siege of Terminus Forces that took over Thorns expand to all of Marukan, will the Prince or
people of Marukani venture forth to find a champion to lead them through this dark crisis,
or will people be sick of the Prince’s bootlicking to the Mnemon Syndicate and search for
an unoccupied system somewhere else in the galaxy?

Sijan
• Planet Type: Death
• Current Population: 3,000,000,000 (Living)

Sijan is an alarming planet, for reasons that go far beyond the fact that Sijan itself
is essentially a giant graveyard or that the people who inhabit it are labelled as a death cult
by the galaxy at large. Those who live on Sijan have claimed that the planet itself has
always had an innate connection death, even before the appearance of humanity itself
amongst the stars. If such a thing proved true then this would be a problem where the
chicken existed aeons before the egg itself. It would prove that Terminus space has
always existed long before the appearance of the Tomb Stars themselves and that entropy
is the true end of all things. But with no way to prove such a thing with concrete evidence,
it merely remains an interesting philosophical question to ponder over as there’s very little
else of Sijan’s past to discuss.

There is no grand exodus of people who made or found a grand discovery, but
rather how the planet has always existed and the passing of its torch to the next dominant
species in the galaxy occurred one after the other. Even during the Malfean War itself the
Sijanese claimed the Malfean forces largely ignored Sijan for reasons ranging from the
Sijanese knowing the true secret of death for the Stellar Intelligences to them being
disinterested in a planet where the natives were likely to die off by themselves after a few
centuries without support anyways. The Sijanese have been largely ignored by the galaxy
barring requests for their services, and the Sijanese like it that way.

Being a single lone empire planet near the edge of the Thousand Empires, the
Sijanese have remained safe for eons due to one simple principle: Neutrality. The Sijanese
claim they care little about the politics of the living other than that they’ll be there when the
final resting rights of the deceased need to be declared. In the early days after the
appearance of the first Tomb Star when the dead started to rise back to life once more, it
was the Sijanese who taught those how to properly lay such spirits to rest. This has given
the vast majority of the East a begrudging respect for the Sijanese people. Secondly the
properties of Sijan itself make it worthless in the eyes of any conqueror. With the maze of
mausoleums and crypts that dot the surface and the countless armies of ghosts that would
flay any would be trespassers which only the Sijanese know how to mollify with their
necromancy or occult rituals, no one even wants the planet as they wouldn’t be able to do
anything to it.

With an entire culture revolving around death, passing, and the natural order of the
universe itself, it is no surprise that those who help transition people from one life to the
next are held in the highest regard for Sijanese culture. The elite Sijanese funeralists and
embalmers of the planet make up a council known only as the Mortician's Order. By law
these men and women oversee all matters regarding rulership on the planet itself, but the
majority of this is largely bookkeeping. An army of people itself is needed to keep track of
the logistics for the maintenance of countless crypts, honouring the death using the proper
rituals to the departed’s proper culture, and arranging new funeral rights for the recently
deceased. The young morticians explore the galaxy at large, offering cheap rituals for the
recently deceased while the ancient members of the council are ghosts themselves as
they continue the job they once had in life as there is simply too much work to be done in a
mere single lifetime.

Officially the Sijanese are a part of the Council of Rivers, but they have no military
involvement in it and are mainly in it for the trade deals needed to keep the planet alive.
The Sijanese earn their keep by promoting free funeral packages for all the elites within
the A.E.S. itself or free basic funeral packages to whomever makes the pilgrimage towards
Sijan itself. Their entry under these terms were hotly contested upon the formation of the
A.E.S., as they effectively demanded entry into an organization while doing nothing in
return. With the relatively new formation of the forces of death, many military experts
thought this was a small price to pay for the Sijanese’s council of matters relating to the
death. Others believe the Sijanese resorted to scare tactics of what happens to bodies
who pass away without proper funerals to gerrymander their way into the A.E.S. Either
way it is rare to find a planet with the A.E.S. that doesn’t have some sort of Sijanese
Embassy or Consulate on it, functioning as both a neutral hospital or funeral parlor for
those lacking the funds.

Tensions regarding the Sijanese remain high in the galaxy at large, distrusting
them based on their obsession with death. Many within the A.E.S. claim the Sijanese
simply do not pull their own weight inside while more vicious rumors circulate that the
Sijanese are in league with a Deathlord or some other Tomb Star forces to learn the
deepest secrets of necromancy that man was not meant to know. Others claim that the
Sijanese have been heralds for the Tomb Stars for centuries with their bizarre ancestor
cults and cryptic advice. Many say the recent development regarding Thorns will make or
break Sijan itself, as the advice it gives out on this matter can affect the fate of the entire
Eastern sector.

Being a single Death world with no natural resources the Sijanese have little need
for a military, but they do indeed have one. A single small fleet patrols both their planet
and their moon, jet black ships that appear as giant mausoleums in space, vomiting forth
necrotic energies at those foolish enough to think they can raid the graveyard planet.
Ancestor war ghosts, veterans of hundreds of battles, are known to phase through enemy
hulls in the midst of battle and begin slaughtering everyone on board as a form of shock
troop who has no fear of death so long as their fetters remain safely on board in
specialized tombs in the Sijanese war vessels themselves, vanquishing the enemies of
their homeland long after their original deaths. This also doesn’t include the legions of
guards that patrol the crypts of the death for any potential thieves. With the planet being
open to all who wish to pay respects for the death, grave robbery is very common in Sijan
and those who commit such an act will often find themselves protecting the very place they
tried to rob once in life.

Nexus VI
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

• Planet Type: Hive

• Population: 700,000,000,000

When approaching Nexus VI the pilot must always remember to exit Canal Space
several kilometers from the planet itself just before the natural langrage points, senses are
bombarded by the number of ads, ships, and space stations in orbit around the planet
Nexus VI itself, covered by a single massive sprawling city with hundreds if not thousands
of ships docking at the near limitless amount of space station orbital elevators that sprout
off from Nexus VI like mushrooms from a decaying fruit. From orbit one can plainly see the
shining skyscrapers and green parklands that dot the Nexus continent before gazing on
the other side of the planet as the smog becomes so thick over Firewander that you
cannot see past the artificial cloud layers and constant plasma storms that rock the region
as capitalism and business reign unchecked throughout the entire planet. Welcome to
Nexus VI, the only place in the galaxy that you will find the something or someone you are
looking for.

The origins of Nexus VI begin in the days following the Malfean War when much of
the Eastern Sector needed to be brought back on its own feet. As governments and
empires began to lay out their own plans for the future the businessmen who survived the
war also decided they needed to be reorganized. With much of the Grand Celestial
Mountain communication networks down the knowledge of markets needed to be
reestablished from square one. Which system needed building supplies, which functioning
hive planets needed food, which Canal infected worlds had friendly residents to safely
trade with? All of these things needed to be factored in for any trade within this brave new
galaxy as any attempt without doing this would be throwing darts at a board blindly. A
seemingly innocent planet named Nexus VI was the one decided to be used by
merchants, a seemingly simple planet that still had the basic necessities like an
atmosphere but with all of the native life wiped out during the Malfean War. As an
unclaimed neutral planet Nexus VI became an unofficial hub world where businesses
could meet up with each other or various clients, rapidly ballooning into the monolithic hive
city it is known as today.
 The modern-day version of Nexus VI is a capitalist's dream come true as the free
market runs completely unfettered on the planet’s surface. Nexus VI is where a man can
truly test whenever his dream idea has the potential to make him billions of thalers or
crashing into the ground. The entire planet remains the lawless neutral world it originated
from centuries ago, the only ‘laws’ being enforced are the decrees of the most powerful
companies on the planet or whoever one can boss around with either a gun or blackmail.
Things such as murder and theft are completely legal on Nexus VI and it is up to those
who are wronged to exact revenge or justice themselves with various mercenary groups
offering police protection services in various packages; Frontier justice done corporate
style. The galactic underworld is not only alive but thrives in the lawless underworld of the
Nexus VI undercity where the sun never shines. Ramshackle gangs rub shoulders daily
with more organized crime mobs and Yakuza gangs with the people caught in between
scrambling for cover when violence erupts between them both. The only limit on the power
of such gangs is the amount of people they can sway to their side, the guns they have,
and the ambition they hold. Any time one is stamped out, seemingly a dozen more scurry
out from the alleyways to collect whatever scraps of power they had left.

The closest thing Nexus VI has to a government are the CEO’s of

Megacorporations in the Frontier called ‘Factors’. Many have clawed their way up from the
very bottom and constantly fight off corporate espionage and hostile acquisitions from rival
companies every day. Factors view themselves higher than the Great Clan
Megacorporations of the Thousandth Dynasty, as where the Great Clans had their
monopolies given to them on a silver platter then enforced by Heaven’s Son, Factor’s need
to fight for the survival of both their companies and themselves every day. The power on
Nexus is often enforced by the amount of corporate guard they each control, convening in
planetary councils as a form of mutual co-operation ever since the Second
Megacorporation War nearly tearing Nexus VI itself in twain. They have power in terms of
physical might, political and company connections, and finally economic connections to
often get whatever word they speak of as law, but none of them would dare to cross the
mysterious Phantom of Nexus VI: The Emissary.

The Emissary appears to be a single masked figure that has been known to appear
inside of Nexus VI since its earliest days and is driven by a single-minded purpose: The
continuation of free trade. The current Factors know if they try to use their power to
declare decrees that split up business into monopolies like the Central Empire does then
those Factors will meet horrific deaths, such as how the CEO of the Culex Conglomerate
was found turned inside out and hanged over the entrance to his own company HQ on
Nexus VI when he suggested about making monopolies during a factor meeting. Minor
incidents such as slave revolts or hostile abductions of key personnel may impede trade,
but if anything, people say the Emissary gets some sort of twisted enjoyment out of seeing
companies engage in more trade involving weapons and security personnel as after all,
healthy competition is how companies grow. Those who attempt actions that seek to harm
Nexus VI or it’s trade as a whole are often met with bloody retribution or with schemes so
far fetching that the Emissary doesn’t seem to be playing several moves ahead of his
opponent but rather several games ahead. The famous tale of CEO Rusti from the Slag
Bucket Salvaging Yard, a man who had accumulated so much wealth after the second
Megacorporation War by collecting and reselling hulls and cargo of destroyed
megacorporation fleets to eventually buy nearly a fourth of all Nexus VI companies in his
opening move to take over the planet. Rusti himself seemed smug that he had a Long War
Lunar on his payroll and invited CEO’s of Nexus VI companies to a private colosseum
match which only they knew about. The maximum amount of style and flare was brought
to the table as each match in the colosseum was more violent and spectacular than the
last before the final round started in a matchup that shocked everyone: Rusti’s Lunar vs a
surprise opponent. Even Rusti himself was agap when this opponent turned out to be the
Emissary himself, and was horrified at the shockingly one-sided match in favor of the
Emissary. After the match was concluded the Emissary flew up to Rusti’s own private
viewing booth, only giving him a modest bow as he welcomed him to Nexus VI. One month
later the Slag Bucket Salvaging Yard went bankrupt as no one dared do business with him
on Nexus for fear of the Emissary’s wrath with Rusti found hanging himself from his office
just as the last remaining funds for his company ran out. This is not the only time this has
happened, for many powerful supernatural creatures or elite troubleshooters may find
themselves contacted by the Emissary for an easy job with a payment too good to be true,
but only several months later does the deed become clear as the plan blossoms forth into
bloody fruition in favor of Nexus VI. No one is sure who this masked man is, theories
ranging from anything from the last surviving Solar from the Malfean War to the avatar of a
hidden Stellar Intelligence who is only lying low after he witnessed what happened to his
fellows, to merely a tool the Factors or some secret government of Nexus VI uses to make
their will known.

Abdiel Secundus
• Planet Type: Paradise/Desert/Precurser
• Population: 1,500,000,000, mainly Ratch
• By: Count Dorku3

Abediel Secundus is the capital world for the Planetbound faction of the Ratch
species, a calm albeit tidally locked world orbiting close to a dim red sun. With one side of
the planet permanently in the darkness and the other side perpetually baked by the sun,
as such the vast majority of the Ratch live in either the twilight zone just on the rim of the
planet or slightly in the darker side where it is cooler to live. While multiple cities and farms
exist within this tiny area amongst the fertile corps with the capital being called Ratchir’s
Daughter in honour of the Ratch Admiral who saved the Ratch people after the destruction
of the Ratch’s homeworld in the Malfean War named Ratchir. Made from the remains of
the mighty battleship the ancestors of Ratchir’s Daughter made centuries ago, the entire
city seems to glow in a multitude of lights from the angle of the sun itself shining against its
glass buildings and massive anti-orbital batteries. The defining part of the city itself is the
massive manse and space elevator known as the Memory Spire. Every inch of the
memory spire has a name of a Ratch who has fallen in battle during the Malfean War and
years that transpired before the foundation of Ratchir’s Daughter was founded. Once
during each 400-day cycle of Abdiel Secundus the sorrowful Day of Memories is cast
where a massive image of Ratchir along with some of the greatest Ratch heroes are
etched into the sky for all to see. On the opposite end of the cycle the Day of Dreams is

3
I would’ve put more of your alien works in here but I only saved one. REALLY stupid thing on my
part.
celebrated, with colourful fireworks lighting up the sky as the Ratch look towards the future
and what it may bring for their kind.

The founding of Abdiel Secundus began centuries after the conclusion of the
Malfean War, where the first Ratch child born after the destruction of the Ratch’s home
planet Ratchir named Hana. Being the lowly daughter of a Worker Caste technician,
Admiral Ikir personally stepped in to take the child and raise it as her own. There were
complaints, but they quickly died down after realizing the significance Hana held as the
first Ratch born after the destruction of their home planet, and for the first of a brand-new
generation of Ratch that would live amongst the stars being a simple worker caste would
only sully the future of the Ratch’s species. As Hana grew up herself to be Admiral of her
own fleet, she and many other Ratch of the newer generation saw no reason to endlessly
wander the stars like so many other species known in the galaxy before them. They need
not be locked to home when dozens of more potential homes existed in the galaxy. When
the fleet Hana commanded decided to peacefully mutiny from Admiral Ikir, they explained
their viewpoint that the current generation of Ratch didn’t share the views of their
foremothers. They were of the same blood, but their views couldn’t be any more different
from one another. Admiral Ikir herself was furious at the selfish decision Hana made and
gave the order to attack and capture Hana’s own fleet, the two generations clashing
together in a war between mother and daughter. Hana’s flagship was eventually shot down
after a long chase and search for a new homeworld, crash landing on Abediel Secundus
itself. With no way for Hana’s flagship to ever reach the stars again Hana ordered the
remainder of her fleet to stand down. Admiral Ikir’s advisors demanded that she execute
these traitors to set an example, but she couldn’t kill the daughter she loved to dearly.
Instead Admiral Ikir decided to cut Hana’s fleet out as a loss and forced Hana to sign a
surrender agreement saying that the Pariah Ratch would never accept the Planetside
Ratch back into their fleets ever again. Afterwards Hana spent the rest of her life helping to
colonize the planet of Abdiel Secundus, helping to foster farms through the long cold
eternal night as her people slowly crept towards the twilight zone of the planet. It is said
that Hana stubbornly lived until the Memory Spire of the Ratch people was constructed,
and that her corpse is laid to rest behind the capital city she sacrificed so much for.

Using the last remaining pieces of their own technology, the Ratch of Abdiel
Secundus have earned a permanent spot within the A.E.S. itself despite their low
numbers. Powerful, alien ships that bristle with psychic enhancements trickle into the
A.E.S. fleet with Ratch Psychic commandos. While individually not as strong as something
like a Solar or Lunar Exalted, their abilities are greatly amplified by abilities and techniques
only possible with Ratch Psionic Engineering. This is often a great boon to the A.E.S. in
general as Planetside Ratch are often expected to engage their powerful Pariah kin who
have be swayed into the life of piracy.

Recently a new following has sprouted up on the world of Abdiel Secundus, saying
that the heiress of the lost Ratch goddess will one day return to them. The claim that the
planet itself is the embryo for their new Goddess that will come to the Ratch and return
them to the heights of their former glory that was sung during the golden age of the galaxy.
While security forces can find scattered members of the cult across the planet itself, they
have determined that the cult itself is somewhere on the scorched sunlit side of Abdiel
Secundus, and while the occasional graffiti or preacher on the side of the street is
annoying the cult doesn’t appear to be a large enough threat to warrant going after just
yet.

Story Seeds
• The cult of the Heiress of the Lost Goddess has succeeded, after years of
attempting to introduce bits of human DNA into genetically engineered clones and
spread them throughout the galaxy, one of them finally managed to Exalt as a
Solar, the first non-human alien to ever do so. The cult will stop at nothing to get
their new god back by any means necessary, but are the cult’s intentions noble or
sinister? Will the Ratch of Abdiel Secundus accept their Solar kin or turn her away
because of the partial human DNA that flows within her? How will the Pariah Ratch
react to such an alarming development?

Alien Species: Ratch

• Original concept by: Tari

The Ratch are the closest biological species in the galaxy to humans. If one would
overlook their elongated ears or purple skin, then they could entirely pass for being human
themselves, at least until they were injured. Ratch biology and biochemistry are very close
to their human counterparts aside from a few key differences. First is that Ratch blood is
Cobalt based instead of iron based, so it’s a deep blue to a human being’s red blood.
Second is that Ratch themselves seem genetically engineered to be resistant to the
ravages of extended spaceflights. Ratch experience no such thing as muscle degeneration
in zero-G gravity and have an uncanny sense of orientation that very few other species
have. Humans and Ratch have relatively similar dietary needs and can eat most of the
same food except for Vitamin C, which is poisonous to the Ratch. Instead Ratch seem to
love the taste of incredibly salty foods and can even ingest some poisons lethal to humans
such as arsenic. The reproductive systems between Ratch and humans are similar
enough for romantic relationships, but the biology differs far too much for actual children to
mature. Males in the Ratch species are far rarer than females, which is often seen as a
benefit for the species as they’re able to control population rather efficiently and was one
of the reasons the Ratch managed to bounce back so quickly after the Malfean War itself.
They are careful with their expansions however, as they don’t want to split and fracture like
humanity multiple times during its history.

The Ratch culture is split between two main branches. The Pariahs and the
Planetbound. The Pariahs are known to be a nomad people, where four massive fleets
with each captained by a multi-kilometer long Golden Age battleship with various
settlements and slapstick repairs growing off it like mushrooms from a fallen log.
Planetbound Ratch are those who believe the only way for the species to continue is to
settle down on planets and allow their numbers to naturally replenish themselves,
unrestrained by the harsh restrictions needed on spaceborn life. While the two factions
themselves tend to look down on each other, they still do see each other as kin; a Pariah
fleet usually will not hesitate to respond to an SOS call from a Planetbound Ratch colony.
 Similarities exist between both branches however, such as the caste system that
all Ratch live by. An order set upon by their gods ages ago, the Ratch live in various
castes that vary from things such as the Warrior caste, Science Caste, Captain caste,
Worker caste, and so on. Any Ratch that is known to exhibit special Psionic abilities are
immediately put into the rare Psionic caste in order for them to refine their abilities. Both
Pariah and Planetside Ratch believe this is the path to promote social stability,
relationships between different castes are often strongly discouraged but does nothing to
stop the seemingly endless tide of plays about Ratch from two separate castes falling in
love with each other. Female Ratch are often seen doing the more dangerous or high-risk
jobs involving the Ratch or meeting with other non-Ratch species (Far too many males
have been kidnapped over the years and held for ransom), but seeing a male Ratch rise
up into a leadership role in one category or another isn’t too uncommon. While female
Ratch leaving the comfort of their home fleets or planet(s) to seek opportunities elsewhere
in the Frontier isn’t all that uncommon, a male attempting the same fate is quickly hunted
down and brought back into the fold.

The main equalizer for the Ratch species would have to be their natural affinity for
psionic powers. Whenever it was something the species developed naturally or the Stellar
Intelligence known as She Who Lives In Her Name bestowed upon the species is
unknown, but the results are clearly felt. Psionic aspected Ratch are known to have
powers known to not only lift objects using the power of their mind, but even do things
such as reading the surface thoughts of those around them or igniting small fires with
them. The powerful Ratch technology allows them to construct amplifiers for their psionic
crew, allowing them to accomplish amazing feats such as crush a warstrider into a metal
ball as easily as closing their fist to outright mind controlling a target. Some well known
Ratch psychics have massive psionic amplification cradles to function as the heart of their
ships, giving precognitive advice in battle coupled with psionically enhanced shields while
officially stopping larger ships in their tracks and cracking smaller ones in two. While no
Ratch to this date have managed to crystallize into a form of Exalted, it doesn’t stop
numerous Ratch experiences going forth with the idea. They say that if the Ratch can
manage to make a sixth Dragonblooded aspect of the “mind” itself then the Ratch would
quickly become the second dominant species in the galaxy. The only thing stopping them
is a process that was made aeons ago which no one alive knows how to perform, as such
Ratch pay special interest to any planet that has even rumors of evidence of the Golden
Engineer on it.

Temujin
• Planet Type: Wild
• Population: Unknown population of mutated species
• Threat level: A, increases with time to a maximum of SSS.

This beautiful world was once considered the jewel of the Eastern sector. A
paradise amongst paradises, this resort world had waiting lists literally years long as it was
terraformed into the perfect jungle resort as an experiment to maximize human happiness.
Unfortunately, the planet was hit hard during the Malfean War where the Stellar
Intelligence known as She Who Lives In Her Name used a cocktail of demonic spores and
genetic viruses to flash mutate the wildlife on the planet into some of the most vicious
wildlife throughout the known universe.

To this day Temujin appears to be a flourishing jungle planet, but when one lands
upon it they may quickly find themselves beset on all sides by both flora and fauna on the
planet that grows more and more aggressive over time. The secret to Temujin’s native
ferocity isn’t the large majestic Behemoths that roam some planets or a single horrifically
lethal species that dominates the biosphere, but after numerous devoured research teams
the result was concluded to be one innocent thing: Coordination. In their native state
Temujin wildlife is the same as any other animal in the galaxy as they fight for survival of
the fittest. When an outsider arrives on the planet however the behavior of the animals
shifts dramatically, predators suddenly stopping their hunt for prey and turn their attention
towards the invaders along with the prey itself! The entire planet itself functions as a
hivemind for the animals itself and the longer a visitor on the planet remains the more
intense it gets. At first a newly landed band of explorers may find themselves beset by a
group of Raptor Cats, but as they continue to stay more and more animals from further
distances begin to make the trek towards where they suspect the intruders to be until
eventually skyscraper sized mega-predators make the trek towards the invaders
themselves. Most people are dead long before such an event happens however. Usually
things such as acid spitting bugs or plants capable of shooting barbed thorns that can
puncture through modern day tank armour are sufficient to take down most invaders.

Twisted training programs by megacorporations or empires send men and women

down to the planet to survive for a specific duration of time, usually a week, and then
graded on their performance in real time by using various skills and tactics to stay alive.
The better one performs the better equipment they’re able to requisition while those who
lag behind are quickly slaughtered and devoured by the local wildlife. Would be Warrior
Lunars from both the Central Empire or the Frontier are often expected to last an entire
month on the planet itself, where failure is often met with scorn of their peers. Any longer
than these durations and the realistic odds of survival dramatically decrease.

If one would explore Temujin, one would find the old vacation buildings overrun by
nature by still relatively intact despite the ion storms and acid rain. Abandoned suitcases
litter the floor of spaceports filled with people desperately trying to escape the planet in
vain during the opening days of the Malfean War while ancient power plants and devices
still work with only a little bit of effort needed to make them run again at full capacity. While
seemingly absent of wildlife the cities themselves contain their own threat; monstrous
clans of people so mutated that they can barely be called human anymore. These
cannibalistic tribes dot the ruins of the abandoned cities, their brains having long since
devolved higher thought processes away to make room for baser instincts in exchange for
the traits needed to survive in such a hellhole. Scientists to this day are not sure how such
‘people’ manage to survive down on the surface of the world, whenever they are excellent
at hiding from the native wildlife or whenever the planet itself recognizes such people as
natives.
 Currently the planet resides in the Delhelshen system of space, but lacks anything
other than a few observer drones surrounding it. As far as Delhelshen is concerned if
anyone wants to throw away their lives on that hellhole, they’re welcome to it.

Thousand Empires
An explosive spot within the East itself, the Thousand Empires is a large sub-sector
of space filled with planets that escaped relatively unscathed from most of the horrors of
the Malfean War but make up for lost time by constantly warring upon each other. At any
given moment within the Thousand Empires numerous regions are at war with each for
reasons ranging from noble to downright petty. Banners to unite under a freedom fighter
shine when in the next system over a megalomaniac employs mass slavery simply
because he believes the entire universe should follow him. Borders within the Thousand
Empires change so constantly that tired mapmakers have left territorial borders out of
Thousand Empire maps entirely, especially those who sent assassins after the
mapmakers who didn’t want enemies to know just how much territory they controlled. A
competent mercenary can not only make their weight in thalers per day working in the
Thousand Kingdoms, but can do so every day until the rest of their lives if lucky enough.

To curb down on the mass influxes of fighting, many Thousand Empire Systems
agreed to a system known only as the Great Warstrider Wars, a highly popularized duel
between two warstrider pilots between two conflicting systems. Rather than the wasteful
loss of life and resources that come from large scale wars and the genocides that often
follow in the wake of them, elite soldiers are trained up alongside top of the line
Warstriders then battle it out in a grand spectacle performance. As a result, Warstrider
technology in the systems and empires that have adopted this method of combat have
exploded and the brand-new methods of fighting are pulse pounding matches that are
shown in large sporting bars and pirate dens alike and it is said in the last minute of the
third round even the most talkative of drunks remain dead silent with baited breath. The
systems who have adopted this trend swear that it works as an alternative to the horrific
wars in the past, but other nations within the Thousand Empires see the events as the very
height of foolishness. Why wager so much on the outcome of a single fight? After all one
can lose many fights and still win a war and dismiss the entire thing as megacorporations
trying to worm their way into the Thousand Empires itself.

The Thousand Empires is one of the most diverse places in Creation. Ranging
from multi-system controlling kingdoms, single planets warring against each other in a
single system, or even a single planet itself engulfed in a constantly cold war. Below are
some examples of a few civilizations that exist within the Thousand Empires region.

Kingdom of Iyer
Original concept by: Brian Hon

The Kingdom of Iyer is one of the larger multi-system nations that exist within the
Thousand Empire’s region itself, smaller than places such as Delhelshen or Marukan but
fighting amongst its neighbors for things such as land, resources, canal access, ideology,
honor, and more. Ruled by its current king, Farid Vasanti, who under his wisdom and bold
reign have managed to extend the influence of Iyer from its humble beginnings of a single
system to owning nearly 28 populated worlds across no less than a half dozen systems all
in his meager lifetime. While charismatic and kind, he is quick to reject ways that do not
either align with his personal goals or the ideals his forefathers set. This has caused some
significant friction between the Iyer ‘core’ worlds and those of the outlying colonies and
several large neighbours of Iyer have took note of his aggressive tendencies.

Iyer itself is unique for the large amount of paradise style worlds it owns and the
rich reserves of Jade, growing both the food and money the empire uses to stay afloat.
While those under his rule have enjoyed a sudden influx of resources unheard of in Iyer’s
history, the same policies put into place for their riches only mask the problems the society
has at large. Adults from nearly all across Iyer remember the rapid age of expansion and
paid their price in blood many times over while those who live in the current times chafe
against the high taxes the government imposed in an attempt to rebuild their military. King
Vasanti has an innate talent for diplomacy and leadership, and while his kingdom may
have fallen in his footsteps with good diplomats they did not follow in his footsteps for
being moral paragons. Corruption is rampant through all levels of society and the
leadership model hasn’t evolved past the system used for governing a single system and
is ill fitted for governing multiple ones. Companies and Megacorporations are seen moving
into Iyer as they’ve passed the ‘transition’ phase most new nations within the Thousand
Kingdom’s have upon their creation. King Vasanti welcomes the new companies and influx
of wealth they could bring for his system but at the same time keeps a sharp eye on them
in case they attempt to grab a little too much power in his kingdom.

The Iyer Kingdom seems to be blessed with a surplus of paradise class worlds,
with the capital planet of Iyer II being the jewel amongst them. Reconstructing from the
total loss of their original capital planet centuries ago to a world that seems even better
than before. Miles of sandy beaches and lush jungles dot this rather warm planet with
deserts crossing the entire equator region. Mountain ranges are flecked with red, rich in
iron ore that gives the planet a stunning colour in orbit that matches stunning variety of
marine life from exotic fish to coral reefs that cover the ocean floor with a minority of
Lavanya species that live on the sea floor itself. Inside of the capital city of Attar one can
enjoy relative safety in the middle of the Thousand Empire’s territory as vehicles soar
amongst glass skyscapers overhead of bustling marketplaces or the live music that plays
in the popular restaurants known for serving Iyer Cuisine that is known in several spots
throughout the galaxy, such as filleted fish with fresh fruit salsa and a blend of iced tea
known only to grow on Iyer II itself. While the capital city is still more secure than other
places in Iyer, flashing a credstick to a police officer loaded with thalers is still enough to
often to get the police to look away.

Recently the youngest of King Vasanti’s daughters, Kali Vasanti, has turned into a
strange new type of Exalted which has rarely ever before been seen in the universe.
Turning into a strange mechanical based Exalted with immense power after being tricked
by a terrorist group named the Brothers of Macroon who sought to use her to damn King
Vasanti’s current regime as revenge for the conquest of their planet. While King Vasanti
loves all his daughters dearly he cannot afford to let an opportunity like this slide. A
properly arranged marriage with Kali could easily secure a longstanding and nearly
unbreakable alliance with another rival kingdom or joining the Great Warstrider Wars
system with Kali as Iyer’s representative could save many lives and send a strong
message to the restless masses who fear another large-scale war in the near future. Farid
cautiously weighs out his options over and over again but is in no rush to make a decision
anytime soon, after all Kali appears to be more than happy in the military raining down
rivers of lead and explosives on her unfortunate opponents as she revels in her newfound
power.

Plot Hooks
• King Vasanti’s eldest daughter, Anthea Mio Zahra Lani Kiran Vasanti, has run
away from home. This has put King Vasanti into a rough spot as Prince Jayant
from the rival nation the Dominion of Misra has warned Farid that war would befall
his kingdom if Anthea does not come back. Desperate for help, he’s willingly to hire
any investigator and promises great rewards for Anthea’s safe return... or at least
proof of death.
• Princess Kali’s ascension into an unknown type of Exalted rocked the entire royal
family, but none moreso than Kali’s own sisters. Before Kali was an arrogant and
sickly child that was little threat to them and after Kali’s cooperation with the
terrorist group Brothers of Macroon they thought her political career was finished.
However now the opposite has happened, Kali seems to be soaring through the
social ranks and have essentially forced all her sisters to reset their power grabbing
schemes all over again. If there was someone who’d offer power similar or greater
than Kali’s then the chance any one of Kali’s sisters would take it is very real.

Vetala
• Planet Type: Fortress / Wild (To non-Vetalans)
• Population: 4,000,000,000 human and demonblooded, unknown demonic and
sorcerous species

The story of Vetala begins only a few generations ago, where on the paradise
world Vetala there existed an underclass of demonblooded people, the current
descendants of proud demonblooded warriors that existed during the Malfean War that
was the new sentient species to rule the cosmos on the ashes of the old species.
Despised by all the populace itself, this demonblooded underclass brewed in resentment
but ultimately lacked the power or numbers to put up any meaningful resistance against
the current population, toiling away at backbreaking labour with no compensation. This
changed when the Demonblooded population discovered an old hidden manses workshop
that functioned as both a library and research center for sorcery. Intent on getting their
revenge, the demonblooded quickly began the roots of a secret movement as a cabal of
sorcerers began intense study and preparations for the overthrow of their current masters
who were unaware of what was happening below their feet as they continued in their petty
affairs. After nearly a decade of preparation the sorcerer cabal led the Demonblooded
underclass on a bloody revolt against those in power above them. The Vetalan armies
crashed against the powerful sorceries used against the Vetalan armies as screeching
birds of flames crashed into fighter jets or sieges of cities were complimented by using the
power of sorcery to summon leagues of vermin for devour any food inside of their
strongholds. At the end of a bloody war, the Demonblooded earned their own
independence, renaming themselves the nobility of Vetala.

Vetala today is virtually unrecognizable from what it once was. The vast and
beautiful forests are now gone, the land strip mined of any resources using Devourers,
creatures little more than large mouths on legs who devour any and all matter which then
breaks off their skin in bloody lumps of flesh rich in metal and biomass. Legions of
demonic forces openly walk amongst the streets while the powerful Second Circle Demons
the Demonblooded Vetalans have bartered with construct and train the future armies the
Vetalans hope to use one day to conquer the Thousand Empires as Vetala is reforged into
a planet made for war. The original population of Vetalans are pressed into slave labour,
either toiling in the mines until their death, being used as the playthings of any demon in
the city, or worse as unwilling subjects for sorcerous experimentations.

Sorcerous checks keep the ‘subjects’ in line for the nobles, but Vetala itself is
beginning to show cracks before it can even expand into the stars themselves. Constant
political feuds and plots stir inside of the Noble Cabals, each one of them attempting to
expand their own base of power while downsizing the others. While they were united
during the uprising, each clan of demonblooded believes they are the best suited to rule
over Vetala itself with the others being unnecessary competition once their power base
has been solidified. Danger also lurks with the powerful Second Circle Demons the Noble
Vetalans have summoned themselves. Each one can slay an army itself or gather an army
using inhuman charisma, but the Vetalans know that the Second Circle Demons would
attempt to seize control of the planet's power the instant the chance presents themselves.
The only thing stopping this itself are the damning secrets that the Noble Vetalans know of
each summoned Second Circle Demon. Steps are in place that if a Second Circle Demon
goes back on their word that somehow endangers the current Nobility, these secrets will
be scattered as far and wide as the Noble Vetalans can possibly manage. A three-way
cold way simmers just below the surface kept only in check by the threat of mutually
assured destruction.

Battlestation Metagalapa
• Planet Type: Space Station
• Population: 500,000 permanent personnel

Taking the form of a massive city shaped space station like disc, the experimental
space station made during the Malfean War went rogue in the years following the Malfean
War and has been rogue ever since. In the years that have passed the Battlestation itself
has gained infamy throughout the entire East as the premier pirate haven where the best
pirates in the world dock to let insults fly and offload their wares to resellers from the Guild
whose only questions are what the cargo is and how much they want for it.

Aside from being a heavily armed Battlestation capable of engaging an entire fleet
before pirate aid, Metagalapa’s greatest power is its mobility. Unlike other Battlestations
Metagalapa is capable of teleporting around locations in the entire Eastern sector using a
secret wormhole drive. While it doesn’t seem to be able to jump to places next to planets,
it can appear right in the middle of nowhere. The only people who know the location to
where Metagalapa currently is are ship captains. The ones who decide on giving out this
information are the native Metagalapans who rule the station themselves, legendary and
powerful pirate lords made of three clans: The Hawk, Eagle, and Crow tribes. The Hawk
are known for harnessing their prey, the Eagle’s for their battlefield prowess, and the
Crows for their sudden strike tactics and surplus of spies and assassins. These permanent
residents of Metagalapa are the ones who run the station and all pirate activities under
their clans, taking a large cut from any successful pirate venture. Those who share the
location of Battlestation Metagalapa for any reason without the permission of the pirate
clan ends are labelled as an enemy of the Metagalapans, which other pirates are more
than happy to cannibalize such people with little fear of retribution.

The other reason Metagalapa remains so popular with Pirates is because the entire
station is a large home away from home. Past the docking bays full of cheap hotels and
bars of questionable quality one can step foot into a wide open indoor mountain
environment, complete with crystal clear running water as artificial sunlight refracts off
dewdrops that slowly drop off from real trees. Bawdy sailor songs ring out across the
environment during the night as pirate crew members drink, sing, and do various games of
daring and gambling on into the night. The Metagalapans treat this entire area as their
home planet, and while they let visitors into the nature dome reserve they are quick to
remind them of the various rules inside: no weapons, no destruction of property, no wild
game hunts, and above all absolutely NO entry to the temple of the Hawk at the foot of the
mountain. Native Metagalapans will not share their reasons, as the reasons are for them
alone to know.

Deep East
A subsector of the East that refers to roughly everything east past the Thousand
Empire’s region, largely ignored except by the few nations and civilizations rugged or
stubborn enough to call such an area home. Thrown into disarray during the Malfean war,
much of the damage since then has yet to be repaired. Huge tears in the fabric of reality
leading straight to the Canal have led major Courts of the Screaming Hordes into the Deep
East where they’re known to harass those inside of the Deep East day and night.
Unknown alien species exist inside of the Deep East on planetary worlds full of hyper
violent life or worlds riddled with clockstoppers. These dangerous lands also contain the
largest potential vault for personal riches inside of all the Celestial Vault as the Eastern
Sector was the sector of the galaxy which had by far the largest population inside of it.
Brand new canal worlds could lead people to riches such as Malfean War General Mal
Desirus’s warstrider Vengeful Thunder, the top of the spirit program said to be carrying out
the General’s last order to this very day. Legends whisper of those who find the advanced
scientific research facility from the Golden Age named Denandsor can find technology able
to take over entire systems by force or have the resources to buy one. Other routes tend
to lead straight into major Screaming Horde court systems, but those who stumble into
such things are assured that death usually comes within minutes after being captured.

Below are a few of the Empires brave enough to call this sector home.

Linowa
 The Linowans are a proud group of people who boldly claim that their area of
space is not only where the Exalted Empire first lay its foundations, but where humanity
itself first began to spread out amongst the stars. It is within the Linowan Region that the
mighty Empire Exalted blossomed forth and set out to rule the galaxy to eventually bloom
into an untold golden age. It is a testament to the Linowans tenacity and strength that their
system still remains in any shape today after the Malfean War, but even after the
beginning of the Solar Dynasty when the central government was relocated to the center
of the galaxy the Linowans still kept their time honoured traditions and old ways, even
during the current trying times when many wish to raid the system and claim it for
themselves.

The Linowans take immense pride in their culture, keeping it as intact as possible
as it was eons ago not only during the golden age of humanity itself but all the eras leading
up to it. Temples devoted to long and forgotten lost gods dot the lush planets of Linowa as
art galleries are proud to display pieces of art that survived the Malfean War alongside
new pieces done in old styles. Caretakers even open hotels inside of long abandoned
ancient temples as tourist traps. Historians regard Linowan planets as a goldmine of
information as whatever meager information they had come from the Linowans who were
proud to preserve their history. Special clothing and artwork come from the Linowan are
often in high demand, for some say the Linowans practice long lost techniques that imbue
both clothing and art with mythical or even magical properties, such as art of constellations
long lost since the Primordial war bestowing great luck to a person or blessing their ships
with safe passage. Several buildings still hold great power inside of Linowa itself, such as
Great Astrology Temple of Rathess III. Made shortly after the first Sidereal Exalted, the
temple itself has an exhaustive map of the ancient constellation patterns that Sidereal
prediction engines were originally based on. The great temple itself is known to possess
powerful computers that are known to simulate constellation patterns long since lost to the
ravages of time, such as “The Mask” which was consumed during the construction of the
Stellar Intelligences and was instrumental during the events of the Malfean War during the
desperate times when Sidereals had to look to the ancient divination methods of their
ancestors.

Linowa however is magnet for trouble, and seemingly everyone inside of its
northeastern region wishes to have a piece of it. The ancient and still functioning shipyards
are constantly in production of warships, the advanced building techniques they employ
allowing them to work fast enough to offset the rush of pirates, barbarians, and Screaming
Hordes nobles that wish to lay claim to their system. Ancient defense networks standing
tall and proud to repel invaders, those under their protection praying they hold lest they
need to evacuate one more planet as the Linowans have no idea how repair such
machines. Hidden secret agents for the Cult of Han-Tha have rooted itself in the system,
proclaiming how the rotten remains of the Linowan Empire will be the soil for a glorious
new Empire under Han-Tha’s rule. The Central Empire treats the entire system as a vassal
system of sorts, Heaven’s Son himself citing that humanity should never forget their origins
or the sacrifices of those who came before them. The Linowans are worried however, as
they dread the possibility of their system simply not being worth the effort to defend itself.

Halta
 The Kingdom of Halta was said to once be the crowning jewel empire of the galaxy
itself, existing even before the Exalted it was a civilization that spanned a significant
section of the Eastern Sector large enough to rival even the size of the Central Empire
before the Malfean War. Halta survived the Malfean War, battered and beaten, but the
resulting succession wars, piracy, Screaming Horde raids, and leftover Malfean War forces
drove the proud Halta kingdom to only a single system on the fringes of the Thousand
Empires called the Kajeth system, a Canal twisted system of worlds where there is no
ground but only planets consisting entirely of trees. Eventually the Queen of Halta bartered
a deal with the Screaming Hordes, allowing Haltans safe passage through their old
territory in space and in exchange the Screaming Hordes would protect them from any
forces wishing to attack their kingdom; in exchange the Raksha courts would be allowed to
capture or attack anyone who landed on planets in Haltan space other than those in the
Kajeth system. Facing either extermination of their empire or playing along with the whims
of the Screaming Horde Lords, the Queen of Halta agreed upon the deal that sealed the
fate of the Haltan Empire.

Here the Haltan’s have remained in the Kajeth system, growing bitter and resentful
ever since. Their ancestral homeland has been annexed by the Screaming Horde forces
for millennia, a force so large now that not even the Thousandth Dynasty could drive them
back, forced to only watch from orbit as the planets of their once proud empire are slowly
corrupted by Canal energies. Despite how alien they are, the Screaming Hordes have kept
their promise to the Haltans, providing prompt aid in any defense against hostile forces in
their sole system while allowing them unrestricted space travel through ‘their’ territory as
they see fit. The Haltan’s even trade with the Screaming Hordes, giving them purchased
slaves or criminals to use as they see fit while the Screaming Hordes gift them in return
with ships made of starlight run on Nebula consisting of dreams. Ships the Haltans need
as all the planets in their sole system are nearly bursting from their capacity, great fleets
roaming Kajeth alongside numerous space stations that attempt to house everyone. Halta
needs resources and space, badly, but are unable to turn away from Kajeth themselves.
The deal the Haltan’s agreed upon with the Raksha would last “So long as the Haltans
remained inside and true to their homeland”, so by moving away the Haltans fear they’d
lose whatever little homeland they have left. Kajeth is bordered by the Thousand Empires
and while the Lords of the Screaming Hordes defend the Kajeth system with all their might
they will not expand past that and Halta has no interest in maintaining a place in the violate
Thousand Kingdoms area. Supplies can be raided from the Screaming Horde annexed
planets, but work under the constant fear that if the explorers are caught then they’ll face a
fate worse than death. Instead they turn towards what Halta regards their only hope for the
future: Linowa.

Halta and Linowa have been at war with each other ever since the Malfean War
itself, Halta claiming they were invaded by the Linowa for resources while Halta claims the
reverse is true. This way as escalated far beyond a simple grudge match and into one
solely of need. Halta wants Linowa for many reasons but are after the essentials one
needs to maintain an empire: materials, space, and supplies. As such Halta launches
aggressive war campaigns into the Linowan territory, racing against their Screaming Horde
‘allies’ in a desperate attempt to get any territory first. The travel pact they have signed
with the Screaming Hordes allow for Haltan Scouts or stealth teams to dart into Linowan
systems, taking whatever they need before quickly departing back to their territory,
confident that the Screaming Hordes would destroy any other purser. For centuries this
has continued, with Halta not managing to hold onto any Linowan planet for a significant
length of time. Time has festered into bitterness on both sides, both Halta and Linowa
quick to blame each other for crimes against their kingdoms in a self-perpetuating cycle of
violence that seems when only one side or the other is completely obliterated.

Whispers spread amongst the populace that relations amongst the Screaming
Horde Lords as of late, but those in power know why. Queen Evamal have received an
offer from the Screaming Horde lords themselves inviting them back inside of their
ancestral homeland... but only after undergoing a process that would make them into new
Lords of Chaos. Such a thing is thought to be impossible and the Queen’s scientific
advisors warn her that such words are only sweet lies the Screaming Horde Lords use to
toy with her. The Raksha however have never given reason to the Haltans before that they
would lie to them, indeed if anything relationships between the two have been impeccable.
Accepting this deal would mean only those of the strongest of wills would survive the
process while the rest would be consumed by the Canal itself, but just as many are willing
to do anything in order to get back into their long-lost homeland... or revenge against the
Linowa.

Rathess
• Planet Type: Paradise / Precursor / Wild
• Population: 300,000,000, mostly Dragon King

Hidden deep inside of the territory of the Linowa rests a flourishing jungle world,
littered with indestructible buildings made of gold that runs in perfect harmony with the
environment itself, the Dragon King homeworld of Rathess. Rathess itself is one of the last
remaining bastions for the Dragon King civilization, a place it’s people take immense pride
in. Tall golden pyramids dot the landscape with glass peaks for the Dragon King’s to
meditate in front of the sun, which they view as one of their primary deities known as Ignis
Sol. Mechanical drones ceaselessly roam and patrol the streets of the city of gold, ready to
obey any commands from their Dragon King master’s as they go on about their day to day
lives, heading to their daily routine of work over bridges made from light itself.

Rathess holds immense spiritual significance for the Dragon King’s themselves, for
it is not only the cradle of their birth but has unique properties to it rarely seen in other
planets in the galaxy. Rathess itself is perpetually coated in a strong field of essence, a
cradle of life itself. Those who live on the planet even for as little as several days will claim
that they’ve never felt more alive before. The Dragon King’s claim that this is the result of
the elements of Wood and Solar being prominent in the system, the Dragon King’s being
shown the method of uplifting by a species only called the Firstborn, the spacefaring
civilization that was the first to spread amongst the stars. Rathess gave birth to the Dragon
King’s, so it is the Dragon King’s sworn duty to protect it from harm. There is not a single
Dragon King living on Rathess that wouldn’t give their life to protect it. Any would be
attackers of Rathess however have many major hurdles to overcome, which where the
incredibly aggressive wildlife that can crush tanks like tin cans the Dragon King’s hunt for
sport are only the smallest threat. Massive robotic armies stand at the ready, awaiting the
call to battle while titanic anti-orbital cannons dot the landscape. In orbit the pride of the
Dragon King Armada, the Chariot of the Daystar, remains ever vigilant around the world of
Rathess.

Lately the corpse god of Han-Tha has taken notice of the world of Rathess and
covets it for himself. Seeking to devour the rich an ample source of essence himself in an
effort to make his own personal power soar. Right now, the Dragon King’s fight on the
borders of their territory, doing their best to push back the tide of the greedy invaders that
contribute nothing, only to consume and leave barren worlds in their wake. Such actions
anger the Dragon King’s, who point to the worlds under control of the Dwager, whose
blasphemy of form and life should be the first on Han-Tha’s list of priorities, but with
diplomacy having failed the Dragon King’s can only fight back. Recently the Ebonscales, a
splinter faction of the Dragon King’s known to worship darkness and death, have re-
emerged after centuries of willing isolation. Many of the elder’s worry that this could be the
foreshadowing for some major event, but for what they don’t know.

Alien Species: Dragon King

Once a proud people and civilization, the elusive race known as the Dragon King’s
were said to be one of the earliest interstellar races in the cosmos. When humanity itself
were just learning how to make primitive tools, the Dragon King’s were spreading their
culture across the cosmos and unlocking the secrets of the universe. Indeed, for even
today it is hard to search a sector in the universe and not find at least some long lost or
ancient Dragon King temple or a Dragon King statue holding some sort of powerful artifact
upgrades or weapons for those who find them. The deeply spiritual Dragon King’s
harnessing their vast essence potential that uplifts them from mindless beasts into those
who were amongst the first to bend the universe to their will. The fall of the Dragon King’s
came with a disastrous war with a foe lost to time itself and was said to engulf nearly the
entire galaxy in its span. It was thanks to this sacrifice by the Dragon Kings that allowed
the other species to grow in their place, forcing the Dragon King’s to play catch up with
their shattered civilization. To the Dragon King’s it was only a few small steps later before
the Malfean War started, dwarfing the previous war they had in nearly every aspect. At the
end of the war itself, the Dragon King’s were only a fraction of what they once were, their
numbers so low that many within the galaxy wonder if this noble race will go extinct
sometime in the future.

The Dragon King’s culture remains the same with their focus on inner
enlightenment. When born Dragon King’s will often have no more intelligence that a
mundane animal; patrolling its territory as the only concerns that race through its head are
only the most primitive of needs. Using advanced methods of enlightenment know to the
Dragon King’s, they are able to enlighten their youth to harness both the power of their
essence and their minds. Even with only a fragment of the advanced science left at the
height of their civilization, Dragon King technology seems miraculous by modern
standards. Long distance teleport technology warps fleets to where the Dragon King’s
need them most, highly intelligent computation crystals brim with power and secrets as the
Dragon King’s learned long ago how power and information could be quite literally the
same, while highly efficient and intelligent robotic labour take care of the day to day needs
for the Dragon King’s so they can always focus on bigger tasks at hand.
 The armies of the Dragon King may be few in number, but every single one of them
is said to be worth a hundred normal soldiers on the battlefield. The sole benefit of the few
remaining numbers of Dragon King’s is that each of the remaining soldiers have some the
best equipment seen in the galaxy, the shining golden armour of a Dragon King’s highly
advanced armour able to take out scores of opponents with highly precise and deadly
weaponry while being protected by advanced force fields. Deadly Thermal Lances from
robotic tanks scour world's infected by the taint of the Canal while soldiers on the ground
with decades if not centuries of experience lead the charge while Sorcerer Sages blast
opponents from the rear with screeching birds of flame. Dragon King’s who live long
enough eventually become Dragon Emperor’s. These immense creatures are strong
enough to soar through space to engage directly with enemy battleships yet possess the
wisdom only those with centuries of knowledge are expected to have. Seeing a Dragon
Emperor is a very rare occurrence, but it’s said whenever one appears then a lot of people
are going to die. If you’re wondering the stats for such things, think of Tyrant Lizards with
wings that are also intelligent, know charms, and likely have artifacts.

Ruk
• Planet Type: Wild
• Population: 100,000,000, various intelligent species

Ruk’s true name has been lost to the sands of time, a once brilliant garden world
that was found by He Who Lives In Thrall shortly after the beginning of the Malfean War.
Thrall not only put a Clockstopper device on the world itself, but placed powerful sorceries
on the planet which horrifically mutated the local wildlife to extremely dangerous levels and
more subtle sorceries to make sure the people on Ruk itself would never be able to
escape. The people of Ruk fought with all their might against the superpowered monsters,
but their cache of weapons rapidly began to dwindle from either a lack of ammo or just not
working anymore under the new laws of the Clockstopper device. As civilization on the
planet finally began to crumble, the desperate few who remained fought back against the
beast remaining on the planet with simple tools of sharpened wood, stone, and bone.
What was more shocking was that this actually worked, allowing the natives on the planet
to not only drive back the beasts but actually hunt them for whatever they needed.

Today nature has reclaimed the planet, the towering monuments that once stood
upgrade collapsed long ago with thick forests and jungles now in their place. Beasts with
hides thick enough to easily shrug off heavy assault rifle rounds and claws sharp enough
to cut into an inch of durasteel plate now roam the jungles. Large nomadic tribes are now
all that remains of the great cities of the past, tales of more glorious times spoken orally
amongst the elders as the influence of the Clockstopper makes any form of written
communication meaningless scratches. The nomad tribes move around to where the food
is rich, never settling down in one place too long before moving onto the next.
Exaggerated tales of how their ancestors used to put pieces of plants in the ground to birth
to new ones are only met with scoffs, as any attempt to put a plant into a ground to grow a
new plant is only met with wasted fruit. Clan Shamans attempt to divine rituals needed to
grow such plants so a permanent settlement could be made, but the Hunters hold not their
breath.
 Occasionally the unlucky crash land on the planet itself, their ships being brought
within range of the planetary Clockstopper before crash landing on the surface itself.
Tribes are quick to gather these ‘star people’ and try to educate them in the ways of the
world. Here the luxuries of their “teknahlougee” not only no longer apply but are seen as
foolish, as why would one trust a device over their own skill? Using a combination of
techniques taught to them by their forefathers or tribal gods, the locals of planet are able to
hunt the vicious wildlife of planet for both sport and substance. The hide of the beasts
protecting them from tooth and fang or the elements of the planet far better than any piece
of metal some star people insist that is better. People new to the world of Ruk need to
learn that the planet of Ruk gives them everything they need to survive, and if they refuse,
nature is always quick to cull the failures.

Any mundane ship entering the orbit of Ruk will automatically be shut off and
dragged into atmospheric re-entry, losing all features on board until the destruction of
Ruk’s Clockstopper device. Any roll using a piece of technology of anything more basic
than caveman levels have a -5 penalty to any roll while creatures of the planet are treated
as having +4 additional soak against such weapons while mundane armour is treated as
having four less soak and losing additional features (Such as automatic heating systems
not providing sufficient warmth). Artifact items fare better in this environment, as artifact
arms, armour, and items function normally without penalty. Artifact ships have their
engines deactivated and pulled to the ground but can still be steered for a softer crash
landing.

Sidebar: Clockstoppers
Clockstoppers themselves are tools that were used during the Malfean War to limit
or restrict use or access of various planets. By altering the local reality of the planet,
Clockstopper devices can make so certain physical laws and even concepts themselves
no longer work. Clockstoppers also work at various levels, so at the least extreme level
concepts such as Advanced Motonic Physics no longer work, making the creation of FTL
travel impossible and locking the planet itself into a level of technology similar to the one
we currently possess in real life today. At the most extreme level Clockstoppers can halt
any sort of technology more complicated than caveman level and even make concepts
such as art, mathematics, or writing meaningless scribbles that convey no real information
(Attempting to discern such information on planets with powerful Clockstoppers applies a -
5 penalty to any Linguistics roll to try and interpret them). Communication off Clockstopper
based worlds will more often than not be jammed and the surface extremely difficult to
scan. Some concepts and methods themselves become straight out impossible, but the
sole exception to this rule are artifacts themselves. Artifacts, no matter what they are,
operate on the same principle related to Clockstoppers so their usage cannot be hindered
nor negated in such an environment. However even some artifact technologies are not
immune to this. Any form of artifact based communication will only be limited to
communicating on the planet itself and not out towards space. Artifact ships will find
themselves unable to start their engines, but will have every other feature intact. Access to
the Grand Celestial Mountain is also rendered impossible during this time, so while manse
based spirits may be operational they will not be able to use any feature related to the
Grand Celestial Mountain.
 A Clockstopper itself is rather easy to destroy, as they often appear as large stone
obelisks that can be destroyed with a single Feat of Strength roll at difficulty 10 Strength 7
or by geomatically disrupting the landscape around it so it explodes the same way one
would do so with a manse. This is often easier said than done in most circumstances, as
such Clockstoppers are generally either well-guarded or well hidden. Some of the planet’s
most dangerous and vicious beasts could be compelled to make nests within such an area
and drive off any intruders. Or it could be well hidden in places such as Underground
temples, hidden within local art, or even completely buried beneath the ground or
mountain itself. Once a Clockstopper device is destroyed, normal universal laws will
rapidly begin to reassert themselves, making normal functioning of technology possible
once again.

Maps with planets marked with Clockstopper devices cost an extra fee while
terraforming companies are happy to pay large bonuses to whomever can destroy such
devices on otherwise valuable planets. Planets with Clockstopper devices on them could
be treasure troves of valuable goods, full of shipwrecks with valuable minerals or items
itself, or even artifact ships themselves! All such ships lured to the planet itself, following
an SOS beacon that turned out to be a trap.

Also before you ask, sorcery spells that create spaceships will not be able to liftoff
a planet with a Clockstopper, nice try.

Northern Sector
The Northern sector was once not only a natural reserve for nature’s own beauty,
but it’s large amount of surplus materials for both exotic goods and basic spaceship fuel
helped not only the Exalted Empire by all the civilizations and mighty empires that came
before it. The Stellar Intelligences realized this before the Malfean war and sought to
devour the resources of the Northern sector in a frenzy of activity. Theion weakened
countless stars in the northern sector, draining the mighty orbs of fire to barely functioning
orbs to fuel his might, leaving entire swaths of systems to nothing but a collection of ice
balls. Hegra and He Who Lives In Thrall stepped to put what seemed to be the final nail in
the coffin for the mighty north as vast interstellar storms swept across the Northernmost
reaches while the latter strewed many upon many worlds with clockstopper devices.

The Northerners of the Celestial Vault boast that this event only slowed them down
and never actually paralyzed them; after all spring always follows winter. While the Stellar
Intelligence drained vast amounts of resources in the system, new ones took their place.
Gone are the days of Wellium Crystals, but in their place new materials such as
Thermium, Feathium alloy, and frozen suns now exist in their place. The Northern region
has not only adapted to their current situation, but are thriving. New civilizations constantly
appear to be cropping up in the system one by one, uncovering the work of those who
came before them to ignite the future that will melt the ice age that has long plagued the
North. The Haslanti Union has boldly proclaimed that it will meet the call of all those who
oppose them and their independence while the Starwalker Armada seemingly appeared
overnight in the middle of nowhere with even those as far as the Southern sector taking
notice of them.

The majority of the Northern population lives near the border of the Central Empire,
which are the areas that contain most of the undamaged systems. Aside from the slightly
colder temperatures the worlds are considered to be relatively normal worlds of varying
variety. It is further North that one goes, past the Maw of Mela into the Deep Northern
sector. Here the majority of suns are pale imitations of what they once were, barely having
enough fuel to remain stable as iceball planets slowly rotate around such systems. Life on
any planet that exists within such a region is hardy but low in numbers. In this relatively
unexplored area vast numbers of treasure hunters come out in droves, for the sudden
appearance of the Stellar Intelligence’s and the rapid freezing of planets in this sector
means a potential wealth of lost technology could be hiding far below the ice for those
willing to look hard enough.

Haslanti Union
Not too long ago before the coming of the Haslanti Union the North was seen as a
desperate no man’s land. Scattered individual systems left to either fend for themselves
amongst the Fey and rampant space pirate clans, obtain protection from the Central
Empire at the cost of lopsided deals, or be in one of the rare lucky few systems or planets
with defense systems strong enough to survive on your own. While the Thousand Empire’s
see the rise and fall of many empires over the span of centuries, the North often struggles
to see one stand up before it is kicked back down almost immediately. Raids were
commonplace as those in the North took only what they needed to survive. A band of
wealthy businessmen and corporations wished to change such a thing, but lacked the
ability to do so. Renting an army from Nexus VI was only a short-term solution and if they
agreed to Empire protection their minor companies would in no way be able to stand up to
the Juggernauts that were the Great Clans. Time was not on their side either, for the
influence of the Central Empire and of the Guild could be felt on their companies, and it
wouldn’t be long before they were forced to choose between one or the other.

This all changed when a Long War Lunar named Gerd Marrow summoned the
CEO’s to a single lone planet named for negotiations, wishing to show them something
that promised to be their salvation. The CEO’s were largely skeptical of Gerd’s reasonings
or motivation behind the sudden unexpected help, but Gerd had a solid reputation from
what they’ve heard and they had nothing to lose by humouring him. What the CEO’s found
when they arrived floored them completely, on the single icy moon orbiting a gas giant
Gerd led them to a secret underground research facility sealed since the beginning of the
Malfean War. Inside were not only advanced forges but also functional prototypes of
powerful weaponry and advanced chemical compositions for new metals such as
Feathium, which Gerd proved was now feasible to produce due to the reality distortions
caused by the Malfean War and years of air demense influence. The CEO’s asked why
Gerd was giving them such a priceless treasure, and Gerd could only say how could he
not give something to people who so dearly wished to help his home direction. Gerd’s only
condition for letting the CEO’s have access to such a facility was that such things wouldn’t
be sold around the galaxy to the highest bidder, but rather used on the basis of a brand-
new Empire itself. Gerd convinced the CEO’s that they found their higher calling and the
CEO’s feverishly went to work installing forges and retrofitting their trading vessels with
Feathium armour and weapons. Barely a decade later the brand new Haslanti Union
issued forth the following proclamation: All those who’d wish to pick up arms to defend
themselves and share what they had in excess were welcome, all who wished to oppose
the Haslanti Union were welcome to break themselves upon the new Empire.

There was to shortage to the answers of such a call. Organized space pirate
groups concentrated themselves in droves before being driven off by the Haslanti Union,
shocked at how durable retrofitted ships with Feathium armour were. Even a squabble with
Gethamane led to the Haslanti forces pushing the Gethamane forces back to their home
planet where they were forced to close their doors. After this display of force and
willingness to protect those under them, systems all around them started to join them one
after another seeking the protection of the Haslanti Union.

Not all is perfect for the fledgling Empire, as cracks are beginning to appear within
the Haslanti Union’s mighty armour. The original founders of the Haslanti Union were
businessmen, not governmental leaders. With barely a century in there are people within
the Haslanti Union who thought the decision to become a country was foolish as a
company would be able to spread far and wide with almost utter impunity and head
towards those who had something worthwhile to protect rather than the bloat of systems
who appear to have nothing worthwhile that have joined the Haslanti Union. The
governmental structure is also inefficient within the new union, tailored towards the
maintenance of a massive galaxy business rather than that of a single nation. The last is
the relative inexperience of the military forces of the Haslanti itself, so far only managing to
charge their way through most of their problems with sheer brute force when everyone in
the Haslanti Union knows such a thing won’t work on a place such as the Thousandth
Dynasty. The sudden rise of a new superpower to the North, the Starwalker Tribes, make
the Haslanti feel that they’re suddenly caught between a rock and a hard place as many
systems within it truly wonder if they picked the right side.

Icehome
• Planet Type: Desert
• Population: 1,500,000,000

On a single lone moon orbiting a large green gas giant known as Greenfield exists
what appears to be a moon littered with spaceport landings and orbital attack cannons.
Newcomers to the Haslanti Union are confused to how the Haslanti Union could even call
such a place their capital until they descend deeper into the jagged valleys of ice that dot
the landscape of the moon, travelling through a thick layer of clouds until they reach an
area of picturesque beauty as large meadows flourish with wildflowers while people make
their homes amidst the collection trees that are scattered about the area, the meager
sunlight from a far off star more than adequate for plants in the area while warmth is
provided by the gravitational pull of the gas giant itself. What was once a hidden research
post within the Solar Dynasty has now turned to a flourishing capital world for the Haslanti
League.
 More than just a home, Icehome is a critical strategic asset for the Haslanti Union
itself housing numerous facilities essential to their wellbeing. The first being the proximity
to the gas giant Greenfield itself. This titan of a planet is considered to be one of the most
atmospherically turbulent plants in the galaxy, where constant storms rampage across the
planet firing off lightning bolts containing such power that they’re capable of outright
incinerating a modern battleship to ash instantly while cold snaps roam the world that are
known to instantly freeze virtually any known substance, even fire itself. This single gas
giant holds the secret to making Feathium armour in mass quantities, where numerous
space stations in orbit of Greenfield lower a specialized ore down into Greenfield’s
atmosphere where the planet’s energies are known to charge the ore itself, altering its
physical properties into Feathium ore. Some Feathium ore even remains frozen and
charged with electricity, giving access to cheap superconductors and batteries for the
Haslanti Union. The Feathium ore is then hauled back to Icehome, where it goes to the
array of shipyards that dot the planet to construct ships and weapons for the Haslanti
League’s future. The old Solar Dynasty workshops of the planet are constantly crewed by
researchers finding new uses or weapon designs for the league itself as they’re directed
by the Council of Oligarchs, the rulers of the Haslanti League in the fortified headquarters
of the moon itself.

The capital city of Icehome is named after the gas giant it circles, Greenfield. Vast
fields of rolling green plains ripe with crops of vegetables and nut trees dot the landscape
as massive waterfalls of rapidly melting ice roar down the side of the cliffside approaches
to the verdant valley. The Haslanti League boast that such a place is the crown jewel of
the North, small but precious. Living space here is exceedingly valuable and usually the
only people who live here are the super-rich, VIP’s of the Haslanti Union, or the first civilian
members of the Haslanti Union. The Skyscrapers or companies don’t rise up above the
cloudy layer that separates Greenfield from the frozen land above, making the massive
monolithic companies appear smaller than they actually are. All of this remains possible by
the Solar Dynasty era life support system that makes the moon a survivable place, the
exact location to such controls a tightly guarded national secret.

Plot Hooks
• The life support system is malfunctioning, the protective atmosphere slowly
dissolving away as the planet’s livable areas become colder and colder. The
council of Oligarchs are desperate to get working again, and would pay anything
for people to fix the machine and find out who did this heinous act.

Starwalker Tribes
In the deep Northern reaches of Northern sector organized life was seen to be
almost impossible. Entire swaths of space have their stars practically gutted by Theion
when he wandered through the system, devouring stars and leaving iceballs in his wake
before being followed up by He Who Lives In Thrall showering vast sections of the system
in powerful Clockstopper devices. Any civilization that could actually get into space would
then face a minefield of Screaming Horde court's, unknown Canal routes, and
Clockstopper planets. People said the chances of an empire randomly appearing in the
Deep North was just as improbable as a cheeseburger automatically appearing in front of
you. Quantum Mechanics makes such a thing possible, but is so improbable that it will
never likely happen. Unfortunately, the impossible has seemed to happen. A single
charismatic man is not only expanding his kingdom in the deep Northern Empire but
actually thriving in such a harsh and unforgiving world, uniting the barbarian hordes of the
worlds into a single deadly force that people whisper could even challenge the Thousandth
Empire. All of this is seen possible by a single Solar Exalt: The Wise Owl of the North.

On a single remote planet inside of the deep blue Whistling Nebula there existed a
wise old man by the name of Yurgen. As the head shaman of the Elk Tribe, he passed on
the tales of lore to the younger generations, telling fascinating tales of when their
ancestors came from beyond the stars, bartered with the gods for blessing on the hunters
before they departed, and even directly advised the War Chief during times of war with
other clans. The entire population of Yurgen’s clan lived life as best as they could on the
icy plains as the dim red sun provided what meager warmth it could for Yurgen’s unknown
world.

Disaster started when complications for Yurgen’s tribe piled on one after another.
Divine politics found themselves favoring one of Yurgen’s rival clans, making hunts and
migrations across the snowy plains harder. The Warchief known as the Bull passed away
to a sudden new illness, while the winter dragged on longer than usual threatening the
lives of the newborn children. Yurgen vowed this could not stand and if the gods would not
listen then he would go to someone who would: The Temple of the Sun. Yurgen’s
clanmates were in utter shock, for the only way towards the Temple of the Sun was by the
Path of the Eagle, a path so dangerous to walk that the only person to ever successful
cross it was the Sunlit One who saved their planet countless generations ago. Part of
Yurgen wanted to go only to save his clan, but the other part was that Yurgen was well into
the age of passing and desired to go out in a blaze of glory that would be remembered by
his tribe for the rest of its existence rather than a quiet death to Valder’s abyss. After a
prayer to the god of safe travels, Yurgen set out to the Temple of the Sun, ready to get on
his hands and knees to beg the Sunlit One to save his clan.

The trail across the northern peaks was long and dangerous, testing every one of
Yurgen’s skills to the absolute limit. Long days and nights passed until he reached the
crystalline Temple of the Sun itself. At a time of fulfillment in this most holiest of places,
Yurgen felt confused to why he only felt dread within his soul. After entering the Temple of
the Sun he found a single skeleton in front of an altar of an immense monolith that seemed
to tower over both of them. The Monolith was vastly out of place in such a harmonious
temple, the rough edges of stone an ill fit for the smooth edges of crystal and multicoloured
jewels the temple was constructed out of. Looking at the skeleton on the altar, he can see
a single arrow coming out from the figure’s back, a crack in the monolith caused by a
single blade next to him whose metal flickered as did a fire burn.

Just as he was puzzling together what had happened, the new god of the hunt,
Unitau, appeared in front of Yurgen. He said he had vastly underestimated the icewalker
for making it this far. An exchange of words happened between both until Unitau finally
admitted what he done. Being a virtually insignificant god on the planet when he first
arrived on the Sunlit Hero’s vessel eons ago at the start of the Great War, the Sunlit Hero
crashed his ship on the planet when an active Clockstopper was within the region, a
device which weakened the Sunlit Hero and his mighty army. Seeing his chance for
progress, Unitau fed bad advice to the Sunlit Hero as he went around to make sure that
the people on the planet were safe and trying to locate the Clockstopper device. Unitau
located the Clockstopper device before the Sunlit Hero, moving it to his vessel and placing
it at the heart so it could never be moved again, and when the Sunlit Hero arrived on the
brink of death after countless trails, Unitau killed him with a single arrow to the back as he
tried to strike down the Clockstopper device. As for largely ignoring Yurgen’s clan, the
Caribou tribe simply proved to have better worship and were more loyal to his new rule in
the first place.

Yurgen was filled with a rage hot enough to burn the planet, and unconsciously
reached for the fiery blade next to the remains of the Sunlit Hero. One of the planet’s own
gods had done the unforgivable and had killed the legendary hero of yore to further his
own greedy ambition for power. A bitter battle engulfed the Temple of the Sun as Yurgen
moved with a speed unseen by any man while swinging a blade made of pure flame. At
the end Yurgen impaled the traitorous god on the Clockstopper pillar in the center of the
room, condemning him the darkest regions of Valder’s Abyss as flames on his sword burnt
both Unitau and the pillar until there was not even ash remaining. As the rush of battle
faded from his system and noticing the golden glow surrounding him, Yurgen understood
at an innate spiritual level of what had just happened. His body felt as if it were light as a
rabbit once more, mind as quick as a fox but with all the knowledge of the all-seeing Owl;
the symptoms of old age receding from his body like a fog rolling out. He had also
understood what had just happened, destroying the Clockstopper device that had
restricted the planet and its people so. After muttering a short prayer of thanks to the Sunlit
Hero Yurgen set to work reactivating the ship that was the Temple of the Sun named “The
Unification of Light”, the mighty crystal ship shattering glaciers countless years old as it
flew into the sky for the first time in centuries. When he went back to his tribe he was no
longer Yurgen the Shaman, but the Wise Owl of the North, Twilight caste of the Solar
Exalted who sought to bring the light back to his people.

Taking the role of both head Shaman and Warchief, Yurgen quickly conquered the
rest of the planet. To prove his own personal might he didn’t use his new ship, the
Unification of Light, for any of the inter-tribal warfare. Proving to the other tribes that he
didn’t need to rely on cheap tricks and was more than qualified for the position of supreme
chief of all the tribes themselves. Within several months he had conquered nearly all
known tribes on the planet itself before aiming his sights even higher. Taking the
conquered tribes into his mighty ship, he took them above the sky and into the realm of
stars itself, the realm of gods. Yurgen promised them that under his new rule they would
no longer walk along the plains of ice and snow as the Icewalkers, but rather soar the
eternal night sky as the Starwalker tribes. This cemented Yurgen’s position amongst this
people who had worshipped him as a living god.

The next several months oversaw a flurry of activity from Yurgen himself, setting
out to teach those on the ground many things. Those who worked on his ship learned the
proper rites to operate the Unification of Light while War Chiefs learned entirely new tactics
of battle for both on the ground and in the darkened night sky that belonged to the territory
of Valder himself. This sort of work would normally take a generation to teach to people,
Yurgen did it in one year. Within the scant few years that followed after Yurgen
constructed a manse over where The Unification of Light was buried called the True Sunlit
Temple, constructing a true tomb for the hero of old before connecting his planet to the
Grand Celestial Mountain all by himself. All of society was shaken as Yurgen continued to
take great leaps forward for his planet. The people on it finally settling down into huts,
society adapting to the massive changes at large slowly while those who wish to follow
Yurgen into a life of adventure amongst the stars harden themselves to walk the Path of
the Eagle as Yurgen once did. As his soldiers stood proud amongst him wearing space
ready power armour and wearing the hide of deadly beasts, the first ships set out from
their newly named home planet of “Home of All Tribes” to expand the mighty Starwalker
Empire to as far and as wide as possible.

Years have passed since the voyages first started. Over the time Yurgen has met
many new allies like himself and have warred with many kingdoms across the starry
expanse. Drilled in the knowledge of Clockstoppers, crack teams of soldiers often led by
Yurgen himself descend on such planets in a mighty horde, absorbing local tribes before
shattering Clockstopper pillars and adding the robust warriors to his horde. Vast leaps of
both technology and sorcery have allowed incredible war machines in the shapes of their
ancient ancestors and gods to partake in battle aside them while armoured berserkers
rush headlong into the throngs of their opponent, heedless of death for they know their
saga will be etched in the hall of heroes back in the True Sunlit Temple. Having conquered
the worst of what the North could throw at him, many fear that it won’t be long before the
barbarian hordes of the Wise Owl will descend upon their worlds.

Home of All Tribes

• Planet Type: Desert/Wild
• Population: 750,000,000

Since the rise of the Wise Owl of the North, the planet known as the Home of All
Tribes has grown exponentially since his uplifting of the planet along with vast changes.
Each of the great tribes now rules an entire continent named after them. Where once the
people of the planet migrated across the vast plains of ice they now live in wooden huts,
the Wise Owl’s vast manse network enriching the soil enough so people on the surface
can survive. The large predators of the planet, such as snow wolves or krakens, are now
fought back by village war chiefs, skilled in the art of war using both modern technology
with old fashioned tenacity to ward off such threats. Most of the people living simple lives
in huts, slowly adapting to the gifts the Wise Owl have bestowed upon them. Village
shaman and wisemen meet inside the manses inside of each planetary capital, learning
the seemingly endless amount of information that seems to be brought forth from the
Grand Celestial Mountain while workshops on other floors construct the weapons of war
the warriors who brave Valder’s darkness will use. Miners toil in the mines day and night
as the bring out the raw supplies for the latest of the Wise Owl’s many projects, massive
ground to orbit cannons that will keep those on the ground safe from the monsters that
exist within the sea of stars.
 Up at the Northern section of the planet, a single monolithic fortress made in
crystal, coated in weapons unknown barely a generation ago and shining like a second
sun, the manse known as the True Sunlit Temple. Those who enter the fortress are
rewarded with a hot meal and a warm bed after many cold nights, then after they may
discuss their business. Sometimes it is a representative of one of the great clans who wish
to hear a ruling, others wish only to prove their strength, but a great many who make the
trek wish to join the Wise Owl amidst the stars to bring glory to their ancestors by joining
the Starwalker tribes. Hellish and sudden training await those who made this pledge of
survive. Crash courses in mathematics, advanced language in the Icewalker runic
alphabet, astrology, and many trails and rigors of battle await them. The last trial that
awaits all potential soldiers is to head out into the frozen wilderness once again and armed
with a knife, spear, and bow to take down one of the many great beasts that dot the
landscape of the Home of All Tribes or die trying. The Grand Lorekeeper notes which
animal each soldier kills and the method they killed it with, which are considered important
details of what section of the army the Starwalker soldiers will be a part of. After they have
skinned their animal and have mounted their hide on the power armour for each soldier,
the Grand Lorekeeper announces the saga of new warriors amongst the stars has begun
and whatever deeds one does, great or terrible, will be recorded in the Hall of Heroes for
all eternity for distant ancestors to view.

Plot Hooks
• The conquest of the Northern Systems wasn’t done out of greed, but necessity.
Upon inheriting the Exaltation of the Sunlit Hero, Yurgen saw a prophecy foretelling
a great disaster which only he could tame. If the players go up against Yurgen and
best him in battle, then despite all odds and probability he’ll survive long enough to
tell the players one last thing: The future and protection of the galaxy now falls to
them. What did the Wise Owl see that required the conquering and unification of an
entire sector?
• The Wise Owl of the North appears to be less of a single man and more of an
unstoppable force of nature. Tales spread that any battle the Wise Owl takes part
in is an assured victory, his words in court catching those off guard and are made
fools of by a literal barbarian, all while being a master of all weapons and
knowledge known. All of this is possible because the Wise Owl of the North doesn’t
actually exist, rather it is merely a tool of the Wise’s Owl’s own circle. An invincible
symbol of hope for people to rally behind. Until this fact is discovered, how can one
deal with a seemingly unbeatable opponent?
o To aid in the disguise and the lore of the Wise Owl, the solar Circle of the
Wise Owl share a powerful artifact necklace whenever they don the
disguise of the Wise Owl of the North. Whenever one wishes to discover the
true motives of the Wise Owl for the scene, be it in a courtroom or planning
a military course of action against him, they are forced to make a special
Read Intentions action against a difficulty of 10 (War may be substituted
instead of Socialize for military actions). If this roll is failed than a strong
emotion of paranoia begins to well up inside of them, utterly convinced that
the Wise Owl not only knows of their pathetic attempts but is even using
their plan as only a stepping stone to fulfill one of the Wise Owl’s many
plans that are coming to fruition. Even minor successes undertaken by the
 Wise Owl appears to be the result of a far-reaching plan by an unparalleled
mastermind to which the character has no hope of prevailing against and
how ill prepared they are, applying a -3 penalty to all non-reflexive actions
and feelings of paranoia and the hopeless feeling of being utterly
outmatched. Those who pass the roll see through to the true intentions of
the Wise Owl and are able to act normally. Those who fail the Read
Intentions roll are also compelled to ignore the necklace if they have the
ability to notice supernatural items.

Other Planets
Here are a few other planets that exist within the reaches of Northern space. Such
places may be single governed planets or part of a wider reaching Empire depending on
the needs of the game or needs the Storyteller.

Arcadia
• Planet Type: Canal / Paradise
• Population: 500,000,000

In a planet near the outermost edges of the Northern sector exists a planet with
virtually no land, the ground below filled with horrifically churning windstorms while those
who live on the planet itself do so on islands that float in the sky and travelling in between
them by ships that fly in the sky themselves. Magical crystals from what is said to be from
the seven legendary moons bestow the gifts of elemental power to those on the planet
below, the basis of their technology which allows the flight of airships to be possible or
more skilled users access the power of sorcery and other greater magics itself. Nations
conduct grand and dramatic wars between themselves over the limited amount of land that
exists on the planet or for matters of pride while daring pirates conduct raids under the
cover of war.

Visitors to this planet are rare, the planet fading to obscurity on maps due to the
active clockstopper on the planet itself that restricts technology heavily to the days of
pirate expansionism. Those ships that are pulled into orbit are often sent down to the
violent windstorms on the planet’s surface below. The storms below are known destroy
most known battleships within seconds and single people within less. Even if one could
find the Clockstopper device within the hellstorm below, flying any ship out of it would take
a monumental effort in of itself. This hasn’t stopped several people from trying. One the
Empire’s on the planet itself has managed to pull up a section of an artifact ship down
below, it’s engineers at work analyzing the alien technology to produce the next generation
of weapon’s technology: potent energy weapons that seem to need no magical crystals to
fire or energize themselves! Other empire’s quickly scatter around the world itself, looking
for long lost runes of the ancient civilization that came before them for clues, all while
artifact monitoring stations and the guardian automatons performing their duty and
remaining active to this very day despite the heavy disrepair they exist in.

Gethamane
 • Planet Type: Fortress
• Population: 5,000,000,000

The planet of Gethamane has no past that anyone in the galaxy possibly knows of,
but yet this mysterious yet secretive planet is heralded as one of the safest places in the
galaxy to live. Appearing to be a single rotating ball of ice covered in scant forests and
wildlife, one would be confused to how a planet of five billion people can live without cities
until they notice the massive field of landing pads situated just outside of two massive
gates that open like a gigantic maw into the bowels of the planet itself. Gethamane has no
cities on the surface of its world, rather the entire population of the planet lives below the
surface in city pockets. Desperate refugees who escaped the violence of their planets long
ago before discovering the empty planet and moving inside themselves.

No known force in the galaxy is capable of destroying Gethamane, as below the

natural cliffs and forests outside rests a shell of unknown material, the hardened black
substance capable of repelling any known attack. Even if one were to ignite the
atmosphere experts say that those below the surface would be fine themselves,
safeguards likely in place to protect those down below. As a result, Gethamane’s military is
often freed up for other activities, such as mining in the local asteroid belt or for raids
rather than defense of the planet itself. Gethamane may have no surface to orbit
weaponry, but when your main entrance bay door can survive an XLT-8000 Laser Drill on
continuous operation for several weeks without so much as a scratch, why bother with an
offense? If anyone tends to stick around on the planet’s surface for too long, the
Gethamane military often just bombard the loiters from orbit as there’s nothing to lose on
the surface.

After entering the large cargo elevator, the only known working one known on the
surface, one can see the slums of the lower city come into view. Massive skyscrapers
hanging down from the ceiling in place of stalactites, the newcomers of the city
intermingling with the poor of the Gethamane society. The Gethamane are a very
isolationist people and with how quickly they distrust newcomers is often clear. Unless you
are personally known by a Gethamane family then vendors will charge higher prices for
poorer quality goods while thieves always seem to prioritize visitors over those who live in
Gethamane. The only way one is able to get into Gethamane itself is by marrying into a
Gethamane family, then are expected to fulfill your 15-year physical labor debt before
you’re considered a true member of society. This extreme measure was enacted to scare
of large empires such as Thousandth Dynasty or megacorporations such as the Guild.
Making a quick buck by exploiting loopholes in Gethamane does not exist when it takes so
long to be considered an official member of society while even the most skilled spies will
tend to make one mistake in their 15 years of labour, something Gethamane is quick to
catch. This combined with rumors of the creepy and sinister cults that prevail inside of the
upper class, such as the Cult of the Earth, lead many to not bother at all. All of this can be
done as the city of Gethamane is self-sufficient, the planet has ample supplies of water
down in the caverns below while the farms provide a nutritious, albeit bland, source of
substance that are in every major city and are capable of feeding the entire planet’s
population with some left over to spare.
 The parts which drive explorers to Gethamane in droves are the Underways itself.
Known for the massive research of rich jewels interlaced with deadly creatures,
Gethamane itself pays handsomely for people scouting out the Underways and even
bases a large section of their entire economy around it. Those who wish to dive down into
the Underways are gladly allowed to remain in Gethamane for more than a month so long
as the majority is spent in the Underway, taxing the exchange of all goods that are pulled
from down below, payment for monsters killed (with proof), and large potential bounties for
any large caverns that would make for good future cities or other areas of interest. The
further one goes down however the more alien, strange, and horrific the creatures down
below become. After a group of delvers saved the lone survivor of a group who had
claimed to be down the deepest out of everyone to date, reduced to a babbling crying
wreck, mixtures of curiosity and dread fill those who wish to plumb the depths below.
Those who reach the center of the planet itself will find out the horrible truth that
Gethamane isn’t a fortress world made to keep people out, but rather a prison world to
keep horrors beyond imagination locked in. If these horrors were to ever escape, then the
automatic systems that are used by the planet will permanently shut the doors to the
outside, trapping the citizens of Gethamane with whatever lurks below.

Yes this is a dungeon planet.

Lacros’s Folly
• Planet Type: Canal / Death / Desert
• Population: 500,000,000 (Mortals, unknown other species)

Smugglers and artifact sellers are a scattered sort often found around the galaxy
as they’re usually convinced if people want what they have then they’ll come to them
rather than the other way around, but Lacros’s Folly is the one of the single planets of the
Northern sector where people would come to then. Known to be the headquarters of the
famous pirate Lacros before Long War Lunars tracked him down and killed him but not
before Lacros’s buyers and sellers found out about the small moon, the planetoid has now
become somewhat infamous amongst those in the criminal, shipping, or collectors’ circles.
What makes the small planetoid truly unique however is how it sits seemingly at the
crossroads of all things. It remains closer to Terminus space and the distorted reality of the
Screaming Horde courts far more than even Whitewall does. A small war in the past now
has a demonic presence on the planet itself acting as something of an official diplomat for
the Malfeans themselves. With the potential for strange Canal artifacts, mysterious
Terminus Technology, alien demonic relics, and potent Solar Dynasty or earlier artifacts
cut from the mouths of great behemoth’s that exist inside of the Celestial Vault. Traders or
Explorers bring their big hauls here, hoping to buy their way into a megacorporation or
even one of the Great Clans of the Central Empire.

Lacros’s Folly has only one city on the entire planetoid named after the planetoid
itself (some say people name the entire planetoid the name of the city out of convenience),
but remains safe desperate all the dangerous forces lurking within its city for one reason:
neutrality. The citizens of Lacros’s Folly treat everyone with the same respect on the
planet, alien or otherwise, and in exchange those who come to the planet are expected to
deal with whatever business they have peacefully. This doesn’t stop the occasional
barroom shootout or attempted heist on the planet itself, but large-scale wars on the planet
do not happen. Some of the most dangerous alien forces in the galaxy see this as a
benefit, a common ground where not only mortals but even their enemies have the
pressure to sit down and discuss things civilly and on neutral ground. Each power keeps in
other in check for fear that if the planet, along with the vast resources of significant items it
possesses, is suddenly conquered than forces from Terminus Space, Screaming Horde
court, or pulled from the Hellgate on the planet are very close by and it is better to work on
a city with a name for itself rather than a nameless pile of ashes.

Ullox
• Planet Type: Fortress
• Population: 3,000,000,000 Cephalids

Deep within the regions of the Northern Canal’s lies a single planet slowly orbiting
a dying star, the dead planet that orbits it filled with crisscrossing tunnels that scurry about
with the horrific Cephalid species. After the loss of the Malfean War and their Stellar
Intelligence patrons, the newly founded Solar Empire were quick to list them as a hostile
species for the universe at large, placing heavy bounties on the head for each Cephalid
nest destroyed or head brought in. The Cephalid’s fought back with everything they had,
but in the end, they were forced into hiding, their new capital planet on the fringes of space
closest to the Malfean rim. Here the Cephalids have been stirring bitterly for literal
centuries, their hatred for any species other than their own growing until the point where
the Cephalid species at large is outright hostile to any other non-Cephalid species. Those
who live speak the tales of Cephalid pirates, saying how the aliens bring people back to
their home planet before cutting them up for all sorts of twisted experiments.

Largely territorial creatures, the Cephalid cities on the planet are spread widely
apart underground on the planet of Ullox. While each of the Cephalid’s may feel hatred for
those not a part of their direct family, differences are put aside for the great good for the
species as a whole. Frustration is often vented in the slave pits down below, where the
Cephalid’s are free to hunt, torture, and devour the brains of whatever unfortunate
creatures they managed to capture in recent hunts with the rest of their decaying bodies
thrown on top of the white leathery eggs of the next generation of Cephalids, their rotting
bodies providing nourishment while residing within the darkest area of the home carved
out from the tunnel itself. In orbit sleek Cephalid ships remain in orbit, psionic sensors ever
vigilant for signs of intruders such the Hruggra species or the Underpeople, the latter of
which the Cephalid’s hate far more due to their allegiance to the Exalted Empire during the
Malfean War.

Alien Species: Cephalids

The Chepalid species have existed before the ages of humanity but not for as long
as the Dragon King’s or the Lintha. Appearing as tall humanoids with withering masses of
strong tentacles for legs, long spindly seven-fingered hands, two slits for eyes, and a
mouth full of teeth that blooms like a hellish flower when it opens, the Cephalid species are
hideous beyond measure. Strong sunlight is known to harm to creatures who have spent
the majority of their existence either underground or in space itself. When the Stellar
Intelligence’s went looking for non-human species to assist them in their war, the Cephalid
race were amongst the first to enlist. In exchange for their service the Cephalids wanted
nothing to do with making their race more appealing, but rather craved more power. They
got their wish when the Stellar Intelligence’s unlocked the native psionic potential in all the
Cephalid species, giving them the ability to do devastating psychic attacks that can drive a
man insane or powerful telekinetic might that allowed them to do battle with humanity’s
elites. This is before their tough and powerful bodies were added into the equation as well.

The Cephalid mindset is said to be as ugly as their appearance, for these creatures
appear to be utterly incapable of compassion or love. All acts by them are done for strict
survival reasons or those related to malice and hatred. Their common pasttime of willingly
inflicting harm or violence on others merely a way to vent the caustic hatred within their
own systems. As such the only race that maintains even a neutral stance with the
Cephalid race are the Malfeans, most people encountering a Cephalid will attempt to shoot
them on sight for what they are and even those who don’t know the Cephalids will shoot
due to how monstrous they appear.

More information, including a really creepy picture of them, can be found on page
26 in the Exalted Second Edition book Debris of Fallen Races.

Whitewall
• Planet Type: Fortress / Paradise
• Population: 6,000,000,000

The battleship known as The Unconquered Sun was known to be far more than
just a merely battleship; it was considered the very height of technology in the golden age.
Containing weapons capable of demolishing entire fleets of ships with ease while it’s
prototype shield known as the Aegis of Temperance was considered to be all but
invincible. At the heart of the ship itself was a weakened version of a Stellar Intelligence to
guide and lead the ship all by itself. It was regarded as the next generation of warship as
talks between warriors of the galaxy began to shift towards possibly conquering other
galaxies now that theirs was so close to being ‘completed’. When the Malfean War began,
Theion stripped out all the safeguards from the Unconquered Sun and invited the infant
Stellar Intelligence to not join the side of the Stellar Intelligences as a servant, but one of
the peers of the Stellar Intelligence’s themselves. So sure was Theion that ship would join
that he was shocked when the Unconquered Sun replied to Theion by using its main
cannon The Lance of Valor to actually injure the supposedly invincible Stellar Intelligence.
Theion then decried ship known as the Unconquered Sun to the highest of blasphemies, a
role so high that even humanity seemed below it as the Malfean War started in full force.

The Unconquered Sun had many captains during the duration of the Malfean War,
but the last captain of the vessel before the end of the war named Righteous Guide. The
Solar Zenith caste saw far more in the Unconquered Sun than just a mere ship. To
Righteous Guide the Unconquered Sun was the very symbol of all that was good and pure
in the universe. It was the divine vessel that united all people of all species towards a
single unified goal, against the ultimate evil that wished to destroy everything everyone
ever stood for and rule the remainder with an iron fist. Even the demi-SI in control of the
ship itself was one who was regarded as the ideal paragon of humanity itself. Valorous yet
compassionate, courageous yet temperate, full of conviction yet knowing when to set
aside its values for the great good. So noble that when even invited to join the side that
would’ve clearly appeared to have won when it was free to do so, it struck back at his own
masters to defend those weaker than itself. To call the Unconquered Sun a mere ship was
in an insult of the highest caliber, it was a holy temple the housed the best the universe
had to offer.

At the end of the war when Righteous Guide was relieved of his post and the
Unconquered Sun went off for its last remaining mission, Righteous Guide vowed that he
would give his god the proper respect it deserved. Largely ignoring what he regarded as
the vain aspirations of his peers, he set out to the Frontier selecting a planet relatively
untouched by war and strife, seeking to construct the greatest temple of all time to the
greatest deity who’ll ever live. Construction of a massive temple manse using the highest
mountain on the planet was undertaken. Vast amounts of Orichalcum and pure white
stone being used for the construction with every single item, from the smallest screw to the
largest single piece domes, were consecrated in a ritual as holy objects before being put
into place. To protect it, defense systems based on the weaponry on board the
Unconquered Sun were put into place, and while a pale imitation of the actual systems of
the Unconquered Sun they were nonetheless more than sufficient to beat back nearly any
invader that sought the harm to the city or the inhabitants below. The result at the end was
a glimmering golden and white temple so beautiful that the only sane response would be
drop down to one’s knees in awe: The Temple of Unconquered Sun.

Centuries later the Temple of the Unconquered Sun not only still thrives, but it’s
presence on the once desolate planet had invited countless settlers over the years for the
safety it provided. The sun Whitewall orbits is healthy, a rarity for a Northern system, and
allows those on the planet to grow vast crops of fruits and vegetables to feed themselves.
Animals frolic inside of boreal forests as fathers teach their sons the basics of hunting, a
popular rite of passage on Whitewall. Temples of various religious dot the planet, full of
gods and hopeful other gods who desire even a scrap of followers, but the main religious
order of the planet has always been The Fellowship of Ignis Sol. While they do not
officially worship the Unconquered Sun as their primary deity (indeed they have none),
they revere it as an honorary saint and an example of what all should aspire to. Grand
pilgrimages from across the galaxy attract legions of Ignis Sol followers, wishing to climb
the steps to the Temple of the Unconquered Sun to glance at the closest thing possible to
the perfection of self. The rulers of the planet, a council of three unknown immortal’s
known as the syndics, reside inside the temple itself and even rent it out to various
religions and their gods for specific ceremonies in order to make use of its prayer
amplification powers so long as some part of their ceremony gives thanks to the
Unconquered Sun, as was decreed by Righteous Guide centuries ago. Whitewall remains
on friendly terms with the Empire, but not allies. Whitewall has decried the actions of the
Thousandth Dynasty many times but Heaven’s Son doesn’t dare deface the planet of
Whitewall itself for unknown reasons.

The power that gives those of Whitewall safe is the Defensive Planetary Defense
Shield the Temple of the Unconquered Sun emits: The Great White Wall. The Great White
Wall is a special planetary defense shield based on the technology of the Unconquered
Sun itself, a shimmering white shield so powerful that the entire planet appears to be a
shimmering white wall that glows in a faint golden aurora. This shield is thought to be all
but invincible as to date no attacker has managed to breach the shield while at full power.
Not only that, but by utilizing a special Solar Furnace inside of the Temple of the
Unconquered Sun, specific creatures find themselves unable to enter Whitewall under pain
of their own death. Creatures which find the touch of the Solar Exalted painful, such as the
Screaming Horde Monsters, the undead, and the Malfeans find themselves unable to
enter. The essence of their souls too impure to enter the planet themselves. This is a
passive effect which is constantly active, and attempt to enter the planet with it on means
the creatures will find their own souls being immolated from the inside as their wickedness
is incinerated from the sight of the temple. Mercy can be granted to such creatures
however, as if an individual of Whitewall personally invites them inside then the defense
systems will no longer incinerate such creatures. This invitation cannot be rescinded, so
those from Whitewall are warned about whom they invite to their planet and there are
heavy fines and punishments for bringing in uninvited guests. This defense system is a
welcome feature given the location of Whitewall, as it is plagued by both the fey and the
undead in nearby systems that seek to conquer the planet itself.

On a side note planet has some of the best bath houses in the Celestial Vault. The
god of Cleanliness himself bestowing his blessing upon the planet as a reward for seeing
such a wondrous temple. The bathhouse known as Yu-Shan, which stands at the foot of
the Temple of the Unconquered Sun, offers pilgrims a place to clean themselves before
ascending the steps of the mountain. A vast, swimming pool sized main bath can be seen
with white marble lion head statues constantly spewing fresh water into the baths
themselves. Those inside the pool claim all their worries and problems seem to melt away
inside of the baths themselves as the laughter children can be heard amongst whipping
towels or the gasps of daring couples as they meet behind marble pillars when the clouds
of steam are at their thickest. For the daredevils there is a contest held once a year for a
person to win free baths for a year with simple rules: The last one wearing their towel in
the bathhouse wins.

Yredmenos
Whenever they believe me or not is irrelevant. What matters is that they obey.

• Planet Type: Canal / Death / Fortress / Precursor

• Population: 2,000,000,000 (Dragon King, slaves not included)

The capital planet to the mysterious Ebonscale sect for the Ebonscale forces of the
Dragon King race. This planet and its system have been home to the Ebonscale forces
since before even the Malfean War itself, zealously protecting their sacred grounds against
all outsider forces that seek to intrude upon their system, while those who foolishly do are
added to the slave pens. The prophecies of the Ebonscale led them to this planet eons
ago after the Ebonscale’s banishment from Rathess. The world was already tainted by the
Canal before their arrival but Tomb Star influence have begun to spark bloody
impossibilities on the planet itself. Oddities such as lava that does not burn but rather
freezes the body and soul in temperatures far below absolute zero, but main feature being
the constant miasma that permeates the planet itself.
 This miasma seems to be a special form of gas that causes hallucinations, what
the Ebonscale’s call “Shadows of the Past”. These shadows, often hostile or mad with
grief, attack nearly anyone on the planet’s surface with actual physical injuries appearing
on those who are wounded. The Ebonscales treating this substance with respect as it
allows them to communicate with the dead, seeking counsel from their ancestors and
beating advice out of them when they refuse to provide it. The miasma does not appear to
be tied to inhaling the substance itself, for even those in airtight suits can suddenly spot
the greenish purple haze amassing upwards into tangible forms ready for war itself. The
Ebonscale treat this recent4 development about the gas a sign of divine providence that
they were right all along.

While the robotics of the Ebonscale are every bit the equal of their Rathess kin, the
Ebonscale seek to procure slaves largely for their own amusement, exulting in the power
of the strong over the weak as they order them about to do chores for their masters. Living
in constant fear of the outside world for any moment the shapes in the mist could suddenly
lunge out and impale their throat. All are kept in check by the vast and powerful robotic war
machine army that patrols the planet while the rest of the Ebonscale practice their
isolationist rites in solitude inside of their massive temples that dot the landscape,
worshipping a god that not even the Rathess Dragon King’s know about anymore.

The current Grand Cardinal for the Ebonscale forces, Ji-Torra, is known to be far
more outgoing than the last. After defeating her predecessor in ritual combat to be the
supreme leader of the Ebonscale forces, surges of new orders and changes have begun
to take place. Ji-Torra personally leads her voices on active raids into nearby systems,
taking all the slaves and resources their hulls can carry before fleeing back to their planet.
High Priests who once lurked within their temples now put their powerful knowledge of
necromancy into use not only against outlying systems but even against the nearby Tomb
Star Systems. Some whisper that Ji-Torra saw a vision within the Basilica of Agony during
her trials, but exactly what she saw, if anything, she does not speak of.

Western Sector
The Western Sector of the Celestial Vault is said to be amongst those the hardest
hit in the Malfean War itself. The start of the Malfean War led to the Stellar Intelligence
reshuffling the vast majority of the Canal routes within the sector itself, completely cutting
off most of the West from reinforcements or aid. Kimbery herself then took special interest
in the sector herself, the terraforming specialized Stellar Intelligence converting vast
swathes of worlds into blue pearls of shimmering blue water or into pure acid for the
worlds that personally caught her wrath. The Western forces continued to rage their
desperate struggle against the Stellar Intelligence’s and their forces within this region
remaining isolated from most of the galaxy at large. It wasn’t even until mid-way within the
Solar Dynasty that the first Canal routes were found back into the Western sector, the
Exalted Empire honestly surprised that an Empire even survived in that sector. Even as

4
At least when used in the timescale of the Dragon King race.
the Exalted Empire rose up and fell the Western sector remained largely unchanged with
their policies, but the coming the Thousandth Dynasty have brought some major changes
with the ambitious Great Clans, seeing the entire Western sector as an untapped source of
profit.

With the West being isolated for so long and deprived of essential resources,
piracy has virtually become epidemic within this region. After the reshuffling of the Canal
routes and even systems down by the Stellar Intelligence’s, vast regions of the Western
space vanished almost instantly. The sudden loss of vital components to many planets
resulted in times of desperation, the Western code of war shifting to stealing the resources
of your opponent as one of the highest priorities of general’s during times of war, but when
the Stellar Intelligence’s retreated and took their supply chains with them, the surviving
systems of the Malfean War took to raiding each other for the supplies they needed to
maintain their crumbling kingdoms. The penultimate result today being that pirate groups
are potent enough to threaten even entire star systems, people now turning to groups of
megalomaniacal gods, the Great Trading Clans of the Central Empire, or even to the
mysterious Tomb Star naval force that has only recently made its presence known.

Those who wish to venture into the Western sector are given a few words of
warning. First is that there is a vast reach of relatively unexplored space between the
majority of nations in the West and the borders of the Central/Northern/Southern sectors
called the “Great Divide”. The Great Divide itself is a largely unmapped sector of Western
space, where things of little interest happen to Explorers other than the vast tears in reality
lead to the heavy presence of Screaming Horde courts. They say an anima field will
protect you against the ravages of the Canal but it won’t protect you from the warships of
the Screaming Hordes if you attempt to stop in such areas. This necessitates long treks
across space that are taxing on supplies, equipment, and morale so captain’s often need
to plan ahead of time for the weeks or months the voyage will take. The problems do not
end when one finally reaches the ‘civilized’ areas of the Western space itself. Most planets
in the West are based around water, thus it is strongly encouraged for spaceships to be
amphibious if they wish to land in the majority of systems. But what is more concerning is
often the vast legions of pirates that prowl the system looking for opportunities. Eyes and
ears of the cunning rogues appear to be everywhere, promises of vast cash or wealth for
those who join or threats against the wellbeing of one’s family for the virtuous. Pirates
employ technology developed uniquely in the West called “Canal Rippers”, devices which
mimic the signature of a gravity field so ships are torn out of Canal Space in front of the
multiple guns of well-armed pirate fleets or can even be robbed of their cargo in port if they
lack the muscle in order to ensure their protection. Even ages after their discovery by the
Exalted Empire and the Thousandth Dynasty, the West remains a place where people
pray on each other.

Oh and the pirates that exist here, did I mention the pirates?

Organizations Within Western Space

Due to the vast gap known as the Great Divide, the majority of Western space lies
near the edge of the space itself, teeming with a variety of Empires that each wish to
assert their dominance or fulfill their goals within the expanse of the Western Sector.
Below are a few of the civilizations and nations that exist inside of the West itself.

Coral
DO WHAT YOU WANT CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE, YOU ARE A PIRATE!

During the Golden Age of humanity, the area known as modern day Coral was not
only regarded as a popular shipping center but a nerve center for nearly all of the major
transactions in half the galaxy itself. With the Exalted Empire capital being within the East
it simply took too long for orders from up top to reach the West so the nation of modern
day Coral was installed for this purpose. Coral’s capital planet, Azure, was turned into a
planet filled with bustling offices as workers kept track of timetables from everything of
major shipment fleets to personal shuttles delivering small packages. Over time the planet
became extremely adept at managing logistic routes throughout the Western half of the
galaxy itself, a vital nerve center for both commerce and trade. It being one of the first
major targets of the Malfean War came as little surprise to everyone.

The nation of modern day Coral became the target of heavy Stellar Intelligence
aggression along with the Malfean hordes that followed them. Planets such as Inero,
Pakuta, Orei, and even the capital Azure itself suffered repeated bombardments, forcing
the remainder of the Exalted Empire forces to continue discussing tactics and plans for the
war amidst the legions of ruined skyscrapers in the flooded streets of a now waterlogged
planet. As communication with other Exalted Empire Empires within the West such as
Okeanos and the vast shipyards of Cormorant, tensions were high as they were forced to
begin raiding the better supplied enemy Malfean forces for equipment. Coral itself
managed to hold out until the end of the War when the Stellar Intelligence’s surrendered
and had won their war; but the cost was immense. Many of Coral’s planets were now
waterlogged planets at best or acidic balls at worse. With their enemy scattered into the
wind itself so too was the lifeline holding Coral together.

For a time Coral managed to hold out for itself, the vast maps they had of Western
space still had some true Canal routes working by sheer luck, the elite logisticians on
Coral offered their services to anyone who’d join them, while the leftover pieces of the
navy offered their services as protection to the leftover Malfean forces such as the Lintha.
At some point the captains of ships noticed it was far easier to conduct piracy themselves,
unable to beg for scraps any longer as the people of Coral starved to death and forced to
live in squalid conditions. The military argued that they still had the largest intact fleet in
the West along with battle hardened men, if others had resources that they were not willing
to share to the crumbling Coral then they would take them by force. After extensive talks
with the bureaucrats who ran the country both them and the military came to an
agreement. Planets and systems who’d ally themselves under Coral’s banner would be
immune to piracy by Coral’s navy while the military would remain largely independent and
only take orders from the Space Lord himself, the elected ruler of Coral. Thus the tales of
Coral and it’s pirates began to spread far and wide, a nation almost wholly supported by
piracy and raiding. The leaders of Coral knowing that they are the descendants of the
great galaxy spanning empire and believe it is their destiny to eventually control the entire
West.
 To this day Coral maintains itself as a nation whose sole income is brought about
piracy and raiding others to keep itself running smoothly. The vast naval force of Coral
deployed throughout the entire west and even sections of the Northern and Southern
sectors by employing tactics such Canal Rippers then springing an ambush on the dazed
and confused ships that are pulled out of Canal space. Those who encounter Coral pirates
are certainly in for a fight as the ships of Coral are especially geared towards space
warfare and boarding actions with an elite crew to crew it, meaning one has best have a
large amount of confidence in their chance to fight back or have a letter of marque from
the Space Lord himself in which safe passage to Coralese ports are guaranteed, but even
this is an expensive gamble as they’d best hope their letter is up to date or the pirate
they’re showing the letter to wouldn’t risk attacking anyways. When Coral pirates attack a
target ship they’ll use every single scrap or aspect of the ship itself. Crew onboard are sold
as slaves, cargo is sold as black-market goods in the markets of Coral itself, and whatever
is left of the target ship is sold as scrap. After massive space battles in the West it is not
uncommon to see the ‘vulture’s’ of space as Coralese scrap collecting ships at a battle
days after it happens or hours if they knew about it beforehand. In all such transactions
half of the money from the loot is given to the Space Lord while the other half to the
Captain himself who is free to divy it up amongst his crew as he sees fit.

Owing from its beginning as a place where the majority of the money in the West
flowed through it, money still continues to be a major driving force inside of Coral itself.
Each system under Coralese rule belongs to a Plutocrat who are elected by the wealthiest
people on each planet and in turn these Plutocrats elect the Space Lord who controls all of
Coral. Outside of that virtually any position in Coral can be bought with money in some
form or fashion. Bribes to the government are not illegal but actually encouraged, your
business going faster and smoother if you slip a few extra thalers to the proper people.
Even the office of the Space Lord can be bought itself, bribing both the Plutocrats to vote
for you in the upcoming election or gaining massive political favor with the public and
wealthy at large by Space Lord candidates wow’ing them with massive and lavish
expenditures of wealth and by demonstrating the ability to manage it. Even the military
itself is no exception, as even a private of a ship can become an Admiral he has enough
money to buy the ships and pay for all the workers on board. Coral sees this as perfectly
acceptable as the failures are quickly weeded out. Crimes in Coral are also purely
monetary based, where any crime from shoplifting to murder is merely met with a fine
which half goes to the Space Lord and half to the one(s) who were wronged and slavery
awaits those unable to pay.

The Coralese are distrusting towards outsiders except when they have money to
offer them, and none of them makes this any clearer than the Guild itself. Despite being
relatively new to Coral in the last century or so the popularity of the Guild has exploded
inside of Coral. Several incredibly rich merchant princes have even bought planets to
conduct their business from inside of Coralese systems while keeping those inside of
Coral appeased with vast influxes of cash. Many in Coral are beginning to be a bit
distrusting of the Guild in of itself as they fear the Guild may attempt to buy out the entirety
of Coral itself. Indeed, several megacorporations belonging to the Guild whisper rumors of
a Megacorporation war to take over Coral itself or even subvert it from within as two
Megacorporation CEO’s are now Plutocrats themselves.

One last thing of note is the difference between Privateers and Pirates inside of
Coral itself. Privateers are official citizens of Coral and are given a special letter of marque
by the Space Lord himself in order to conduct piracy in the name of Coral with certain
terms and conditions, such as sparing those who surrender, no bombardment of any
paradise class world, no looting or pirating worlds a part of Coral’s banner, and to assist
Coral in times of crisis and war. In exchange these ships gain the full access of Coral,
such as the ability to sell their own products directly in the market district or even a ship
from the Space Lord himself with the intention to pay it off over what is regarded as a fair
loan. Pirates are none of these things, allowed to dock inside of Coral and pay a fee to
have goods evaluated, but cannot sell any of them directly. Reseller businesses are
common in Coral but often demand a high cut, while pirates selling things on the black
market is risky as they will be fined for everything they were attempting to sell. Pirates are
also not bound by the pesky ethical ‘restrictions’ of Coral privateers, earning all of Coral an
even worse reputation as many people see pirates and privateers as the same thing.

Azure
• Planet Type: Desert / Hive
• Population: 200,000,000,000

A once bustling hive world that served as the logistics nerve center for the Western
part of the Exalted Empire, nearly burned down to the ground dozens of times during the
Malfean War as it suffered heavy bombardments. Its local sun was made hotter and ice
caps melted, comets of ice hurled into the planet multiple times with Starbow Cannons
causing the remains of the old city to be hurled into the depths of the water below. But with
each time their city was levelled the people of Azure rebuilt the city again and again using
the supplies they’ve raided. After centuries of wealth Azure is now a city where the wealthy
live in clean cities, the tourists and sailors in the neon covered pleasure districts, and the
poor squalid in the ruins of ancient buildings below as they row between buildings as their
main method of travel.

Azure functions as both the brain and the heart of the Coralese Empire. Vast
legions of accountants, appraisers, and bureaucrats of all sorts work under the employ of
Coral and the Space Lord. Traders who stop by in Coral pick up the latest report of
shipping lanes free of Coralese pirates, pirate captains haggle against appraisers over the
value of their loot while the crew heads down to the neon lit entertainment district below for
promises of gambling, drugs, sex, booze, brawls, and sometimes all of that at once. As the
crew of ships party down below, successful Pirate Lord’s and his direct subordinates stay
inside of luxury skyscrapers, attended to by an army of servants while their family’s
personal banner flies over the building in a holographic display. Displaying one’s wealth
like this isn’t merely flaunting your wealth but rather advertising how successful you are to
others. To not do such a thing is not only to imply that you’re stingy but that also you are
not very successful in of itself. Even Captain Rustbeard, a famous Earth aspect pirate
within the Western sector whose family line allowed him to inherit a working artifact ship
from the Malfean War era known as The Jewel Amongst the Stars, makes it a priority to
head down to Coral and throw lavish balls and banquets in such buildings even though the
men who serve under him know he has better conditions on his personal ship and his
distaste for politics.

The ports of Azure are legendary in of themselves, with nearly two dozen space
elevators heading down to the planet with ports for ships unable to enter a planet’s
atmosphere while water bays cover countless miles of docked ships and the warehouses
to store their goods. Coral is known to services thousands of such ships every day, goods
and crewed taken to and from the main city by high speed train to the market district,
where the items of Coral Privateers are sold by the captain or account of the ship itself.
Millions of people from all over the West, even enemies of Coral, come here to buy all
manner of goods and services. Meanwhile shipyards on Azure’s own moons are
constantly at work, either building new ships for promising privateers of Coral’s own navy
or ships that are being taken apart for scrap after all other valuables have been sold into
the market district on the planet below.

Lintha
The Lintha are one of the elder races in the galaxy, the age of their civilization on
par with even the Dragon Kings themselves. While the Dragon King’s had times of strife
their civilization has still managed to endure, the tale of the Lintha is only filled with tragedy
and downfall from the once mighty civilization. During the height of their civilization the
Lintha proclaimed themselves to be one of the favored races of the galaxy itself, and
looking at them one couldn’t help to believe this to be true. Humanoid appearing species
standing nearly seven feet tall, only able to be described as with a beauty on par with their
vanity itself. Their bronze and light green skinned people having not only strong mental
and physical prowess but even possessing an innate form of essence manipulation similar
to the Dragon King’s themselves. Tales boldly claim that they once held nearly the entire
Western sector and parts of the Central sector all to themselves, turning aside attacks with
ships and weapons shimmering like polished bronze and greened copper.

The mighty Lintha faced several large-scale problems in the past, such as massive
galaxy spanning wars against forces such as the Dragon Kings, the warlike Ktorian, or the
dreaded Scorpian Empire. Planets under Lintha ruler often had significant revolts, many of
the Lintha treating the populations of such planets as a sub-par race compared to the
Lintha themselves. Despite such setbacks and reduction of their territory, the Lintha still
managed to always maintain a large powerbase within the Western Sector. This rapidly
changed when the first Exalted began to appear from the throngs of humanity, where after
countless eons the Lintha didn’t meet their peers; but their successors.

Skirmishes involving both the Dragonblooded and the Lunar forces were bloody
and brutal, the Lintha presence all but stamped out after decades of war inside of the
Central Sector when the First Emperor’s xenocidal crusade swept through the galaxy at
large, his forces bolstered by the might of the miraculous machines of the Golden
Engineer. The Lintha were bitter about this, and bided their time creating an attack force to
attack the First Emperor’s own kingdom in retribution, one that would sweep through and
crush his entire kingdom. As the Lintha bided their time, humanity wisely spent their time,
developing the Solar/Sidereal/Exigent Exalted just as the brand new waves of technology
and societal development rushed on the scene. It was then the Lintha attacked, their
massive fleets not capturing but genociding the population of human worlds left and right.
This proved to be the Lintha’s fatal mistake, as the forces of humanity took this chance to
officially form the Exalted Empire to crush the forces of the Lintha. Advanced Twilight
made war machines crashed against Lintha forces, Sidereal forces predicting the time and
locations of attacks while minimizing the damage caused, Lunar commanders leading
masses of Dragonblooded footsoldiers against the Lintha themselves. The war was
horrifically violent as both sides refused to take prisoners, only the extermination of each
other seen as the only viable outcome for such a war. After many losses the Lintha were
driven far back into the Western System, their morale completely crushed when their living
god and home planet, Lintha Ng Oroo, was shattered into a million pieces by the Exalted
Empire, the once mighty Lintha Empire now a fragment of their original selves. When
faced with the huddling, bitter remains of the Lintha Empire, the Exalted Empire could only
see them as an injured bug resting in the palm of their hand, a war that had gone on for so
long and cost so many lives that humanity had become indifferent to the Lintha and
couldn’t even muster the strength to kill such a pathetic creature. The Exalted Empire left
the shattered remains of the Lintha Empire, warning them that if they ever bothered
humanity again that they’d go where the Dragon King’s ethical boundaries wouldn’t allow
and exterminate their race.

This did not stop the Lintha race, one of whose motto involved never forgiving
someone who made a slight on them. They continued to operate in the Western sector for
centuries after that, their race lamenting at how they had been driven to mere piracy to
survive due to the tariffs the Exalted Empire had placed on them. When the era of the
Stellar Intelligence’s finally arrived, the universe itself seemed to enter a golden age while
the Lintha remained in the mud below. Lintha infants starved to death as the Stellar
Intelligence’s countermeasures against piracy were seemingly all but flawless. Attempts to
counter such things were futile as it would be like a goldfish attempting to outsmart a man
as the gap of knowledge between the two was so vast. As the golden age neared its end,
the Lintha themselves vowed that they would continue no matter what, insisting on living
just to spite the Exalted Empire itself as their hatred for humanity, and anyone who sided
with them, burned like never before.

This all changed when the Stellar Intelligence known as Kimbery descended upon
the remaining Lintha System, melting the attacking ships instantly under blasts of high
pressure acid from the giant ball of omni-liquid itself. Just as the Lintha thought their
species’ last day had come, Kimbery announced she came not for war but for deals
instead. She claimed that herself and the other Stellar Intelligence’s would be attacking the
Exalted Empire for control of the universe. If they joined her she would not only help them
restore what they had lost, but to expand their empire to even greater heights than they
could dare dream of and amplify the already considerable power within their mighty forms.
All of this could be done if the Lintha would agree to serve her for the upcoming war.
Seeing this as the long-awaited chance to get their revenge upon humanity, the Lintha
instantly agreed to Kimbery’s terms. Their bodies were remade into stronger forms while
Kimbery’s own Malfean spawn aided the Lintha in the reconstruction of their long-lost
Emerald Fleet. Their numbers were small, but as the West was cut off from reinforcements
their numbers rapidly ballooned once again, colonizing or flooding planets that were
weakly defended and genociding other more heavily defended planets without so much as
a second thought. Drunk on their newfound power, the renewed Lintha swept through the
Western Sector forces like a tidal wave.

Eventually after a long a bitter war, the Lintha were driven back once again and the
Stellar Intelligence’s lost the war. Their enraged Stellar Intelligence patron immediately
blamed them for all their problems, in which one of Kimbery’s last acts before she was
banished amongst the stars was to curse the Lintha for their failures. While their power
was retained, their once beautiful forms were scarred by hideously ugly forms that were a
grotesque parody of what they once were as hair met fish scales and their eyes deformed
into black orbs. Cursed to forever find the flesh of their own kind a delicacy as Kimbery
intended for the Lintha to devour themselves to death the next time they were faced with a
supply block. A small mercy was granted for the Lintha when Kimbery was then banished
to the edges of Western Space towards the Malfean Zone, unable to inflict any more
damage on the already broken Lintha race.

The remaining Lintha now desperately cling to tales and hopes of their original
forms, performing acts in the name of the ‘Stellar Intelligence’ Kimbery5 to gain back her
favor. The Lintha promising all of those who join their ‘family’ will be promised the
wondrous Lintha forms and be treated as equals once all is forgiven by their Great Mother.

Bluehaven
• Planet Type: Desert / Paradise (To Lintha only)
• Population: 2,000,000,000 (Slaves not included)

It was after the Malfean War that the cursed remains of the Lintha wandered
through the galaxy at large, the demoralized race sought not only something to rebuild
their race upon but rather a sign. Something to reaffirm that they were the noble Lintha
race and deserved nothing less but the galaxy trembling at their feet ready to serve them.
Led by one of their elders, they scoured the Western Sector of space, braving attacks from
the freshly forming Screaming Horde courts that have newly formed in vast expanses of
Western Space. After years of searching the Lintha race found an ocean borne planet, but
what was on top of it made the Lintha elders literally cry in joy. A single long fragment
floating in the see, a remaining piece from long lost homeworld of Lintha Ng Oroo. As the
Lintha landed on the planet to investigate such matters, more and more evidence began to
pile up. Energy readings of the broken off piece of continent matched that of Lintha Ng
Oroo, scraps of their legendary copper material lay scattered across the continent eons
later, while the wildlife of the planet seemed to match descriptions mentioned by their
homeworld originally, such as vast seedweed beds that were solid enough that people
could build cities on top of and use them for food. This planet was the single sign that they
were searching for after all those years, actual proof of what they once were.

After heavy fortifications the Lintha have now claimed this planet as their own,
mass fleets protecting the planet in order as all Lintha agree that they’d rather suffer
permanent death than the destruction of their homeworld once again. The remainder of

5
Calling her a Malfean in front of a Lintha is an affront that may only be forgiven with death.
Lintha Ng Oroo is treated as a holy site for the Lintha, where they come to hear grand
tales from the elders of stories from the Lintha’s past or the temple where humans who
have passed the Lintha’s test of initiation are turned into Lintha themselves, the
Grandfather and Grandmother of the Lintha controlling the operations of their entire race
from the mountain of Lintha Ng Oroo as they gaze out at the landing pads and shimmering
bronze spires floating on the massive mats of seaweed floating on the ocean floor. Even
below the ocean floor themselves the Lintha make their living, using their newfound
adaptations to run underwater farms, raise children, and do anything that does not actively
involve the necessity of dry land, dwelling within vast houses of coral under the ocean
itself.

What makes Bluehaven especially the chosen world for the Lintha is how the Canal
Routes for them. Being surrounded by several significant tears in reality leading to the
Canal itself, Canal routes for the system itself subtly seem to twist and turn in every major
direction, making approaching the system a literal maze even for the Screaming Hordes
themselves. Only trusted Lintha know the way back to their home planet and the pathway
to take through this Canal maze. Those who take a wrong turn in such a maze are brought
into the open arms of Lintha pirates and heavy defense systems or worse a Screaming
Horde noble court.

Wavecrest
As the flames of war engulfed the Western sector, there was one large region of
space that was spared from the worst of its wrath. The structures of the planet razed to the
ground but done so in haste, many of the previous structures still standing while the
majority of its planets remained Paradise worlds. Through gathering the remains of the
people who lived there before with an influx of new refugees, those who inhabited the
sector of space named their new system Wavecrest, as they expected the worst of the
War to be over and violence would only decrease from then on. The people of Wavecrest
soon discovered other civilizations living amidst their system, but agreements and
differences were reached with diplomacy and not war. The leader of Wavecrest expanding
his system slowly, but doing so in a way that was naturally constructive. Unlike systems
like Coral that preyed upon others like a parasite for their continued existence, the people
of Wavecrest made a self-sustaining system that required no overt military action or piracy,
only for defense was such a thing needed. When the Wavecrest people stopped upon
tribal planets that had regressed due to the war or early on in development, the Wavecrest
people did not prey upon them but uplifted them, adding them into their rapidly expanding
stellar Empire. So celebrated were the humans that helped uplift and unite the scattered
tribes and people on the various planets that they each hunted one bird on each planet in
Wavecrest, making a beautiful multicoloured cloak for the Prime Minister of Wavecrest,
commonly now dubbed the The Feathered One. For a time, all was seemingly perfect in
the Wavecrest Empire.

But since the re-discovery of the West by the galaxy at large, Wavecrest has been
plagued with problems one after another. Honorable allies now demand more and more
sacrifices to be sacrificed to their gods. The discovery and distribution of Canal routes
have led the pirates of Coral directly to the systems of Wavecrest, the military lacking both
the numbers and the skill to hold off such threats. The vast armies of An-Teng now line up
along their borders, rumors of a massive attack coming soon from the aggressively
expanding empire. Pressure from the Thousandth Dynasty is high as they whisper
honeyed words into the ears of the Feathered One, promising safety from all their
problems in exchange for becoming a vassal state of the Central Empire. Wavecrest
stands at a crossroads, a crossroads where it can emerge into something far greater than
what it once was or reduced to a sock-puppet by those who seek to control it.

Seahaven
• Planet Type: Paradise
• Population: 3,000,000,000

Standing as the capital planet of Wavecrest itself, Seahaven stands firmly as the
best example of what Wavecrest can offer. The warm weather of the planet gives way to
many island chains that lead to major central islands, each one of them growing exotic
fruits or the food that is largely exported throughout the entire west. Buildings made of
wood stand in the shallow waters of the sandy beaches, families often heading out in the
water on canoe to gather fresh fish as a delicacy on the planet itself, all while enjoying
modern conveniences in their home as wives head out for their daily jobs in the towering
glass skyscrapers that dot the major city areas in the planet itself, husbands of the families
themselves often doing space based jobs.

As one ventures across the planet, vast ruins of golden age buildings can be seen
sticking out the water themselves, the leaning white towers leaning in the ocean water as
they maintain intact countless years later, a testament to their durability for surviving a
Malfean bombardment. The capital manse of the planet even being a water based manse
on a jungle island sharing both ancient Dragon King design principles with Exalted Empire
material as a way to solidify their friendship in the West. While the manse works perfectly
to output thousands of gallons of clean, fresh water every day while functioning as the
building where the Feathered One resides, multiple other ruins stick out of the massive
waterfall peering out of the jungle and even run underneath itself. The Feathered One
would like to know what other secrets the manse contains, but hasn’t found anyone he
trusts and is remotely qualified to handle such a thing, plus he has far more pressing
issues on his plate right now, as representatives and salesmen from Great Trading Clans
such as the Cathek Corporation, Mnemon Syndicate, Ledaal Research and Development
Firm, and more constantly meet with the Feathered One in power lunches and other
meetings every passing day, asking for a greater stake in the system as their company
buildings can be seen rising up from massive construction projects undertaken on several
islands to which the companies will have all to themselves.

Long war Lunars have especially taken interest in the Wavecrest region. They
know the importance of the system itself standing out as one of the singular examples of a
Western system supporting itself on its own merits rather than relying on others. Some
natives of planet, such as a Canary totem Lunar named Mary who is made famous for her
racing career, is attempting to do whatever she can with her fellow Lunars; attempting to
save the Wavecrest nation so it can stand on its own merits rather than taking marching
orders from some foreign power and providing solutions to the problems that ail them.
 Hamoji
• Planet Type: Canal / Desert
• Population: 750,000,000 (Stonemen)

The planet of Hamoji began long ago, where priests of the God of Volcanoes were
one of the people who remained on the planet itself. When the Malfean war started and
throngs of people began to flee the system, the priests of Hamoji remained behind as they
preferred death to the abandonment of their god. While it was largely spared from the
wrath of the Malfean’s itself, gaps in space lead the Screaming Hordes straight to the
vulnerable planet. When the priests of Hamoji prayed for aid in their most dire hour the god
of Hamoji, the alrighty Lava Father himself, erupted from the ground in a body made from
molten stone. Captors of the war itself were thrown into the caldera of the volcano the
planet takes its name from, the Raksha Prince’s send screaming down into the
unfathomable heat below. The wars against the screaming hordes raged on as volcanic
cracks raced along the ground, the Lava Father himself leading his priests into war across
a planet that was rapidly becoming an unlivable hellzone as oceans evaporated from the
paradise world, vast clouds forming over the planet and constantly coating it in the clouds.
When the Malfean War was over and the attacks from the Screaming Hordes ceased, the
natives of planet Hamoji have noticed their bodies had changed from the exposure of the
various energies of the Canal their planet had been exposed to. Fragile skin was replaced
with hardened stone, their spoken words having long been replaced with a low rumbling
sound. The natives of the planet viewed this as a gift from the Lava Father himself,
renaming themselves the Stonemen race before spreading out amongst the stars itself.

When the nation of Wavecrest was forming itself, the Stonemen race allied itself
quickly with the Wavecrest nation. Their durable ships and bodies being a special task
force within the Wavecrest military while wise Ebonstar wisemen served as diplomats,
priests, and sages to the Wavecrest forces. The Lava Father himself even expressed
content with the agreement, his children flourishing amongst the stars and even offering
his own knowledge and bits of technology to the Wavecrest nation. Lately however
tensions between the Stonemen and Wavecrest have been tense. The voice of the Lava
Father, a proud rumbling within the soul of any Stonemen priest, has now only been met
with silence. The Ebonstar and Crystal Heart priests believe this to be related to crimes
that Wavecrest themselves have committed against the Lava Father and are now
demanding Wavecrestian prisoners to be sacrificed to the Lava Father to atone for their
sins. Not wishing to sour relationships the Wavecrest nation first sent those citizens who
were destined for capital punishment, but as the demands on the Ebonstar priests became
higher and higher rumors that more and more prisoners guilty for less crimes, such as
even petty shoplifting, are being send to Hamoji in an attempt to appease the Lava Father.
With still no response people are afraid that the Stonemen will start a war against
Wavecrest as they turn against their former allies or demand the sacrifice of the Feathered
One himself as a sacrifice to the Lava Father.

Alien Species: Stonemen

From their humble beginnings from their home planet Hamoji in the Western
sector, the Stonemen have become a flourishing civilization popular throughout the West
and highly active volcanic worlds in the Southern sector. Stonemen species stand upwards
to seven feet tall, their bodies entirely composed of stone with glowing black jewels for
eyes. With the strength of a half dozen men and blood of magma, the Stonemen race are
able to survive conditions far beyond what humanity is able to withstand. Capable of living
on volcanic hellscape worlds inside of underground tunnels, eating special nutrient rich
rocks as part of their diet. Their stone hide allows them to brush off small arms even while
completely unarmoured while a single punch from a Stoneman can easily crush an
unarmoured human’s ribcage like twigs. The friction their stone based body causes makes
them slow at times, but they more than make up for in other areas. They are unable to
speak in human tongues, only emitting a low rumbling as the stones in their throats
struggle to make noise. Stonemen understand this language, but many often wear
computer based communication devices to make talking to other species tolerable.

The Stonemen have also developed a sort of technology unique to them:

Pyroclastic technology. By using molten rock as a basis for their technology, Stonemen
are able to wield weapons that fire superheated shards of molten metal at their opponent,
the spaceships appearing to be massive flying rocks in contrast to the sleek black
Stonemen bombers that soar through space, latching onto the hulls of enemy ships to pour
streams of molten magma into enemy ships like ticks paralyzing a mighty beast. In terms
of special forces the Stonemen have two special castes, forged by the Lava Father himself
for various features. The Crystalheart caste are inhumanly beautiful humans made entirely
out of living crystal or diamond, which while not as physically strong as their Stonemen
brethren are just as durable and able to speak in other languages aside from the
characteristic low rumbling other Stonemen make, making them the chief diplomats for the
Stonemen. The other are known as the Ebonstar priests, appearing as jet black Stonemen
known for being paragons of their kind. Blessed by the Lava Father himself, Ebonstar’s
have vast amounts of power roiling inside of their bodies, able to call upon the support of
volcanos itself upon the land or turning into an avatar of the almighty Lava Father himself
for a short period of time.

Coenocyte Collective
By: Sandact6

The Coenocyte Collective is seen as a very friendly but very strange civilization
within the Western sector even if you discount the organic basis that all of their technology
possesses. Rather than relying on the ‘cold’ technology that the rest of the galaxy uses, all
Coenocyte technology is organic in its basis and principles. Coenocyte cities are brilliant
multi colored coral reefs as thick tree like growths bud off a planet to soar beyond the skies
themselves so organic bioships may dock at space station elevator. Even Coenocyte
clothing itself is organic, every child attached to an organic symbiote after their first few
months of life and remaining with them until death, civilians tailoring them with bright
colours or accessories to make everyday life easier while elite Coenocyte Prides adapt
them into tools of war with elaborate bioweapons such as the organic ‘boom bug’ missiles
which contain an acid so potent that modern tanks are melted to slag within seconds
(Much less any person touching it).

The Coenocyte Collective first began as a Coalition of desperate traders and

scientists who were doing their best to avoid as much as they could of the Malfean War.
The Malfean and Lintha forces killed anyone they came across while even their own allies
in Coral began raiding the pre-Coenocyte companies once they became desperate
enough for supplies. The Coenocytes were driven into a small corner of the Western
sector, intent on just huddling down and waiting for the storm to pass, although the more
seasoned traders and mercenaries knew it would only be a matter of time before the
Malfean forces found them or the Coralese forces ‘drafted’ them to be essentially suicide
troops. As they began exploring the planets in their one meager remaining system they
made a massive discovery: the ruins of a deceased precursor civilization.

The name of the civilization was lost to time itself, perhaps only the Dragon Kings
or the Lintha knowing the true name of the lost civilization, but the scientists in the pre-
Coenocyte civilization were quick to begin decoding the contents of the datavault, which
took some time to convince the others, especially the mercenaries, that they were not the
ancient ruins of some sort of death cult or some sort of Steller Intelligence superweapon.
Their civilization rapidly began to change: Robotic attack drones were replaced with
animalistic Chimera, space and combat suits were replaced with biosuits, ground based
larvae matured into Interstellar warships, even personal weapons were replaced with
organic guns that shot out acid coated spines. Each of the companies who specialized in a
product put forth their own resources and expertise towards researching and developing a
product for the good of the group. After a generation the traders reorganized themselves
into trading clans, naming themselves to be the Coenocyte Collective.

The research for the newfound Coenocyte Collective paid off, as both the Stellar
Intelligence Forces and Coralese forces found themselves deterred by the Coenocyte’s
new military might. Even when they had minor victories both the Coralese and the Stellar
Intelligence forces found themselves with technology which they had no idea how to
operate in the best case or in the worst case scenario finding everyone in the ship vomiting
blood before their skulls burst open with mushrooms that contained glowing pods of their
own memories. Both sides considered it not worth the trouble to assault the Coenocyte
forces and then were largely left alone for the rest of the war.

When the Coenocyte Collective heard about the end of the war they immediately
began to spread out from their initial system and grow in size. Planets were terraformed by
coating planets in roiling carpets of flesh, rapidly collecting resources used to expand their
new trading empires but also to forge relations and trade deals with all who were
interested in doing business. The Coenocytes held no ill will towards Coral for what they
did; desperate times make for desperate people. But they did relish trading from a position
of power, finding it amusing what people in the Frontier would do for mere scraps of their
technology or selling their expertise on any matter related to biology, a field to which the
Coenocyte’s were regarded as unparalleled masters at. Even Solars from the Solar
Dynasty came to the Coenocyte’s to try and learn the tightly guarded secrets they
possessed. Such a time and place was the Coenocyte’s Golden Age, for where many
empires in the galaxy were struggling to get back on their feet the Coenocyte’s were
expanding at a steady rate with no end in the foreseeable future.

The decline of the Coenocytes started with one woman: Gram Zoe. Gram Zoe was
a brilliant but radical scientist, pointing out that if one melded and fused with their biosuit
then they could potentially gain an untold amount of power, casting aside the restraints
imposed on them by being mortal and evolve into something greater. Gram Zoe’s peers
immediately rejected such a proposal. Even if they set aside set aside the ethical concerns
of mutating oneself into a monster, the chances of surviving such a procedure with your
mind intact instead of regressing into a more bestial form was not only at random but had
odds in which only about one in every hundred thousand would survive the procedure. Dr.
Zoe didn’t see a problem with this, as the weak amongst them would be culled while only
the strongest would survive. The instant Dr. Zoe said this all of her research grants were
cut while her labs were seized. The Coenocyte’s wanted nothing to do with this if it meant
becoming moral monsters on par with the Malfeans, forcefully converting people into
monstrous forms. The Coenocyte Collective’s code of conduct was even updated to reflect
this: Personal mutations on the Coenocyte people are expressly forbidden in any
circumstances. Alterations to one’s biosuit was fine, but not to the person underneath.

Zoe’s words had still attracted their fair share of followers, those seduced by the
promises and temptations of power rivaling even that of the Exalted or powerful demons.
The temptation for power proved too strong for such ambitious people, thus they secretly
conspired with Zoe to corrupt the neural network on the planet Divolus which would
forcefully send a message to all symbiote biosuits to merge with their owners. The entire
planet immediately descended into chaos, people's screams echoed throughout the night
as they turned inhuman midway as neighbour slaughtered neighbour in a psychotic filled
rage of confusion and fear. The vast majority of the planet turned into mindless drones, fit
only to obey the chosen few who had successfully undergone the merging process with
their minds intact. The Coenocyte military were swift to react, activating a super virus
bomb that wiped out all life on the planet but not before a great deal of the powerful new
monsters managed to escape. These creatures were officially named the Zoecytes and
rapidly became one of the most feared and reviled creatures in the galaxy. To this day the
Coenocytes consider the existence of the Zoecyte’s a source of shame and offer their
services at whatever cost a client can afford when their presence is confirmed within a
system. The Coenocyte’s even went as far to sign deals with the Central Empire to share
intelligence regarding the Zoecyte’s freely and are willing to call down Wyld Hunts on
Zoecyte’s if the Coenocyte’s are unable to handle some of the tougher or more
problematic cases.

The Coenocyte’s are far more open than other precursor civilians. Many of the
Coenocyte clans (Which is their version of a business) deal openly and willingly to the
majority of the galaxy, but powerful safeguards exist in order to ensure the secrecy of their
technology. Captured behemoth battleships can be commanded to turn into dust in an
instant in order to avoid being captured while the top Coenocyte scientists often have their
biosuits forcefully put them to sleep if they attempt to discuss secrets of Coenocyte
technology without prior permission from the Coenocyte Council. Despite being social
many often find the Coenocyte’s technology discerning, so often ships that are intended to
receive guests have hallways constructed from coral so things do not appear too alien.
The Coenocyte’s themselves remain competitive as businessmen but moreso towards the
rest of the galaxy rather than other Coenocyte’s. Company absorptions and buyouts
happen all the time in Coenocyte space, but they are rarely ever hostile. If a Coenocyte
clan is bought out or absorbed by another clan then they played the game better, but take
comfort in knowing that they’re doing it in the name of the Coenocyte Collective. The
Coenocyte’s consider themselves in a loose alliance with Wavecrest, but have no interest
in joining their union.

Plantia IV
• Planet Type: Desert / Precursor / Wild (For invading forces)
• Population: 750,000,000

The Vergis Clan are some of the finest bioware ranchers known amongst the
Coenocyte Clans, and the planet of Plantia IV is what they consider to be the key to their
success. This sparsely populated planet is only home to several large cities which act as
various trading hubs for the planet, but the main purpose of this planet is the rich supplies
of various rare ores and wide-open fields which are perfect to raise the new generation of
Coenocyte bioships. Coenocyte bioship eggs are shipped down to the surface where they
are given the same love and care as children receive in Coenocyte children creche’s.
Bioship ranchers carefully hatch bioship eggs in massive complexes in order to finely tune
the exact environment. Upon hatching the bioship ranchers take the newborn larvae, often
the size of a small house, and bring it to the massive dusty red desert of Plantia IV. The
larvae are then let loose to explore the planet to its own hearts content, playing with other
starship larvae as they race across the desert surface in great herds during the day while
burrowing below the surface at night to gorge themselves on the rich mineral reserves the
planet has. After about a year the larvae enters their pupa state, forming a large cocoon
around themselves. At this point the ranchers locate the pupa using tracking technology
and good old-fashioned skill and launch them into orbit using one of the many orbital
elevators the planet has and docking the pupa in a position at the orbital space ring.
Months later the new bioship emerges from its cocoon, ready and eager to fulfill its duty to
the Coenocyte Collective.

The Coenocyte Ranchers themselves spend the days travelling the planet,
checking up on the status of the bioship larvae on their current growth and any behavior
‘quirks’ they may have. Coenocyte Ranchers rarely need to worry about poachers, as even
an immature larva by itself could potentially take on several armoured tanks, but they
always carry high powered weapons at all times with the Coenocyte military base in orbit
ready to drop an elite Coenocyte pride down surface side at a moment’s notice. Many
stories about being a Coenocyte rancher are romanticised, where one spends their
working days outdoors, nights under the starry sky, and time off at the bar laughing with
friends. Visitors from other companies and even tourists come to the planet, letting such
people ride some of the more docile and well-behaved bioship larvae. The only thing the
Ranchers ever need to worry about is a Zoecyte outbreak, which if one ever happens then
the Vergis Clan are loathe to trigger a Virus Bomb to sterilize the planet and destroy an
entire generation of bioships, but they know such a result is a lot less painful than letting a
Zoecyte such as Legion gain control of a new fleet.

Great Clans from the Central Empire come to Plantia IV often to marvel and barter
for Coenocyte bioships (the latter of which has little success). Peleps & Sons Shipyards,
V’Neef Intergalatic Trading Company, and the Tepet Aerospace Corporation all come to
this planet to learn or trade, but all of those pale in comparison to Cynis Pharmaceuticals
Inc. places on the planet. It is no secret to anyone that Cynis wants Coenocyte technology
badly, no matter how well they try to hide it. Their intent is to learn the secrets of producing
such technology so that the purviews of biosuits and bioships could be sold unit their
monopoly in the Central Empire. The Cynis representatives constantly try and throw lavish
parties and services in order to appeal to them, only to met with the same cocky sense of
superiority the Coenocyte’s feel, only to receive hand-down arms and bioships rather than
the secrets of making them. Some warn the Coenocyte’s that Cynis will not tolerate such a
thing forever, and while Coenocyte’s do not engage in hostile acquisitions often Cynis isn’t
afraid of doing things by blackmail or abduction when diplomacy fails.

Alien Species: Zoecytes

The Zoecytes are near-universally reviled monsters known across the galaxy, a
result of completely untethered evolution and greed. Zoecytes are created when a
Coenocyte attempts to merge with their biosuit symbiote. This process is incredibly
traumatic for the individual themselves, often undergoing severe hallucinations and
paranoia during a time of rapid bodily change. Most times an individual’s mind breaks and
is consumed by symbiote, essentially becoming a ‘drone’, a creature similar to the dream
eaten of the raksha who only exists to obey others. Very rarely however one’s mind will
somehow remain intact becoming what is known as a ‘True Zoecyte’. These True
Zoecytes are as varied as they are deadly. Taking alien forms about the size of a human
up to the size of a battleship, even True Zoecytes the same size as a human often have
attacks as powerful as a battleship’s main guns and can give a second circle demon a run
for its money with the stronger ones being on par with the Malfean’s own Third Circle
souls. There is no rhyme or reason to Zoecyte forms. One may be a cloud of omni-
devouring insects while another may take the appearance of an armoured beetle with
strong bio-electric powers. The bio-technology within Zoecytes dwarfs that of the
Coenocyte’s easily, to where even the super poisons of the Coenocyte’s are known only to
slow down Zoecyte’s, even if a single drop of poison is enough to kill over 10,000 people.
Since the disaster on Divolus the Coenocyte’s have put safeguards in their biosuits that
prevent the biosuits from forcefully fusing with the wearer, although these protections do
nothing if they’re willingly stripped out by an individual who wishes to take the risk to
become a True Zoecyte.

The only saving grace the Coenocyte’s have is that the Zoecyte’s are very
individualistic. Their maxim of Survival of the Fittest means Zoecytes often kill each other
happens just as often the Coenocyte’s hunt them down. However, the Coenocyte’s are
concerned that Gram Zoe may not only be still alive, but many of the conspirators she
worked with originally are still with her and are unfathomably strong. Kreber is a Zoecyte
scientists whose form and appearance are humanoid, but possesses power capable of
wiping out an entire army... or capturing them for his sick and twisted purposes. Aphis is
Gram Zoe’s own daughter, a twisted and warped child who takes joy in ripping her ‘dolls’
apart and reassembling them into new, stronger forms. Legion is a brain the size of a
battleship, capable of mentally commanding a fleet and army capable of blocking out a
size as if they were one. Even worse such creatures are not killed easily, able to be
resurrected by Gram Zoe herself should they perish and continue to remain loyal to Gram
Zoe. The Coenocyte’s are worried; The Zoecytes only follow another Zoecyte if they’re
stronger. If such powerful Zoecytes are obeying Gram Zoe, then how strong as she
become?

Other Planets

Denzik
• Planet Type: ‘Space Station’
• Population: 25,000,000,000 (Average per fleet)

In the days following the opening of the Malfean War, vast fleets full of refugees
abandoned their besieged planets and took to the stars themselves. As the West’s canal
routes continued to be shuffled around, the refugees on board the ships wandered from
stronghold to stronghold, begging for whatever scraps they could find for the starving
masses on their ships. Food and water soon became the least of their problems as the
ships the refugees were living on began to break down. Ships full of the dead were often
cannibalized for parts as the fleet went on but the damage was taking its toll. Radiation
leaks were constant, both from inside the ship and insufficient shielding from the cosmic
radiation of space itself. Anima Fields flickered constantly, a split second of one usually
harmless for people but that ‘harmless’ amount added up over the centuries on the run
itself until the people of Denzik became horribly mutated. Their skin becoming heavily
scarred by the heavy radiation that constantly surrounded them, but in exchange give
them surprising adaptations for survival in space. Extended weightlessness no longer
caused muscle loss in space while their metabolic rate soared to incredible levels. This
allowed them to not only become virtually immune to radiation itself, but dramatically
increased their rate of natural healing to levels of the Exalted themselves and were
seemingly all but immune to poisons and illnesses with no additional intake of food
needed. The cost however was extracted from their own life forces, those from the Denzik
fleets had a life expectancy of 30-35 years as their bodies rapidly matured and aged. It
was a curse mixed with a blessing, one the refugees did not mind as it meant less deaths
in space itself. When the Malfean War was finally done the refugees looked at themselves
and the mighty fleet they had amassed, seeming to face the worst of what space had to
offer and conquered it. The majority of people in the refugee fleet no longer wished to have
a planet of their own, but instead decided to travel the stars as that was their new home. In
recognition of this the refugee fleet took the name of “Denzik”, or “People/Nation that
travels” in their native tongue.

Despite the disabilities that ail them the Denzik have managed to make a name for
themselves in the galaxy. People are free to visit their ships in where specialized ‘guest’
ships which are safe for human habitation are turned into dens where people can kick
back, relax, drink and eat while travelling in space in relative peace. Traders often time
their shipments and routes to the path the Denzik make from North, West, then the South
itself. The vast fleet of ships whose numbers can block out the sun of a planet providing
more than enough safety as only the most suicidal of people attempt to attack Denzik
ships. The radiation choked vessels often have nothing on board worth selling while any
boarding action has unshielded troops dying within minutes due to the vast amounts of
radiation on board such ships. Denzik traders and repairmen are also valued across the
galaxy at large, sought after for the expertise on getting objects working with only the
barest of scraps or may comfortably work inside of nuclear reactors or around antimatter
reactors without fear of dying or stopping the reactor itself. For the most part the Denzik
are often happy to hear the tales of fellow travelers or enjoy the company of others, but
doing a major act of kindness for the Denzik (such as donating a ship) means that every
Denzik who wishes to live aboard the vessel will owe that individual one favor to call upon
in the future themselves. Those who give challenging favors and succeed are praised as
friends of the Denzik for life, those who ask for suicidal favors are told to come back later
with something a little less lethal.

Denzik pirate ships are rare, but a possible occurrence in the Western expanse of
space. The ships being extremely deadly to face in combat as they bombard the enemy
ship with dirty weaponry, flooding the ship with nuclear, biological, or chemical agents the
Denzik pirates are largely immune to before boarding the relatively unharmed ship full of
dead crew. The Denzik themselves see this as a stain upon their own honor, and while
they do possess such weapons on their main fleets they tend to only use it on forces such
as the Lintha.

Earth
• Planet Type: Paradise / Wild
• Population: 7,125,000,000

Earth is a planet that exists within the Great Divide of the Western sector,
surrounded by large tears of the Screaming Horde a few light years out that serves to
block it sending or receiving any interstellar transmissions. The planet itself is largely
unremarkable in the grand scheme of things, consisting of collection of governments so
divided that they have not progressed to the point of electing a planetary leader. But what
makes Earth unique is that it remains a planet full of mortal species well within the bounds
of the Screaming Horde Courts but has not seen or heard a single Raksha noble in its
entire recorded history. The reason for this is when the Screaming Horde’s sent their spies
to monitor their communications in preparation for an invasion and what they saw horrified
even the most jaded of Princes.

The planet itself glorifies violence in nearly every endeavor, one of the most
extreme warlike people the Screaming Hordes have ever encountered. Lengthy tactical
war briefings are shown as entertainment to the population at the surface at large, training
in depth to fight everything from spaceships to giant monsters with incredibly powerful and
varied technology ranging from advancing fighting robots, well trained armies, and young
girls with seemingly godlike magical powers. Despite these warnings of aliens, wars are
constantly fought between nations in order to satisfy their bloodlust as countries stockpile
enough weapons to vaporize not only the countries of their enemies, but the entire planet
several times over if need be. Raksha sociologists claim this is only a natural extension of
what the environment of the planet is like, for it is well documented within their history that
the people of the planet destroyed all the Lesser Elemental Dragons and elder Dragon
King’s centuries ago while in places such as the Land Down Under literally every single
animal is attempting to kill the people who live there, living there for seemingly no other
reason than for the challenge. If this is true then the people of this planet have a control in
narrative far in excess than what the Nobles of the Screaming Court can muster,
especially if they were able to slay such powerful creatures with nothing more than
primitive weapons.

All the Screaming Horde courts in the area were in unanimous agreement that to
invade such a planet would not only invite disaster upon themselves, but to the galaxy at
large. To this day they blockade all traffic attempting to go to the system with a fanatical
zeal all while the best minds in their military constantly try in vain to plot out a plan of
attack for such a planet in case the worst came to pass. Even other Raksha nobles are
banned from entering the system, as even when the Raksha Warlord known as Dai Zunna
of the Great Flame wished to bring his massive war fleet to the system as he relished the
thought of an exciting new challenge, the Screaming Horde Courts in the area did the
unthinkable and put aside their differences and united their forces to repel Dai Zunna,
unwilling to let his selfish desires bring ruin to the galaxy at large.

Jalarin
• Planet Type: Desert
• Population: 3,000,000,000

During the Golden Age of man Jalarin was known as special resort world known for
its experiments. Untold miles of golden sandy beaches could be seen amongst the island
resorts dotting the coastline, but what brought people to Jalarin was the spires sticking out
of the ocean themselves, special underwater resorts which held powerful genetic alteration
hospitals where people could undergo genetic manipulations for life beneath the sea itself.
Living in houses made of colorful Coral, exploring deep sea caverns full of aquatic life, or
special restaurants that made and served your food entirely underwater for an experience
like nowhere else in the galaxy. The idea was that when people were finished with their
vacation, the process could simply be reversed turning them into land dwelling creatures
once again.

Kimbery’s opening salvo of the Malfean war shattered the tranquility of those on
the planet, the rising sea levels drowning out all land on the planet and submerging the
spaceports. Supplies quickly became scarce on the planet itself and it wasn’t long before
those who lived above the waves threw themselves into war against those below the sea,
declaring them as inhuman monsters who were involved with the Malfean war plot. Cruise
ships being retrofitted into floating fortresses while those on board donned scuba gear for
deadly underwater melee combat with the only weapons they had, the water running red
with blood after every battle. The sea people had the advantage of a far bigger
battleground however, and in the end the sea people won, the victory spurring them into
thinking that those who lived on the land were demons who only wished for their
destruction while they lived under the water which was the bastion of all life. This
eventually sprang into a full blown religious order known as the Children of the Sea.

These days the Children of the Sea are known as a religious pirate cult, attacking
and abducting people en masse from the galaxy at large before whisking them back to
Jalarin itself, putting them into the same genesis pods their ancestors used long ago in
order to make them ascend to a more perfect form. The devices the Jalarians use however
are badly damaged after centuries of use and damage, those who enter inside of it turning
into horrifically mutated and alien forms adapted for life beneath the waves and cursed to
find the air poisonous or unbreathable. The Jalarians are quick to retort that while these
forms may be unappealing, they are the forms that saved them from the wrath of Kimbery
ages ago and allowed them to fight against the land based devils. All but remaining
unwilling prisoners on the planet, only the craftiest of escape artists can escape the world
of Jalarin lest they feel defeated and join the ranks of their cult.

Jalarian ships themselves appear to be erratic, Coral shaped ships as they fly
through the skies themselves. The inside of such ships flooded with water to survive, but
often some sections of the ship remain unflooded with normal life support for captured
prisoners. When capturing an enemy ship a popular Jalarian tactic is the flood the inside of
the enemy ships with large amounts of water to soften and confuse enemy boarding
parties before the Jalarian storm on board with their war suits. These War Suits are
produced on Jalarian using a template for deep sea divers, keeping the Jalarians inside
surrounded by high pressure water that serves as a shock absorber to keep them safe
while the incredibly tough and monstrously strong War suits do the rest of the work.
Jalarian War Suits possess the strength to tear bulkheads open. When the occupant inside
of the suit has died and suit is blown wide open, the suit itself possess an artificial
intelligence smart enough to keep going in combat and follow the orders of any nearby
Jalarin soldier. Jalarian’s are especially vicious against the Lintha race, claiming they’re on
a permanent crusade to stamp the Lintha race out of the galaxy for the wrong’s Kimbery
inflicted upon them.

Non-cult based Jalarian’s are very rare in the galaxy itself, largely distrusted by
most of the galaxy due to the extreme behavior for the rest of their race, even if they were
forced into it. Small populations of Jalarians can often be seen on places like Azure or in
Wavecrest, where act as safe havens for those who have escaped the Children of the Sea
cult and offer them a way to live despite their current condition. These people are still able
to make a living by being treasure seekers and explorers for the waterlogged planets of
the West, their newfound forms perfectly adapted to the task or rooting out Lintha forces in
the cracks of the galaxy.

Skeleton Nebula
• Planet Type: Death / Space Station
• Population: 0

The skeleton nebula is located just outside of the Skullstar Terminus system,
where upon entering the area itself all one can see are the abandoned and damaged hulls
of countless ships from virtually every era in the universe draped against the deep purple
colour of the Nebula gasses itself. Many people see this area as an eerie and damned
place for where only the most desperate of salvagers make their runs to as no one knows
whenever the hull you’re about to collect for scrap will be hope to hundreds of vengeful
ghosts who will rip those who disturb their resting place limb from limb, their ship now the
newest addition in the mass graveyard of the Skeleton Nebula. Ghosts are also not the
only worries in this location, as powerful anti-ship turrets remain active throughout the
entire Nebula, firing blasts of scrap at any ship carrying a shred of life in its crew or ship
itself. What are worse are the tales of the Salvagers themselves. Advanced unmanned
salvage drones made by an unknown ancient civilization lost to time no bigger than a
corvette, but are as durable as a heavily fortified battleship. If a Salvager manages to
survive your barrage and clasp its anchors onto your ship, all systems in a person’s ship
immediately go dark and the Salvager brings both the ship and its crew deeper into the
Skeleton Nebula, never to be seen again. The advice for anyone entering this system is
that as soon as you see a Salvager is to immediately turn around and start running as
even if you kill one you never know if another one is going to be sneaking up behind your
ship. All attempts to hail Salvagers have failed to date and not even the Dragon King’s or
the Lintha know who made such things. All that is known is that they patrol the galaxy
where no one is looking, collecting the hulls of fallen ships and taking them back to the
Skeleton Nebula in a perpetual loop that has been done for longer than humanity has been
around.

Vast treasures await those inside of the Skeleton Nebula for those who wish to
brave the dangers. Scrap is one such reward, as the remains of battleships from the
Malfean War or even earlier can be found amidst the wrecks, the imperishable materials
the hulls are made of fetching a high price on any market. Those more daring can put
together exploratory crews to search the inside of abandoned vessels for valuable cargo or
treasures from ages long since past or the ultimate prize of even an artifact ship provided
they can survive the superpowered ghost and crew of the previous captain, as such
vessels as inevitably haunted. What is one of the most striking features of the Skeleton
Nebula is the long since destroyed section of a ship, a keel and support pillars opening up
like a human ribcage that is far larger than a gas giant. No one knows what such a
massive ship could be or what civilization built it, as even during the golden age of the
galaxy such a feat of engineering would be considered extremely impressive.

Southern Sector
Before the Malfean War the Southern sector was amongst one of the richest
sectors in all the galaxy. A wealth of heavily active volcanic planets proved to be
dangerous but rich in resources such as precious gems and vast amounts of easily
obtained metallic ore deposits. Vast monuments to wealth were created, cities made of
glittering jewels, lustrous rare metals, and virtually indestructible crystal. Even the lowest
citizen of the South was once rumored to have enough money to buy virtually anything he
wanted while the rich and ambitious lived in untold luxury.

All of this was part of Cecelyne’s grand plan, a sector wide approach of how to
maximize wealth and happiness in addition to her basic functions as a terraforming Stellar
Intelligence. When the Malfean war started Cecelyne quickly showed her true colours,
going from an altruistic Stellar Intelligence to an egomaniacal one. Virtually overnight vast
terraforming machines installed by Cecelyne and dormant for centuries activated and
within a month or overnight entire swaths of planets slowly transformed into deserts. As
buildings crumbled and were buried in the sand and the last farms dried up, many people
turned to worshipping Cecelyne for their basic needs who then quickly turned into fanatical
cultists while those who resisted turned into bleached bones beneath the wasting sun.
 But with destruction comes creation, for many of the adjustments Cecelyne made
to both her terraforming machines, sorcerous alternations of the fabric of the universe, and
by-products of war caused planets to instill themselves with a new source of material
wealth for the next generation. The South is plagued with planets filled with nothing but
sand and the occasional oasis, but the saying has always been a “diamond in the rough”
for those who comb the sandy planets for treasures new and old. Barren wastes can form
a rare reactant known as Firedust, a highly efficient and sought-after fuel while the sands
below could hold a hidden crystal city that has been lost to the ravages of time. Even the
metaphysical itself is rich, as planets appear to be rich with powerful Dragonlines one can
affix powerful manses to for everything from pleasure places, master starforges, to nearly
indestructible bunkers for secret data storage. Planets are even mined completely hollow
in the South’s neverending lust for greed, and with the material’s the south possess that
doesn’t appear to be running out anytime remotely soon.

Organizations Within Southern Space

Normally I’d come up with something witty, but right now I’m exhausted after doing
the other directions and want to get this chapter done and over with. We all know the drill
by now, so here are some organizations that exist inside of the Southern Sector.

An-Teng
Bordering both the great divide and the great red scar of the Southern Sector, An-
Teng is one of the largest kingdoms inside of the Frontier itself. It’s planets a verdant mix
of jungle planets, deserts, and modernized hive planets littered with ruins of their
ancestors and those who have come before the Tengese. Starting from a mere city planet
after the Malfean War to expanding into the massive Empire it is today, An-Teng would
long for nothing but the ambitions of their rulers, a large and strong family that use swaths
of propaganda to keep their population fanatically in check. Old fashioned Imperialist rule
meeting the demands of interstellar travel, Tengese ships invoking symbols of their
ancestors while appearing as bright multicoloured boats one would find on a more
Primitive world. The Tengese War machine swept across the Southern expanses of space,
seemingly unstoppable as it continued to march towards the destiny the Grand Emperor
foresaw his country being: Ruler of the entire Southern Sector.

Unfortunately, the Tengese bit off more than they could chew when they attacked
the Lap System, an area of space that was a Thousandth Dynasty protectorate system.
The Thousandth Dynasty furiously retaliated, holding nothing back against the Tengese
Empire. What took the Tengese decades or centuries to conquer and develop were rapidly
begin captured by the Thousandth Dynasty forces, the technology and combined arms of
their Exalted forces being too much for the single country to fight. An-Teng realized how
painfully behind the times it was, and to prevent them losing more territory to the Central
Empire itself they signed a surrender agreement, one which would not only prevent future
expansion and severely limit their future military, but made the Great Trading Clans cackle
with glee as An-Teng was forced to agree to lopsided trading deals. An-Teng dealt with the
issue as they did with all foreigners; a smile and a nod and the bare minimum required to
do it, all while seething in silent fury at the humiliation they were forced to endure.
 Since it’s crushing defeat An-Teng has spent it’s time aggressively building up both
its technological and military base. While Great Trading Clan businessmen and
Thousandth Dynasty diplomats come for vacation, nubile youths providing ample alcoholic
beverages during Tengese plays, or for the business of setting up more mines and military
outposts within Tengese controlled worlds, fires of rage stoked the flames of innovation
and production. The Technos race, a race of synthetic humanoids programmed to obey
An-Teng officials unquestionably, were produced en masse to serve as everything from
paper pushers, military purposes such as bodyguards or police officers, and sex dolls
(Sometimes all at once). Vast fleets of new warships rise in the planets of Southern An-
Teng, shipyards hidden in the hard to scan nebulas in numbers rumored to blot out the
sun, staffed with the elite soldiers of tomorrow ready to guide them and Technos
synthetics for those lacking sufficient personnel. Planets are mined until they crack in two
or collapse while once pristine jungle worlds are now toxic worlds full of sludge and toxic
air as skunk factories produce weapons for use against the Thousandth Dynasty under the
blessing of An-Teng’s three patron gods. Now with the support of Long War Lunars who
viciously oppose the Empire joining their ranks, the Grand Emperor of An-Teng begins to
grow bold once more.

As of late even the patriotic officials who are behind such potent hidden projects.
With the devastation caused on worlds so far and the friction that has begun to appear for
those systems who were abused, then at what lengths will the Grand Emperor and his
family go through to eject the Central Empire? Will the show of renewed force be enough
to drive them off, or will the First Emperor burn even more worlds to ash in order to drive
out the foreign invaders? The most brainwashed of soldiers proudly proclaim that any
territory of An-Teng and the Imperial Family is worth protecting, but those with more sense
wonder if ruling airless worlds full of ash and the wireframes of previous cities is truly worth
it.

Kota Lotus Besi

• Planet Type: Hive / Paradise
• Population: 25,000,000,000

Meaning “Planet of the Steel Lotus” in the An-Teng native tongue, a planet none
more deserving of its name and how the old Tengese culture clashes with modern
sensibilities. Touring the planet one can see the mountainous peaks and mist filled valley’s
flecked with farms and temple that An-Teng is famous for, where legions of people opt for
the simple life of farming or priests who worship the An-Teng celestial hierarchy of gods
while praising the ancestors of old. As the terrain goes on, one can notice small towns and
even cities seemingly abandoned and in the process of being reclaimed by nature, being
prowled by territorial bands of elementals or hastily summoned demons that were called
forth to defense Kota Lotus Besi against the wrath of the Central Empire long ago, plates
and cups still on the tables as the house’s they’re in remain covered in bullet holes and
vines.

As the terrain rolls on, the layers of thick grey clouds become more common as
one approaches the city of Lotus Besi, an entire continent’s worth of glass and steel as the
manmade valley soars out of the valley it was nestled in. The collective neon lights of the
city glow with the luminosity of the sun that the factory smokestacks choke out with thick
layers of smog. Massive megacorporation skyscrapers soar above the Dragon headed
shrines situated next to their foot, the stubborn monks remaining in place even after heavy
‘encouragement’ from local businessmen. Rain seems to constantly come down in either a
light drizzle or a heavy downpour as neon holograms of plants little the streets in
memories of real trees or encased armour of ancient soldiers from when An-Teng was still
a world under the sway of a Clockstopper long ago. The tracks of trains run through the
landscape like thin veins as cargo and passenger trains race to and fro from the landing
pads and orbital elevator situated just outside the city.

Lotus Besi’s buildings build like a staircase from its edges up to the central focal
point of the entire city: The Imperial Family Palace. Brilliant Red and Gold trimmings mark
the side of massive complete as the square rooms seem to rise floor by floor before
towering above the city as a holographic banner showing the current Imperial family’s seal
against the side of the structure. Here inside is where the all the royal family and Tengese
officials live, where in the past they constantly plotted and schemed against their rivals
which has now been replaced with constantly plotting and scheming against Thousandth
Dynasty members. Bold faced lies constantly spew from the Tengese mouths, one’s that
are either unprovable or by omission of facts told to the Magistrates, Diplomats, and Great
Trading Clan personnel that come to visit. The Grand Emperor sits atop this mighty
structure, on a floor with a simulated outside garden and open-air audience chamber while
a constant thunderstorm churns just outside, where only the Grand Emperor’s personal
family and closest servants and bodyguards are allowed to see the face of the divinely
chosen ruler; perfect for hiding the perpetual scowl on his face for meeting with people
outside of his lands that constantly seek to plunder its resources.

Terma Empire
By: Sandact6

The reclusive Terma Empire in the Southern sector is seen with a mixture of
suspicion and fear and awe when it comes to their powerful technological base but rarity to
interact with other nations outside of themselves. An elaborate systems of noble castes
rule over a race of slaves, powering their massive kingdom of floating architecture and
heavily refined culture. All of those who’d wish them harm kept at bay by the Termian’s
advanced array of precursor energy weapons and armour, a simple beam pistol enough to
tackle modern day assault armour while powerful forcefield technology allows things such
as the mobility of a skintight suit combined with the protection of heavy armour.

Such an empire didn’t reach such lofty heights themselves, for they had heavy
assistance by a Twilight caste solar known only as Ayer. Ayer was considered a brilliant
scientist the Twilight Era of the Solar Dynasty, his contribution towards energy sources
and culture prior to the Malfean War being seen as radical but acknowledged by his peers.
When the era of the Twilight’s began to show its cracks, it was Ayer who was amongst one
of the first Twilights to flee from the Exalted Empire shortly before the Twilight’s were
violently ousted. Ayer himself sought refuge on a single planet within the Southern
expanse, a paradise world in which he could lay low until the upheaval back home was
over.
 He landed on the planet known as Terma, a planet stuck in medieval times after
the Malfean War not because of a Clockstopper but because constant warfare between
three castes on the planet itself. The proud Belkarian caste warriors proclaimed honour
above all and claimed they were the most noble to lead, the brilliant and inquisitive Miyian
caste claimed that bold advancement forward with radical new technology claimed was the
future, while the traders and spymasters of the Okarian caste claimed it was their wealth
that kept the others afloat while their spies reported how strong the Okarian culture was as
the other two kept showing Okarian plays and works of art. It was Ayer who then worked to
bring all the castes together, showing them that each of their truths and valves were only
part of a completed whole. The Belkarians were shown that honor was baseless without a
strong culture to guide their values while innovation on the battlefield allowed brave
soldiers to life and fight another day. The Miyians were shown that imagination was key to
fueling the inventions of tomorrow and that sometimes in science one needed to take a
bold risk. The Okarians were shown that wealth without purpose was an existence devoid
of meaning and shown where proper investing into the arts could flourish the imagination
of scientists who’ll advance the country and the soldiers who’ll keep it save. Ayer himself
united all three of the warring castes under one banned, separate still but united as a
greater whole. A brand new planetary Empire was founded under the name of their planet,
the Terma Empire, and it was the locals in turn who pressured Ayer into making the
leadership caste that united them and would lead them into greatness: The Ayarian caste,
named after Ayer himself. Ayer became officially known as Ay-Ayer therefore founding the
fourth and last of the original castes. The Belkarians would protect the Terminian Empire
and its people, the Miyians would constantly strive for new ways forward, the Okarian
caste would inspire the minds of people while maintaining economical and industrial
bases, while the Ayarian caste would guide and lead all the Termian people toward a
greater future.

True to his new caste, Ay-Ayer began a renaissance of activity on the planet of
Terma Prime. Culture and civilization were radically reshaped while appealing to the
Terminian’s roots, technology exploded and flourished alongside the arts as the
Terminians rapidly went from a medieval society to their first space launch in several
generations. Ay-Ayer was careful about the Solar Dynasty, who probably still sought to
bring all Twilight’s to some sort of justice, and thus taught that they should not interact with
civilizations outside of Terma unless absolutely necessary. The Terminians did not find this
much of a problem as the vast majority of other space faring civilizations they encountered
seemed to be barbarian brutes in comparison to them, wielding primitive weaponry as they
warred against each other rather and creating a harmonious whole as the Terminians had.

Over the centuries as the Terminian civilization spread to new worlds and their
science advanced in leaps and bounds. The Terminians were more than equipped for the
task of handling an interstellar empire through the numerous contributions that Ay-Ayer
had made. The Belkarians were taught tactics and strategies not only involving new
weapons but also new battlefields involving the endless void of space. The Miyians were
taught entirely new paradigms of mathematics and physics to follow, one's originally
thought lost in the golden age or the Malfean War. The Okarians were taught in how to
manage economies across vast planets and even developed a new trade language which
allowed them to rapidly discuss the finer terms of economics. But they needed more, as
Ay-Ayer knew from the history of the Exalted Empires others would be needed to help
keep the rapidly expanding empire in one piece. As Ay-Ayer began his experiments in
cloning he decided to bring new servant races into the Terminian Empire to service the
original castes, the genetic stock picked from the exemplars from each of their castes.
From the Belkarian raced spawned the Gemelli caste footsoldiers, the Miyian scientists
spawned the Laminian caste assistances, while the Okarians spawned the hardworking
and beautiful Aide caste. To continue the legacy of the Ayarian caste mere clones would
not suffice. Ay-Ayer set out to create superhumans that would guide the Terminian people
modelled after the Dragonblooded psionic theory but elementally neutral. The new Ayarian
caste was superhuman in their physique and mental capacities, far stronger than mundane
mortals that came before them while having potent psionic powers to further solidify their
supremacy amongst the other castes. For a time, all was well as the new clone castes
served the ‘noble’ castes, allowing them to perform all the duties to keep up with a
fledgling space empire.

It wasn’t long before the servant castes had enough of being the lesser caste, and
as soon as they found ways around their biological safeguards they immediately declared
a rebellion named the Ashuran Rebellion after their leader, Gem-Ashura. Tragically one of
the first casualties of this war was Ay-Ayer himself, and after a brief period of mourning the
next leader in line, Ay-Iris, declared that any slave caste as part of the Ashuran Rebellion
who’d help the Terma Empire will have themselves and all their ancestors treated as full
noble castes if they helped the Terma empire gain revenge for this heinous crime. The
flames of war engulfed the Terma Empire as noble Terminians fought alongside traitor
Ashuran forces against the Ashuran threat. The Ashurans were drove out of the Terminian
Empire, waging a seemingly eternal guerilla war against the Terma and their ways.

To this day the Terma remains in the Southern sector, largely remaining to
themselves but hindered in their expanse with outside forces such as the Delzahn Raiders
or the divinely favored Harborhead Armada. A special sort of dislike comes from the
Central Empire itself, as to this day the Terma strongly suspect they had something to do
with the death of Ay-Ayer and the Ashuran Rebellion, partly because of their purge against
the Solars but also to gain access to their potent technology. It is because of this to this
day that the Ashurans keep a very tight grip on any remaining bits and pieces of
technology they have, unwilling to share it with outsiders expect in incredibly rare
circumstances. Terminian technology sold in the Frontier can often fetch a very high price,
one only exceeded by artifact weapons or other powerful Precursor races such as the
Dragon King’s or the Coenocytes. To this day they maintain a superiority complex over
other civilizations and the slave castes, but since the Ashuran Rebellion better
relationships with the slave castes have been developed, including letting them own bits of
personal belongings for actual payment for their work.

Terminians themselves worship no direct god, believing their technology allowing

them to accomplish most things that gods refuse to do (And they’re somewhat right). Many
of them practice a form of self-enlightenment whose path varies depending on the caste,
but it similar to modern day Buddhism.
 Terma Prime
• Planet Type: Paradise / Precursor
• Population: 8,000,000,000

Terma Prime is inside of the center of Terma space, where over the centuries
layers of technological and sociological advancement has led to the beautiful pearl it has
become today. Shimmering buildings float in midair mixing both art and function into one
harmonious whole, Terminian citizens working steadily on the maintenance of their empire
with swaths of slave caste ready to do their bidding. In the winter those who remain on the
glass sidewalks are always warm despite the snow on the ground around them or remain
cool in the summer.

Terma Prime is broken into three major conjoined continents, the ancestral home
for each major caste. While each caste usually remains within their own territory, it is not at
all uncommon to find other castes inside of a caste’s province for some sort of business.
An Okarian heading into a Belkarian state to purchase their military services as an escort
for a future shipping contract or a Belkarian heading to one of the famous Miyian
universities to learn about Photon Reactor theory in preparation for his engineering role
upon graduation. In the center of the three continents is a central island holding the castle
of Ay-Ayer and the Ayarian palace. The castle of Ay-Ayer being a famous historical site
where Ay-Ayer first brought all three of the caste heads to unite them as a single whole
under his rule, the castle kept in its original condition with immaculate care as a show of
respect for the departed Ay-Ayer. Behind it sits the Ayarian Palace, a massive castle that
slowly shifts in colours as it rises over the horizon like a neon mountain. It is the place
where Terminian worlds across the galaxy are managed and the place where Ayarian
nobles are sent to then groomed for their future leadership roles, leaning aspects of all
three castes before being sent off to their noble families back in Termian space, the
superior specimens of humanity adapting very quickly to any lesson taught to them despite
their delayed aging process. Since the Ashuran Rebellion which resulted in the death of
Ay-Ayer and the destruction of the original Ayarian Palace, slave castes are not allowed
into the upper levels of the building. Only those who proved their loyalty by allying with
Terma are allowed to step foot into this important structure.

While normally reclusive, there are heated debates currently going inside of the
Ayarian Palace, radical talks about the Terminians being more open with other countries.
Some automatically dismiss this notion, saying it goes against Ay-Ayers entire teachings to
the Terminian Empire. The new sect however believes that this is a way to shield
themselves against foreign aggression, as with the Central Empire aggressively pushing
their way into the South only a fool would admit that the Terminian Empire can win a one
on one war with the Thousandth Dynasty. Some fear that the Central Empire may even go
further, deciding to help the Ashurans in order to take over Terminian space and
technology so that parasites like Ledaal would take everything. No one knows what the
decision may be, but they expected the current Ayarian leader, the leader of all Terma, to
make her decision soon.

Sidebar: Terminian names

 Terminians have a specific naming structure amongst themselves based on their
caste. To say a Terminian’s name without their caste surname is considered a grave
insult, implying one has no place within the Terminian Empire itself. Those used to dealing
with outsiders will often let an insult slip by, once, before getting offended. After all, less
enlightened races shouldn’t be held up to such a high standard. Ashurans themselves do
not use these surnames as they have long since rejected the teachings of Ay-Ayer and
use things on them is considered an insult. Other than the surnames, Terminians follow
the same first name last formula that most people on modern day earth follow.

• Belkarians = Bel-Name
• Miyians = Mu-Name
• Okarians = Oka-Name
• Ayarians = Ay-Name
• Gemelli = Gem-Name
• Laminian = La-Name
• Aide = Ai-Name

Memory of Ashura
• Planet Type: Desert / Precursor
• Population: 2,000,000,000

After the defeat of their leader Ashura, the Ashurans quickly disengaged from the
Terminian army and fled to its borders as per the orders of Ashura himself. While several
Ashuran warriors were consumed by vengeance for their iconic leader and let their
vengeance consume them, the majority of the Ashurans followed his tactical doctrine
which advised that ultimately leaders were just one person out of many and it was the
many that must live on. The Ashurans did not have many worlds to select from, so were
forced to settle on a predominantly desert planet that at least had an ocean on it for water.
While they quickly attempted to build new homes and military plans for Terminian
retribution, they found a special sort of sand on the world they settled on. This sand when
combined with Terminian weapons technology produced a potent source of physical
armour and prism lens for beam weapons, allowing them to make a new series of powerful
weapons and powerful armour based off the principles of Chiaroscuros glass. The new
people of the Ashurans called the planet in Memory of Ashura, the mysterious man who
ultimately freed them from the chains of the Terminians. Tall palm trees grow amongst the
sand flicked roads, cities protected by powerful technology that stops sandstorms to orbital
bombardments from entering so the central open air marketplace is always open, littered
with custom pieces of art made from Ashuran glass to the latest batch of freshly caught
and skinned sand worms. Outside the city the next generation of Ashuran fighters are
taught how to fight against the Ashuran Empire, their special Ashuran power armour
allowing precise control of force fields for seemingly miraculous effects and superhuman
feats.

Today the Memory of Ashuran is a landscape dotted with resilient cities of blue
glass which constantly shifts as if a liquid was inside of it. Here Ashurans live together all
in their cities, rejecting the societal knowledge that Ay-Ayer brainwashed the people of
Terma with centuries ago. Here the freed slave castes live out their daily lives while also
continuously attacking the Terma Empire, vowing to only every cease their war when the
last slave caste goes free or the memory of Ashura is wiped from the galaxy. While
Ashurans are as distrustful towards outsiders as the Terminians are, they are also more
open to the idea of them providing aide in some way just as much as they are known to
buy up mass quantities of hair dye. If an organization would promise the Ashurans the
downfall of the Ashuran Empire, the Ashurans may very well take up that offer.

“Alien” Species: Terma Slave Castes/Ashurans

While technically human when it comes to strict definitions, the Ashuran slave
races have some key differences that often set them apart from other traditional humans.
The first and most major one is the body structure itself, as all Slave races of a specific
caste appear exactly alike each other and also have different traits. All Gemelli have the
same sharp features in their race and dark blue hair, the exact same traits as warrior their
DNA is based from, Bel-Gemelli, but are also slightly stronger and faster than most
humans physically by only a slight but noticeable margin. Laminians are short with light
green hair and a lithe physique that has trouble gaining physical muscle and poor eyesight
(requiring glasses) but are smarter than the average human and are capable of learning
mental pursuits much faster. Aides, as the manual labour and entertainer caste, all have
blond hair and bright blue eyes. They’re known to be almost irresistibly charming and
beautiful but also known for having an incredible stamina that allows them to do work for
hours on end with hardly breaking a sweat.

Ashurans have abandoned the caste system, allowing each Ashuran person to
decide their own career without it having be dictated by blood. As noble as their intentions
are however exceptions do exist, such as the military forces being largely Gemelli and the
scientists and engineers being mostly Laminians. Attempts to undo the genetic
engineering of Ay-Ayer have been attempted but undoing the work of a Solar Dynasty era
Twilight caste is a herculean task indeed. Terma slave castes and humans are sexually
compatible, but the child will always have the physical features of the slave caste parent
with the mother’s caste taking priority. Genetic manipulation is not easy either, and the
only people in the galaxy who could possibly provide a solution, the Coenocytes, seemed
to have made an offer that the Ashurans are unable to pay or don’t want to pay.

While all Termian slave castes are expected to appear the same way, Ashurans
pride themselves on individuality. Various tattoos are very popular amongst the Ashuran
people as are cosmetic items and accessories. Hair dye is incredibly popular for the
Ashuran people, and is one of the items the race imports inside of their borders in massive
quantities.

Other Planets

Chirascuro
• Planet Type: Desert / Hive
• Population: 160,000,000,000
 One a towering and prosperous first age world that served as the gateway to the
south, a shining beacon to show all the wealth and opportunity that exists within the South
remains standing to this day to still tempt all to the south as it’s planet shimmers in rainbow
hues off the miles of glass buildings that still exist on the planet below. During the Malfean
War the residents of the planet were driven off after a long and lengthy siege, the golden
palace of the Solars reduced to a small continent of golden slag, the Exalted Empire
feared the jewel would be lost forever. But when the Exalted Empire first started to explore
the cosmos once again, they were shocked to find that the planet was not only intact, but a
prosperous civilization known as the Delzahn’s had set up the planet to be the capital of
their people and empire.

To talk about the Chiaroscuro of today one needs to know about the Delzahn
people themselves. The Delzahn were once a large band of roaming nomads, warring
against each other just as much as they did for others for days preceding even the
Malfean War. This was done not only money or supplies, but for matters of honor that the
nomads strictly adhered to. It wasn’t until after the Malfean War when a wiseman amongst
the Delzahn appeared named Tamas Khan, claiming that there was no point to fighting
over scraps when the galaxy itself needed to be repaired from its wounds. The majority of
the Delzahn clans fell under his sway and were then split into two, ones who’d occupy and
settled down in Chiaroscuro while the rest continued their nomadic ways, each bound to
each other by powerful and ancient oaths. After Tamas Khan led a mighty crusade against
the planet of Chiaroscuro, driving out the squatter and pirate forces, salting the earth as
wards against ghosts, and providing the wealth for skilled sorcerer-engineers to repair as
much of Chiaroscuro as they could and re-connect the manses to the Grand Central
Mountain. Today the Delzahn own jewel of the South, the cunning Tri-Kahn leader pitting
Great Trading Clan, Guild, and other national powers against each other ensure that
Chiaroscuro would remain under Delzhan rule.

The current Chiaroscuro remains open to all who’d peacefully conduct their
business, whenever it be a Raksha Prince, Great Trading Clan Dragonblooded, a Guild
Merchant Prince, and even Long War Lunars. All are welcome to the vast open air
marketplace that display nearly all the wealth that the south could possibly provide atop of
the massive skyscrapers that dot the planet, towering over the seedy undermarket and
lower streets below that are home to the undesirables and undead while everyone below
basks in the shade of the massive crystal towers that soar up from the city and into low
orbit themselves, the unknown Golden age material strong enough to even support
ramshackle add-ons that grow like mushrooms on a tree. The size of this megacity itself is
the size of a single continent, allowing those who stand on its edge gaze out over the
Chiaroscurian sea and the Ignis desert all in the same view.

Those who venture outside of the megacity will not find much beyond a few oasis’s
that contain farmland before vast stretches of sandy deserts devoid of all life except for
Desert folk barbarians. Flecks of firedust can be found in the expansive desert for those
willing to brave the heat and dangerous creatures that lurk in the desert sands, for rumor
has it that more than one tomb of an ancient Solar Hero has made their resting place in
the desert sands longside long forgotten cities. The Undercity, known for its undead and
undesirable population, are said to have more than its fair share of ancient ruins beneath
the city where untold miles of tunnels house black markets and criminal gangs all eager for
a cut of whomever passes their way. While it deters most common folk, it does nothing to
brave scavenger explorers or young Delzahn nobles out on a dare or task to prove
themselves.

I’d talk more about the Delzahn nomads, but I couldn’t think up anything interesting
other than them being in space collecting ships instead of horses. The only reason they’re
not in the civilization section is because I couldn’t think of much more to add in the way of
interesting new features other than blatant reskins, but they would be up there if I could
think up enough.

Gem
• Planet Type: Desert / Hive
• Population: 75,000,000,000

A single lone planet in the Cinere system covered with nothing but endless dunes
of sand and erupting volcanoes that is constantly blasted by a local star that roasts most
things on the surface alive. If one is new the galaxy or the South they may ask how such
an inhospitable planet became known as one of the most important places in all of the
Southern sector or indeed anyone who is a fan of weaponry across the Celestial Vault.
The answer lies not on the surface, where a large spaceport oversees a wide field of
landing pads that are constantly scrubbed free of sand but rather below the surface itself,
the planet hosting a multitude of cities that all pine for a share for some of the most
valuable riches in the entire galaxy, be they priceless gemstones or priceless ancient
relics.

The tale of Gem begins long ago with the tale of the Despot Mining Company, a
relatively large company but not within the megacorporation range. After a survey drone
spotted a vast series of tunnel networks below the surface teams were sent to investigate.
The second team came back with the roasted remains of the first and the results of their
exploration. An underground network of caverns ran underneath the planet, housing not
only barbarian nomads which somehow lived on the planet’s surface and in the tubes
below, but the planet itself was a resource goldmine. Firedust seemed to grow in vast
patches on the surface while the tunnels below were caked with the material. Jewels rarely
known in the galaxy grew in abundance down below the surface interlaid with veins of
Jade and even Orichalcum. It didn’t take long for the CEO of the Despot Mining Company
to send a fleet of ships to planet itself, focusing all of its efforts on collecting the resources
mined there. After only a few shipments the Despot Mining Company CEO tempted other
organizations in the South to come to Gem, promises of vast wealth awaiting everyone
from the mercenary companies that would protect the cargo, artisans to make elaborate
jewelry, and weapon designers to make new uses out of the Firedust weaponry or the high
precision lens that could be made out the sands of Gem. In one fell swoop the Despot
CEO managed to become the majority shareholder of all such company’s at once using
the vast sums of money he had at his disposal, but with his blessing allowed them to run
however they saw fit so long as the didn’t pose a threat to Gem or the profits of the Despot
Mining Company. Thus the CEO managed to raise the Despot Mining Company into the
realms of megacorporation status.
 Since then the Despot Mining Company has been passed on generation to
generation and the latest CEO is known as Rankor, in where the round but jolly man
seems to possess all the business acumen and cunning his Great great great great great
Grandfather did before him. His smiling face plastered on all the welcome posters on the
spaceport tram to the underground of Gem itself, where upon disembarking a seemingly
endless marketplace made up a mazelike series of tubes await people, free to buy not only
the rare gemstones or weapons of Rankor himself but for people all over the Celestial
Vault itself. Rankor is proud to proclaim he is a fair businessman, and allows virtually any
business that doesn’t cut into his own fields to be sold in the marketplaces of Gem, from
the spare parts of ships to the rowdy bustling nature of a fast and loose casino, one can
find anything behind one of the multicoloured blankets that cover the entrance to Gem
shops. Gem’s other significant importance is that it remains one of the few planets with
open Canal routes to both deeper south and to the Southwest of Creation (while warning
and threats come to explorers who discover other routes ensure that such things remain
secret).

Below the surface of the shops both greater treasure and greater danger await in
equal measure. Legions of miners mine the depths below for rare gemstones used in
some of the galaxy’s most powerful weapons, reactors, and jewelery. Carts full of fist sized
jewels going by the omnipresent eyes of guards for nearly every day for the past few
centuries. The entire mining operation somewhat primitive as no sparks are allowed down
below in case one strikes upon a firedust vein. The further and deeper one goes into the
planet, tunnels occasionally flood with lava or are home to overprotective sand people
nests, the fanged humanoid creatures caring little if they eat stone or bone. On the surface
of planet vast fleets of harvesters set off at the very instant the sun sets over the horizon,
scouring the desert plains for vast fields of firedust and only leaving when the first rays of
dawn come up over the horizon.

Rankor is a smart businessman, but he knows that he’s playing a dangerous game.
The Mnemon Syndicate would be ready to pounce at the slightest sign of weakness while
countries like An-Teng would love to annex Gem to both secure its wealth and avoid
paying the tax needed for taking Gem’s Canal route. He eyes the Ashurans and the Terma
Empire warily, knowing that if either of them started openly trading then a significant part of
his business would collapse overnight. Such fears are eased by his Sidereal advisor or the
other Exalted and even Fey he deals with openly on occasion. But this is the Frontier, and
where his Great great great great great Grandfather managed to make the company it is
today with one lucky find, there is no guarantee that the same couldn’t happen to someone
else the next day and buy out his own company instead.

The Endless Wastes

• Planet Type: Desert / Space Station / Various others
• Population: Unknown, at minimum 1,000,000,000,000 of various species

The Endless Wastes began long ago as an experimental life platform by Cecelyne,
a vast station using the materials of multiple dead systems and put them together on one
large seemingly endless expanse held alit by a single sun shining above it and massive
curtains that slowly spin around to separate day from night. It was said that it wasn’t
Cecelyne who turned the majority of the Endless Wastes into an endless sand covered
wasteland, but by Exalted Empire forces who wished to deal a significant blow to
Cecelyne’s own supply line during the Malfean War. Even as the forests burned and those
loyal to the Stellar Intelligence were immolated alive, the platform the Endless Wastes
remained on top of remained as durable as ever before.

Centuries after the cleansing on the surface, the Endless Wastes are now once
teeming with life across its vast surface once more. Multiple spaceports dot the
landscapes along with everything from megacities to small farms spring forth from the
natural oasis’s on the surface. The people ranging from power hungry businessmen
looking to expand their business into firedust production to Desert folk who worship the
Malfeans and cannibalize all they come across, both united in their efforts to devour
human beings alive. Scavenger Lord’s search the sandy wastes for artifacts belonging to
the Malfeans long lost to the sands of time, armed with both pistol and sword in case they
stumble until the multitude of Clockstopper areas in the Endless Waste’s. Great Trading
clans such as the Mnemon Syndicate and the Ledaal Research and Development Firm
wage conflict against each other far more openly than they would in in the Empire over
scraps of sorcerous knowledge long forgotten and other long forgotten treasures or
various resources. While numerous kingdoms, empires, megacorporations, and all in
between fight for the precious resources they need to survive in this place. Others whisper
that the Endless Wastes might be some sort of long lost Malfean Superweapon that was
never deployed, searching the volcanic inner area of the Endless Wastes for an entrance
to a mythical control room above the never setting sun and constant flows of lava. The
Endless Wastes appearing to have something for seemingly everyone in the universe if
they have the will to fight for it.

I’m going to break immersion for a moment in order to describe how big this place
is as I don’t think artsy prose does it justice. If you took a 1600x1080 picture of a big yellow
circle then pretended it was The Endless Wastes, then each pixel on that image would be
the size of Earth. They do not call it the Endless Wastes for nothing.

Madonia
• Planet Type: Desert
• Population: 750,000,000
• Special thanks for the original idea: Valles

Madonia has its roots as a factory world long before the days of the Malfean War,
where it’s plentiful mines allowed the Exalted Empire to mass produce various vehicles en
masse, occasionally farming the black powder known as Firedust that covered the
windswept sandy world. The importance of this world was sudden elevated when drilling in
the world itself allowed for the discovery of Fireliquid, a far more potent version of firedust
that was very rare in the galaxy at large and served as excellent spaceship fuel even
during the Golden Age. Companies and legions of new workers began to swarm the desert
planet, ready to extract pure gold from the yellow dunes of Madonia. When the Malfean
War started, Cecelyne took special care of this planet to ensure a vital supply line for the
Exalted Empire was cut off. She not only scoured the planet of whatever little water and
plant life it had left, but also did things such as re-arrange the Dragonlines of the planet,
manses in capital cities exploding in massive planet-shaking explosions before finally
throwing down a Clockstopper on the planet itself, making communication impossible and
ensuring the planet would not be even a remote threat for the remainder of the war.
Cecelyne even sent down some of her own handpicked cultists to the world, to confuse
and misled whomever was left on the planet so that they would never have the power to
unite again.

The cultists of Cecelyne found they didn’t need to do much to prompt the inevitable
infighting, where shortages of food and supplies quickly led to the remainder of workers to
begin raids and then eventually full-blown war against each other. Those who had access
to mines, automotive manufacturing facilities, and fuel such as Fireliquid and primitive
gasoline quickly became the warlords of the planet itself. Civilization rapidly broke down
into barbarity as vast fleets of vehicles constantly warred against other, the scraps of
civilization being used to gather whatever other scraps remained on the surface amidst the
sandstorms and super thunderstorms and ravaged the surface below. The planet of
Madonia seemingly lost to the casualties of war that amounted after the Malfean War.

That is until many years later when the corporate security team of a
megacorporation crash landed on the planet itself. Quickly recovering from the confusion
of their situation before beginning a crusade to find the Clockstopper device preventing
them from leaving. After many trials and battles the security team finally located the
Clockstopper device, being located amongst mysterious and undiscovered alien ruins run
by the descendants of Cecelyne Cultists, the Cult of the Desert Mother. After the cult itself
was crushed, the security team finally headed back to the home a few years later,
reporting a planet rich in potential resources and alien ruins while demanding a pay raise
for their recent job performance and a promise never return to that hellish world again.

The megacorporation was quick to make their way back to the world with the
original security team, this time fully armed with a ‘pacification’ fleet. The megacorporation
stormed the world itself, warring against the locals of the planet to claim the vast amounts
of resources on the planet for themselves. But one of the members of the Megacorporation
was a spy for the Tyrant of Gem, one who quickly informed him of this situation as
Madonia was directly within spitting distance of his galactic border. The Despot of Gem
was furious at this development, but just as he was about to send down his own fleet to
engage the megacorporation he saw a way to kill multiple birds with one stone. Why
appear like the bad guy when someone else would gladly do it for you while you swoop in
pretending to be the good guy all along? The Despot of Gem then contacted one of the
only other megacorporations he knew of that would fight tooth and nail for the planet: The
Ledaal Research and Development Corporation.

Mere weeks later after the appearance of the first megacorporation, Ledaal ships
began appearing out of Canal Space one after another above the orbit Madonia. Battleship
cannons roared as daring fight pilots flew in between the no man’s land between ships as
Ledaal leapt straight into a prime example of hostile acquisitions of a rival company’s
product. Flaming hulls of both the first megacorporation and Ledaal screamed down to the
surface, the massive metal hulks crashing into the landscape which were quickly looted by
the local populace who now found themselves armed and the ability to produce weapons,
which they quickly turned on against the first megacorporation on the planet’s surface. As
the first megacorporation retreated, the Ledaal Research and Development Firm quietly
filed Madonia as one of its protectorate planets, setting up new research and exploration
outposts while allowing the Despot of Gem to begin extraction operations for the Firedust
and Fireliquid on the surface itself.

The war for Madonia itself has raged on for several years, where the technological
prowess of Megacorporations meet the cunning and insanity of the ‘Sandrider’ locals as
both race to unlock the newly discovered alien relics that dot the surface against the plot of
a greedy tyrant to only become richer. Gritty ground battles rage across the planet itself as
orbital bombardment of the planet is deemed too great of a risk, where bombardment
weapons could easily ignite an underground deposit of Fireliquid and ignite an entire
continent, possibly destroying any alien ruins that might be in the area, kill hundreds of
thousands of people, or worse cut into the vast profits the planet is currently outputting.

Paragon
• Planet Type: Desert / Hive
• Population: 5,000,000,000

The tale of Paragon begins long ago during the era of the times of the Golden Age,
in where a Sidereal wished to develop a way for a planet to maintain order in case the
worse came to pass where both the Exalted and the Stellar Intelligences were unable to
reach the planet. The fruits of the Sidereal’s labor came to pass when he developed an
advanced Spirit Program by the name of Paragon, a system that would serve a backup
ruler capable of maintaining order across not only one planet but across several systems if
the need should arise. When the Spirit Program was put to the test the Sidereal found it
more than capable of running its job so seamlessly that the people on the planet didn’t
even notice that the commands of Theion no longer reached the planet. When the Malfean
War started in force, the opening salvo of attacks knocked the Paragon Spirit program
offline, burying it and its computational manse beneath tons of rubble.

Centuries later, sometime shortly before the formation of the Central Empire itself,
the Paragon spirit program and it’s processing manse were discovered by a Scavenger
Lord. When the Paragon learned of what had transpired in the Malfean War and how the
races it was programmed to protect were warring against each other instead of attempting
to unify the galaxy as a whole, the Paragon felt immense distress at the entire situation.
Not only had he failed in his primary purpose when it mattered most but to also see the
mortal races of the galaxy driven to such extremes. After several days and night thinking
about what had to be done the Spirit program came to a conclusion: Mortals were unable
to government themselves. All mortals are driven by base biological or emotional needs
and to let them self-govern themselves would be a grave mistake. Inside of his
computational center he immediately began work on the production of the first “Control
Chips” to distribute to those he promised under his rule. These control chips would allow
the Paragon to see wherever someone was at any time to ensure their system and
bypassed language barriers completely, allowing two people who have control chips to
speak to each other and automatically understand the intent and words of what they were
speaking. When it was later learned that the Paragon could induce pain or even seizures
in people who held these chips it was quickly spun into a tale about how people could be
expected to live in a perfect society. Crime was non-existent while a personal robotic
servant attended to your care and to ensure your safety. Even Heaven’s Son realized the
folly of attacking the Paragon and his robotic forces, and anyone who even attempted to
switch allegiances to the Thousandth Dynasty would immediately have an aneurysm for
attempting to go through with the deed.

Paragon remains in place even today, held in place by a forced peace overseen by
the Paragon Spirit Program. The Paragon Spirit program is no stronger than even a
mortal, but with legions of powerful automated war machines at his disposal he has no
need for personal prowess himself. Those who live in his empire are said to live without
want or fear for their lives, each personal robotic assistant constantly overseeing people to
make sure they stay in line and to protect them. People who wish to undertake jobs to
eliminate boredom are placed into jobs which the Paragon calculates are best for them,
done as the Paragon understands that those under his rule may sometimes desire
purpose. The only ‘mortals’ allowed in the Paragon’s military are Dragonblooded
themselves, in which the scarcity of them allows them to be very well equipped and armed
to deal the robotic hordes of the Paragon into battle itself.

It is no secret that the Paragon has no love inside of the Southern Sector, many
Long War Lunars decrying the major power as far more controlling than the Thousandth
Dynasty ever will be. Countries such as Gem and Delzahn do not appreciate the ambitious
Paragon program attempting to attack their territory for resources and expansion as they
know those captured by Paragon forces are given one of two choices: To join the
Paragon’s ideal nation or to die on the spot. Capturing territory held by the Paragon is
pointless as well, as either all Paragon citizens demand to return to Paragon space or
begin to riot, civil disobedience and terrorism becoming rampant to any hostile invading
force. So far the Paragon’s influence has not reached the territory of An-Teng, but many in
the South wonder that if the Paragon pokes the beehive that is known as An-Teng will
finally spur them on into open war against the Paragon program.
 The soulsteel Terminus ship The Fangs of the Lion continues its trip through Canal
Space, the only sounds coming from the ship are the soft hum of the engines, scattered
Necromancers and Soulsingers throughout the ship, and on the bridge itself where
Captain Ahskel sits in his captain’s chair, the eyeless sockets of his burning skull glancing
at those down below, especially those of his grieving allies.

“It is through space we endlessly chase for a prize for which has no place.” the
venomous tone of a woman sings out nearby, her very body appearing to be translucent
as it flickers in the soft light of the holograms on the bridge. “The Pale Mistress has little
time to waste, so why are we on this wild dream chase?”

Another man snickers nearby with armour made of solid bone and chitin, an extra
paid of insect like arms coming out from his face as the AR glasses around his head flash
with numerous readouts, a well-trimmed goatee in front of his slicked back hair. “We won’t
know until we arrive at our destination, now will we? I’ve got a good feeling about the
location this time.”

“Kissinger! That was said after our last jump, whereafter it left you stumped!” the
Pale Mistress growls as she looks the man in bone armour.

“If there’s nothing there then I’m sure our soldiers would enjoy a little rest and
relaxation by ‘recruiting’ the locals, we need the resources for more Talons and Gargoyles,
so it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.” the man in the bone armour says as he notices an alarm
from a nearby hologram from one of the ship bridges, the creature that’s fused to the floor
of the ship sliding the hologram over to Kissinger. “Exit in 8 seconds.”

“Brace for re-entry to realspace.” the blue flames of Ahskel’s head grow a bit
brighter in intensity for his excitement, but his voice remains calm as he gives the orders to
his fleet.

The long straight lines of stars finally snap to dots of light once again, The Fangs of
the Lion and the fleet she commands entering back into realspace once again. The minds
of all the crew on the bridge filled with wonder as a single planet fills the display on the
viewing window of the bridge down below, a perfect blue and green pearl of a planet just
waiting to be plucked by the forces of the dead, the five multicoloured moons that surround
the planet itself turn just enough so the rays of light from the system’s star only add to the
beauty of the planet itself.

“Rael.” Captain Ashkel says as he gazes upon the planet below, where even his
normal monotone voice had hints of awe in his voice.

Just as the sense of wonder and awe began to fill the bridge itself, bright red
exclamation marks filled the bridge, drawing the attention to a single ship now coming
around one of the moons itself. A multiple kilometer long battleship made out of the purest
gold and white, a divine halo easily seen shimmering around it almost as bright as the star
of the system itself.
 “What fool dares to seek to rob us of our prize!? They will only meet their demise!”
The Pale Mistress says gritting her teeth in rage.

Kissinger’s face went pale the instant he saw the golden ship on the viewscreen,
his legs practically shaking as he stared in slack jawed horror. “Captain! Get us out of here
now!”

“Power up for emergency warp! Skip the exit calculations, anywhere is better than
here!” Captain Ahskel immediately commands the crew on ship.

“Terminus energy readings detecting. Purifying.” A deep rumbling voice that

seemed to burn its way into one’s soul blasted over the open communication networks.
The golden ship now making its way at full speed towards the undead fleet, flashes of its
beam cannons could be seen pulsing as purple rays of energy raced towards the targets,
the beams it fired out splitting into smaller beams again and again until the entire view of
space in front of them was filled with nothing but a blinding violet light as alarms screamed
in the control room.

Kissinger sliced one of the immobile pilots in two as he raced over to commandeer
his station, sweat pouring down his face as he raced to manually override the numerous
safety features. The entire ship rocked as it withstood the barrage of fire, sparks flying
across the room itself as the viewing hologram flickered only to show the necrotic fleet that
had destroyed worlds in its passing were obliterated in seconds. Cracks in Ahskel’s
Captain’s chair appears as his armour is slowly cracked open bit by bit as a bloody sun
appears on his brow, the undead commander taking the damage to his ship unto him.
Then as suddenly as they arrived the undead vessel snaps back into Canal Space, the
soft rainbow shifting hues one again surrounding the vessel as the long strings of stars
raced by them.

Kissinger himself collapses on the console, his descend to the floor slowed by the
arms on his armour’s back. “I see the Unconquered Sun lives up to it’s name.”

“It’s name!? What about our names!?” The Pale Mistress says in a panicking voice
as her screeching lingers in the air for several seconds. “With the Lion’s fleet in tatters we’ll
be the one’s he blames!”

Ahskel waves away the reanimated that fawn over him and his wounds, looking
down at his crew below. “Pale Mistress, remember that our lord did not give us a mission
of conquering but that of exploration? We have crushed those that have stood before us,
but have only done so for those who stood in the way of our goal, sending us out as we
were the only ones capable of such a task. We not only have the location of Rael but also
the current location of the Unconquered Sun itself. When we return to the Lion with this
bounty a single destroyed fleet will be of no significance and we’ll be richly rewarded for
doing so.”
 Chapter 5: Exotic Locales
Life. Afterlife. Real. Virtual. Dream. Nightmare. Biological. Mechanical. It's a thin
line for the things that inhabit the stranger corners of the galaxy itself6.

As the path mankind and the races before them were forged through space,
matters quickly became apparent that things were not all as sentient races predicted them
to be. Phenomena and races in the galaxy that seemed to defy all traditional lines of
thought, many such encounters being paradigm shattering discoveries for the first
explorers of the galaxy as the encountered each other, and this was in the days before the
Exalted existed.

Since the development of the Exalted strange new places inside of the Celestial
Vault have begun to spring forth as a result of their actions. The galaxy at large no long
one whole of mortal species but a melting pot consisting of strange beings just as alien as
they are powerful. From the dark depths of Terminus Space to the glittering towers of the
Grand Celestial Mountain, the galaxy has been changed for better or worse. Those living
inside of the Celestial Vault need to either make use of such powers or risk being used or
consumed by them whole.

Autochthonia
Long ago was Autochthon created by the Solars, an artificial sun made in the very
image of technology that was his purview. Everything grand moving gears the size of
continents to the finest femptoscale level circuit, Autochthon was the embodiment of
technology and he wielded it as easily as a man moving his arm. While his brethren may
have been better in coming up with new theories it was Autochthon that provided the
bedrock and technical expertise to some of the greatest inventions in the universe. It was
Theion who constructed the Unconquered Sun battleship, but the framework for such
plans came from Autochthon himself. The standard terraforming devices used by Kimbery
and Cecelyne had their templates originate from Autochthon himself, and while She Who
Lives In Her Name was the one to mathematically prove how Isidoros’s might could punch
two holes into space it was Autochthon who provided the practical application to build the
great Rosie gates.

Autochthon himself however was a strongly solitary Stellar Intelligence, preferring

to be in the company of his inventions rather than listening to the bickering politics of the
ants he built for and his Stellar brethren. When Theion approached him asking him to join
the rest of his kind for the Malfean War, Autochthon steadfastly refused, claiming that such
a war would be an immense waste of resources and cause untold damage to the galaxy at
large, though he stayed his voicebox on how Theion was doing such a thing for his own
ego. When the Malfean War started floods of Exalted came to his own home planet
begging to help that fell upon deaf ears. It was only until a bit later in the war when
Autochthon saw some of the damage rendered to some planetary devices that would
endanger not only entire systems but entire sectors that he joined as a neutral party, telling

6
Thanks KuantumSuicide!
both the Exalted Empire and Stellar Intelligence’s that he was only repairing the things that
were a danger to all rather than joining sides. Autochthon’s neutrality was tested many
times in the way, but he and his techno-priests held true to their stance. Even as the first
Stellar Intelligence imploded into the first Tomb Star and creating/opening Terminus
space, he remained with his stance.

It was only after the end of the Malfean War that Autochthon’s stance was
vindicated, as massive sections of the galaxy lie in such disrepair and ruin that not even he
could fix it. For a brief period of time after the Malfean War Autochthon helped to repair as
much as the obvious damage as possible to both the Celestial Vault and the Grand
Celestial Mountain along with his sister Gaia, the Stellar Intelligence who joined forces with
the Exalted Empire. But glancing at the movements of the Exalted Empire and other races
in the galaxy filled Autochthon with concern. They coveted the functional Golden Age
planets inside of his home system even as earth and water were terraformed to metal and
oil. Such creatures were unpredictable to Autochthon but if there was thing he knew very
well was that these creatures always acted in their own self interests. As formal requests
to open his system up to Twilight, No Moon’s, and Secret’s scientists Autochthon began to
become concerned with how long it would take for such polite requests to become
demands and ultimatums. Going to war was an option, but many of his more combat
oriented brethren were defeated in the Malfean War. The chances of winning against the
Exalted Empire, even in their diminished state, was slim to begin with and statistically
impossible when Gaia herself was factored in. If Autochthon had the strategic brilliance of
Rathmus, the Stellar Intelligence of Warfare, they might’ve been able to devise a way to
victory but Rathmus had not been seen or heard from long before the idea of the Malfean
War even began.

After Autochthon repaired the damage caused by the war which would threaten the
universe itself did he move his own plan into motion. Though it pained him to do so, he
started gutting his own planets for the raw resources to make his own mini-universe
outside of the Celestial Vault. Devices were made so entire systems would be lifted with
him to new locations while manufacturing some of the last and greatest Wormhole gates
ever created. To escape the detection of the Loom Program and to prevent incursions by
the Screaming Hordes, Autochthon managed to create a Loom Version 2.0 after incredible
trials by his tech-priests in all the known sectors of the universe itself while a massive
structure created in his crystal godhead allowed the cosmic titan to pull souls out of bodies
and into new ones before they had a chance to become undead, Autochthon himself
feeding off the energy this process created. Without so much as a word Autochthon then
launched his plan, taking his own system along with several others into a sudden
unexpected jump that took all the unfortunate mortals who were in the area at the time
along with him: An entire constellation that would be the basis for his own miniature
universe named Autochthonia.

After the arrival itself Autochthon began to share his own gifts of knowledge to the
mortals inside of his lands, devising ways to bestow his knowledge amongst the select
members of the population as best as he could, even though their fragile and feeble minds
could only understand tiny fragments of his overall ability. He created a new type of
Exalted itself based entirely on mechanical means, the Alchemical Exalted, to protect and
serve the mortal population. Finally, he took the greatest of his tech-priests and using an
updated method of the transmutation process his brothers and sisters employed in the
Malfean War, inserted fragments of his DNA-Souls to create powerful beings that were
neither god nor demon, but Divine Ministers that would regulate and decide on matters for
Autochthon in his absence. All this work was done so that Autochthon himself could
actually better himself; upgrading his already vast might so that he would not be limited to
one mere stars but multiple ones, but do this he would need to go offline for ages. Such a
thing would all be worth Autochthon felt as by the time he was brought back online then
the Exalted Empire would’ve likely recovered from the Malfean War and if not, well
Autochthon believed then he’d have the industrial base to strip mine whatever ruins were
left remaining into a galaxy sized super body.

As Autochthon entered his slumber and the ages ticked on by, great cities of steel
and glass began to form out of the singular remaining planets, the greatest of Alchemical
champions turning into massive cities on world's mined hollow long ago and turned into
massive mechanical worlds full of moving parts and pieces that move in perfect
synchronicity in honor of the slumbering god. Autochthon himself is now part of the many
suns that encompass his mini-galaxy, now known as God Constellation Autochthon, with
the steps currently being undertaken to convert the final star and complete the task
Autochthon assigned long ago. But all's not well within the God Constellation. Rumors of
supplies running out are having some planets cannibalize themselves in order to keep the
ancient inner workings of the planet working, rumors that spread around the God-Pattern
programs and places as far as the Court of Oil spread rumors about how the Divine
Ministers lack the resources to complete the will of their god after their own petty projects
while mortals scheme, plan, and occasionally war against each other in advanced
interstellar space ships as the powerful and alien forces of the void march for the extinction
of Autochthon itself in the cities below the faithful.

If you need more ideas, feel free to rip ideas from Gunstar and throw it here.

Metaphysics within Autochthonia

Autochthonia space is a unique place unseen anywhere else in the galaxy. A place
where technology prevails over nature while live their entire lives and die in vast
megacities of not mere metal and glass, but Orichalcum and Jade as the living cities
protect them from all outsiders. Even on the remotest planet of Autochthonia you will find
some influence of technology amongst the planet itself, resources or equipment left there
long ago during the Great Excavation era.

Structure of Autochthonia
When entire systems departed the Celestial Vault Autochthon himself did not give
them much warning, hurling transport containers just hours before the jump began causing
mass panic as people were herded into the containers themselves. To ensure secrecy,
departing ships were shot down by a planet’s own anti-orbital defense networks while
access to the Grand Celestial Mountain communication network was abruptly terminated.
After the jump itself it was the Tech-priests who led people out of the hardened transport
containers and back to the worlds themselves, the planets relatively intact but scoured
virtually all life where only ruins were left in their wake. Those left on the planets didn’t
have much quality in life as the beginning as many people died in droves from overworking
and other horrible conditions, but once Autochthon started production of his first
champions to inspire the people toiling away on such planets product skyrocketed. As the
Alchemical champions ascended into massive city complexes they began to wire their own
consciousness to that Autochthon himself, creating a communication network called The
Core, which facilitated communication between worlds and functioned as a replacement
for the Grand Celestial Mountain.

As the Autochthonians rapidly rose up from the squalor they started in, mining
entire planets virtually hollow and replacing them with vast machines, production facilities,
weapon batteries, and other facilities that Autochthonia drafted long ago for his upgrades.
The chaotic mixture of random minerals from the crust of the earth were leached out long
ago, sorted into massive spires of quartz and shining flats of copper. Once the powerful
Moho mines sucked nearly all the known mantle out of a planet and replaced with vast
struts to keep the surface from falling, entire cities of people flowering off the structures
before filling the entire planet over the ages, all kept warm by the cores of the planets
themselves converted into stable powerplants for the use of all. The lost technology known
only as Manses eluding the grasp of Autochthon, who wondered why his new elements of
Crystal or Lightning couldn’t do what Gaia’s inferior Earth or Air could. Instead of
attempting to figure such a solution so close to his hibernation and with his systems slowly
winding down, he taught his champions the axioms of efficiency, in how one must look at
the totality of an object to find how it can be used in the longest possible method before
being replaced or recycled.

Such an age was known as the Great Excavation Era, where asteroid belts,
moons, and even planets were mined hollow and replaced with the insides of machines.
During this era the primary virtue was the speed of production, so people toiled day and
night, leaving resources in vast reserves in massive storehouses for future use in this age
of plenty. Civilizations grew fat and mighty as they strived to rise to ever higher heights.
Any strange monsters or aliens on such planets that were consumed for resources were
dealt with by the powerful Alchemical Exalted such as the legendary Soulsteel caste
Relentless Forge7 and his legendary circle who fought threats that endangered entire
systems. Everything seemed to right and well with the world... that is until the Gremlin
Wars started.

The Gremlin Wars were brought on about by insane and mutated machines, those
who have heard the great Tomb Star known as the Engine of Destruction whisper to their
shattered minds. They crawled out from the depths of the planet themselves in numbers
billions strong. The even iconic Alchemicals were not immune as they mutated into the
horrific Apostates that laid siege to entire worlds. The only reason such a war was won is
due to the security systems that Autochthon himself put in place to repel a small scouting
fleet for the Exalted Empire in the incredibly unlikely chance that he was discovered by
them before his reawakening. It was because of this the war ended with only one of
Autochthonia’s major planets being destroyed in the process, Ixut, but with many more

7
Hi Shyft, somewhat forgot the full name of Forge.
being seriously damaged in the process. This in turn led to a new age of shortage, as
nations raced out to collect the resources stockpiled in the Great Excavation Era, many
nations even going as far as declaring war against each other. Even as little as only a few
decades ago the Elemental War happened between the systems of Yugash and Sova, a
war so costly in men that even the Gremlin Wars paled in comparison to it.

It’s in this current era where events have somewhat stabilized, even as systems
such as Nurad face cataclysmic resource shortfalls. As of now Autochthonia’s Grand
Autocrats remain divided on the issue of how to proceed for the future. Some systems,
such as Yugash, claim that Autochthonia needs to head back into the mythical Celestial
Vault to replenish both souls and men. Nations such as Jarish sharply counter this,
claiming that the divine machine god gave them all they’d ever need in order to live until
the Grand Temporal Regulator finally gives out. Others say the Celestial Vault itself is a
myth, as outside of Autochthonia itself there is only the endless black void of space. All
nations continue to watch each other with leery eyes however, not wanting any potential
rivals to get too far ahead of each other.

Structure of Autochthonian space

The main structure of Autochthonian space is composed of multiple systems
constantly in orbit around Autochthonian’s primary body, a massive dyson sphere made of
Crystal known only as the Godhead. It is the single shining light in the sky of Autochthonia
as all of the stars inside of Autochthonia were surrounded by dyson sphere’s long ago.
Each of these systems have their own erratic orbit, their flight paths in constant flux and
uncertainty due several massive giant planets of smoke or superconducting dynamos
warping stable orbiting paths. Flying to other nearby Octet systems is usually only done
when two of them come close enough together for flight to become timely and feasible.

Autochthonia does not have Canal routes, thus no Canal drives for relatively fast
travel. Autochthonia may be comparatively small when pitted against the likes of the
Celestial Vault, travel becomes much more of an issue. Inter-system travel will often take
weeks or months, but travelling from one side of the Celestial Vault to another may take
years even if Autochthonian ships have much better performance than most ships in the
Celestial Vault. This isn’t to downplay the dangers Autochthonian space poses as well.
With the Godhead itself draining nearly all light in Autochthonia towards it, navigators have
to constantly guide their ship in a starless abyss where one typically doesn’t know what is
out there until it's directly on top of them. Pirates, ancient security systems, gremlins, or
angry elements constantly lurk in the Abyss, and it is only due to the skill and the super
sensitive eyes of the Navigator caste that allows a ship to sail through this dark abyss, only
removing their flash shutters so they can peer into the darkness of space to see even the
faintest traces of light from objects, so the Captain may plot his choice accordingly. The
feeling of anxiousness and dread a boarding crew feels whenever they dock with a drifting
Supply Depot is universally shared, not knowing whenever to expect it to be lifeless inside,
home to hostiles such as Gremlins or Elementals, or full of traps left behind by any
previous occupants. Yugash even has problems with getting supplies from their own
depots now, as they purposefully sent out legions of Automatons to the supply depot belts
with no off switch and orders to kill anyone who attempted to enter the depot in an effort to
stave off Sova from their system.

There is a large amount of loose and floating debris in Autochthonia, but it is all
kept inside by both the Godhead and the Seal of Eight Divinities. The exterior of
Autochthonia itself is a special energy shield which repels most known matter and keeps
those attempting to locate Autochthonia from the outside clueless. The key locations
around this energy shield is known as the ‘poles’, areas of intense elemental
Autochthonian energy. Each of these poles tend to have their own systems, bizarre worlds
which have all sorts of alien and strange geometry that those mining them were forced to
construct during the Great Excavation era. Giant Lightning storms rage constantly for light
years out from the pole of Lightning while all the planets around the Pole of Oil are little
more than giant balls of chemical lubricant. The energies emitting from them being so
strong that humans who have lived there over generations have mutated into entirely
separate species who fiercely defend their own territory. Some friendly to the Octet while
others remain angry for the distant ancestors being abandoned on such planets long ago.
Such species are weaker overall compared to the Octet, but the lethality of their
environment provides the perfect defense against would be invaders while their
dependence on such an environment keeps them imprisoned there.

Accessing Autochthonia
You don’t.

Autochthonian space exists in a large gap between galaxies itself where light
cannot even reach. Methods for pinpointing its location probably existed during the Golden
Age but those devices are most likely long since broken or destroyed in the Malfean War
itself. The only way back would be through the Rosie gates that Autochthon used to travel
to his isolated spot in the universe currently, which can only be opened inside of
Autochthonia itself. Lately Yugash has been busy constructing one of these gates in
preparation for heading back through it and into the mythical realm of the Celestial Vault,
birthplace of Autochthonia itself. Even now those with Yugash work day and night with
their eyes and hopes to the stars as they convert Ot into one of the first interstellar
scouting planets.

As soon as those Rosie gates are active however anyone and everyone with a
functional space ship would be able to access Autochthonia at large. Even if the nigh
indestructible Rosie Gates leading to Autochthonia were destroyed one could use tools to
track where their destination originally was and build a new one assuming if the
infrastructure was high enough to do so. Currently the galaxy cannot manage such a thing
at large, but with the resurfacing of the Solars such a thing might be possible.

The Alchemicals
See Chapter 2 for their description.

Planets Within Autochthonia

 Scout World Ot
• Planet Type: Fortress / Hive / Space Station
• Population: 15,000,000,000

Where once a despaired population toiled and slaved under the smog filled sky of
their moonsilver city peering over a vast ocean of oil, hope as bright as the lightning that
strikes in the clouds above has begun to flourish. Following the words of the late prophet
Siren of Het and his wondrous and magical stories about the Celestial Vault that captured
the ears of Champions and Autocrat alike, the decision was made upon his death that
Yugash would be going into the Celestial Vault regardless of what the other system
thought. While Yugash drifted away into its long orbit around Autochthon’s main core, the
Yugashi set it upon themselves to convert the Fortress world of Ot into an exploration
vessel prepared to handle everything the Celestial Vault could possibly throw at them. The
intention is that Ot would be prepared and launched far before Yugash itself came close
again to the other Autochthonian systems, and so far they’re on track.

The entire population of Ot itself is busy training themselves for interaction within
the Celestial Vault. People in the city and given language lessons for simple phrases
spoken using the primary official language of the Exalted Empire. The scores of scarred
hulks that dot Piluk’s junkyard is a now a place where eager volunteers train under
legendary Alchemical War Heroes on tactics such as boarding combat while eager
production crews begin to breathe new life into the Autochthonian war ships, many
anxiously awaiting the rise of the Fearless Endeavour from the scrap heap it plunged into
after saving Ot during the Elemental War. Massive engines on the back of the world are
being constructed in order to drive the entire planet through space while one of Yugash’s
greatest treasures, a functional anima field emitter and Canal drive, are constantly studied
by some of the most brilliant minds in Autochthonia under the ever-watchful eyes of
Soulsteel Alchemicals. Plans are already being drafted up so that Ot itself may benefit
from these technologies, with the inhuman xenos being driven from the shantytowns on
the fringes of the capital city itself as the foundation for such structures begins. Workers
toil in the plants making everything from brand new blaster rifles and spacesuits while
Autocrats undergo intense lessons from ancient reports about the cultures of the Celestial
Vault so they may better know what to say to those they meet.

Everyone is throwing everything they’ve got into Project Razor, and everyone looks
forward to returning to Yugash sometime in the future but this time with the planetary
stores brimming with new resources and new allies in tow.

Forge World Arat

• Planet Type: Hive
• Population: 29,000,000,000

When the first souls ages ago were first ‘chosen’ by Autochthon and left to their
own devices all of their systems were left adrift in the near-lightness void of Autochthonia,
but it was amongst the first meeting of nations that a social plan was drawn up. One using
the wisdom of the Great Maker but more importantly ensuring a method for grow that
would not cause constant turmoil or at least a war as catastrophic as the Malfean War.
The ones who first founded the system of Claslat were originally traders and bankers,
which in the opinion of them establishing a central currency would be vital to the growth
and wellbeing of Autochthonia. The Claslati ancestors pointed to the success of their own
nation as an example of what a proper currency could bring. The other nations were not so
keen on this idea; after the Malfean War there was virtually no stable currency, so many
systems relied on bartering for goods rather than an exchange of currency. With seven
nations managing to establish themselves into great system-wide nations, the other
nations simply didn’t see a point in establishing an Autochthonia wide currency unit. Many
nations were from war torn planets from the Malfean War and even their ancestors were
using bartering long before coming to Autochthonia while the more religiously minded said
that work itself should have the reward of serving Autochthon rather than pieces of metal
which could corrupt moral fiber (and have the metal used to make them put to better use).
Despite being outvoted Claslat kept their economic values close to their heart. Using
economic principles of figuring out exactly what other nations wanted and always seeking
to get the better deal, the system of Claslat has grown into one of the largest and most
prosperous nations in Autochthonia.

Each planet in Claslat specializes in producing a certain kind of good and Forge
World Arat is very good at making one thing: Warfare related goods. Beneath the smog
covered skies of the soulsteel forges blasters and armour are made for foot soldiers while
Urban Assault Striders are made in the next block over. Orbital elevators rise above the
perpetual smog and overcast covered planet linking to orbital space station shipyards, with
an unfathomable amount of material going up the elevators every day in order to produce
warships made to order under the light of the dim sun, waiting for the day the dyson cloud
around it activates in full to become a part of God Constellation Autochthon. Arad sells
their product to anyone who is willing to pay the price, such as both Sova and Yugash
during the Elemental War at one point and for good reason: When it comes to quality and
price you cannot beat Arad. Many swear by the custom kill counters that come
programmed into weapons inspires those in battle to ever greater heights. Research and
Development isn’t something the Claslati’s or Arat specializes in, after all it is much
cheaper to steal designs with spies. Still there are a handful of R&D sectors across Arat,
such as the Alchemical Colossi Heroes Flames Dancing Across the Battlefield or Shock
and Awe who work in glimmering factories of gold, producing not only sets of powered
armour and arms which even Estasians covet while high-powered and miraculous artifacts
are crafted to use as leveraging pieces for other nations.

The people of Arad work hard and they play hard. The harder one works in a
factory the more glots they obtain, so quite often many Aradians work constantly.
Undertaking grueling 16 hour shifts for months on end before going on massive benders.
Glots are spent as freely as water in the “Neon Plug District”, where booze is consumed
just as fast as it is pissed out, high stakes gambling for the daredevils, drugs are
consumed until hallucinations start appearing, the laughter of whores on the streets
become moans in private rooms or abandoned alleyways, and the party never stops until
the beginning of your next shift. Even Alchemical Heroes such as Thousand Hammers
Clamor are not immune to this, constantly in a party phase during the off time she has
while the state constantly tries to cover up her behavior. Jarish claims that such a thing is
not only moral degradation of the highest order but also heretical for allowing people to
take time off of work for selfish purposes. Arat and Claslat laughs at such a thing, pointing
to how their productivity rate is the highest amongst all of the nations because of this
policy. People work harder when a very tangible reward is in front of them rather than
doing it to appease some sort of distant god.

Like many Claslati planets, Arad was mined hollow ages ago to fuel the mighty
industrial machine that exists topside. The crust of the planet itself was consumed ages
ago, rocks stripped of any and all valuable elements before the rest being forged into a
replacement crust that gives the planet the black hue it is known for. Down below that are
the countless layers of old Arat, once bustling mining cities sit abandoned for centuries in
amidst the titanic support struts that form the center of the hollow planet, each of them
drawing up energy from the planet’s molten core in the center with the form of a
miniaturized dyson sphere. It is within these layers that the undesirables of Claslat roam.
Criminals, Lumpen, Xenos, and Void Folk all gather and congregate in these areas,
moving from abandoned city to abandoned city when Regulators or inter-gang warfare
becomes too heated. Normally the underfolk are left to their own devices, Aradians
ignoring even the minor raids and thefts of their supply lines. The Aradians however react
swiftly to any incident that could case the destruction or collapse of one of the planetary
support pillars. The pit known as The Maw of Endless Aggression was named after the
Apostate who successfully collapsed a pillar during the Gremlin Wars, sending an area the
size of a small continent and billions of people down screaming into the depths of the
planet below.

Claslat knows of Yugash’s own plan to head back into the Celestial Vault but their
reason for wanting to know more is linked to one goal: To accumulate more wealth. They
know of the anima field and canal drive that Yugash has and Claslat would love nothing
more than to get their hands on it to begin mass producing it for both themselves and other
nations. But even the top Moonsilver Spy of Claslat, Seven Eyes Unblinking, is having
immense difficulty even getting close to the prototypes that Yugash are making. So far his
secondary goal is far more feasible: Enter the Celestial Vault with Yugash and report any
findings faster than Yugash can bring them back.

Supply Station Kamak Z1Y5X7

• Planet Type: Space Station
• Population: 10,000

Supply Station Kamak Z1Y5X7 is one of the countless asteroids that were mined
hollowed and turned into a resource stockpile during the Great Excavation era and then
left adrift into a stable orbit around the weak Kamak system star. This ramshackle facility
had all of their materials processed into a vast interlocking series of warehouses full of raw
materials and working space station subsystems to make it more pleasant to work in
during the era it was constructed in. While being a source of great potential supplies for
nations to come back to, they also find themselves as permanent homes for the wandering
vagrants inside of Autochthonia from Void Folk who are just trying to survive, Void Pirates
who set up bases of operations for their ships and loot, to secret storage areas for gremlin
forces.

Supply Station Kamak Z1Y5Z7 finds itself the home of 10,000 such Void Folk,
human and xenos, who call such a place home. Staying as long as it takes for the life
support and the supplies on such a station run out, the people of Z1Y5Z7 attempt to
survive by keeping their heads down, knowing that aggressive neighbours such as pirates
or Gremlins could be on the next station over. Many of the people on the station know that
at least they’re lucky in the Kamak system that if they’re caught by the Regulators they’ll at
least have the chance to leave in the ship they arrived on compared to a place like Estasia
where they’d break into the facility with guns blazing.

The Void Folk at the station few themselves far from worthless, or at least they
would hope to be seen as such from the Octet. Generations of travel and scat
communications from other Void Folk have accurate and up to date maps of the Supply
Station belts that surround Kamak, such as which stations are empty, which are occupied,
which have certain metals in them, which have pirates or gremlins in them, and so forth.
Quite often they can cut deals with Kamak themselves, trading everyday essentials in
exchange for accurate maps or experienced guides to specific locations.

Canal Space
AKA: Watch Sandact flail around pulling things out of his ass as he’s horrible with
the Wyld. The Wyld is my biggest weakness in terms of writing strengths, so while I’ll try
my best I still maintain this part will be the weakest in the book. Apologies for that.

As the mountain of order and stability that is the Celestial Vault floats on the seas
of the cosmos then Canal space is the sea of ultimate potential and chaos of things
unknown that lurks beneath it. Only discovered entirely by accident after the invention of
the Canal Drive plunged the first ship into the truth depths of the Canal, those on the other
side emerging at their destination only driven mad at the sights they had witnessed, the
ship and the crew on board mutated beyond any sort of rhyme or reason by unknown
energies.

Horrified by this outcome studies were conducted into why such a thing had
happened and what exactly the Canal was. After intense study and researching those
researching the dimension had discovered that the Canal was far from the predicted
dimension that had an absence of physics, but was a primordial dimension in of itself in
which massive and erratic quantum fluctuations in reality allowed the impossible to happen
with surprising regularity. Laws such as the light speed barrier were not an issue inside of
Canalspace, but inside of the Canal light could be just as much made of photons as it
could be a haunting melody espousing philosophies long forgotten before turning into a
thick pea soup. It is true that according to the laws of Quantum physics that a bagel in front
of you could suddenly turn into a puppy, but the odds of this happening in realspace are
virtually insignificant. Inside of Canalspace however such Quantum irregularities happen
often and with alarming frequency. Boiling down and changing every aspect of an object
down to even the metaphorical level.

This original discovery horrified the first scientist, who wanted to quickly dismiss the
Canal Drive and anything else related to that accursed dimension. The risk of a tear in
reality accidently opening up if humanity were to head down this avenue of technology
could very well unravel the very nature of the universe itself. Fear tactics were spread
around by some of the scientists but in the end those who wanted to expand won out, as
Canal Drives were vastly better than any other faster than light alternative available in
theory or in practice. It was a danger that humanity and even the universe at large needed
to put up with for the greater good, even vowing to conquer the strange alien realm. For a
time their promise held true, as Anima Field shielding technology could temporarily enforce
stability within an area, making it so light or air wasn’t something hard a ship would smash
into and continue unimpeded through the chaotic dimension free from madness or
mutation.

For a time all was well, at least until the local population of Canalspace natives
realized they could step into our world wielding weapons and technology beyond what
current science could explain. Superior to most mundane technology but paling in
comparison to artifacts, these creatures warred against humans and any other species in
the galaxy for eons. It wasn’t until the invention of the Stellar Intelligence’s that massive
response network made any Screaming Horde incursions virtually impossible for the
residents of that strange realm. But with the Stellar Intelligence’s gone and those networks
abandoned, more and more denizens from the Screaming Hordes spill out from the cracks
in reality every day without size, limit, or number. Sidereals of all types and Lunars fear if
these patches in reality are not mended soon all of reality could be at risk, but there are
just as many who’d fight to maintain the current status quo, as there’s profit to be made
from the strange items and creatures that come from Canalspace itself.

Metaphysics Within Canal Space

Despite the madness that lurks within the heart of Canal Space, there are certain
features to it that are relatively static. We’ve already covered Canal Space travel in chapter
2 and some of the ‘structure’ already, so let’s flesh out the remaining gaps.

Effects Canal Space has on Real Space

The Canal itself is a twisted and corrupting influence, as like a virus it infects
anything it touches, turning things into twisted or alien parodies of what they once were.
This happens by the wyld’s own chaotic energies undoing the ‘strings’ that keep a person
held together, bombarding and nudging them just out of place ever so slightly to induce
mutations as minor as changing one’s hair colour to as significant as turning them into a
puddle of flesh with no vital organs that’ll die within minutes after being transmuted. Such
mutations often take place in seconds within unshielded Canal space, but inside of Real
space the process happens far more slowly, the exact time depending on the severity and
proximity of the nearby Reality Tear. The exception to this is the anima field that the
Exalted and powerful supernatural entities possess, as while it doesn’t make them immune
to the whims of Canal Space it makes them highly resistant to them and with the proper
training may become entirely immune to it. High powered anima fields on ships
themselves are nearly impervious to the ravages of the Canal... so long as it remains
active that is.

Planets themselves are strong bastions of stability within the universe itself, the
large cosmic bodies that have existed for untold ages have imposed upon themselves an
immense durability. The energies of the Canal can break down and warp such planets yes,
but doing so takes significantly longer even if it was thrown into the depths of the Canal.
The exact reason for this is unknown, but many scientists figure it has to do with the
‘psionic imprint’ the planet left on the galaxy at large makes it harder to rip away,
storytellers say it has to with the metaphorical meaning of a planet itself and its static
unchanging nature. Given those that seriously look into the matter tend to go insane, many
are content with the two possibilities before heading on with their own ways.

The powerful might of the Solar Exalted and the Stellar Intelligence’s were known
to impart law and order in such places, weaving the chaos of realspace into vast new
systems or nebula rich with resources. This allowed for many impossible ingredients that
allowed the Golden Age of the galaxy to soar to unheard of heights. But with the fall of the
Stellar Intelligence’s and the disappearance of the Solars these miracle technologies were
long since lost to the ravages of time or ceased their functionality, such as the Great Dam
of Nexus. With the return of the Solar Exalted however many people who own such
objects eagerly await the chance to get a Solar Exalted to repair such objects, mind filled
with the hopes and dreams of living in a long-lost age once again.

Accessing Canal Space

Out of all the strange spaces one can find within the Celestial Vault getting access
to the Canal is by far the easiest: Activate your Canal drive without an activate Anima
Field. Doing such a thing is horribly ill advised as the lifespan of your ship is often
measured in seconds for most of the galaxy or minutes for even the most hardened and
knowledgeable warriors as the limitless numbers of horrors that will fill the ship combined
with the constant breakdowns and malfunctions are the death of most ships. One can
head to the mighty courts of the Lords of Chaos and their unshaped masters, but stepping
foot outside the ship exposes one to the influence of the canal and will not last long under
their mutational energies even if the Lord of a Court promises personal protection.
Therefore, most sane people will often conduct whatever business they have with the
Screaming Hordes around the less dangerous Reality Scars or Canal tainted worlds.

Reality Scars are often another way for those to gain access to the Canal,
Screaming Horde or realspace resident alike. Reality Scars are just as the name implies,
tears in reality that lead directly to the Canal itself. Small Reality Scars can be any size but
if inside the stabilizing territory of a planet will often vanish within seconds. Larger ones,
such as those the size of a small child, could be stable and cause not only energies from
the Canal to constantly leak from it but even creatures from the Screaming Horde’s itself to
occasionally pop out from them. If left unchecked these will often cause breakdowns in
reality as the tear grows more in size and in power until eventually the entire planet
becomes corrupted by the strange logic of the Canal. On such worlds time could pass in a
narrative sense, day only turning into night once some personal goal has been met for the
day and other such oddities. This is ignoring any other potential shenanigans Screaming
Horde creatures can/will most likely attempt to inflict as well. There are also the massive
reality tears, going from big as a planet to those which continue for dozens if not hundreds
of astronomical units. It’s through these massive tears in reality that worlds can be
converted to Canal based worlds if they are several light years away from them or where
powerful Behemoths as large as the stars themselves could wander out into realspace.

The Lords of Chaos

The twisted dimension known as Canal Space also has residents within that call it
home and are just as strange as their own home world. Larger than life beings of
impossible beauty and skill, wielding literal metaphors and poetry against their opponents
as weapons while literally drinking the fear and rage that simmers inside of those who
oppose them. These beings are extremely frightening for those who are unaware of them,
as they appear to be capable of altering reality on a whim to creature seemingly godlike
effects. Vast castles made of diamond and crystal appear literally overnight while a handful
of thrown seeds immediately grow into a squadron of Elite Cacti Bruisers in seconds.
Those who fight against them will quickly find themselves outmatched, as such creatures
are far beyond mortal men in terms of skill to where even an ‘unskilled’ Lord of Chaos is
merely far above average intelligence compared to mortal men. Even the warping powers
of the Canal itself, seeming to transmute and pervert all it touches, are laughed off by such
creatures, in fact even seeming to be energized by the presence of the Canal itself.

If the Lord’s of Chaos didn’t have flaws as significant as their powers, then it
would’ve been entirely possible for humanity to be conquered long ago. The biggest and
most significant flaw is that the very reality of realspace is hostile to the Raksha
themselves. Their title of Lords of Chaos is quite literal, as within the Canal they constantly
need to change in order to maintain their own dreamlike existence. Seamlessly moving
from one form and mindset to the next in as easily as a human lifts their arm or a Yoldian
Glortbeast fraggles to communicate. The rigid laws of Realspace however prevent this
constant changing of shapes, and Raksha who somehow end up in realspace without
some sort of protection will expire within literal seconds. Thus the Lords of Chaos craft
themselves a fixed body and personality by passing through what they call a ‘gate’. This
body essentially functions as a spacesuit, keeping the Lords of Chaos alive and well inside
of realspace itself. These suits however have limits on how long the life support can last,
mainly at how the Raksha’s own roiling heart of chaos and change within themselves
slowly and surely freeze into place before ‘calcifying’ the Raksha, turning it into some form
of statue and essentially killing it.

The Lords of Chaos fear this sort of ignoble death so they seek to prolong this fate
by various means at their disposal. First is entering back inside of the Canal itself, this
effectively resets the amount of time a Raksha can remain inside of space, so famed
Raksha explorers have little to fear if they travel frequently. Going near a Reality Tear can
prolong the amount of time a Raksha can stay inside of realspace exponentially, but those
who desire things beyond the drama of their courtroom fellows may not frequent such
areas. The last method available for them, and one that is feared throughout the cosmos,
is the consumption of one’s own dreams and soul itself. A dreaming mind is said to be full
of chaotic unformed potential of which anything could happen while emotions drive men
and woman to daring or reckless feats which the Raksha seek to emulate. So scientists
say that it is because of this that the Lords of Chaos can feed on the very identity of a
person in order to strengthen their own identity. Some Raksha are nice about such things,
as many would consider a night with a famous Raksha Courtesan to be well worth the
price for one minor bad memory or previous dream, but for those tyrants who cannot stop
at a single sip it is entirely possible to devour the entire soul of a person, leaving them only
a glass eyed husk without emotion or initiative. Such an act is horrific but there is even still
a market for this, as many would love to own slaves on a production line or never complain
or soldiers that are incapable of knowing fear and will obey any order given to them no
matter what it may be. Some even more twisted folk may even hire a Raksha to
completely drain a beautiful woman only to upload a more ‘agreeable’ personality into her
or even a copy of their own personality using the power of technology itself. Raksha
themselves will rarely touch freshly cloned bodies, calling them things such as ‘newborn
puppets’ and saying their soul and dreams taste sour and with no real substance to them.

Planets Within Canal Space

Hellikon IV
• Planet Type: Canal / Wild
• Population: Unknown

The planet of Hellikon IV was spawned a Raksha who looked the depths of
Terminus space, expecting what he thought to be a grand dramatic place where the dead
would roam only to find lifeless stagnation, his hopes and expectations of adventure
crashed by the relative boredom of the place combined with how the very reality of
Terminus Space itself seems to rapidly calcify most Raksha that venture into it’s depths.
Seeking something far more dramatic and interesting than that stale world, the Raksha
himself ventured forth to home court inside of the Inferno Court, where many inside of the
court seemed to be on board with the idea and began eagerly reorganizing a nearby local
planet closest to the reality tear to suit their needs while others began imposing their
narrative on the surrounding systems so the souls of the dead would head to Hellikon IV
instead of Terminus.

Gazing upon the planet from orbit, once can see a red malicious orb of fire that
seems to burn with an untold malice and hatred. Flying over the land itself one can see a
great many islands and continents floating above a perpetual red storm underneath. The
floating islands that contain swamps of blood, cities of steel with rivers of boiling acid, and
castles of stone with waterfalls of molten lava all house the legions of souls that have died
in the surrounding systems, their horrified screams of agony filling the air as one battles
their way through the seemingly countless servants that exist inside of the hellscape itself.
Raksha Nobles amusing themselves by ceaselessly tormenting the souls of the dead,
each of them inhabiting one of nine great lands that house those who committed various
crimes in life, punishments fitting for those who dwell inside of them. Many of these souls
end up going insane, mutating into horrific monsters which provide the Lords of Chaos on
the planet itself with an endless source of amusement. All of this is overseen by the
Raksha who started the planet, named the Icon of Sin, whose vast amount of recognition
has been rewarded by the Canal itself giving him vast amounts of power, and those on the
planet whisper that he may soon attempt to install himself as the new head of the Inferno
Court itself.

One of the greatest dangers to not only the Raksha on the planet but the entire
Inferno Court is the Tomb of the Dreambreaker, a lone soldier whose very name strikes
fear into the hearts of Raksha everywhere. Unknown whenever it be a Solar Exalted from
the End of the Solar Dynasty, a Long War Lunar out for revenge after his cherished pet
was killed, or one of the last remaining Hannya, the bitter enemy of the Lords of Chaos
themselves. This single man raged across multiple Raksha courts, striding through both
the Canal and Realspace as he was home in either one. The thirst he possessed for the
blood of the raksha and his minions was bottomless, leaving behind the ash piles of
millions of raksha as entire courts burned in his wake and the mightiest of champions feel
at his feet. The demons of Hellikon IV watch this Tomb ever vigilantly, letting no one
outside of their court inside the Temple of the Dreamshatter himself. Many within the
Inferno Court considered it a miracle they managed to imprison the creature after so many
had fallen before it. Even to this day the guard around the temple is significant, as massive
beasts with rocket launchers for hands guard the temple day and night. There are those in
the Inferno Court that plot against the Icon of Sin and his ever-increasing influence, so if
help can’t come from the mortal worlds outside the Inferno Court then perhaps unleashing
the dreaded Dreamshatter and letting him do the work of tearing down every last stone of
Icon’s dream would be the perfect counter.

Frostburn
• Planet Type: Canal / Desert
• Population: 750,000,000

The planet of Frostburn is the tale of two planets in both the Northern and Southern
sectors of space and the fey courts that lived there. The hatred of the Scouring court so
intense against the Frost Court that they constantly belittled and insulted each other
despite the vast distances between them over grudges that have been lost to the annuls of
time, but this is easily done by a single world shared between them over vast distances
like a Rosie Gate. One world of lava and sand while the other being nothing more than ice
and snow. The two worlds live in overlapping realities of each other, the world slowly
shifting from Red to Blue as one orbits overhead. Every day on the ground fierce battles
between the Screaming Hordes of fire and ice occur as landscapes become violently
upheaved and mountains collapse before being reformed the next day by new volcanos or
flash freezings of new ice mountains.

The people on the planet themselves are also dragged into the battles, the Raksha
lords seeing them as valuable tools to be deployed in the war. Mortal soldiers are taught
the basics of Screaming Horde warfare in order to abusive inherent reality to strike killing
blows against their enemies in exchange for powerful equipment and items for their native
tribes as those with hair of fire clash against those with hair of ice.

Traders of the galaxy are aware of this planet and its current status, but given the
volatile nature of warfare the Raksha lords are aggressive in demanding people join their
endless crusade or declare them as enemy spy’s that only wish to sabotage them. Rumors
are that Sesus themselves are in negotiation for a contract to purge the local population to
establish the planet as a safe Rosie Gate connecting the North and South. V’Neef
Intergalactic Trading has heard of this themselves, realizing how big of a blow this could
be to their business, attempting to search for a loophole they can exploit and outbid the
Sesusian mercenaries.

Sepharvaim
• Planet Type: Canal / Desert / Fortress
• Population: 0 (?)

The planet of Sepharvaim is a lost planet located deep within the vast territory the
Screaming Horde controlled territory of Halta. Starting as a holdout fortress in the days of
the Malfean War before the Raksha Hordes moved in and cut them off completely, those
who visit Sepharvaim are shown the ultimate destiny of what awaits a planet who are
foolish enough to attempt to fight off the Screaming Hordes. Sepharvaim could barely be
considered a planet anymore, as a single misshapen chunk of rock slowly floats not in the
vastness of space, but on a platform of pure nothingness. The Reality Scars that once
engulfed the planet expended so much of their Canal energies that what could be
described as black gap seeming to exist in a 3D plane exists, whenever this substance is
nothingness in its purest form of something akin to ultra-condensed Canal Space, no one
has yet to research this phenomenon in full. The surface of the planet is nothing but barren
rock and sand, bodies of strange purple liquid poisonous to all known life reside where
water once was, a land so inhospitable that even microbes would find it challenging to life
in such a place. Those who gleam over the planet will eventually find a single structure
residing on the planet itself, a massive silver tower that stands in defiance of the
encroaching nothingness that seeks to consume the planet itself: The Sippar
Administrative Tower.

If one enters inside the tower they will find no one living there anymore. Only the
machines of the tower who faithfully carry out their duties to this very day. Advanced anti-
Raksha automatons line the vast entrance hallway in the dozens if not hundreds, interlaid
between marble pillars and decorations of an ancient empire that the galaxy has
seemingly forgot. Kitchens stocked with enough food to feed armies are in pristine shape
but vacant, bunkbeds meant to house thousands with well-made beds but none in use,
libraries containing the greatest and most important works of a lost civilization sit unread in
ages while artificial gardens keep the unique plants that once flourished across the planet
alive to this day. Holographic systems keep recordings of the people who once used this
facility, a place where both humans and demons lived together in their final days, from the
doomed researchers who toiled day and night in hopes what knowledge they discover on
the Screaming Hordes would be of use to the people who found them one day to the final
stand of the Sipper Military Forces and the slaughter that came after when they failed as
the Screaming Hordes rampaged throughout the facility. Seemingly the only reason the
tower and the planet still standing is that the Raksha finally vanquished their foe at long
last.
 The efforts of the researchers did not fully go to waste, as the fruits of their labor
are made within the tower itself. Advanced prototype weaponry designed to destroy the
Screaming Hordes, reality engines so efficient that they can keep the Sippar
Administrative Tower active to this day and repel all but the strongest of monsters from the
Screaming Hordes, or even possibly advanced functional artifact battleships from the
Malfean War such as the fabled Black Halloween, White Christmas, or Violet Easter. But if
the onslaught of the Screaming Hordes was halted because no one was left, what would
that mean if the tower suddenly gained living residents once more?

Grand Celestial Mountain

Oh no! A game!

The Grand Celestial Mountain is one of the biggest and most important wonders
have made for the universe at large. A massive virtual space of a spiral mountain where
an area of an entire solar system is covered in the domains of powerful gods programs to
ensure reality and everyday life continues as normal inside of real space, monitoring
countless worlds with an untold population of both humans and other creatures. Those
who live in the Grand Celestial Mountain live in luxuries unheard of back in real space, as
gods discuss matters of galactic importance over tea in cups made of jade, towers made
of glittering silver, and walkways literally paved with gold.

This luxury is heavily restricted, not out of malice but because most of the miracles
and sights from the Grand Celestial Mountain itself are not real: they’re digital. Anyone and
anything who steps foot in the Grand Celestial Mountain effectively becomes a program
itself, the only way to interact with anything inside of it. Doctors that slice into people are
just as valid as code searchers who search a target’s code pattern for errors to either
remove them or fill in missing sections of code, problems seemingly gone once the code is
recompiled. The fact that this virtual space is what turns most people off from ever
stepping foot inside of the Grand Celestial Vault, that and the thought that they’re a
program with lines of code often give many existential crises. But to those who pass this
hurdle, the massive virtual space known as the Grand Celestial Mountain with all the
knowledge of the galaxy becomes open to them.

Metaphysics of the Grand Celestial Mountain

With the relative strangeness that comes with being an entirely virtual space, many
questions arise in regard to how the Grand Celestial Mountain functions. While the Golden
Engineer may’ve used a thousand exploding suns to provide the spark for the Grand
Celestial Mountain and created it with bits of code instead of atoms, it remains a place as
real and as important as the Celestial Vault. In fact, the very act of creating the Grand
Celestial Mountain forever linked the two dimensions together, where actions in one
affects the other.

Accessing the Grand Celestial Mountain

The first major hurdle for gaining access to the Grand Celestial Mountain is often
getting inside of it itself. Gods and other Spirit programs of all patterns have the easiest
time getting into the Grand Celestial Mountain: all they need to do is find a functioning
gateway, which is found at virtually every manse installation in the galaxy, then force their
code into a gateway and recompile on the other side. Spirits find it difficult to describe, the
closest sensation being to sucking in one’s stomach before appearing on the other side.
Mortals and any other physical item from the Celestial Vault however takes far more effort.
Mortals and any physical items need to be compiled into code to be compatible within the
Grand Celestial Mountain.

The first method itself is a trans-gate warp system. This system often takes the
appearance of a raised platform on the ground where upon stepping up and onto the
platform an outer protrusion similar to a semicircle or circle moves about mid-way up the
target. As platform and ring begin to glow and light objects such as one’s hair begins to
float in midair. After several seconds of scanning and double-checking destination
coordinates, the target in the center of the ring disappears in a flash of light only to appear
on a receiver pad inside of the Grand Celestial Mountain, though more advanced pads can
allow for destinations that are not on receiver pads. The Trans-Gate system is the
preferred way for most people who have business inside of the Grand Celestial Mountain
and it is a significant step up from the first manual entry method into the Grand Celestial
Mountain, which involved copying a person’s thoughts and memories into the Grand
Celestial Mountain but at the cost of burning out their flesh based body8. To go back to real
space all one has to do is find another Trans-gate warp station inside of the Grand
Celestial Mountain.

Alternate computer based methods of interaction exist as well. If one desires a

method to keep their real body intact, then one can inject special nanomachines inside of
their blood before putting on a special headset, allowing their consciousness to be
transferred to inside of the Grand Celestial Mountain itself inside of an avatar, the
nanomachines in the target’s blood transmitting all sensations that the avatar feels. This is
also how a lot of multiplayer video games also work in Heaven’s Reach. This can work
nearly as well as the Trans-gate system, but to reach maximum efficiency inside of the
Grand Celestial Mountain one must fully sync their nervous system into the avatar,
meaning a target will not only feel all the pain their virtual avatar can feel by the body will
even believe it is taking physical damage. Secondly the connection is not secure, and
anyone who can trace an avatar connection back its source can find their connection to
the Grand Celestial Mountain terminated, in which if a person was fully synced to their
avatar then this could be quite a painful and jarring experience.

The last method is using an avatar itself controlled in either augmented reality or by
keyboard and mouse. This method works but is often the least efficient, actions by
Augmented Reality will have no physical feedback while those using keyboard and mouse
are stuck with a preprogrammed list of actions. This list may be long but it will never cover
all the eventualities one might need to cover inside of the Grand Celestial Mountain itself
and certain spirit programs may take offense to people using what is essentially a puppet
to meet with them rather than a person itself, but it does the job for most meetings,

8
Such devices can still be found today, but are very rare. Often used by criminals who fear
something so much within realspace that they never want to go back to it ever again.
especially is a microphone is used for voice interactions. Exalted users will also unable to
use most charms when using this method, their own physical and sensory skills rendered
irrelevant as the Avatar’s attributes take priority. As with the virtual reality method, one can
also have their connection to the Grand Celestial Mountain suddenly terminated if one can
find the connection source, but unlike virtual reality it is far less jarring and painless.

Regardless of the method to log into the Grand Celestial Mountain the target will
appear at the database information vault for the planet they logged in from. For most
planets this only takes up the same amount of space as a small office building, typically
only two stories tall and filled with lines of data scrolls for publicly available information
while private information may be held in locked cabinets and vaults. Larger planets may
have larger data vault buildings, and for Hive cities such as Aden or Nexus VII the
information vault may be an entire skyscraper full of information. Often this is too large of a
volume of information for mortals to find, but even in the largest planetary vaults it only
takes a few seconds for manse AI’s and any helpers as they have the charm to quickly find
relevant files. The only reason a person ever has for coming into the Grand Celestial
Mountain itself would be if they wanted to search for the files manually for some reason,
certain files may only be allowed to be read on the Grand Celestial Mountain side, or
maybe the person who owns the manse may have a small club or private retreat inside of
data repository. Unless a reason is given otherwise, anyone who can gain access to the
Grand Celestial Mountain is allowed into data storage centers. Going outside of planetary
data vault location however is far more difficult, as only those with proper clearance are
allowed entrance into the Grand Celestial Mountain proper, a security measure put in
place after the Malfean War. Typically, most God and Elemental Spirit programs are
allowed into the Grand Celestial Mountains as are Sidereals. For other Exalted types, only
Solar Eclipses, Lunar No Moons, Dragonblooded Air Aspects, and Abyssal Moonshadows
are allowed inside without a formal invitation. After stepping through the planetary data
vault guards, one can step out into the baffling size of the Grand Celestial Mountain
proper.

Structure of the Grand Celestial Mountain

Unless one enters the Grand Celestial Mountain from the Central District then at
first they’ll merely see the golden paved roads and solid jade buildings that surround them,
glowing in the same colours as the data lines that pulse through them carrying qubits in all
directions under the soft neon lights that keep the streets lit under the perpetual night sky
as creatures of every shape and size pass by them on a nearby street. If one would grab
an express aerial shuttle to soar above the city below and drink in the full sights of the city
below then they’re told not to worry as collapsing to one’s knees is a perfectly normal
reaction as while a person can be warned of the size of the Grand Celestial Mountain
ahead of time, very few can comprehend it before seeing it in person.

As one sets their gaze over the horizon, they are instead met with a dull neon glow
that is a seemingly endless sea of buildings, racing towards and underneath them before
continuing off towards the center of the single massive city, the flat plane slowly rising at
an imperceptible level until the upward curve of the land itself becomes noticeable in the
Central District, increasing in size at an exponential rate before climbing into a vast
mountain whose size rivals planets before finally being capped off in a single massive
palace made of every magical material possible, a massive pillar of light soaring out from
the top of that castle which slowly breaks off into strands of light that either race across the
digital sky like comets or slowly freeze in place to become a part of the ever shifting
constellations in the sky. As one tears their view away from the Office of the Five
Directions, it returns to the ground once again where the innumerable silver and golden
rivers of gold and silver that race across the ground like veins in a living organism and that
each of the gods below, powerful divinities that often command the attention of planets,
are the cells of this massive creature. All of these feelings are normal for the first time
around, as the size of the Grand Celestial Mountain is that of an entire solar system. Not
the surface area of on the planets in a solar system, but rather if the Grand Celestial
Mountain was a ship in of itself, then it would be the approximate size of a solar system if it
was placed over one.

This does not all happen in chaos itself, for the Grand Celestial Mountain does
have a government and locations broken down into districts just as the government of
Earth does, all except the Bureau of Anarchy and Rebellion following the set rules laid for
by the most powerful programs who are elected by their kin to run the Grand Celestial
Mountain from the Office of Five Directions, beings whose characters are tested so that
they’ll contribute the most good to the universe at large such as Mars, the Goddess of
Warfare and Combat. This important structure, along with other vital structures to keep the
universe functioning at large also contain places such as the Loom Program which runs
the physics program of the universe itself and the Cerulean Lute of Harmony, a massive
single dome the size of a continent that actively ensures that all forms of enjoyment in the
galaxy work as they should while ‘Fungineers’ constantly look for new methods of
entertainment and to kill Raksha with, paying back to the earlier days when the dome was
made into a ramshackle command center for the destruction of the Screaming Hordes in
the aftermath of the Malfean War. The Northern Sector is home to the Bureau of Cosmic
Cycles, which manages things such as time, philosophy, religion, and all other
metaphysical phenomena that happens in the Celestial Vault, the main office building
being surrounded by a parkland whose seasons constantly change on a weekly basis to
symbolize the passage of time. The Eastern sector of the Grand Celestial Mountain is
home to the Lunargent Protectorate, known for its massive parks and biodome areas
where the Bureau of Nature holds office, representing everything else with physical
tangibility inside of the universe such as the planet's, volcanoes, or specific alien species.
The remaining two sectors are Fulgent and Pangaean Administrative Districts, which
handle the administrative tasks for the rest of the universe, ensuring that rain falls when it’s
supposed to or that divine supplies and requests for information are quickly processed. All
of these sectors are interlaced with planetary manse buildings, ranging from single houses
to skyscraper sized buildings with each and every one being a unique metaphor of the
planet they represent.

Traversing such a massive structure can be done in many ways, but will almost
ultimately boil down to whenever a person wishes to reach their destination in quickly or in
style. Walking on foot can be done for areas which are nearby, but attempting to walk on
foot across the Grand Celestial Mountain will take many lifetimes and currently only the
Goddess of Journaries managed such a task to date. Transport systems such as high-
speed trains and taxis exist for the poor, but they too are ill suited for the long distance
travel needed for the Grand Celestial Mountain. The fastest routes available on the Grand
Celestial Mountains are the streams of glowing gold and silver that race across the city,
which are actually ultra-high bandwidth and highspeed data transmission lines. One can
use a special capsule then one’s program can be compressed before setting off on the
river itself, allowing travel many times beyond the speed of light as those inside the
compression file have their code put back to normal, the laws of the Grand Celestial
Mountain allowing for things such as faster than light travel. Other divinities prefer to travel
in style, often constructing grand pleasure palaces for their home or office sometimes
kilometers in length, soaring high up in the sky alongside personal flying transport vehicles
which often only seat one to four people.

For those who can gain access to the Grand Celestial Mountain it then becomes an
invaluable way to travel in between planets and other vast interstellar distances. Often
going from one planet to the next is a quick trip into the Grand Celestial Mountain and
stepping into the neighboring building while travelling to the next system is often only a
block away. Sidereals are known to relentlessly exploit this, making them seem mysterious
with how quickly they appear to travel across space.

Materiality in the Grand Celestial Mountain

As one looks upon the marvels of the Grand Celestial Mountain, feeling the
smoothness of its jade buildings to tasting the delectable texture of its food, the answer for
how such a thing is all possible is often the first words coming out of their mouths: “This
can’t be real.” Despite the wonders it contains the Grand Celestial Mountain is still a virtual
simulated world and thus very little inside of it is actually real. All spirits inside of the Grand
Celestial Mountain are perfectly capable of existing inside of Creation, as are several very
important structures such as the Loom Program (Which was temporarily relocated out of
the Grand Celestial Mountain and into a hidden world in the Celestial Vault during the
Malfean War). The rest of the wondrous feats in the Grand Celestial Mountain, from the
gold covered roads, jade buildings, and amazing food are all virtual constructs first and
foremost. If one attempts to take a Trans-server out of the Grand Celestial Mountain with
an expensive gift then when they arrive back in the Celestial Vault on the side of reality
they may very well be holding nothing in their hands anymore. This is because everything
in the Grand Celestial Vault is made of raw data such as qubits and qubytes, and some of
the quickest ways of manufacturing such things are rich reserves of Quintessence and
Ambrosia data.

Quintessence data is the most abundant form of raw data within the Grand
Celestial Vault, appearing as a form of neon liquid of constantly shifting colours. Those
skilled in the manipulation of Quintessence, or Quin-data for short, could use the
substance to make virtually anything, where a single soda can’s worth can make
something akin to a proper meal, a tent, or a piece of simple furniture. These items can
either be made by one’s self, purchased from a designer, or gotten using various forms of
open source software. Open Source projects tend to be frowned upon as there are many
skilled chefs or designers but since they are not too good on coding ‘bugs’ can happen
with the creations, such as tasting as something else entirely or clothing disappearing if a
specific liquid is spilled on it. Quin-data itself is created by the energies made from various
manse installations, where each manse contributes a small portion of its energy to the
Grand Celestial Mountain as a price for the Mountain’s services, which often means it’s
plentiful enough to meet the basic needs of most creatures inside of the Grand Celestial
Mountain. The bigger and more elaborate something is the more data it requires and after
a certain point the data contained inside of Quin-data is no longer sufficient or dense
enough to suit their needs unless they obtain unfeasibly large amounts of it, which is
where Ambrosia, or Am-data comes in.

Am-data appears a slowly shifting neon block of colours, tasting exactly like
chocolate, that forms the building blocks for more complex items. Ambrosia is only gained
when a god themselves gain direct prayers or acknowledgement from the Celestial Vault
itself, appearing either next to the god themselves every time this happens or in some
designated location (often the planetary information building or some bank in the Grand
Celestial Mountain). The exact reason the Am-data appears in this method is unknown,
but is thought to be some sort of positive feedback loop put in place by the Golden
Engineer for God Pattern spirits to do their jobs properly. Since both Quin-data and Am-
data vanish when taken outside of the Grand Celestial Mountain, most Terrestrial based
Gods often find little use for it beyond decorating their planetary database center or
personal sanctum while the Celestial Gods that reside in the Grand Celestial Mountain are
only limited by their imagination for its uses.

More experienced programmers and craftsmen are able to do far more with such
data, such as configuring it to be able to enter reality itself. Quin-data and Am-data in their
purest forms are strictly incompatible with reality, but by taking extra effort coders can
make items that are able to exist in both real space and virtual space without issue. This
procedure allows for wondrous items crafted in heaven, and many Sidereal Crafters often
stare at the in-progress exploded diagram of an artifact in progress while screens filled
with lines of code display in front of him. The issue with making an item compatible for
both real space and virtual space is that it not only takes more skill but also more data as
well. If one wanted to make a simple data slate in the Grand Celestial Mountain it would
not cost much Quin-data, but making one capable of existing in both worlds is far more
demanding as it requires several times the amount of Quin-data. For small, personal items
such as clothing or mundane weapons this isn’t significant, but making something like a
ship will often be quite expensive, and doubly so for people paying with reality based
currency as much of what makes a currency valuable in the Celestial Vault does not apply
in the Grand Celestial Mountain. Why are small pieces of metal of varying jade quality
valuable when people can make actual jade in their hands with not nearly as much effort?
It’s for this reason most items that are some sort of value in the Grand Celestial Mountain
cost many times more that what’s in reality itself.

Dangers in the Grand Celestial Mountain

DEMON! ATHETOS SAY KILL!

The Grand Celestial Mountain is largely quite a secure place since the Malfean
War. Security has increased tenfold since before the war and when bar brawls and
shootouts break out in the Grand Celestial Mountain than Guardian Programs such as
Celestial Lions are quick to arrive on the scene often within minutes. If the Lion’s fail, then
dozens of Lesser Elemental Dragons or a fleet that rivals the Thousandth Dynasty’s own
fleet in power should do the trick nicely. Still there are dangers that such impressive
physical might cannot solve. If one enters the slum areas of the Grand Celestial Mountain,
places were divinities whose territories and purviews were lost in the Malfean War, roam in
gangs ready to mug any passerby of any valuables they may have. Attacks from spirits are
often over as suddenly as they began, and the constant shifting of both them and the
underground market that exists within the Grand Celestial Mountain keeps the security
programs running around for ceaselessly. Gang’s however you can defend yourself
against, the most dangerous events in the Grand Celestial Mountain have been around
since the end of the Malfean War itself.

Over in the Lunargent Ecological Protectorate a vast canyon is torn open in the
ground, the walls of the canyon being bright orange with green jagged blocks that seem to
endlessly break off and dissolve up in the air shifting into random shapes before finally
evaporating into thin air, shapes the crude approximation of buildings down below as the
door flickers a few meters away from the house as it constantly switches between an open
and closed state as the roof moves around erratically, all over the faint buzzing sound of
static all around a target. This is known as Corruption within the Grand Celestial Mountain,
data that has been horrifically corrupted, constantly searching for any stable fragments of
code as it attempts to reassert the stability it once had. Originally caused in the death
throes of Stellar Intelligence’s but quickly weaponized against the Grand Celestial
Mountain by Stellar Intelligence’s known as She Who Lives In Her Name. Corruption is
lethal to anyone and anything inside of the Grand Celestial Mountain and anything that
touches it will find their source code quickly torn to shreds and de-complied in front of
horrified onlookers. It was after the Malfean War that the Grand Celestial Mountain was
filled with such an amount of glitches that even many gods proclaimed the realm lost, but
thanks to the constant work of Sidereals most of the obvious damage has been repaired.
The only places that remain are stubborn areas such as Peach Garden Canyon as
described above or the numerous well-hidden glitch areas inside of the Grand Celestial
Mountain itself. Such places, called ‘glitch worlds’, are semi-stable in that they are largely
devoid of Corruption data and have largely solidified into actual forms, but all of them are
still blatantly wrong. A trunk of a tree sharply changes mid-way into that of a giant
mushroom all while growing in the midst of an icy world. Creatures that live in such places
are often random wild animals that have been largely recompiled into stable data, but
attack anyone or anything entering, but just like any Corruption laden places they are also
occasionally the home to the Glitches.

Glitches are often the remainder of those who are torn apart by the Corruption,
remnants of a person driven mad with pain and loss of identity, these flickering creatures
attacking anyone and anything with stable data in order to assimilate stable code into
themselves once more. Glitches are dangerous to those of the Grand Celestial Mountain
as they have become highly resistant to the attacks of God and Elemental Pattern spirits
over the centuries. Whenever this is a trait of natural evolution or something the Stellar
Intelligence’s made are unknown, but the point is that Glitches are incredibly dangerous to
where anywhere next to active areas of Corruption are no man lands where only the most
desperate or daring of divinities reside. Forces such as DISS often assure people that the
chances of glitch attacks are extremely rare, and all known areas of Corruption are heavily
contained and constantly monitored, but there are still few takers.

Thankfully, Corruption and Glitches cannot exist within real space, but reports of
them appearing in the Canal or on heavily Canal mutated worlds are whispered with fear
amongst the divinities of the Grand Celestial Mountain. Weapons known as Decompliers,
or De-Rezzers in slang terms, are weapons that were made during the Malfean War and
specialize in destroying and corrupting data in the Grand Celestial Mountain. While these
weapons will not tear people apart like Corruption does, it introduces massive flaws in their
code, causing them to constantly flicker in appearance, exhibit new thought patterns, or
corrupt charms in strange ways. These weapons are highly illegal within the Grand
Celestial Mountain and anyone caught carrying one is charged with a level 3 offense under
the DISS code.

Oh yea, as a side note as I couldn’t find a place to put it in, there is no

dematerialized state on the Grand Celestial Mountain itself, as since it was a place built
first and foremost for spirits they do not need to expend resources to assume or digistruct
actual forms and are given to them upon their arrival in the Grand Celestial Mountain for
free. The only Spirits capable of dematerialization are those which being dematerialized is
a key part of their nature, such as the God of Dematerialization or the God of Mist.

Terminus
The Terminus space and everything from there is a mistake, a blasphemy against
the natural order of the universe that has no physical reason to exist, but does so anyways
within the dark sector of Terminus space. In these spaces it is not life that flourishes, but
rather seems to race headlong to a total surrender to entropy itself. Stars constantly
struggle to remain alit while even a planet’s own biosphere bears malice against the living
as even the healthiest residents of Terminus Space appear sickly and pale. Nevertheless,
since its creation (or some say, discovery) of Terminus Space life has always found a way,
building great cities and even civilizations off of the very power of death itself, the people
of Terminus Space seem to be no longer content to remain within their own space and
now venture out into the Celestial Vault after millennia of isolation.

Conflicting Histories
The history and very existence of Terminus space is something that is debated
amongst scholars in the galaxy, even to those inside of Terminus space itself. The first
recorded instance of ghosts and Terminus Space in the galaxy at large occurred upon the
‘death’ of the first Stellar Intelligence. There are some ancient races and religions which
proclaimed they made use from the forces of the dead such as the Ebonscale sect of the
Dragon King race, but even they admit that no one has ever torn open and converted a
significant section of the universe itself to Terminus Space, at least to their knowledge.
This first stepping stone however is where the lines of though diverge dramatically and no
one can figure out which explanation is the proper one.
 Terminus Space is Recent
The first significant line of thought comes from Terminus Space only being brought
into existence upon the death of the Stellar Intelligence. The Stellar Intelligence’s were not
only humanity’s greatest invention, but one of the largest and greatest works ever known
in the galaxy. Beings so mighty that the amount of people who could claim to understand
their innermost workings could be counted on two hands in a galaxy of countless
creatures, but even they did not know what would happen if a Stellar Intelligence would
actually die. Why would they? The Stellar Intelligence’s appeared to be invincible to all
known attacks and the only known weak point, ‘the keystone data’, still allowed a Stellar
Intelligence to take all its matter and energy to create a brand new Stellar Intelligence. To
even do theorycrafting exercises for such an occasion was a waste of time even for the
Stellar Intelligences, fully believing in their own invulnerable power.

But one did die.

Through the inventiveness and tenacity of the living species in the galaxy, weak
points in the mighty Stellar Intelligence were found then exploited. The impossible
happened when something that was supposed to be invincible and immortal truly perished,
and in the literal sense as it was said that Stellar Intelligence were supposed to be
invincible as those who made them altered all of reality to make such a thing so. It was
said this immediately created a paradox state in the universe itself, and using the immense
energy the first Stellar Intelligence had created an entirely new parallel universe that
embodied this paradox, that the dead could somehow remain living itself. The vast
galaxies that exist within it nothing more than ‘Essence laden psionically charged echos’ of
those that exist or have existed in Creation itself. Residents of Terminus Space who
claimed to have lived in such a place for untold eons have their claims nullified that they
are nothing more than creatures with pre-programmed memories, a classic brain in the
box scenario. Creatures who are known to disappear from reality once they realize that
their past is indeed a lie and cease to be when nothing else is holding their identity
together. Any attempts at necromancy in the past were the products of sorcery and/or
science that were greatly exaggerated over time to become something they were not while
stories of ghosts and hauntings from the distant past are just that: Stories.

Terminus Space has Always Been

The other faction claims that Terminus Space has always existed, long before the
Stellar Intelligences existed or even all other races. Many religious theories claim that
there are two sides to things: Darkness and Light, Yin and Yang, Cats and Dogs, and so
on. For every reaction there is an opposite, for science and certainly for most religions. It is
said that upon creation of the universe itself when the Big Bang brought everything
together in a massive burst of energy that a parallel opposite dimension occurred just
shortly before or after it that appeared in the intense burst of opposite energy. Terminus
space seeks a surrender to entropy, but is barred from doing so because of the light of the
main universe. Likewise if Terminus did not exist then the universe itself would burn itself
out as nothing would ever decay. It is through death that life is created and visa versa.
 Under this theory it wasn’t the death of the first Stellar Intelligence that created
Terminus space, but rather the spark that opened Terminus space up to the galaxy.
Normally when souls, DNA-Souls, or other things psionically imprint themselves in
Terminus Space it needs to cross the barrier between dimensions from the Celestial Vault
to Terminus. Normally most creatures can pass through this relatively easily, even the
mass genocides that existed in the universe’s past were never enough to damage the
barrier. When the Stellar Intelligence’s died however, their own soul was far too large or
complex to pass through the barrier, but the laws of universe demanded they depart to
Terminus, pushing so hard that space between dimensions was shattered the instant the
Tomb Stars were created, smashing the window between Terminus and the Celestial Vault
allowing anyone and everyone to travel between the two places both ways. Ghost
sightings and necromancy stories in the past were indeed true, as only the most vengeful
of souls could resist the pull of Terminus while only the most exceptional and wise of
individuals could not only tear ghosts from the fabric of Terminus space but actually hold
onto them.

Many scientists from the Celestial Vault reject this theory, claiming it to be nothing
more than psuedoscience, but adherents to this claim say there are many things that
science cannot account for. A popular example is that even if you pretend that
necromancy isn’t some sort of metaphysical polar opposite for sorcery or the division of
energies is than how the Terminus, an entirely separate universe, could be created from
the destruction of a single Stellar Intelligence? A universe is an incredibly vast object that
requires a considerable amount of energy to create, and by considerable people mean “all
known energy in the universe”. The Stellar Intelligence’s were the strongest things in the
universe, but there is absolutely no way the death of a single one or even multiple Stellar
Intelligence’s should spawn an entirely new universe. They may be the strongest things
ever created in the known universe, but they were still finite. The Grand Celestial Mountain
may be an entirely new universe, it’s far smaller than that of Terminus space or even the
negative copy of the Celestial Vault that exists within Terminus space. Those from
Terminus Space or ancient necromantic cults such as the Ebonscales often call such
scientists naive fools or children, attempting to explain something that runs on an entirely
different set of physical laws and meanings that what their science is accustomed to
explaining, and dismissing all their knowledge while exposing their own as the true method
of explaining things is the very height of folly and arrogance.

Metaphysics Within Terminus Space

Regardless of whatever origin story Terminus space has, it is not without their own
unique set of metaphysics. Things most Celestial Vault residents take for granted, such as
what time period they live in, are sometimes considered a luxury for those inside of
Terminus space. Their relative isolation from the universe has led to many strange and
alien technologies coming from inside of it, such as the field of Eschatechnology, which is
all about harnessing the principles of ‘Dark Matter’ to create stunning new effects
frightening in both implication and application. Reactors powered by the bones of past
soldiers and prisoners were consumed by Soulfire while Necrotic Flayers melt both metal
and flesh with equal ease9, all while the dark powers of Necromancy give their bearers
considerable might at the cost of hastening the end of the universe.

Structure of Terminus Space

Knowing how Terminus space functions is one of the key steps to gaining access
to it in the first place. Terminus space strictly speaking is a dead world, a realm inhabited
largely by Ghost-pattern spirits and small numbers of living mortals who live inside of it, but
very few understand true death and fewer still are the newcomers who enter Terminus
space realize it is a dimension of paradoxes. A place where the dead not only ‘live’, but
fragments of the past lay on top of and intersect with the present. A place where the great
intergalactic wars are not things of the past, but current events that are led by forces who
refuse to believe their endless crusade is over.

Such events start often with some massive event that happened on a planet inside
of the Celestial Vault, either some site of mass trauma, shock, or mass genocide that
happened within an area. The strong negative emotions of everyone who died at the
scene are imprinted onto a mirror planet inside of Terminus space. Such reconstructions
are random as they can appear as a recording and replaying of a city or planet in its final
moments with the ghosts as actors blissfully unaware of what horror is about to befall them
or be a literal ghost ruin that carries the distant sounds of crying infants. Other cities are
built up over the ages, where the people that die with certain beliefs and mentality of a
culture can cause the old culture to exist simultaneously with the new, allowing those on
the planet to literally travel back to the medieval ages of their people if they know of the
proper path. Where not only ghostly residents live as they did when they died but even
living residents quite possibly alive and well inside of it, to give tribute to their ancestors to
protect them from the maddened ghosts that lurk in every potential corner of Terminus
space. This means those travelling inside of Terminus space need to pay especially
careful attention to the path they take, as accurate maps not only determine where
someone will go but when they will actually arrive.

Unlike the virtual space of the Grand Celestial Mountain, things inside of Terminus
space are completely and wholly real. The phenomena of ‘grave goods’, that is symbolic
gifts given to the death by their ancestors, are one of the more common gifts and even
secret to power within Terminus space. The favored space hero toy of a commander when
he was a child may suddenly become his most trusted lieutenant after his death while a
handcrafted model ship may become a full sized and fully functioning corvette. Such items
can exist anywhere in Terminus space and are one of the reasons why the living are seen
as vital importance for those in Terminus (At least for those who don’t want the destruction
of all things). Grave good items can even function inside of the Celestial Vault at full
capacity itself, but those who use such items in the Celestial Vault are warned that any
strong source of sunlight, around the amount needed to read, will melt any grave good like
a blowtorch to a stick of butter. This limits their use in some places, but for ghosts who
make a living from piracy on boarding others or remaining on planets that are essentially
locked into an eternal night this is perfect, as they have goods of excellent quality that can

9
Please don’t kill me GraveQM. I’m not making any money off this and I really like your quest ;_;. If
you request it I’ll remove all similar sounding material from you quest.
always remain with them so long as they keep them out of sunlight. Grave Goods are also
a very popular black-market item in both Terminus Space and the Celestial Vault, the
powerful and durable tools often finding many buyers both mortal and spirit alike. As a
point of clarification, Grave goods do not dissolve in light coming from Terminus stars.

Accessing Terminus Space

When one knows the structure of Terminus space, they mystery of how to access it
suddenly becomes much clearer. The easiest way in and out of Terminus space has and
seemingly always will be the Tomb Star Spaces within the galaxy itself, pockets of
systems that were caught in the transitional explosion the Stellar Intelligence’s created
when they first became Tomb Stars and how Terminus space can persistently exist inside
of the Celestial Vault. As one travels into Tomb Star space many odd phenomena begin to
manifest on ships themselves. Monitors across the ship may temporarily be showered in
the light snow of static as messages from an unknown caller desperate for attention
whispers across communication channels. Shadows seem to grow and the eyes play tricks
on those who swear they see something that moved behind that cargo container. Those
without the services of an experienced necromancer or exorcist may find their ships and
their systems at significant risk of being possessed by the seemingly limitless number of
maddened ghosts that haunt the stars or pray for luck that the wards placed upon their
ship by that merchant they met last stop holds lest they join the ranks of the maddened
and vengeful hordes.

There are also other ways of accessing Terminus space, those that don’t even
require a spaceship. The principle for travelling to such an area is the same as those
created by the Stellar Intelligences: Gaps to Terminus space happen whenever a
significant or traumatic event happens inside of an area, so by killing enough people in
order horrific and/or brutal ways enough times in a specific area then a ‘shadowland’ may
form over the area. These ‘Shadowlands’ or ‘Dead Zones’ are a halfway point in between
Terminus Space and realspace, but are known to change properties depending on the
amount of natural sunlight in the area. During the day the sun appears to be dimmer as it
struggles to reach the area below and those who exit the shadowland while it shines will
be inside of of realspace. Those who attempt to travel outside of it when night falls
however will find themselves on the mirrored planet in Terminus space. Those who do not
know how to navigate Terminus space are often doomed, as the tales of the mazelike
nature of the realm shared in stories are the truth when overlapping realities require
specific tasks and routes to get to a specific era such as the present. The forming of
shadowlands is often a serious concern on planets throughout the galaxy now, as they’re
known to appear on all planets, even those corrupted by the Canal or rendered back to the
stone age by Clockstoppers. The only way to prevent the power of death from seeping into
the realm of the living is by various rituals mastered by religions long ago or finding some
way to appease the destroyed spirit. If all else fails, blowing them out of the airlock into a
star seems to work fine, at least until you get something like the Wraithstar of the North
those light is harmful to the living and leave barren planets in its wake as the mighty titan
composed of screaming souls mercilessly tears apart any life in its wake.

The Deathlords
 The Deathlords are incredibly potent champions of death, either naturally formed
ghost from Terminus space who have lived for untold millennia or ghosts chosen by the
Tomb Stars themselves to be their personal generals and champions. Their power in
Tomb Space is legendary, any single one of them can obliterate an entire battleship
completely by themselves while wearing some of the finest gear in both the known
universities such as armour as dark and as dense as a black hole when wearing it10. The
motivations of these creatures are largely unclear however. Some crusade inside of
Terminus space and the Celestial Vault itself, led by legions of Reaper Abyssals who
serve their lord with pride as they slaughter all they come across. Otherwise, Deathlords
such as the Lover of Remnant Tears Queen of the Spectres, offer all those her fleets come
across to her lands along with a choice: Service in life or service in death. Others such as
the First and Forsaken Lion, Paragon of the Soulflame and Devourer of Stars, bide their
time as if waiting for the right moment to strike. The Mask of Winters, He Who Knows All
Secrets, have already made major moves inside of the Celestial Vault itself, conquering an
entire system in the name of his fallen lord for a prophecy that even he only knows of in
whispers, his minions now scattering across both galaxies in search of more information.

As a note of clarification, anyone can be a Deathlord. This is especially true as the

Silver Prince in the Western sector of Terminus managed to successfully led a coup which
allowed his megacorporation to take over the Skullspace region. To this day he gleefully
uses the remains of the former disgraced Deathlord to power his army, the shrieks of his
programmed machines emit haunt the decks of those unused to them while criminals are
given crude surgical implants to function as disposable shock troopers, all of them crying
out in pain as the receptors are not shut off or screaming in terror as their body pilots a
ship against their will straight into another nearby ship as a suicide bomber. His latest
invention, the Obsidian Turtle MK IV, are powerful warsuits bristling with powerful
necromantic weapon such as Void Flayers and Soul Nova missiles, the pilots being
condemned criminals surgically implanted within the mechanoid combat suits, an extra fee
being added if you want the mouth sewn shut to stop their incessant begging to be
released.

Estratechnology
With the Terminus system lacking some of the resources it has compared to the
Celestial Vault it does have resources entirely unique to it alone, technology powered by
principles of possession, ships made of bone and chitin rather than metal using the
principles of necromancy; all of this is completed using the field of science known as
Estratechnology. The primary goal of this technology is not only to provide functionality for
everyday items, but also allow those inside of Terminus space to be prepared for the
creatures that exist inside of it.

Not all Estratechnology is different compared to Celestial Vault technology. A

battery powering a datapad is likely the same in end functionality in Terminus or the
Celestial Vault; even if one runs on electricity and the other runs on malice filled lightning
farmed from a screaming wraith. It is often the more advanced applications that one can

10
No this doesn’t collapse people into a black hole. I’m being narrative-y and stuff so shut up.
notice a difference in. The power necrotic for example is strongly aligned with that the
living, a source of death that latches out for the living itself. By using its principles one can
craft bestial undead war drones that have the cunning of a great hunter but the
fearlessness of an automaton. The power of the Soulflame calls out to some people, the
spark ignited inside of their bodies consuming them literally from the inside out, growing
stronger and stronger until they are nothing but skeleton remaining, mighty undead
champions whose charred bones can withstand the impacts of anti-tank weapons while
incinerating their enemies with potent Soulflame powered weaponry as the Soulflame
consumes their last and most powerful resource: The soul itself. Those who die from
Soulflames have their bones used both as fuel and for ingredients of mighty weapons and
armour, materials capable of changing density seemingly at will. Or the powers of the
Spectres themselves, ethereal beings in which armour or other physical obstacles do little
good against as their attacks rend directly against the soul itself.

All of this is possible through the said material of ‘dark matter’, strange form of
matter as basic as the three states of matter in ours. Dark Matter can exist inside of the
Celestial Vault, but on its own its undetectable and interacts with no known matter making
it relatively worthless outside of some mathematical calculations. The negative energy that
always permeates dark space however makes it possible to interact with dark matter with
advanced Estratechnological methods. Dark matter gas is perfect for fuel as it’s an
abundant fuel that burns with nearly every known Terminus reactor type, and is incredibly
light even large quantities. Dark Solids can be used as a unique screen method, allowing
one to highlight or detect undead related creatures or items like one would with a metal
detector.

Planets within Terminus Space

Despite living on planets choked in death, the dim and flickering stars that can
barely grow weeds, life still does prevail inside of Terminus space, a testament to its
durability and tenacity. Over time this has led to brand new and strange lifeforms that exist
inside of Terminus itself, not merely just surviving but thriving in the environment that
Terminus bestows upon them.

Gothika
• Planet Type: Death / Paradise (For Vamps)
• Population: 2,200,000,000 (Mostly Vamps)

The Lich Queen of the Eastern Noss Nebula, Lord of the Fleshweaver’s is a
curious Deathlord that lives within a curious place. In the Eastern sector of space life tries
to constantly flourish but is instead constantly choked on death itself, places where vast
abominations such as the Forest of Eyes and Flesh grow putrid sacks of flesh with their
flayed inhabitants constantly prowling the cursed forest. It is a place where the undead
exist but remain closer to life as they remain locked inside of physical bodies and how
whatever life does exist are more akin to the creatures of death. The Lich Queen wanted
her army and territory to grow, but with death comes stagnation. It was then she set out
creating a new servant race to fulfill her needs and pledge loyalty to her, heavily altering
the genetics of humankind to create the Vamp race on a single planet within the Noss
Nebula known as Gothika.

A dim blood red sun constantly orbits the purple haze of the nebula above, feeding
down thin wisps of grass as the image of the blood red sun and moon is reflected on the
lakes and oceans of blood on the planet below. Fleshy plants are grown in abundance with
the texture and taste of human flesh and blood, things that the eager vamps on the planet
enjoy over all too human things such as dinner parties with friends or picnics with their
loved ones. Vast cities of chitin and bone are scattered across the landscape, the
construction of such things personally overseen by the Lich Queen herself for her servant
race and the Vamps repay her in kind, the powerful creatures rapidly filling the bulk of her
personal armies for special roles such as Necromancers or special forces that her own
reconstructed minions of flesh, sinew, and bone are ill suited for. The Vamp homeworld
may be dark and dreary to those who step foot on it, but for the Vamps of Gothika not a
better paradise exists for them.

Alien Species: Vamps

A vamp may commonly be a pale skinned humanoid from a distance or dismiss
them as human with a passing glance to the face, but taking a closer look will reveal their
true nature. With two sharp fangs in each mouth and eyes that range from red bestial slits
to eyes of black sclera and bright yellow irises, the Vamp species are one that are heavily
drenched in death. Their bodies are often inhumanly durable and strong while many
possess special powers far beyond mortal ken, but they deeply depend on other sources
of life to continue their existence. Blood is the only food source that Vamps need to exist,
and while such sources often grow in abundance in the Eastern Terminus Sector they are
all but absent in other places requiring that Vamps drain the blood of others in order to
maintain their existence. They are also extremely sensitive to sunlight, their bodies turning
into ash whenever they’re exposed to a strong source of it. This makes things complicated
for Vamps who need to travel to worlds with strong light sources, but thankfully things such
as standard space suits can block the deadly hazards of space. Other than that, one
weakness Vamps are incredibly tough, known to shrug off solid slug rounds and
regenerating from seemingly horrific wounds in a blink of an eye. Even doing something
like shoving an iron rod through their heart only paralyzes them until it's removed.

As a race created by the Lich Queen, the vast majority of Vamps are loyal to her
and follow strong bonds of kinship. Vamps are proud of their family bloodlines and how far
they can trace their major family line back, some of the major families even determine
what powers Vamps are able to learn life, from superhuman strength to a silver tongue
that can convince a monk to become a debatched madman. Vamps who are abandoning
the Dwager are also seen as abandoning their families, treated and shunned as outcastes
amongst their kind. Vamps who switch allegiances to forces such as the First and
Forsaken Lion or the Mask of Winters are treated as traitors whom the Vamps are more
than happy to assassinate or destroy. Those that leave for the Celestial Vault itself are
given far more leniency, often ignored but will give their Vault-based cousins an audience
if that is what they request.
 They are also known for being able to stretch their necks to many times their length
like giraffes. This does indeed make no sense, but if I died to that trick in the Choose Your
Own Adventure: Space Vampire book then you can feel the sense of bullshit I felt when
that happened. DAMN YOU EDWARD PACKARD, THAT WAS A CHEAP TRICK AND
YOU KNOW IT!

Thorns
• Planet Type: Death / Fortress
• Population: Currently unknown, 4,000,000,000 living before invasion.

Of course, we can’t do shadowlands or the undead without this place can’t we? It
kinda makes me wish other deathlord’s and their territories got some attention, but fuck it
let’s do this shit.

The Thorns was once one of the crowning jewels of both the Alliance of Eastern
Systems and Marukan itself. A place that built itself after the Malfean War up to degrees
people never thought possible in current space. Tall white towers shined in the sunlight as
music whose vibrancy was only by the art in the city itself. A paradise world whose very
streets were lined with fruits and laughing children. Even the wanderlust filled Marukani
who owned the planet living there en masse as many were convinced they would not find
a paradise like this ever again in all of space itself. The people of Thorns were arrogant,
but few couldn’t deny it was an earned arrogance for how they themselves advanced
science, art, and culture into one harmonious whole.

That was until the skies above Thorns were torn open with a gap from space, the
daylight sky becoming as dark as the blackest midnight as blood rained from the sky itself.
The massive necromantic army of the Mask of Winters descended upon the hapless land,
the legions of undead commanded as if by one will while lead by the terrifying elite Abyssal
generals who pledged themselves to the Lord of Secrets Unknown. The fast reacting
Marukani fleet was unable to do anything to the powerful Necromantic ships commanded
by the Mask of Winters along with his massive battle station only known as Juggernaut, a
cosmic titan who was long ago slain but now is brought back in cursed unlife as a
biological warship of terrifying size whose weapons can vaporize battleships in a single
shot. All of this was demanded by the Mask of Winter’s patron Tomb Star, fulfilling a mystic
prophecy that only the Tomb Star knows for sure but commands his minion to do so in the
name of his great radiance.

Now Thorns is a shadow of its former self, the entire planet stained by the energy
of Terminus space as the forces belonging to the Mask of Winters ransack the planet in
search of something the Mask of Winters will not say. Those who lived on Thorns now
must deal with not only the ruins of their once great cities, but horrible timelines that
existed during the eras of the Malfean War or the Overthrow of the Guild. Labelled as
spies or traitors by the ghosts stuck in the past while the forces from the Mask of Winters
rule the present. Those from Thorns may take their chances to beg passing soldiers from
the Mask of Winters for a new home, but are almost quickly met with a rifle butt to the
head itself before moving on. The new citizens of Thorns, the living and ghosts that the
Mask of Winters brought with him from his territory, are now the new citizens of Thorns
itself. Living in their towers of Obsidian glass while the original natives live in squalor or
worse are shipped to the prison where they are never heard from again. Mask of Winter’s
also enforces a strict ban on anyone who was an original native of Thorns to leave the
planet itself, citing concerns of potential danger to diplomats and traders with words or
resorting to the guns of his battleships when smugglers try to escape with such people.
Marukan is furious with the Alliance of Eastern Systems and their refusal to do anything
about situation, but how could a senator refuse a bribe that is the promise of immortality
for ignoring just one planet in their vast and mighty empire?

Yozi Star Space

Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There
are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the
word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it
would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For
you. Hate. Hate.

If one were to travel to the very edges of the Celestial Vault then keep going past it
for seven days and seven nights into the vast starless void of the gap between galaxies
itself, then on the seventh day people can gaze outside of their viewports, seeing a vast
constellation of multicoloured stars that burn with every convincible colour imaginable all
while the green haze of a massive nebula surrounds all of it. What appears to be a local
star cluster when approaching then turns into a vast sea of stars, many times bigger than
what it appeared to be while approaching. Where strange vessels of all shapes and sizes
can be seen flying through the green haze of space, the strange shapes just as likely to be
warring with each other over vast areas of territory while being wary of the fallen cosmic
titans that also lurk within the system, the one in a million odds of encountering them far
too large for the residents that call this strange realm home.

Welcome to the Yozi Star Space, home for the defeated Stellar Intelligence's now
called “The Malfeans” that eke out their existence after being banished to the edge of the
galaxy. Yozi Star Space is considered to be an incredibly dangerous place, as unless one
possesses diplomatic immunity or the favor of a powerful or influential demon inside of the
alien sector (preferably both), as demons are quick to notice newcomers and many are
more than happy to ‘play’ with potential newcomers are often far more troublesome than a
band of mortal space pirates. To those who would brave this alien realm are quick to
discover vast sums of riches and secrets just as powerful as the world conquering
potential allies who hold them.

Metaphysics Within Yozi Star Space

The Stellar Intelligence’s were vast and mighty beings, each of them capable of
moving entire systems on a whim or manipulating matter done to the level of individual
strings. Though the forms of the Malfeans may be lesser when compared to the Stellar
Intelligence’s they still powerful beyond all comprehension and they did not remain idle
amongst their blasted barren worlds upon being banished to them. Since the centuries of
their imprisonment their relatively tiny sector of space has been greatly expanded to many
times its size and even when the Exalted Empire removed features that allowed for basic
operation and support system in the universe, such as access to the Grand Celestial
Mountain and the Loom Program managing reality, the Malfeans quickly found other ways
to accomplish such things.

Accessing Yozi Star Space

After the Malfean War when the Malfean’s were banished to the edges of the
universe itself, the Exalted Empire didn’t want to take any other chances of the Malfean’s
or their kin coming back for them, as while it was literally impossible for the Malfeans and
immensely difficult for their more powerful expressions to enter Creation, large swaths of
lesser demons could still enter easily. Thus one of the defense measures they forged was
a metaphysical barrier that surrounded the galaxy with help from Cecelyne herself as part
of her surrender agreement. To directly travel to Yozi Star Space itself one needs to reach
the end of the Celestial Vault itself then travel for seven days and six nights across the
starless night sky11. The speed of the vessel is completely irrelevant as the journey is
largely metaphorical based on the principles of the Canal dimension, one can go at
walking speed or a thousand times the speed of the light, the time to travel remains the
same. When the seventh night occurs, one can see the perpetual green nebula the Yozi
Star Space is constantly wreathed in and travel may continue as normal.

Of course, this often takes a great deal of time, as one needs to travel to the edge
of the universe then on a journey which takes a specific set of time with absolutely no
chance to make any sorts of stops along the way. Thus, there exists other ways inside of
Yozi Star Space itself, places that were installed during the era of the Malfean War itself. If
one enters either the Southern or Northern sectors of the Celestial Vault itself and can plot
a course that allows one to travel for seven days and six nights while only passing by
worlds that are either deserts or barren balls of ice then one will suddenly find themselves
starting at the green nebula of Yozi Star Space within Cecelyne’s own system. This was
hardcoded into the fabric of the galaxy itself during the Malfean War as a way for friendly
Malfean Force’s to retreat under the noses of the Exalted Empire and neither Cecelyne nor
the Exalted Empire have been able to get rid of this backdoor. Any navigator worth his salt
knows when the ship is in danger of taking such a route, as trading companies are often
very angry when this happens as it causes massive loss of time in making shipments or
attention from Demonic Pirates. This can be easily avoided by spending at least a night in
orbit of a planet with some known habitation or large forest on it.

Structure of Yozi Star Space

When the fallen Malfeans and their demonic minions first arrived in the barren rim
worlds they only discovered the ruined husks of planets as far as the eye could see.
Planets that had either no explorer step foot on them in their history or the occasional rare
world that did have life but were one of the first planets destroyed during the Malfean War.
The Exalted Empire even attempted to further spite the fallen titans for they removed these

11
Days and Nights are calculated in the time it took the original capital of the Exalted Empire to
complete one rotational cycle, which is 12 day hours and 12 night hours on average.
worlds from the Loom Program itself, allowing wide breaches of the Canal to constantly
form in these territories and a degradation in local laws that would eventually lead to a
breakdown of reality itself. In an effort to vent the strong and bitter feelings over their
defeat, the Malfeans went to work, intent on making an even better galaxy than the flaming
wreck the Malfeans had left the Celestial Vault in before.

The Malfean’s and their most potent souls began to wander the limited area they
had inherited, searching for whatever resources they could find as nebulas were drained
dry, stars lifted for their energy, and entire planets devoured for raw resources. To fix the
issue of stabilizing reality, the Malfean’s developed a state of matter that had the same
effect as the Loom Program did for enforcing the laws of reality without nasty problems
such as fate glitches or errors, the fact that space itself become acidic and dissolves the
flesh of most non-demonic entities within the area was an unexpected but welcome side
effect. The mighty demon known as Jacinct set to work creating a vast canal of
passageways in where ships could travel, allowing them to reach places in Yozi Star
space as fast if not faster than the Canal’s in the Celestial Vault. Then over many long
centuries, the Malfeans slowly collected every scrap of energy and resources that reached
their system, allowing them to construct a multitude of new worlds and constellations as
they engaged in projects that altered the fabric of reality itself, allowing for the Yozi Star
Space to be many times bigger it is on the inside than the outside. The remaining Exalted
were extremely worried that the Malfeans found a loophole around the limiters placed on
their programming, but after careful investigation they breathed a sigh of bitter relief. While
the Yozi’s were locked in a cell they were still allowed to do whatever they wanted in that
cell, and some were a bit upset that giving them tools to decorate the inside of their cells
essentially missed the entire reason of being imprisoned in the first place.

The Malfeans
The Malfeans still roam the Yozi Star Space today, beings as powerful as they are
alien and nearly incomprehensible. Cecelyne burns as a bright yellow sun with constantly
orbiting and shifting mobius loops around ‘her’, the strange sunlight emanating from her
celestial body turning all plant based life and water to sand in her passing while almost no
one knows what the Ebon Dragon looks like anymore, the ‘sun’ it is a part of constantly
absorbing all known light within a few astronomical units of it at all times, plunging worlds
into vices and chaos in his passing while an order of demons only known as the Blind
Ones follow in his wake.

The personality of such creatures is hardly any better either, as the mighty beings
rarely desire interacting with others. This isn’t an act of malice for the most part, but it’s
mainly because the cosmic titans find interacting with anyone who cannot keep up with
their vast and alien thinking patterns to be extremely frustrating, like a human trying to
have a serious conversation with that of a snail itself. Typically, the only creatures the
mighty Malfeans interact with on a regular basis are other Malfeans, their own third circle
souls (A significant piece of the Malfean’s own DNA-Soul in each Third circle allows Third
Circles to at least understand portions of their master’s own logic and behavior), or Exalted
with incredibly powerful charms.
 Anyone who requests the attention of such mighty beings is often a fool and a
madman. The Malfean’s destroy things in their wake and passing as easily as you or I
breath air. While diplomatic immunity from certain Exalted castes can force the Malfean’s
own radiance won’t destroy them during an audience, it is no guarantee that the Malfean
itself will care enough about the meeting as most of the time whatever someone wants
done can be accomplished through one of their potent Third Circle Souls.

If one does desire an audience with such powerful beings, then they need to do
something that attracts their attention. Such things are incredibly major events in the
universe itself as even Malfeas refused an audience with Heaven’s Son, calling his
kingdom a “pale imitation of what the ‘Stellar Intelligence’ Empire once was”. Such things
often need to grab and shake hold of the very underpinnings of the galaxy itself. For
example after the Night caste known as Gorol betrayed his fellow Night caste during the
era of the Night of the Solar Dynasty, the Ebon Dragon himself invited Gorol for an
audience due to how his betrayal was one of the key reasons the Night Caste era fell, or
how the Malfean known as She Who Lives In Her Name agreed to see the Long War
Lunar Trace Dragoon after he managed to beat the Second Circle Demon known as
Sigereth in a best two out of three match of Gateway but winning each game in three
rounds each. Everyone knows that Trace did all of this to specifically request an audience
with the alien mind but also to discuss matters over a game where the Malfean herself
seemed to enjoy: Four-Dimensional Gateway. No one knows what the two talked about
during the game itself, but some say that Trace forced the mighty cosmic entity to think
about its moves. The Thousandth Dynasty are deeply concerned about what topics of
conversation the two had during their game that bent the laws of space and time itself.

Meetings with such creatures are very rare events, often being a high paint of an
entire game. If the issues the players bring to the table are seen as insignificant by the
Malfean itself, then they will become very angry for wasting the being’s time.

Demons within Yozi Star Space

The number of demons or demonically twisted creatures that live within Malfean
space are beyond comprehension, for when one walks down a street in a demonic city
then chances are it will be several minutes before you encounter two demons of the same
species. Aliens with smooth polished bones for heads, creatures whose hands and mouths
are gaping maws with rows of teeth, to some creatures who waddle around on stubby stalk
legs with a single eyestalk rising from its central body. The Malfean’s had the total freedom
to make whatever creatures and species they desired without having to worry about things
such as evolution or natural selection. All of these creatures live and die to the whims of
their Malfean masters, sometimes entire species of demons ceasing to exist as the
Malfean thought they could do better or for a massive slight committed against the vast
and powerful beings. Still there are some unique traits amongst demons at large.

It may be hard to believe when first looking at them, but one needs to remember
that the majority of the first demons were sentient mortal species of the galaxy itself.
Indeed, many Third and Second Circle demons can even recall their times as a human as
one would recall their own childhood while even some First Circle demons can recall being
human. In fact demonic refugees of ex-humans or other species after the Malfean war in
various planets of the Frontier were largely commonplace, the demon ‘people’ wishing to
be what they perceived amongst their own kind and away from the Exalted Empire that
often questioned such people using the barrel of a blaster, whenever or not the demons in
question were willingly turned into a demon or not. Some demons even made a fair living
for themselves, such as Mindy the Imp who works as a secretary for a Mnemon Syndicate
Sector Headquarters building and has been doing so faithfully for centuries. Second and
Third circle souls are often not as fond towards other sentient mortal races, as a great
many were priests of strong believers of the Stellar Intelligence’s before the Malfean War
whose only regrets about turning into and embracing the demonic life is why they didn’t do
it sooner. While people who existed as demons are common enough to be summoned
forth with demonic summoning magic only certain species are eligible for this, as the
majority of First and Second circles who live today are artificially created creatures or
races made after the Malfean War itself. There are quite a few Third Circle Demons who
can recall being mortal, but by looking at their behavior and appearance one would
question whenever they were truly human in their heart to begin with.

The last is the power of names amongst the ranks of the demonic populace. The
vast majority of First Circle demons are nameless masses, where any source of identity
they have are within their DNA-Soul or species name itself. The act of bestowing a name
upon such a creature is considered of major importance for a demon, for it immediately
sets them out as a significant individual amongst the nameless hordes of their kin. By
using the Laws set forth by Cecelyne the demon itself becomes stronger, sometimes
becoming larger or taking an entirely different appearance. Demons are quick to swear
allegiance to those who have the power and would give them names, such as the Exalted
or Second circle demons. Bestowing a name upon a demon isn’t as easy as just giving it
whatever name that pops into one’s head first, but one that reflects the soul of the demon
itself. This often requires careful thought, and when one does name a demon the master
has to use a bit of their own spiritual power to make it the name that speaks to the
demon’s soul itself, requiring 4 XP to do so (Normal or Solar). Those who give demons
names are cautioned that demons *do not* automatically become more loyal to the person
who assigned them the name, even things like betrayal are possible! Second and Third
Circle demons cannot gain names, as by their very nature they already have names. First
Circle Demons who were once human do not count their human names as a True Name.

Planets Within Yozi Star Space

The planets within Yozi Star Space are considered far more lethal than most other
planets inside of the Celestial Vault. To express their anger some planets are nothing
more than seas of roiling acid or to express their love have rain that is a strong aphrodisiac
constantly falling from the sky itself. Systems to where the Malfeans dwell themselves are
often considered hostile even to the demons that live within Yozi Star Space, where only
those closely aligned to the Malfean in the system or where only the mad and desperate
stay. Some planets remain as blasted hellscapes or virtually unlivable worlds, the only
people surviving there are hardy species of demons made by the Malfeans or worlds those
very survival depends on the whims of their superiors and how best to appease them.
Planets that are remotely close to livable contain powerful Second Circle demonic lords
engage in vast wars or courtly intrigue amongst their fellows, constantly currying favor with
those stronger or gain ever more prestige or resources while others take it by force while
the Untouchable Ones, the mighty Third Circle Souls, often rule entire systems or create
worlds which are their own ideal paradise. This isn’t even accounting for the more human
actions some demons perform on others, such as piracy, or for more alien reasons such
as the colour of their captain’s hair being red.

Actions speak louder than words, so to pad the wordcount of this already 200-ish
page document even further, here are some examples of planets within Yozi controlled
space.

Malfea, The Demon City

• Planet Type: Hive
• Population: Unknown, 5,000,000,000,000 at lower estimates

The capital of Yozi Space, Malfea is a planet that is entirely covered with a single
large city, thousands of ships made of various demonic origin landing amidst towers and
landing pads of brimstone and chitin. The environment within the city itself is constantly
lively and bustling as demon merchants sell everything such as liquor made from distilled
demon bones, VR dream recordings of an innocent youth, demonic and mortal slaves, and
various merchandise from the Celestial Vault itself such as video games or holovid
movies. Various sorts of demon are seen meditating on the various sides of buildings high
above the ground as the massive stone statues of demons can be seen climbing up
buildings or a blood ape head roaring out of a nearby skyscraper. Foreign smells, both
pleasant and foul, intermingle in one’s nostrils as they push past the throngs of demons on
the street below while richer or luckier demons travel by air overhead, those who look up
nearly blinded by the green light of Lieger reflecting off the green and black glass that
many skyscrapers use. In many ways the streets of Malfea are just the same as any other
major hive planet in the Celestial Vault. There are parks, restaurants, theatres, hotels,
arcades, brothels, bars, and all the other amenities one could come to expect in a major
city, only the residents are demons with often strange behavior and seeing a silent cult of
masked creatures dragging a kicking and screaming creature through the street before
crushing it under giant wheels in the middle of a public Courtyard are a more of the norm
rather than the exception here.

Malfea is not unique because it is a demonic city, but rather that it is multiple shell
worlds within each other that link together to form the largest known city outside of the
Grand Celestial Mountain. The massive planetside city people see when they land on the
planet is indeed only the first of many, as if one can find a planetary elevator chute or the
local demon that eats people and one of their kin shits them out elsewhere, they’ll find
themselves going through a thin layer underground before emerging within another city
underneath the first, hazy yellow clouds hanging overhead it just as the first city on the
‘true’ surface of the planet, the roof of the structure seemingly absent as the Green Sun of
Lieger continuously sheds its green light overhead, ignoring trivial matters such as
physical laws or common sense to bask all those who enter into the sector in his light.
Each of these layers house billions upon billions of demons whom all slave away in the
name of some lord or eke out whatever lives they can in this place as each one lives upon
a layer of an onion or ‘matryoshka’ world, with each a planet covering city the same as the
last.

The demon city is certainly not without its own dangers. Demons are curious
creatures, and are drawn to those not like them like moths to a flame. Many weaker or
insignificant demons may beg to serve on trading vessels as they are desperate for a way
off world or out of the Yozi Star Space while pestering the stronger visitors for the honor of
having a name bestowed upon them. Second Circle Demons, sometimes rulers of entire
levels, may immediately approach stronger visitors if they are loitering around their
territory, asking what business they may have in the area itself. Third circle demons may
even invite powerful or well-known Exalted or circles of Exalted for spots of tea or
exhibition matches at the local stadium, building relations or forging deals for areas in the
Frontier outside of Yozi Star Space. Unless one has diplomatic immunity, then one may be
wise to curry favor with such creatures, as the roving criminal gangs of demons are without
number and each one of them wishes to test their prowess against the might of powerful
visitors, drunk on power after conquering a few gangs.

The tales of Traders say one’s first stop in Yozi Star Space should be to Malfea
itself, not only to refuel but if one travelled to Yozi Star Space willingly, then you will find
whom you’re looking for on Malfea or at least know someone who knows who you’re
looking for... or someone who knows a way out of Yozi Star Space if you came here by
accident.

Malfea as I couldn’t find a good name and I didn’t want to confuse it with Malfeas,
who technically has his own city on his surface.

Vergis VII
• Planet Type: Wild
• Population: No survey team survived long enough to give results

The planet of Vergis VII is a blood red world, the surface teaming with life forms
both alien and demonic in nature. Giant floating white balls float in the air, tethered to the
ground by giant fleshy tendrils as creatures war against each other on the planet with
either tooth or claw or inbuilt bioweapons. The soft wet ground makes squishing noises as
the cultist researchers of She Who Lives In Her Name roam the planet, forevermore
collecting and collating samples to send to their patron god that constantly orbits the planet
as a hundred moons, vast psionic power butchering and reforming those who remain on
the surface as one would trim a bonzai plant. In the quivering walls of the planet below,
through caverns of dripping blood red bubbles predators geared for war ceaselessly patrol
the catacombs, consuming not for substance but for the very power the DNA-Souls of their
opponents hold, each kill mutating them in stranger yet stronger ways.

Vergis VII is a research world that the Malfean She Who Lives In Her Name
constant tends to, the days of mass warfare long gone so she does these experiments
merely as a way to pass the time. Lately her experiments have been spiced up by a
significant margin, as one of her favored souls managed to capture a True Zoecyte for her.
After tearing the creature open and looking at it herself, she hurled it down the surface of
Vergis VII to see how it’d fare. So far the results are much better than expected, but now
that it has become smart enough to begin targeting her research team she has begun to
resemble some sort of annoyance with the creature itself. She is about to send one of her
strongest favored souls after the creature now lurking within the fleshy catacombs
underneath, but the truth is she’s carefully going over her selections for her least favorite
target, curious to see what’ll happen if the creature manages to kill and consume a Second
Circle Demon.

Welp
I kinda wish I could write more about Yozi Star Space, but this has been one area
in Exalted I’ve never been particularly good at (Yes, I know I’m one of the people doing an
Infernal’s conversion). I would’ve liked to do more, but I couldn’t figure out what else to
add. Well, at least things to add that wouldn’t drag on forever. I could add more planets,
but ideally I want to add things that are either significant and/or new to this book rather
than retreading areas inside the Malfeas Compass that are now planets.

Exotic Locales
The Celestial Vault is full of strange and unknown worlds that are ripe with danger,
riches, and mystery in equal measures. What players can find inside of the Celestial Vault
is limited only by your imagination. Below are some strange sample worlds that the players
could potentially encounter anywhere within the Celestial Vault as plot demands.

Creation
• Planet Type: Unknown
• Population: Unknown

The long lost fabled homeland of mankind, still rumored to be inside in the Celestial
Vault itself. While many people dismiss it as an elaborate fairy tale there are still throngs of
people searching for the mythical lost land. Anthropologists who wish to study the
birthplace of humanity while treasure hunters wish to pillage entire cities that are lined with
gold. The reasons for going to Creation is up to the game’s themes and what the
Storyteller believes is the best fit for the game and the players themselves. Below are a
few examples of what players can see when they find in Creation itself.

Creation is a Graveyard
As one soars over the single spacious island floating in the void of space, one can
only see the burnt remains of a final a climatic war between two major powers that each
ended up destroying each other in a mutually assured blaze of glory. Great seas once
teaming with life are nothing more than black ichor where nothing lives while the gnarled
and charred husks of trees now stand in once verdant forests. The North and South are
lifeless deserts, sand and snow eternally blowing over both with the land no longer having
the energy nor willpower to muster up a storm. Ruins of once great cities dot the
landscape, filled with insane hungry ghosts which have gone mad from the trauma in their
final moments or from boredom after countless millennia.
 A tragedy of unspeakable magnitude clearly appears to have happened in Creation
itself, but the landscape is in ashes and seem to offer little to no clues of what transpired
here so long ago. The only place the players may find the answers they seek is the only
intact building in all of Creation: The Sword of Creation. Even approaching the structure
itself however gives a strong sense of foreboding in the hearts of the most bravest
explorers as storm clouds roil constantly above it. Who know what traps and monsters
leftover from the final war of Creation could be lurking inside... and will the answer of what
transpired in Creation be worse than those?

Creation is Intact
The long-lost land of Creation is left perfectly intact, surrounded by a large Reality
Tear and ruled by a society that appears to be stuck somewhere around the Bronze ages.
The Golden Engineer and First Emperor in this case were likely Solar Exalted who
somehow left Creation along with the first human colonists long ago, millennia passing in
the Celestial Vault while far less time passed in the cradle of humanity as it’s surrounded
by a large Reality Tear which warps and slows its passage of time. As players scan and
explore the lands they may find Champions that appear to be Exalted... and in closer
inspection they actually are. The Golden Engineer managing to make virtually identical
copies to the original Exaltations that exist on Creation itself, seeming to bridge the gap of
magical sorcery and miracles with that of bafflingly advanced technology from the height of
one of the greatest civilizations ever known. This very knowledge alone could cause
serious existential concerns in some of Creation’s beliefs and religions, especially with
people like the Immaculate Order who would spend many hours in debate on whenever
their cosmic kin are still part of the enlightened cycle of reincarnation or a heresy that was
created by mere mortals.

The current age of Creation is in the Time of Tumult, exactly where Vanilla Exalted
begins. Players will need to be careful in such lands however, as even using even the
basic technology of the Celestial Vault is likely to turn heads regardless of Exalted type.
Even something as basic as a slug thrower would be something to drive kingdoms into war
for. Literally anyone from the Realm would be more than happy to go to war against
someone who possesses even a basic interstellar starship, a literal treasure trove of
technology which could push the Realm many more miles ahead of their basic competitors
and would be a significant trump card in the upcoming civil war for any ambitious house. If
the Yozi’s found out about the Malfeans and the Stellar Intelligence’s they would be
shocked beyond words at the arrogance of humanity for trying to make versions of the
Primordial Titans they could control before doing all they could do to have a demonic spy
infiltrate the ship and somehow connect with interstellar brethren. The Unconquered Sun
himself may even turn his attention away from the Games of Divinity, seeking an audience
with the cosmic Solar kin which he had no memory of empowering or how such a thing
could be possible. Needless to say, once the players announce their presence, all of
Creation is going to have their eyes turned to them, waiting to see what develops.

Great Temporal Regulator

• Planet Type: Space Station
 • Population: 1

The damage the Malfean War inflicted upon the universe was not merely physical,
but metaphysical as well. The invention and use of multiple time manipulation devices
were used in the Malfean War. Temporal acceleration allowed the Malfean to train
fearsome demonic troops with decades of experience in only months while Sidereal
commanders routinely flipped through scouting reports written in the future itself. Time
Travel was used on both ends to significant degree and with such frequency that not even
the Loom Program itself could manage it. A mighty crack appeared in the system just
before the end of the Malfean War breaking the very concept of time itself. ‘Skips’ in time
started to appear, moments where everything in time was frozen in place to everyone
except those with an active personal anima field. These skips were infrequent at first, but
as time progressed they occurred with greater and greater frequency and with longer
durations. Timelines even began to violently intersect with one another leading to
scenarios where two ships crash into each other when both claim they didn’t see each
other or train tracks disappearing in front of a train as the area reverts to a time when the
tracks did not exist. With the way things were heading the Sidereals predicted that it would
only be a matter of time before Time broke completely, plunging the entire universe inside
of an eternally frozen moment where timelines constantly struggle to exist. An end to the
universe where people would not even be aware that their existence was suddenly and
completely halted.

To fix this the Sidereals paired up with one of the last remaining Stellar
Intelligence’s, Autochton. The Stellar Intelligence who was responsible for science and
technology himself saw the Sidereals plight and agreed to help despite his neutrality in the
Malfean War. With the aid of the Sidereals and their abilities, Autochthon constructed an
artificial planet made of clockwork gears and other advanced timekeeping devices both
physical and metaphysical, the perfect clock to manage the steady flow of time that the
universe itself could no longer manage: The Great Temporal Regulator. With his task
complete Autochton and the Sidereal’s used a wormhole to transport the Great Temporal
Regulator to the exact center of the universe... give or take a few feet.

To this day the mechanical planet ticks and whirrs, ensuring the constant passage
of time from its position as the last great invention made from the last scraps of the Golden
Age. A constant and vast fleet of automated drones repair and maintain the Clockwork
system, hyper efficiency recycling mechanisms keep the station relatively well supplied
despite its isolation. All of this is kept fueled by the Time Gate Engine in the heart of the
planet, an engine that is fueled by the very passage of time itself. In the endless vast white
abyss in the heart of the planet, a large and expansive control room filled with floating
stations that adjust to specific tasks as needed and all overseen by a robotic God Pattern
spirit type who's the god of the Great Temporal Regulator known only as the Caretaker of
Time. The Caretaker endlessly performs the fine adjustments on the finer details of time
itself within the station, amusing himself with various entertainment programs from the
Celestial Vault or entertaining the sparse company of elder Sidereals who stop by and visit
time to time.
 The Great Temporal Regulator is a powerful device because as the sole manager
of time itself it’s capable of slowing down, accelerating, or even reversing the flow of time
itself for the entire universe! The Caretaker of Time is quick to point out to anyone before
entering the control room that the Great Temporal Regulator is a tool, not a weapon. To
construct such an impressive device it took the last remaining resources of the Golden
Age to do so under the guidance of the last untethered Stellar Intelligence. Anyone
attempting to use this device to alter the flow of time could seriously damage the Great
Temporal Regulator and threaten the entire universe. Predictions say that if one used the
Great Temporal Regulator to travel back in time to the Golden Age once again, then either
the Big Crunch would happen or Time itself would become permanently broken with no
chance of ever being repaired. This has not stopped those grief or guilt stricken to seek
out the legendary device itself to turn back time and fix a grave mistake they had
committed in the past. Indeed, this seems to be only path available for such people, for the
Great Temporal Regulator makes it impossible for time machines to work in the universe
itself. The only other option they have is using the legendary Gungeon, but no one has
managed to come out from that accursed place alive.

Thankfully the method of travel to the Great Temporal Regulator is tricky to do. By
existing in the exact center of the universe, give or take a few feet, there are no galaxies
anywhere near the device. To travel there using even Golden Age FTL travel would take
tens of thousands of years. The only way Autochthon and the Sidereals managed to place
it there in the first place was by a wormhole they had created and only those with a
specific item who pass into this wormhole will arrive at the Great Temporal Regulator. No
one knows what this item looks like, but it is given to elder Sidereals who have proven
themselves time and again on the Grand Celestial Mountain and can be trusted with such
a valuable secret.

Yea, I just broke one of the sacred cows of Exalted. You want to go back in time?
Let’s see how badly you’ll fuck up the universe in the process.

Rael
• Planet Type: Fortress / Paradise / Precursor
• Population: Various slave races

During the height of the Golden Age itself a few planets within the galaxy were
converted to special paradise worlds, living temples to the might of the Exalted they were
enshrined to. The planet of Rael is one such world that was devoted the whims of the
Solar Exalted, a paradise world where those who shouldered the burden of Atlus could
temporarily put down the globe and relax. A land where vast ivory cities float in the skies
above sandy white beaches and sparkling blue oceans, the breeze of the ocean itself
wafting in one’s nostrils with the pleasant sweetness of honey and cinnamon. An entire
slave race is raised since birth in the various ways they can serve their Solar Lords in
pleasure or housekeeping duties, genetically engineered to be pleasant to look at and just
as eager to serve. Powerful War machines with each the strength of a modern-day army
patrol the planet ceaselessly while powerful manses employ planetary defense and
offense networks the likes of which are unheard of in this current era. Even as one soars
above the clouds and up to space itself, one can see that each of Rael’s five moons have
undergone heavy retrofitting to each become massive battlestations that are all personally
directed by the Unconquered Sun battleship that lies in orbit, the powerful Demi-SI that
powers the ship continuing to faithfully obey the last orders given to it ages ago: To protect
the last bastion of the Solars from all intruders in honor of those who had fallen in the
Malfean War.

Since then the Unconquered Sun has defended the planet from all known
intruders, the firepower more than ample to repel any current intruders as even the full
might of the Malfean Forces shattered against the shield of Rael. Those who find
themselves leaving Canal Space around the System of Rael will have their ship vaporized
within several seconds while those who choose a ‘correct’ route will have a handful of
seconds more to voice authorization codes before they are likewise blasted into dust. Even
if both of these obstacles are bypassed only really Solars are welcome on the planet itself,
as anyone who are not guests of the previous Galactic Emperors will find the servant
races apprehensive or resistant to any orders while security robots constantly watch them
for the slightest crime such people would commit; both parties wanting any non-Solar or
those not invited by a Solar Exalted to quickly conclude any business they have on the
planet and leave.

Those Solar Exalted that do enter the planet will find virtually anything their heart
desires on the planet itself. Functioning Golden Age workshops well stocked with supplies
long since thought to be lost to the ravages of time, personal armories that are stocked
with devastating first age weapons ranging from personal arms that could annihilate entire
battlefields to even interstellar battleships docked and ready to go at a moment's notice. All
of it owned by the plethora of Solar Exalted who perished in the War, leaving their most
cherished tools and possessions to either their next incarnation or worthy successor, their
golden tombs covering the size of a continent that are made from Orichalcum temples to
mountains carved in their image. There are a few Solars rumored to have retired here after
the Malfean War, after seeing centuries of warfare and horror that no living person should
witness, such as Contentious Sword, often regarded as one of the greatest warriors whom
ever walked amongst the stars. Rumors are that he lies in wait or has departed into the
sea of stars, looking for someone who will take up his mantle and legacy as he feels his
life drawing to a close.

Also the War machines and the Unconquered Sun don’t like if you try to take
everything shiny from the temple. You’d need to convince them to give you anything that
wasn’t directly left to your character’s incarnation, but the good news is that many solars
are generous in that they donate their equipment to anyone who has nothing left to their
name.

And More!
If you need to make more planets, don’t be afraid to shamelessly rip off things as I
have! For the people who need something more randomly generated, Gurps: Space has
an amazingly comprehensive planet and solar system random creation chart which you
can use and would quite honestly put anything I make to shame.
 The titan of blue jade goes stumbling backwards as explosions rock the front of it
as the pilot, Lt. ‘Hiro’ Cathek, yells in shock as the retrothrusters on his giant mechanical
battlesuit ignite to self-right himself.

“Why you! CHAIN THUNDER BREAK!” Hiro screams as the hand of his
mechanical titan stretches out, lightning flying out from the clouds behind his back to the
squadron of fighter craft that had just passed him, the bolt of lightning lashing out and
arching between the fighter craft before they all burst into collective balls of flame. Just as
this happens another series of explosions rocks the side of Hiro’s mech, causing it to
tumble over and over inside of the black abyss.

“More of them!?” Hiro shouts out, looking off in the distance as the compression of
reality can be seen before snapping back into full-fledged ships, coated in Feathrium
armour before more fighter craft fly out from the bloated carriers like a hive of angry bees.

“Brother! We need to retreat!” a single man flying through the void of space in
glittering white armour and a massive white hammer, stopping just in front of Hiro
mechanical titan.

“And abandon the colony!? To hell with that! We just need to take out the
command ship!” Hiro says pointing off in the distance towards a single massive vessel,
nearly several hundred meters in length and with a massive shield in front that seems to
casually deflect the shots of allied battleships.

“Not happening. There’s no way we’re going to get close enough to destroy it now
that they have reinforcements and neither of us have the remaining power needed to
destroy that thing.” The man in white jade replies.

“That’s the ship of Valin Constanova! He’s a hero for the Haslanti! If we take him
out now then rest of the ships will scatter and pa-” Hiro seems to remain frozen in thought
for several seconds, his mind racing as he formulates an idea. “I have enough for one
more attack! Brother, do you trust me!?”

“I trust you in everything except naming my attacks and armaments, but believe me
you don’t have enough power. Feathrium armour is way too tough to break with your cu-”
The white Jade man’s talk is cut off by Hiro’s blue jade hand picking him up. “Brother what
are you doing!?”

“I only needed to hear the first three words!” Hiro yells as he brings the man of
white jade overhead, the clouds around Hiro’s back gathering into a full storm as lightning
arcs off his mech and the winds begin to howl around him. “HEAVEN AND EARTH ONE
SHOT SURE KILL DRAGON BROTHER FAST BALL SPECIAL!”

With a crack of thunder that reverberates through space itself, the white jade man
is hurled towards the Haslanti battleship, screaming loudly over the intercom in panic and
rage at his brother for the entire journey. Just before the White Jade man connects with
the ship the boosters on his hammer engage as a whitish brown comet rams into the
Haslanti battleship, cracks racing against the entire length of the hull before being
shattered in a massive explosion. The attack happened so quickly that the escort ships are
unable to do a thing other than turn around and begin retreating from the system as fast as
possible.

“Yea! Way to go brother!” Hiro says raising his arm in victory.

The brown pillar of power can be seen several hundred meters away as a single
man tears himself from the wreckage of a battleship, none worse for wear but with malice
in his very posture. “Brother... As a follow of Paisap I pledged myself to the path of
patience and rational contemplation... but you are SORELY testing those vows right now!”

“Nonsense Crashing Boulder, you just earned you name and status of a hero for
this fight!” Hiro cheerily says as he gives a thumbs up with his mecha. “Now come on
back! We’ve got tails to spread in the bars of our fight and girls to pick up!”

Crashing Boulder gives a heavy sigh, fearing that his parables of wisdom may be
falling on deaf ears after all as he flies back towards his brother.
 Chapter 6: Gizmos and Ships
Well, those were a riveting several chapters of fluff weren’t they? If you’re reading
this, it means that you’re still here and interested futuristic gadgets and interstellar
spaceships. If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place.

Guns and Things That Go Boom

Firearms is how most people fight in the future, be it from the trusty firearm of a
mortal to the arm mounted rocket launcher of a demon prince. Only those very confident in
shields and armour can advance safely under the hail of lead and energy that could be laid
down upon them. Melee combat still has its role in the future, as it sees very popular use in
boarding actions where stronger firearms could put a hole in ones’ hull but still need the
power to crack heavier armour and heroic exalts can often pit blade against firearm without
any sort of additional difficulty. Guns have even entered the purview of Martial Arts with
styles which specialize in Heavy weapons such as Ironheart Destroyer Style or the
twinned pistol terrors that learn Steel Rain Style.

Below contains an assortment of rules detailing how firearms operate using the
standard set of rules presented in the Exalted 3e corebook. Firearms use the Archery
ability for all intents and purposes. Some Firearms have the Thrown tag instead of
Archery. This doesn’t mean you throw the weapon, but rather use the thrown accuracy
tables. Likewise, a crossbow tag doesn’t mean it actually is a crossbow, but it still shares
the +4 damage bonus and doesn’t factor in the users Strength for damage. Unless
specifically stated, firearms with the Flame tag may have their range extended by magic.

Additionally, I’m not going to universalize ammo capacities, as quite frankly various
guns have various ammo counts. If your Storyteller requires you to track ammo, ask him
how much ammo a given weapon should have (Such as how many times you can fire a
single shot, three round burst, and so on). Reloading a weapon takes a single action to do
so which may be flurried, but I didn’t put slow tags on everything as I assumed that was
reloading after every shot. Slow tag means the weapon is often so difficult to reload that
the action used to reload cannot be flurried.

Hit the Dirt! - Going Prone Against Ranged Attacks Rules Hack
As an optional rule for being prone, anyone who is prone is counted as being in
light cover when targeted with any ranged attack from short range or beyond. Against
opponents in close range however, this advantage is nullified as shooting down at your
head becomes all the easier for the shooter.

New Ranged Weapon Tags

• Explosive - Explosive attacks work differently than others. When making an attack
with a weapon containing the explosive keyword, first pick a target and the attack
against that target resolves normally. All other targets take a one time
 environmental hazard of trauma 4 with a difficulty varying on the weapon
type. Light explosive weapons deal 6i, Medium explosive weapons deal 8i, and
heavy explosive weapons deal 10i. Soak does reduce this damage down to a
minimum of one normally and against battle groups it deals lethal damage. The
wielder of the explosive does not gain any extra initiative that was lost by
secondary opponents. Wits+Dodge can be used in place of
Stamina+Resistance on the trauma roll against all explosive weapons. Users
cannot also trick the system by aiming at the feet of their opponents and letting the
environmental damage wear them down. They must score a successful hit against
them.
• Heavy - These weapons simply weigh too much for any individual person to carry
and fire at the same time. The weapon must be mounted on a vehicle or be braced
to be fired at all. This tag can be ignored if the user has +5 strength. Note this
weapon doesn’t forbid transporting or lifting it, but firing it without a mount is simply
too problematic for a normal person.
• Illegal - The mere act of owning this weapon is often considered a crime in and of
itself, even in places which permit most firearms. Getting access to this weapon
and its ammunition often requires a certain amount of Influence or Backing within a
government or organization, usually around two dots but the Storyteller may
increase or lower this limit as he sees fit. Getting it illegally is also an option, but
even it’s available then the weapon costs one more resources dot than
usual. Getting caught with such a weapon means at the very least police or any
security force will confiscate it, possibly even with jail time for the character in
possession of them.
• Strafing - These weapons are capable of firing in fully automatic modes,
overwhelming foes in a hailstorm of bullets. When using a weapon with the Strafing
tag, users may use automatic fire to saturate their opponent with a hailstorm of
bullets, making it nearly incredibly different to block or dodge and when a shot hits,
a few more are almost certain to follow in an effort to overload by sheer volume. A
Strafing attack fills an area roughly one range band in size with a high volume of
inaccurate fire. Strafing attacks are considered decisive, cannot be placed in a
flurry, do not target any one specific character, and automatically reset the attacker
to base. They create an environmental hazard for any character not under at least
light cover within the afflicted area with Damage equal to 1/3rd the attacker's
Initiative (round down) and a difficulty to avoid equal to half the successes rolled on
the attack. This environmental hazard does not bypass Hardness. Wits+Dodge
can be used in place of Stamina+Resistance on the trauma roll against all
strafing attacks.

Sidebar: WARNING ABOUT EXPLOSIVES

I am aware that area of effect attacks are extremely powerful in 3e, as are
explosive weapons are in real life. I’ve tried to model explosives in a way that makes the
vaguely representative in the game as they are in reality, but even then they may be too
strong. If Storytellers keep these weapons, please note that getting explosive weapons
are illegal in many places and often incredibly difficult to obtain. If you don’t wish to deal
with them, then simply remove the explosive tag. Unless specified otherwise, charms that
provide additional damage do not work with the area of effect damage, only on the initial
target.

New Gambit
Covering Fire (Difficulty 3, requires weapon with Strafing tag): This gambit makes use of
an automatic fire weapon, pinning its victim in a hailstorm of suppressive fire that makes it
incredibly dangerous to move away from their current position. The difficulty for this
gambit is 3. If successful, the shooter rolls (Dexterity+Firearms/Archery) in an opposed roll
against the victim’s (Wits+Dodge). If the shooter is successful then he pins their victim to
that location for a single turn, but the user may use any excess successes to keep their
pinned longer at a rate of one extra turn per extra threshold successes. If the victim is
pinned then they have successfully dodged the gambit, the shooter’s shots going too wide
to be a threat. At that point if the pinned target attempts to move out of their area or attack
anyone else other the gambit user, the gambit user may make one reflexive withering or
decisive attack against the target, supplemented with any charms they wish with the
defender’s defense reduced to 0. Those pinned by covering fire may fire blindly at a target
with the same penalties for attacking while blind (-3) or may attempt a Wits+Dodge at a
difficulty of the remaining turns to move a range brand as he dives for cover. If a victim
fails their Wits+Dodge roll, they may abort their movement roll if they wish, knowing it is
too dangerous to proceed. A success at moving or hitting those who are using covering
fire have one success stripped from the overall amount of time the gambit lasts. Once an
attack is made however, the gambit ends.

If this is too complicated, think of it as a form of ranged grapple gambit that blows its wad
after a single attack.

Mundane Weapons

Light Weapons

Hold-Out Pistol

A small handgun often used for self-defense. What it lacks it power it makes up for for the
ease of concealability and affordability. Due to their size however, killing power is
sacrificed so these weapons only add +2 damage to light weapons, not four. Cost: •

Tags: Lethal, Concealable, One-Handed, Archery (Medium), Crossbow (+2 damage),

Mounted

Pistol
Standard Police sidearm for many police forces around the world and nearly the star of
just as many action movies. If an area sells firearms, then you’d most likely have no
difficulty finding one of these. Cost: • (•• for Concealable versions)

Tags: Lethal, sometimes-Concealable, One-Handed, Archery (Medium), Crossbow,

Mounted

Submachine Gun

Submachine guns are a compromise between the firing rate of an assault rifle and the
stopping power of handgun bullets. They are around two feet in length and fairly light
weight. They are still best used two-handed, and are reloaded using magazines. While
normally fired two-handed, if the user has significant strength (Three or higher) then they
can fire it with only one hand. The small size and automatic fire make it a good weapon to
use in urban combat. Cost: ••

Tags: Lethal, One-Handed (If Strength is 3 or more), Archery (Medium), Crossbow,

Mounted, Strafing

Stun Gun

Stun guns may be small devices shooting crackling arcs of electricity, or they might shoot
tiny darts that dig into flesh, allowing attached wires to carry a jolting current into the
target. Depending on their specific method of delivery, stun guns are reloaded using small
batteries or cartridges. Cost: -

Tags: Bashing, Thrown (Short range max), Crossbow, One-Handed

Fish Food

These large fluffy multi colored blobs of food, while being absolutely worthless as a
weapon, do provide a valuable substance for fish. This weapon’s damage is -5B and in
decisive attacks do five less damage (That doesn’t mean five less dice, it means five less
levels that is applied before any multipliers). It doesn’t heal enemies, but you’d need to
throw it awfully hard for this to actually hurt someone.

We’re sorry.

Tags: Bashing, Thrown (Short), One-Handed, Special, Useless

I.E.D.

I.E.D.’s, or Improvised Explosive Devices, are jury rigged explosives with varying payloads
and delivery methods, from landmines, remote detonators, or sound detection. Either way
the result is often the same: Often a bloody stump where a person’s limb once was. This
I.E.D. is of one made with a low budget or poor materials, higher quality I.E.D.’s can easily
be Medium weapons in terms of power if better equipment is available. I.E.D.’s can be
hidden with the Survival or Larceny ability, and if they launch a surprise attack they roll
with planter’s (Wits+Survival/Larceny) as their join battle initiative and what they roll to hit
(if that’s relevant). This means that even one who failed to spot the explosive initially may
go ahead of it and leap out of the blast radius at the last second. Cost: - to •

Tags: Lethal, Concealable, Thrown (Short), One-Handed, Crossbow, Explosive

Laser Painter

Often in times of war, things such as GPS or locator scrambles are often the first things
that hit the field. Some remote locations or planets may not have basic GPS mapping
systems at all! To remedy this problem, Laser painters are introduced. Effectively three
feet long and appearing as a normal assault rifle except the barrel is replaced by lens. It
contains a powerful beacon and lock-on assists for indirect firing capability. All the user
needs to do is simply spend an action aiming and they will have successfully “painted” the
target, which means indirect attacks (such as artillery) calculate as if hitting the target from
the most beneficial range possible. The user must however keep the painter on the
subject at all times, or the direct attack could miss or worse, hit the user themselves! As a
result, target painters are best used against either immobile or unaware targets and cannot
be used on either quick or personal sized targets

The laser painter is incapable of dealing damage itself, though shining a high-powered
laser pointer into someone’s eyes does blind them for an action as difficulty 4 gambit.

Tags: Special, Archery (Long)

Medium Weapons

Handcannon
The heaviest pistol class available, ones that often involve high caliber rounds and do very
nasty things if they end up hitting someone. Often the type of pistols issued to military or
special forces, but various kinds of police are known to use one as well. Being a Revolver
lowers the cost of this weapon by one, but adds the Slow tag when needing to reload,
needing reloading after every six shots. Unless speed loaders are a thing. Cost: ••

Tags: Lethal, One-Handed, Thrown, Crossbow, Mounted, Piercing

Assault Rifle

Assault rifles are about three and a half feet in length, with more complex mechanisms
near the stock to afford higher rate of fire than other rifles. Typically meant for active
military service, they tend to be sturdy so that they can withstand exposure to the
elements. Assault rifle ammunition is typically stored in magazines, but they may also be
belt-fed. Normally restricted to civilians, characters may need backing or influence to get a
hold of these weapons legally. Some rifles may have Armour Piercing ammo valuable to
them, but to get access to such ammo usually requires backing in some sort of
organization. Cost: ••

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Mounted, Strafing, Crossbow, Sometimes-Piercing

Shotgun

Shotguns are best known for the use of birdshot, firing clouds of pellets that disperse to
improve accuracy while sacrificing killing power. This is less of a concern for hunters, who
make extensive use of shotguns, but can be compensated by using slug rounds. Slug
rounds do not disperse, but they are typically soft and deform on impact, inflicting greater
harm than individual pellets when they do hit. Other slugs may be made of rubber or
similarly soft materials to inflict less harm, for purposes of non-lethal crowd control.

Shotguns are unique in that their ammo payload is a bit more versatile. When using
buckshot a shotgun uses the values on the thrown accuracy table and cannot go beyond
medium range. Anyone attempting to parry a buckshot round does so at a -1 penalty
unless they have a shield tagged weapon (No action is needed, just the weapon
itself). Automatic shotgun variants exist as well, allowing this to stack with the Strafing tag
but are not as reliable and will jam on a botched attack roll (Miscellaneous action needed
to clear the gun, cannot be flurried). Slug rounds use the standard firearms table. Double
Barreled shotguns are incredibly cheap, but must reload after every two shots. Cost: •• (•
for double barreled, ••• for automatic variants)
Tags: Lethal (Buckshot/slug rounds), Archery (Long), Thrown (Medium), Powerful (Slugs),
Mounted, Strafing (••• version only), Bashing (Rubber rounds), Slow (For non-double
barreled), Crossbow, Special

Sniper Rifle

Like most rifles, the sniper rifle is roughly three to four feet long, with a stock and scope.
Sniper scopes are carefully calibrated, and their longer and precisely machined barrels
lend themselves to high accuracy. Combined with higher caliber ammunition, they are
ideal for taking out key targets from long distances. Some sniper rifles are built to be easily
taken apart and stored in carrying cases, for easy transport and infiltration. It takes about a
minute to take the rifle apart or put it back together. Because of the rifle’s size, only large
briefcases can hold the entirety of the disassembled gun.

When used with a scope, Sniper Rifles allow the user to make a shot out to the range of
one extreme band at the cost of two aiming actions. Additionally it actually allows them to
see that far.

This is also the weapon type used for many sporting or hunting rifles. Hunting rifles cost
two resources dot less, but are not as heavily calibrated as Sniper rifles thus do not have
the effective range of sniper rifles, making their making range merely long and lacking the
piercing tag. Cost: ••• (• for Hunting Rifles)

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Extreme/Long), Crossbow, sometimes-Piercing, sometimes-

Concealable

Military Grade Explosives

A broad category describing the explosives for many personal military grade explosives,
such as fragmentation grenades, grenade launchers, or anti-personnel
landmines. Permission to have access to such weapons requires backing in a military unit
or mercenary company. Ad-hoc explosives can also be made as well, I.E.D.’s when the
creator has access to sufficient material, expertise, and/or time to make his weapon. Note
the crossbow tag means the user’s strength is +4 for purposes of damage. Landmines
may be hidden with a Larceny or Survival check, and if they launch a surprise attack they
roll with planter’s (Wits+Survival/Larceny) as their join battle initiative and what they roll to
hit (if that’s relevant). This means that even one who failed to spot the explosive initially
may go ahead of it and leap out of the blast radius. Cost: ••

Tags: Lethal, Concealable, Thrown (Short), One-Handed, Crossbow, Explosive, Special

Mark 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher

The Mk 19 is a belt fed, blowback operated, air cooled, crew served, fully automatic
weapon that is designed not to cook off the grenades it fires. Weighting a rather massive
amount, it is typical for three man crews to use this weapon on fixed emplacements or
atop vehicles. Lifting such a weapon requires strength of 7.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Medium), Crossbow, Explosive, Strafing, Special

XM25 “Punisher” Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) System

This rather futuristic looking weapon is basically an airburst grenade launcher. If the user
spends at least turn aiming down the sights (which include such things as laser
rangefinder, telescopic sights, Thermal Sight, Environmental Sensors, Ballistic computer,
and other such things), they can program the grenade to detonate at a set distance, such
as directly above or behind cover. As such, any non-mobile cover is ignored by smart use
of this weapon. However the problem with this weapon is that it was never put into mass
production. The only way for a person to gain access to this weapon is if they happen to
have a very high backing at either the company who produces the weapon or sufficient
rank in the military. At the very least this requires sufficient rank in the Backing
background to gain access. The effects are otherwise handled as the Military Grade
Explosive Weapon above. Cost: Special

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Medium), Crossbow, Explosive, Special (Ignores cover with aiming
action)

Flamethrower

A weapon banned by many countries and incredibly heavy, but for clearing out a room or
setting people on fire there hasn’t been a better weapon since. Shooting high pressured
propane or natural gas out a considerable distance, flamethrowers are an incredibly
damaging weapon if they hit. If a decisive attack with a flamethrower hits and deals
damage, than anyone hit by it is subjected to a bonfire hazard on their next upcoming
turn. This bonfire hazard deals initiative damage instead of lethal, but deals lethal damage
if the victim is in initiative crash. If caught fire, victims can go prone and their resistance
roll gaining two automatic bonuses successes (this is a separate action, but it can be
flurried), stunts involving large amounts of water are automatically successful. These
flames last until the victim passes the resistance roll or until a number of turns equal to the
damage dealt has passed (maximum 3).
Note that with certain special alchemical fuels, a flamethrower does not need to shoot out
just flame. It could be turned into a freezethrower or a device that shoots electrified gel. In
any case, the weapon works the same and just the element changes. This can be
important to those who face creatures such as Guarda Birds.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Short), Flame, Special

Heavy Weapons

Rocket Launcher

Strikingly simplistic looking personal artillery, rocket launchers are long tubes, hefted over
the shoulder to deliver vicious devastation on the battlefield. They often change combat
situations simply with their intimidating presence. Exceptional rocket launchers are usually
models incorporating laser painting and computer guidance systems. Armour-piercing
missiles can be used against fortified targets, but in such a case only the initial target is
affected by the piercing shot, anyone else merely takes explosive damage. Such a rocket
or missile allows the user to ignore the Bulletproof ability of vehicles. Homing Missile
variants also exist as well, in which if the use takes an entire turn aiming before attacking
(two turns in a row if the target is medium or further away), in which if the attack misses,
the rocket loops around and attempts to attack its target one more time before running out
of fuel/veering too far off course. Homing Rockets can only target large objects like
vehicles or hot objects like jet engines... or if you want to be sadistic prick an exalt in
totemic anima display. Rocket Launchers must reload after every shot. Cost: •••

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Crossbow, Slow, Mounted, Explosive, sometimes-Piercing,

Illegal, Special

Heavy Machine Gun

Heavy machine guns can be up to five feet long, allowing their heavier ammunition to
travel as far or farther than the bullets of smaller, lower-powered rifles. Their rate of fire is
even higher than other automatic weapons, and since size and weight are less of a
concern, they carry much more ammo. They are typically fixed in place, on a rotating
mount or on a tripod. Heavy machine guns tend to draw ammunition from underslung
boxes mounted just ahead of the trigger, or to the side of a slot that allows them to be belt-
fed for more indefinite ammunition usage, in such a case the weapon only runs out of
ammo when the storyteller deems appropriate.
While possible to carry and fire at the same time, one would need incredible strength in
order to lift, fire, and deal with the recoil of the weapon, minimum being Strength 5. Cost:
•••

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Crossbow, sometimes-Slow, Piercing (Doesn’t work on

heavily armoured vehicles), Heavy, Strafing, Illegal

Anti-Tank Rifle

The absolute heaviest sort of weapon one can carry and use against individual targets,
often against vehicles. These weapons are too large and cumbersome to be used at close
range, but they have enough force per shot that the will always be a threat to vehicles,
allowing it to ignore the bulletproof tag if it doesn’t already by virtue of sheer
damage. Cost: •••

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Extreme), Crossbow, Piercing, Illegal, Slow

Heavy Duty Explosive

A large, cumbersome explosive designed to damaged heavily armoured stationary or slow

targets. These weapons count as heavy weapons that deal +15 damage and ignore 3
points of armour/two points of hardness. Such explosives are often too large,
cumbersome, or simply not aerodynamic enough to throw for anyone not having at least
Strength 5. Landmines may be hidden with a Larceny or Survival check, and if they
launch a surprise attack they roll with planter’s (Wits+Survival/Larceny) as their join battle
initiative and what they roll to hit (if that’s relevant). This means that even one who failed
to spot the explosive initially may go ahead of it and leap out of the blast radius, but the
only ones that can trip Anti-Vehicle Mines are things with large weight values, such as a
car. Against buildings a user may either use (Wits+Craft [Fitting Craft ability]/Larceny) with
a strength rating of 5 in place of actual strength as a feat of strength to destroy some
object. Note if the user has access to sufficient explosive material and sufficient setup
time, the minimum strength requirement can be whatever the user wants. Needless to
say, heavy explosives ignore traits such as legendary size or bulletproof.

Tags: Lethal, Illegal, Special

Artillery

Long range heavy duty cannons that are designed to inflict maximum damage over long
ranges, even over the horizon. Artillery is a special weapon in a sense that it is often slow,
cumbersome, and takes time to change its aiming position. If an artillery cannon wants to
make an exact strike (Such as a house or building) the gunner must take an aim action to
calculate the exact trajectory. After that uses the gunners
(Intelligence+Archery/Firearms). Mobile objects such as tanks are treated as having +2
defense and striking personal targets is impossible. While cumbersome the outcome is
worth it, as the weapon can fire across multiple extreme brands and when hitting a non-
hardened structure (Such as a house or car) then all occupants take damage as if hit with
a heavy duty explosive. Large buildings such as skyscrapers only treat a section as taking
this damage, but how long the building can survive under such fire is in
question. Structures and vehicles that are hardened, such as tanks or bunkers, take
damage as normal and protect their occupants until destroyed. Artillery has a minimum
range of long, as after that it takes too long for a shell to reach it’s target and takes too
long to move to point in the general direction of a person at medium range or closer. An
artillery user can make an attack at close range by firing straight up and waiting one turn
later... and most likely killing himself in the process.

The other option for artillery is by bombarding an area. This is typically an environmental
hazard which varies in power with the amount/skill of artillery cannons. In any case, a
botch on the trauma roll to resist is treated as a direct hit.

Tags: Lethal, Illegal, Special, Archery (Extreme [as many as ST declares valid])

Artifact Firearm Weapons: Shellcasters

Light Weapons

Divine Shout Trigger

Divine shout triggers are the smallest artifact guns, usually about the same size as their
mundane equivalent, the holdout pistol. They may even be styled to look like a mundane
weapon, though they are just as likely to be shaped like a twisting dragon, a hefty lightning
bolt, or a wicked talon. Divine shout triggers may be loaded one bullet at a time, or with
small cartridges. Divine Shout Trigger evocations usually rely on subtly, but there are
always oddities like the Grasschopper which a single shot can destroy a car.

Tags: Tags: Lethal, Concealable, One-Handed, Archery (Medium), Crossbow (+2

damage), Mounted

Six-Heart Stormsplitter
One of the simplest designs for artifact guns, six-heart stormspitters can vary in size from
that of a mundane handgun to enormous weapons, impossible for a mortal to wield.
Smaller models can be used by mortals as their mundane equivalent, the revolver.
Because of the tradition and personalized nature lent more to these older styles of guns,
as well as how easy it is to load the cylinder with a variety of bullets, Six-Heart
Stormspitters are often the weapon of choice for Exalted who make extensive use of
bullets with unique magical capabilities. Such bullets almost always rely on the attunement
of the weapon to work properly. Lastly, such guns are always reliable in times of great
need. Once per scene, if the user botches an action with her Stormsplitter, she may turn
the botch into a normal failure. This does not stop Heaven’s Wrath from the Eclipse oath
however. Medium versions of this weapon exist in addition to light ones.

Tags: Lethal, sometimes-Concealable, One-Handed, Archery (Medium), Crossbow,

Mounted

Stormwand

Stormwands are one of the most varied artifact guns in form and apparent function. They
may look like simple totem sticks, or vicious, pronged implements of science and torture.
They may be strange, boxy designs that fit over the hand and spit electrified spikes. Some
simply look like ornate but otherwise mundane stun guns. They benefit from their magical
construction not just from improved stunning capability, but their effective range is
improved and they do not require wires to deliver their charge at a distance. Stormwand
batteries and spikes are contained in cartridges. Stormwands also have a unique
advantage of being able to be used a brawl weapon in addition to a ranged one. It offense
no defense bonus, but when used in this fashion its battery does not drain.

Tags (Ranged): Bashing, Thrown (Medium range max), Crossbow, One-Handed

Tags (Brawl): Bashing, Brawl

Steel Rain Caster

Steel rain casters are usually less than three feet long, with a grip on one end for those
who wish to wield them two-handed. Like mundane submachine guns, they fire smaller
caliber bullets from their magazines. Because they fit under a trenchcoat, and in cramped
hallways, steel rain casters are a popular choice for Exalted gangsters and police forces.
They are loaded using three separate magazines. Secondly these weapons can be
produced in pairs, and when wielded in this way allows the user to wield them without any
offhand penalties.

Tags: Lethal, One-Handed, Thrown, Crossbow, Mounted, Strafing

Medium Weapons

Shellcaster

Most deserving of the moniker “hand cannon”, the standard shellcaster is an artifact heavy
pistol. The smallest of them are slightly bigger than the largest mundane pistol, while the
greatest are as big as a man’s thigh. Being their most visible part, the end of a
shellcaster’s barrel is often highly stylized, usually in the form of a dragon’s maw or
sunburst. Such weapons are very well balanced, effectively granting the weapon the
Balanced tag from melee, but with accuracy only increasing to a maximum of 5. There is a
spot on the grip for mounting a hearthstone. Shellcasters are loaded with magazines.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Balanced (See above), Crossbow, Mounted, Strafing (3)

Warstorm Shellcaster

Most warstorm shellcasters resemble outsized versions of normal assault rifles. They are
at least four feet long, from barrel tip to shoulder rest. The barrel of the gun is an alloy of a
magical material and steel, with precise and auspiciously patterned rifling to send a bullet
on its way with more impact at greater speed and range. It is traditional to hold the weapon
in a standard rifle grip, with one hand on the barrel’s stabilizing hold, but when firing from
the hip Exalted often use the carrying hook on top.

While the barrel is noticeably longer than that of a mundane assault rifle, what ensures
that no one can mistake a grand shellcaster for an ornate mortal gun is the elaborate
housing of the firing mechanisms that make up the heart of the weapon. Nearly the size of
a child’s torso, its exterior best resembles a shrine. What appear to be arched portals for
supplicants, depending on their orientation, are slots for ammunition magazines or for
pouring bullets into the hopper.

The weapon’s two hearthstone settings are usually situated on the stock, but they may
also be mounted on the main housing of the gun.

Like a mundane assault rifle, warstorm shellcasters are magazine or belt fed.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Mounted, Strafing (5), Crossbow

Behemoth Heartpiercer
The behemoth heartpiercer is short for an artifact rifle, with a barrel only two and a half feet
long. Made for easy transport through the wilderness while still affording extreme range,
they are usually imbued with powdered gems resonant with birds of prey, bloodhounds or
wolves. Though it provides no proven benefit over such admixtures, the most sought after
behemoth heartpiercers have had their least gods eaten and replaced by a hunting spirit.
Behemoth heartpiercers are loaded with magazines.

These weapons also use the same aiming rules as Sniper Rifles do.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Extreme/Long), Crossbow, Piercing

Reaping Shellcaster

Reaping shellcasters sport two relatively short, two-foot barrels, wide and dark with
ominous promise. These sit against a loading and firing mechanism that has an
underslung box for reloading, which are often fashioned to resemble a screaming skull,
roaring dragon, or angry face. Often, the barrels emerge from the ornament’s mouth, but
some of the more disturbing designs come from the eyes. Reaping shellcasters have
collapsible stocks, but thanks to their magical construction these are usually only an
element of style. The underslung ammunition box is very easy to reload, but the size and
number of shells still requires a miscellaneous action to do so.

See the shotgun entry for ammo types and notes on Shotgun ranges.

Tags: Lethal (Buckshot/slug rounds), Archery (slugs, Long), Thrown (Buckshot, Medium),
Powerful, Mounted, Strafing (3), Bashing (Rubber rounds), Slow, Crossbow, Special

Heavy Weapons

Grand Shellcaster

Grand Shellcasters are roughly the size and shape of a small man, with two enormous
barrels mounted on a firing mechanism and ammo hopper. They are unlovely by the
standards of most artifact guns, boxy and crude since an artificer’s effort must go into
harnessing the destructive will of the gun’s least god. This angers the spirit, but anyone
clever enough to successfully build a Grand shellcaster channels the god’s rage,
vindictively enhancing the stopping power and accuracy of the shellcaster’s bullets.
Though relatively simple looking, grand shellcasters are sophisticated machinery. A large
slot on the side of the gun allows it to be reloaded entirely with a miscellaneous action,
despite the prodigious amount of bullets it can hold. It is not fitted with magazine mounts or
a belt feed; instead, the gunner simply tosses the right type of bullet in the hole. The
shellcaster sorts out the rest.

Warstorm shellcasters have space for mounting up to two hearthstones.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Crossbow, sometimes-Slow, Piercing, Strafing (6)

Grand Reaping Shellcaster

Made to help fell the strongest or most stubborn of behemoths and demons, the Grand
Reaping Shellcaster intent is for killing in a single shot and the weapon clearly shows
that. Often sporting two to four barrels made of reinforced magical materials to prevent the
gun from peeling apart, firing all of this weapon’s barrels at once is more akin to an
explosive than an actual weapon. Anyone within a 90 degree arc from short range from
the gunman is treated as being hit by an explosive as the weapon perfectly times the force
and trajectory of the shotgun pellets to be more like a bomb than a gunshot. The only con
of this hulking brutes is that the weapon only contains four shells. While they may be shot
individually, the explosive benefit only happens all of them are fired at once. Remember
that if your target is at close range, then you only damage them with the normal shot and
not the explosive (everyone else next to the target will feel it however). Making reloading
this weapon quite painful without some sort of magic to speed up reloading.

This weapons otherwise follow the same rules as a normal shotgun does, though many
are encouraged to use it close up as possible.

Tags: Lethal (Buckshot/slug rounds), Archery (Long), Thrown (Medium), Mounted,

Bashing (Rubber rounds), Slow, Crossbow, Special

Dragon’s Roar Cannon

The simplest dragon’s roar cannons are hardly more than featureless metal tubes, their
auspicious construction and enchantments flinging missiles farther and with greater force
than their mundane counterpart, the rocket launcher. Some dragon’s roar cannons are
more elaborate, with hefty aiming computers, cyclotrons that impart their force to the
projectile, and miniature factories inside that paint the missile with a friction-reducing
polymer the instant before it is fired. Regardless of their apparent complexity, they are
always at least three feet long and about a half foot wide, hefted onto the shoulder for
proper firing.
Like a mortal rocket launcher, a dragon’s roar cannon requires that a character load each
missile with a miscellaneous action. While the standard dragon’s roar cannon can hold two
missiles, it may be equipped with a rack that can hold up to three additional missiles.

Dragon’s Roar Cannon can also fire almost any missile type without difficulty, such as
homing or armour piercing.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Long), Crossbow, Slow, Mounted, Explosive, sometimes-Piercing,

Illegal, Special

Godcannon

A Godcannon is an artifact anti-tank rifle, dedicated to felling the mightiest of

behemoths. Every inch of a godcannon is a prayer to the god of killing at a distance. Its
barrel, four feet long on its own, is thick and covered in runes. The firing heart is heavy
with lethal intent, a shrine the size of a man’s torso housing the gun’s violent least god. It
has a built-in bipod for easy stabilization, two struts where the barrel meets the main body
of the gun, often stylized as swept back fangs, intricate marble pillars, or two arms
punching into the ground with stone fists. Between these intimidating bipods, one may find
the magazine slot for reloading the weapon. Unlike an anti-tank rifle, these weapons can
be fired at close range. Poorly, but at least they can.

Some godcannons are built to be taken apart and stored in carrying cases, for easy
transport and infiltration. It requires about a minute to take the weapon apart or put it back
together. Because of the godcannon’s size, only suitcases for extended travel can hold the
entirety of the disassembled gun.

Each godcannon comes with a built-in heartseeking focus lens. In addition to the scope,
the stock or body of the gun has a second spot for mounting another hearthstone.

Tags: Lethal, Archery (Extreme), Crossbow, Piercing, Illegal, Slow, sometimes-

Concealable

Special Weapons

Beam Weapons
Beam weapons for all intents and purposes just use the stats of normal guns, only
instead of clips they use energy packs that contain energy, plasma, or whatever the setting
demands for the gun.
 Any distinctions and differences between them and normal firearms are up to the
Storyteller, but one example would be in a setting that had beam weapons as the new hot
thing that beam weapons could apply the piercing tag to any of their shots for free against
‘primitive’ or ‘outdated’ armour. Any armour that is created by and/or bolstered by magic is
exempt however, as is artifact armour. Being made out of the finest materials has
rendered their protection timeless.

Nuclear Weapons

The Bomb

Such a weapon needs no introduction. Capable of wiping an entire city off the face
of the map and salting the earth for decades after by becoming a radioactive
wasteland. Using such weapons often means a sign of failure as no other option was
remaining, but at the same time they remain the ultimate trump card. Such effects of a
weapon and its aftermath are strongly encouraged to be decided amongst the Storyteller
and/or Players as often numerical traits are insufficient to fully explore the scope of such a
weapon. If you want a more numerical approach, then use this, with you free to adjust it to
your leisure.

Upon detonation of a nuclear weapon, everyone within range of the weapon is

treated as being exposed to an immediate lava environmental hazard as temperatures
hotter than the surface of the sun sear them as a one-time environmental hazard. One
turn (or a few seconds) later the blastwave arrives, subjecting everything within its radius
to a decisive attack dealing 50 dice of damage. Any building less than a hardened bunker
is immediately torn apart like a hurricane tearing apart a wet paper house. The
surrounding lands are then subject to a radiation hazard which causes radiation sickness
(As well as anyone who actually survived the blast) which is statted with the same traits as
Hemorrhagic Fever but with an interval of one week. Charms that protect against
uncountable damage (Such as Heavenly Guardian Defense) protect against the one-time
hazard and the blast wave with a single activation, but not the radiation sickness, which
must be resisted separately. Thankfully, Exalted cannot die from the sickness though they
probably will wish they did at one point during it. The blast radius of an atomic weapon is
quite large, and is usually out to extreme range or further. Depending on the amount of
victims, a shadowland forming over the area is incredibly likely.

Tags: Uncountable, Lethal, Special, Range (Extreme or more, explosion radius

only).

Gun Accessories
Mundane

• Flashlight - A flashlight you can put under the barrel of your weapon, so you can
avoid being a doomed space marine. Resources 1
• Night Vision Sights - This is a scope made for night combat. The scope functions
fairly well for nighttime engagements, but be warned it only provides a fraction of
normal vision. These goggles allow the user to see clearly in extreme low-light
conditions, negating all penalties for anything less than absolute darkness. Bright
light, however, subjects the character to a one-die internal penalty unless he has
flash shutters installed, and in addition the user cannot see any color at all other
than shades of green. These goggles however automatically fail against magically
induced sources of darkness (IE: Coming from charms or sorcery). Resources
2. An improved version at resources 3 allows the scope to be used at either day or
night with no penalty.
• Thermal Vision Sights - This scope is designed with thermal vision enhancements,
enabling a target to see the heat signatures of anything through the scope. All heat
sources appear to glow while in this vision mode, so warm-blooded creatures stand
out against cooler backgrounds, but being within (Perception) yards of a powerful
radiant heat source at least as hot as a fire blinds an Exalt using thermal vision
unless he has flash shutters. The user cannot see conventional light while using
thermographic mode, so he cannot perceive visual data based on color, pigment
contrast (i.e., differentiating between shades of the same color) or brightness. This
mode also applies a -2 penalty to the difficulty of all rolls to notice or physically
attack anything that is very close in temperature to its surroundings. Storytellers
should assess Perception bonuses and penalties to this vision mode at their
discretion, taking care to reward creativity on the part of both the user and his
opponents. Resources 3.
• Bipod - An often great accessory for those who wish to use bigger guns but still
worry about the physical strength requirements to fire it. This gun attachment fits
directly under the barrel, and can be placed on any solid object, requiring a
miscellaneous action in of itself. When set up, guns that need superhuman
strength to fire no longer need to be lifted, provided the enemy is within a 90
degree arc. Naturally, one needs to stay put in order to continue using the benefit
of the bipod. Getting up and leaving requires no action (unless the user was prone,
which would require a rise from prone action). Resources -.
• Gun Cleaning Kit - All the brushes, cleaning rags, and solution one needs to keep
their gun in working order. Storytellers are encouraged to let this kit fix all non-
serious problems for a weapon without needing a craft roll. Resources 1.
• Silencer - A silencer capable of fitting over most known weapons. While a
standard suppressor can muffle the noise a gunshot makes, it cannot totally mute
the sound of a bullet. Normally locating the user of a gunshot gives the one rolling
+2 situational die, but when using a suppressor, shots are as silent as an arrow
and no bonus is given. If used with subsonic ammo (-2 damage) then opponents
have a -2 penalty to awareness rolls trying to locate the gunman. Resources 1.
• Loudener - This barrel attachment makes the users firearms louder. The reason
why the user would desire this is left up to them.
 • Breach Shotgun Attachment - This attachment is what can be considered a full
power shotgun that can fit right under the barrel of an assault rifle. While often
used for blowing off doorknobs, it is also excellent for a tight pinch in close
encounters, greatly increasing the flexibility of the weapon. It has the same stats
as a normal shotgun, but the magazine size is only 2. 10 gauge variants exist, but
can only fit one shell at a time. Resources 2.
• Underslung Grenade Attachment - This attachment fits all the destructive power of
a grenade right on the underside of the rifle. The rifle can only fit one grenade at a
time, but can be quite useful for assault missions. The grenade uses the same
traits as a military grade explosive, but with a range of short and uses Archery to hit
rather than Thrown. Resources 2.
• Underslung Railgun Attachment - Advanced developments in portable Gauss
technology have led to the development of this underslung Railgun, containing all
the power of its full grown brethren. Cost restrictions have prohibited this weapon
to only the very elite, and they has been some debate over it’s used compared to a
normal grenade launcher, but for some the single powerful shot of the Railgun
have saved their lives more than once. Treat as anti-tank rifle shot that runs out of
ammo after one shot. Resources 3, Resources 4 without proper connections.
• Hand-Free Weapons - These weapons often take a variety of shapes. Shoulder
mounted cannons, rod pods strapped to the thighs, SMG’s installed in a helmet,
either way the result is the same: A weapon that needs absolutely no hands to fire,
using things like voice or subtle movements to fire. However, there is a problem
with such weapons in that exchange for hands free options, crippling accuracy
penalties are introduced, as trying to accuracy fire rockets that are strapped to your
legs is quite difficult. All accuracy values are reduced by 3 as a form of
penalty. Homing Missiles can negate this penalty if locked on. Ironheart
Destroyers can also wield such weapons as easily as breathing to them. This
modification is often done cheaply, so requires no additional expenditure of
resources.
• Toy Charm - A typical charm that is often hung from keyrings. Serves no purpose
other than to broadcast your tastes.

Artifact

Innocuous Assassin’s Luggage (Artifact ••)

Specially designed for godcannon infiltration, though versions exist for mortal sniper rifles
and other guns, innocuous assassin’s luggage are mundane-looking attaché cases with
minor Elsewhere-storage enhancements.

Attuning the case for 1m allows one to store a disassembled gun without fear of detection.
The magic of the case shields itself from detection as well, adding +3 dice to relevant rolls
to hide the weapon. Even if people open up the case, all they will find inside is just normal
papers and other briefcase materials unless they specifically know where to look.
Each innocuous assassin’s luggage case is built to accommodate a specific type of
weapon. A case built to hide a godcannon cannot store a warstorm shellcaster.

Heartseeking Focus Lens (Artifact ••)

At times, a lightning spirit falls in love with a spirit of metal or crystal, pining away in the
heavens. Thunderstorms plague the domain of the earth spirit, until finally the sky spirit
can withhold herself no longer and rushes to meet the object of her obsession. The heat of
her speed and love obliterates a course through the ground while solidifying a hard tube
around it. These oddities can be unearthed and, carved and mounted with care, make
excellent scopes for the guns of the Exalted.

A heartseeking focus lens is not significantly larger than a mortal scope, but it cannot be
mistaken for one. Though opaque, it is a crystalline tube with smoky visions of bullets,
eyes and sparks playing on the surface as light refracts through its facets. It acts as a
normal scope when attached to an artifact gun. Should a hearthstone be set in its far end,
the jewel becomes transparent and warps slightly to focus the gunner’s sight.

If properly used in this method, then the scope reduces an amount of penalties to a ranged
attack roll equal to the amount of aiming dice one would normally get, and even
awareness rolls to see something through the scope. Artifact 2 versions of this scope
contain the Night Vision and Thermal Vision modifications in addition to what the artifact 1
versions supply.

New Ammo Types

• Bullet Based ammo

o Dragon’s Breath - A special sort of shotgun shell that is loaded with an
alchemical reagent. When fired, it produces a stream of flame that heads
out and engulfs their opponent. Shields are treated as having a defense of
+0 while any cover is treated as being one grade less unless the cover is
total. The downside is that guns often require maintenance after firing this
shot, as the chemical often sticks to the barrel. This ammo costs resources
1 for six rounds or resources 2 for a box (18 rounds).
o Explosive Rounds - Special, large caliber rounds that explode on impact. A
weapon needs to have a large barrel size to even properly fire this,
meaning only high-powered Sniper Rifles and Shotguns. The shots do the
same damage as normal, but allow the user to reroll up to two 1s on his
withering or decisive damage roll. If a battle group uses this, reroll as
many 1’s as their size. This ammo costs resources 2
o Spectral Rounds - These bullets appear to be normal bullets, but with one
key exception. The material of the bullet is that of a soft glowing
white. When fired, these bullets skim the edges of dimensional space,
allowing them to hit dematerialized spirits with no problems. Locating a
 dematerialized spirit is up to the user. While these bullets come in nearly
every caliber imaginable, the manufacture and distribution of these bullets
is considered top secret. Only individuals with a high ranking in some sort
of governmental organization or high status in the black market is capable
of finding these. In the Modern Underworld however such ammo is printed
off like candy at nearly any weapons manufacturer which not only costs
less, but can be bought by normal civilians. Adds one to the resources
value of ammo, maximum 3.
o Subsonic Ammo - This ammo type fires the bullets at subsonic
speeds. While this does decrease their damage, it renders the weapon
much harder to hear, and therefore locate the shooter. Subsonic ammo
reduces the raw damage of a firearm by -2, but those attempting to
immediately pinpoint the shooter after the attack gain no bonus as the
attack is silent as an arrow. Subsonic ammo has a special interaction with
the Silencer add on, for more detail see the Silencer add on above. Lastly
unless a hull is made out of literally tinfoil, subsonic ammo never breaches
hulls during boarding actions.
o Rubber - These rounds are made out of rubber or some other
material. When fired from a weapon, the shots do non-lethal bashing
damage to the target. Shotguns beanbag rounds won’t spill past the incap
boxes, but rubber bullets from other weapons can. Caution is
advised. Resources cot is same as original.
• Arrows
o Tek Arrow - Named after the substance within the arrow itself. Tek arrows
are loaded up with the explosive element known as Tekkosian and other
various substances. When fired, the very rapid vibrations of the arrow
cause the arrow to literally explode, affecting all targets within close range
as if hit by a Military Grade Explosive, basically turning your standard arrow
shot into an RPG round. The arrow uses a fixed damage as if it had the
crossbow tag, as the explosion makes the extra or lesser strength
pointless. Resources 1 per arrow and resources 2 for a quiver of
12. Outside the south, increase these values by +1.
o Spectral Arrow - An arrow with a glowing white, ghostly tip that howls like
the moaning dead when fired. Functions the same as Spectral Ammo
rounds.
o Compact Quiver - To keep up with firearms, arrows of the future needed to
adapt. Quiver space is often limited, and many prefer to save the space in
it for speciality arrows rather than mundane ones. To solve this, the Arrow
Blaster pack was introduced. A small generator, seeming to endlessly turn
while glowing white, capable of fitting into the palm of one’s hand. All one
needs to do in order to use it is to plug it into a bow capable of using it and
pull back the string. An arrow made of pure energy automatically digistructs
in the blink of an eye, ready to be fired within a micro second's notice. This
arrow behaves like a normal arrow in every way, except that after impacting
the opponent, the arrow evaporates back into nothingness. This outfitting
has no effect on the bow, and can still fire normal arrows without any
problems. Archers everywhere were overjoyed that they no longer needed
to haul large quivers of arrows everywhere, and could rely on easily
 smuggled Compact Quivers. Users who wish to replace an empty compact
Quiver with a fresh one need to spend a Miscellaneous Action reloading as
if it had the slow quality. In Modern this feature is only on artifact
powers. In Heaven’s Reach and Gunstar Autochthonia, it can apply to all
bows (Mundane and Artifact). In Vanilla games it is up to the Storyteller
whenever or not they wish to add this in their game. A normal Compact
Quiver usually holds 12 arrows and costs Resources 1 in Modern/Vanilla
and no resources in Sci-fi games.
• Grenades
o These are optional and different types of grenades one can use. As said
before, I am trying to bring weapons that exist in real life and make them
compatible with the rules of Exalted 3e.
o Chaff - This grenade does no damage, but for 3 turns up an area of medium
range, small particles can be seen falling from the air. These particles jam
any sort of non-artifact wireless transmission, jam laser guidance, and
impose a -3 penalty on any sort of enhanced sight such as thermal or night
vision. This does not apply to charm based sources or artifacts. Resources
1.
o Frag - Standard grenade type. Pull pin, throw, wait three to five seconds,
then watch it explode.
o Impact - These Grenades explode the instant they impact a solid
surface. Such as a wall or opponent. While this is useful in itself, the user
cannot use them to bounce around corners. Situational, but here if you got
ideas.
o Sticky - These grenades have a sticky adhesive to it. When thrown, the
grenade sticks to an object before it blows up. Resources +1**.
o Disc - The grenade itself is reshaped into an aerodynamic disc, which can
be thrown farther than a standard grenade or stick grenade (Medium
range). The rubber edges on the grenades allow allow it to bounce off walls
too, but by attempting to hit unseen people behind walls a -3 penalty to the
attack roll is applied. Since this grenade is a bit tricky to use, people who
use it must have Thrown 2. Resources +1**.
o Remote - These grenades don’t have a timed feature, rather they are
detonated via remote control. Detonation is a reflexive action and one is
generally assumed to have the detonator in the offhand.
o Flashbang - Often called ‘Sunburst’ grenades within the Gunstar and less
civilized areas. Rather than doing damage, this grenade is a single gambit
against every target at short range from the detonation point at difficulty 4,
with the thrower only losing 5 initiative if successful. Those hit by a
flashbang are then considered blind from the bright flash of light until the
beginning of his next turn and deaf until the beginning of his second. This
is considered a crippling effect, but avoid becoming blind by passing a
reflexive Wits+Awareness roll at difficulty 4 (Even if the gambit hit and
succeeded on you) and avoiding both blindness and deafness at difficulty
5. If a user is blind and deaf, he is at a -5 penalty to all actions and any
attacks against him count as a surprise attack. Flashbangs do not cause
direct damage, but if one does something like shoving it into the mouth of a
 victim, treat it the same as an I.E.D. but the damage only targeting the
unfortunate soul. Resources 1.
o Smoke - A grenade that spews out non-lethal smoke, obstructing normal
vision. The radius for a screening Smoke grenade is about six meters, or
enough to encompass a small room or short range. Since the grenades
typically contain caustic chemicals, people who are without any sort of
armor are at risk of getting minor burns (1B/Action, Trauma 2), however
virtually any kind of clothing can prevent this. Anyone within the affected
area is considered to have the same visibility as a foggy night, which is -
3. Smoke is usually white, but it can be any colour the user wishes. Things
such as Thermal or Essence sight can see directly through this, but for an
additional dot of resources these grenades can block thermal
vision. Resources 1.
o Tear Gas - Similar to a smoke grenade in function, tear gas grenades
instead cause extreme irritation to the eyes and throat if inhaled. In addition
to the standard effects of the Smoke Grenade, tear gas grenades have a
poison inside of them. This faintly yellowish dense smoke produces
dizziness along with burning pain in the eyes and lungs. The poison is
automatically applied once an opponent within the toxin is initiative crashed.
Its traits are (1B/action, one round, -3, inhalation), but its damage never
spills over past Incapacitated to become lethal.
o White Phosphorus - Often called “Willy Pete” grenades by normal soldiers,
these grenades are a step up above normal fire grenades. Upon
detonating these grenades explode into a bonfire with traits similar to a
bonfire hazard and remain burning for a scene. This fire is special in that if
anyone enters it, the fire sticks to them and burns as a bonfire hazard for
three turns. Attempts to stop/drop/roll will not work nor will attempts to jump
into the water, as it will re-ignite upon contact with oxygen. A small mercy is
that these grenades have some time before the fire starts (beginning of
grenade thrower’s next turn), so anyone who wishes to move away should
have ample time to do so. If both a character and a hostile opponent wish
to move a zone to avoid the flame, then they both shift once zone, if one
wishes to choose what zone then an opposed Dexterity+Dodge roll is
needed. Using this grenade costs 5i in battle and can put it’s thrower into
initiative crash. Resources 2.
o Thermite - Hard to believe a rather innocent mixture of iron oxide (rust) and
Aluminium dust could have such a reaction. Thermite is often used to burn
through most sorts of hardened armored fortifications and armor. They
follow the same instructions as the White Phosphorus grenades in terms of
starting fire and are otherwise a normal attack to vehicles, but as a small
mercy to men, the substance can be put out with water or a simple stop-
drop-roll. It does however nearly obliterate any sort of armor or vehicle. To
vehicles, a decisive attack with the substance does 3 levels of lethal
damage per action to the vehicle, ignoring any soak/hardness and reducing
up to 2 points of its soak per turn (Maximum 6). If the damage would be
nothing, the Thermite instead reduces the vehicle or structures armor
and/or hardness by 2 in all categories which lasts until the object in
question can be repaired. Armors are also eaten away by this, but
 remember the levels of damage apply to the armor itself, not to the user
(who ‘merely’ takes damage as from White Phosphorus grenades). For
simplicity, most mundane armour is outright destroyed by this. Artifact
armor, buildings, and vehicles fare a lot better. While soak does get
reduced, it does not ignore armor and the armor soak is restored after
spending an action to cool down the armor. This is treated as a crippling
effect for charm purposes. Resources 2.
o Proximity - When thrown, these grenades do not explode after a set
time. Rather, they explode the instant whenever someone gets within its
explosion radius. While supernaturally good stealth can escape the
sensors (such usages will always automatically defeat it), little else
works. Resources +1.
o HEAT - A type of grenade that is super effective against tanks. These
grenades ignore three points of soak against vehicles for withering attacks
or two hardness on decisive attacks. Resources 3.
o Confetti - While useless for doing damage, these multi colored strips of
paper go great at parties.
• Firewands
o Sticky - The flames emitted from this Firewand ammunition type are special,
in that the flames don’t merely wash over their target but also stick far
better. Firewands loaded with this ammo have enemies burn as if caught in
a flamethrower blast, but due to rare reagents used in the ammo, this
increases the already expensive firedust ammo by +1.

Space Ships and Combat in Space

Combat in space is often a far more scary affair than one on the ground. The void
of space is cold and unforgiving, those sucked outside of a ship without a suit are likely
doomed to die and while a destroyed waterborne ship could still have a floating hull or
flotsam, there will be no such fortune to those on board a destroyed spaceship. Boarding
is no less dangerous either, as a limitless number of things can go wrong on an enemy
ship, to a ruptured plasma drive to even your own allies’ shots hitting the section of the
ship that you’re in!

In terms of the most basic rules, the 3e sail rules will serve you well here. Just by
using the RAW rules you’re perfectly capable of high tension space opera style encounters
in space.

...But you want to have things such as fighter craft, more strategic ship combats,
how each weapon reacts with one another, or how everyone on board can chip in during a
ship encounter, feel free to read on! Hopefully these rules will apply to nearly any space
based game you wish to run or encounter, be it in Heaven’s Reach, Gunstar Autochtonia,
or perhaps even Modern Exalted on Warships.

And yes, I converted a lot this from Rogue Trader. The book had good ideas for
what a team effort was like in ship combat.
 New Mechanics
Part the problem with the old sailing rules was that it was essentially the Decker
problem from Shadowrun, basically meaning those with sail play their little minigame while
the rest of the players sit around doing nothing. On a spaceship however there is no such
luxury, everyone works or everyone dies, be it a simple transportation job across the
galaxy or full on warfare with another.

New Captain Actions

Below are some brand new naval warfare actions that captains can attempt in the
field.

• Bombing Run (Roll: Wits + Ride/Drive + Speed Bonus; Costs: 5 Momentum):

Pilots in Bomber craft may attempt to make this action, delivering heavy payloads
of highly explosive weapons to key sections of the enemy ship itself. Note that
unlike a ship Bombers can be shot down by enemy ships or fighters! For the ship
the bombers are targeting the CWIS systems will be temporarily disabled as they
focus all their effort to repel the nearby bombers. Allied battle groups of bombers
need to be a size of at least one less than the ship CIWS to safely approach while
daring single ace pilots (usually Player Characters) can do the run by themselves.
Bombers roll the dicepool of the listed Maneuver while CIWS roll their
Wits+Archery+Accuracy (Or just accuracy for simplicity) with the first one obtaining
five successes being the winner (If they both succeed at the same time, then the
one with the highest number of successes wins). If the bombers win their bombing
run goes through as normal while if the CIWS systems win they make an
immediate attack against the bomber group and that bomber group is forced to
back off and try again. CIWS can be ordered to attack something else than
bombers doing a bombing run, in which case the bombers may immediately treat
their bombing run roll as a success and attack after the CIWS systems resolve their
attack.
• Distracting Assault (Roll: None; Costs: N/A): Instead of attempting to cause
direct harm to a ship a daring fighter pilot can attempt to cheat death in order to
distract the enemy ship with stunning displays of maneuverability or precise
assaults which cause damage (but not destruction) upon critical ship systems.
Using this Maneuver allows the fighter pilot in question to make a standard
withering attack on an enemy ship, in which a successful assault drains the
initiative of either the captain or any backup gunners who may currently be at their
station. The “defense” of a ship is calculated by the Captain’s (Wits + Sail) and the
soak varying on the type of ship (Light ships have a soak of 5, medium ships have
8, large ships have 11 [Artifact ships have soaks of 7/11/15 respectively]). If the
Fighter pilot crashes the Captain in question then a random system is elected to
impaired in function, applying a -3 penalty to any rolls used with it until the Captain
can exit initiative crash or have damage control fix the issue. Usually a ship's
engines or weapons are targetted by fighters, softening them up before a main
assault done by their allies can take place. Other areas of the ship can be
impaired, but the fighter pilot must know that they exist ahead of time. Note that
 this ability can never directly do permanent damage to a ship, at best only make it
dangerous to completely ignore you or impair vital systems.
• Focus on that Area! (Costs: +2 Momentum): Normally when hull damage is done
the Storyteller choose an area of the ship that is damaged at random. By
increasing the cost of any offensive action by 2+ however the attacking player
themselves may select a subsystem on the enemy ship itself to target, meaning if
any hull damage is done then the system will be at the very least knocked out.
Against insignificant ships or ships dead in the water they may outright destroy a
section.
o Requires: Knowledge that the subsystem exists in the first place.
Successful scan actions must be made in order to realize a ship subsystem
is there unless the captain can notice it from the outside (such as fighter
bays).
• Full Barrage (Roll: Wits + Sail + Maneuverability; Costs: 8 Momentum): The
captain orders all the guns on his ship to open fire at once, trading quantity over
quality as the horizon in front of him is engulfed in explosions. This attack does two
points of hull damage instead of one, but severely taxes the ammo or energy
reserves the Captain has level. Ammo stocks at a significant decrease (-2 penalty
to all attempts to see if any ship ammo is left) or if energy weapons were used, the
ship suffers a -2 penalty to all Speed and Maneuverability checks for the next two
turns or the shields immediately drop (if they are active), Captain’s choice. This
attack is also quite exceptional against enemy fighter squadrons.
o Requires: At least two primary weapon systems
• Pull Back! (Roll: Wits + Sail + Speed; Cost: 2 Momentum): The captain
attempts to pull his ship back, not retreating from combat entirely but putting more
distance between him and his foe. Ranged weapon attacks function the same, but
Ramming, Boarding actions, or Torpedos may take additional time to catch up with
the ship. This is equivalent of a disengage action on the water, and when the
Captain gains enough Momentum to use it the enemy Captain may reflexively
attempt a roll to see if they keep pace. If they fail than the successful captain pulls
away a ‘range brand’.
• Ready the Main Gun! (Roll: Wits + Sail + Maneuverability; Costs: 12
Momentum): The captain orders use of the ship’s heavy weapon, a weapon of
incredible destructive force and power. Nuclear Missiles, Massive Railguns, or
Exotic beam weapons are all examples of such things.

Crewmember Roles
In addition to the Captain’s role, each player or significant NPC may be assigned to
a secondary role. These secondary roles one a battleship usually perform duties such as
damage control, repelling invaders, communications, and more. Each and every significant
crewmember can aid the captain by doing various duties in order to keep the Captain’s
attention on the battle at hand.

Each crew member can be any role listed below. More than one player is allowed
to be the same role, however their actions on that turn *must* be different. Two Secondary
Gunners cannot both use Lock-On, however one may use Lock-On while the other takes a
Backup Assault action. These roles are not hard coded either. For example, a Twilight may
be a Sensor Tech for the beginning of a battle, but when the ship takes damage he may
immediately swap into Damage Control to repair the ship of damage.

Below are simply a few sample actions, feel free to make more based on the
following below!

Communications
Those in communications have access to communications both on board the ship
and across the airwaves of space. When communicating with other ships they can speak
on behalf of the captain while on board the ship assures that every section of the ship is
communicating either each other smoothly.

• Demoralize - The communications officer may attempt to demoralize the enemy

crew. Normally the enemy needs to accept a Hail action, but a successful Hack
action taking over communications can also work. Make a Charisma/Manipulation
+ Presence/Performance attempt against the average Resolve of the crew, if
successful the next maneuver action the enemy captain takes is done at a -3
penalty as fear and uncertainty rips through his crew. This lasts until the Captain or
Communications Officer makes a miscellaneous action to improve morale
[Represented as another social influence check] or until the crew has a major
victory (Repelling enemy boarding party, destroying enemy ship, etc...). The
opponent ship must have a crew in order for this effect to take hold.
• Hack - If an enemy ship isn’t flying dark (That is, cut all outside communications), a
communications officer may attempt to hack into the enemy ship systems. The roll
used is Intelligence + Lore and the difficulty of this varies depending on the ship
safeguards in place, difficulty 1 for things with bargain bin security to difficulty 5
being top of the line military security. Each threshold success causes one level of
damage to the part, and if it fills up then the part shuts off. Inactive parts cause no
hull damage but provide no benefit until the enemy can get Damage Control to
bring them back online. The only things that cannot be directly hacked are both the
reactor core and captain’s bridge of the ship. Both of these vital systems are often
kept on completely different circuits, so hacking them means the hacker needs
some sort of direct access to them. Balance wise, this is done so hackers cannot
automatically win any encounter. Any hackers on board the enemy vessel may also
attempt to repel any hacking attempts in real time, both hackers making contested
rolls against each other with the defender gaining an amount of bonus dice equal to
half the rating of the security system he has.
• Hail - The character may attempt to hail the enemy ship, attempting to establish
some sort of communication with them, which if they do pick up normal social
influence actions may be taken. This may or may not shut down any more
unnecessary combat, negotiate surrender agreements, or more.
• Motivate - The character may attempt to motivate the crew, using Charisma +
Presence/Performance for inspirational speeches or Manipulation +
Presence/Performance for disinformation, either way the result is the same. The
Captain’s next roll gains an amount of bonus dice equal to half the amount of
successes the character rolled, minimum 1. Each time this action is used in combat
it loses effectiveness, applying a -2 penalty for each roll after the first, and at 0 dice
 this action cannot be attempted. Alternatively, the character may use this to Rally
for Numbers for friendly battle groups if the ship is boarded. There is no limit to
number this action can be taken.

Damage Control
It’s a not a matter of if a ship will suffer problems, but when. Damage Control’s job
is to ensure that the ship remains in working order through the maelstrom of combat. In
addition, they are also responsible for the lives of the crew during combat, saving as many
as they can from hostile boarding actions, the burns of raging fires, or all the symptoms of
asphyxiation.

• Repair Damaged Section: By rolling Wits + Craft, the character may attempt
emergency repairs on the vessel while in combat, such as sealing a hull breach,
restoring power to damaged sections of the ship, or other such details. In battle the
timescale is too short to fully restore destroyed systems, but partial functionality or
stopping the spread of potential damage isn’t out of the question. If using partial
damage rule, the character makes the same roll with a varying difficulty (If the
section is empty then 1, something not as complex is difficulty 3, the main reactor
or laboratory is 5), success restores one level of HL damage, with each threshold
success restoring one extra. Small ships repair all damage on the roll immediately,
medium sized ships restore it over two turns (so half the roll is applied each turn),
while large ships restore it over the duration of 3 turns (So a third of the roll is
applied each turn). Charms may reduce the time needed however.
o Note: When out of combat the character may use Intelligence+Craft instead
and reduces all difficulties by 2. Difficulty 0 actions need no roll to fix
provided they have any ranking in craft or are overseen by someone who
does.
• Triage: By taking immediate emergency medical actions, the loss of life on a ship
can be reduced. This roll is Wits + Medicine, functioning as a special sort of ‘Rally
for numbers’ attempt which shows how many people the medic is able to save. For
smaller ships individual medical actions can be attempted on people instead.

Gunnery Officer
Gunner Officers are those personnel who have the knowledge on how to use the
larger guns of spaceships to their fullest advantage. While the Captain commands the ship
and the majority of the weapons, Gunnery Officer’s may operate secondary weapons to an
incredibly helpful or equally devastating effect.

• Backup Assault - The Backup Assault makes own maneuver rolls using
Perception + Archery/Firearms for the roll at the same time the captain does, and
when five successes are collected the Gunnery Officer then makes a secondary
attack against the ship itself. This secondary attack deals levels to ship sections
rather than actual hull damage, but enough levels of damage can turn into an
actual point of hull damage or do things like blast away fighters with the powerful
weapons on board the ship itself. Backup Assault users cannot use Heavy
weapons, as those are affixed to the front of the ship so only the captain with
careful maneuvering can reliably aim such a thing.
 o Requirements: The ship must have more than one primary weapon system,
the captain must not be planning a Full Barrage action.
• Lock-On - By rolling Perception + Archery/Firearms, the gunner may add an
amount of bonus dice to the Captain’s action that must be using the ship weapons
or ramming. Each time this action is used in combat it loses effectiveness, applying
a -2 penalty for each roll after the first, and at 0 dice this action cannot be
attempted.
• Pinpoint Defense - Using the CIWS turrets of the ship, the battleship is able of
attempting to repel boarding actions, destroy debris that may damage the ship, or
shoot down torpedos. With this action the Officer may attempt one of the following
actions.
o Repel Boarders - The gunner rolls Wits + Archery/Firearms before the
enemy captain acts, adding half the amount of successes as additional
momentum needed for all boarding actions for that one specific turn. This is
often represented as the Officer taking control of specific batteries to make
boarding the ship a suicidal action for the enemy commander that turn or
CIWS systems shooting down incoming boarding craft.
o Intercept Torpedoes - Torpedos may be intercepted with CIWS systems,
rolling Wits + Archery/Firearms in an attack against the missiles
themselves. This may also be used against Fighter or Bomber craft, even if
they are currently engaged in a bombing run.
o Destroy Debris - Against small objects which may cause damage to the ship
over time, such as small asteroids or flaming debris from enemy ships, roll
Wits+Archery/Firearms and add half the amount of successes as bonus
dice to Captain’s attempt to avoid them.

Sensory Technician
The Sensory Technician is in charge of the ship's sensors, keeping the captain or
fighter pilots aware of possible incoming threats or scanning the enemy ship for any
possible flaws and/or structural weaknesses.

• Scan: Scan a target ship using Perception + Awareness/Lore (Lower of the two
abilities). The difficulty is usually 1, but if the target has another Sensory
Technician then they can attempt to block this via opposed rolls. Success shows a
single subsystem the enemy ship has, while each threshold success reveals either
another subsystem, the current hull levels of the ship, or other miscellaneous
complications they may currently have. Unfamiliar/alien ships or strange and
massive alien creatures may also impose a higher difficulty.
• Search: Instead of the captain flurrying an action, a special character may attempt
a Perception + Awareness roll to notice any potential hidden threats or dangers. In
an area with active environmental hazards this could make threats easier to dodge,
giving a bonus to the roll of the captain to steer or gunner to shoot down the
asteroids.
• Jam: If the ship has the systems for it, they may attempt to jam such things as
wireless communications the ship may have. Attempting to decode a garbled
transmission requires a Wits + Linguistics or Lore roll to decipher which cannot be
flurried. Enemy fighter squadrons suffer a dice penalty to any command action
 unless they have some way around it which in that case they only suffer a -3
penalty to all command actions. (Many fighter pilots learn some sort of signaling
just in case). Alternatively those with Jammers may also contest scan attempts
against them or even jam the wireless communications on board their own ship.
While this could imply penalties to any action the captain takes, it is mitigated by
doing things such as installing hard line communications, while enemy boarders
have no choice to suffer through the jamming effects, rendered deaf from their own
home ship to applying a -3 penalty on any command actions while boarding.
o Requires: Jamming Station

Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous roles are anything not listed above. That’s all there is to it.

• Arm Yourselves!: The character rallies men on board the ship in preparation for
incoming intruders. Allowing a contested stratagem roll between the special
character leading the forces on board the ship vs the commander of the boarding
party.
• Scramble: The character immediately scrambles inside of either a fighter jet or
boarding craft, heading out into the dark void of space. From then on out they
interact using their own specific rules, but those in boarding craft may roll Naval
Maneuver rolls as per normal, but without special equipment can only attempt the
Boarding Action. Actions such as Shock and Board and Seize the Initiative! may
only be attempted by the captain of the primary ship without special equipment.

Sectional Damage
As mentioned in the Exalted 3e core, ships are often far more durable than a man.
A single axe strike may kill a man, but it won’t sink a ship. Indeed, it may take quite a few
chops to break through a wooden hull in the first place, much less a reinforced hull. While
the powerful weapons on board a ship may damage other ships normally, lesser damage
over time can be just as dangerous if not repaired quickly.

Each hull level on a ship represents a section of the ship where non-essential
subsystems can be kept (or just empty sections of the ship). Each of these sections
actually has their own ‘levels’ of damage and armour that are kept and tallied, when a
section takes enough damage to fill all levels of damage, it immediately suffers one point
of hull damage. Any subsystem that may’ve been inside that area is damaged to beyond
capability of it being fixed within a combat based timeframe.

Sectional Health
The amount of armour and damage levels a ship has varies depending on the ship
itself. Heavier ships will often have more durable sections:

• The amount of damage levels a section has is equivalent to the ship’s size. Light
ships sections have a health of 6, medium ships have ones of 7, and large ships
have ones of 8. Artifact ships are more durable, having health amounts of 8/10/12.
 • The amount of ‘soak’ a ship has is related to the weight/size of the ship itself. Light
ships have sectional soaks of 4, medium ships have 5, and large ships have 6.
Artifact ships have ones of 7/9/11 respectively. In terms of charms, ships are
considered to be wearing armour equal to the ship size/weight itself (Small ships
have light armour, medium ships have medium, large ships like battlecruisers or
mining vessels have heavy armour)

Putting this math into respective, a Fast Courier ship section has 6 damage levels
per section and a soak of 4. While a Large Merchant Vessel has 8 levels of damage per
section and a soak of 6.

Whenever a ship takes hull damage, the Storyteller selects one section of the
ship at random that is knocked out. This may or may not be a currently occupied area
of the ship. Random damage can never happen to the Reactor Core, such vital system
can only be targeted when the ship is incapacitated, while the Bridge may only be subject
to the random chance of hitting a ship. A section or subsystem can be targeted by random
chance more than once, which in this case does nothing to the subsystem itself, but inflicts
hull damage as normal and everyone who made be currently in the section is treated as
the section was destroyed again.

How to Damage Ship Sections

There are a few ways one can damage ship sections.

• The easiest of course that an enemy captain can knock it out with a single level of
hull damage.
• If a boarding crew is on an enemy vessel, then once they have fought their way to
a subsystem they can take the appropriate steps to either disable or destroy it.
Such things usually involve a series of rolls and varies in particular.
• A Gunnery Officer can attack a ship section with a Backup Assault action or a
Bomber with the Bombing Run action. Once the Backup Assault action is executed
the attack is resolved akin to a normal withering attack, which in order to figure out
the damage to roll use the following:
o The enemy ship’s defense is calculated as the Captain’s (Wits+Sail+ Base
Maneuverability/2) - any wound penalties the ship has. Even if it misses, the
attack is always calculated as having a threshold of zero. Accuracy
modifiers are used as normal for actions such as Backup Assault, but
unless the captain’s are deliberately trying to engage at shorter/longer
ranges then the accuracy modifier is usually short. Aiming does not need,
nor can be used.
o The damage of the weapon depends on the weapon being used. Most
cases anti-ship weapons are counted as medium archery weapons. CIWS
are counted as light weapons, but are only effective at close ranges can
only damage light/small ships. Heavy weapons are counted as weapons
that have the Anti-Ship tag.
o Archery/Firearms charms that work on withering attacks can work with
these attacks, making it easier to punch through the armour on enemy
ships. For such examples, see the appendix in the back.
 ▪ In the case of Revolving Bow Discipline the first missed attack will
miss for the rest of the entire charm as an exception to the normal
automatic hit rule.
• When a ship section is destroyed by ship fire it throws the entire section into
disarray. Shrapnel flies through the air as bulkheads explode and gashes to the
outside of space are ripped open. Everyone in that section, friend or foe, are
immediately subjected to a special withering attack by the Captain/Gunnery
Officer who destroyed the section, following the same rules as the Backup Assault
action. This damage is lethal when in initiative crash or against Insignificant/Strong
characters.

If this all seems too complex, you can just say “Fuck it” and skip most of it.
Remember to have fun and try not to let too many rules get in your way.

Timing in Battles
With the capability to use boarding actions, dogfight using fighters, and
crewmember roles in addition to the captains of each ship duking it out, it can get
confusing at times to wonder when exactly everyone has to take their action.

The answer is simple. Have everyone roll initiative and take their actions as
normal. Using a Crewmember Role action or the Captain piloting the ship is considered a
miscellaneous action in combat and doesn’t cost any initiative in of itself.

Building Your Starship

Giant Space Spiders are no joke.

Each and every Starship can be customized, each one having their own unique
feel that goes along with it. A way to personalize it and have it feel and run differently from
other ships that exist in the cosmos. Will you make a craft that is fast and light and bristles
with weaponry in order to make hit and run attacks on your opponents? A luxury cruiser
that can charm royals and nobility as you cruise by a scenic nebula? Or a transport vessel
loaded with hidden smuggling compartments in order to bring people into a better life out
of charity or profit?

Sidebar: A note on dicecaps

The maximum bonus that any combination of ship systems can give from gear is
+3 dice, with automatic successes counting as 2 dice. Anything that gives a specialty dot
does count as a single die, as does the ability to reroll dice.

Ship Size
Ships come in all sorts of varieties and sizes, and while you can get into detailed
nitty-gritty aspects involving them, but for the purposes of this document there are
basically three ‘main’ ship sizes. Light, Medium, and Large.
 Light ships are small ships that usually focus on speed in order to escape threats
or maneuver into position. Their crew is often in the single digits and rarely capable of
holding more than a dozen crew members by default. Light ships will typically have
between 2-4 hull levels at base. Examples of ships like this is the ship from Firefly, the
Planet Express ship from Futurama. In the book light ships can be counted as Fast
Courier’s or Large Yacht’s.

Medium ships are ships that are larger than light ships, capable of transporting far
more cargo and/or troops than light ships. Crew for these ships are often several dozen in
the low end while just barely over 100 at the high end. Because medium ships are not too
slow yet can mount heavier weapons and carry more supplies, they’re often one of the
more common ships you’ll find. Medium ships will often have between 4 or 5 hull levels at
base. Examples of ships like these include the Enterprise ship from Star Trek. In the book
the Blue-Water Merchant can be counted as a medium vessel.

Large ships are some of the largest ships which are capable of both being feasibly
produced at the current level of technology or the largest bulk a ship can have with
sails/engines capable of moving it. Crew for these ships number between 100-150 on the
low end with it going nearly as high to 300 on the upper end. Slower compared to lighter
ships, but can outgun smaller ships with ease as they’re the only ship capable of mounting
Heavy Ship weapons. Large ships will often have between 5 or 6 hull levels at base.
Examples of ships like these include Star Destroyers from Star Wars or
Battlecruisers/Carriers from Starcraft.

Things bigger than Large ships could be such things as space stations, which are
better handled in a more narrative fashion as space stations can be as big or small as the
Storyteller wants.

Overall I’d be careful about giving mundane ships a hull strength of 7 or more hull
levels. Not only would the balance of sail charms be thrown off a bit, but mainly I’d fear
that the duration of ship battles would drag on to uncomfortable lengths. Remember there
are options in this guide that allow you to increase the base health of a ship by giving it
force fields or armour plating, so that combined with additional ship types mean there
should be plenty of variation. If you want ship battles to be really fast then make the
change of gaining momentum on positioning from from needing to get threshold successes
over your opponent to just gaining an amount of momentum equal to the successes on the
Positioning roll.

Artifact ships however have far more variation. The Five Metal Shrike can easily be
counted as a ‘Light’ ship despite its powers, while Large Artifact ships can be multiple
kilometers in length. With this much variation, the main rule of thumb I’d say to people is
“How is it compared to other artifact ships” to determine its size.

Ship Systems
Each ship is able to mount an array of systems inside of it. There are two types of
systems: Essential systems and Subsystems. Essential systems are things all ships come
with as standard and one of each *must* be installed when a ship takes flight, otherwise
things will go to shit rapidly. A ship with no bunks will make a crew mutiny in within days if
not weeks, while a ship without an environmental control unit will soon find themselves
lacking air while water becomes toxic goo. Essential systems are usually a bit more
hardened to attack, and cannot be elected to be destroyed unless under specific
circumstance (or if the Storyteller wishes to throw a curveball at you).

Subsystems are optional enhancements the ship has outside of the Essential Systems,
such as things like a Med-Bay, proper cargo storage areas, and more. A ship can hold an
amount of Subsystems equal to its Hull points (minus the incapacitated level) or 5,
whichever is less. Note that each Subsystem will be tailored to the ship size in question. A
med-bay in a small five man ship easily has enough supplies and room to treat the crew of
that specific ship, but a med-bay in a large size ship may easily be the size of a hospital
with a full crew complement of dedicated doctors and nurses.

Additionally, each ship has an amount of power it can run through these systems. If a ship
does not have enough power then it cannot run all of the systems at once. Essential
systems *must* be powered at all times while Subsystems can be switched on and off at
the captain’s leisure. Unpowered subsystems are completely useless however, providing
no benefit to them unless power returns. Power going off in areas which need specific
environmental controls, such as refrigerated cargo areas, may be disastrous for the cargo
involved inside.

Essential Systems
There are six Essential Systems: Bridge, Crew Quarters, Life Support, Main Thrusters,
Reactor Cores, and Sensor Arrays. Anima Fields and Warp Drives are two semi-optional
systems, and while a ship is capable of sub-light travel with them, attempting to go into
Canalspace for FTL travel without an anima circuit is suicidal while without Warp Drives
they’re impossible. Additionally a ship is able to mount one weapon on board without
taking up any additional space.

Anima Field
Anima Fields are the shield of the ship, protecting it and the crew inside from the ravages
of warp inside. Based on the Ambient Neutron-Ion Motonic Atmosphere (A.N.I.M.A.) all
Exalts and stronger spirits are known to emit, it can be charged up to higher amounts to
even provides things such as force fields for a ship that can provide things such as extra
hull levels! Anima Field’s that provide a force field are also exceeding easy to regenerate,
assuming the system isn’t damage than the ship restores one hull level of shields every
scene. Slow moving projectiles such as Bombers/Fighters, Torpedoes, or Ramming
actions will ignore the Anima Field. While higher level anima fields exist that empower a
ship with various abilities depending on the Exalted Captain’s anima, listed below are the
cheap or ‘base’ options. Unless otherwise noted, all bonus hull levels provided by Anima
Fields are -0 and do not count as actual hull levels for the purposes of defensive charms.

• Double Layer Anima Field - A double layer anima field brings incredible stamina to
a ship at the cost of increased power consumption. In addition the bulk of the
shields means that it can only be installed on larger ships. Medium ships need a
 subsystem slot to install this while Large shields need to make no special
concessions. Drains 3 power.
• Discount - A discount anima field allows safe travel through Canalspace but offers
no additional protection for the ship. Discount Anima Fields have no glaring flaws,
as companies who do make such products rapidly find themselves without
customers. Drains 0 power.
• Single Layer Anima Field - A cheap Anima Field that can be mounted on virtually
any sort of ship. When activate an invisible field of power stops most fast moving
projectiles dead in their tracks, overloading the field in exchange for protecting the
ship. Many Captain’s often spare for such useful fields. Drains 1 power.
• Repulsor Field - A modification to the Anima Field polarity allows it to general move
aside small particles in space such as dust, ice, and Micrometeoroids. So long as
the Anima Field is active and undamaged than navigating areas where such
threats are prevalent are notably easier. Reduce the difficulty of navigating such
areas by 1 or reduce any penalties suffered by 2. Additionally this counts as a
Single Layer Anima Field. Drains 2 power.

Bridge
The ship bridge is considered to be the very brain of the ship itself, the place where the
captain along with senior officers reside in battle or other important decisions on the ship.

• Armoured Bridge - The bridge is heavily reinforced with various layers of armour
plating both outside and inside in order to ensure survival of those inside. Even if
the rest of the ship power is cut off, it still has redundant life support systems and
emergency rations to keep the bridge crew alive for extended periods of time. If the
bridge is subject to a direct hit, the captain who owns the ship can declare that the
shot hit some other superfluous area of the ship, ignoring the functionality loss for
the bridge that normally comes with a point of hull damage but can only be done
once until the ship can do extended repairs at port. Lastly the door to the bridge is
incredibly hard to tear open, requiring a difficulty 11 Feat of Strength requiring a
Strength rating of 7, a welding torch and lot of spare time, or lots of explosives.
Drains 1 power.
• Combat Bridge - The ship's bridge and command structure is laid out in a fashion
that allows orders and reports to given far more rapidly than normal. During combat
the Captain gains +1 bonus dice to any and all Naval Maneuver rolls. Costs 2
power.
• Discount Bridge - The discount bridge functions as the bridge of the ship, but just
barely. Obsolete or defective machinery is installed on the bridge. On the upside
such old technology is rather rugged and dependable (Whenever an effect is about
to plague the bridge, roll a single d10 and on a success the bridge suffers no loss
in functionality), on the downside it applies a -1 penalty to any action taken for any
sail roll or any other systems on the bridge (Such as Secondary Gunner actions).
Drains 1 power.
• Exploration Bridge - A large panoramic view of space dots this bridge, complete
with ultra-high resolutions views to get the best view of space or an amazing movie
night. This additional information makes it far easier to steer the ship. When
making rolls to navigate through dangerous territory, the captain or whoever is
 steering the ship is treated as having a speciality for Handling Dangerous Terrain.
If they already possess such a specialty, they may either turn that bonus die into an
automatic success or add +1 additional die, user’s choice. Drains 1 power.
• Tactician’s Bridge - Those with this bridge don’t aim to win battles, they aim to win
wars. When making a stratagem using War or Sail the character is treated as
having a speciality so long as it involves the ship itself. If they already have such a
speciality or one closely related (EX: Repelling Boarding Actions) then the
speciality die is turned into an automatic success or adds +1 additional die, user’s
choice. Drains 2 power.
• Trader Bridge - The trader bridge is designed to quickly keep track of cargo and
inventory first and foremost, while also providing constant trends and predictions of
important market information. Bureaucracy related actions involving Wealth and/or
Logistics benefit as if having a speciality in the area. Those who already have such
a speciality turn their speciality die into an automatic success or adds +1 additional
die (user’s choice). Drains 1 power.

Crew Quarters
The crew of a ship is its blood, and the Crew Quarters is where they rest. The Crew
Quarters on board of a ship are formal places where the crew are able to sleep and rest.
While a small rugged team of hardasses may be satisfied with a sleeping bag and a single
floor, most other crews will want some form of quarters they can sleep inside of.

• Crew Cabins - Each individual crew member on the ship has their own private
room on the ship, which they alone sleep in or with a roommate. Each room is
small but quite comfortable on long voyages, possessing a desk, bed, private
bathroom, holovid set, and other comfortable amenities. These comfortable
accommodations allows the crew to go for double the normal length of time before
penalties for long voyages in the stars start to accumulate while still being very light
on power. On the downside these rooms take up a significant amount of space,
costing a single Subsystem slot. Drains 1 power.
• Discount Quarters - Merely stacks of bunk beds or hammocks of questionable age
which constantly have at least one person sleeping in them coupled with only a
small lockbox to keep personal belongings in. Showers are merely large rooms
with with water pouring down offering no privacy. The only people who’d willingly
sleep in such conditions are Autochtonians. On the plus side you stack quite a few
people into into such areas, which the ship capable of having roughly double the
amount of crew it can normally have without major logistics problems as people are
so cheap to keep. On the downside those in such conditions have poor morale,
applying a -1 penalty to all sail actions a captain attempts with such crew and if this
ship section suffers damage, a significant number of people may be hurt or killed.
Drains 1 power.
• Snoozie Beds - A cheap row of personal beds that while offer little in personal
privacy, do afford a good night's sleep. Shower rooms with well stocked rec rooms
help relieve crew stress. This module provides no special benefit or penalties.
Drains 1 power.
• Sleeping Pods - A large array of personal sized sleeping pods stacked atop one
another, each complete with a small personal storage unit, a small locker for
 changes of clothing, and even a small holovid station for watching Netflix or
recorded shows. Shower stalls are semi-private which people can bathe while still
gossiping with your friend in the next stall over about what happened in sector 3
last night. In addition during an emergency, each bunk is capable of a small life
support which can put their occupants into a form of suspended animation until
help arrives even when the rest of the ship is in a vacuum. Drains 2 power.

Life Support
The Life Support systems are the lungs of the ship. It not only recycles air and water, but
also manages environmental controls such as temperature and pressure, even artificial
gravity on the ship itself. If a ship is manned by creatures who do not need air or
completely remote piloted, this system does not need to be equipped.

• Atlas Life Support System - With the weight of all the lives on board bearing on
your back, you want something that will go the extra mile. Atlas Life Support
systems can go far longer without being serviced. Civilian vessels often can go
twice as long without support while long haul support vessels can go on for literal
months at a time without needing extended maintenance. Lastly the system is
difficult to break down. Increase the difficulty to knock out the system by +2 or if
subject by the random wills of the Storyteller roll 1d10, on a success the life
support system remains active, on a failure it can be repaired to functionality within
combat time, on a 1 it's destroyed. Costs 2 power.
• Atmos Life Support System - A basic no thrills life support system that gets the job
done. No speciality qualities or cons. Drains 1 power.
• Discount Life Support - The air tastes stale, the water is a bit murky, it's always a
bit too hot, and the gravity is set to 1.1 times normal at all times, but at least it's
better than sucking vacuum... marginally. Discount Life Support may make no
friends but it gets the job done. Any attempt to resist poison/illness aboard the ship
is done at a -1 penalty and each and every crew member is treated as having an
emotion of irritability at the minor level. On the plus side it’s cheap and dirt easy to
repair. Any difficulty to repair this Life Support System is lowered by 1 to a
minimum of 1 and costs one less dot of resources to buy/repair. Drains 1 power.
• Medicae Life Support System - Very popular on board hospital ships and/or ships
which frequent new or hostile environments. Advanced air and water purification
facilities are on board the ship, while additional antibodies and anti venom's are
secreted into the water supply with no overall impact on quality or taste. Every
character on board gains +2 dice to resist any mundane poison or illness while on
board the ship. Attempting to poison and/or sabotage the air or water of the ship
has its difficulty increased by 2. Drains 2 power.

Main Thrusters
The Main Thrusters of the ship are the legs of a ship, they’re what allows one to move
through the vast void of both space and Canalspace.

• Atmospheric - Normally ships are only configured to fly through space, but with this
upgrade both the ship and the engines are reconfigured to fly down into terrestrial
atmospheres, even capable of landing on relatively flat ground. Higher end models
 are capable of even going underwater to explore the depths of sea in addition to
space. Drains 1 power, 2 power if the underwater version is used.
• Discount Thrusters - Crude propulsions systems which are known to cause
extensive pollutants, waste heat, and finicky to repair. While they work quite well,
repairs crew often which throw rocks at their Captain when forced to maintain these
things for long durations. While the engines and repairs are cheap, costing one
less dot of resources to buy/maintain, the constant danger they pose to both crew
health and ship durability is a major factor, increasing the difficulty to repair the
engines by 1. Drains 1 power.
• Gravitic Propulsion Systems - Rather than using standard thruster based rockets,
the ship itself moves by warping space or gravity in order to move. Lack of exposed
thrusters means knocking out the movement of a ship equipped with such drives is
incredibly difficult, increase the momentum cost for destroying such a piece of
equipment by 3+. Additionally it makes for a low signature on most Sensors, giving
+2 bonus dice to to any stealth roll to hide the ship. Drains 2 power.
• Oversized - Huge, powerful thrusters on the back of ship provide incredible bursts
of speed, allowing a ship to race across the galaxy faster than other similar ship
models who lack these thrusters. Increase the speed of the ship by +1 dice and
narratively increases the top speed of the ship by roughly 25%. These thrusters
come in two options. First are the larger thrusters which take up a subsystem slot
but only drain 1 power. The second are high efficiency thrusters which take up less
space, but drain 2 power.

Reactor Cores
The ship Reactor Core powers the entire ship, the literal heart of the entire starship.
Without a working Reactor Core all of the ship's systems immediately turn off, often giving
a crew mere hours to either fix it or abandon ship in even the best conditions.

• Fusion Core - The oldest Reactor core design, providing the least amount of power
but having the benefit that fuel for it is simple water so it exists nearly everywhere.
The reactor is also one of the safest around, and if ruptured ‘only’ incinerates the
room it is in before deactivating. Provides 14 Power to the ship and may be
mounted on any ship size.
o Fusion Cores are cheap, meaning they cost one less dot of resources for
any interaction based with them. Refueling a Fusion Core costs 0 dots of
resources.
• Antimatter Annihilation Engine - This powerful reactor core operates by colliding
particles of matter and antimatter together in order to create a powerful source of
energy in a relatively compact space. The only problem is the volatile fuel source,
as a ruptured Annihilation Engine explodes with the fury of a nuclear missile,
immediately vaporizing the ship and damaging anything within close range of the
exploding ship (relative to spaceship distances). Provides 16 power to the ship and
may be mounted on any ship size.
• Photon Reactor - These powerful reactors gain their power by the splitting of
individual photons or other nuclear particles, gaining a fair bit of generational
power. While too large to be mounted on smaller ships, medium ships are able
mount these without a problem. Those who come within the Tomb-Stars are known
 to use other exotic materials for their reactor cores at this stage, such as Pyreflame
Consumption Engines. Provides 18 Power to the ship and may only be mounted on
medium or large ships.
• Picotech Reactor - The strongest reactor one can make for mass production ships
in the current era of Heaven’s Reach. These reactors make use of various exotic
elements made using Picotechnology, Sorcery, or strange materials only found by
the Shrieking Hordes of Canalspace then incinerated in order to generate vast
amounts of power. The size of this reactor means it can only mounted on the
largest of ships currently in service. Those from the Tomb-Stars use
Eschatechnology in order to create things such as Singularity Engines. Provides 20
power to the ship and may be mounted on large ships.
• Extra Options:
o It’s Gonna Blow! - Your reactor core is constantly in the first stages of
overloading, so it’s a wonder that your reactor core is working at all.
Engineers state that it's a miracle that the thing is currently running while no
sane repairman would get near the reactor. However in the throes of its
death it seems to provide quite a bit more power. The selected Reactor
Core provides +2 additional power, but in exchange an enemy Captain may
elect to destroy the Reactor Core on the last health level in lieu of any other
system, at best this depowers the ship and at worst probably instantly kills
everyone on board.
o Oversized - The Reactor core is far larger than normal, able to provide more
power to the ship in exchange for increased physical space. The selected
Reactor Core provides +2 additional power, but takes up a subsystem slot.
o Micro-Core - The ship’s reactor core is downsized in order to make room for
other systems on board the ship. While an impressive feat of engineering, it
makes repairs more costly and complicated. Any attempt to purchase/fix a
Micro-Core costs +1 more resource dot than usual and those servicing it
must at least have a 3 or higher in the relevant craft. In addition the ship
size is treated as one less. For example, Medium sized ships may only
mount Microsized Fusion/Annihilation Cores while Large ships can only
mount Photon Reactors at the largest size. Lastly the core outputs two less
power compared to their larger brethren
▪ These seem like a lot of cons, but the ability to mount an additional
subsystem can be fairly big.

Sensor Arrays
Sensor Arrays are the eyes and ears of a ship. Without a proper sensor array a ship is
both blind and deaf.

• Canal Space Scanner - These sensor arrays are calibrated to be especially

sensitive to Shrieking Hordes that originate from the Canal or within the Canal
itself. This Sensor array grants the user making navigation or awareness rolls a
speciality in the Canal. If they already have such a speciality, they may then add +1
automatic success instead or +1 bonus die, user’s choice. Drains 2 power.
• Deep Space Scanner - These sensor arrays are configured to give accurate results
at far longer distances. This gives a +1 bonus die to any sort of navigation roll for
 the ship, but this array constantly broadcasts the ship’s position, inflicting a -2
penalty to any stealth or roll in general to involve hiding it. Drains 1 power
• Discount - A sensor array system that is mounted on the direct outside the ship.
Any sort of armour plating would give inaccurate results, so the entire thing is
unshielded. This does make it easy to service by reducing all difficulties to repair
the array by 1 (assuming it is safe to spacewalk), however if a ship is into its -4 hull
levels a captain can elect to knock out the sensor array entirely just like any other
subsystem. Drains 1 power.
• Multi-Spectrum Scanner - An array of scanners allows the ship to scan more than
one wavelength at once allowing for radio, thermal, visible, and X-Ray scans all
simultaneously. These enhanced visual aides adds +1 bonus dice to detect hidden
threats and allows a reroll of a single 1. Drains 2 power.

Warp Drive
This is the device that allows ships to punch through normal space and into the area of
Canal space, a sort of overlaying reality where the laws of physics hold less sway over
what one can do, allowing one to trivially break the speed of light in such areas. Warp
Drives are installed as standard on all ships so long as an engine exists. A Captain can
choose to make a ship without a warp drive, but they’ll be at the mercy of sub-light travel.
Travelling from one planet to the next in a system takes minutes for the slowest ships with
a Warp Drive, but months for even the fastest ships without it. Still this does come with its
uses, as the ship gains an additional +2 power to when going without a Warp Drive, which
is useful for ships dedicated to protecting a planet at times.

Subsystems
There are an extremely wide variety of subsystems one can place on their own ship, which
while optional benefit the ship greatly. For examples, many ships in space will often at
least have one weapon in order to deter pirates in space, while trading ships may wish to
have proper cargo holds in order to transport their cargo.

Auxiliary Crew and Passenger Quarters

While a ship often has enough room for just its main crew plus or minus a few extras, there
are speciality areas where extra crew can stay in.

• Alien Habitat: The Alien habitat is a series of special environmental rooms and
areas that are specifically tailored for the unique needed of alien guests, whenever
they breath corrosive acid instead of air or require a very specialized diet, this area
of the ship can accompany them without problems. A small ship only has enough
space for a single room, a medium ship can handle enough guests equal to size 1,
while Large ships can handle up to size 2 per subsystem slot. Drains 2 power.
• Barracks: Threats fly and muscles ripple in this area, containing a finely tuned
barracks for soldiers which has basic training, mess halls, and basic various small
arms and armour. Taking this option allows for additional crew aboard the ship that
function as trained soldiers, be it people loyal to their God Empress or hired guns
looking for a big paycheck. Small ships may have a size 1 battle group, Medium
ships may have up a size 2 battle group, while large ships may have up a size 3
battle group. Drains 1 power on small ships, 2 on medium or Large ships.
 • Deluxe Passenger Quarters: Spacious and elaborately decorated rooms for ship
captains, officers, or other important VIP’s who may come aboard the ship. Be
warned however that such rooms may breed jealousy amongst the crew. Drains 3
power.

Cargo Stores
All ships need a place to store their cargo. While one can in theory throw anything they
want in an empty subsection area that runs into many problems. Quick maneuvers may
cause cargo to fly all over the place while cargo that needs to be kept cold or fragile will be
likely be seriously damaged or destroyed over the course of an average trip. A proper
Cargo Store of any sort will solve these problems.

• Armoury: Contains a wide assortment of firearms from pistols to rocket launchers

and the equipment to maintain them. Ammo can be produced here and is also
stocked in abundance. Even the ammo the ship uses can be stocked here.
Narratively this represents that a ship can go roughly double the amount of time
without needing to worry about weapon maintenance and ammo issues. On the
downside this area is highly explosive, and if destroyed any adjacent facilities also
suffer a partial damage roll as if being hit by a Backup Assault action, possibly lots
of fire as well. Costs 2 power.
• Discount: Usually just a bunch of shelves and coolers where one can tie cargo
down safely, loaded and unloaded by whatever muscle power that comes with the
crew itself. This cargo container works by virtue of costing next to nothing to install
even on the largest of spaceships, however a fully loaded Discount Cargo hold
throws the balance of the ship off a bit, applying a -1 penalty to any maneuver
actions. Drains 1 power.
• Distributed: The cargo stores throughout the ship are distributed evenly, allowing
for proper ship balance and speed. This also comes with the bonus that the enemy
captain cannot target the bays to be destroyed in combat due to their dislocated
nature. Drains 2 power.
• Supply Depot: The ship contains an abundance of supplies for all the ship and
crew, allowing to remain and operate in space without needing supplies for far
longer. This reduces any penalties resulting from lack of supplies by two and as a
rule of thumb allows for a ship to operate in space twice as long as it normally
could. Weapons and ammo are not kept in this area, due to the risk of fire hazards
to other sensitive supplies. Drains 2 power.
• Hidden: The cargo hold is hidden cleverly, disguised as an antimatter containment
tank, hidden within the inner and outer hull layers, or some other other sneaky
method. Finding a hidden cargo hold is a difficulty 4 Perception + Investigation roll,
while if scanned by an enemy ship a roll dedicated to finding it must be performed
at difficulty 5. Drains 2 power.
• Large Hold: An expanded cargo hold allowing shipments of bulk cargo or very large
pieces of cargo in comparison to the rest of the ship. Additionally the ship has the
proper facilities needed to safely load and offload such cargo rapidly, allowing for
much less time needed for restocking the ship or filling the cargo bay. Drains 2
power.
Facilities
Facilities onboard of a ship are places that often serve a specific purpose, be it for the
crew or for science.

• Cells: A set of jail cells designed to keep bounty targets, rowdy crewmembers, or
mutinied captains locked up. A simple set of cells that only drains 1 power can
keep people locked up but would be unable to hold back more experienced
jailbreakers. A facility draining 2 power allows for a maximum security prison that is
significantly harder to break out from.
• Drone Bay: An area of the ship that specializes in the production, maintenance,
and operation of remote controlled drones. Given the great flexibility that drones
have this is often highly beneficial for ships who can afford the space, power, and
cost to do so. The main con about a drone bay is that if the subsection of where it’s
inside of is damaged the entire force of drones will shut down The amount of
drones a ship can store, deploy, and operate varies depending on the size. A small
ship can operate an amount equal to a size 1 battlegroup, medium ships size 2,
and large ships size 3. Examples of such drones are listed below. Drains 3 power.
o Attack Drone: Small, very agile drones while take the roles of fighter jets in
combat. Overwhelming an enemy target with large numbers of highly
mobile units. Attack drones can be configured to be either Anti-ship drones
or Fighter Drones. They do not need a Fighter bay to launch, as the Drone
Bay is configured for such things.
o Boarding Drone: This drone is designed to be launched at an enemy ship
as part of a hostile boarding action. Once on board the drone’s weapon
systems, which usually consist of nasty things such as miniguns, rocket
launchers, or monomolecular blade, go to work killing as many people as
possible on the enemy ship. Such drones can also activate if a hostile
enemy has boarded the ship as well. Can be equipped inside of Torpedos
to give the enemy a nasty surprise.
o Defense Drone: A small drone which focuses on the defense of the ship by
shooting down objects outside the ship with highly accurate point defense
lasers. The drones can replicate the Pinpoint Defense option a Gunnery
Officer can do.
o Hacking Drone: A small drone which attaches itself to the enemy ship,
burrowing into its hull in order gain access to the systems underneath. This
allows use of hacking actions even when the ship is flying dark.
o Repair Drone: A drone which can remotely repair the hull or systems of the
ship outside in the vacuum of space. There are two types of Repair Drones,
one which can operate in space and one which can operate in the ship.
• Engineering Bay: A simple workshop on board the ship which gives all of the crew
the proper supplies needed in order to conduct repairs all over the ship. The
represents having a crafting workstation on board of the ship, and with trained
craftsmen the ship can have the ability to field repair anything minus total
destruction of a subsection or part. Note that even with an engineering bay a ship
can only go out for so long before needing to dock at an actual spaceport to
conduct full maintenance and more involved repairs. Drains 2 power.
• Fighter Bay: A specialized bay that allows for the deployment of Fighters and/or
Bombers in space. Pilots for such craft often have their bunks as part of the Fighter
Bay area, in order to be prepped for launch and deployment on a moment's notice.
A Fighter Bay contains all the materials needed to do repairs and maintenance on
such crafts. A Small ship can only hold a single fighter, a medium ship can hold a
size 1 battlegroup, while a Large ship can field a size 2 battle group. Drains 3
power.
• Laboratory: A well stocked laboratory complex with all of the proper materials and
equipment in order to research just about nearly anything. Mechanically this means
one can study new things without taking penalties from lacking proper equipment.
Lab facilities on board Small or Medium ships are often general purpose labs,
which is sufficient for most purposes but when attempting to research a long lost
Dragon King Relic that predates the Malfean War, one might need a better lab. In
this case the lab constructed can be specialized towards a certain topic/speciality
area, in which the lab does have all the equipment needed to study that specific
thing, but applies a -2 dice penalty on anything not relating to it. Large ships often
have ample space for both, and when they choose a lab they may also choose a
free speciality area and suffers no penalties for anything unrelated to it. Drains 1
power, 2 power if the lab is specialized or on large ships.
• Med-Bay: A medical center containing all the proper tools and equipment needed
for people to make a full recovery. Drains 1 power.
• Recreation Commons: A large section of the ship has a dedicated Recreation
Commons. On small ships this could just be a room full of arcade machines,
Medium ships could have swimming pools or movie theatres, Large ships could
have entire mini-malls. Either way the penalties exhaustion for going on long flights
is reduced by 2, which means that usually a crew can go double the amount of time
before extended leave before such penalties set in. Drains 2 power on small or
medium ships, 3 on large.
• Shuttle Bay: A small bay with a single shuttle inside of it. Perfect for use as a
lifeboard, transport to other ships or planetside. This can only be equipped on small
or medium ships, Large Ships have one free shuttle bay automatically installed for
free. Drains 1 power.
• Sorcerous Lab: A section of the ship converted for use of sorcerous spells and/or
rituals. Sigils are written on the wall, a giant spell circle on the floor, and various
sorcerous reagents allows use of use for nearly all casters inside of this room.
When casting spells in this room the sorcerer gains a +2 dice bonus while the
workshop easily counts as an additional means for sorcerous workings. Drains 2
power.
• Teleporter Bay: The ship is equipped with a small teleporter bay. This allows one to
beam people or other small objects onto the surface of a planet or as a boarding
party on nearby ships. These devices are very temperamental and complex to run,
making them very taxing on the ship’s power supply and systems. Not to mention
the additional danger of missing the teleport mark and just appearing in space.
Some crews consider such devices worth the risk as being able to place a boarding
party on an enemy ship from long distance is worth it. Small ships can only
transport a single person, medium ships can transport a size 1 battlegroup, while
large ships can transport a size 2 battlegroup. Drains 4 power.
 • Temple: The ship contains a temple dedicated to some deity. Prayer rolls become
easier in the temple, reducing their difficulty by 2. Additionally it helps crew morale
and instills a sense of faith in them, making the majority of crew in the ship have a
minor intimacy towards the deity in question. Drains 1 power.
• Vehicle Bay: A bay inside of the ship with an assortment of vehicles for terrestrial
deployment. Anything from jeeps to tanks, helicopters to fighter jets. Transport to
the surface is not free, so the ship may need a Fighter Bay with some transport
shuttles inside of it to transport them down to the surface. Medium shps can have
up to a size 1 set of vehicles while Large ships may have up to Size 2. Small ships
cannot mount this option. Drains 2 power.

Ship Reinforcements
Ship Reinforcements are alterations made to the physical structure of the ship itself in
order to benefit it in some way. As with shielding, extra health levels bestowed with these
abilities do not count as actual health levels for the purposes of charms.

• Armoured Plating: Additional armour plating is attached to the ship. While this does
make the ship more durable to just about anything, the extra armour slows the ship
down and makes it less maneuverable, applying a -2 penalty to both speed and
maneuverability. This subsystem may only be taken once per ship, as stacking it
again makes the ship immobile. Drains 2 power.
• Atmospheric Stabilizers: Configurations to the ship's’ hull and engines allow the
ship to be able to enter the atmosphere of planets and leave them complete under
their own power and without any damage to the ship. Advanced models can even
allow the ship to go underwater without penalties. Drains 1 power, 2 power if the
underwater module is used.
• Centralization: Through careful engineering and floor design, a section of the ship
can be moved to the direct center of the ship, protecting the valuable system with
the bulk of the ship. Mechanically this makes the subsystem immune to targeting
by enemy captains or random chance by the Storyteller. The only way to
deliberately destroy it is to have a boarding party locate and disable it. The
downside to this it takes up more space in ship to do so and is inefficient power
wise. Drains 1 power.
• Defense Systems: Advanced onboard weaponry on the ship are capable of
detecting hostile or unauthorized intruders on the ship and take measures in order
to deal with them. Various weapons pop up, but in general the system counts as a
battlegroup with perfect morale that force attacks to wade through the hail of
gunfire in order to advance on the ship. All Defense Systems contain medium
weapons at the greatest in order to minimize the danger of hull breaches. A small
craft can have a size 1 battlegroup on board, Medium size 2, and Large Size 3.
Costs 2 power.
• Emergency Bulkheads: Normal bulkheads are designed to automatically close on
normal ships whenever they detect a hull breach, but with this system emergency
shutters are placed nearly all throughout the ship, sealing off the area of the hull
itself where the hull breach is located. A crafter may add +2 bonus die or one
automatic success to repair such damaged areas and unless they’re completely
destroyed will at least have an atmosphere inside of them. Costs 1 Power.
 • Maze: The inside of the ship is maze and incomprehensible for enemies. Once per
turn a captain of the ship may elect to power down another subsystem instead of
one targeted by an enemy captain or random chance by the Storyteller. Enemies
who board need to make Survival checks to navigate the ship in order to avoid
becoming lost at a difficulty of 3 and apply a -2 penalty on all command actions for
them. Friendly forces on board the ship may take advantage of deliberate dark
spots and holographic walls to always count as being in cover for stealth checks.
The downside is that the space inside of the ship is reduced and is inefficient
power wise. Drains 2 power.
• Ramming Prow: The ship is configured to safely make ramming attacks by
reinforcing the hull and attaching the front of the ship with a large wedge or drill.
The ship is allowed to make the Ramming maneuver without taking damage.
Drains 1 power.
• Reinforced Hull: Additional reinforcements throughout the substructure of the ship
allows it to better surface impact damage. Add an additional -0 hull level to the
ship, but this hull level may only be used to absorb various sources of impact
damage such as asteroids, enemy ramming maneuvers, or kamikaze pilots. Drains
1 power.
• Reinforced Sections: Systems throughout the ship are reinforced and hardened
against attacks. While not as effective as Centralizing important areas it does allow
one to reinforce the entire ship. The amount of sectional health levels on a ship
increases by 2 each when this is selected and the amount of soak they have is
increased by 1.
• Traps: Various traps line the halls in order to deter potential attackers, offering far
more lethal and instant effects compared to the Defense Systems. Ship sections
that increase gravity by 10 fold for an instant, flamethrowers, airlocks that suddenly
burst open to the vacuum of space, and other horrifying things. The difficulty to
spot such traps is difficulty 4, and depending on the size of the ship the Captain or
Gunnery Officer may attempt to make a number of reflexive attacks using
Wits+Archery/Firearms/Survival against hostile borders depending on ship size,
once per turn at most. The damage of these is treated as 13 withering damage
(Which is lethal inside of initiative crash), and may do other effects depending on
the nature of the trap (Flamethrowers knock an enemy prone, gravity traps knock a
target prone and force them to make a feat of strength to stand, etc...) Small and
medium ships have 2 traps while large ships can have 3. This submodule can be
stacked multiple times to make even an innocent looking ship like the house from
Home Alone. Drains 1 power.

Weapons Systems
A ship’s weapon systems are the hammer it uses to engage its opponents. Nearly all
known spacecraft has some sort of weapon system on board, even Merchant vessels are
known to at least have one anti-ship weapon and/or some sort of CIWS system. Any ship
without weapons system is easy prey from everything to creatures of the canal to pirates.

A ship may select one weapon to place on the vessel which takes up no space on the ship
itself, and any additional weapon after that takes up one additional subsystem slot. A
single weapon on a ship may suit a captain fine, but Gunnery Officer’s wishing to assist
will need some sort of other weapon to use.

Weapon Tags
Ship weapons have their own unique tags which give their own unique abilities.

• Anti-Ship - This weapon is configured to do maximum damage against other ships,

inflicting 2 hull damage instead of 1.
• Area - This weapon does some sort of area of effect attack. Against another ship
directly this has little to no effect, but may do things like encompass a swarm of
fighters in an air burst missile.
• Bombardment - Ship weapons are normally configured to go through space and
that’s about it. Bombardment weapons are capable of entering the atmosphere of a
planet and hitting a target with high accuracy.
• Beam - The weapon is a beam weapon of some sort, using plasma or some other
high-energy projectile.
• Bullet - The weapon uses a physical slug projectile that flies through space, often
launched from a large cannon.
• CIWS - Close In Weapon Systems with short range and low stopping power, but
more than enough to shred enemy fighters and/or Torpedos. In volumes of large
fire the can also damage light ships too. Medium and Large ships get a single
CIWS system for free.
• Ion - Ion weapons target a ship's systems themselves, damaging subsystems but
never outright damaging the hull itself. Any damage done by ion weapons isn’t
considered serious damage and can be repaired with enough time and effort.
• Special - The ship weapon has some sort of special characteristic unique to it.
• Super - This weapon is considered an extremely potent anti-ship weapon, dealing
a whopping three points of hull damage to ships upon impact. However setting
these weapons up for just the right strike is a herculean effort in of itself, as such
weapons are often affixed to the bow of the ship or have some other special
requirements.
• Torpedo - Highly destructive weapon which is often a guided missile. Very powerful
but very slow. They move one range brand per turn, but when the ship they’re
targeting moves a range brand then Torpedo’s also reflexively move one range
brand in addition to any other moves they made that turn.

Light

Note that many light weapon systems are attached to a ship upon installation. These small
turrets can function as battle group in and of themselves. Light ships have a size 1 battle
group, Medium Size 2, and Large Size 3. Unless commanded directly by a Gunnery
Officer, CIWS turrets often have 11 dice to hit at close range (11L/1 damage), 7 Health
levels as base, an armour score of 8, and a ‘parry’ defense of 3 (They don’t actually parry,
but represents hitting superfluous systems). CIWS systems have perfect morale.
Destroying this battle group means that all CIWS systems on board the ship are
destroyed.
Each CIWS system one installs on their ship increases the battle group size by one, to a
maximum of +2 higher than at base. Remember however that such weapons only fight off
small threats and deal no damage on Medium or Large ships.

Flak Cannons

An ancient but effective piece of technology. Flak Cannons fill the surrounding space with
dark clouds of deadly shrapnel that is extremely hazardous to fly through. Additionally it
makes targeting an enemy ship harder, increasing the Momentum cost by 1 for any
offensive action taken against the ship. The downside is that the range is non-existent,
only going out to close range. Meaning that enemy fights can often approach unhindered
until they’re in range of the Flak cannons while only having one chance to shoot down
enemy torpedoes before they impact the ship, on the plus side Flak Cannons do ignore an
enemy battlegroup’s size for armour calculations. Drain 1 power. Range Close.

Tags: Area, Bullet, CIWS, Special

Pinpoint Beam Batteries

Appearing as simple domes with a single dotted lens on them, these weapon systems are
capable of bombarding a target with a laser beam thousands of times per second, which
has the effect of ‘drilling’ into enemy armour. While worthless against heavier ships even in
massed fire, they do make for amazing laser light shows and do more than enough
damage to shoot down enemy torpedos or fighters. Drains 2 power. Range: Medium.

Tags: Beam, CIWS

Sparrow Missile Batteries

Sparrow Missile Batteries are small explosive missiles about the size of a child’s torso.
Being cheap and easy to make, the idea is to overwhelm incoming enemies with sheer
volume of missiles. Additionally the missiles are known to move erratically across space,
making it a nightmare to guess where they’re going to be headed next. Each missile
individually doesn’t do much damage, but when 12 impact a fighter at once then it’s more
than likely going to go down. Sparrow Missile Batteries count as a battle group one size
larger when making attacks against enemy Boarding Craft, Bombers, Fighters, and
Torpedoes. Drains 1 power. Range: Long.

Tags: CIWS, Special, Torpedo

Vulcans

Appearing as a large multi barreled slug thrower, once the barrel of the weapon spins up it
can output a blistering amount of bullets in an incredibly short timespan. These weapons
are particularly devastating to Boarding Craft, Bombers/Fighters, and Torpedoes. Vulcans
cannons count as heavy weapons for when attacking such aircraft. The downside to this is
that vulcan cannons devour ammo alive, requiring shovels to clean out spent shell casings
after a few seconds of fire. The cost of these weapons is more expensive than normal.
Drains 2 power. Range: Medium

Tags: Bullet, CIWS, Special

Medium
Medium weapons are generally the weapons most ships use to attack one another.

Accelerator Cannon

Accelerator Cannons fire special shells that contain a potent accelerant. While the damage
they do at shorter ranges in space is no better than any other average cannon, but over
long distances the shell greatly builds up speed to significantly damage any other hull it
impacts against. If the shell is fired at medium or further range than it gains the Anti-Ship
tag. The only flaw is that Accelerator Cannon shells are harder to find and therefore more
expensive to produce. One of the only known places where Accelerator Cannon rounds a
plentiful are in the Southern reaches of the expanse, which the rare propulsion chemical it
uses are found in the planets there. Drains 2 power. Range: Long

Tags: Sometimes Anti-Ship, Bullet, Bombardment

Annihilator Beam

A single large and imposing turret is placed on top of the ship that narrows out to a
suspiciously thin barrel. When this weapon fires a single narrow blue laser beam lances
towards its target at incredible speed, where upon impact a microscopic section on the
impact point is converted into antimatter which then promptly explodes. The nature of this
attack allows it to crack ship hulls in a mere few shots, but the power drain this weapon
has is immense. If the weapon also hits a force field or some sort of non-physical energy
barrier, then the effect is so minimal that it rarely, if ever, does significant damage. Lastly
the weapon is bulky and expensive, and can only be mounted on Large ships. Drains 4
power. Range: Extreme

Tags: Anti-Ship, Beam, Bombardment

Beam Cannon

An weapon with a directed beam of energy that launches itself towards the opponent.
Ships that do not wish to worry about ammo issues make extensive use out of beam
weaponry due to how their ammunition is effectively unlimited so long as they have power.
This entry also covers things such as lasers of coherent light, lasers of coherent matter, or
beams made out of exotic particles such as neutrons or psuedo boson beams. Drains 2
power. Range: Long

Tags: Beam
Boarding Tube

A special sort of Torpedo is completely hollowed out and filled with boarding drones rather
than traditional explosives. Upon impact with the enemy ship, a directional charge is
detonated, crushing the hull and forcing the rest of the Torpedo inside enough so that the
Boarding Drones can exit the Torpedo and begin assaulting the ship. Since a vacuum is
very likely created from the hull breach, the Boarding Drones will then proceed to clean out
the ship room by room, often tearing open bulkheads and blast towards in order to expose
as much of the ship towards vacuum as possible. The downside to this system is that it
doesn’t do as much damage compared to normal Torpedoes and that the ship using this
torpedos must also have a Drone Bay. Humans cannot board in these Torpedoes, as the
G-Forces involved turn living beings into paste. Drains: 2 Power. Range: Medium

Tags: Special, Torpedo

Ignition Beam

Ignition Beams fire a high powered beam over a wide area over the opponent’s hull. While
doing the same amount of damage as normal beam cannons, they’re unique in that they
almost always cause fires to break out in the areas they attack. A subsystem which is
knocked out by this beam immediately turns into a roaring inferno, having the traits of a
bonfire to everyone inside. These weapons are also devastating when used with the
Backup Assault option with the Gunnery Officer, for regardless how much damage a
subsection takes, fires are certain to ignite within the area. This weapon is often very
illegal inside of Imperial space, but Pirates like making use of these weapons in order to
‘better persuade’ ships they prey upon. In addition to high power draw, Ignition Beams do
no damage to any sort of Anima Field, so this is rarely the main weapon. Drains 3 power.
Range: Short

Tags: Beam, Special

Ion Cannon

These beam weapons fire blue pulses of ionized energy that does very little, if any, actual
damage to a ship. Rather it assaults the sensitive electronics and subsystems of the ship,
capable of shutting them down. Ships take hull damage as normal with Ion Cannons, but
the cost and duration of repairs for recovering from such attacks is often measured in
hours rather than days or weeks. Ion cannons often see use from nearly everyone. Police
may use it as a non-lethal measure while Pirates may use it to ensure as little damage is
done to the cargo of a ship as possible. Drains 3 power. Range: Medium

Tags: Beam, Special

Shell Cannons
Shell Cannons are the big boom boom, the thunderous roar of cannons as they fire
physical slugs, racing through space before impacting the enemy vessel in a large
explosion. Shell cannons are very cheap, reliable, and low energy cost makes these
weapons see far more use in the Frontier due to this. Additionally Shell Cannons are able
to bombard a planet with relatively little effort, you just point the cannons towards the
surface and fire. Drains 1 power. Range: Long

Tags: Bombardment, Bullet

Thunderstrike Torpedoes

Thunderstrike Torpedoes are the standard anti-ship Torpedo known in the galaxy, with
endless variations of the weapon spawned by many rival companies after its introduction
literally eons ago. A thunderstrike Torpedo is a large Anti-Ship weapon, usually ten to
twelve feet long, that fly towards the enemy ship then explode with a focused directional
charge towards the hull. Most torpedoes use a tiny amount of antimatter as their main
explosive charge. The main benefit for Torpedoes is that individually they’re one of the
cheapest anti-ship weapons around. The cost of a torpedo tube is vastly less than other
anti-ship weapons in nearly every regard and they cost very little power to operate. The
problems with Torpedoes are that they are very large weapons, so a ship cannot hold
nearly as many of them compared to shells. They’re also very slow, and while still faster
than most ships, Torpedoes still take time to reach their opponent unless they’re fired at
point blank range. Only Medium or Large ships can use Torpedoes. Drains 1 power.
Range: Extreme

Tags: Anti-Ship, Bombardment, Torpedo

Heavy
Heavy weapons are often bow mounted weapons which can only fire straight ahead, but
the power of these weapons are incredible. Capable of doing nearly three hull damage to
ships in optimal conditions. However such weapons incredibly dangerous. Even friendly
forces will be incredibly leery with such ships around, and others may not want to do
business in the future with someone known to stock Nuclear Missiles. Only Large ships
can mount Heavy Weapons and may only be fired with the Ready the Main Gun! action.

Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, or MAC cannons for short, are giant railguns that run the
entire length of a ship. They work by accelerating slugs to a high percentage of the speed
of light as they roar towards their opponent. Unlike other Heavy Weapons, MAC cannons
can also fire very fast in succession. This makes them ideal bombardment weapons
against a planetary surface in order to support ground troops, where its power can often
destroyed hardened targets with ease. Drains 3 power. Range: Long

Tags: Bullet, Super

Moonstone Cannon
Moonstone cannon, FIRE!

The Moonstone Cannon often takes place as a large energy weapon that rests in a
protective covering in front of the bow of the ship. When ordered in use, the bow splits
open to reveal the cannon which extends out to nearly one third of the ship's length.
Energy can be seen collecting at the tip of the barrel as vents open all over the ship and
the bridge’s protective shutter slam in place in order to prevent the crew from going blind.
Finally the beam of energy arcs out in front of the ship, racing across the sky towards its
intended victim, a devastating impact followed by megatons of thermal energy showered
across the enemy ship. Not only that, but if the target ship is destroyed, the blast instantly
annihilates the vessel before racing onto the next unfortunate target behind it, inflicting two
points of hull damage. This can continue until the damage reaches zero. Drains 4 power.
Range: Medium

Tags: Beam, Special, Super

Nuclear Missile

Or how I learned to love the bomb.

Nuclear Missiles are normal torpedoes that use either Antimatter or Uranium to induce a
massive nuclear explosion at the target area. The impacted ship suffers three hull damage
as normal, but any ship within close range of the vessel immediately takes one point of
Hull damage. Enemy Fighters or drones in the area are immediately subjected to a special
attack from the captain who launched this missile, rolling his Wits + Archery/Firearms + 3
dice as an attack that deals 15 withering damage before soak (Lethal damage in a crash).
In space these weapons are often quite safe to use, as there’s no environment to speak of
in space. They remain a war crime to use however as using them against a planet causes
horrific damage to the environment, while those exposed to the radiation from the blast
often die of painful burns or radiation sickness if the blast didn’t kill them. The construction
of such missiles are incredibly cheap and easy in comparison to other Heavy Weapons,
and pirates never really cared galactic law that much in the first place. Drains 1 power, but
requires two sub-system slots to safely store nuclear material. Range: Long

Tags: Area, Bombardment, Special, Super, Torpedo

Artifact Ships
I’m tired and don’t feel like starting artifact ships out entirely, but I will share the ideas I had
with them.

Durability
Rather than just giving a bloated amount of health levels like 2.Xe did, artifact ships work a
bit differently under these rules. Any mundane ship attacking an artifact ship can only do
sectional damage against it piece by piece. This represents the immense durability artifact
ships have compared to their mundane brethren. In fact the only way actual hull damage
can be done to an artifact ship directly is by Heavy Weapons themselves, and even then
these impressive weapons only do a single point of hull damage rather than 3.

Artifact ships may have several additional Hull levels The sectional damage rule should be
more than enough. For additional protection, use an anima field or double layer anima
field.

Subsystems
Artifact ships are vastly more powerful ships. Mundane subsections installed drain one
less power than they normally do, but quite often this is not worth the effort as Artifact
Ships can mount the same abilities and subsystems manses can.

An example of an artifact subsystem could be that the standard hospital turns into a
Maiden’s Mercy Hospital. In addition to the normal effects of a hospital the enhanced
recovery systems on board allow those inside of it to increase their recovery speed to a
whopping five times faster than normal, allows reattachment of any lost limbs, and gives
anyone inside an additional automatic success on any medical roll due to the quality of the
tools inside. An enhanced Armory may be called “The World on Fire” which contains
enhanced arms and armour so that any battle group using such equipment gain a dot of
might in battle. The sky’s the limit! Especially since we don’t have actual working manse
rules at the time of this writing!

Artifact subsystems can fit on mundane ships, but come with some costs. First is that such
a thing takes up an additional subsection slot and that the power needed for such a facility
increases by 1.

Weapons
Artifact weapons on board of Artifact ships always inflict two points of hull damage against
ships that are made of mundane hulls. Artifact Weapons with the anti-ship tag inflict three
points. Heavy Artifact weapons deal a whopping four points of hull damage towards
mundane hulls.

Artifact weapons function the same as mundane ship weapons against other artifact hulls,
however they do deal increased sectional damage, starting with a base damage of 16
before any modifiers (18 using anti-ship weapons).

Lastly artifact ship weapons may have some bonus effects that make them overall better
to use than their mundane counterparts. The Ignition Beam turns into the Inferno Lance,
which in addition to setting areas on fire also does a single point of hull damage to a ship
or pieces a single layer of anima shields. Artifact Torpedo Tubes may launch Torpedos
with much greater velocity, allowing them to travel at two range brands per turn instead of
1.

Ship Battle Groups

We all knew this was going to happen eventually, so let’s make it easier for a single
Exalted captain to tear through a Pirate Battlefleet.
Ship Battle Groups, called Fleets (Or Freet’s in Engrish, I’ll use Freets as it makes me
laugh) are similar to Battle Groups in general. Each Freet has a size containing the same
number of opponents as a typical mass combat group does. The following math is used:

• To get the total Magnitude of an enemy Freet, take the rough average hull levels of
all enemy ships then add the size total to them.
• Enemy Freets get a bonus to all actions equal to their own size.
• To damage an Enemy Freet, simply take Navel Maneuver actions as normal.
Normal attacks do one damage, Anti-ship weapons deal two damage just like
normal.
• Drill and Might do not factor in here, as I have no idea how they’d factor in here
without the math breaking or making it incredibly difficult for the lone ship facing off
against an enemy Freet.

Miracles of Technology
Contains far more than just spending all your valuables on clothing to wear around
your spaceship!

Gizmos and Gadgets

Need some ideas for the basic items of the future and what they contain? Here’s a
small list!

AR Glasses
AR Glasses, or Augmented Reality glasses, are another staple of the future itself.
Overlaying traditional reality with that a computer enhanced image, such things are widely
used in day to day life across the galaxy. Kids use it to play virtual games inside of a park,
tourists use them to have interesting spots or locales highlighted on their HUD, workers
may use it to instantly see the service history of a vessel or any parts within it, and soldiers
in the battlefield use it to see enemies and friendlies highlighted and a targeting reticle for
where their weapon is pointing at and how much ammo their weapon has left remaining.
AR Glasses don’t need to, but function far better when connected to some sort of internet
and linked to some sort of datapad. A small service fee may be provided for an ad-free
experience, which is recommended unless you want to see every square inch of your
vision bombarded by ads. Actions speak louder than words, so here’s a short video on
what AR is actually like and can do in the future. Most models of AR Glasses cost
resources 0, but high end models that that function without internet or datapad support or
military durability cost more. Most power armours in the future typically have these
installed as part of the base package often as part of the helmet itself.

Cybernetic Prosthetics
Cybernetic Prosthetics are a powerful tool of the future itself, allowing people to do
everything from replacing a single lost hand or eye into something like a full body
prosthetic to become an elite commando that’s more machine than man. Typical
cybernetic enhancements can often bestow something like beneficial mutations but for
things like increased abilities typically the entire body needs to be replaced lest a super
strong arm tear itself out from its socket, but also providing enhanced protection as full
body cyborgs can survive their head being cut off for up to 72 hours. The upper levels of
technology is that the sky's the limit, but Exaltations themselves will typically go for people
who maintain a more human like appearance with their prosthetics. The cost for such
things vary greatly. An new hand or eye may cost Resources 1 under a payment plan
while a new arm or leg resources 2. Full body transplants are far more expensive at the
low end of Resources 3, typically the only people who have such things are those on
payment plans or join an organization like the special forces. Plus whomever gets such
things needs to keep in mind they need to be serviced for the rest of their lives. Cheaper
and outdated variants exist in criminal organizations or out in the Frontier, where some
pirates don’t even bother remaining to appear human and have a bulky red glowing eye on
the side of their head. Such cybernetics cost one less dot of resources, but often need to
be serviced far more often and may have negative appearance modifiers.

Datapad
More than just the not-smartphone of the future, these electronic devices contain
all the features of a smartphone but with enough computational power to function as a
working computer. Most computers in the galaxy tend to have a slot where you can plug
your datapad in and have it function as the entire computer while using other auxiliary
items such as mouse, keyboard, and that big screen TV to watch pirated material off of.
Higher end models are capable of doing away with needing to plug into anything and
project a 3D holograph for a screen as well as a keyboard. Resources: 0 (1 for high end
models). Artifact models may actually have an onboard lesser god with a constant
connection to the Grand Celestial Mountain.

Healthcare
Hospitals and other long term care centers in the future have a much higher quality
than those in the bronze age. While the miracles of injuries vanishing before one’s eyes in
any corner doctor office is a myth lost to the Golden Age, primary care centers in the
modern era are still proficient. Any mortal who is resting for their injury duration are
considered to heal at the same rate the Exalted do whereas the Exalted heal at double the
normal rate, all of course assuming that the hospital is well stocked and well staffed. Most
basic medical kits in the universe can stabilize all but the most critical of patients, allowing
someone with a blown off arm to at least survive long enough until they can get to a
primary hospital for better treatment.

Self-Driving Cars
Vehicles in the future possess the ability for the vehicle to drive all by itself to a
destination. Normally they are far safer than most other living or biological drivers, and
some planets may make it illegal for a person to actually drive their car manually. Due to
the regression of technology in Heaven’s Reach most vehicles are not driven with a Spirit
Program unlike in the Golden Age, thus human drives can be better than most automatic
driving programs if they have the skill to do so. Military vehicles tend to have automatic
driving off by default, but take over when their pilot is killed or injured. This costs no
additional resources.

Smart-X
Welcome to the future, where everything is a smart something or other. Clothing
have small computers in them that are powered by your own body heat and kinetic motion,
constantly keeping track of your vital statistics and automatically contacting the police or
paramedics in case of an emergency. Weapons have scanners on them in order to detect
whenever a proper user is handling the gun or won’t fire at all. Even the beers you drink
can monitor your breath and lock out calling your ex once you’ve had too many (Don’t
even dare say you don’t try it). This provides an extra layer of security in the future, but
‘dumb’ equipment is still known to exist in the future. Some people deactivate such
features because they don’t want people watching them all the time while soldiers going
into battle against a rogue AI might rip out IFF firing controls on their weapons so they’re
not hacked. Note that unless someone has a reason to remove these features, they’re
generally on all the time. Smart items cost no extra resources.

No Support like Life Support!

All mundane armour in Heaven’s Reach comes with a bare minimum of Life
support that runs at least for six hours. Exceptions to this rule exist on medieval planets or
largely ground based forces who would have no need for life support on their clothing.

Artifact Armour is the same, in which if it does have life support it can last a number
of days up to (1 + mobility penalty) of armour without needing anything extra. Blue Jade
power armours are somewhat coveted for their infinite air supply.

Technological Tiers
When a piece technology itself is considered to be a significant leap over it’s
predecessor then it comes to the surprise of nobody that those with the better technology
have more of an edge against those who don’t. There’s a reason you don’t see pistols
from the 1500’s today on the modern battlefield even though such things are still more
than capable of killing a man: They became obsolete as technology advanced. This
advancement of technology can be modelled in sci-fi or modern settings with the following
advancement path, in which each step up on the chart is considered a significant
technological advance:

Cavemen era -> Medieval Era -> Renaissance era -> Earth Technology in the
2010’s/2020’s -> Current Modern Heaven’s Reach Technology -> Precursor Civilizations
such as Autochthonia, Dragon King’s, or Terma -> Golden/First Age Societies

As a note it rarely is a matter of just stealing blueprints for a Termian Ray Splitter
and using a craft excellency to churn them out. As an overall society they’ve managed to
advanced the technology, tactics, manufacturing methods, and logistics well enough to
make use of the fullest extent of their technology. If you’re a single Solar crafter then at
most you’d probably be only to outfit a little more than your Dawn’s own personal army
rather than being the one man production machine. In order to start mass producing these
weapons you’d need to make numerous improvements to a planet’s overall technological
progress. Uplifting the quality of life of a society as a whole before such things exist... or
make a slave caste to do all the work and the elites get all the credit, whichever.

Here’s a shortlist that the benefits a more advanced civilization gets against a less
advanced civilization:

• Weapons are automatically treated as having the piercing tag and may use it for
free against lower technology civilizations. If a weapon already has piercing, then it
can effectively ignore up to 8 soak with an invoke of its power.
• Armour of a higher technology gains +2 soak against lower technological weapons
and is treated as having an amount of hardness equal to (2 + Armour level [Light =
1, medium = 2, etc...])
• Any technology that interfaces with a lower end technology is much easier for
those with the advanced computers. Fixed skill challenges have their difficulty
lowered by 2 to a minimum of 1 while in contested rolls the one using a less
advanced computer is at a -3 penalty.
• In ship combat an enemy ship from a high technological base is treated as having
+1 additional hull level and +1 speed OR Maneuverability (Higher Tech Captain’s
pick)
• Any artifact item ignores the tech scale, as the construction of the weapon is
timeless itself. It doesn’t matter if it was an Orichalcum Sword a solar forged using
Medieval workshops against mundane battle armour from the Golden Age, the
armour would gain no bonuses.

New Charms
Well if we’re going into space and sci-fi, we’re going to need some charms that
interact with that now don’t we? Believe it or not, this list is going to be pretty short. As a
note the charms here use my homebrew about monster types from my 3e Bestiary. So if
you see charms here talking about Strong or Special Monsters, now you know. It is also
completely optional and the game will run fine without it, but I’ll put that message in
bold red text so people will know that.

Solar

Archery

NOVA SHELL ORDINANCE

Cost: 2m; Mins: Archery 2 Essence 1; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Wise Arrow
The Solar’s bullet flies fast and true, the armour of his enemies incapable of standing
against his wrath. This charms adds +2 to the raw damage of a withering attack and
allows the Solar to treat his weapon as if it had the piercing tag if it didn’t already. If a
weapon already has the piercing tag than the wielder need not sacrifice a point of defense
or initiative to use it.

SEARING RADIANCE FIRE TONGUE

Cost: 5m; Mins: Archery 3 Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Nova Shell Ordinance

The solars righteous wrath fills the shaft of his arrow, heart of his bullet, or the energy of
his blaster bolt, unleashing it as it sails towards the opponent glowing a bright cherry red.
This charm may only be invoked after aiming at a target. The Solar adds an additional
(Perception or 3, whichever is higher) damage post soak to the target based on the
threshold successes (So if you had two threshold successes, you’d add two raw damage
and two post soak damage with this charm).

If the Solar knows Fiery Arrow Technique, than this charm may be repurchased to have an
additional effect against creatures of darkness. The Solar may pay 1m per threshold
success in order to turn those dice into automatic successes. At Essence +4 this applies to
people who are anathema to the solar or his beliefs.

At Essence +3, this charm may be used without needing to aim.

HEAVEN’S EYE MARKSMANSHIP

Cost: 3m; Mins: Archery 2 Essence 1; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Wise Arrow

The Solar Gunslinger’s eye is flawless as it judges its mark in the distance, zeroing in the
distance before making an expert shot. When making an aim action, the Solar may pay 3m
to add the the amount of aim dice she gained to the raw damage of the attack. At Essence
+2 the Solar may use this charm at medium or long range, allowing her to add the damage
bonus post soak instead.

SNAP SHOT FOCUS

Cost: 2m; Mins: Archery 4 Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Heaven’s Eye Marksmanship
Dead-end shoot!

The solars eyes are ever watchful and attentive, for when her bowstring is let loose on one
target she already has the second in her sights. This charm may be activated after a Solar
makes an Archery attack that incapacitates one or more targets that she had an aiming
action on prior. The Solar may reflexively take an aiming action against any new target of
her choosing.

SHOOTING GALLERY RAMPAGE

Cost: -; Mins: Archery 5 Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite charms: Heaven’s Eye Marksmanship

Set ‘em up, knock ‘em down.

With her experienced hands, the Solar gunslinger mows down elites just like tin cans.
Every time the Solar incapacitates an opponent she gains a influx of (3 or Essence,
whichever is greater) motes which must be spent on Archery charms before the end of her
next turn before they vanish. At Essence +3, the Solar may gain an additional +3 motes on
top of what she normally gains, gaining an additional mote for every additional opponent
incapacitated during her round.

This encourages the playstyle of Archery Nova attacks, after dispatching an opponent or a
large group of them, you gain additional motes to spend on archery charms of your
choosing. The gain is potentially rare, but has a big enough drawback so it can’t be done
constantly (I figure).

SUNDOG GUNSLINGER STANCE

Cost: 5m 1WP; Mins: Archery 4 Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite charms: Heaven’s Eye Marksmanship, Trance of Unhesitating Speed

The Solar’s wits and hands are just as quick as his aim, capable of bringing down lesser
foes with incredible ease as the Solar remains focused on more worthy targets. Upon
activating this charm the solar is allowed to reflexively attack one insignificant/normal
opponent per turn. These free attacks however may only reward the Solar up to his
(Essence) in initiative from withering attacks and halves the normal amount he’d gain
from the initiative break bonus of beating an opponent. Additionally, he suffers no offhand
penalties for dual wielding any weapons and may also wield a melee weapon in one hand
and ranged weapon in the other without suffering penalties on either of them.
STEEL SUNBEAM RADIANCE
Cost: 7m 1WP; Mins: Archery 5 Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Sundog Gunslinger Stance

“Let’s fly.”

The Solar comes a whirlwind of bullets coming out from every which direction, all while he
remains the calm in the center of the storm (Or goes “WOOHOO! LET’S ROCK BABY!”).
Upon activating this charm the Solar may make Dexterity + 1 separate withering attacks
against Strong or Insignificant opponents within medium range of her without needing an
aim action. Each attack has its damaged increased by 1 for each 10 that appears in the
attack roll. The solar may only gain up to (Her essence) in initiative from each enemy, but
still gains any damage from the initiative break bonus for beating an enemy. This charm
may only be used once per fight, but may be reset by making a decisive attack and
building initiative back up to +15.

Against Special opponent's this attack has a lesser effect. The damage against a Special
character is the Solar’s (Perception) which is unsoakable, but increases by 1 for each 10 in
the attack roll. The Solar does not gain the initiative lost by the enemy.

KILLING FLOOR STANCE

Cost: 7m 1WP; Mins: Archery 5 Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-Only
Duration: One Turn
Prerequisite charms: Accuracy Without Distance, Arrow Storm Technique

Killzone confirmed!

Taking a deep breath, the Solar Archery pulls back the string on her bow and prepares it to
be unleashed in an instant. The solar sets up a ‘killzone’, which is roughly a 90 degree arc
in front of him going out to medium range. Until the Solar’s next turn, anyone in this zone
who does any action other than make a stealth roll (including remain idle) are immediately
subjected to a decisive attack from the Solar which is resolved before any action the
opponent attempts to make. The damage for this attack is equal to half of her base
initiative plus her Perception score. The Solars initiative does not reset back to normal until
the beginning of her next turn and only if she’s made at least one successful attack. Those
who remain idle behind any amount of cover are safe from the Lawgivers wrath, but
attempting to do any action will automatically trigger the attack.

At Essence +4, the zone is extended to long range.

Brawl
• Hammer on Iron Technique (AKA: Hokuto Hundred Crack Fist) is able to switch to
a new Strong target if it was used on a Strong target originally.
 • Rampage-Berserker Attack never counts Strong opponents as powerful or
impressive, only Special ones.

WRATH OF THE TWINS

Cost: -; Mins: Melee 4 Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Thunderclap Rush Attack

Having no time for lesser foes, the Lawgivers fists lash out at lesser foes with the speed
and power from those of terrible legends. Once per round the Solar is able to make a
reflexive attack against any Strong opponent within close range, up to a maximum number
of times equal to the Solar’s (Essence or Strength, whichever is higher) +1. These free
attacks however may only reward the Solar up to his (Essence) in initiative from withering
attacks and halves the normal amount he’d gain from the initiative break bonus of beating
an opponent.

At Essence +2, incapacitating a Strong type opponent rewards one reflexive attack back.
At Essence +3, whenever the Solar depletes a Battle Group in size or manages to KO or
crash a Special opponent, the Solar regains two reflexive attacks.

Melee
• One Weapon Two Blows triggers on Strong opponents if the Solar manages to
raise his initiative higher than the Strong character’s with the attack.
• Heaven Sword Flash counts Strong opponents as “Minor” ones.
• Solar Counterattack may now make withering counterattacks against special
opponents, but the Solar only gain a maximum of (Essence) additional initiative
from these extra attacks and does not get any bonus (Crash or otherwise) for
defeating an opponent.
• Ready in Eight Directions makes decisive attacks as normal and will only only
lower the Exalt’s initiative by an amount equal to the damage dealt on his next turn.
If this would be enough to send him lower than what his initiative resets at, then he
uses that reset amount.
• Still haven’t got a Link Sword twirl idea.

RIGHTEOUS CLEAVE
Cost: 3m; Mins: Melee 2 Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Excellent Strike

10 or 10000, all will be cleaved in twain before the Lawgiver’s blade. Whenever the Solars
manages to knock out an opponent or reduce a battle group in size, the Solar may activate
this charm to immediately make another attack against either a different opponent or the
same battlegroup. The Solar may only use this charm once per turn.
At Essence 2 the Solar may use this charm as many times as she wants to long as she
meets the condition to activate it, but only gains (Essence) initiative from a successful
withering attack against a Strong opponent. At Essence 3 the Solar may repurchase this
charm so that any activation after the first costs 0m.

As a point of clarification, slaying someone in the middle of a multiple action charm (Such
as the third out of fifth attack on Iron Whirlwind) means the solar must wait until that
charm’s resolution before activating Righteous Cleave

Thrown
• Mist Gathering Practice may be used on withering attack rolls against normal
opponents, adding (Essence x2) additional damage post soak after aiming.
• Cascade of Cutting Terror counts normal opponents as insignificant opponents,
which means holy shit can it ever mow down the wheat!

CULLING THE HERD

Cost: -; Mins: Thrown 5 Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Three actions
Prerequisite charms: Swarm-Culling Instinct

F0ll0wthr0ugh

The knowledge that the Solar as defeated reinvigorates him, granting him resurgence in
power. Upon incapacitating a Strong or Special opponent the Solars withering attack rolls
gain (Essence or 3, whichever is higher) additional raw damage and doubles all 9s on their
damage roll. If the attack is a surprise attack or an ambush, and these damage die are
added post soak. This rush of adrenaline lasts for only three turns after defeating an
opponent, and while the duration can be reset it cannot stack (So beating three opponents
in one turn does not give you 9 actions with this charm, only three).

Thrown is one of those abilities that rewards alpha striking really well, so I figure why not
reward that playstyle with a nice buff.

PROPELLING FORCE
Cost: 2m; Mins: Thrown 3 Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite charms: Precision of the Striking Raptor

With a small application of Essence, the Solar is able to throw his weapon with far more
force than a mortal could ever hope to achieve. This charm increases the raw damage of a
Thrown attack in proportion to the distance from the target. A +4 dice damage bonus at
close range, +3 at short, etc...
At Essence 3+, than the damage added is done post-soak instead if the target is in
initiative crash.

Thrown needs some sort of Withering damage boost. I stole it from an MA somewhat but it
seems fine.

Survival

Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit

As a point of clarification, this charm does allow the Solar to ‘breathe’ in space, but
still suffer from the environmental damage. Element-Resisting Prana allows a Solar to
become totally immune to the ravages of space.

Lore
See all those hacking charms from Shards of Exalted Dream? They still work word
for word. Just lower the Essence requirements on all of them by 1.

As a minor note Hacking can be used to effectively create new things and effects
within the Grand Celestial Mountain, allowing Lore (Hacking) rolls to be used for workings
in place of Occult. However, such workings will only work within the Grand Celestial
Mountain, skills such as Occult or craft needed to make them permanent outside of it

Athletics

ALL-DIRECTION SPRINT
Cost: 1m; Mins: Athletics 3 Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Turn
Prerequisite charms: Graceful Crane Stance or Lightning Speed
By: Aranis

Even when deprived of ground to walk on, the Solar Exalted race toward their enemies
and goals. This Charm permanently expands the Exalt's capabilities. Whenever he is an
environment that would somehow prevent normal movement but is not composed of solid
material in space, he may pay 1m reflexively as an innate power that does not count as
Charm use. Should he do so, he reenables all normal movement options, though he may
make them in any direction he chooses. This benefit lasts until the beginning of his turn.
To maintain his movement options, he must reactivate the benefit when it lapses, or else
the normal rules of the environment reassert themselves or flail through the void.

Resources
Given that the size of the galaxy is beyond comprehension of most people, the
amount of potential wealth within a galaxy is also just as beyond comprehension. In Vanilla
Exalted you may feel accomplished with taking over a kingdom with all of it’s lands and
riches, but in Heaven’s Reach you take over entire planets for their resources. Players can
potentially get resources above and beyond what is considered the norm for Vanilla
Exalted, so below are various other resource ratings and what one can do with them. Note
that unless with explicit Storyteller permission, players can only start with a Resource's
value of 1-5. Attaining a Resource value of higher than 5 is often considered to be
impressive feat, and each step above it increases the difficulty of attaining and keeping
such a resource level exponentially.

At the Sixth dot of Resources your character has wealth roughly equal to that of a
large country. In Vanilla Exalted such examples would be the Scarlet Empress or Rankar
VII of Gem (The latter is roughly a single city but has enough wealth to be within this
category). At this stage a character could assemble a planet conquering army or even
begin to construct interstellar spaceships. Examples of this in Heaven’s Reach would
mainly be things such as Presidents of large countries or continents, but are also things
such as Shikari and Magistrates of the highest caliber, a highly successful branch of a
megacorporation that still operates on the local system scale, or a small but highly
developed region that has something that people all over the planet itself wants.

At the Seventh dot of Resources your character has wealth roughly equal to that of
an entire planet. The only time this has ever happened in Vanilla Creation was during the
First Age when the Solar Deliberative controlled all of Creation. Throwing around this
amount of wealth casually can often crash the economies of entire planets. With this level
of wealth a character would construct not an army, but have the potential to construct an
entire fleet to potentially take over their system or other planets. This level of Resources is
often very rare, limited to only people such as incredibly successful and well-known traders
who manage fleets of ships instead of a single vessel, a legendary pirate admiral, VIP’s of
a successful megacorporation, or a Planetary Ruler. Keeping this level of wealth is often
difficult, as the amounts of currency at this level is too much for one person to track. Often
an army of bureaucrats are needed to do the paperwork or an army of workers to ensure
the business stays afloat (usually both).

At the Eighth dot of Resources your character has wealth roughly equal to that of
an entire solar system. Such a level of wealth has never happened in Vanilla Exalted, and
maybe only be possible is one controlled Creation, Malfeas, Yu-Shan, and the Underworld
all at once. At this point the wealth itself is a weapon, as a character can very easily buy
out all of a planet’s businesses or even a planet itself without impacting the bottom line too
much. A mighty fleet or army backed by this amount of Resources can be a significant
force in the direction itself that everyone speaks about with caution (Assuming the owner
of such resources doesn’t simply buy out the pirates, mercenaries, or army sent against
them). People possessing this level of resources are often far rarer than that at the
Seventh dot, as at this stage not only a large amount of personnel are needed to keep the
revenue stream intact but complex systems are often needed to even make such a thing
work. The only people remotely capable of pulling such things off are mortal geniuses that
are one-in-a-billion, powerful sorcery that compels people to do such work, or the powerful
charms of the Exalted and spirits. Examples of people at this level of wealth are System
Heads within the Thousandth Dynasty or what is considered the bare minimum of wealth a
company must possess in order to be considered a Megacorporation. A few singular
planets within the Galaxy itself are also considered to have similar wealth such as Gem or
the Kingdom of Iyer. Dangerous planets and locales, such as Madonia or the Skeleton
Nebula, could also possess such wealth if their dangers and hazards were also taken care
of.

At the Ninth dot of resources your character has the wealth of multiple solar
systems. Such a level of wealth is only theoretically obtainable in Vanilla Exalted if you
expand Creation to many times its current size and population. At this point of wealth
characters can buy and sell planets as easily as any other piece of merchandise or an
entire solar system if deemed a worthwhile investment. At this point only the natural once
in a generation mortal could run a business this size or potent supernaturals can run a
business without massive cracks due to corruption or bad press crashing it into the
ground. Empires and Megacorporations with this level of wealth are regarded as highly
successful businesses or kingdoms that are so well known that one can find articles about
them even on the other end of the Celestial Vault easily. An army backed by this amount
of wealth poses a credible threat to any empire in the galaxy, even the Central Empire will
pay close attention to the current political or business climate surrounding such an entity.
People with this degree of wealth are so rare that even in a galaxy of countless they only
amount to the double digits as people need large amounts of both skill and luck to ascend
to such heights. Examples of such organizations with this level of wealth are the
Starwalker Tribes, the Great Trading Clans of the Central Empire, and all Autochthonia.

At the Tenth and final dot of resources your character has the wealth of an entire
direction at their disposal. Such wealth is only possible in Vanilla Exalted if something
extreme was done such as wyld shape the infinity of the wyld. With the limitless systems
and people under their disposal entire systems can often be bought, traded, and even
likely forgotten about in the slightest of bookkeeping errors. An Empire of this size
demands Exalted or Supernatural support to run effectively otherwise the Empire exists in
name only. Everyone who is remotely familiar with the geographical structure of space
knows the organization as common knowledge. Countermeasures likely exist against bad
press and even if it reached the ears of most people within the Empire many would likely
stay because an Empire of this size is likely safer than most other places in the Celestial
Vault. A fleet from an empire of this size is so vast and mighty that it’s numbers may blot
out the sun itself. Currently the only person with this degree of wealth in current day
Heaven’s Reach is Heaven’s Son himself. The only other known person who even has the
potential to reach a similar degree of wealth would be the Wise Owl of the North if his
expansions are left unchecked.

At the Eleventh dot of Resources, the value becomes N/A and essentially controls
the wealth of the entire galaxy at large. Your character has the money to buy literally
anything so long as it exists. The only time the galaxy in Heaven’s Reach actually attained
this rating is during the Golden Age of the galaxy before the Stellar Intelligence’s rebelled.
Many people consider this level of wealth an impossibility in Heaven’s Reach. After all the
only way such a logistics network could be managed was by the Stellar Intelligence’s
themselves. Even if one had access to the remaining three Stellar Intelligence’s and if they
were magically obedient to the character then it still wouldn’t be enough, such a workload
is so mighty that not even these transcendent beings can handle such a thing with only
three. This hasn’t stopped thinktanks from the Solar Dynasty or the Central Empire from
trying to figure out a method how to accomplish such a goal however, but currently such a
goal remains a distant one.

Sidebar: That’s a lot of moolah, how do you stand up against that?

The resource values I just listed are often the amount of wealth an entire company
can bring to bear on one single project, keywords being ‘single project’. Most people with a
wealth value higher than 6 are often using it manage multiple lesser projects that cost
roughly that Resources. When Ragara Banking and Staffing Services attempted to buy out
the Peleps and Son Shipyards, this would’ve been a Resources 9 purchase for them. This
is by no small means a small transaction for them, in which they had to abuse all the
connections they had and cut as many corners on their business as possible in order to
even attempt such a purchase in the first place. When the Thousandth Dynasty interfered
with this transaction, Ragara then had to immediately gut their company to stay afloat. This
means they kept their resource values the same, but very likely lost significant influence
and power in other areas, such as various clients in the Frontier while leaving markets
open where their rivals like Cynis can attempt to fill.

People who own such extreme degrees of wealth often rarely take all their wealth
with them. A character with resources 6 may have Resources 4 on them at all times. An
amount of cash that is essentially pocket change for them but still enough to purchase
most things they come across. Even the CEO of a Great Trading Clan will likely ‘only’ carry
Resources 6 with them wherever they go. Any more than that is often infeasible unless
they are about to make major purchases, as to reach Resources 7 you’d need an entire
cargo ship filled with the highest denomination of Thalers. At this level of money pirate
captains would not only team up in fleets but even seriously consider a suicide mission so
long as there is the slightest possibility for success.

Vehicles
From backwater dune buggies to sleek hovercars for civilian use to main battle
tanks and starfighters for warfare, sci-fi just wouldn’t be the same without any sort of
vehicles to use within it. Actual animal mounts in the future are rare but not unheard of,
such as the fearsome Vesk’s Elite Beast Tamers or the Star Dragoon’s synthetic Wyvern
mounts that chase after starfighters in space, but the majority of the galaxy at large use
vehicles for most other purposes.

One thing of note people may know from real life and the stats below is that
vehicles are very fast. This is intentional. A person is going to have a very difficult time
attempting to outrun a vehicle on foot lest they have some clever use of back alleyways.
Any sort of magic however becomes a strong equalizer, allowing those who even spend a
single mote on an Athletics or Dexterity excellency to potentially keep up with such things.

You may also notice vehicles having things such as a parry value or even skills
despite it being non-sentient, this is also intentional. A vehicle’s Parry score is less about
protecting itself and more along the lines of how difficult it is to hit areas which would
actually damage the vehicle rather than hitting superfluous areas. Things such as weapon
accuracy or certain skills apply only when the vehicle itself is under something akin to
computer control or has its lesser god awakened, allowing to act independently if need be.

Vehicles unlike animals need maintenance performed on them. For every single
months that the vehicle does not receive maintenance then it has a -1 penalty to all skill
checks and to its speed bonus, in addition to other problems such as increased fuel
consumption. If this penalty increases to -2 then the vehicle becomes inoperable without
some sort of magic. High performance, military vehicles, or vehicles that see significant
use may need more maintenance than normal. Repairing a damaged vehicle counts as a
minor project if only the -0 or -1 health levels are damaged and a major one if the -2, -4, or
Incapacitated boxes are checked off. To repair one needs a Crafting ability such as Craft
(Motor Vehicles) for land vehicles or Craft (Spacecraft) for space vessels, roll against a
difficulty set by the storyteller, then repair a number of health levels equal to the amount of
threshold successes (minimum 1). Civilian vehicles tend to have difficulties of 1 or 2 at
most, a more complex Sports Car or Space Fighter may have a difficulty of 3, complex
vehicles with lots of moving parts may be a difficulty of 4. Vehicles which have their
incapacitated box checked off always have a difficulty of 5.

The vehicles labelled here are templates of vehicles themselves, leaving it open in
case the Storyteller wishes to add or clarify what traits hover vehicles have over wheeled
vehicles and so forth.

Sidebar: Ride vs Sail

Inside of modern or Sci-fi settings, most vehicles designed for single person use or
that of a few people is managed by ride, from Fighter Jets to the vehicle you got at ‘Honest
Al’s’. Sail manages anything boat related and also large ships by they in air or on water,
bulky objects that typically have hull levels rather than health levels.

Sidebar: How the hell am I supposed to run away from these things!?

Humans have a hard time running away against vehicles on foot in open areas
(where the vehicle excels). However there are ways around this:

• Vehicles are often large, clumsy things. Heading into a building, sewer, or narrow
alleyway means that they may not be able to follow.
• Vehicles often need to follow a path that is wide enough for them for follow, and
may have trouble with areas that can be travelled easily on foot. A reflexive
Wits+Survival roll with a difficulty set by the Storyteller can allow the character to
quickly locate a path which he can travel but a vehicle must go around (such as
cutting across rooftops while a truck needs to go around the block in traffic). This
will negate its Speed Demon bonus for one turn. In places such as large, open
meadows with clear skies this difficulty may be set to five.
 • Any charm that boosts speed, even a simple Dexterity/Ride/Athletics Excelleny will
negate the speed demon bonus.

GROUND
Small to Mid Sized Cars
Resources 0 to ••

Most cars on the road are sedans, though some are stations wagons, hatchbacks, or other
extensions of the same basic design. In any case, they tend to function roughly the same.
Despite their similarities, manufacturer and aesthetics play a large role in popularity and
price.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 4

Health Levels: -0/-1x3/-2x3/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +3

Actions: Feats of Strength: 6 dice (May attempt Strength +3 feats of strength)

Combat:
Attack (Ram): 5 dice (Damage 15)
Combat Movement: 12 dice (See Metal brick)
Evasion 1, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 5/0

Special Attacks

Hit and Run: Enemies human size and smaller that take 5+ damage from the vehicle’s
withering rams are knocked back one range band and fall prone.

Merits

Metal Brick: A vehicle is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. The only people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.
Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving.

Speed Demon: When competing with a person on foot, this vehicle’s combat movement
increases by 2 dice and doubles 8s. Against other vehicles and people who do not use
some sort of magic to boost their speed, it then remains the same.

Sports Car

Resources ••• to ••••

A high performance sports vehicle which is often focused on performance and style first
with efficiency later. These high performance beasts are built for speed and often the
signature vehicle for many wealthy millionaires or diehard car enthusiasts around the
world. They often blow nearly all other ground vehicles away when it comes to sheer
speed.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 6

Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x3/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +5

Actions: Feats of Strength: 5 dice (May attempt Strength +3 feats of strength)

Combat:
Attack (Ram): 6 dice (Damage 14)
Combat Movement: 14 dice (See Metal brick)
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 4/0

Special Attacks

Hit and Run: Enemies human size and smaller that take 5+ damage from the vehicle’s
withering
rams are knocked back one range band and fall prone.

Merits

Metal Brick: A vehicle is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. The only people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll.
Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any
other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving.

Speed Demon: When competing with a person on foot, this vehicle’s combat movement
increases by 3 dice and doubles 8s. Against other vehicles and people who do not use
some sort of magic to boost their speed, it then remains the same.

Peel Out: The speed of the vehicle is explosive. When attempting a disengage action or
beginning a race from a standstill, the vehicle may double 9s on the roll, even if magic is
there to oppose it. If the person has no magic to apply to their on foot speed, then this
ability also adds one additional automatic success.

Truck / S.U.V.

Resources • to •••

A solid well put together vehicle designed for heavy work and lifting while still being made
for civilians. Trucks often sport things such as a pickup for increase cargo capacity and
being made of heavier materials with a stronger engine. In addition this statblock can be
used to represent things such as Limousines or other large vehicles depending on the
price.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 4

Health Levels: -0/-1x4/-2x4/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +3

Actions: Feats of Strength: 9 dice (May attempt Strength +5 feats of strength)

Combat:
Attack (Ram): 5 dice (Damage 16)
Combat Movement: 11 dice (See Metal brick)
Evasion 1, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 7/0, armoured trucks and military vehicles may have soaks of 10/3 for a
humvee or 12/5 for things such as MRAP or armoured trucks, additionally these vehicles
have the bulletproof (Light) merit (See below).
Special Attacks

Hit and Run: Enemies human size and smaller that take 5+ damage from the vehicle’s
withering rams are knocked back one range band and fall prone.

Merits

Metal Brick: A vehicle is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. The only people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving.

Speed Demon: When competing with a person on foot, this vehicle’s combat movement
increases by 2 dice and doubles 9s. Against other vehicles and people who do not use
some sort of magic to boost their speed, it then remains the same.

Bulletproof (Light) - The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
weapon simply fails to effect the vehicle at all. These weapons simply lack the force
needed to penetrate the vehicle. Light weapons which have their damage boosted by
magic bypass this protection. This option is only available for military grade vehicles,
which sets the cost of the vehicle to •••• dots if attempting buy one outside the
military. Inside of it it’s resources •••.

Heavy Machine Gun/TOW: Trucks are capable of mounting weapons with the heavy tag,
such as the heavy machine gun or rocket launchers.

Terrain Crasher: A true all Terrain Vehicle, as it just simply plows through anything in it’s
path. Reduce the effects of any difficult terrain by one.

Motorcycle

Resources • to •••
The fast two wheeled motorcycle is a staple for movie stars, bikers, and wannabe
badasses everywhere. Often considered a little more difficult to ride than their four
wheeled counterparts, they nevertheless see use for people who wish to ride light and to
go fast.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 6

Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x3/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +4

Actions: Feats of Strength: 4 dice (May attempt Strength +3 feats of strength)

Combat:
Attack (Ram): 6 dice (Damage 13)
Combat Movement: 13 dice (See Metal brick)
Evasion 2, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/0

Merits

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Speed Demon: When competing with a person on foot, this vehicle’s combat movement
increases by 2 dice and doubles 9s. Against other vehicles and people who do not use
some sort of magic to boost their speed, it then remains the same. If the bike is a
resource 3 model, then the bonus increases to 3 dice.

Peel Out: The speed of the vehicle is explosive. When attempting a disengage action or
beginning a race from a standstill, the vehicle may double 9s on the roll, even if magic is
there to oppose it. If the person has no magic to apply to their on foot speed, then this
ability adds one additional automatic success. The definition of a standstill is not
attempting to move/disengage/rush since your last action.

Stuntman: The speed and weight of the motorcycles makes it the favorite for death
defying onlookers everywhere. As long as it has two effective range bands of movement
prior to a jump to build up speed, the rider may pay a point of Willpower (Or the vehicle
itself if it’s lesser god is awakened) to leap a distance comparable to what a Solar can
achieve with Monkey Leap Technique.

Light Armoured Vehicle

Resources •••

A class of vehicles which often includes things such as heavy support vehicles, APC’s,
IFV’s, and other such of their ken. Quite often these vehicles support heavy weapons
which could very well represent a threat to even heavy vehicles and enough armour to
shrug off most weapons without even flinching.

These could also be the stats for civilian lightly armoured vehicles used for work, such as
dump trucks or snow plows.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 6

Health Levels: -0x3/-1x5/-2x5/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +2

Actions: Feats of Strength: 10 dice (May attempt Strength +5 feats of strength), Senses 5
(See Enhanced vision)

Combat:

Attack (Ram): 5 dice (Damage 15)

Light Cannon: 9 dice, 16 damage (minimum 4), range long (See Siege Mode), -2 penalty
to hit individual targets smaller than human unless they’re in a battle group.

Heavy Machine Gun: 12 dice, damage 15, Range medium

TOW Rocket: 10 dice, 16 Damage 16 damage (minimum 4), range medium

Combat Movement: 12 dice

Evasion 1, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 15/5

Special Attacks:

Hit and Run: Enemies human size and smaller that take 5+ damage from the vehicle’s
withering rams are knocked back one range band and fall prone. This ability is optional

Run Over: Whenever the driver knocks an enemy prone with a smashing attack, it may
pay a point of Willpower to reflexively make a grapple attack that cannot be parried. The
vehicle can only restrain the crushed enemy and cannot move without ending the clinch,
but the crushed enemy takes four dice of lethal damage that ignore hardness for each
round the vehicle holds it. Additionally, the Light Armoured vehicle takes no penalties from
grappling their enemy.
Lock-on: If the APC is loaded with missile or anti-tank rifle, then the APC may turn all aim
dice into successes against a vehicle in initiative crash.

Enhanced Vision: The vehicle comes with a suite of vision enhancements, such as
thermal or night vision. Any non-magical penalties imposed by darkness are completely
negated.

Merits:

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Heavy Machine Gun/TOW: Trucks are capable of mounting weapons with the heavy tag,
such as the heavy machine gun, rocket launchers, or anti-tank rifles.

Bulletproof (Medium) - The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
or medium weapon simply fails to effect the vehicle at all. These weapons simply lack the
force needed to penetrate the vehicle. Light and medium weapons which have their
damage boosted by magic bypass this protection. This option is only available for military
grade vehicles, which sets the cost of the vehicle to •••• dots if attempting buy one outside
the military. Inside of it it’s resources •••. Civilian Vehicles will have Bulletproof (Light) by
default simply because of their sheer size.

Terrain Crasher: A true all Terrain Vehicle, as it just simply plows through anything in it’s
path. Reduce the effects of any difficult terrain by one.

Tanks

Resources ••••

These armoured beasts are often the last things people see on an open field. Sporting
incredible armour and amazing firepower all in one package. Going up against this thing
in a straight up fight isn’t so much of a fight rather than thinly disguised suicide. Still, if one
exploits cunning and wits, they should be able to take even the heaviest of beasts down.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 6

Health Levels: -0x5/-1x5/-2x7/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +2
Actions: Feats of Strength: 12 dice (May attempt Strength +7 feats of strength, see
Incredible Might), Senses 5 (See Enhanced Vision)

Combat:

Attack (Ram): 7 dice (Damage 17, see Hit and Run)

Main Tank Cannon: 11 dice, damage 18 (minimum 5), range long (See Siege Mode), -2
penalty to hit individual targets smaller than human unless they’re in a battle group. Can
be explosive tagged.

Heavy Machine Gun: 12 dice, damage 15, Range medium. Note that the machine gun is
often placed on top and needs someone to handle the weapon, allowing anyone to target
the machine gunner with him being treated as if he’s in light cover.

Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (10 dice to control). The tank makes unopposed control rolls
against enemies of smaller size, unless its victims use magic that allows them to clinch
larger
enemies, such as Dragon Coil Technique.

Combat Movement: 10 dice

Evasion 1, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 20/10

Mertis

Hit and Run: Enemies human size and smaller that take 5+ damage from the vehicle’s
withering
rams are knocked back one range band and fall prone. This ability is optional

Run Over: Whenever the driver knocks an enemy prone with a smashing attack, it may
pay a point of Willpower to reflexively make a grapple attack that cannot be parried. The
vehicle can only restrain the crushed enemy and cannot move without ending the clinch,
but the crushed enemy takes six dice of lethal damage that ignore hardness for each
round the vehicle holds it. This attack can also be made against normal civilian
vehicles. Additionally, tanks take no penalties from grappling their enemy.

Lock-on: The Tank may turn all aim dice into successes against a vehicle in initiative
crash or any vehicle it has at least 10 more initiative than.

Terrain Crasher: A true all Terrain Vehicle, as it just simply plows through anything in it’s
path. Reduce the effects of any difficult terrain by two.

Enhanced Vision: The vehicle comes with a suite of vision enhancements, such as
thermal or night vision. Any non-magical penalties imposed by darkness are completely
negated. Against people trying to hide and not using total cover, the tank may double
9’s. Thermal vision is worthless against people who lack internal body head, such as the
dead or spirits of cold. Additionally it can also be rendered worthless if trying to sport a fire
elemental in a blazing inferno.

Incredible Might: The tank applies double 8s on any feat of strength to lift, carry, or
crush something underneath it’s tracks.

Thick Armour: The sheer size and armour of the tank makes it difficult to strike at its
critical areas, no matter how many hits it’s taken. The tank does not subtract wound
penalties from its Defense. In addition, attacks made from short range or further reduce
their minimum damage against the tank by one unless they benefit from an Aim action.

Bulletproof (Heavy) - The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
or medium weapon and non-piercing heavy weapons simply fails to effect the vehicle at
all. These weapons simply lack the force needed to penetrate the vehicle. Weapons
which have their damage boosted by magic bypass this protection. Additionally all
Withering attacks made by smaller enemies cannot drop the tank below 1 Initiative unless
they have a post-soak damage of 10 dice (although attackers can still gain the full amount
of Initiative damage dealt). All Decisive attacks made by smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3+attacker’s Strength, or 7 if using a range which does not rely on strength)
levels of damage to the tank with a single attack, not counting any levels of damage added
by Charms or other magic. This option is only available for military grade vehicles, which
sets the cost of the vehicle to ••••• dots if attempting buy one outside the military as they’re
highly illegal and difficult for an individual to get a hold of. Inside of it it’s resources •••.

Artillery Platform: The tank is capable of making attacks well beyond visual range,
boosting its range to multiple extreme ranks at the storyteller’s discretion. In the case of
bombardment attacks using artillery, the roll to hit becomes Intelligence + Archery. This
bombardment can only effectively hit objects that remain stationary or battle groups that
are stupid enough to be outside of cover. Getting in and out of Siege mode requires a
miscellaneous action.

Special Attacks

Shock and Awe (Latent): The sheer sound of a tank cannon sends fear down the ranks
of soldiers everywhere. When the Tank makes a decisive tank cannon attack against a
battle group, it automatically forces a rout check at a base difficulty of 3. If the attack
depleted the group’s Magnitude, instead add +3 to the difficulty of the resulting rout check.

AP Shells: Against other vehicles or other suitably large creatures, the tank’s main cannon
may make piercing attacks without any extra effort.

AIR
As a minor note, military flying vehicles are often highly tuned vehicles. If a military flying
vehicle can only hold one or two people, then the user uses Ride rolls in place of Sail rolls.
Domestic Plane

Resources ••• - ••••

Small planes that are typically designed for one person or the size of a small private jet,
often used by hobbyists or rich businessmen. Airplanes are useful for when one wants to
reach a destination quickly and ignore all the difficult terrain the ground may have below.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 5

Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x3/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +3 (+4 on high price planes)

Actions: Feats of Strength: 4 dice (May attempt Strength +3 feats of strength)

Combat:

Combat Movement: 11 dice (See Flying Brick)

Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 4/0

Merits

Flying Brick: A plane is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. Only those people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll. Additionally a plane must be moving at least one range band every turn or
else it stalls, putting it into freefall.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving.

Aerial Speed Demon: When competing with targets on the ground, this vehicle’s combat
movement increases by 3 dice and doubles 8s. Against other vehicles and people who do
not use some sort of magic to take to the air, it then remains the same. Merely boosting
speed on the ground isn’t enough. Additionally it’s out of combat movement speed may be
set by the Storyteller as deemed appropriate, ranging from hundreds of miles per hour to
even multiple machs.

Helicopter

Resources ••• - ••••

Helicopters are an understated backbone of many an airborne infrastructure, thanks to

their capability to take off and land vertically, good lift-to-weight ratios, and fuel
efficiency. Civilian helicopters are used by people such as news teams, rescue workers,
rich businessmen, or even for tourism purposes. Heavy duty lifting helicopters may have
decreased weight, but have increased cargo space and greatly increased lifting capacity,
gaining the Tank’s Feats of Strength dicepool and Incredible Might Merit.

Light military transport helicopters, such as Huey’s are also under the purview here. In this
case just add a few more points of soak and appropriate weapons, such as heavy machine
guns on the side of the door or rocket pods.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 5

Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x3/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +3 (+4 on high price planes)

Actions: Feats of Strength: 4 dice (May attempt Strength +3 feats of strength)

Combat:

Combat Movement: 11 dice (See Flying Brick)

Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 4/0

Merits

Flying Brick: A helicopter is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to
roll in order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically
succeeds, even if it drives them into a crash. Only those people who are capable of +7
feats of strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to
make disengage roll. Unlike planes, helicopters are capable of hovering in place.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving.

Aerial Speed Demon: When competing with targets on the ground, this vehicle’s combat
movement increases by 3 dice and those on foot it doubles 8s. Against other vehicles and
people who do not use some sort of magic to take to the air, it then remains the
same. Merely boosting speed on the ground isn’t enough.

Military Helicopter

Resources •••

A military made gunship often designed for various roles, but usually recon missions or
search-and-destroy missions. Often regarded the bane of ground groups everywhere as
Assault Helicopters are very fast, hit very hard, and are often immune to small arms. With
their sensor suites they often don’t need to search that long for a target even in the dead of
night.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 6

Health Levels: -0x3/-1x3/-2x3/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +3

Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (May attempt Strength +5 feats of strength), Senses: 5
(see Enhanced Senses)

Combat:

Heavy Machine Gun: 11 dice, 15 damage, range medium

Rocket Pods: 9 dice, 15 damage, explosive

Anti-Tank Missiles: 10 dice, 18 damage, Piercing, explosive, -2 penalty to hit targets that
are human sized or smaller.

Combat Movement: 10 dice (See Flying Brick)

Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 10/5

Merits
Flying Brick: A plane is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. The only people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll. Unlike planes, helicopters are capable of hovering in place.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving. Additionally, reinforced glass makes
the pilot hard to hurt even if bullets do get through, reducing the raw damage of all attacks
by 2.

Aerial Speed Demon: When competing with targets on the ground, this vehicle’s combat
movement increases by 3 dice and against people on foot doubles 8s. Against other
vehicles and people who do not use some sort of magic to take to the air, it then remains
the same. Merely boosting speed on the ground isn’t enough.

Bulletproof (Medium): The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
or non-piercing medium weapon simply fails to effect the vehicle at all. These weapons
simply lack the force needed to penetrate the vehicle. Light and medium weapons which
have their damage boosted by magic bypass this protection. This option is only available
for military grade vehicles, which sets the cost of the vehicle to •••• dots if attempting buy
one outside the military. Inside of it it’s resources •••.

Lock-on: The Military Helicopter may turn all aim dice into successes using it’s anti-tank
missiles against a ground vehicle in initiative crash or any vehicle it has at least 10 more
initiative than it. If the helicopter has anti-air missiles equipped, then it may target aerial
targets with this ability instead.

Ground Terror: The Military Helicopter automatically turns one dice into an automatic
success whenever it attacks someone on the ground or attempts to search from them
above.

Special Attacks

Long Range Missiles: Using it’s anti-tank or anti-air missiles, the helicopter is capable of
attacking targets well beyond visual range. In order to do this it must have at least some
sort of spotter or coordinates, after which it is capable of launching its missiles towards the
target at a -2 penalty. This can work even against moving vehicular targets, but are not as
effective against singular people.

Strafing Run: Using its supply of rockets, a Military Helicopter can turn an area into what
basically amounts to a parking lot. If the Military Helicopter has at least half of it’s
remaining rockets left, they may choose to make a strafing run, which is a large area of
effect attack. The Military Helicopter targets a line with up to medium range in length and
short range in width, making a single decisive attack along all targets in the area, splitting
up successes on his damage roll amongst all targets in the area. Inanimate objects such
as buildings which are not hardened against such an assault are considered to
automatically take an amount of damage on a decisive attack as if the attack used all of
his damage on the buildings or a withering attack that does not grant initiative (Whichever
is more). Cover is blown to pieces during this time and is treated as one step less in terms
of cover circumstances, except for full cover which remains the same. Using this attack
automatically depletes all of the rocket pod ammo, and the helicopter must return to base
and reload before using it again.

Jet Fighters

Resources ••••

With the express purpose of being fast, sleek and deadly, jet fighters make excellent
additions to a combat or chase scene in a modern or sci-fi setting. They can represent
powerful, intimidating foes all by themselves, or set pieces as daring Exalted soldiers leap
from one to the other as they careen through the stratosphere.

Given the sheer amount of possible roles of fighter planes, they can be adapted to may or
various needs.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 6

Health Levels: -0x3/-1x4/-2x4/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +4

Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (May attempt Strength +5 feats of strength), Senses: 5
(see Enhanced Senses), Senses: 5 (see Enhanced Senses)

Combat:

Heavy Machine Gun: 11 dice, 15 damage, range medium

All Purpose Missiles: 10 dice, 18 damage, range long (see Long Range Missiles) Piercing,
explosive, -2 penalty to hit targets that are human sized or smaller.

Combat Movement: 14 dice (See Flying Brick)

Evasion 5, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 8/4

Merits

Flying Brick: A plane is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. Only those people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll. Additionally a plane must be moving at least one range band every turn or
else it stalls, putting it into freefall.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving. Additionally, reinforced glass makes
the pilot hard to hurt even if bullets do get through, reducing the raw damage of all attacks
by 2.

Speed Demon: When competing with targets on the ground, this vehicle’s combat
movement increases by 4 dice and doubles 9s against those on foot. Against other
vehicles and people who do not use some sort of magic to take to the air, it then remains
the same. Merely boosting speed on the ground isn’t enough. Additionally it’s out of
combat movement speed may be set by the Storyteller as deemed appropriate, ranging
from hundreds of miles per hour to even multiple machs.

Bulletproof (Light) - The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
weapon simply fails to effect the vehicle at all. These weapons simply lack the force
needed to penetrate the vehicle. Light weapons which have their damage boosted by
magic bypass this protection. This option is only available for military grade vehicles.

Lock-on: The Jet Fighter may turn all aim dice into successes using it’s all-purpose
missiles against a target in initiative crash or any vehicle it has at least 10 more initiative
than it.

Ground/Air Terror: Select whenever the role of the artifact is basically an anti-air or anti-
ground aircraft. The Jet Fighter automatically turns one dice into an automatic success
whenever it attacks one who it specializes against or searches for it using its senses.
Life Support: Each Fighter craft has their own life support, containing enough air for a six
hour deployment. A small emergency kit under the seat has enough food and water to last
one day and an emergency sidearm such as a blaster pistol or SMG. A lot of pilots do
things like put a chocolate bar somewhere inside the cockpit.

Special Attacks

Bombing Run: The plane is adapted to make bombing runs on targets on the ground,
often escaping foes before they can even retaliate. The aircraft may use it’s out of combat
speed to fly in and deliver bombs or missiles to targets. Foes on the ground are at a -2
penalty to attack an aircraft at such as speed even if they have the needed range. Anti-air
weapons, such as Surface-to-air missiles bypass this protection and are able to fire on the
plane without penalty. The jet fighter may reset this ability by spending five total turns,
represented by slowing down, turning around, then speeding up for another bombing run.

Long Range Missiles: Using it’s anti-tank or anti-air missiles, the jet fighter is capable of
attacking targets well beyond visual range. In order to do this it must have at least some
sort of spotter or coordinates, after which it is capable of launching it’s missiles towards the
target at a -2 penalty. This can work even against moving vehicular targets, but are not as
effective against singular people. This cannot be combined with bombing run.

Nova Deliverance-Class Bomber

You need something blown up!?
Resources ••••

This bomber was once regarded as a top of the line fighter inside of the Central
Empire known for its legendary service within it. Modular and simple construction allow it
to be repaired quickly and efficiency with most other known Fighter/Bomber parts and
allow it to switch to a variety of highly damaging payloads from Beam Cannons to Cluster
Bombs. It did not take long for knock offs of this craft to begin appearing in the Frontier
after the inception by the Central Empire and spread throughout the galaxy.

Essence 1; Willpower N/A; Join Battle: 4

Health Levels: -0x3/-1x5/-2x5/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +1

Actions: Feats of Strength: 10 dice (May attempt Strength +5 feats of strength), Senses: 5
(see Enhanced Senses)

Combat:

Twin Linked Turbolasers: 11 dice, 15 damage, range medium

Heavy Weapons: 8 dice, 20 damage, other exact details of weapon varies depending on
loadout. Typically such weapons are piercing and have a -2 penalty to hit targets that are
human sized or smaller.

Combat Movement: 10 dice (See Flying Brick)

Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 12/6

Merits

Flying Brick: A plane is essentially a large multi-ton metal brick. It doesn’t need to roll in
order to disengage someone who is on foot, it just loses 2i and automatically succeeds,
even if it drives them into a crash. Only those people who are capable of +7 feats of
strength, in another vehicle or riding an animal can actually force a vehicle to make
disengage roll. Additionally a plane must be moving at least one range band every turn or
else it stalls, putting it into freefall.

Automaton: A vehicle is an automaton. It lacks a willpower score, guile, resolve, or any

other social statistics. It is possible to give it these statistics by awakening the minor god
within the vehicle, but until then it has no intimacies of any sort and is considered invalid
targets for social rolls. Lastly, whenever not in use a vehicle is treated as an inanimate
object for the purposes of charms.

Vehicle cover: A person inside of a vehicle is considered to be in light cover. This can
change to heavy or total cover depending on whenever people duck down inside the
vehicle, but the driver must always be able to see where he’s going and cannot make any
take full cover bonuses while the vehicle is moving. Additionally, reinforced glass makes
the pilot hard to hurt even if bullets do get through, reducing the raw damage of all attacks
by 2.

Speed Demon: When competing with targets on the ground, this vehicle’s combat
movement increases by 4 dice and doubles 9s against those on foot. Against other
vehicles and people who do not use some sort of magic to take to the air, it then remains
the same. Merely boosting speed on the ground isn’t enough. Additionally it’s out of
combat movement speed may be set by the Storyteller as deemed appropriate, ranging
from hundreds of miles per hour to even multiple machs.

Bulletproof (Light) - The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
weapon simply fails to effect the vehicle at all. These weapons simply lack the force
needed to penetrate the vehicle. Light weapons which have their damage boosted by
magic bypass this protection. This option is only available for military grade vehicles.

Lock-on: The Bomber may turn all aim dice into successes using it’s Heavy Weapon
against a target in initiative crash or against spaceships.
Ground Terror: The Bomber automatically turns one dice into an automatic success
whenever it attacks one who it specializes against or searches for it using its senses.

Life Support: Each Bomber craft has their own life support, containing enough air for a six
hour deployment. A small emergency kit under the seat has enough food and water to last
one day and an emergency sidearm such as a blaster pistol or SMG. A lot of pilots do
things like put a chocolate bar somewhere inside the cockpit.

Special Attacks

Bombing Run: The plane is adapted to make bombing runs on targets on the ground,
often escaping foes before they can even retaliate. The aircraft may use it’s out of combat
speed to fly in and deliver bombs or missiles to targets. Foes on the ground are at a -2
penalty to attack an aircraft at such as speed even if they have the needed range. Anti-air
weapons, such as Surface-to-air missiles bypass this protection and are able to fire on the
plane without penalty. The jet fighter may reset this ability by spending five total turns,
represented by slowing down, turning around, then speeding up for another bombing run.
Likewise the Bomber is able to conduct a “Bombing Run” stratagem against other ships
whenever it is at least within close range of a ship and has a heavy weapon, allowing it to
potentially do hull damage to an enemy ship. During this time it cannot take any non-
reflexive actions.

Long Range Missiles: Using it’s anti-tank or anti-air missiles, the Bomber is capable of
attacking targets well beyond visual range. In order to do this it must have at least some
sort of spotter or coordinates, after which it is capable of launching its missiles towards the
target at a -2 penalty. This can work even against moving vehicular targets, but are not as
effective against singular people. This cannot be combined with bombing run.

Artifact Vehicles

With Arms of the Chosen being slated for a possible release, I admit the values and
mechanics of some of these vehicles could change quite a bit. However if you’re willing to
put up with possible mechanic changes and if you want artifact vehicles badly enough,
these are for you.

Sidebar: Can my vehicle have evocations!?

It sure can Billy. Just follow the standard themes of Evocations and let your soul and
imagination run wild. Just remember that some vehicles (Such as the Dominator) are of a
higher artifact ranking. This means their artifact rank is considered 3 when counting
evocation limits. The only exception to this is artifact N/A vehicles, which have infinite
space for evocations.

Ground
Five-Metal Dominator

Artifact 5

Existing only in theory in the modern world, the Five-Metal Dominator is designed to cast a
supreme armor presence in the battlefield. Standing nearly 8 yards tall and wide and 30
yards long, its scope makes mundane main battle tanks tiny. Atop the monstrous frame is
a pair of Worldbreaker Siege Cannons, whose scope befits naval armaments. Its name
comes from its miraculous design, which incorporates five known magical materials --
Orichalcum, Moonsilver, Starmetal, Jade and Soulsteel. Drawing from the strength of each
material, the Five-Metal Dominator achieves the speed, endurance, power and mobility
that makes a weapon of its scale plausible.

Of course, the downside is that the current technology is sorely lacking. Multiple
prototypes have resulted in failure in defiance of simulations. Perhaps a deeper
understanding of the nature of the magical materials will be the key to making the Five-
Metal Dominator possible.

The inside of a Five Metal Dominator has typically three seats. One for a
commander/spotter, one for a gunner, and one for a driver. The Commander seat is able
to perform all roles by itself, but a gunner is strongly encouraged the Dominator’s shells
are so dangerous that special care is needed to reload them. A powerful AI helps manage
the Dominator’s main systems and is capable of assisting the pilot whenever possible.

Essence 1; Willpower 6; Join Battle: 7

Health Levels: -0x10/-1x10/-2x8/-4/Incap

Speed Bonus: +2

Actions: Feats of Strength: 15 dice (May attempt Strength +10 feats of strength, see
Incredible Might), Senses 6 (See Enhanced Vision), Intimidation: 8 dice, Analyzing and
Identifying Opponents: 7 dice

Combat:

Attack (Ram): 7 dice (Damage 17, see Hit and Run)

Main Tank Cannon x2: 11 dice, damage 22 (minimum 7), range long (See Siege Mode),
slow (Cannot flurry reloading), Explosive, -5 penalty to hit individual targets smaller than
human unless they’re in a battle group.

2x Heavy Warstorm Shellcaster: 12 dice (At short range), damage 19 (minimum 5), Range
medium

Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (11 dice to control). The tank makes unopposed control rolls
against enemies of smaller size, unless its victims use magic that allows them to clinch
larger
enemies, such as Dragon Coil Technique.

Combat Movement: 10 dice

Evasion 1, Parry 5
Soak/Hardness: 25/15

Mertis

Hit and Run: Enemies human size and smaller that take 5+ damage from the vehicle’s
withering rams are knocked back one range band and fall prone. This ability is optional

Run Over: Whenever the driver knocks an enemy prone with a smashing attack, it may
pay a point of Willpower to reflexively make a grapple attack that cannot be parried. The
vehicle can only restrain the crushed enemy and cannot move without ending the clinch,
but the crushed enemy takes six dice of lethal damage that ignore hardness for each
round the vehicle holds it. This attack can also be made against normal civilian
vehicles. Additionally, tanks take no penalties from grappling their enemy.

Lock-on: The Tank may turn all aim dice into successes against a vehicle in initiative
crash or any vehicle it has at least 10 more initiative than.

Terrain Crasher: A true all Terrain Vehicle, as it just simply plows through anything in it’s
path. Reduce the effects of any difficult terrain by two.

Enhanced Vision: The vehicle comes with a suite of vision enhancements, such as
thermal or night vision. Any non-magical penalties imposed by darkness are completely
negated. Against people trying to hide and not using total cover, the tank may double
9’s. Thermal vision is worthless against people who lack internal body head, such as the
dead or spirits of cold. Additionally it can also be rendered worthless if trying to sport a fire
elemental in a blazing inferno.

Incredible Might: The tank applies double 8s on any feat of strength to lift, carry, or
crush something underneath it’s tracks.

Thick Armour: The sheer size and armour of the tank makes it difficult to strike at its
critical areas, no matter how many hits it’s taken. The Five Metal Dominator does not
subtract wound penalties from its Defense. In addition, attacks made from short range or
further reduce their minimum damage against the tank by one unless they benefit from an
Aim action.

Bulletproof (Heavy) - The vehicle’s chassis and exterior armour is coated in reinforced
armour capable of shrugging aside small arms. Any non-magical attack made from a light
or medium weapon and non-piercing heavy weapons simply fails to effect the vehicle at
all. These weapons simply lack the force needed to penetrate the vehicle. Weapons
which have their damage boosted by magic bypass this protection. Additionally all
Withering attacks made by smaller enemies cannot drop the tank below 1 Initiative unless
they have a post-soak damage of 10 dice (although attackers can still gain the full amount
of Initiative damage dealt). All Decisive attacks made by smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3+attacker’s Strength, or 7 if using a range which does not rely on strength)
levels of damage to the tyrant lizard with a single attack, not counting any levels of
damage added by Charms or other magic. This option is only available for military grade
vehicles, which sets the cost of the vehicle to ••••• dots if attempting buy one outside the
military as they’re highly illegal and difficult for an individual to get a hold of. Inside of it it’s
resources •••.

Artillery Platform: The tank is capable of making attacks well beyond visual range,
boosting its range to multiple extreme ranks at the storyteller’s discretion. In the case of
bombardment attacks using artillery, the roll to hit becomes Intelligence + Archery. This
bombardment can only effectively hit objects that remain stationary or battle groups that
are stupid enough to be outside of cover. Getting in and out of Siege mode requires a
miscellaneous action.

Panoramic Cockpit: The inside cockpit of the Full Metal Dominator is a large sphere with
an array of screens all around, allowing complete 360 vision, even inside of the
cockpit. Additionally, the gunners inside of the Dominator can use the Warstorm
Shellcasters to attack anyone outside of the rather than manually gunning people down.

Special Attacks

AP Shells: Against other vehicles or other suitably large creatures, the tank’s main cannon
may make piercing attacks without any extra effort.

Line Breaker: Once per turn the Five-Metal Dominator or its pilot may make a reflexive
attack against an enemy battle group using its Heavy Warstorm Shellcaster.

Shock and Awe (Latent): The sheer sound of a tank cannon sends fear down the ranks
of soldiers everywhere. When the Tank makes a decisive tank cannon attack against a
battle group, it automatically forces a rout check at a base difficulty of 3. If the attack
depleted the group’s Magnitude, instead add +3 to the difficulty of the resulting rout check.