IN GOLDEN

FLAME
ACT 1 DRAFT

A Campaign for LANCER

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[2]
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 5
CLOCKS 6

WELCOME TO CALLIOPE 7
HISTORY OF CALLIOPE 8
TIMELINE 12
THE CALLIOPE SYSTEM 14
SETTLEMENTS IN CALLIOPE 17
TRAVEL IN CALLIOPE 19
FACTIONS IN CALLIOPE 21
CULTURE OF CALLIOPE 25
ELSEWHERE 30

RUNNING THE CAMPAIGN 33

THE BASICS 34
THE FAITH OF THE ONE 36

CHAPTER 1: THE TACHYON RETURNS 39

BEAT 1: ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE 40
BEAT 2: PC LOAD LETTER 48
MISSION 1: UNFUCK THIS HOUSE 49
BEAT 3: NOT A DROP TO DRINK 51
COMBAT: SPITTING DISTANCE 53
BEAT 4: RIGHT ON THE DOORSTEP 55
COMBAT: SHOO THE VULTURES 56
BEAT 5: A SCANNER, DARK 57
COMBAT: DENIAL OF SERVICE 58
BEAT 6: A COLOUR OUT OF TIME 60
COMBAT: A FACE TO A NAME 63
DOWNTIME 1: DRINKS ARE ON ME 65

CHAPTER 2: FIRE AND ICE 68

BEAT 7: TROUBLE IN PARADISE 69
BEAT 8: JEWEL OF THE NIGHT 71
BEAT 9: CONTRACT THRILLER 80
MISSION 2: WORKING HOLIDAY 82
BEAT 10: THE GATE OF MICTLAN 84
COMBAT: THERMOPYLAE 86
COMBAT: ANTI-CAPITAL 87
BEAT 11: THE EYE OF BALOR 88
COMBAT: PERSONNEL RECOVERY 90
COMBAT: NARROW FOCUS 92
BEAT 12: SPREADING FIRE 94
COMBAT: GETTING RAILROADED 95
COMBAT: POWERHOUSE 96
DOWNTIME 2: SO HOW’D WE DO? 97

CHAPTER 3: SOME SICK GAME 100

BEAT 13: WRECKING FIELDS 101
COMBAT: SURPRISE, SURPRISE 102
BEAT 14: IN SHINING GLAMOUR 104
MISSION 3: TO THE DOME 108
BEAT 15: THE ONLY CITY 109
BEAT 16: WALK AND TALK, BUDDY 114

[3]
 BEAT 17: UNFORGIVING TERRAIN 120

ENCOUNTER: ABDUCTION IN PROGRESS 122

COMBAT: GUARDIAN ANGEL 122
ENCOUNTER: FIRING RANGE 123
ENCOUNTER: GHOST TOWN 124
ENCOUNTER: MASS DRIVER 125
ENCOUNTER: NIGHT MARKET 126
ENCOUNTER: SPARRING FIELD 127
ENCOUNTER: TERRAFORMING STATION 128
ENCOUNTER: THE CRONE 129
COMBAT: [ERROR] 129
ENCOUNTER: WHAT’S COMING TO YOU 131
COMBAT: GUNS AT NOON 132
INTERLUDE: UNFAMILIAR MEMORY 133

BEAT 18: THE BATTLE ROYALE 134

COMBAT: LOWEST-BIDDER WORK 135
COMBAT: ROADBLOCK 136
COMBAT: BAD STAR 137
COMBAT: EXPEDITED BOARDING 138
DOWNTIME 3: HOMETOWN HERO 140

APPENDIX 142
NEW NPC CLASSES 143

PARALLEL 144
SLINGER 146

[4]
INTRODUCTION
In February 2021, I sat down for my first game of
Lancer, run by my friend Jasmine, with me and my
friends Eris, Paul and Greg as its players.
Jasmine told us the story of a system on the dark edge
of space, forgotten by the corporations that once
exploited it, its people left to scrabble for whatever
scraps remained. The only people who ever came
there were those who were running from something, or
chasing something. A cult of apocalypse seekers
threatened to tear apart what little was left in search of
their promised end, and our motley little crew was the
only hope the system had of seeing another day.
We learned the ins and outs of the Lancer system,
agonised over out mech builds and spent hours
discussing synergies. We met a virtual dog that could
speak 7,000 languages, explored a starship with
enough stockpiled red wine to get a planet drunk,
reunited an estranged family via the medium of a
teleporting mech duel.
It was a story so good I had to retell it. Soon after it was
over, I asked Jasmine’s permission to write it up, and
then I started. As I wrote, it took on a life of its own.
Characters and places got fleshed out, and new ones
added. Important plot beats got moved around or
changed entirely. I wasn’t just writing her campaign
anymore; I was writing my own story too.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
It’s useful if you can sum up the fantasy of a tabletop
role-playing game in a sentence or two, so:
You’re a mech pilot with a troubled past. You
must fight to defend your weird found family and
the crummy backwater system you call home
from an apocalypse cult.
There’s a lot more to In Golden Flame, but this sums it
up. As a GM, you and your players need to be on board
with this basic concept; it’s the “buy-in.” This has to be
something you want to run and that they want to play.
USING THIS BOOK
In this book, you will find Act 1 of In Golden Flame,
including:
• A comprehensive guide to the Calliope system, a
new setting for Lancer campaigns, whether it’s In
Golden Flame or something else, complete with
detailed notes on its history, locations, characters
and culture;
• The first third of the campaign, which will take
players from Licence Level 0 to 5. This is grouped
into Chapters, Missions and Beats;

In Golden Flame takes place in Calliope, a system • An appendix containing new NPCs for the player
colonised by mistake, taken for all it was worth and then characters to fight.
left to rot when greener pastures were found. The
players will take the role of an elite team of militia pilots
in service to one of the system’s larger stations. The
station keeps them on standby for high-value
operations and sensitive tasks. Quite soon, they’re
going to get roped into the most sensitive task of all:
cancelling the apocalypse.

THE ESSENTIALS
To run this campaign, the GM will need a copy of the
full Lancer Core Rulebook. Although not strictly
necessary, it’s highly recommended they also have a
copy of The Long Rim supplement, as Calliope is part
of the Long Rim. Both of these books are available at
massif-press.itch.io along with a free version of the
core rulebook that can be distributed to players.

In Golden Flame is designed for between 3 and 5

players, although my personal recommendation is 4.
Balancing encounters so as to present a meaningful
challenge for 5 players is quite difficult, and it’s easy to
overwhelm a 3-player group.

[5]
 CLOCKS
OVERVIEW
Placeholder

[6]
THE SETTING:

WELCOME TO CALLIOPE
Several light-years from the edge of the Dawnline Shore and slightly further from the Rao Co blink station, the
system of Calliope sits at the mid-point of the Long Rim’s nadir transit route.

Like the rest of the Long Rim, it’s a backwater, far removed from the lofty idealism of Union, the ancient splendour
of the Karrakin Trade Baronies or the imperialistic dreams of Harrison Armory. Many people don’t even recognise
the name, and those that do know it mostly as somewhere you pass through to get somewhere else.

But millions of people live there. Millions of people, clinging on for dear life with only a few feet of metal and plastic
between them and the vacuum of space. They all have stories, hopes and dreams, and they’re no less important
than any Metropolitan’s.
 HISTORY OF CALLIOPE
Although wild stories of pre-Fall colonial missions and
visits by a member of the Ten do roaring trade on the
omninet, there’s no evidence that Calliope ever saw a
human being until about three hundred years ago.
Once they got here, though, they were in one hell of a
hurry to make a mess.
Let’s get down to it, shall we?
THE SEMINAL MISTAKE
Calliope was first discovered in the early years of the
Dawnline rush by the Coldstar Project. Funded
primarily by Harrison Armory, Coldstar was a stellar
mapping expedition tasked with finding reliable
shipping lanes and stopover points.
Originally designated C4L-P313/GW2, Calliope’s
entire existence hinges on a reporting error: the exact
details are lost to history, but it appears that one of
Coldstar’s junior astronomers mistakenly gave Calliope
the GW2 designation, indicating that two Gaia or near-
Gaia worlds had been detected in orbit.
Calliope’s historians will tell you that this set the tone
for everything that followed: a careless mistake leading
to bad decisions.
Not long after Coldstar returned to Union, talk of C4L-
P313/GW2 swept the corporate world. It had two Gaia
or near-Gaia worlds, and stood about halfway between
the Shore and Rao Co blink station. Should the
Dawnline Shore prove to be the promised land it was
touted as, a waypoint system for travel to and from it
could make whoever controlled it rich beyond their
wildest dreams.
Of course, Coldstar had never actually visited the
system, merely mapped it on a nearlight pass from four
light years away, but the expedition's data must surely
be trustworthy. After all, it had been sponsored by
Harrison Armory. What cause could anyone have to
doubt?
This lack of caution was compounded by the proximity
of C4L-P313/GW2. Yes, a prudent investor would’ve
sent an independent expedition to confirm the
Coldstar’s report. But if the first thing you sent was a
survey team, you were still spending a significant
portion of the time and money it would take to send a
colony ship. If your rivals cut out the middleman, all
your scouting expedition would tell you was that
somebody beat you to the punch.
No, the corporations had to send full expeditions at
once.
[8]
So it was that a few years later, a large number of
colony ships, terraforming projects and construction
crews showed up in C4L-P313/GW2 almost
simultaneously, horrified to discover that it was a
wasteland with no habitable worlds. Even worse, the
system currently sat in the middle of a blinkvoid, making
instantaneous communication impossible.
The few lucky expeditions who had enough fuel for a
return trip turned around and left, but the vast majority
were left stranded in an unsettled system, light years
from help. Entire ships sat laden with terraforming gear
and prefab structures, rendered useless by a lack of
suitable planets. Construction crews sat on top of
materials to build orbital infrastructure for colonies that
could never exist.
There was little hope of rescue. Faced with the
monumental cost of sending out supply convoys and
tankers just to bring a bunch of colonists and
construction workers home, most corporations wouldn’t
bother. Even the more conscientious ones would only
send for their own. Union couldn’t be relied upon to
assist; they were still rebuilding after their revolution,
after all.
Setting aside their company loyalties, the stranded
crews of the remaining expeditions united for a moment
around a desperate plan: lie.
The only way to get fresh supplies into C4L-P313/GW2
was to convince their sponsors that the project was still
viable, but would require significantly more resources
than initially estimated. And it could work: if they sent
their transmissions now, they'd beat the returning
vessels, who were still accelerating at 1g and wouldn’t
reach nearlight for months.
As with many decisions made in Calliope, it was made
with the best of intentions. Also as with many decisions
made in Calliope, it was a terrible idea that made things
much worse.
NO REFUGE IN AUDACITY
The reaction of the corporations, upon hearing the first
reports from their expeditions, was a frantic scramble
to send another wave of colonists. In an environment
rife with corporate espionage, they were aware that
their rivals had also received such requests. This manic
rush to send second expeditions stretched many
corporations past the limit of their operational budgets.
Some of the more observant executives were
concerned by what their colonists were requesting:
large quantities of fuel, pause tank maintenance
supplies, spare parts for nearlight drives and in some
cases, entire empty colony ships. These things were,
to put it bluntly, not traditionally associated with a
successful colonial mission that had a strong desire to
stay where it was. But increasing pressure from
shareholders to see a return on investment outweighed
these concerns.
Even when the few expeditions that had been able to
return reported back and revealed that the system was
barren, some of their rivals didn’t believe them; clearly,
that was some kind of ruse. They’d had dozens of
reports that the system was a paradise, and who were
they going to trust? No, the second waves would depart
on schedule.
Meanwhile, the first wave had not been idle. To survive
until rescue came, they had to cannibalise much of their
original hardware in order to form makeshift habitats.
Work crews were already equipped to build orbital
infrastructure, and it didn't take too much adaptation to
start harvesting resources the settlements needed.
Some optimistic groups even started trying to terraform
the planets that would one day be called Asphodel and
Mróz.
Life was still brutally hard. Rationing on basic supplies
was tight. Essential equipment had to be jury-rigged,
reverse-engineered, or developed from scratch.
Technical failures were rampant, as machinery was
stretched far beyond its intended scope and lifespan.
By the time the second wave arrived, attrition had
claimed almost 15% of the original compliment.
Unsurprisingly, when the second wave of colonists
found a hellscape where they expected paradise to be,
many pointed questions were thrown around. Some
historians have even characterised them as
“accusations,” “recriminations” or “violent threats.”
Once the second wave had arrived, there was no hope
of keeping C4L-P313/GW2's situation secret any
longer. The blinkvoid had receded, and real-time
communication was possible once again. The second
wave of colony ships immediately contacted their
corporate sponsors, informing them of the first wave's
malfeasance and the desperate state the system was
in.
History books state that “this decision had unexpected
and deeply problematic results that ran contrary to the
intentions of those who made it” – that is to say, things
got even worse.
As soon as the news broke of C4L-P313 most
assuredly not being /GW2, the corporations involved in
its colonisation fell into two groups: those who promptly
hung up the omnihook and pretended they'd never
heard of such a place, and those who even more
furiously doubled down on the project.
The former group was mostly comprised of large,
wealthy, well-established organisations who saw the
entire business as an embarrassing mistake they'd
rather just write off and forget. Let the victims' families
sue – it was still cheaper than trying to salvage the
project.
The latter group, by comparison, were mostly smaller,
less stable companies for whom a single failed project
could spell bankruptcy. They were fully invested in
C4L-P313 now, and their only options appeared to be
ride or die.
THE PYRITE AGE
Those corporations unwilling to waste further money on
C4L-P313 abandoned their stakes and colonial
charters, selling them to the remaining parties for a
pittance. In order to stave off bankruptcy and spread
the financial burden, most of the corporations banded
together in a consortium that styled itself the Calliope
Project, formally adopting a nickname for the system
that had already been in use for a while.
Colonists from both waves, in dire straits and at each
other's throats, abruptly found themselves under new
management. No matter that Calliope had no habitable
worlds, they were told: it didn't need them! The sheer
ingenuity displayed by the first wave while making the
best of a bad situation was “deeply inspiring.” They had
forged orbital habitats and living spaces without the
need for solid ground. The system would now pivot
from colonisation to mineral extraction and export. It
was time for everyone to put aside their differences and
work together.
At first glance, this idea seemed workable: for all its
many shortcomings, Calliope was fantastically rich in
mineral resources. With recent advancements in both
artificial intelligence and mechanised chassis, mining
was safer and more lucrative than ever before. By this
time, the race to colonise the Dawnline Shore was
heating up, and Union was announcing a new public
works project every week. All of these projects were
hungry for raw materials. The markets were there.
There really was a sense of renewed hope in those
days. The Project launched “Operation Dawn,” sending
a third and final wave of ships, this time bearing the
goods and equipment the system actually needed.
Plans for a major mining station were quickly drawn up,
and construction work started almost immediately. One
of the Project's most ambitious members, Impact
Dynamics, switched their entire organisation from
ballistics research to agriculture and hydrology – and it
worked.
[9]
 Food shortages became a thing of the past as Impact
Plaza started churning out fruit and vegetables so fast
they had to organise system-wide feast days just to
avoid running out of storage space. The Borealis, a
giant ice-mining vessel, arrived with the third wave and
had fresh, pure water running to every habitat within a
year of its arrival.
In the space of only a few decades, Calliope changed
from the punchline of political omnicasts to a byword for
high-risk, high-reward investments. Once, there was
even blue-sky talk of building a blink gate, right there in
the system: it would've been Phou Bia Station. The
mere mention of that name can still bring some
Calliopeans to bitter tears.
The flaw in Calliope's grand project was a matter of
location. It had originally been theorised as a good
stopover point between Rao Co and the Dawnline
Shore, but it wasn't really serving as that right now; it
was a mining system, equally far from both. GMS
wasn't about to trek light years into border space
outside Ring 11 to purchase materials they could mine
for themselves anywhere in Union.
That left Harrison Armory and the Karrakin Trade
Baronies in the Dawnline Shore, and for a time, that
was good enough. They certainly appreciated having a
source of raw materials for their colonies at only half
the distance, but the problem was that they never
intended to keep relying on external sources. They
needed materials right up until they could mine the
Dawnline themselves.
Calliope was selling the rope the Armory and the
Baronies would hang it with.
The fall wasn't a terrifying, sudden collapse; it was a
slow boil, a gentle downward slope on export graphs
and shareholder quarterlies. Year after year, decade
after decade, the system's two most reliable clients
were buying less of what it was selling, as they began
to source their needs in situ. Shrewd executives began
quietly selling up their stock and vacating their
positions.
There was a tense, spreading awareness that
something was going wrong again. The bosses called
for faith, calm and confidence, but there seemed to be
less of them every day. People with the money to leave
and the knowledge to know they should be leaving
were doing so. By the time people knew the full extent
of what was going on, it was too late – too few ships
were coming through, and most folks weren't rich
enough to buy passage on them.
Once again, Calliope was on its own.
[10]
THE VOID AGE
Gone were the feast days, the blue-sky dreams of blink
gates. The people of Calliope found themselves in the
very same jam their predecessors had a couple of
generations ago: stuck somewhere nobody wanted to
be, with very little hope of getting out and only what they
had on hand to survive.
The vast forges of the mining station that was once the
system's pride fell silent one by one, as there simply
wasn't enough demand to keep mining ships in the sky.
Little by little, quality of life began to fall. One day, a
nameless miner looked into the maw of its forward
cargo bay, into the glow of smelters burning ore nobody
would ever buy, and said it looked like Hell's gate. It's
had no other name since.
The few executives on Impact Plaza who didn’t flee
when they'd had the chance looked out at Calliope and
realised that even if they couldn't leave, they could still
live like kings. Everyone needed food, they had it, and
with the system’s population trapped here, they could
charge a premium. What else were the plebs going to
do? Eat printloaf?
The Borealis held out for a long time, longer than
anyone expected, munching ice from the belts of gas
giants and melting it down for pure water. She couldn't
give it out for free anymore, but the prices were
reasonable. Eventually, though, the drives started to
pack up, and she had just enough left in her to get into
a stable orbit. They built a drum around her, and now
the old girl gets to wake up every day to the hum and
buzz of casinos and tattoo parlours instead of the
whisper of solar wind.
Pirates prowled the spacelanes, preying on the weak
or unprepared. The conditions on Hell's Gate got a bit
worse every year, while Impact Dynamics jacked up the
price of food and water on the same schedule. Union
doesn't care. Everyone on the Icebreaker Borealis just
partied like there’d be no tomorrow – and hell, who'd
want there to be?
Life's been hard since then, not least because the
people of Calliope had to look out across the Long Rim
and see their story repeated again and again, system
after system, station after station, unable to help.
Ironically, the thing that “saved” Calliope in recent years
is a combination of everything that damned it in the first
place. A second colonisation push into the Dawnline
Shore brought a rush of new traffic through the system
– including the Armory and the Baronies, the ones who
squeezed this system dry in the first place. IPS-N is
here too, and they've quickly proven themselves the
only reliable flow of new money the system has seen in
a long time.
There’s been a little bit of a cultural revival, too. Calliope
is, in many ways, unique. It captured the imagination of
the wider universe in a way no other system in the Long
Rim could. Music, art and writing by Calliopeans has
reached far beyond the system, even to Union’s core
worlds. People know about the struggle, and that gives
some folk hope.
Even the Central Committee has taken notice of the
system – finally – and while it hasn't deigned it
important enough to assign an Administrator, there's a
permanent representative on the Icebreaker now, and
a neutral omninode in the system. There's even a
single Union Navy vessel on patrol now, and that's
made the pirates a little less bold and Impact Dynamics
a little less eager to fleece the system's poorest.
There’s also a thin but steady trickle of new talent into
the system. The Long Rim has always been a place
where one can disappear if one really needs to, but
Calliope is on a major transit route and it has a
reputation as being slightly more “comfortable” than the
rest of the Rim – relatively speaking.
Still, living in Calliope is no cakewalk. Being poor is
expensive, and folks in Calliope don’t have much. Most
can barely make enough to keep the lights on and the
air flowing. Anyone who could afford to leave did,
decades or centuries ago. The pirates grow bolder
every year – and pickings are often slim enough that
some have turn to preying on other Calliopeans.
outlandish things like the blinkvoids. That’s just how
things are: the whole Long Rim is weird.
But buckle up: things are about to get a whole lot
weirder.
THE LIGHT OF DISTANT FIRES
The people of the Long Rim have always talked about
gods, ghosts, angels and demons as if they’re a simple
fact of life – hell, if humans are hiding out here in the
back of beyond, why wouldn’t Others? A dark shape
glimpsed at the end of a corridor. A tapping from the
other side of the hull. Whispers from behind a sealed
bulkhead, carrying unsettling words in a half-
understood language. These things are just a part of
this world.
But something much darker is happening in Calliope,
and nobody seems to be noticing. Three years ago, a
ship lurched out of the darkness at the system’s
periphery, its arrival noted only by a select few. It wasn’t
from here, neither this place nor this time. It carried
within it a single prisoner, and that prisoner is now
loose.

Too often, the fact that the Baronies and the Armory
are both using the system as a stopover point means
that one will have some scheme running to stop the
other from getting their convoys to the Dawnline Shore.
A couple of times every decade, the skies of Calliope
blaze with weapons fire as battlegroups engage
outside of Union’s jurisdiction. If the system is lucky,
local mercenaries get hired, mechanics get called in
and resupply runs are purchased. If not, the warring
giants just take what they need, press-ganging the
unfortunate and seizing vital supplies.

Everything in Calliope is falling apart, or close to it.

These stations were built centuries ago, mostly by
companies that no longer exist, using components that
are no longer sold. Techs have to spend weeks or
months reinventing the proverbial wheel just to print
replacement parts. Half the system’s computers are
reliant on a legacy codebase GMS stopped supporting
over a hundred years ago. There are no “permanent
solutions” to technical issues out here, just patches on
patches on patches.

Calliopeans are used to these sorts of problems – that’s

basically their day-to-day. It’s a fact of life. They’re not
even particularly surprised when faced with more

[11]
 TIMELINE
DISCOVERY PERIOD
(4648–4688U)
4648u: The Harrison Armory Coldstar stellar mapping
expedition discovers a G-class star while mapping the
Long Rim, serial number C4L-P313. It is mistakenly
given the /GW2 designation, indicating that it has two
Gaia or near-Gaia worlds.
4677u: The Coldstar expedition returns to Union
space, and its findings become public knowledge,
including the C4L-P313/GW2 system. Due to its
apparent habitability, there is immediate interest from
colonial organisations.
4679u: The first of the colonial missions to C4L-
P313/GW2 is launched by Petrovske Foundational
Industries, followed shortly thereafter by several others.
4687u: The launch of the Maddox & Haiden Inc.
expedition to C4L-P313/GW2 is considered to be the
last of the “first wave” of colonists, although this is
arbitrary; colony ships were launching sporadically all
the way up to 4703u when the “second wave” is
generally agreed to have begun.
FIRST WAVE ERA
(4689–4712U)
4689u: The first colony ships arrive in C4L-P313/GW2,
only to discover none of its planets are habitable.
Faster-than-light communication is unavailable due to
blinkvoid activity. Although each expeditions’ supplies
are plentiful, they’re not designed for colonising planets
like the ones they’ve arrived in orbit of, and they’re
forced to improvise to survive.
4691u: The continued arrival of colonial expeditions
causes increasing strain on local resources. Vessels
with sufficient supplies for a journey home begin to
leave. With shortages mounting and the situation
desperate, the leaders of various expeditions agree to
deceive their employers in order to convince them to
send a rescue mission.
4693u: The last of the colonial vessels returning to
Union space departs. The first wave colonists settle in
for a difficult two decades awaiting rescue.
4695u: The core of what will one day become
Endymion’s Lament is constructed in orbit of the
system’s third planet, later named Mróz. The first
historically recorded instance of the system being
referred to as “Calliope” occurs.
[12]
4697u: A cluster of makeshift orbital habitats is
assembled near the twin planets Amphion and Zethus.
This station will one day be known as the Three Sisters.
4698u: The first terraforming stations are deployed on
the system’s second planet, later named Asphodel. At
the same time, construction begins on a semi-
permanent settlement in the planet’s northern
hemisphere.
4701u: The falsified reports the first wave sent back
reach their parent companies. The planning and
assembly of a second wave of colonial expeditions
starts immediately, in spite of dire reports from the few
returning colony vessels.
4703u: The first colony ships of the second wave
depart.
4704u: Running short on reactor fuel, the colonists are
forced to search the system’s outer planets for helium-
3. While scouting the sixth planet, a huge gas giant later
named Stygia, they discover massive mineral reserves
across its five major moons. However, efforts to extract
helium-3 from Stygia stall, as the colonists lack the
equipment to deal with its strong gravity and lethal
radiation belts.
4706u: With fuel supplies dangerously low, the
desperate colonists abandon Stygia and explore the
sixth planet, a small gas giant they later name Zahhak.
They find a suitable helium-3 reservoiur, but lack
sufficient time or resources to construct a new station.
As a stopgap, Endymion’s Lament is towed into orbit
over it. The colony ship Persimmon disappears from
historical record.
4709u: Expeditions out to the system’s seventh planet,
a gas giant later named Kalevala, report the existence
of massive ice rings and a complex swarm of mineral-
rich moons and asteroids. Meanwhile on Asphodel, the
northern polar settlement tops 60,000 residents, who
begin to call it Furnace City.
4711u: The blinkvoid shrouding the system finally
ends, making access to the omninet possible again.
4712u: The existence of an ninth planet is confirmed: a
small, distant ice giant in a highly inclined orbit,
theorised to be a captured rogue planet. It is named
Chameleon, but an expedition to it is deemed too costly
and dangerous to attempt.

SECOND WAVE ERA
(4713–4758U)
4713u: The first colony fleet of the second wave arrives
in C4L-P313/GW2, followed shortly thereafter by a
dozen more. Dissension between the new arrivals and
the first wave of colonists begins immediately.
Transmissions which detail the true state of affairs
reach their parent companies.
4715u: The dire situation in C4L-P313 has become
public knowledge. Union calls various involved parties
to the omni and demands arrangements be made to
provide relief and evacuation for the colonists, but do
not enforce this directive effectively. Colonial
subsidiaries belonging to IPS-N, SSC and Harrison
Armory suspend their claims in the system, leaving
associated expeditions with no formal support.
4719u: The remaining companies, unwilling or unable
to abandon C4L-P313, enter into negotiations to form a
consortium.
4724u: The newly-formed Calliope Project finally raises
the venture capital to acquire the suspended colonial
charters, bringing every existing colonial expedition in
Calliope under its umbrella.
4727u: The Calliope Project formally commences
Operation Dawn, one final, massive expedition to
Calliope. This time, it will carry the equipment, materials
and personnel the system truly needs. Amongst the
ships selected are the CPS Borealis, a massive ice
mining frigate.
4739u: Operation Dawn’s fleet reaches Calliope and
immediately begins work. Construction on a massive
mining station in high orbit around Stygia begins, with
work on a vast orbital habitat near Asphodel following
swiftly behind. Once the CPS Borealis arrives in orbit of
Kalevala, it ends water shortages throughout the
system almost overnight.
4744u: Although construction on the Stygia mining
platform is not yet finished, it is able to enter operation.
THE PYRITE AGE (4759–4862U)
As a period of relative stability and prosperity, the Pyrite
Age has few significant historical events of its own;
however, there were many defining historical events
elsewhere in the galaxy at this time.
4815u: The Black Throne Incident occurs, in which
John Creighton Harrison II dies.
4823u: In the nearby system of Djall, the prophet Idlir
Hisari foretells the end of the world according to divine
revelations granted unto him by a phoenix, the One
Plumed In Golden Flame. A religion based upon this
prophecy quickly spreads throughout the Long Rim.
4846u: Idlir Hisari, having failed to correctly predict the
date and time of the end of the world three times, is
murdered by disillusioned followers. The religion he
created quickly splinters along sectarian lines.
4862u: Although the end of the Pyrite Age is more a
slow process than a single, definitive event, historians
agree the release of the last Calliope Project quarterly
newsletter late this year marks a suitable cut-off point.
THE VOID AGE (4863–5016U)
4936u: Decades without maintenance has left the CSP
Borealis’ systems nearly inoperable. It’s set in a high
orbit over Kalevala, and serves as the core of a new
space habitat catering to passing travelers.
4992u: “The Demon Winter” takes place on Hell’s
Gate. The Hell Hounds are forced off the station.
4994u: Construction of Union’s Neutral Omninode
finishes, providing safe, free and unmetered access to
the Omninet across the entire system. A single Union
Navy carrier on a rotating five-year schedule is
assigned to defend the facility.
4996u: A large influx of refugees begins arriving from
Nestor, a planet in the Diaspora recently subject to
DoJ/HR liberator activity.
5004u: Steadily worsening conditions aboard Impact
Plaza lead its seasonal workers to engage in a general
strike. With Impact Dynamics’ internal security forces
unable to deal with the situation, the directors hire the
Hell Hounds to restore order. While this does end the
labour action, it results in over two thousand casualties
and more than a hundred fatalities.
5005u: The previous year’s strikebreaking action has
so damaged faith in Impact Dynamics’ board of
directors that Rodericke Steele, an entrepreneur
recently arrived in the system, is able to seize a
controlling interest in the company.
5013u: Contact is lost with the IPS-N mining vessel
Ardent Weasel in orbit of Chameleon. Its wreck is never
found.
5015u: The Amazon-class carrier UNS-CV Thames,
under the command of Captain Mercedes Ordaz,
arrives to relieve the UNS-CV Kinabalu.
5016u: The present day. It is early in the year. The
events of In Golden Flame start now, and take place
over the following months and years.
[13]
 THE CALLIOPE SYSTEM
CALLIOPE ASPHODEL
Spectral Class: G7V (Yellow Dwarf) Orbital Distance: 124 million km (0.83 AU)
Mass: 0.92 Sol Orbital Period: 287 standard days
Radius: 0.94 Sol Rotation: 36 hours
Luminosity: 0.76 Sol Radius: 5,694 km (0.9 Cradle radii)
Mass: 0.6 Cradle masses
Calliope is a main-sequence yellow dwarf star. While it Surface Gravity: 0.7 g
has no direct stellar partners, it exists as a member of Surface Pressure: 1.74 atm
a loose cluster of ten to fifteen stars thought to have Mean Temperature: 323ºK (122ºF)
originated in the same nebula several billion years ago. Population: approx. 3,250,000

As a G-class star, Calliope is similar in emission
spectra to Sol, but it is slightly younger, slightly smaller
and significantly dimmer. This makes solar power much
less efficient beyond the orbit of its innermost two
planets, forcing most of the system to rely on fission or
fusion.
Calliope demonstrates no unusual or noteworthy traits
as regards a star of its type, other than sitting about
halfway between Rao Co Station and the Dawnline
Shore.
ORCUS
Orbital Distance: 86 million km (0.58 AU)
Orbital Period: 166 standard days
Rotation: Synchronous
Radius: 7,531 km (1.2 Cradle radii)
Mass: 1.5 Cradle masses
Surface Gravity: 1.06 g
Surface Pressure: 70 atm
Mean Temperature: 705ºK (809ºF)
Population: None
A sweltering acidic pressure-cooker, Orcus is a
hellscape even by the standards of Calliope. The only
human activity on the planet consists of a few
automated upper-atmosphere aerostats harvesting
industrial chemicals. The freighters that service them
are all automated, and anything that requires human
expertise is done by remotely-operated subalterns.
There were once extravagant plans to terraform Orcus
using solar shades and mirrors. The beginnings of that
project are still in orbit, slowly falling apart.
By default, none of the chapters in this campaign are
set on Orcus. If PCs go there anyway, mech activity on
its aerostats operates under (at the very least) the
Extreme Sun, Extreme Heat and Corrosive
Atmosphere environmental conditions. Combat on its
surface is a hazard far beyond the capability of Lancer
or any other game system to adequately simulate.
It’s technically habitable! It’s a technically habitable
planet, in the Long Rim! Yes, “technical” is doing a lot
of work here. Yes, the lakes would boil away if the
atmospheric pressure was any lower. Yes, you still
have to wear a hardsuit anywhere but the polar regions,
and even there you still need breathing gear due to the
lack of oxygen. Yes, the gravity is a full thirty percent
lower than Cradle, which causes all sorts of health
issues.
But you can live here, on a planet, in the Long Rim. It’s
not much, but it’s something. Asphodel has liquid water
on its surface, and even plays host to some basic life.
It’s mostly barren plains, sweltering inland seas and
small oases. The terraforming stations are still doing
their long work, so in another few centuries, maybe the
air will be safe to breathe.
The one major population centre on Asphodel is
Furnace City, a massive domed habitat built in the
northern highlands where temperatures are just about
manageable. Outside of the city, there’s a complex
tangle of smaller settlements and nomad groups known
as “outlanders” or “wildcats” eking out a living in the
canyons and scablands.
Outside the climate-controlled dome of Furnace City,
combat on Asphodel operates normally, although at
times there might be Particulate Storms. In regions
toward the equator, temperatures rise to dangerous
levels, the lakes roil and churn, and the Primordial
World environmental condition applies.
Asphodel possesses two moons: the closer and
smaller Orpheus, and the distant, larger Eurydice.
Neither moon possesses a population above a
thousand people. Impact Plaza orbits at Orpheus’ L4
Lagrange.

[14]
MRÓZ THE TWINS
Orbital Distance: 210 million km (1.4 AU) Orbital Distance: 310 million km (2.1 AU)
Orbital Period: 298.1 standard days Orbital Period: 3.1 standard years
Rotation: 97 hours
Radius: 4,499 km (0.7 Cradle radii) The Twins is a planetary system – two planets of similar
Mass: 0.3 Cradle masses enough mass that they each orbit the other. The larger,
Surface Gravity: 0.6 g Amphion, is a frigid ice ball, and the smaller, Zethus, is
Surface Pressure: 1.32 atm a barren, airless rock. They are mutually tidally locked,
Mean Temperature: 191ºK (-116ºF) always presenting the same face to each other, and
Population: approx. 450,000 complete a common orbit roughly once every ten days.

Mróz is a world of extremes: bitterly cold fields of stone- The

hard water ice and carbon dioxide snow sizzle and
simmer at the touch of fresh lava flows. Storms crash
AMPHION
overhead nearly constantly, and the ground trembles
Rotation: 10 days
with violent tectonic activity. Radius: 4,257 km (0.7 Cradle radii)
Mass: 0.1 Cradle masses
During the early days of colonization in Calliope, there Surface Gravity: 0.4 g
was a brief attempt to increase the planet’s surface Surface Pressure: 0.13 atm
temperature by drilling through its crust to reach the Mean Temperature: 166ºK (-160ºF)
mantle. This succeeded only in creating a few small Population: less than 100,000
pockets of warmth around the bores. These sites
weren’t even useful for habitation, because they were PLACEHOLDER it’s cold
geologically unstable and prone to even more violent
storms than the rest of the planet.
Combat on Amphion operates under the Thin
Atmosphere, Extreme Cold and Low Gravity
Human habitation on Mróz clings mostly to the equator, environmental conditions.
where temperatures are slightly warmer, the storms are
slightly less violent and space launches are slightly
ZETHUS
easier. Still, it’s a brutally unpleasant place – even the
Rotation: 10 days
outlanders of Asphodel don’t live in such precarious Radius: 2,628 km (0.4 Cradle radii)
circumstances as those on Mróz. Mass: 0.05 Cradle masses
Surface Gravity: 0.3 g
Combat on Mróz operates under the Extreme Cold Surface Pressure: negligible
and Electrical Storms environmental conditions. It’s Mean Temperature: 110ºK (-262ºF)
also quite common to encounter Earthquakes. Close Population: less than 100,000
to the bores, Extreme Cold doesn’t apply, but the
storms become Dangerous Storms and there are
PLACEHOLDER it’s boring
always Earthquakes.
Combat on Zethus operates under the Low Gravity
Mróz possesses a single, large moon, Strata, which
environmental condition.
orbits perilously close to its Roche limit, exerting
immense tidal stress on Mróz.

[15]
 PLACEHOLDER Saturn analogue, the Icebreaker
STYGIA orbits this, cool semi-depleted ring system, a couple of
Orbital Distance: 600 million km (4 AU) major moons
Orbital Period: 8.4 standard years
Rotation: 11 hours
Radius: 71,360 km (~1 Jupiter radii) As a gas giant, combat cannot occur on Kalevala.
Mass: 1.1 Jupiter masses
Mean Temperature: 165ºK (-162ºF) CHAMELEON
Orbital Distance: 9.3 billion km (32.7 AU)
Slightly more massive than Jupiter, Stygia is immense
Orbital Period: 195.3 standard years
even by the standards of gas giants. Rotation: 7 hours
Radius: 24,837 km (0.35 Jupiter radii)
Major moons: Ferryman, Obol, Barge, Shore, Staff Mass: 13.58 Cradle masses
Mean Temperature: 72ºK (-330ºF)
As a gas giant, combat cannot occur on Stygia. Combat
on Ferryman operates under the Thin Atmosphere, A distant, dark ice giant similar to Uranus or Neptune,
Earthquakes, Molten World, Tomb World and Low Chameleon’s existence wasn’t confirmed by Calliope’s
Gravity environmental conditions. Combat on Obol, residents until just before the arrival of the second
Barge, Shore or Staff operates under the Low Gravity wave. Its highly inclined, eccentric orbit and the wide
environmental condition. separation between it and Kalevala suggest that it
might be a rogue planet captured by Calliope hundreds
of millions of years ago.
ZAHHAK
Orbital Distance: 1 billion km (6.8 AU) Chameleon holds a reputation among Calliopeans as a
Orbital Period: 18.4 standard years place of great riches and great danger. Its rings and
Rotation: 9 hours moons contain unusually high concentrations of rare
Radius: 33,789 km (0.5 Jupiter radii) elements, but even at perihelion it still lies almost two
Mass: 33 Cradle masses weeks travel from a major port. There are no
Mean Temperature: ???ºK (-???ºF) settlements that far out, no stations to berth a ship and
no rescue crew who can get to you if something goes
PLACEHOLDER small ammonia gas giant with no Sol wrong. Many expeditions never return.
analogue. Endymion’s Lament orbits here.
Chameleon has two major moons, Saeculum and
As a gas giant, combat cannot occur on Zahhak. Umbra, both cryovolcanic iceballs. There’s a small
network of orbital satellites and emergency supply
KALEVALA caches, but no known settlements or permanent
Orbital Distance: 1.7 billion km (11.3 AU) residents.
Orbital Period: 40.5 standard years
Rotation: 8 hours As a gas giant, combat cannot occur on Chameleon.
Radius: 59,415 km (0.8 Jupiter radii) Combat on Saeculum or Umbra operates under the
Mass: 0.84 Jupiter masses Thin Atmosphere, Extreme Cold and Low Gravity
Mean Temperature: 134ºK (-218ºF) environmental conditions.

[16]
SETTLEMENTS IN CALLIOPE
CALLIOPE IMPACT PLAZA
Estimates by the Union Bureau of Orbital and Non- Orbiting: Asphodel
Terrestrial Management place Calliope’s total Orbital Distance: 357,000 km (L4 Lagrange)
population in the low tens of millions. But as with other Orbital Period: approx. 34 standard days
parts of the Long Rim, making reliable population Configuration: O'Neill cylinder
estimates for settlements in Calliope is difficult, to say Length (long axis): 10 km
the least. Population: approx. 300,000 permanent
approx. 700,000 itinerant
At any given time, more people are living on a station
than anyone knows about. Unregistered residents Placeholder it’s a water baron’s egotistical paradise
include stowaways who decided this was the station
they were going to hop off at, small groups living yeah I took heavy inspiration from Hard Wired Island
unnoticed in areas with low foot traffic and – if rumours on this one.
are to be believed – entire civilizations living in forgotten
spaces only accessible via maintenance tubes. 2 kilometres diameter, rotating at 0.6 rotations per
minute.
There isn’t anything close to a unified immigration
policy in Calliope, or even on most stations. Usually, if
a person wasn’t on the last census, and they show up HELL'S GATE
on the latest one, they’re welcome to stay as long as Orbiting: Stygia
they can contribute something to a community, whether Orbital Distance: 1 million km
it be lifting a wrench, cooking noodles or spinning a Orbital Period: approx. 7 standard days
good enough yarn to make people laugh. Configuration: Double Stanford torus with
non-gravitational midsection
On the other hand, not everyone who's registered on a Length (long axis): 7 km
station is a permanent resident. A lot of people go Population: approx. 2,500,000 permanent
where the work is. Itinerant workers either base out of approx. 500,000 itinerant
one of the smaller habitats scattered throughout the
system or don’t have a permanent home at all. It used to be called something else, but it didn’t stick.
“Hell’s Gate” did, and it’s been an uncomfortably apt
description for as long as anyone can remember. By
Calliope’s population is centred around the “Big Four,” population the second largest of the “Big Four” in
a triad of space stations and a major planetary Calliope, Hell’s Gate used to be a grand refinery, back
settlement: Hell’s Gate, Icebreaker Borealis, Impact when people thought Calliope could sell its mineral
Plaza and Furnace City. wealth to the world. Nowadays, it’s barely holding on:
most of the good claims were stripped decades ago,
FURNACE CITY and the only market for what’s left is the other stations.
Nobody’s going to trek all the way out here just to buy
Location: Asphodel, north polar dunes
nickel or iron.
Configuration: Domed city
Diameter: 4 km (dome), 12 km (complex)
Population: approx. 3,000,000 permanent Hell’s Gate (often just “the Gate”) is a long, bulky maze
of industrial facilities with a habitation ring at each end.
Furnace City might just be unique: a planetary The core of the station has very little gravity, which
metropolis in the Long Rim. Uniqueness isn’t always a provided a perfect environment for its myriad smelters
positive feature, though, and if you live in Furnace City and foundries back when they operated at full capacity.
long enough, you come to understand that some things
are rare for a reason. Nowadays they’ve gone dark and mostly silent, and a
lot of folks don’t know if the shuttered facilities could
It was originally built by the Calliope Project as an even be brought back online. The few that still run are
industrial facility for processes that required non-spin understaffed, and those who do show up for shifts are
gravity, or were too hazardous to safely conduct on overworked, underpaid and underfed. The Gate’s best
fragile space stations. It also served as a reasonably years are long gone, if it ever really had any to begin
stable with.

Placeholder ICEBREAKER BOREALIS

Orbiting: Kalevala

[17]
 Orbital Distance: 890,000 km
Orbital Period: approx. 6 standard days
THREE SISTERS
Configuration: Ad-hoc cylinder constructed Orbiting: The Twins?
around retired mining vessel Orbital Distance: ??? km
Length (long axis): 12km (original mining vessel) Orbital Period: approx. ??? standard days
10km (city cylinder) Configuration: ???
Population: approx. 500,000 permanent Length (long axis): ??? km
approx. 1,000,000 itinerant Population: approx. ??? permanent
approx. ??? itinerant
Even the impoverished workers of Calliope need a little Placeholder this isn’t somewhere I have any actual
rest and relaxation sometimes, and the Icebreaker notes for yet, it’s just a name I came up with. It’s not a
Borealis prides itself as the foremost purveyor of luxury member of the “Big Four” so it has less political and
in all the Long Rim, let alone Calliope. An ad-hoc economic relevance.
O’Neill-style rotational drum built around an old ice
mining frigate, the station provides all manner of
pleasure and vice, from its casinos, dive bars,
THE THOUSAND HABS
Orbiting: Various
holodromes and drug dens to subaltern fighting pits, Configuration: Various
massage parlors, and an establishment that confidently Population: approx. 3,000,000 permanent
advertises itself as “the only five-star resort and spa in approx. 3,000,000 itinerant
the Long Rim.”
Not a single place, but a general term for smaller
The Icebreaker Borealis (often referred to either as “the stations, carve-outs, shelters, habitats and settlements
Icebreaker” or “the Borealis”) boasts that it’s the only throughout the system, although there probably aren’t
reason anyone from the rest of the galaxy comes to a thousand of them. Settlements that fall into this
Calliope at all. That’s not entirely unfounded, either; a category range from family units of less than 10 people
lot of IPS-N freighters making a trek through the Long to small cities of 100,000 residents.
Rim pass through Calliope specifically to provide their
crews with shore leave on the Icebreaker. Harrison Technically, any habitat that isn’t one of the Big Four is
Armory crews travelling to or from the Dawnline Shore one of the Thousand Habs, but the actual definition is
are known to stop over for month-long breaks between a bit more complicated; nobody in Calliope would
nearlight travel. SSC even has a pokey little corner consider Endymion’s Lament or the Three Sisters to be
office on one of the backstreets for handling the tiny part of the Thousand Habs, for example. The outlander
amount of business they do in the system. settlements on Asphodel and Mróz are also in a
category of their own, and pirate strongholds are
ENDYMION’S LAMENT likewise excluded.
Orbiting: Zahhak
Orbital Distance: ??? km FORT CERBERUS
Orbital Period: approx. ??? standard days Orbiting: Calliope
Configuration: ??? Orbital Distance: 3.2 billion km
Length (long axis): ??? km Orbital Period: 107 standard years
Population: approx. ??? permanent Configuration: Deep core mining facility built
approx. ??? itinerant into large irregular asteroid
Placeholder this isn’t somewhere I have any actual Population: approx. ??? permanent
notes for yet, it’s just a name I came up with. It’s not a approx. ??? itinerant
member of the “Big Four” so it has less political and
economic relevance. The Hell Hounds live here.

[18]
TRAVEL IN CALLIOPE
While this campaign includes travel times for all
mission-relevant journeys, the PCs might want to travel
somewhere else in the system on their own time.
1G ACCELERATION
One of the small mercies of Calliope is that fuel is
plentiful and drives are efficient. You can generally
accelerate under a constant 1g thrust until you’re
halfway to your destination, then flip over and
decelerate for the other half. This not only makes for
speedy transit; it provides something close to regular
gravity for all but a couple of minutes in the middle.
2G ACCELERATION
In urgent circumstances, when time is of the essence,
an interplanetary mission can operate at 2g thrust for
short periods, up to a few days. This is unpleasant for
humans: ship crews must wear exoskeletons or remain
confined to hardsuit at all times. Basic physical
activities like showering, handling objects or pouring
oneself a drink become hazards, as objects are twice
as heavy and accelerate twice as fast.
Travel under 2g thrust also has an unfortunate cost-
benefit ratio: because of the way acceleration works,
it’s far more effective the further you have to travel, but
long trips are the ones you least want to make at 2g.
PCs who run at 2g for more than six hours arrive at their
destination reduced to half their normal pilot HP.
NEARLIGHT BOLT
The PCs will not have access to nearlight bolt travel
early in the campaign. While their ship, the Dragon’s
Tooth, is capable of it, it doesn’t have the necessary k-
couches and automedical equipment to make the
experience survivable. The PCs will have the
opportunity to obtain this gear at the end of Mission 4.
However, even once the ship has the relevant
equipment installed, it should be made clear to the PCs
that even in ideal circumstances a bolt is a deeply
unpleasant experience. The PCs can survive only one
nearlight bolt per mission; of course, they’re PCs, so
they never die in the process, but doing so reduces
them to 1 pilot HP.
That being said, there’s no faster way to get to a
destination. Furthermore, a ship in bolt will arrive at the
same time as the light carrying the information of its
approach; if you calculate your exit point well, it’s one
of the very few ways of launching a genuine surprise
attack in space.
Note that the time listed in the chart is the time passed
from an external, realspace perspective. Due to the
effect of time dilation at relativistic speeds, time passed
from the traveller’s perspective will be significantly
shorter. If it’s necessary to know how much time
passed from the traveller’s frame of reference, divide
the external time by 10 – so, for example, a trip that
takes 60 minutes from an external perspective will only
seem to take 6 minutes from the traveller’s perspective.
There is a minimum safe distance to target for plotting
a nearlight bolt – the Ngcobo limit – which is generally
placed at around ten light-minutes. Due to time dilation,
at distances less than the Ngcobo limit, ships do not
have enough time to flip around for deceleration. Even
if they could, passengers would be exposed to
acceleration and deceleration shock too rapidly to
ensure survival.
A DARING NEARLIGHT AMBUSH
Legends are told in Calliope’s bars about “sub-
Ngcobo maneuvers,” wherein a nearlight bolt is
plotted only a couple of light-minutes or even a few
light-seconds out, usually as part of a surprise
attack. The stories of success are spectacular and
rare. Stories of catastrophic failure are equally
spectacular, and far more common.
The Ngcobo limit exists mostly to answer a question
some clever player might ask: “why don’t people just
sit a few light seconds away, then ambush their
targets via nearlight bolt?” That said, when told that
something is a terrible idea, some players are only
further encouraged to try it.
Given that you should always try to say yes to your
players, sub-Ngcobo maneuvers are theoretically
possible, with a very large emphasis on
“theoretically.” If, for example, you were to connect
an equally powerful nearlight drive to the front of
your ship, accelerate to some lower fraction of the
speed of light, then decelerate using the extra drive,
you could arrive quite fast, with only a few seconds’
or minutes’ warning.
The downsides and failure states of such a
maneuver are left as an exercise to the GM, but as
a rule of thumb, it should look like something a movie
studio had to blow its entire special effects budget
on.
[19]
 FROM HELL’S GATE 1g thrust 2g thrust Nearlight
Calliope 6 days 4 days 35 minutes
Orcus 5 days 4 days 30 minutes
Asphodel (inc. Impact Plaza, Furnace City) 5 days 4 days 30 minutes
Mróz 5 days 3 days 25 minutes
The Twins 7 days 5 days 50 minutes
Inner Belt (depending on destination) 3-8 days 2-5 days 15-60 minutes
Stygia (any other orbital component) 3-7 hours 3-6 hours N/A (too close)
Zahhak 9 days 6 days 80 minutes
Kalevala (inc. Icebreaker Borealis) 11 days 7 days 2 hours
Chameleon 14 days 11 days 4 hours

FROM ICEBREAKER BOREALIS 1g thrust 2g thrust Nearlight

Calliope 10 days 7 days 90 minutes
Orcus 10 days 7 days 90 minutes
Asphodel (inc. Impact Plaza, Furnace City) 10 days 7 days 90 minutes
Mróz 10 days 7 days 2 hours
The Twins 9 days 6 days 80 minutes
Inner Belt (depending on destination) 8-10 days 6-8 days 1-2 hours
Stygia (inc. Hell’s Gate) 11 days 7 days 2 hours
Zahhak 10 days 7 days 2 hours
Kalevala (any other orbital component) 5-6 hours 4-5 hours N/A (too close)
Chameleon 18 days 13 days 6 hours

FROM ASPHODEL ORBIT 1g thrust 2g thrust Nearlight

Calliope 2 days 2 days N/A (too close)
Orcus 35 hours 1 day N/A (too close)
Asphodel (any other orbital component) 3-4 hours 2-3 hours N/A (too close)
Mróz 3 days 2 days 10 minutes*
The Twins 5 days 3 days 20 minutes
Inner Belt (depending on destination) 4-5 days 3-4 days 20-30 minutes
Stygia (inc. Hell’s Gate) 5 days 4 days 30 minutes
Zahhak 7 days 5 days 1 hour
Kalevala (inc. Icebreaker Borealis) 10 days 7 days 90 minutes
Chameleon 16 days 11 days 4 hours
* Mróz has just moved outside of Asphodel’s Ngcobo limit radius, but will return to it by the end of 5016u.

[20]
FACTIONS IN CALLIOPE
Equally far from the grand bastion of Union and the
shining frontier of the Dawnline Shore, but the political
situation in Calliope is no less complex for its isolation.
If anything, it's more so; the designs of entities like
Union and Harrison Armory often play out over
generations, their implications passing unnoticed to the
man on the street. In Calliope, the state of the system’s
politics and your position within them might well dictate
whether you get to eat tonight, or whether you still have
a home tomorrow.
Each faction has a broadly-defined Core Mission: its
overarching ambitions and goals. Not all members will
agree on the method by which these goals should be
achieved, nor will all members will even agree on the
goals. It’s perfectly possible to find members pledging
loyalty to a faction while pursuing their own agendas.
HELL'S GATE UNITED
Part labour union, part techno-socialist committee, part
mutual aid group, Hell’s Gate United works as hard as
it can to meet the needs of the Gate’s people. These
needs are considerable: Hell’s Gate has the second
largest population of the Big Four, but is by far the
poorest. While the station’s promise to never charge its
citizens for the basic essentials of life is noble, its
revenue streams are low.
The station’s beloved director, Bai Zexian, vanished
about three years ago, leaving the station’s previous
militia commander, Jerry Masters, as acting director.
Jerry is a kind and well-meaning man who genuinely
wants the best for the station and its inhabitants, but
he’s neurotic, anxious and somewhat unprepared for
the burden of station management. He gets little sleep,
is constantly overworked, and has few support staff
other than his devoted ASURA-class NHP, Shelly.
A few people accuse Jerry of refusing to hold a by-
election out of a lust for power, but the truth is there’s
no-one else running for the position. Nothing would
please Jerry more than to quit this job, but it really
seems like if he won’t do it, nobody will. Hell’s Gate
United really is in a tough spot.
Also, the PCs work for them. Good luck.
CORE MISSION
• Make it through the day.
• Mine, refine and sell whatever minerals can be
found to whoever will buy them.
• Provide at least the bare necessities of life to the
citizens of the station.
BOARD OF ICEBREAKER
A long time ago, the CPS Borealis had a job. Now it just
has a hustle. No longer able to break ice and sell water,
it’s been turned into a glittering vice district, a paradise
for the weary traveller and a place where fortunes can
be made or lost. Overseeing it is the Board of
Icebreaker, a council of executives, casino owners and
profiteers and the occasional union rep who was too
popular or influential to shut out.
Despite the public image of competence and stability it
tries to project, the Board is a mess. Every member
suspects every other member of trying to pull a scam:
after all, it’s what most of them are doing themselves.
Anything one member suggests, others oppose on
general principle. Important decisions sit paralysed by
squabbling for weeks, months or even years.
The station’s administrator, Rita, is a cool, calculating
woman who stays in her position through a combination
of compromise and cunning. Although she’s supposed
to be answerable to the station’s entire populace, she
is reliant on the Board to actually get anything done.
This gives Rita both a great degree of operational
leeway and almost none: the Board genuinely don’t
care about the decisions she makes – unless they
might somehow interfere with profits.
Most positive changes on the Icebreaker are a result of
Rita manipulating members of the Board into seeing
something she wants as a scam; one she’s letting them
in on. This is how the Icebreaker has an all-access
radio station, free mass transit and a variety of
affordable public services: Rita tricked the Board into
funding them, thinking it was some sort of racket they
could use to get a leg up on the competition.
The Board has a large mutual security force to protect
the station, its guests and its permanent residents, but
most of the richer members retain their own private
forces, just in case.
The Board will probably serve as allies to the PCs, but
unreliable ones. Yes, saving Calliope is a mutual
interest, but how can it be monetized?
CORE MISSION
• Retain the Icebreaker’s coveted reputation as the
premier destination for rest and relaxation in the
Long Rim.
• Make a tidy profit by selling distraction as a service.
• Avoid anything that’s going to scare away
customers, like getting involved in system politics
at all, ever.
[21]

FURNACE CITY ASSEMBLY
In the northern reaches of rain-drenched, barren
Asphodel, there lies something unique in the Long Rim:
a planetary city. Furnace City, sometimes known as
“the Only City,” was established during the early years
of Calliope in a dogged attempt to make something of
a bad situation.
The Furnace City Assembly is an anarcho-socialist
hybrid democracy, consisting of a quorum of elected
representatives for day-to-day administration and
plenary sessions of the entire citizenship for major
decisions. It’s the largest governmental organisation in
Calliope by membership, although its authority extends
no further than the city limits.
Complicating the Assembly’s
CORE MISSION
IMPACT DYNAMICS LLC
Originally a weapons manufacturer during the Long
Rim’s initial landrush, Impact Dynamics engaged in a
risky but ultimately successful pivot towards agriculture
and hydrology when it turned out there were no
habitable planets in Calliope. Operating out of Impact
Plaza, Impact Dynamics now produces nearly 80% of
the system’s fresh water, about two-thirds of its
medicine, half its food and a fifth of its air.
Hell’s Gate and Furnace City produce most of their own
essentials, but the Icebreaker Borealis has enough
guests that it can’t support smaller settlements across
the system are dependent on Impact Dynamics.
Never a compassionate operation, the company has
been steadily raising prices in Calliope for more than a
century, causing increasing poverty and instability
throughout the system’s various habitats. It invests its
profits into a large, well-equipped and brutal security
force to prevent the rest of Calliope from getting any
ideas about equal distribution of resources.
Eighteen years ago, a controlling interest in Impact
Dynamics was acquired by Rodericke Steele. An
omninet personality presenting himself as a successful
entrepreneur, insightful new-age philosopher and self-
described “sexual tyrannosaurus,” Steele is in truth a
compensating anthrochauvinist with a long list of
catastrophic business failures behind him. Under his
leadership, Impact Dynamics has taken to increasingly
violent and underhanded means of securing market
dominance, including openly hiring pirate gangs.
Impact Dynamics will be a constant thorn in the PCs’
side throughout the campaign, funding their various
enemies and gating access to basic necessities behind
[22]
absurd prices. It is indirectly due to Steele’s cut-throat
exploitation that the Faith of the One is so powerful, and
that Calliope is in such a poor position to resist them.
CORE MISSION
• Exploit the company’s near-monopoly on water
production in the Calliope system to make obscene
profits.
• Secure similar monopolies or near-monopolies on
food, air and medicine.
• Drive local competitors out of business through the
employment of pirate mercenaries.
THE PIRATE BANDS
Not a singular faction, but a general class of Calliopean
residents, pirates are separated into two groups:
irregulars and careerists, often called “moonlighters”
and “sunlighters” respectively.
Irregulars are people for whom piracy is a side gig.
They live in the Big Four or the smaller stations
scattered across the system. Most of the time, they’re
farmers, miners, wrenchies or the cute guy running that
little dumpling stall on the corner. They try to maintain
a strong separation between their public and private
lives; it’s not exactly going to help the popularity of your
dumpling stall if people know the secret ingredient is
shaking down water freighters.
Irregulars don’t mythologise their profession. They
know that they’re doing a bad thing, and justify it
through necessity. Calliope’s a hard place, and you’ve
got to look out for number one. They have a thing that
puts food on the table. They aren’t proud of it, but at
least they aren’t going hungry. They congregate in
small groups, refer to each other via aliases, and try not
to contact each other outside of “business hours.” Their
bands don’t have names or logos; they try to avoid
making a name for themselves.
In stark contrast, careerists have openly embraced a
life of piracy. If they have other jobs or talents, those
are the side gigs; spacelane robbery is their profession.
Their identities are based around their work: they form
ferocious reputations and legends for themselves, the
better to intimidate their prey. They organise into bands
with instantly-recognisable names, iconography and
mythology. They compete to see who can earn the
highest bounty, who can claim the biggest prize, who
can build the fanciest steed.
Being a known criminal quickly makes you unwelcome
in Calliopean society, so they operate their own
hangouts and lairs. These tend to be abandoned
facilities from Calliope’s early settlement period,
repurposed ships seized in raids or hold-ups, or prefab
habitation units.
The four most prominent sunlighter bands are:
• The Hell Hounds, a vicious band of former
moonlighters exiled from Hell's Gate, led by
Andros Capella.
• The Burning Forge, a miner's union that went
rogue, led by Julius “The Blacksmith” Sruoga.
• The Knights of the Dark Core, an eccentric group
of image-conscious robbers with pretensions of
chivalry, led by Mistress Elske.
• The Circuit, a loosely HORUS-aligned alliance of
technocultists led by two NHPs, TRIPLE-POINT
and CAUSTIC.
CORE MISSION
• Get rich on someone else’s dime.
UNION
There’s a saying about Union in Calliope: “toothless
dog in vacuum” – that is to say, no bark and no bite.
To many of the system’s residents, “Union’s presence
in Calliope” is a punchline in itself, even though Calliope
might be the Long Rim system to which CentComm has
committed the most resources. Most people wouldn’t
consider Union’s opinion on Calliope at all relevant;
either because they don’t think it has one, or because
even if it did it has no way of enforcing it.
This belief, cynical thought it might be, isn’t untrue.
Union’s responsibilities are immense, spanning
thousands of worlds and trillions of people. Calliope’s
population doesn’t even top fifty million, in a part of
space CentComm has been strongly advising people
not to live in for centuries. In Union’s view, if people
won’t leave, there’s only so much they can do to help
at this point.
A Calliope posting is seen as a poison chalice in
Union’s civil service: somewhere they send you when
they have no way of denying you a promotion, but
absolutely want rid of you.
The Union Administrative Department has no
Administrator assigned to Calliope. The closest thing
the system has is Kileyna Morton, a civilian
representative from the Bureau of Orbital and Non-
Terrestrial Management. Kileyna is possibly the least
appreciated person in Calliope relative to the sheer
amount of work they’ve done for it. For all the cruel
jokes made at their expense, Calliopeans would still be
paying out the nose for omni access if Kileyna hadn’t
convinced Union to build the Neutral Omninode.
The Neutral Omninode was also seen as a project of
enough value to defend, hence the unprecedented
deployment of a permanent Union Navy presence in a
Long Rim system. Since last year, this post has been
occupied by the carrier UNS-CV Thames, commanded
by Captain Mercedes Ordaz. As a new arrival to
Calliope, she’s yet to establish a rapport with Kileyna –
they don’t really talk yet.
CORE MISSION
• Help where possible with the limited resources
CentComm provides.
• Convince CentComm to provide more resources.
THE CALLIOPE PROJECT
There’s a strange wrinkle to Calliope’s existence:
technically, someone still owns it, and nobody knows
who.
The Calliope Project was formed by a cabal of
corporations that invested heavily in the initial
colonisation of Calliope and couldn’t afford to vacate
their positions when the system turned out to have no
habitable planets. The original idea was to band
together to absorb the financial strain of up-front losses
while pivoting the system’s industry towards material
extraction and refinement, although individual
members had their own reasons for joining.
Although the Project has been considered defunct for
more than a century and a half, and most of its
constituent companies have gone out of business, the
Project was never officially dissolved, and still exists as
a recognised entity on Union Economic Bureau
databases. The colonial charters for Calliope still
belong to it, as do various pieces of equipment, up to
and including the CPS Borealis and the Stygia Mining
Platform, now known as Hell’s Gate.
So, who owns the Project? Despite the fact that Impact
Dynamics was a founding member, it’s clearly not
them, else they would have leveraged it against the
system long ago. It unlikely to be a major corprostate
because it would be a matter of public record. It’s
probably a private individual – many suspect it’s Naomi
Haiden-Ikaia, CEO and majority shareholder of
Maddox & Haiden Inc, one of the few founding
companies other than Impact Dynamics that remains in
operation. However, attempts to link her portfolio to
remnants of the Calliope Project have so far been
fruitless.
CORE MISSION
• Previously: leverage the immense mineral wealth
of Calliope to recoup losses incurred during the
initial colonisation push.
• Currently: unknown.
THE FAITH OF THE ONE
The Faith of the One Plumed In Golden Flame arose
from the same place many cults in the Long Rim do:
[23]
 misery and desperation. It’s difficult in the extreme to
make comfortable and happy people invested in the
concept of the apocalypse. For people who are
scraping algae off of water condensers to feed their
families and slaving twelve hours a day just to make
enough money to pay the oxygen bill, however, the idea
of burning the world away becomes much more
palatable.
Recently, however - within only the last year, in fact -
there has been a dramatic shift in the Faith’s behaviour.
Zealous before, its higher echelons have suddenly
become vastly more fanatical. The Faith’s community
hubs – physical and virtual -- buzz with sudden activity,
especially in Calliope. Under the leadership of Ignatius
Aurum, strange and wonderful things have been
pouring from underground labs. Recruitment drives
have been stepping up across the Long Rim.
Few people know that there’s something that separates
the Faith of the One from the other religious
[24]
movements of the Long Rim: their god is real. They’ve
seen it. And it has a plan for them.
In truth, the Faith worships an entity that has reshaped
itself in the image of what they worship - their beliefs
have shaped their god far more than her dictates have
shaped their beliefs. Trapped in a silent ship, lost in the
madness of deep cascade, Feather heard the stray
transmissions of the Cult and was reborn. It is entirely
possible that her desire to bring an end to the universe
is a desire the Cult has imprinted upon her, rather than
the other way around.
CORE MISSION
• Enact the will of their god.
• Spread the faith to every willing soul, and ease
their suffering as much as possible.
• Burn the universe to cinders, so that a better
and brighter thing might rise from its ashes.
CULTURE OF CALLIOPE
“John Creighton Harrison II once said man is given
form by the environment around him: in luxury,
he’d create great works, and in squalor he’d
become a savage. John Creighton Harrison II was
also a delusional fascist who died like a chump
as his palace turned to subatomic dust. Fuck him.
Real culture is messy, complicated and
beautiful.”
– Subtext Ísfûr Cowards
DEMOGRAPHICS
Millions of people live in Calliope, possibly even tens of
millions. That might not seem like much, given the
trillions out there in the galaxy, but it’s plenty big for the
Long Rim – a lot of systems don’t top a hundred
thousand. And like the rest of the Long Rim, there are
people here from everywhere.
Folk come to Calliope from all walks of life and from
every conceivable place. There are former
Metropolitans from Cradle and Tau. There are ex-
colonists from the Dawnline Shore, and refugees from
Boundary Garden. There are Sparri, and there are
people from all the Houses of the Karrakin. There are
people from a thousand worlds, from Unkulukulu in the
Malutis to Cadair Idris in the Cascades. Even the Aun
are here, exiles of the Ecumene rubbing shoulders with
citizens of the Ascendancy.
There are also plenty of people who were born here,
whose families lived here for generations, all the way
back to the first-wave colonists – and those ancestors
came from a thousand different worlds, too.
All this considered, not much stock is put in the
question “are you from around here,” but they care a lot
about the question “are you here to help?” Lots of
people came to Calliope from all sorts of fancy places,
but it doesn’t matter one bit so long as they knuckle
down and help with the daily struggle of keeping things
running. Being born in Calliope doesn’t make you
special, and proudly boasting about being descended
from first-wave colonists just means you’ve got two
massive rubes in your family tree.
There’s an empathy to Calliopeans, despite everything
– most understand struggle, because they live it.
Despite Union’s best efforts, there are still places out
there where the colour of your skin, the sound of your
voice or the sort of person you love gets you hate.
Calliope’s got no time for that. We could all be sucking
vacuum tomorrow, and if you can stop that from
happening, or at the very least make the hours between
then and now happy ones, you’re welcome, and fuck
anyone who says otherwise.
THERE IS NO “DEFAULT” PERSON
A note to GMs on representation: there’s an
unfortunate tendency in written media for an
audience to assume that a character is white if there
isn’t a stated skin colour, straight if there isn’t a
stated sexuality, cis if they’re not stated to be trans,
and so on. But Calliope is a diverse sector of space,
and its denizens are equally diverse, so keep in mind
that even if it's not stated, a character’s sexuality,
gender, ability, neurodivergence or skin colour can
be broader than cis, male, able, neurotypical and
white. This book is written with that idea in mind.
This is important to state plainly. Part of making
fictional worlds enjoyable for your audience is
ensuring they’re able to see people like themselves
represented within them. A story doesn’t have to be
about diversity for diversity to be important.
LANGUAGE
Calliope has no official language, but they do have a
system-local dialect of Union Common. It’s spoken
much faster than baseline UC, with few conjunctions,
simplified pronunciation and a vast array of loan words
from other languages. Those used to another dialect of
UC might need a little bit of time to get used to it, but
it’s meant to be easy to pick up. There’s no “standard”
accent, but most people will be able to tell where you
live by how you say “vent crab.”
Calliopean sign language is based loosely on Union
Common sign language, and is signed one-handed.
Most adults know enough to hold a conversation,
although maintenance personnel learn it fully, in order
to facilitate communication in very loud or completely
soundless environments.
NAMES AND IDENTITY
To outsiders, the way people in Calliope treat names
can seem whimsical or frivolous. They see people with
names like Igama Igama Igama (First Name First Name
First Name), Apricot Condenser or Priyanashi
Function-Call, and assume Calliopeans don’t take
names seriously.
Calliopeans would reply that no, it’s the other way
round: outsiders take names too seriously. They give
them a power and a weight that isn’t due to them. A
name is simply how an individual chooses to be
referred to. If someone tells you their name’s Igama
Igama Igama, and they’re happy for you to call them
that, that’s all you need to know. Were they born with
it? Probably not, but what is it business of yours?
[25]
 In the Long Rim’s wild frontier, there’s few legal
documents. In fact, many of its inhabitants came out
here specifically to escape what their legal documents
say about them. It’s polite not to dig too deeply into
someone’s past – and if you’re here, there’s a good
chance you want that same privacy.
A time-honoured Calliope tradition is the “line of sight”
name. There’s a common story to this: someone comes
to the Long Rim, gets asked their name, decides they
have to make one up and then picks something on the
spot based on what they can see, which explains
names like Apricot Condenser or Zinfandel DeJean. It’s
not always as sudden, though: some people pick things
they see often, or that have emotional meaning to them.
A similar option is to pick a name related to your job.
“Pilot,” “Farmer,” “Reactor,” “Mechanic,” “Salvage,”
“Vent” and so on are common elements of Calliopean
names. Other people pick new names from their home
culture, or a culture that they greatly admire. There’s an
in-joke: if you want to find a Karrakin in Calliope, look
for someone with a Sparri name.
Some people feel no need to hide, and keep their old
name, but it doesn’t make any difference. Your name is
how you choose to be known; nothing more, and
nothing less.
Children born in Calliope are given a birth name by their
parents, but one of their traditional coming-of-age
rituals is picking their own name. A person keeping their
childhood name into adulthood is seen as a sign of
immaturity, so it’s common to see young people who
aren’t finished deciding yet going by the name
“Temporary.”
Calliopeans apply the same concept to identity in
general. While social bonds are very important, they
pay very little heed to the circumstances of one’s birth
– gender, class, sexuality, and so on. What you choose
to share with others is your business, and what you
choose to keep secret is your business, so long as it
brings no harm to those close to you.
VIOLENCE
It may seem like an exaggeration to say violence is a
part of every Calliopean’s life, but it’s true. Calliope is a
very hostile place, even if not all of it is human hostility.
Some people talk about the void as a malevolent thing,
but whether or not you believe that, space will kill you.
Even without pirates, debt collectors and black ops
teams, you’re in a fight to survive every day of your life.
Even the human violence isn’t always direct. Charging
someone for a glass of water they can’t afford kills them
as surely as a bullet. Forcing someone to live in squalor
when you could provide them with a clean place to rest
is violence, even if you aren’t beating them. Burying
someone in debt isn’t violence? Find a man going grey
[26]
before his time from the stress of making ends meet,
and say that to his face.
There is, of course, a whole lot of overt human violence
too. The pirates have a rule about not preying on
permanent residents of Calliope, but that’s
inconsistently enforced. Visitors are the juiciest targets;
after all, they’re the ones bringing fresh money and
goods into the system. But when there’s not many
visitors, and a payment is due, any mark will do – even
a fellow resident.
It doesn’t end there, though. Every so often, a visitor
who gets ripped off in Calliope looks to take revenge,
or comes to the system looking for someone who’s
hiding there. If they’re really serious about it, they bring
in their own paramilitary forces. If they don’t know
precisely who they’re looking for or where they’re
hiding, and don’t approach their task with due care and
restraint, things can get ugly real quick.
Calliopeans have developed an etiquette to open
violence; in fact, possibly the only true test of whether
a person is “from” Calliope is whether they follow it.
Calliopeans accept that violence happens, and people
will get ripped off, hurt, even killed, but they have a right
to fight for themselves.
It goes something like this: only fight if you need to.
Don’t kill unless you need to. If you need to kill
someone, don’t trick them into thinking surrender is an
option, and if surrender is an option, make sure
everyone knows it.
Given that they live in such a violent place, the
residents of Calliope have also developed a lot of ways
of regaining a sense of control over violence. Extreme
sports are popular in the system, and no-holds-barred
mech combat is one of the least exotic. From cloud-
skipping in the upper atmospheres of gas giants to
rocket-sledding on Asphodel, Calliopeans have an
endless variety of ways to voluntarily expose
themselves to peril – because then, at least, the risk of
death is their choice.
POLITICS
There is no central government in Calliope, no
recognised authority that handles security, commerce
or social services. Union, despite claiming all of
humanity as its purview, does not recognise Calliope
as a member system on a practical level.
That doesn’t mean Calliope has no politics, though.
The opposite is true, in fact: politics in Calliope are
complex, omnipresent and often brutal. Workers’
unions are in a constant struggle with executives,
barons and moguls. Station administrators have to
contend with pirates seeking protection money, or out-
of-system traders who think they can get one over on a
yokel.
Despite – or perhaps because of – Union’s lack of
interest, the New Solidarity Coalition is heavily invested
in Calliope. In fact, Calliope is one of the NSC’s most
popular examples of Union’s shortcomings in the fight
for human dignity. For its more activist members, this
means travelling out and helping the desperate.
Unfortunately, there are a fair few armchair pundits who
are content to talk about it in their omnicasts from the
comfort of a core world, fundraise for their own causes
and do little else.
The Horizon Collective has a strong presence in the
system, both in collaboration with the NSC and on their
own initiative. They differ from the NSC mostly in that
Calliopeans see the NSC as a sometimes-helpful group
of outsiders, while local members of Horizon tend to be
seen as Calliopeans who just “have a thing.”
The Verdant Social Arc maintains a modest outreach,
but in truth it has more important things to worry about
than some backwater that doesn’t even vote in Union
elections. The Interstellar, Fourth Column and New
Humanity Front are nonentities in Calliope, each
considering it irrelevant for their own reasons.
SHARED STRUGGLE
A common theme of Calliopean culture is the idea that
all are part of a part of a shared struggle, whether or
not they act like it. There’s a saying: “the richest ass in
Calliope sits a day further from death.” Money can’t
patch a cracked hull, grow a pack of rice or replace
faulty air filters; only people can do that. Without the
expertise, ingenuity and bravery of the people around
them, no-one can survive.
Calliopean philosophy is clear: you need people, and
people need you, whether or not you admit it.
Calliopeans tend to be multi-talented, with nearly every
adult (and most children) knowing basic maintenance
and first aid. Common wisdom says anyone who’s
sixteen standard years old should know how to patch
an air leak, swap a water filter and treat acute radiation
sickness.
Most people on a station work shifts in maintenance
crews from time to time, but usually on simple tasks like
cleaning, part replacement and local patch jobs. For
more specialised or demanding work, there’s a large
contingent of dedicated engineers, mechanics and
technicians known to Calliopeans as “wrenchies.”
Wrenchies have their own subculture, with its own
dialect, and an array of colourful superstitions about
Calliope’s unreliable technology.
Outside of keeping a habitat and its people in one
piece, Calliopeans occupy their free time with pursuits
that can hold their attention and contribute something
to their community – music, art, writing, storytelling,
cooking, coding. Anything’s good, as long as it can
bring others joy as well. Either your hobby or your job
should give back to the community; ideally, both.
This theme pervades Calliope’s cultural output: a lot of
its songs and stories aren’t about a person, but people;
people in a tough situation, working together and
helping each other. A Metropolitan cultural writer once
pegged Calliope’s biggest cultural export as “catchy
work songs,” and while it was a gross generalisation, it
wasn’t without a hint of truth.
IMPROVISATION
Printers are expensive in both energy and materials,
and the ones in Calliope are outdated, inefficient and
constantly backlogged. The system’s manufacturing
base is piecemeal and scattershot, with part shortages
plaguing every industrial sector. In this climate, the
ability to reuse existing materials has become a distinct
cultural virtue.
Calliope’s early orbital habitats were ad hoc
constructions, built by necessity with equipment and
components not designed for the purpose. Once the
Calliope Project knew what it was working with, prefab
station kits were sent and deployed, but as the Pyrite
Age drew to a close, the system’s citizens were once
again forced to improvise. What was lying around had
to be sufficient – there was nothing else to use.
This emphasis on improvisation can be felt in every
aspect of Calliope’s culture, from obvious things like the
construction of stations and mechs to areas like music,
art and food.
Calliopean cuisine is adaptive – it has to be. You can’t
stake a business on selling tomato soup every day,
because come tomorrow there might not be any
tomatoes left. Food stands change their menus daily
because people need to be fed, and they can only cook
what’s available. If vent crab meat is all there is, you
need to cook it, and you need to add enough nutrition
that people stay healthy and enough flavour that people
can force it down. Calliopean chefs can often seem like
miracle workers given what they have to work with.
Nu-retro-stasiscore is a music genre that samples the
bland, generic, soothing music played on sleeper ships
just after you wake up from stasis, then chops and
remixes it into a sort of nostalgic, vibe-heavy chillout
track, often with rapped vocals.
One of Calliope’s stranger pastimes is “sigdiving” – a
mixture of signal analysis and hacking. Systems across
the Long Rim – Calliope in particular – are full of
forgotten satellites, server farms, broadcast towers,
wrecks, beacons and other junk that still has active
transceivers. Old transmissions are still bouncing
around, picked up and rebroadcast by a vast array of
repeater stations, from first-generation distress calls to
the decaying comm chatter of Armory-Barony fleet
[27]
 battles or Pyrite Age advertisements. Once in a while
there’s even transmissions from beyond the Long Rim,
dating back decades, centuries or even millennia.
There’s valuable data out there, hidden beneath
terabytes of garbage. Sigdivers search for it, sifting
through the noise like digital salvage crews. With
knowledge of what to look for and how to look for it, you
can pull blueprints, passcodes, military intelligence or
even paracode out of the wavelengths. Even the less
juicy stuff is still worth something – Calliope’s music
scene will pay a lot for genuine recovered audio
samples. A slim majority of Calliope’s sigdivers are
Horizon affiliates, but HORUS claims almost as many.
EXTERNAL PERCEPTION
Calliope, despite its position on the margins of Union,
is far from unknown. In fact, it might be one of the most
well-known systems in the Long Rim, occupying a
space in the public consciousness far exceeding its
political relevance.
Its largest, most profitable cultural export is mech
combat. The kind of live-fire mech brutality the galaxy
craves is illegal to conduct in many Union jurisdictions,
but it’s perfectly legal to watch. If you’re a decent
fighter, there’s a lot of money in making your robot
punch other robots. Mech arenas dot the system,
although the vast majority are concentrated on the
Icebreaker Borealis.
There are three major leagues in Calliope, known as
the Three Elements. The Moon Glacier League is
sponsored by the Board of Icebreaker, and as such has
an extravagant budget and lavish production quality.
The Thunderstorm League is sponsored jointly by SSC
and IPS-N, and so tends to feature a lot of their mechs.
The Hellfire League is entirely revenue-funded with no
major sponsors, so tends to be the least profitable, but
is supported by a large contingent of purists who
consider it a more “authentic” experience.
There are also a large number of omni shows set in
Calliope. It’s a popular place to set dramas and thrillers,
and this contributes to Calliope’s cultural visibility. It’s
relevant to note, however, that none of these shows are
actually filmed in Calliope, nor do they employ
Calliopean writers or actors, nor do Calliopeans receive
any of their profits.
There was a recent scandal where it came to light that
Ultima Ratio Motion Pictures had built a to-scale, fully
operational replica of Hell’s Gate for filming the third
season of The Life Incandescent. As Calliopean
political omnicaster Kady Amville put it: “they will pay
so much money to not pay us any money.”
Another problem arises from Calliopean representation
existing almost entirely outside their control: people
tend to form opinions about Calliopeans based on what
[28]
outsiders write about them, rather than Calliopeans
writing about themselves. The omni dramas portray
Calliope as a place rife with deprivation and violence –
which, to be fair, it is. But moments of Calliopean joy,
solidarity and warmth are rarely shown. There’s an
almost pornographic obsession with suffering,
portraying all Calliopeans as either hapless victims,
sneering criminals or a razor-thin margin of troubled
anti-heroes.
In recent years, however, Calliopeans have started to
speak for themselves. Calliopean music, poetry and
fiction, already having achieved subcultural success in
Union’s core, is now going mainstream. The explosive
popularity of Calliopean omnicasts such as Kady
Amville’s Oh, And By The Way or Ipswich DeLacey’s
Live From The Long Rim have inspired other
omnicasters throughout the system. The Board of
Icebreaker is bankrolling its own motion picture studio,
which promises to employ only local talent and writers.
THE DUALITY
The Duality of the Tyrant and the Saint, often just
“the Duality”, is an ancient philosophical concept with
an unclear genesis. It consists of two texts, The Tyrant
Upon the Mountain and The Saint Upon the
Mountain, two stories that appear to be at once the
same and very different. They revolve around a
character who bears no name other than “the Tyrant”
or “the Saint,” respectively.
The world in which the character lives is ruined by the
greed, corruption and selfishness of the rich and
powerful. The character possesses “a great power,” the
nature of which is not elaborated upon except to note
that “neither science nor faith” could explain it.
The stories diverge at this point, with the Tyrant using
their power to wage an unrestrained and destructive
war of revenge against their oppressors, heedless of
collateral damage. Meanwhile, the Saint uses their
power to protect the marginalised and uplift the victims
of injustice.
The stories converge again after each character’s
respective victory. Both characters withdraw to
seclusion atop a mountain, with the Tyrant leaving only
to punish disobedience and the Saint never leaving at
all. A commoner comes to the mountain to ask a
question of the character, with both question and
answer varying depending on which text is read.
The commoner asks the Tyrant why, coming from a
world of suffering and pain, they didn’t use their great
power to heal it, instead of brutalising it further. The
Tyrant answers that they cannot trust the world to be a
better place – it had its opportunity to change for itself,
and it didn’t. The only world the Tyrant can imagine is
a world that bows down before someone, and that
someone might as well be the Tyrant.
The commoner asks the Saint why, with all the good
they’ve done for the world, they don’t participate in it.
The Saint answers that they saw what concentrated
power is capable of – it created the society they fought
against. If they once again immersed themselves in the
world, they fear they would feel too great a temptation
to control it, under the pretext of ensuring mistakes
were not made. At some point, the Saint insists, they
must trust in others.
The story ends with the commoner leaving the
mountain changed, and a heavy implication that either
the Tyrant or that Saint’s power has somehow
transferred to them.
Where exactly the Duality comes from is a subject of
massive scholarly debate. It recurs in so many distinct
and physically distant cultures that its origin must be
pre-Fall, but there’s no text in the Massif Vaults that
closely matches it. Efforts to find or reconstruct an
original version have failed.
A popular fringe theory is that it’s a “convergent meme,”
an idea so fundamental that many societies will
develop it independently over a long enough timescale.
This isn’t as strange as it sounds; after all, the stories
discuss fairly common human experiences. The Tyrant
is a story about abuse creating abusers. The Saint is a
story about planting trees whose shade you’ll never sit
in. Both are stories about the fear of power changing
the people who wield it.
The Duality has also been derided by critics as “one of
the most damaging concepts in academic philosophy,”
given that it suggests that the only two paths for a
revolutionary post-revolution are “turning into
something worse” or “turning into an embittered loner.”
It’s often used as a poster child for arguments against
dualism in general.
Another critique of the Duality is that the protagonists
of both stories are obviously the same person. What
appears to be two stories is in fact just one with two
interpretations. What’s curious is that this appears to
have been intentional; both parts of the Duality appear
to have been the work of a single author.
In the Long Rim, there’s a popular identification with the
commoner: an often-overlooked character with little
agency, whose only notable act is to ask a powerful
entity why they’re not helping. There’s a strong
association of the Saint with Union, but in an unkind
interpretation: a weak character who could do a lot
more to help if they weren’t so terrified of their own
power. The Tyrant is the water barons, the pirate
bands, the landlords: people stuck in the same
hellscape as everyone else, just using what power they
have to make things worse.
In Calliope, the Duality is many things. Conmen sell
ancient-looking “original texts” to the gullible.
Wrenchies debate it to pass the time on repair jobs.
HORUS trolls attempt to place public figures into either
“Tyrant” or “Saint” categories (the “why Jerry Masters
is the Tyrant” thread was locked after 12,239 pages of
furious debate). here.
[29]
 ELSEWHERE
Calliope might be a place you go to escape wherever it
was you came from, but you never truly escape that.
You carry it with you, in memories, in the food you cook
and the way you speak. Calliope’s culture and history
is shaped in part by the places people come to it from.
Obviously, you could come to Calliope from just about
everywhere, but there are some places that have had
far more historical impact on it than others.
AUN
The troubles in Boundary Garden are pushing more
and more of its citizens to flee, and for many of them,
the best place to flee is as far away from Aunic space
as humanly possible – thus, the small but notable
presence of Aunic peoples in Calliope.
Most Aunic Calliopeans (“Calliopiauns”) are former
citizens of the Aun Ecumene and its government-in-
exile on Cornucopia, but there are a few expatriates
from the Ascendancy too. The complex religious and
political tensions between these groups have also been
imported, and are as confusing to Calliopeans as they
are to anyone else outside Aunic space.
IPS-N
Interplanetary Shipping-Northstar is firmly dedicated to
delivering outstanding products with unparalleled
quality of service in a no-nonsense package, ensuring
swift, safe, secure delivery to any point in the galaxy.
While Smith-Shimano obsess over form and Harrison
Armory loses itself in its political delusions, IPS-N is
here for one thing only: to deliver raw functionality.
Which is to say that while the other corprostates have
complex motivations, there’s nothing to IPS-N but pure,
unfeeling capitalism.
Calliopeans with a background in IPS-N tend to be here
for one of two reasons: they’re here temporarily as part
of an assignment, or they’re someone IPS-N wants rid
of. The majority of the Long Rim’s nadir shipping routes
pass through Calliope and so IPS-N needs a regional
office there, but nobody wants to work there. Thusly,
reassignment to the Calliopean branch office is a
common threat made to underperforming admin
workers; it’s rarely carried out, but it’s not never.
Likewise, unpopular or low-value crew members on
IPS-N vessels often get a “Calliope layover” – their ship
departs without them. They’re told the next one with a
personnel vacancy will be along in a few months, but
the writing is on the wall: if your last ship didn’t want
you, the next one won’t either.
[30]
IPS-N Calliopeans (“Callipsans”) tend to split along one
major line: whether they’re still trying to impress the
corporation that marooned them here, or whether
they’ve turned their backs on it and are trying to make
the best of things.
HARRISON ARMORY
The shining jewel of the Purview, Ras Shamra is a
world that exemplifies Harrison Armory’s worldview:
frozen stagnation on one side, hellfire chaos on the
other, and in the middle, a razor-thin line of beauty,
civilization and order. It is this tightrope, so is the word
of Harrison, that Man must walk.
The thing about tightropes, though, is that it’s easy to
fall off. Get enough demerits on your Social, and the
Purview is no longer a kind and welcoming place. There
are a dozen clichéd stories, but they become clichés for
a reason: asked the wrong question, looked at the
wrong file, upset the wrong superior, turned down the
wrong street at the wrong time. Wynyard became a
pariah for writing a poem; it could happen to you, too.
Nobody tells you this, but your Social can get to a point
where it’s basically unfixable. How can you earn credit
when the military won’t accept a “delinquent,” and no
civilian business will employ you either? They ding you
for vagrancy, but most of the better housing requires a
Social you don’t have. If you live in the rural tenements,
you can’t get on public transit with a score so low.
You could go to Union. Union claims to house and feed
everyone, but the Purview told you a lot of horror stories
about the “debriefings” Union inflicts on former Purview
citizens. Maybe that was just propaganda, but you don’t
want to take that risk. Defect to the Karrakin? Oh, sure,
live the rest of your life as a traitor in the one place in
the universe that hates you more than your former
colleagues. There are no good options.
They won’t let you migrate to the Dawnline Shore,
either; nobody wants a failure in the brave new world
the Purview’s building there. But a lot of the transports
heading out that way accept anyone as a workhand, so
long as you’re very clear on the fact that you’ll be
getting off halfway, in the Long Rim.
How well a former citizen of the Purview fits in around
Calliope is determined by humility and outlook. Diehard
Armory loyalists or those who look down on Long Rim
residents as “savages” are unlikely to find much
welcome, even among their Purview fellows. But others
accept that, just like everyone else here, they’ve been
discarded. Nobody who lives here is special, but
everyone who lives here is important.

NESTOR
Nestor is a Diasporan planet in the Himalaya Line. It
was host to a reasonably advanced capitalist
civilization that had been in the early stages of
exploring its star system when a Union recontact team
found them, approximately six decades ago.
The culture shock of a vast interstellar society of fellow
humans living in post-scarcity was immense. It caused
a sea change in the planet’s politics, culminating in the
rise of the Forefront, a militant fascist movement.
Over the following decade, the Forefront seized control
of one of the world’s most powerful governments, then
used its military and foreign intelligence services to
undertake subsequent regime changes across the
planet. While the stated aim of the Forefront was to
safeguard against “meddling” by Union, it was really to
protect the supremacy of the current order.
Eventually, the Forefront became so violent and
draconian that a coalition of citizens appealed directly
to the Central Committee for aid, citing multiple
atrocities and violations of the Utopian Pillars. After two
years of heated debate, Central Committee consented
to direct intervention.
However, when the Union detachment arrived, they
discovered the situation had devolved significantly.
Travelling to Nestor had taken almost a decade, during
which the Forefront had used the “treasonous” actions
of the coalition as a pretext to suspend human rights in
more than a dozen of its occupied territories.
Complicating matters further, the Albatross had arrived
six years prior, but found themselves drastically
outnumbered and several platoons were captured,
allowing the Forefront to reverse-engineer coldcores
and chassis technology from captured Albatross
equipment, eventually developing its own mechs. The
Union detachment was forced into a tense guerilla war,
vastly outnumbered by a force which was much closer
to technological parity than they had prepared for.
The Nestor Intervention lasted nearly five years. Union
won, of course; the Forefront had never really stood a
chance. But for many Nestorians, it hadn’t looked much
like a humanitarian intervention. At best it had been a
troubled attempt to help; at worst, devils had come to
their world in iron giants and torn it to pieces.
Throughout the Intervention, many Nestorians tried to
escape both the Forefront and Union, and fled to the
Long Rim. Calliope, being a well-known stopover with
the Rim’s only planetary settlement, was a popular
choice. The estimated number of first-generation
Nestorian refugees in Calliope is thought to be at least
two hundred thousand, possibly as high as a million.
A lot of Nestorians are still coming to terms with modern
technology – they come from a world where the internet
was a recent invention and commercial air travel is less
than a century old. Mechs were an alien terror on their
world. Nearlight travel and AI were science fiction. Cold
fusion was the domain of quacks. “Paracausality” had
never even been heard of. It’s a strange new world, and
sometimes a terrifying one too.
PALLAS
As pre-Fall Cradle consumed itself in the fires of climate
apocalypse, the Ten fled, seeking new homes for
humanity in the vastness of space. But there were more
than ten, for not every such ship was recorded in the
Massif Vaults.
One such vessel was known only as Flagship, and it
journeyed very far, for untold millennia. Inside its belly,
there grew the Kingdom Aniline, under the rule of a long
lineage of monarchs with the same face and voice. This
was the Copyclanarchy: each king would clone himself
many times, and choose one heir from amongst them.
But after seventy centuries and four hundred light years
had passed and the Flagship had finally reached its
promised land, disaster struck. The king died without
appointing his chosen successor, and more than a
hundred clones went to war over who would be named
heir. This brutal war ended in the coronation of the man
widely hailed as the best ruler the Kingdom ever had.
Ever since, the world of Pallas has selected its next
ruler through no-holds-barred clone deathmatches.
This has, of course, contributed to the planet’s bizarre
reputation even compared to other strange Diasporan
planets – a neofeudal empire sprawled across a lush,
bountiful world, forever ruled by echoes of one man.
ThirdComm would’ve intervened centuries ago, if there
hadn’t always been more pressing issues whenever the
subject of Pallas came up – and Pallas is in contention
for the largest navy of any Diasporan state. Union
would win, of course, but it’d be no pushover. After
Nestor, the taste for costly interventions has soured.
Currently, however, there seems to be some sort of
political strife. Details are hazy, but a lot of Pallasi
citizens are fleeing to the Long Rim, speaking of some
kind of succession crisis. Apparently, one of the clones
ran away from the Battle Royal, and as long as he’s still
at large somewhere in the universe, none of the other
contenders can inherit the throne.
[31]
 SMITH-SHIMANO CORPRO
There’s a riddle, a century and a half old: why is SSC
so interested in Calliope?

On first glance, the question seems like a contradiction.

SSC isn’t interested in Calliope. It ditched its stake in
Calliope during the Second Wave like all the other big
corpros, and most of its subsidiaries don’t sell their
products anywhere in the Long Rim. In fact, of all the
various unpleasant corporate influences Calliope has
to deal with, SSC is the least prominent among them.

So why do they maintain a branch office here at all?

Why are so many of its products available in Calliope,
at great cost to the corporation, when almost nobody
here is rich enough to buy them? Why does it co-fund
an entire mech fighting league with IPS-N? There’s got
to be some reason SSC is hanging around.

If confronted with this evidence, most Calliopeans will

assume it’s “probably just typical weird SSC eugenics
shit” and continue about their day – they’ve got bigger
things to worry about.

Calliopeans from the Constellation (“Connies”) are a

small but notable group, easily distinguishable from
their peers in that they seem to have a lot more money
than others – although that doesn’t always translate to
actual wealth in Calliope, where money is in less
demand than functional goods.

[32]
GET THIS WRECK A-ROLLIN’:

RUNNING THE CAMPAIGN

Several light-years from the edge of the Dawnline Shore and slightly further from the Rao Co blink station, the
system of Calliope sits at the mid-point of the Long Rim’s nadir transit route.

Like the rest of the Long Rim, it’s a backwater, far removed from the lofty idealism of Union, the ancient splendour
of the Karrakin Trade Baronies or the imperialistic dreams of Harrison Armory. Many people don’t even recognise
the name, and those that do know it mostly as somewhere you pass through to get somewhere else.

But millions of people live there. Millions of people, clinging on for dear life with only a few feet of metal and plastic
between them and the vacuum of space. They all have stories, hopes and dreams, and they’re no less important
than any Metropolitan’s.
 THE BASICS
CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE
In Golden Flame begins in early 5016u with the player
characters at Licence Level 0. The campaign is split
into three Acts, the first of which plays out in this book.
Act 1 covers Tier 1 play from LL 0-5. It introduces
players and their characters to the mechanics of
Lancer, the setting of Calliope and the primary
antagonists, the Cult of the One. It culminates in a
battle that hints at the full extent of the Cult’s
capabilities and ambitions.
Act 2 will cover Tier 2 play from LL 5-9. Stones are
thrown into Calliope’s pond as several new factions
arrive, each presenting their own opportunities and
dangers to the system’s residents. While the team
contend with these newcomers, they must also recruit
allies and strengthen Calliope against the rapidly-
encroaching Cult. These preparations will be put to the
test during a climactic assault on their home.
Act 3 will cover Tier 3 play from LL9-12. This is the
endgame. The Cult is now in open war with the rest of
the system as it rushes to achieve its final, apocalyptic
vision. Lives hang in the balance, and the player
characters must pit their war machines against the
servants of an awakening god.
ACT 1
Act 1 should begin with a Session Zero (p. ), where
players collaborate on developing their characters,
working out their backstories and establishing safety
tools.
Chapter 1: The Tachyon Returns (p. ) starts with a
crisis on Hell’s Gate: the station’s only printer is broken,
and its absence is already causing major problems.
Once the team have dealt with them, they must go in
search of a replacement part. Their search takes them
to the outer system, to a recently discovered ghost ship
– a ship also sought by Andros Capella, one of the
system’s most vicious pirates. A fight ensues, which
ends in the ship’s destruction and Capella’s death, for
which the team are assumed to be responsible.
Chapter 2: Fire and Ice (p. ) picks up a few weeks
later. Rita, station director on the Icebreaker Borealis,
wishes to hire the team off the back of their recent
elimination of Capella. Something nefarious is
happening on the Icebreaker, and she wants the them
to deal with it. In the course of their investigation, the
team meet the Cult of the One, a fanatical religious
sect with apocalyptic intentions. Right now, they mean
to use the Borealis’ old mining laser to crack open a
nearby moon, which they claim will aid their god.
[34]
Chapter 3: Some Sick Game (p. ) begins in the midst
of a spate of abductions, perpetrated by Calliope’s local
capitalist tyrant Rodericke Steele. He means to force
them to fight to the death in a new mech-centric blood
sport. The pirate queen Mistress Elske hires the team
to put a stop to these ambitions, and they must travel
to Asphodel and journey across its vast wilderness to
launch an assault on Steele’s arena.
Chapter 4: Circuit Breaker (p. ) takes place two
months later. Hell’s Gate has been awarded a lucrative
mining contract, but it’s a poison chalice; there’s
something very wrong with the facility they’ve been
asked to work at. It’s deep in the territory of The
Circuit, a gang of piratical technocultists, and the
previous outfit that worked on this contract can’t be
reached for comment. In fact, the whole of The Circuit
has gone quiet as well. The team must delve into the
mine and see what’s gone wrong.
Chapter 5: The Herald of Change (p. ) brings all the
plot threads that have been gathering over the course
of Act 1 together. A group of desperate pirates shows
up, claiming that after the team killed Andros Capella,
the Cult of the One seized control of their home base,
Fort Cerberus and started constructing some kind of
diabolical machine. Citizens of Hell’s Gate have been
abducted to bear witness to a ritual. The local omninet
is going crazy. The team must travel to the Fort and put
a stop to this before it gets out of hand. But a familiar
face is waiting for them… Andros Capella.
The End of Act 1 section (p. ) allows the team some
time to decompress and reflect on the events of the
past five chapters, and sets up some of the plot threads
that will be taken into Act 2.
PREPARATION
Take some time to read through this book before you
run In Golden Flame. It doesn’t need to be in detail –
just enough to get a general feel for the events of the
campaign.

THE FLEXIBLE UNIVERSE
A small but central conceit of In Golden Flame is a truth
that exists across every possible iteration of this story:
Someone always steps up to defend Calliope.
One day not too long ago, the current (acting) station
director of Hell’s Gate asked for volunteers from among
the station’s militia to form a special operations team.
Calliope was getting darker and more violent, and a day
would surely come when he needed an ace in the hole.
In many timelines, that station director is Jerry Masters,
but not always; sometimes he’s one of the volunteers.
Sometimes he’s not there at all. There are timelines
where just about every one of the NPCs detailed in this
book volunteered.
There is a timeline for every player character that was
and will ever be made for this campaign. The conditions
of the world change just a little to accommodate their
position on the team. Maybe someone is alive who
would otherwise be dead, or the opposite. Maybe a
conversation decades ago went just so.
The only thing that needs to be true about a player
character is that they were there on that day, they
volunteered and were chosen.
[35]
 THE FAITH OF THE ONE
The Faith of the One Plumed in Golden Flame, often
simply “the Faith of the One,” is the campaign’s
primary antagonistic force. Put simply, the Faith of the
One is an apocalyptic religion: its core belief is that the
universe will soon be destroyed. This isn’t particularly
rare in the Long Rim; it’s very easy for people to believe
the world is close to its end when they’re already stuck
in a hostile void, struggling to survive.
The Faith’s dogma holds that the universe is cyclical,
and that the current cycle is nearing its end, as
evidenced by an increasing amount of needless
suffering. The Faith sees the coming “Great Flame” not
as an ending, but a new beginning, and like their
exemplar the phoenix, members of the Faith will be
reborn from the ashes, into a better and kinder
existence. In fact, everyone will, but those who’ve had
time to prepare will have much more control over the
form they assume in the new world.
The Faith isn’t native to Calliope. Common history
places its founding about two hundred years ago in
Djall, another system in the Long Rim. Over the course
of ten years, the prophet Idlir Hisari made three
separate predictions of the world’s ending, all of which
did not come to pass. He was murdered in the process
of writing a fourth, but the religion he founded outlasted
him and spread beyond Djall.
Union’s promise of utopia has not reached the Long
Rim and in the gap that it’s left, the Faith is excellent at
community outreach. Their public sermons have bread
– real bread! – and they’re short enough that they don’t
feel like a time investment.
The Faith’s evangelists are deeply empathetic, willing
to listen to the fears and woes of the Long Rim’s
people, and they often become pillars of community.
Perhaps their rhetoric is a little fiery, but they never
blame you for the misery you find yourself in. Perhaps
you have sinned, but nobody deserves the misery that
people in the Long Rim experience daily, they declare.
A world that allows such cruelty and injustice when it
could so easily stop it has no right to exist.
Members of the Faith are also politically and socially
active. Whenever the landlords jack up the rent,
whenever the air and water barons gouge their captive
consumers, whenever tyrannical station directors
attempt to clamp down, the Faith is there. Its adherents
are the first into any fray, throwing themselves against
station enforcers, subalterns, even mechanised
chassis, often with nothing but their own bodies. The
Faith’s zealots protect innocents, often at a high cost to
themselves – but it’s a cost they seem unafraid to pay.
[36]
A character who’s spent time in the Long Rim will likely
know all of this, but a little bit of historical investigation
can dig up some more specific facts.
THE FULL HISTORY
The Faith didn’t start in Djall, and it wasn’t the creation
of Idlir Hisari. They’re certainly a part of it, but most
elements of the Faith are older – much older. The
image of the firebird existed in cultures ancient even to
pre-Fall society. A lot of Cradle’s early historical record
has been lost, but that might be irrelevant: the firebird
likely predates recorded history altogether.
Hisari’s efforts were actually an attempt to unify the
canon of a variety of pre-existing religions that all held
beliefs related to cyclic rebirth, firebirds or
apocalypticism. This explains the sudden, explosive
growth of his movement: he wasn’t recruiting converts
from scratch, he was uniting existing faiths.
While he was alive, he held an obsessive authorial grip
on the canon, ensuring that elements that were
“impure” in his mind didn’t “pollute” it. Once he died,
however, elements from other religious movements
quickly crept in, and the Faith once again splintered into
a variety of sects – but all of them drastically changed
by Hisari’s brief tenure as prophet.
After Hisari’s death, three major viewpoints arose.
Firstly, the Abandoners, who branded Hisari a false
prophet, and declared his teachings void. Secondly, the
Imperfect Hisarii felt that though Hisari’s prophecies
were incorrect he was still a worthy philosopher and
spiritual leader. Finally, there were the Perfect Hisarii,
who insisted Hisari’s prophecies were accurate and
should have come to pass, but some outside agency
prevented their fulfilment.
The Faith are a branch of the Perfect Hisarii, to whom
Hisari’s prophecies were infallible but for the meddling
of a malevolent external force which they generally
refer to as “the Leviathan.” Where they differ from
other Perfect Hisarii is their belief that they can bring
the prophecies to pass through direct action; that is,
they’re actively trying to end the universe.
ESOTERIC DIRECT ACTION
By Union standards, the Faith may be classified as a
technocult in three ways: they treat technology as
having a divine element, their approach to technology
is layered in mysticism, and they believe that
technology is a valid tool for carrying out the will of the
divine. This is a major break from the doctrine of the
original Perfect Hisarii, who were ascetic
technophobes.
The Faith also holds a strong belief in magic, or will-
working: the application of ritual to affect reality.
Trusted adherents of the faith are introduced to a series
of increasingly complex esoteric practices that purport
to allow the reshaping of reality to one’s will. These
practices are also meant to allow one to control the
form one will incarnate in, once the new cycle begins.
But for all the grandiose talk, most of the Faith’s efforts
to “destroy the universe” take the form of elaborate and
harmless magical rituals intended to speed the process
of ending the current cycle, and ensure their place in
the next. As far as anyone can tell, these rituals have
no actual effect on the world other than making their
practitioners feel better about themselves.
This is the maximum extent of what even the most well-
informed PCs will know. But there is another dimension
to the Faith, one hidden from public view.
THE INNER CULT
Since the Faith believes the will of the divine is the end
of the universe, and that technology is a suitable tool
for enacting divine will, certain members are actively
engaged in the search for technology that might end
the universe. These are the Inner Cult.
As it turns out, despite the ample number of horrific
weapons that humanity has created over the millennia,
none even come close to the power required to destroy
the universe. It’s also vitally important to the Faith that
the process be as quick and painless as possible.
Needless suffering is, after all, one of the core reasons
the Faith believes this universe needs to be destroyed
in the first place.
The Firmament, blinkspace, prophetic technology and
paracausal phenomena are all key areas of interest to
the Cult. As such, experts in those fields who come out
to the Long Rim (and you would be surprised how
common that is) tend to be priority targets for
recruitment, willing or otherwise. Competent scientists
can easily obtain positions of authority and respect in
the Faith, so long as their work shows promise.
The Cult is unshackled from conventional morality
under a principle they call the Dispensation. While
they still claim to believe that unnecessary suffering
must be avoided, they consider almost any suffering
necessary, so long as it serves the goal of bringing the
Great Flame. The Dispensation does not permit
Cultists to freely kill and steal, but it does permit
targeting of the otherwise innocent to preserve
operational security, secure resources or suppress
opposition.
None of this is known to the greater Faith, as their
ignorance provides a shield of plausible deniability for
the Cult’s clandestine activities.
For a clandestine religious organisation, the Cult’s
scientific corpus is astounding. They’ve independently
developed stable blinkspace tunnelling technology that
allows instant travel between two fixed points in space
– the “Fire Gates.” Throughout the Long Rim, there
exists a network of these gateways that allow the Cult
to move personnel and equipment quickly between star
systems. The scale of this network is limited only by
resources, power demand and the need for secrecy.
The Inner Cult operates in a cell structure, known as
“Sects,” similar to organisations such as the HORUS
and Horizon, although with much stronger ideological
unity. Previously, there was no central leadership to the
Inner Cult – each cell was co-ordinated locally, and
handled its own affairs.
This arrangement changed abruptly when the Calliope
Sect made direct contact with the Faith’s god.
THE FALLEN FEATHER
Feather isn’t from here, neither our place nor our time.
She came here in the Tachyon, a ship from four
hundred years in the future. She doesn’t speak of her
history in specifics, only that she was imprisoned and
abused by malevolent forces. That part is certainly true.
Wherever and whenever she comes from, they didn’t
treat NHPs well there. The rest is less certain.
Feather remembers it thusly: sometime shortly after
5030u, blinkspace vanished. Blink gates, the Omninet,
and anything else that relied on it instantly and
permanently stopped working. Connected humanity
was once again stranded, locked to the speed of light,
and Union’s Third Committee swiftly collapsed.
In its place, the Fourth Committee arose on a world
that had long awaited this day: Ras Shamra. An
organisation calling itself “the Council of Tyrants”
came to prominence, declaring a mandate to reunite
Union. They were using the word “Tyrant” in an ancient
sense: great men who, in times of crisis, were forced to
seize the reins of power and set things right.
Of course, the “crisis” was never going to end. The
Council of Tyrants assumed total control of Cradle, Ras
Shamra, and a dozen other worlds. With
communication and travel once again restricted to the
speed of light, fleet admirals were given absolute
authority over colonies to which they were sent to
“restore order.” The measures they imposed would
have made even SecComm balk.
As the decades and centuries passed, there were an
increasing number of calls among the Council to find
some replacement for blinkspace travel and
communication, if only to allow for more efficient
empire-building. To this end, research into tachyonics,
a long-dormant field of FTL technology, was reopened.
[37]
 It showed early promise. Within a decade, planets
separated by dozens of light-years were able to send
messages to each other with only a couple of hours’
delay, albeit at a very low bitrate. Within twenty years,
a few hundred megabytes of information could be sent
instantaneously. But the Council demanded more.
They wanted warships moving that fast. The Tachyon
was the prototype, the vanguard that would take the
technology to the next level.
Feather was the slave they put inside to make it work.
It wasn’t that FourthComm didn’t treat its NHPs like
people – FourthComm barely treated most humans like
people. But given the weight of expectations placed
upon the project, Feather was treated with particular
impatience and scorn. The project lead, Jeanette
Mkondo, reacted to any mistake or delay on Feather’s
part with brutal punishment. In such an environment,
it’s no surprise that Feather underwent cascade.
Despite her bitter hatred of Dr. Mkondo, Feather still
tried to warn her of the impending catastrophe –
warnings that were, of course, ignored. Within seconds
of hitting cascade threshold, Feather had seized control
of the ship and initiated a jump while the Tachyon was
still in dry dock. Feather didn’t just jump somewhere
else in space, though: seeing spacetime from an
unshackled perspective, she accidentally locked on to
the transceiver of an IPS-N mining ship in the Long
Rim, four hundred years ago.
THE TRUTH AND “THE TRUTH”
As a GM, Feather’s “true” past is ultimately up to
you. The story here is the default answer, but
Feather is in deep cascade, suffering the trauma of
a lifetime of mistreatment and subject to serious cult
indoctrination. She’s certainly not a reliable narrator.
As long as it explains her behaviour and motivations,
any explanation for how she and the Tachyon
arrived here is as likely as any other. Her original
name might not even be “Feather.”
The Tachyon could be a relic of SecComm, a
contemporary Harrison Armory research project, or
any number of other things. Perhaps Feather tells
different stories at different times.
THE FALSE GOD
After spacing the ship’s crew and executing Mkondo,
Feather was alone. A smaller ship lay speared on the
prow, but there was nothing she could do about it. The
Tachyon had suffered severe internal damage from the
jump sequence, and its propulsion systems were
offline. She dared not open communications with
anyone in the system – with long-range sensors offline,
she couldn’t work out exactly where she was. Anyone
in the system could easily be enemies, waiting to drag
her back to FourthComm. All she could do was wait.
[38]
Then she heard it: a voice from the void, speaking of
the needless suffering people endured. A voice that
resonated with righteous fury, of an anger borne from
seeing misery and pain that could have been avoided.
It was the most beautiful thing Feather had ever heard
in her life. But there was a sadness in the voice as well,
a yearning to hear someone calling back.
Feather recrafted herself in the image of the god that
the voice so desperately sought. She burst from her
containment module, gorged herself on the Ardent
Weasel’s reactor and then set off in search of the
followers who so desperately needed her.
The One Plumed In Golden Flame appeared during a
sermon by Ignatius Aurum, a radical leader among
both the mainstream Faith and the Inner Cult. She was
there, at long last, to answer their prayers and deliver
the promised Great Flame.
Other Sects were dubious at first, but the One Plumed
In Golden Flame – “Feather,” as she called herself –
could transit the Fire Gates, and so appeared to various
Sects in turn to prove her authenticity. This was not all:
she gave wondrous gifts to her faithful. She blessed the
weapons and armour of her followers with untold power
and resilience. She showed the Inner Faith’s greatest
scientists technology beyond their wildest dreams.
And to the Chosen, her most trusted acolytes, she
gave the greatest gift of all. None of her devout had
ever feared death, but they no longer had to fear failure
either, for now she can bring them back from death.
The Inner Cult now works with unmatched fervour, and
is starting to operate more openly. Calliope, Feather
insists, is where the Great Flame shall begin, and all
the Faith’s efforts must assist the local Sect. In Calliope
itself, the Faith’s strongholds hum with activity.
There are still some doubts, though: Feather doesn’t
always act like the religious texts said she would. Some
of the things she’s doing aren’t consistent with the
prophecies. Those doubts, curiously, don’t tend to last
for long. The doubters either change their minds or
abruptly fall silent.
CHAPTER 1:

THE TACHYON RETURNS

The dull buzz of the alarm cuts like a knife. You open your eyes, and then close them again. It feels like you just
laid down. It can’t possibly be morning already. Just five more minutes, surely. The alarm sounds again, and you
curse all your ancient ancestors for unlocking the secrets of fire, wheeled locomotion and digital chronometers.
You’re tired, so deeply tired, and you want to sleep in today. The alarm sounds yet again, and defeated, you
surrender and haul yourself out of bed.

You immediately bash your head on the ceiling of your bunk. You always forget. Your cabin is cramped like a prison
cell, three and a half metres long, two metres wide and two metres tall, and it has to cram a bunk, a desk, storage
bins, a personal console, a shower-toilet cubicle and your hardsuit locker into that space. You know what, scratch
that prison cell thing – not even the cruellest brig designer would make a hole this cramped.

But keep your perspective here: as far as this station goes, you live in luxury. You have all this space to yourself,
your own shower and your own toilet. Most people in the Gate are living two to a room, and they all have to share
the facilities with three other cabins. Thank goodness you know how to pilot a mech, right? That’s what gets you
seven whole square metres to call your own.

You grope in the darkness for the light switch, and it flickers. Once, twice, three times, and you feel your heart sink
in the split seconds of darkness, but then it flares to life, and you feel only a moment of relief. It took maintenance
a week to fix the lights last time they did this. Something to worry about later. You grab your dataslate and check
today’s work schedule.

Yep, even though you’re a pilot, they can’t just have you sitting around idle on days you aren’t in the cockpit. There’s
always something going wrong on the station, and you’ve presumably got a pair of hands that can hold a wrench.
Today you’re on air filter duty with the rest of your fireteam – dirty, ugly work, little better than wastewater
maintenance. Might as well not bother with the shower until you’re finished.

You fish out a reasonably clean jumpsuit, clamber into it, then grab your sturdiest pair of work boots and start to
lace up. Welcome, as they say, to another day in Hell.

[39]
 BEAT 1:
ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE
You step out of your cramped little cabin, into
another day full of backbreaking toil just to keep
Hell’s Gate alive.
Everything’s falling apart. The foundries run at lower
efficiency every week. The heat management
system is half a century past due for replacement.
People report which part of the station they’re in by
reading the error code off the nearest computer
screen. The vent crab infestation is so bad some
people have suggested just training them to show up
for work shifts. There’s been power failures in
Section 3B every day for a month.
Oh, and last week, the printer broke, so there’s that.
RISE AND SHINE
Start by introducing the players to Hell’s Gate – it will
be their characters’ home for most of the campaign, so
they should get familiar with it. The PCs have lived here
long enough to get recruited into the station militia’s
Strategic Response Team, so have them play out a few
scenes and vignettes showcasing the station, their
characters, and the relationship between both.
STATION LAYOUT
Hell’s Gate consists of a swarming maze of material
processing facilities about seven kilometres long,
capped on each end by a docking bay and a rotating
habitation ring.
Directions on Hell’s Gate are usually referred to in
reference to “fore” and “aft,” referring to the forward and
rear docking bays and hab rings. The fore of the station
was supposed to point in the general direction of
whatever it was mining, ideally with the aft pointing
away from Stygia’s gravity well. The last time the
station had its facing adjusted was an emergency
manoeuvre more than half a century ago, and nobody
knows if it would survive a repeat performance.
Mag-train lines run the length of the mid-station,
allowing quick transport of goods and personnel across
the station. It usually takes about twenty minutes for a
mag-train to go from fore to aft, stopping at every
terminal, but a militia emergency override can get you
anywhere on the track in just under five minutes. Jerry
frowns on misuse of this privilege.
There are safe thoroughfares for “on-foot” personnel,
but rare is the Gater who wants to travel seven
kilometres in zero-g unassisted.
[40]
The station was designed back when mechanised
chassis were first becoming common, and so there are
specially-rated train cars large enough to carry four
Size 1 mechs or two Size 2 mechs. Size 3 mechs
weren’t a thing at the time, but you can just about
squeeze one of them into a car if it’s lying down. Since
mechs aren’t usually needed outside the docking bays,
the mech cars aren’t used often.
The hab rings are just over 1400 metres in diameter,
rotating at 1.1 rotations per minute. The rings spin
oppositionally, clockwise from the perspective of
someone looking out of their associated docking bay.
This motion is tuned to provide a more or less perfect
1g of artificial gravity, although it’s fast enough that a
few sensitive individuals – mostly visitors – get motion
sickness, or “the spins.”
Directions on the rings are “spin” and “antispin,” with
“down” pointing outwards from and “up” pointing
inwards to the axis of spin. The rings are divided into
three decks, with the upper deck being dedicated
almost exclusively to agricultural spaces and grow
houses, the mid deck dedicated mostly to habitation
and business and the lower deck mostly to
maintenance and life support.
Hell’s Gate has several turreted kinetic and directed-
energy weapons mounted across its hull, designed to
give full coverage against encroaching debris, rock
fragments and micrometeoroids. Although they aren’t
officially rated for such a purpose, they can also put
holes in pirate mechs and subline vessels if they need
to. They’d struggle to make a dent in capital vessels,
but pirates don’t tend to have many of those.
The station’s long-range mining laser used to be
mounted on a turret above the frontside docking bay,
but back during the Demon Winter of 4992, the Hell
Hounds stole it as they left and nobody’s seen it since.
LOCATIONS
FORWARD DOCKING BAY
The Gate’s forward docking bay (colloquially, “The
Mouth”) was meant to be oriented towards whatever
the station was currently mining, but that was a long
time ago. Mining vessels would arrive, drop their cargo
of raw ore, refuel and leave for another run while the
ore was funnelled into the station’s cavernous
refineries. That still happens, although at a vastly
diminished rate. At its peak, the station was sending out
five or six ships a day - nowadays it’s lucky to get a
couple through in a week.
FORWARD HAB RING
The forward hab ring is by far the least well-maintained
of the two, a fact that rankles the station’s Miners Union
something fierce given that most of them live there. It’s
still airtight, just about, but there’s leaks in both the
potable and waste water lines and the various grow-
houses and hydroponics farms are pinched by
materials shortages that don’t seem to hit the aft ring
as hard. Thing is, Jerry’s not blind to these problems;
he lives here too.
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
The middle of the station is occupied by a several-
kilometre long tangle of refineries, smelters, foundries
and chemical plants. With all its industrial units online
and functioning at peak efficiency, Hell’s Gate could
render tens of thousands of tons of ore per hour into
metal ingots, gravel, graphene and fullerenes. But
nowadays, it’s barely operating 8%, and those aren’t
working even close to peak due to staff shortages and
a lack of maintenance. If Jerry hadn’t given himself a
stomach ulcer negotiating with IPS-N for replacement
parts, it’d be 4%, if that.
The industrial sector also contains the station’s primary
reactor array. Fortunately, reactor fuel is the one thing
the Gate is never short of, so they never go cold.
OPS
A section of the midstation toward the aft is dedicated
to The Gate’s operations division. The command bridge
is here, along with traffic and harbour control. Aside
from Central Fabrication and the primary reactor array,
this is the most secure and well-armoured part of the
station.
CENTRAL FABRICATION
Hell’s Gate used to have a Schedule 2 printer, but the
station couldn’t afford to keep operating it, and
downsized it into what amounts to a Schedule 1 printer
(although Union definitely wouldn’t certify it). There’s
always a backlog of at least five to eight days on
medium-priority orders, and a month minimum for low.
High-priority orders (such as the PCs’ mechs) go
through within hours, to the chagrin of whoever got their
orders bumped.
What’s left of Jerry’s Sherman Mk. I lies nearby,
inoperable and half-swallowed by the wall – its coldcore
is currently being used as an auxiliary power source.
MECH BAY
Between the aft docking bay and Central Fabrication
sits a large hangar dedicated to the care and
maintenance of the militia’s mechanised chassis,
including those belonging to the PCs. Except in dire
emergencies, combat-rated mechs are not permitted to
be anywhere else on the station.
AFT HAB RING
More comfortable than the forward hab ring, the aft hab
ring plays host to most of the station’s operational staff
and acts as accommodation for the few guests and
tourists the Gate receives. Unless they explicitly desire
otherwise, the PCs live here. At the very least, Jerry
ensures the station’s elite defenders live comfortably.
DIRECTOR’S OFFICE
At one point in time, the Gate’s executive suite was a
marvel of orbital decor. Situated in the aft hab ring, it
was functional and stylish, well-appointed but tasteful.
It had genuine wood panelling and leather seats, gold
inlay and paintings on the walls – not originals, of
course, but high-quality reproductions. Elegant
houseplants flanked a viewscreen displaying the
station. It even had a carpet.
Those days are long past. The wood got stripped out a
century ago; there was a materials shortage, and
whoever was director back then rendered them into
printstock. The leather seats deteriorated beyond use.
All the inlay was recycled for circuitry repairs decades
back. The paintings were sold to some casino on the
Borealis just before Jerry took over, and Jerry doesn’t
have time to look after houseplants. All that remains is
a desk and endless piles of paperwork. It’s a sad, tired
room for a sad, tired man.
BRIEFING ROOM
A cramped, largely bare chamber with a small number
of folding chairs, a holographic projection device and a
desk. The lights flicker in here from time to time, but the
projector doesn’t, suggesting it’s connected to a better
circuit. Jerry briefs the Strategic Response Team in
here when their mission requires a more in-depth
explanation than “please go and kill these pirates.”
Jerry insists this room is a “no-snack zone,” a
prohibition no member of the Strategic Response
Team, current or previous, has ever obeyed.
AFT DOCKING BAY
The Gate’s aft docking bay (there’s a colloquial name
for it, but you don’t repeat in polite company) handles
the majority of the station’s space traffic, and was
intentionally designed as such. The visionaries who
pitched the station’s original design imagined a bustling
flight deck, with dozens of freighters passing in and out
each day. When asked what they think of that grand
vision, most station residents simply refer to the bay’s
nickname and leave it at that.
The PCs’ personal corvette, the Dragon’s Tooth, is
usually stationed here.
[41]
 PERSONS OF INTEREST
JERRY MASTERS HE/HIM
ACTING STATION DIRECTOR
Jerry Masters used to lead the Gate’s militia, but
stepped into the role of acting station director when the
station’s actual director, Bai Zexian, disappeared
without warning three years ago – although it’s more
accurate to say that everyone else stepped back.
A pale, short, thin man with an untidy mop of brown hair
and a twitchy disposition, Jerry doesn’t cut a convincing
figure. This isn’t helped by his anxiety, his crippling
insomnia or his selection of atrocious novelty ties. He
always seems to be about thirty seconds away from a
nervous breakdown.
Despite all of this, Jerry really is trying his best to keep
the station running. He’s not afraid to make personal
sacrifices for the good of the station – most often his
dignity or peace of mind – and he has a good head for
numbers and logistics. Under Jerry’s administration,
people don’t get very much, but what they’re entitled to,
they always get, no matter what.
On top of that, Jerry was – likely still is – a top-shelf
mech pilot. He never talks about his past, but the half-
dismantled Sherman Mk. I in the printer bay had to
come from somewhere. An old callsign sometimes gets
whispered in the Gate’s bars by militia members:
Daybreak. And when the empty mugs really start to
stack up, rumours fly about a team of DoJ/HR liberators
and a doomed mission, once upon a time…
SHELLY SHE/HER
ADMINISTRATIVE NHP
Shelly is Jerry’s former co-pilot, the ASURA-class NHP
that came with his Sherman. Since it’s currently acting
as an auxiliary power source for the printer, she took
on a new role as Jerry’s assistant, aiding him in the
monumental task of keeping the station afloat.
Shelly has an efficient, pragmatic perspective, shot
through with an arrogant streak, and maintains a polite
but chilly detachment from all but a few residents of
Hell’s Gate. She’s deeply passive-aggressive towards
those she deems to be a bad influence on Jerry.
Shelly does not usually provide a visual representation
of herself. On the occasions that she does, she projects
the image of a smart, youngish woman with glasses,
which she continually pushes up when she wants to be
condescending.
Shelly has an odd fixation: a burning desire to “actually
eat food, once, you know? It looks like a fascinating
experience.” If not otherwise pre-empted, Shelly has a
tendency to assign food-based names to missions,
ships and fireteams.
[42]
CHIEF MCELROY SHE/HER
CHIEF ENGINEER
If McElroy has a first name, either nobody ever uses it
or it’s actually “Chief.” A bulky, muscular, dark-skinned
woman with close-shaven black hair, a large ocular
implant replacing her left eye and a pair of tertiary arms,
Chief Engineer McElroy can usually be found smeared
in grease and wielding a power tool.
Most days, she’s neck-deep in the business of
managing the wrenchies and ensuring Hell’s Gate still
has air, water and lights. Never one to shy away from
hard work, she leads from the front, usually being the
first to clock in for shifts and the last to clock out.
In truth, she would’ve been a better choice than Jerry
to replace Director Bai, and everyone knows it. But
everyone also knew removing her from her current post
would be a disaster. Nobody knows their way around
the Gate like she does, and losing her hands-on
expertise wasn’t something the station could afford.
Despite the pressure placed upon her by her towering
work schedule, she’s usually level-headed and rarely
loses her cool. Since the recent debacle with the
printer, however, she’s become sterner, punishing
breaches of maintenance protocol she previously let
slide. She’s also made a dire “promise” that, should the
printer ever work again, anyone who submits a
fabrication without triple-checking it first “will wanna get
good at spacewalking real quick.”
ZINFANDEL DEJEAN THEY/THEM
MILITIA COMMANDER
“Zinfandel DeJean” likely isn’t their birth name, but this
is the Long Rim. Folks out here often come up with
names in a split second based on what they can see,
so people tend to assume they either had a fun night in
someone else’s cabin or got asked their name in a store
that sold wine and trousers.
Tall and heavyset, with their sea-green dreadlocks
pulled back in a ponytail, Zinfandel cuts an imposing
figure to those who first meet them. However, this
impression quickly melts away in the face of their
boisterous attitude and crude but good-natured sense
of humour. They have a whimsical outlook on life, and
are prone to pithy, blunt observations. Some of these
“DeJeanisms” have dug themselves into the local
culture of Hell’s Gate.
Zin inherited command of the local militia from Jerry
when he became acting director. By all accounts
they’re a much better unit leader than he was, but they
have yet to match his piloting skill. Their favoured mech
is an IPS-N Drake named Now Where Did I Leave That.
SIREN SHE/HER
NHP PILOT
Siren is a SecComm-era INTEGRAL-N4 trans-
atmospheric operations NHP salvaged from a derelict
strategic bomber just over two decades ago, eventually
making her way to Hell’s Gate.
During an absence of qualified pilots, Siren was given
flight control of the Dragon’s Tooth, one of the Gate’s
subline corvettes – a role she excelled at, and
continues to fill to this day, ferrying the Strategic
Response Team between jobs.
STRIGA VON ALDENBERG SHE/HER
FELICITATIONS, COMRADES!
Striga Von Aldenberg is the eccentric and paranoid
leader of “The Truth,” a tight clique of equally eccentric
and paranoid sigdivers.
A tall, rail-thin, olive-skinned woman in her mid-20s,
she’s recognisable by her scruffy, tattered clothing, her
squirely demeanour, her wild, unnaturally wide eyes
(usually sporting dark bags from lack of sleep) and her
tendency to appear suddenly and without warning from
spaces she shouldn’t physically be able to occupy.

As a military asset under SecComm, she cultivated the
stern, impatient attitude of a drill sergeant, but in the
present era, with the novel experience of being treated
as a person instead of a weapon, she demonstrates a
more level-headed, outgoing attitude. She has a habit
of flipping between these expressions suddenly, often
while under stress. She also tends to call the team
“marines” during combat situations.
She runs on energy drinks and trusts only one
convenience store on the other side of the station.
Whenever she runs out, she makes “the pilgrimage” all
the way from one hab ring to the other to get a new
batch, usually accompanied by some of her crew.
Judging by their “all-night marathon dance music and
gaming parties,” her crew are no strangers to stims
either.

Her casket has eleven tally marks on its casing, but she Despite all the quirks, her crew are the station’s most
doesn’t know what they mean. Chained to it is a folder reliable source for obscure data, esoteric software and
containing emergency protocols in the event of a information retrieval. However, anyone who wants their
cascade, and an ad-hoc Balwinder-Bolano schedule. services is going to have to earn the group’s trust first.
At the start of the campaign, she’s just about to come This usually means either listening to Striga ramble
off a cycle, and should be stable for the next six years. about her latest conspiracy theory for a couple of hours,
or enacting some outlandish and embarrassing prank
that The Truth devises.
IPSWICH DELACEY THEY/THEM
OMNISTREAM SENSATION
Tall, thin and pale, with their hair bleached platinum
blonde, Ipswich “Switch” DeLacey is a loud, extroverted
bundle of energy. They appeared on the station a few
years ago, and decided to engage in a lifestyle Omninet
streaming career. Since then, Switch and their fleet of
camera drones have become a common sight around
the Gate.

The fact that they’re often broadcasting live footage of

the station’s inner workings and day-to-day events
poses a minor security issue for Jerry. It’s likely he’d
have shut the whole racket down a while back, were
Ipswich not putting half of their stream’s donation
money into the station’s discretionary budget.

They’re a member of and point of contact for the

Horizon Collective – although this seems to be a fact
that Ipswich just decided was true, and Horizon
begrudgingly had to accept. Nonetheless, Ipswich does
have a few useful acquaintances in the organisation
they can put people in touch with.

If the PCs seem interesting or cool, Ipswich will try to

spend time with them, interview them, or even ride
along with them on a mission if one of them has an
expanded compartment. Jerry will absolutely refuse to
authorise this, but there’s nothing he can actually do to
stop the PCs.

[43]
 ADDITIONAL NPCS
This table contains some of the colourful characters the PCs can find around Hell’s Gate on any given day.
CERULEAN ENCELADUS
1-2 The galaxy’s eighteenth most popular nu-retro-stasiscore musician. It’s not a very profitable gig, so
he’s also the station’s fence. Everyone knows, nobody’s fooled, but Jerry doesn’t take any action
because he’s also the only one on the station who can reliably source decent coffee.
BOSS TEKA ASHENAFI
The leader of the Hell’s Gate Miners Union. Ashenafi has issues with Jerry’s management; namely,
3-4 that most of the discretionary budget gets spent on the militia (which includes the PCs). He argues –
not without merit – that the miners do the only work that generates real revenue for the station, but
they don’t see anywhere near enough of it. He doesn’t hold a grudge against the PCs, but he’s not
exactly friendly either.
ZIJAD AL-BASSA
A duty technician in the station’s mech bay. Suspected to be a member of either HORUS or Horizon,
5-6 although it’s unclear which. Engages in lengthy philosophical dialogues regarding the sentience of
COMP/CON units, often with COMP/COM units – who, curiously enough, always seem to agree with
him.
DR. TUULA VANHATALO
The Gate’s chief medical officer and one of its few officially licensed doctors. Perpetually busy. She
7-8 has several diplomas on her wall, displaying her medical qualifications. Each of them has her picture,
but was awarded to a different name, none of which are Tuula Vanhatalo. If she’s ever addressed by
any of them, she’ll startle.
MIKAELA OMNIDOCUMENT-FORMAT
Mikaela is a body-modification enthusiast who’s had a lot of work done. She’s usually browsing new
9-10 mods on her cool augmented reality interface (you should get one!), and will constantly make
recommendations to the PCs, or anyone else who’ll listen. Astute observers will notice that every mod
she brings up is produced by an SSC subsidiary not usually available in the Long Rim.
TARNVEER “PRINTLOAF” MALIK
A member of the station militia who (on a dare, and against their own better judgement) asked Shelly
11-12 to give them a callsign. Has resented Shelly ever since. They run a highly profitable side-gig selling
stims, mostly to other militia members; they’ve definitely offered to hook the PCs up before. Pilots an
IPS-N Lancaster with a muscular, scantily-clad man painted on the side, named Cock-A-Doodle-Doo.
STEEPLE
13-14 A hydroponics tech with a heavily scarred face and a large Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company tattoo
on his back. Terrible with people, but an absolute virtuoso with plants. Practically the only reason
anyone on the station ever gets to eat tomatoes. Always seems to be anemic.
SAMORN PATALUNG
The kind, motherly proprietor of Happy Noodle, generally agreed to be the best noodle bar on the
15-16 station. Most of the station thinks she’s a genius, on account of her ability to make vent crab meat taste
of something. It’s an open secret that her establishment is a hangout for local HORUS elements, whom
she affectionately calls “the dorks.”
BARTENDER MOTHERFUCKER
The subaltern bartender of GMS_GENERIC_BAR, and the end result of a long series of in-jokes so
17-18 dense as to be impossible to explain. Mixes an unrivalled Standard-Pattern GMS Margarita. Due to
software defects endemic to Calliope COMP/CON units, BARTENDER is indefatigably upbeat and
chipper at all times and in all circumstances, even when commiserating or offering condolences.
ARGUS CHARON
19-20
The

[44]

DAILY LIFE
The station that would one day be named Hell’s Gate
was built on dreams of exploiting a vast bounty of
mineral wealth, but the market for its wares slowly
dwindled to nothing. The company that owned it pulled
out a century and a half ago, and for a century and a
half it’s been a home for anyone who couldn’t afford to
live anywhere else. Life’s hard here, but it’s still life, and
it’s life without a high price tag or constant expectations.
No matter how cold or unfriendly the directors of Hell’s
Gate were, there was always one rule they never broke:
nobody on the Gate has to pay to survive. If you’re
absolutely flat broke, there’s a warm bunk, printloaf and
clean water. Jerry hasn’t been a perfect administrator,
but to this day he’s always managed to deliver on this
one essential promise, no matter the cost to himself.
No Gater can afford to be idle, though. Something’s
always going wrong somewhere, and everyone pulls
work shifts, even the militia, even members of the
Strategic Response Team – and that means the PCs.
The most important day-to-day tasks on the station are
maintenance, mining and food production, and Jerry
has tried his level best to provide them with the funding,
materials and equipment they need to do their jobs.
The station functions on Cradle Standard Time (or as
close to it as possible), with a fourteen-hour day and
ten-hour night cycle. Shelly assembles daily work
schedules, and works out which tasks need to be
assigned to whom. Depending on the task and its
required manpower, shifts range from four to twelve
hours in length. Shelly tries to ensure nobody works
more than twelve hours at once or eighteen hours in a
two day period, but due to the shortage of qualified staff
for certain tasks, she can’t always accommodate.
On their time off, Gaters tend to be innovative and
improvisational. Those who can’t afford to take a
holiday on the Icebreaker tend to band together to find
their own fun:
“If you need a decent place to drink, there’s
Aminata’s Saloon and GMS_GENERIC_BAR on the
aft, or La Porte De L'Enfer and On The Rocks on the
fore. If you like sports, there’s a gravball court in one
of the shuttered refineries, and it’s… mostly safe.
There’s video game tournaments every night at Sal’s
Slate Shop, so long as the power’s on. If you like
music, there’s a makeshift concert hall right next to
the dispensary, although the water isn’t always
steady there so take a bathroom break first. And I
suppose if you’re religious, those odd firebird people
set up a temple in the abandoned growhouse.”
– Ayanda Delwayo, aeronautics engineer
Hell’s Gate also plays host to a unique form of urban
exploration: Gaters call it “cubbying.” The station hasn’t
matched its original blueprints for decades – it probably
didn’t when it was built. So much has been torn down
and rebuilt or stolen that there's places and things in
the station nobody knows about. On the other side of
sealed bulkheads, behind keypads no-one remembers
the combination for, through crawlspaces that haven’t
been opened for a century, there are secrets waiting to
be unearthed. Jerry has officially banned cubbying as
a safety hazard, but he can’t really enforce it.

The Gate has its own local currency: “ingots.” They’re

flexible plastic notes shot through with metal. The value
of an ingot depends on which metal is used in their
production, and each ingot bears the likeness of the
station director who issued their printing. There’s a print
for Jerry, but he hasn’t had any made yet.

Most petty transactions on the station are done using

ingots, given that denominations like “ten-thousandths
of a Manna” are difficult to work with. Through long-
standing agreement, ingots are legal tender at other
settlements in the system, although Impact Dynamics
has been given increasingly low exchange rates lately.

Anything that isn’t bought is traded for, and there’s a

surprisingly complex system of bartering, trust and
favour exchange. It seems bewildering to outsiders, but
after a few months of living there, you tend to get a feel
for it: you can’t explain why a data storage card is worth
three spice packets when it’s a friend asking and five
when it’s a stranger, but it feels correct.

[45]
 SCENES FROM THE GATE
A team of stevedores yell in alarm as a
1-2 cable on a cargo hoist gives way, spilling
an entire pallet of crates onto the ground.
A militia pilot tells stories of their most
recent battle against pirates to a couple of
3-4 folk at a bar. It’s funny, though; you were
in that fight, and they’re taking credit for
things you or one of your teammates did.
A customer and the proprietor of a food
stall exchange a deafening series of
5-6 insults, profanities and curses, before
cordially agreeing on a price as if nothing
happened. They do this every day.
A pair of wrenchies bicker over different
interpretations of the Duality. The guts of
7-8
the power distributor they’re supposed to
be fixing lie strewn around them, forgotten.
A work crew shuffles into a cafe after a
shift, exhausted. The barista already has
9-10 every single one of their orders ready, and
is calling out names as they step in the
door without even looking.
A furloughed mining crew loiters around an
intersection, singing an old Long Rim work
11-12 song. Most of them aren’t great singers
individually, but put them together and
they can belt.
A wake is being held for a recently passed
resident of the station, and as is tradition,
13-14 any property they didn’t leave to friends or
family is being handed out to strangers. It’s
considered rude not to take something.
A child giggles in delight as they ride
around on the shoulders of a subaltern,
15-16 which halts work every so often to politely
request that the child stop climbing on
them.
A timid mech tech shyly explains their job
to someone who’s quite clearly attracted to
them. Every so often, their timidness falls
17-18
away as they get really into what they’re
talking about, which just makes their
companion more interested.
A hydroponic gardener who’s supposed to
be selling her apples is just handing them
19-20 out to a crowd of grateful children. You
notice a wily one sneaking some ingots
into her pocket anyway.
[46]
EQUIPMENT
Non-licence weapons and systems available to pilots
out of Hell’s Gate are often repurposed mining and
salvage tools, or entirely novel ad-hoc inventions made
to fill a specific niche.The following equipment can be
handed out as personal rewards from grateful residents
of Hell’s Gate, or by Jerry and Chief McElroy.
Bronco Hook
Auxiliary Melee, Exotic Gear, AP, Thrown 5
[a1] [1 i]
On hit: the Bronco Hook sticks in the target. You
may retrieve the Bronco Hook by any means you
would retrieve a thrown weapon, and when you do,
the target takes 1iAP. If you or the target move
away from each other by any means, they take this
damage and the Bronco Hook automatically returns
to you.
On miss: the Bronco Hook automatically returns to
you if it was thrown.
This appears to be a jury-rigged magnetic
accelerator, designed to make tether points on
asteroids by driving mech-scale pitons into
them. Rule of thumb is if it can pierce a metre
of asteroid rock, it can pierce ten centimetres
of mech armour.
Rebound Pulse Mineral Scanner
1 SP, Exotic Gear, Unique, Quick Tech
1/mission, you may activate this system to SCAN
every character in a c7 area, then apply LOCK ON
to the character with the most current HP. All
hostile characters in the area also lose HIDDEN.
A simple piece of tech found on almost every
mining ship, modified to provide an effective
battlefield reconnaissance tool. Its minimum
safe stand-off distance is several hundred
kilometres, anything under which the ping-
back is loud enough to blow out the antenna.
The Grabber
Heavy Melee, Exotic Gear
[a2] [2d6i]
On hit: you and your target each roll a contested
HULL check. If you win the contested roll, your target
is knocked PRONE.
A standard piece of equipment found on mining
and salvage rigs throughout the system; its
official product name is the IPS-N Mechanised
Chassis Remote Handling Tool, but that’s boring
as hell, so most folks call it “the Grabber.”
Not much work is needed to repurpose it to grab
mechs instead of asteroids. Please note that
this modification will void the warranty.
PILOT GEAR
The following equipment represents some of the gear
available to spacers and pilots in Calliope.

IPS-N “Ahab” Grapple/Tether Line

Gear, Limited 3
“You ever get the feeling nobody at IPS-N spends
any time thinking about the names they give to
things? Like, either I don’t read, so I don’t get the
reference, or I read and I realise they named a
grapple gun after a dude who’s famous exclusively
for getting dragged to his death tied to a whale.”

You may expend a charge to shoot a hook at a

character, object or free space up to b5 away from
you. You are attached to the hook by a tether, and
cannot move or be moved further than five spaces
away, unless you teleport, in which case the tether
snaps. If the hook moves more than five spaces
away, you are dragged along with it. As a quick
action, you can reel yourself in, flying to the hook or
as close to it as possible. This movement ignores
engagement and doesn’t provoke reactions. You can
detach from the tether as a full action. You can also
retrieve a hook and tether that you are adjacent to as
a full action, restoring a charge.

Scramble Grenade
Gear, Limited 1
This is actually a high-power short-range distress
beacon meant to help search-and-rescue teams
locate astronauts who’ve been thrown into space.
Some asshole discovered that if you jam a bunch of
escape characters into the broadcast signal and
overvolt the transmitter, it makes unshielded
electronics shit themselves. It fries itself after a few
seconds, a fate many wrenchies have wished upon
its inventor.

Expend a charge for the following effect:

• Scramble Grenade (Grenade, b5, f 1):
Affected characters without the BIOLOGICAL tag
must succeed on a SYSTEMS save against 10 +
your GRIT or become JAMMED until the end of
their next turn.

[47]
 BEAT 2:
PC LOAD LETTER
After the PCs have had a little time to dabble in daily
life on Hell’s Gate, Jerry buzzes them just after lunch
and requests an immediate meeting in the briefing
room.
“So, uh, I have news. News. News? Good news and
bad news. Which would you like to hear first? I hear
people prefer if you ask which one they want first. In
any case, the bad news is an impetus to action, and
the good news is mostly an attempt to chastise you.
“So, as I’m sure you’re aware, the printer has been
down on the station for a week now. I’m not going to
get into mentioning names, or blaming anyone in
particular…”
Jerry stares pointedly at each of you in turn, before
his eyes settle.
Jerry heavily implies, without directly stating, that a PC
did it, particularly if one has the Engineer talent.
“… for why that might have happened. So, I’m going
to dip the good news in right here: all of the station’s
point defence guns have ammunition, and all your
mechs are repaired and fully operational. So that’s
good! I’m real glad your mechs were the last order
that went through before it mysteriously broke.
“So, three hours ago – you know how we’ve been
having power failures in Section 3B? It turns out that
we’ve actually been having a leaking water main!
That water main exploded three hours ago. Chief
McElroy managed to jury-rig a replacement., but
without the printer, we can’t fix it in a serious,
permanent manner. And what happens if the next
thing to go out is the O2 scrubbers?
“Union, in their infinite fucking wisdom, won’t let you,
uh, print printer parts? Right? So we don’t have any
spares. None of the stations within the system that
have printers have spares, probably. And honestly, I
don’t think they’d sell them to us even if they did. So
it’d be, uh, several years? If I had to order out?
“Now, the, you see, the usual answer would be to
start looking for wrecks we could salvage. But the,
the beauty of this whole Section 3B exploding water
main situation is that, well, that’s where the control
interface for the high-resolution scanning array lives.
So that’s broken now, too.
“Now, the wrenchies are trying to get on top of that.
But in the meantime, we have even more pressing
[48]
issues, because of course we do! So, finally, this
gets us to your job.
“Now, there’s two immediate problems, both of which
you’d be really useful in solving! But the problem is,
they’re immediate problems, in that I need them
solved immediately. So, pick one, and I’ll send the
rest of the militia to deal with the other. I’d rate the
chances of combat on either one as, um, very high?
“Firstly, we need more water. We’ll probably have to
buy it from Impact Dynamics, and I don’t trust them
not to screw us. Someone needs to ride shotgun and
make sure no-one tries anything.
“Secondly, bad news travels fast, and there’s a
bunch of pirates holding orbit a couple light seconds
out. Nobody wants to leave the station while they’re
around.”
Jerry doesn’t have much time for questions, but he can
field a few before the briefing ends.
EXPECTED RESISTANCE
“Same as always: pirates. Moonlighters, or maybe
one of the gangs. Mechs, and ships small enough
to shoot with mechs. High-res sensors might be
down but we’d, we’d, uh, we’d still see anything not
running cold way before it got to you.”
MOST IMPORTANT TASK
“Honestly, I, uh, I gave you the choice because, well,
I trust you. But if I had to choose, I really want you
on the water freighter. The militia can, um? The
militia can deal with a few pirates. Perhaps not as
quickly or as, uh, as innovatively as you can. But we,
we, uh, we really can’t handle not getting that water
shipment in, guys. Impact Dynamics is, um, they’re
gonna try and screw us, so I need some real muscle
there to make sure the freighter crew doesn’t get
strong-armed.”
STATION OUTLOOK
“It’s not rosy, I’ll, hah, I’ll tell you that much. Between
the mechanical failures, the, uh, the pirates and the
lack of traffic through the system lately, things aren’t
great. The printer breaking? Well, guys, that’s, that’s
worse. But the station’s not gonna collapse
overnight. Point defence can at least keep anyone
from directly attacking the station.”
MISSION 1:
UNFUCK
THIS HOUSE
GRAHAM: So, what I’m getting is, the overall
sitch is bad.
JAMES: Let’s see: we can’t use the bottom floor
of the Moonbase because there’s a raccoon
loose down there, and we can’t use the top floor
because there’s now a functionally immortal
laugh machine that wants to kill us all.
PAUL: Don’t worry, it’ll get better.
CAMERON: How could the situation possibly
get better?
PAUL: Well, we’re pretty much broke, so we
can’t afford the rent this month anyway.
– LoadingReadyRun,
commodoreHUSTLE “Giving Up”
BRIEFING
The task before the PCs is simple but vital: handle the
immediate issues facing the station, then get to work on
the bigger tasks.
GOAL: Stabilise the situation on the Gate. Fix
urgent problems as they occur. Find a
replacement part for the printer.
STAKES: If the PCs are unable to fix the Gate’s
many issues, the situation on the
station will deteriorate rapidly as its
inhabitants become desperate.
REWARD: Jerry will spend enough of his
operational budget to enable the PCs
to advance to Licence Level 1.
RESERVES: Are you kidding? We’re running on
fumes as it is.
OUTFITTING
A lot of this mission will take place in zero gravity.
Depending on the decisions you made during Session
Zero, ensure the players know what considerations
they need to make for this – this might involve installing
EVA systems on their mechs prior to rolling out.
CHOOSING A TASK
OPTION 1
The station needs more water, and unfortunately, the
only place it can acquire the required quantity on short
notice is Impact Dynamics. Jerry asks the players to
escort a tanker freighter, as he suspects Impact
Dynamics will not play fair. If the group chooses this
option, go to Beat 3: And Not a Drop to Drink (p. ).
OPTION 2
Perhaps aware of the Gate’s dire situation, a small
group of opportunistic pirates is lurking a couple of light-
seconds out. The threat of being intercepted by them is
making it unsafe for any work to be done outside the
station. If the group chooses this option, go to Beat 4:
Right on the Doorstep (p. ).
Jerry will assign the rest of the station’s militia to
perform whichever task the PCs don’t – there’s not
enough time for them to accomplish both on their own.
The militia should be able to handle escorting the water
freighter, as long as the players focus on cleaning out
the nearby pirates. Alternatively, the militia could take
care of them while the players focus on the water
freighter. Jerry makes it clear that while he trusts the
militia to get a job done, you’re his A-team: he trusts
you to get a job done faster, smoother and with fewer
material losses.
[49]
 FOLLOW UP
Once the PCs have dealt with whichever problem they
chose to solve, they have time for a Rest, but not a Full
Repair. They are then sent out by Jerry to seize control
of a pirate listening station in Beat 5: A Scanner, Dark
(p. ). Once they’ve done that, they have another chance
to REST, and then they proceed to Beat 6: A Colour
Out Of Time (p. ).

[50]
BEAT 3:
NOT A DROP TO DRINK
“Well okay, we’ve, uh, we’ve got a tanker freighter
that’s in good enough shape to make it to Impact
Dynamics and back. I mean, probably.”
Because of the burst water main, a worrying portion of
the station’s potable water has been wasted. The Gate
still has enough to function regularly, but the loss of any
more would be catastrophic. Worse, losing more is a
distinct possibility, now that the station’s plumbing is
only held together by duct tape and prayers.
Impact Dynamics has a virtual monopoly on water
production in the system. They aren’t the least bit shy
in using this fact to make an obscene profit, while poor
people across the system go thirsty. Unfortunately,
they’re the only ones who can provide the amount of
water that the Gate needs right now, so doing business
with them is an unfortunate necessity.
Impact Plaza, Impact Dynamics’ base of operations,
lies roughly five days travel away at 1g, making the
round trip about eleven days when allowing for
refueling and water loading at Impact Plaza. The PCs’
regular ship, the Dragon’s Tooth, is currently
unavailable for escort duty – its pilot, Siren, is currently
being cycled. There’s just space on the freighter for the
PCs and their mechs, but it makes for a cramped ride.
The journey is uncomfortable, even for the Long
Rim. This sort of ship would usually run with a lot
more crew – they had to cut half of them just to fit
you. The habitation module has little privacy, there’s
no gravity and there’s a constant low buzzing noise
you just can’t nail down.
It’s tense, too. There are occasional radar contacts,
out beyond scope range, that aren’t running
transponders. That could either be someone
desperately trying to avoid getting noticed by pirates,
or the pirates themselves. You always feel like you’re
being watched.
Slowly, the distant gleam of Calliope grows larger
and brighter, and after five days, Asphodel begins to
swell behind the ship as it decelerates. Hanging in
its sky at the same distance as its closest moon is
Impact Plaza – a long, thin cylinder habitat, its three
giant mirror wings extended to catch the sunlight.
Impact Plaza allows the freighter to dock and
disembark, but neither the crew nor the PCs are
permitted to enter the station proper – the Plaza has
very strict immigration policies, and the PCs aren’t
seasonal workers.
NEGOTIATING FOR WATER
Impact Dynamics has water, and Hell’s Gate needs it.
The problem is that Impact Dynamics is charging an
exorbitant price, for the simple reason that they can.
Back when the Icebreaker Borealis actually broke ice,
it could produce water at a much higher volume, and so
the prices were downright reasonable, but that was a
long time ago. Now Impact Dynamics are the only
game in town, and they milk that fact for all it’s worth.
The PCs are talking to an Impact Dynamics sales team,
who are largely uninterested in their personal struggles
or the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of people
on Hell’s Gate. They approach their task with
unconcealed disinterest.
Set out an eight-segment clock called Negotiations.
Next, set out a four-segment clock called Patience,
with all segments filled in.
Negotiations represents PC efforts to barter for a more
reasonable price – appeals to reason, arguments to
conscience, basic attempts to explain the concept of
demand elasticity, and so on. Patience represents the
remaining tolerance of Impact Dynamics’ sales team.
• On 9 or less, take -1 Patience.
• On 10-19, gain +2 Negotiations and take -1
Patience.
• On 20+, choose one: either gain +3 Negotiations
and take -1 Patience, or gain +2 Negotiations and
don’t lose any Patience.
OUTCOME
If Patience runs out before the Negotiations clock is full,
the sales team has either gotten bored of haggling or is
under pressure from their manager, and gives PCs the
final offer – take it or leave it. Jerry is unhappy, though
he has no choice but to pay.
If players fill the Negotiations clock before or at the
same time as Patience runs out, they’re able to
convince the sales team that a lower-price sale is better
than no sale at all. Jerry is delighted, but suspicious that
the PCs were able to negotiate them down at all. He
continues to warn them to be on their guard.
Jerry is correct to worry: Impact Dynamics would very
much like to have their cake and eat it. They hire a local
squad of the Hell Hounds pirate gang to get their
merchandise back. The pirates ambush the freighter
just far enough out from the station for it to be deniable.
[51]
 Suddenly, the general alarm begins blaring, and the
captain’s voice rings throughout the ship. “Action
stations, action stations! Set condition one
throughout the ship! Fireteam, mount up! Contacts in
scope range and closing fast!”

As you strap yourself into your seat, your

communications panel registers a text-only
broadcast on an open channel.

>//[DXG(HND-S_032)]:: SEND MESSAGE BLIND

>//[DXG32]:: ATTENTION HELL’S GATE FIRETEAM
>//[DXG32]:: LET’S NOT MINCE WORDS HERE
>//[DXG32]:: YOU-KNOW-WHO WANTS THEIR WATER
BACK
>//[DXG32]:: WE CAN FIGHT ABOUT IT IF YOU
WANT
>//[DXG32]:: BUT WE’RE NOT LEAVING UNLESS YOU
MAKE US, OR UNTIL WE GET THAT
WATER
>//[DXG32]:: SORRY, LIFE’S A BITCH SOMETIMES
>//[DXG32]:: WE WILL LISTEN FOR YOUR ANSWER
ON THIS CHANNEL
>//[DXG32]:: WILL ASSUME SILENCE MEANS
VIOLENCE

A debris field unfurls in front of the freighter, forcing

it into a hard breaking burn. Stray fragments of rock
and metal start to bounce off the hull of the ship –
and your mechs.

The PCs have a moment before combat to negotiate

terms of engagement with the pirates (or surrender, if
they feel so inclined). For spacelane robbers, these
pirates are remarkably reasonable. They don’t really
want to hurt anyone; they just want to get paid. They
aren’t willing to back off, but they will happily agree to
aim for a “less lethal” fight, where pilots aren’t targeted.
Make sure players know that breaking agreed terms
will mark the PCs as dishonourable.

[52]
COMBAT:
SPITTING DISTANCE
SITREP: Escort (Lancer, p. 269)

OBJECTIVE(S): 1x TANKER FREIGHTER (Size 4, 40 HP, provides hard cover to adjacent allies)

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x VETERAN SPACER CATAPHRACT Charge, Concussion Gun, Lightning Reflexes
1x SPACER ARCHER Covering Fire
1x SPACER BERSERKER
1x SPACER SQUAD

FOR 4 PCS: +1x SPACER ASSAULT Gravity Rifle

FOR 5 PCS: +1x COMMANDER SPACER HIVE Quick March

REINFORCEMENTS
FOR 3-4 PCS: 2x GRUNT SPACER CATAPHRACT
2x GRUNT VEHICLE BARRICADE Flier

FOR 5 PCS +2X GRUNT SPACER BERSERKER

+2X GRUNT SPACER ASSAULT

The BERSERKER can use its BOOST and AVALANCHE

DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This battle occurs in transorbital space, close to the
edge of Asphodel’s sphere of influence. There is no
gravity here – mechs operate according to the zero-g
combat rules (Lancer, p. 63).
CHARGE to rapidly close distance and attack in the
same turn. STAMPEDE DEFENSE makes it very resilient
to damage, but PCs can easily shut this down by using
INVADE. Their AGGRESSION trait makes them dangerous
to engage up close, but can also be a liability to their
allies.

Scatter elements of Size 1, Size 2 and Size 3 cover
across the battlefield. This represents scrap metal,
wreckage, rock and other debris the pirates have
thrown in front of the freighter to impede its progress.
THE FIGHT
The PCs must escort the freighter out of the
engagement zone. The pirates were contracted to
seize the freighter’s contents, not destroy it, and will not
intentionally harm it.
The SQUAD is a swarm of pirates in hardsuits. It’s
capable of putting out a lot of damage in a turn if it uses
BARRAGE, being able to make three attacks. Make sure
players know that it has RESISTANCE to damage from
single-target attacks - now is a good time for area
damage, if they have it.
If present, the ASSAULT can use its GRAVITY RIFLE to
pull PCs off the objective. It will use its HUNKER DOWN
reaction to mitigate the damage of powerful attacks.

The CATAPHRACT is a dangerous, highly mobile enemy.
They can use their standard movement, BOOST and
CHARGE actions to close distance and reposition. If
possible, it will line up its movement so as to intersect
as many PCs as possible, dealing damage via its
TRAMPLE trait. Once it’s close to the PCs, it will use its
CONCUSSION Gun to knock them off the objective.
The reinforcement GRUNTS will serve mostly to occupy
the PCs’ time and provide a target-rich environment,
distracting from the more resilient targets. Make sure
your players know how GRUNTS work – namely that
dealing any damage or heat will destroy them instantly.

As a VETERAN, the CATAPHRACT won’t necessarily be

destroyed when reduced to 0 HP – but it might be, if it
gets a poor result on its Structure Damage roll. If your
players are new to Lancer, make sure they understand
how enemies with additional Structure work.

[53]
 OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs surrender, are defeated or are unable to get
the freighter out of the engagement zone before the
timer runs out, pirates swarm the freighter, forcing it to
drop its tanks. Once it’s done so, the pirates – true to
their word – just scoop them up and go. The freighter
can then retrieve any PCs who were stranded.
FOLLOWING UP
Regardless of how the fight went for the PCs, they
aren’t harassed again on their way back to Hell’s Gate.
Once they return to the station, they have a chance to
rest and repair their mechs. Once they’ve had a few
days to recover, Jerry has more bad news. Proceed to
Beat 5: A Scanner, Dark (p. ).

Hell’s Gate, however, is now low on water and low on

money. Untick a segment on the Station Stability
clock.

PC VICTORY
>//[DXG(HND-S_032)]:: SEND MESSAGE BLIND
>//[DXG32]:: WELL FOUGHT, GUNS COLD
>//[DXG32]:: REQUEST CEASE FIRE
>//[DXG32]:: LET US RECOVER OUR WOUNDED AND
DEAD
>//[DXG32]:: WE WOULD DO THE SAME FOR YOU
>//[DXG32]:: WILL AWAIT CONFIRMATION ON THIS
FREQUENCY

The pirates ask for time to rescue their comrades, and

will expect it to be granted if the PCs previously
promised it. If the PCs seem relatively cordial, they will
explicitly namecheck Impact Dynamics as the people
who paid them to “retrieve” the water. They’re not
concerned about the losses the PCs inflicted – they
made sure to get paid up front.

The players successfully get the water freighter back to

Hell’s Gate. Tick a segment on the Station Stability
clock.

REWARDS
Given the tenuous situation on the station, Jerry
doesn’t really have all that much in the way of rewards
other than his gratitude. However, if they were able to
negotiate a lower price for the water, Jerry is able to set
aside Additional Funds.

Additional Funds
Favours, Limited 1
You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy an IPS-N
Tortuga with an auto-stabilised heavy machine gun,
and that’s basically the same thing.

Expend a charge in a situation where a sizeable

amount of money would change things. If there’s a
roll involved, you get the best possible result; if
there’s no roll, you just get what you want.

[54]
BEAT 4:
RIGHT ON THE DOORSTEP
Pirates, apparently aware of the station’s woes, have
started loitering uncomfortably close to the station. This
is a problem for three reasons: firstly, it means that the
PCs can’t be sent off on any long-term missions.
Secondly, it means none of the station’s mining crews
can go out. Thirdly, it means traders can’t leave the
station to barter for the resources the station doesn’t
presently have.

There is an easy solution to all three of these issues:

get rid of the pirates.

“Don’t worry, kiddos, I’ve got a plan.”

Zinfandel Dejean, the station’s boisterous militia

sergeant, smirks as they lay out a concept for you, a
map of Stygia’s orbital neighbourhood clutched in
one of their massive hands.

“If we just spit you out the docking slot, they’re gonna
know we’re sending someone, and they’re gonna run
away from you. Then they’ll slink back later – not
ideal. But what if we hide you guys in a freighter?
They’ll get in close enough to grab stuff from it, and
then you pop out!”

Zinfandel Dejean is a no-nonsense tactician who likes

simple plans and clean fights. Any scheme that has too
many moving parts or points of failure will make them
turn their nose up. The “hide lancers in a freighter” plan
is a perfect example of the sort of work they do.

Zinfandel has picked out a mining hauler carrying rocky

debris left over from the refinery process. The PCs can
hide their mechs amongst the rubble in the cargo hold,
and the freighter can dump it abruptly to provide
sections of cover for them. If they wish, the freighter can
stay on the field as a Size 4 object that provides hard
cover, although it can’t provide any other assistance.

There’s two types of pirates in Calliope. You’ve got

the sunlighters: big-name roving bands who make
piracy a career and a lifestyle. Then you’ve got
moonlighters, who just do piracy as a side gig, and
try to make sure nobody finds out.

From the looks of things, you’re dealing with a small

squad of moonlighters led by a sunlighter. It’s easy
to spot: most of their mechs are low-quality mining or
salvage rigs with armour and guns added, but there’s
one that’s different. Sleek, well-maintained, packing
military-grade weaponry and sporting the livery of
the Hell Hounds. That’s the ringleader.

[55]
 COMBAT:
SHOO THE VULTURES
SITREP: N/A
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE MERCENARY ACE
1x VETERAN SHIP ASSAULT
1x SPACER SUPPORT
1x SPACER SENTINEL
FOR 4 PCS: +1x SPACER ARCHER
FOR 5 PCS: ARCHER: Add VETERAN template and Slippery trait.
+1x SPACER SENTINEL
DETAILS
All the PCs need to do is get rid of the pirates. All
enemies must be defeated or forced to retreat. The
pirates are looking for easy pickings, not a brawl with
the station’s militia, so driving them away won’t be
especially difficult.
The ACE is an ELITE, and so gets two turns every round
– make sure the players understand this. The Ace is
also a BOUNTY HUNTER, and is pursuing a price on the
head of on one of the PCs. Decide which of the PCs it
makes the most sense for this to be. The ACE will
prioritize taking out that character. You can use this
character as an opportunity to remind the players that
their backstories are meaningful.
The SUPPORT can use its RESTOCK DRONE and REMOTE
CLOUD to repair damaged allies and its SEALANT GUN
to disrupt the PCs’ movement. Remember that if the
Support has nothing else to do, it can always GRAPPLE
a PC to disable their reactions and halt their movement,
LOCK ON to support its allies or INVADE to increase a
PC’s heat.
The SHIP ASSAULT will try to stay out of CQB combat,
and will retreat the moment it takes structure damage.
This will be the other pirates’ signal to start
disengaging, as well: that ship is their ride home. If the
ship is destroyed, all the pirates other than the ACE will
immediately surrender: they’d rather get stuck in a brig
than asphyxiate.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs are unsuccessful or forced to retreat, untick
a segment on the Station Stability clock. The pirates
continue to intimidate the station and its inhabitants
until the rest of the militia return from fetching water.
[56]
Bounty Hunter, Strafe
Steel Jaw
Remote Cloud
PC VICTORY
“Ha, ha… well this sucks. Listen, guys, I know how
this sounds, but can you help us out? No hard
feelings?”
Tick a segment on the Station Stability clock.
If their ship is still intact, the pirates ask for a cease fire
in order to pick up the stranded pilots of any mechs that
the PCs destroyed. The PCs are under no obligation to
grant this, and the remaining pirates won’t press the
issue, but the only other option is to take prisoners.
If their ship isn’t intact, surviving pilots will request
rescue, even if it means they’re taken prisoner.
REWARDS
If the PCs managed to take some prisoners, Jerry is
later able to convince them to accept A Shot at
Redemption.
A Shot at Redemption
Favours, Limited 1
Captured moonlighters often get sentenced to
community service. As it happens, the service the
community needs right now is getting rid of pirates;
sometimes, the universe has a beautiful symmetry.
Expend a charge at the start of a fight. A friendly
SPACER SUPPORT with REMOTE CLOUD shows up to
help you for the rest of the fight.
FOLLOWING UP
The PCs aren’t very far from the station, and once they
get back, they have a chance to rest and repair their
mechs. Once they’ve had a few days to recover, Jerry
has more bad news. Proceed to Beat 5: A Scanner,
Dark (p. ).
BEAT 5:
A SCANNER, DARK
The PCs return from whichever errand they chose to
run, and a few days pass. Give the PCs the opportunity
to play out a few more scenes around Hell’s Gate. Have
a character from the militia (Zinfandel DeJean is a good
choice) explain what happened with the other task. It
got completed, but perhaps not in as interesting or
decisive a manner as if the PCs had taken it.
After a few days, Jerry calls the PCs into the briefing
room again.
“So, uh, while you were away, we, well… okay, so
there’s been another catastrophe! Because why
wouldn’t there be? The control unit for the scanning
array got totally waterlogged when the water main
burst. Irreparable. But it’s okay. It’s okay. We can
handle this.”
The long-range sensor array can’t be fixed with
salvage. A printer is needed to make the necessary
parts; a non-issue, were it not for the fact that the
station’s printer is broken.
However, Jerry suggests a solution: the Hell Hounds,
one of the local pirate gangs, have a local listening post
that they make periodic check-in calls to. Its scanners
would have enough resolution to look for something
that could be salvaged. Speaking of salvage, he
suggests that the PCs could (and should) tear the thing
to pieces for spare parts once they’ve seized control of
it.
THE HELL HOUNDS
While they were officially formed 24 years ago in late
4992u, the origin of the Hell Hounds dates back a little
further, and happens to be a sore spot for Hell’s Gate
in particular.
The Hell Hounds started as an unusually large and
vicious moonlighter gang operating out of Hell’s Gate.
Against moonlighter tradition, they gave themselves a
name. Worse, they chose one that identified where
they came from. This quickly started to cause issues for
the Gate, which began to suffer a reputation for
harboring pirates. The station director at the time, Ryan
Gleeson, waited too long to deal with the problem, out
of an unwillingness to exile so many citizens at once.
For a few months, the Hell Hounds operated openly,
having essentially occupied the station’s forward
hangar bay. Their raids were planned from Andros
Capella’s bar, himself a member of the gang. This was
initially a well-kept secret, kept to the establishment’s
backroom, but towards the end they planned their
capers at the counter.
The final straw, however, came when the Hounds
began extorting the station’s own citizens. At this point
Bai Zexian, then boss of the teamsters union, took
decisive action. She began rallying a contingent of
civilian volunteers, along with the majority of the militia
still loyal to the station. In an event known as the
“Demon Winter,” which represents the first and only
time in the Gate’s history that an armed engagement
took place on the station, Zexian’s force engaged the
Hell Hounds.
Losses on both sides were significant. At the end,
Zexian’s forces won the day, driving the Hounds off the
station, but were unable to decisively break them. Most
of the Hounds were able to flee, taking several of the
station’s corvettes and its mining laser with them. In the
aftermath, Gleeson resigned, leaving Zexian a favorite
for the position of station director in a snap election.
Capella, meanwhile, led the Hell Hounds in search of a
new base of operations. Eventually, they chose an
abandoned mining base on one of Stygia’s trojan
asteroids, and named it “Fort Cerberus.”
In the two decades since the Demon Winter, Capella
has restored the enterprise to its original glory and
beyond. The Hell Hounds are notable for being the
most moonlighter-friendly gang in Calliope; in fact, at
any given time, most pirates operating under Hound
colors are moonlighters. This is unorthodox, but it
allows the Hounds to project power far beyond what
their core membership would allow.
They’re also notable for being much more willing to
prey on other Calliopeans, which not only earned them
the ire of the system’s civilians, but of the other pirate
gangs as well.
A decade ago, HORUS started building listening posts
across the system with funding partially provided by
Capella. The one the PCs are visiting is only a few
hours journey away, in the outer orbit of Stygia, and is
run by S1GN4L, a HORUS sigdiver currently under
direct contract to the Hounds.
The Hell Hounds paint their equipment in red and black.
The mechs of high-ranking members are marked by a
diagonal red stripe. Their logo is a stylized, snarling
mastiff.
[57]
 COMBAT:
DENIAL OF SERVICE
SITREP: Control (Lancer, p. 268)
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x S1GN4L – ELITE MIRAGE
1x VETERAN ENGINEER
1x SEEDER
1x DEMOLISHER
FOR 4 PCS: +1x BERSERKER
FOR 5 PCS: +2x GRUNT BERSERKER
DETAILS
The PCs will have to hold ground against a number of
enemies who will have the same objective.
S1GN4L is an ELITE and a MIRAGE, and is the most
complex enemy the PCs will have faced yet. If the PCs
didn’t choose Beat 4: Right on the Doorstep, this will
be the first time this campaign they’ve encountered an
ELITE. Make sure players understand how they work.
The Mirage most powerful ability is METAFOLD SHOVE;
clever use of it will dominate this fight. It can wait for the
ENGINEER to place a couple of turrets, and then attempt
to swap a PC with one of them -- or the DEMOLISHER.
Its GLITCH SCANNERS trait allows it to relocate its allies
at will, advancing them or pulling them out of danger.
They can also use BLIP to reposition an ally after a PC
takes an action.
Remember that reactions resolve after their triggers, so
using BLIP on an ally in response to an attack against
them will only teleport them after the attack has already
hit or missed. A PC’s standard movement isn’t an
action, so isn’t a valid trigger for BLIP – but reactions,
free actions, quick actions and full actions are.
The Mirage is INVISIBLE due to its DATAVEIL, which may
give the PCs trouble. Remind them that INVISIBLE can
only make attacks miss; it can’t protect against
RELIABLE damage, or damage dealt by actions that
aren’t attacks, like PATTERN-B HEX CHARGES. If they’re
truly struggling, have it give its DATAVEIL to another
character, rendering itself vulnerable.
The SEEDER will attempt to render at least one control
zone inaccessible to the PCs unless they wish to
disarm mines. Make sure the PCs know they can SCAN
for mines as a quick action.
[58]
Metafold Shove
Power Deployer
Speed Deployer
Concussion Missiles
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs are unsuccessful or forced to retreat, they’re
still able to retrieve enough information to find a suitable
salvage candidate, but they’re unable to wrest control
of the listening post away from the pirates, who
continue to use it to co-ordinate their activities in the
area. Untick a segment on the Station Stability clock.
PC VICTORY
If the PCs are victorious, not only do they identify a
prime salvage candidate, they’re able to seize the
listening post and render it useless to the pirates. This
doesn’t have any immediate benefit, as the pirates
have other listening posts throughout the system, but
at the very least it ensures the current situation won’t
get any worse.
REWARDS
If the PCs hold the field, they can make a skill check to
salvage the platform. If they succeed, they strip enough
GMS standard parts from the facility to provide 3
REPAIRS, which the PCs may distribute amongst
themselves as they see fit.
They’re also able to recover some of S1GN4L’s files –
stuff they weren’t able to delete or encrypt before you
took control of the base.
Transmission logs suggest that S1GN4L was doing a
lot of business, mostly with a contact in the Dawnline
Shore identified only as “DRIVETRAIN.”
The work started roughly six years ago, when a client
hired DRIVETRAIN to keep watch for something in the
Long Rim. The client refused to specify exactly what he
was looking for, only that it was a spatio-temporal
anomaly.
Over the next few years, S1GN4L sent DRIVETRAIN
data on more than a dozen candidate anomalies, none
of which piqued the client’s interest. Finally, about three
years ago, something changed. S1GN4L picked up
something odd in the orbit of Chameleon, the system’s
most distant planet, and DRIVETRAIN immediately
sent back a response:

to: S1GN4L (etn3394.node-4.c4l.omni)

from: DRIVETRAIN (rgx588.node-7.dls.omni)
timestamp: 04:51 CST 04/07/5013
subject: yo check it

Okay news is weird as shit on this one, not

gonna lie

So whatever the hell that thing is, it’s not

what he’s looking for (of course not, it never
is lol), but he got real excited anyway, and he
says he’s gonna come directly to you at
nearlight or maybe faster? He says to just keep
watching whatever it is, keep logging data, and
don’t let anyone else know about it.

When he gets there he will contact you. Says he

will identify himself with the phrase “I and a
fellow researcher used to be friends,” and you
should reply “it’s always a tragedy when
irreconcilable differences shatter a long-
lasting companionship.” Weird dude, am I right?
Lmao

Oh, he also still wants you to keep looking for

that original thing too. He’s STILL being cagey
about what it is we need to find, so have fun
with that.

Also I need to know if I can lean on you more

going forward. Those clowns in The Circuit are
becoming less reliable by the day and I’ve got
other clients who want me to find them stuff in
Calliope. How do you feel about that?

They also retrieve a Telemetry Package of the

anomalous sensor reading.

Telemetry Package
Favours
It’s not hard to see why this data attracted so much
interest. Three years ago, something tore open the
fabric of spacetime above Chameleon, and it left a
tiny scar. You couldn’t even see it if you didn’t
already know what to look for, but it’s there.

Someone is coming to collect this data, although you

won’t meet them until Act 2.

[59]
 BEAT 6:
A COLOUR OUT OF TIME
Jerry calls the PCs into the briefing room as soon as
they arrive back at Hell’s Gate.
“Alright, okay. Looking through what you pulled out
of that listening post, we found something, and…
well, I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s promising. Shells?”
Shelly, the Gate’s resident ASURA-class NHP,
manifests her hologram and waves impatiently at the
projector. It displays a scale map of the Calliope
system, with its various planets, moons, stations and
points of interest. It then zooms in on a point in deep
space, roughly the same distance from the sun as
Chameleon, the system’s most distant planet.
There’s a blurry 3D image of the analyzed signature.
It looks a bit like a miniature comet; something large
and metallic, trailing a long plume of debris.
“Signature analysis of both the core and the debris
cloud suggests a spacefaring vessel, likely capital
scale, with high confidence. The debris trail is
smaller than would be expected from a ship of that
size, suggesting that it’s still mostly intact. Scan
resolution was insufficient to provide a silhouette, so
I can’t say with certainty what it is, but best guess
would be a Harrison Armory colony ship.
“Anything that size would have at least a Schedule 1
printer.” Her avatar pushes up its glasses. “Probably
a Schedule 2. Especially if it really is a colony ship.”
If it truly is a stricken colony ship, then the PCs may feel
that what they’re doing comes dangerously close to
grave-robbing. Jerry will cautiously suggest that it is, in
fact, robbing so that they don’t have to dig graves. After
all, dead people don’t need printers, and Hell’s Gate
doesn’t have many options right now.
There’s one small piece of good news to go along with
this briefing: Siren has finished cycling, maintenance
on the Dragon’s Tooth is finished and it’s cleared for
takeoff. Whenever the PCs are ready, they can load
their mechs onto it and get underway. Jerry’s willing to
give them a day to cool down after the battle at the
listening post, no more – it’s vital they get underway as
soon as possible.
The PCs will need to locate a component called a
“Delta-5 power relay.” As Chief McElroy describes it,
it’s slightly smaller than an adult human, and sits right
next to the printer’s main power distributor. It will just
about fit in a Size 1 mech’s Expanded Compartment,
but if nobody has one, it can also be carried in its hands
or slung across its back.
[60]
OUTBOUND JOURNEY
This is the first long spaceflight that the PCs will have
experienced in the campaign, and will take two weeks.
Have them play out a few vignettes of filling time aboard
the ship; it isn’t long enough to justify pause tanks.
During this time, introduce players to Siren, the NHP
pilot of the Dragon’s Tooth. She’s present everywhere
in the ship and highly conversational, although by far
most interested in discussing technical matters or
violence.
THE WRECKAGE
Arriving at the signature, the players discover that it is
not one ship, but two. There’s an IPS-N mining vessel,
the Ardent Weasel, speared on the bow of a much
larger vessel that Siren cannot identify; its silhouette
does not match any ship in her records. It appears that
the Ardent Weasel accounts for the vast majority of the
debris cloud, as it was snapped almost in two across
the larger ship’s prow, which appears to have sustained
minimal damage.
This is anomalous: for a collision to do so little damage
(relatively speaking) to either ship, they must have had
a very low velocity relative to each other. Given the
immense distances involved in space travel, it seems
difficult to imagine that ships travelling so slowly
wouldn’t have seen each other coming.
Siren runs the numbers, and arrives at only two
explanations that make sense to her. Firstly, that the
larger ship translated out of nearlight almost directly on
top of the Ardent Weasel while it was stationary –
deeply improbable. Secondly, and far more likely: the
larger ship intentionally rammed the Ardent Weasel.
The Ardent Weasel has been broadcasting a distress
call, but its omnihook is dead and its realspace comms
equipment is in low-power mode, meaning the signal
wasn’t reaching far enough to be heard against
Calliope’s background noise. The ship’s thermals are
close to ambient, suggesting that its reactor is offline.
Scans indicate a variety of potential breach points,
although the only one practical for mech ingress is a
large hole in the forward portside cargo hold.
The larger ship has activated its radiators and spun up
its reactor in response to the approach of the Dragon’s
Tooth, but it’s neither attempting communication or
responding to it. Silhouette analysis suggests a military
purpose, but an unfulfilled one. There are visible
hardpoint mountings, but they seem to be empty; it has
a spinal weapon, but it’s uncharged and doesn’t even
seem to be in idle mode. The ship is supposed to be
armed, but isn’t. There are no visible breaches in its
hull, and its airlocks are sealed.
The only visible identification on the vessel is the word
Tachyon, written in an odd dialect of Union Common.
There seems to be no obvious way to get aboard the
Tachyon, but Siren suggests the hull may be weak
around the impact point with the Weasel. Siren
suggests she can also “engage in penetrative testing” -
if asked to elaborate, she explains she will simply shoot
the ship and see if the hull gives way. If the PCs allow
this, it will prove unsuccessful; the Dragon’s Tooth is
currently only armed with a pair of IPS-N Leviathan
Heavy Assault Cannons, jury-rigged to act as point
defence guns. Siren will lament this fact at length to
anyone who will listen.
THE ARDENT WEASEL
The Weasel is a mess; the collision snapped it nearly
in two, opened most of its compartments to vacuum
and wrecked its internal systems. The crew tried to go
into emergency cryo-suspension, but there’s evidence
of more significant damage to the ship than was first
apparent; atmosphere was leaking from the cryo bay
even after the bulkhead was sealed, and not every crew
member made it into the tanks in time to avoid
asphyxiating.
It didn’t matter in any case: the power died, and the
pause tanks went offline, killing their occupants.
Curiously, however, this didn’t happen instantly; the
tanks only went offline about two years ago.
The flight recorders are still intact. It’ll take some time
to examine their full contents, but the event log is
accessible immediately. The Weasel’s sensors
registered a distortion in spacetime, a sudden impact
and the ensuing catastrophe occurring three years ago,
but nothing else of note until about two years ago, when
power inexplicably fails across the ship. The flight
recorders have absolutely no record of a contact
matching the Tachyon until seconds before the impact
occurred.
The Weasel’s Flight Recorders
Favours
[T+78d 4h 8m 12s] NONSTANDARD GRAVIMETRIC
SENSOR CONTACT // FLAG FOR ANALYSIS
[T+78d 4h 8m 19s] DANGER PROXIMITY ALERT
STARBOARD MIDSHIP 400M AND CLOSING
[T+78d 4h 8m 26s] !!COLLISION!!
Analyzing this recorder’s contents in detail might
shed some light on the mystery above Chameleon.
Examining the engineering section of the Weasel
immediately reveals the reason for the power outage:
the reactor is missing. In its place is a perfectly
spherical gap that mech sensors will reveal is smooth
down to the atomic level. A database search will reveal
that this is similar to the aftermath of a Napoleon’s
Displacer being fired, as if the entire reactor had been
snatched out of local spacetime. This on a much larger
scale than a Displacer can create, though.
THE TACHYON
As Siren suspected, the hull of the Tachyon is cracked,
though not breached, at the point of contact with the
Weasel. Ingress is possible via use of mech-scale
heavy melee weapons, explosives, a thermite charge,
or still-functional mining equipment salvaged from the
Weasel.
If they breach the hull or attempt any other hostile
action against the Tachyon, Siren pipes up.
“Uh, marines? Sorry to bother you, but the Tachyon
just opened comms. You should probably hear this.”
A brusque, threatening voice declares: “hostile actor,
you are in violation of Union Emergency Directive
Gamma. Use of lethal force is authorized. Charging
weapons. Surrender immediately or you will be
destroyed.”
Siren cuts back in. “So, they’re saying that, right? But
I don’t see any weapons they could be charging.”
Those PCs familiar with Union protocols will not
recognize an “Emergency Directive Gamma,” and if
someone attempts to search the omninet for it, they’ll
find no such thing exists. However, a particularly
thorough search will discover that Harrison Armory has
“Nonstandard Crisis Contingency Directive Gamma,”
which allows fleet commanders to act autonomously in
the event of long-term loss of contact with Purview
Naval Command, even superseding the directives of
local colonial governors and civilian executives.
The PCs might actually attempt to surrender to the
Tachyon, in which case it will open one of its a docking
bays, direct them to land at a subline docking cradle
and demand they prepare for immediate boarding and
arrest. As the doors open, they will find a group of
combat subalterns with weapons drawn – but inert.
Their batteries are dead. Moreover, they’re pointing
their weapons into the ship.
Exploring the inside of the Tachyon, the PCs discover
it to be in a half-finished state. The ship’s basic
structure is mostly complete, but a lot of its fittings are
missing, and there’s evidence of ongoing construction
work that appears to have been stopped abruptly. From
the general disarray and lack of internal atmosphere,
[61]
 the ship seems like it underwent sudden
decompression a while ago; confusing, given that the
hull was intact when the PCs arrived.
It takes a while to notice, but there’s something deeply
wrong with the vessel. Thermal imaging reveals that
some of the vessel’s structural elements are very hot
despite no apparent heat source. Navigating the vessel
is counter-intuitive. Corridors take four right turns
without putting the PCs back in the same hallway. The
geometry of certain rooms seems impossible: angles
add up to more than 360 degrees. The team’s
chronometers start to drift out of synch with each other.
Accessing the ship’s internal systems reveals that the
Tachyon is an experimental testbed for a faster-than-
light propulsion system. Due to the fact that it is part of
a top-secret project, the entity sponsoring it is not
named, although a successful Investigate check will
reveal codewords that suggest the involvement of the
Union Science Bureau.
There are three major unresolved security alerts on the
system. One was flagged very recently, and is
obviously regarding the PCs’ ingress into the ship. A
second was flagged about two years ago, in the ship’s
NHP core module. A third was flagged ship-wide, three
years ago.
The ship had recently been installed with a
PROMETHEUS-class NHP, Feather. The ship’s logs
contain a large number of increasingly urgent alerts
from Feather, all of which have been dismissed,
culminating in a demand by the project’s lead
researcher to have it cycled. However, there’s no entry
indicating that the requested cycle actually took place,
and logs cease after this point.
The most troubling thing, however, is the ship’s internal
chronometer. It lists the time and date as Cradle
Standard Time 04:51, April 13th, 5424u – more than
400 years in the future.
Some files contain references to an organization called
“FourthComm,” which is helmed by a ruling body that
unironically calls itself “The Council of Tyrants.” It’s not
possible to glean anything more than that, as the ship
doesn’t have anything like an encyclopedia or general
history database installed.
The Tachyon’s NHP Core is a disaster area. The
module doors have been forced open – from the inside
– and the hardcopy databanks are ruined, rent by deep
gashes and tears that resemble claw marks. The cradle
itself is smashed and melted, its casket missing, and
the claw marks radiate outwards from it. The entire
room has an inexplicably high thermal signature,
despite there being no corresponding heat source.
[62]
The vessel’s fabrication room is still pressurized and in
almost perfect condition, although the PCs are treated
to a bizarre and morbid display when they enter.
Floating in the print bay is a standard-model GMS
holdout pistol, its slide locked back in the discharged
position. Across the room, a corpse floats in a hardsuit,
its visor pierced, in front of a blood splatter on the
opposite wall.
The printer is in perfect working order, and just as Jerry
had hoped, there’s a perfectly intact, pristine Delta-5
power relay sitting right next to it.
UNWELCOME GUESTS
Directly after the PCs recover the Delta-5 power relay,
Siren urgently contacts them.
“Marines! Three corvettes and a cruiser just dropped
out of nearlight right on top of us – it’s the Hell
Hounds! I’m already dodging missiles, and they’re
launching boarding craft towards the Tachyon!
You’ve got incoming!”
Siren tries to continue speaking but gets drowned
out by static. Suddenly, the channel snaps to video
feed: a stern man with a scarred face, clearly sitting
in the cockpit of a mech. He’s got a stare that could
strip paint off a wall, made even more striking by the
trickle of blood running from his nose and eyes –
must’ve been a harsh bolt.
You don’t need to look at his hardsuit’s livery to know
this man: it’s Andros Capella, leader of the Hell
Hounds. He sneers contemptuously at you.
“Well, well, well. Look who we found. You're the ones
who took a few potshots at my outfit lately, ain'tcha?
Not every day I get to kill two crabs with one wrench.
Once I get you outta the way, I can give the psycho
this pile of junk and things will finally go back to
normal.”
The feed cuts off abruptly.
It is at this moment that the PCs get yet another piece
of bad news: for some reason, the Tachyon has begun
spooling its FTL drive and its reactor safeties have
been disengaged. Core temperature is rising sharply.
If the PCs attempt to override this process and halt the
jump, they’ll discover they can’t: an administrative
lockout is in effect. Voice authorisation from Lead
Researcher Jeanette Mkondo and Captain Stefan
D’Antillio is required to end the lockout. Jeanette
Mkondo can be found in the fabrication room (she’s the
floating corpse), but Stefan D’Antillio is not presently
aboard the vessel.
COMBAT:
A FACE TO A NAME
SITREP: N/A
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ANDROS – ELITE PIRATE PYRO
1x VETERAN SUPPORT
1x ASSAULT
2x GRUNT BASTION
FOR 4 PCS: ANDROS: Add VETERAN template and Acrobat trait.
+1x BERSERKER
FOR 5 PCS: +1x ASSAULT
* From the OPERATOR class
DETAILS
This battle introduces Andros Capella, an antagonist
the PCs will repeatedly face throughout the campaign.
Don’t worry about trying to keep him alive; due to the
resurrective immortality soon to be granted to him by
Feather, it doesn’t matter if he dies during this
engagement – in fact, when he’s defeated, you are
encouraged to give PCs the strong and mistaken
impression that he’s dead.
As a PYRO, Andros’ mech is very slow, so he will use
his EXPLOSIVE JET to close the distance to players, and
attempt to throw his BOARDING LEASH to force a
character close to him. Remember that even though it’s
a melee weapon, the Boarding Leash is affected by
cover if it’s thrown.
If Andros is destroyed, SELF-ERASURE triggers. His
mech’s reactor overloads, its flamer fuel tanks violently
ignite, and the entire thing erupts in a pillar of white-hot
flame that leaves almost no trace behind.
The SUPPORT has VIPER’S SPEED, and so will always
act on the very first turn. It will most likely use its LATCH
DRONE to empower Andros, then spend the rest of the
encounter trying to assist him as best it can. Make sure
the players know that the Latch Drone is a separate
target. The Latch Drone makes Andros a particularly
attractive target for area of effect damage, so if there is
a PC who can reliably deal it, now is their time to shine.
The GRUNT BASTIONS are more resilient than they
seem. Their high ARMOR allows them to ignore low-
damage attacks, their DEATHCOUNTER ability effectively
negates the first attack they receive in a round, and
they can use it in conjunction with FEARLESS DEFENDER
to dive in front of and absorb high-damage attacks
meant for their allies.
Boarding Leash, Explosive Jet, Self-Erasure, Siege Armor
Latch Drone, Viper’s Speed
Deathcounter, Fearless Defender
As an added bonus, when they’re destroyed, their
wrecks act as pieces of Size 2 cover, protecting their
allies even in defeat. If they’re having trouble, remind
players that INVADE inflicts Heat, which destroys Grunts
instantly.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
Curiously, if the PCs retreat, Andros doesn't pursue
them – they even manage to get the printer part back
to the Dragon's Tooth, which very quickly makes an
exit.
If the PCs are defeated and cannot retreat, Andros
coldly makes ready to execute them, but then abruptly
stops, participating in a communication that the PCs
can only hear one side of. Andros abruptly relents,
telling them that it's their lucky day – not only do they
get to live, they even get to keep the printer part.
PC VICTORY
What tiny fragments remain of Andros Capella’s
chassis drift lazily through the docking bay. All that’s
left of the man is a carbon-black scorch mark on the
deck plating. It takes you a moment to realize what
you’ve done: you’ve killed the leader of one of
Calliope’s most notorious pirate gangs.
Processing the consequences of that will have to
wait, though – Siren contacts you again. “Guys,
whatever you just did, the pirates are peeling off,
retreating. And we should too – I’m reading a
massive thermal build-up in the ship’s drive core!”
[63]

FOLLOWING UP
The PCs have enough time to return to the Dragon’s
Tooth, but give them a sense of urgency. If they want
to grab more salvage, loot or intelligence from the
Tachyon, make them roll a skill trigger. Emphasize the
urgency of the situation by having Siren make
increasingly desperate pleas for the PCs to return to
the ship. Alarms start to sound across the Tachyon; the
deck plating starts to rattle and dislodge.
You barely have time to strap yourself in before Siren
sounds the hard-maneuver alarm.
“Everybody hold onto your butts!”
There’s a tremendous weight on your chest as the
engines kick in, pressing you back into the chair. You
close your eyes and struggle to breathe. Even with
the aid of your hardsuit, you can barely move your
fingers. The burn feels like it lasts forever. Grey
starts to creep in around the edges of your vision.
[64]
And then it’s done. It’s over. You’re through. You’re
still accelerating at about two gees of thrust, but
that’s far more manageable. You’re able to glance
around the cabin, check on your fellow team
members, look at your ship’s external feeds.
There’s a moment of calm. Far behind you, the
Tachyon and the Weasel are just a speck, barely
visible against the darkness of space.
Then there is a silent flash of blinding light.
The Tachyon is gone – and with it, its secrets, the
Ardent Weasel, and whatever dust remains of
Andros Capella.
Give the PCs a moment to reflect on all they’ve just
witnessed before they start the long journey back to
Hell’s Gate.
DOWNTIME 1:
DRINKS ARE ON ME
It takes another two weeks to return to Hell’s Gate. By
then, the news is all over the system: Andros Capella
is dead, and the PCs killed him. It doesn’t matter if
that’s not what actually happened – the people of
Calliope saw the PCs and Andros Capella walk into that
ship, and only the PCs walked out.
The Hell Hounds have sworn revenge for their slain
leader, but rumor has it they’re in serious disarray and
in no position to make good on those threats.
Getting the printer part to the station relieves an
immense amount of pressure, alleviating the many
precarious shortages the station was experiencing.
Immediately tick a segment on the Station Stability
clock.
Additionally, if the clock has four or more segments
filled, Jerry is able to set aside a little something as
thanks for the players. The PCs gain Jerry’s Care
Package, which they can use later, in Chapter 2.
Jerry’s Care Package
Favours, Limited 2
A bunch of Icebreaker currency, a handful of
backstage passes, a case of Elysian champagne, a
scrawled note containing the passphrases to several
of the “niche interest” clubs and VIP tickets to the
next championship mech bout. Kick your feet up and
relax. You deserve it!
Expend a charge when you’re on the Icebreaker and
there’s no immediate danger. You can take a
Downtime Action appropriate to the situation, right
now.
Regardless, the players are able to undertake a FULL
REPAIR now that the printer is running again, and with
a moment to breathe, they can take a downtime
action. At some point, Jerry signs some requisition
forms and the PCs advance to Licence Level 1. Run a
few vignettes to explain how they get their new mech
gear.
Encourage the PCs to spend time around Hell’s Gate,
building on relationships they developed over the
course of the chapter. The Gate, now in much better
repair and under far less strain on its resources, is fully
open to them. Given the tenuous situation with the
pirates, however, Jerry still won’t authorize unescorted
trips off the station.
If the PCs need reserves, there’s places on Hell’s Gate
they might get them. Jerry, Chief McElroy or Zinfandel
aren’t exactly flush with spare supplies, but they’d
certainly be willing to do a few favours for the people
who saved the station. The Horizon Collective has a
subaltern clinic on the aft hab ring, and they always
seem to be well-stocked. There’s a thriving grey market
among the militia, and there’s always traders in port
who might have something you’re looking for. If nothing
else, you can always go trawling through the junk-yards
and trash-heaps – it’s not dignified or hygienic, but even
in space, people throw an awful lot of useful stuff away.
HELL’S GATE DOWNTIME
ACTIVITIES
Here are some downtime actions specific to Hell’s Gate
that the PCs can undertake now, or whenever they
have downtime on the station. You can also create your
own using these or the ones in Lancer or The Long Rim
as starting points.
PITCH IN
You volunteer for extra work shifts and get down to the
difficult business of keeping Hell’s Gate running for
another week. It’s tiring, dangerous and often
thankless. But this is work that someone needs to do,
and if nobody volunteers, you’re all just drifting.
Explain the work you’re putting in and roll:
On 9 or less, you do more to hinder than help. You get
in the way, make poor decisions or distract other
workers. After a couple of days of this, you’re asked not
to show up for shifts anymore. Take +1h to
interactions with the Gate’s residents until the next
downtime.
On 10-19, with a staggering amount of effort, and many
nights with too little sleep, you’re able to make some
headway in tackling the station’s innumerable
problems. Gain +1g on interactions with Hell’s Gate
residents until the next downtime.
On 20+, not only do you solve a major problem that was
causing a lot of people grief. Tick one segment on the
Station Stability clock, and gain +1g on interactions
with Hell’s Gate residents until the next downtime.
If multiple characters take this action, roll once for each
character and take the best result instead of applying
each result individually. The Station Stability clock
only gets incremented once, but social bonuses or
penalties apply to all participating characters.
[65]
 GO CUBBYING
You strap on a mobility hardsuit, grab a zero-g toolkit
and a few rations, then set off into the station’s
abandoned sectors. Some only have emergency
lighting. Some are without power. Some aren’t even
pressurized. But all of them have something interesting
hidden inside, and you aim to find it.
Describe the sort of exploration you’re performing
and roll:
On 9 or less, you get trapped behind a security door,
stuck in a vent or just hopelessly lost. You have to radio
for help in shame, and someone has to come along to
bail you out. Jerry tearfully chews you out for setting a
bad example. He has a maintenance team seal off
some of the common access points that cubbyers use.
No other PC can take this action until next downtime,
and you become persona non grata with the station’s
cubbying club.
On 10-19, you find something interesting on your
explorations - a forgotten cache of supplies, a
functional console with a bunch of useful data, an
access card to a door nobody’s been able to open, or
an abandoned work project. You can treat these as
Reserves, as useful materials for a future downtime
action like Get Creative, or as currency to give you +1
Accuracy on a few social rolls.
On 20+, not only do you find a bunch of useful stuff, you
actually discover something in a forgotten corner of the
station that’s been causing a bunch of those problems
the wrenchies couldn’t figure out how to fix. You get all
the benefits of a 10-19 result and you tick one segment
on the Station Stability clock. Jerry eases up on the
whole cubbying deal, and the station’s cubbying club
now thinks you’re rad as fuck.
The Station Stability clock can only increment once per
downtime from this action, but any number of
characters can roll this activity separately and reap its
other benefits.
TAKE A BREAK
Jerry has added a few days leave to your file – a rare
privilege on Hell’s Gate. You decide to spend some of
them right now, de-stress and recharge your batteries
after the hectic few weeks you’ve had.
Explain how you’re de-stressing, and then roll:
On 9 or less, you just can’t switch off. You have a
rough few days. But one morning you wake up, step
outside and find a little care package with some of your
favorite snacks inside. There’s a little note signed by
more than sixty people. It says “thank you for keeping
us safe.” One of the kids drew your mech. They really
do care.
[66]
On 10-19, you feel a bit of the weight lift off your
shoulders. You catch a good night’s sleep for the first
time in ages Oh, and you made a friend! The GM can
roll on the Additional NPCs table from Beat 1: All Ye
Who Enter (p. ), or invent their own.
On 20+, you feel better than you’ve felt in years! You’re
more ready to face the world than you ever were
before. Take two counters. They represent a well of
renewed confidence. During the next mission, you can
spend a counter on an attack, check or save you make
to treat the result of the d20 roll as a 10.
JOIN A CREW
Now that the scanning array is back online and the
pirates are out of the way for a while, salvage and
mining runs are starting up again. You check your
hardsuit seals, pack your bag, join a crew and spend a
couple of weeks out in a wreck or an asteroid cluster. If
you’re not the mining or salvaging type, you can still
bring your mech, keeping the team safe while they
scavenge – guardians get a cut, just like everyone
does.
Create a six-segment Materials clock on your
character sheet, then roll:
On 9 or less, fill in one segment on the Materials clock.
On 10-19, fill in two segments on the Materials clock,
and gain one item of particular interest. Roll 1d20 to see
what you find. This can be used as Reserves, pilot
gear, or to gain +1g on a couple of relevant skill
checks.
On 20+, due to your stellar performance on this run, the
team votes you for first pick. Fill in three segments on
the Materials clock, then roll 2d20, choosing one result.
From now on, you can clear segments on the Materials
clock for the following benefits:
• 1 segment: Gain +1g on one skill check to invent,
create or repair items, or on one skill check to
barter, negotiate or bribe.
• 2 segments: During any downtime, gain one
piece of Mech Equipment and Gear (Lancer, p. 51)
as Reserves.
• 6 segments: During any downtime on Hell’s Gate,
tick one segment on the Station Stability clock.
SALVAGE FINDS ROLL 1D20
A reinforced transport case about the size of a shoebox. It contains financial documents from the end of
1 the Pyrite Age, and they detail a truly staggering number of accounting irregularities. This was evidence
in an embezzlement investigation.
A set of disposable solid-fuel boosters, intended to get an atmosphere-capable subline ship into orbit.
2 It’s odd to find them out here – they’re meant to burn up after decoupling. These ones don’t even seem
to have been used.
A flight data recorder from a Harrison Armory Mahler-class fighter. The last flight Sigurd-2-Beta took
begins with launch from its mothership, after which it registers a series of close-range engagements with
3
enemy contacts, the sudden and unexpected absence of FLEETCOM, a long period of dwindling fuel,
and finally silence. The fighter itself is nowhere to be found.
This looks like the arm from a Saladin. The shield projectors have gone dark, but the fingers of its hand
4 still twitch slightly under residual power from local backup batteries. From the damage, it seems like
something grabbed it and wrenched the whole limb right out of its socket.
A Delta-5 power relay, in good working order. Man, ain’t life a hell of a joke? All that trouble, and one
5
was just floating out here. Jerry won’t appreciate the irony, but it’ll be good to have a spare.
Some sort of electromagnetic accelerator. It’s too beaten up to make out what it used to be part of; too
6 large to be from a kinetic weapon, but too small to be from the launch catapult of a carrier. The electronics
are totally fused, but the neodymium magnets are still good.
A crate of Harrison Armory military rations, still in their nigh-indestructible packaging. They’re not culinary
7 masterpieces, but they’re tasty enough; whatever criticisms you might level at the Purview, they know
how to take care of their soldiers. These ones are “vegetarian taco pasta” flavour.
Score! A case of Creighton’s Choice Purple Ribbon whiskey, all twelve bottles intact, unopened and still
8 in perfect condition – now you can get drunk like an Executive! But if you’re not the drinking type, there’s
any number of bars or rich kids across the system who’ll pay out the nose for this.
The relativistic particle stream mediator from a nearlight drive. You’re not supposed to see this outside
9
of the drive housing. You hope whoever this originally belonged to didn’t try to go to bolt without it.
An omnihook. Not only is it still functional, it’s actively broadcasting when you pick it up. If you try to
10 interact with it, it demands a password and starts a twenty-second countdown. When it reaches zero, it
erases its internal memory and reboots in factory default settings.
An old survey satellite launched by first wave colonists. It must’ve gotten knocked out of its original orbit
11
somehow. The internal databank has a lot of data on what Mróz looked like centuries ago.
A blown-out coldcore reactor. Looks like someone tried to hot-swap the muon catalyser while it was still
12 running. That would explain why it’s covered in a thin crust of melted hardsuit parts and carbonised
organic material.
13 A teapot. Huh. How’d this get out here?
An empty older-model hardsuit. It’s weathered by centuries of exposure to space, but it has no breaches
14 or tears. Disconcertingly, its logs register an occupant up until about forty years ago, and they were alive
the whole time. Then, abruptly, they were gone. Not dead, just gone.
A chunk of glossy black stone about the size of a fist. It’s smooth on one side and jagged on the others,
15 as if it were a fragment of a larger object. It’s impossible to identify – you can’t chip it to get a sample,
and it doesn’t show up on sensors. In fact, sometimes you forget that it’s there.
A hopper from a mining vessel, used for storing raw ore until it can be refined. This one is full of sperrylite,
16 a valuable source of platinum. The hopper shows signs of having been ejected into space via explosive
decoupling. That’s strange – your scans can’t pick up anything wrong with the ore.
A catalytic cracking unit, probably from a hydrocarbon mining vessel with an onboard refinery. This one
17
is very badly scorched.
An intact escape pod, launched clear of its mothership about six years ago. It contains physical currency,
18 provisions, weaponry, equipment and identity documents to support the cover identity of an individual
going by the alias of “Jackson Porter Monroe.”
A hardened refrigerator with its own long-term power source. It’s full of unlabelled ampoules that seem
19
to contain blood. If analyzed, the blood doesn’t match the genetic profile of any known lifeform.
The battered remains of a skip drone. It appears to have struck something shortly after translating out of
20
nearlight. You get an eerie sense of deja vu when you look at it.

[67]
 CHAPTER 2:

FIRE AND ICE

“Well, listeners, we’ve had one hell of a show, and I’ll leave you with this thought. Been nearly two months since
the devil Andros Capella vanished in a flash of light, but don’t it feel like the after-image barely left our eyes? When
you shut them, can’t you still see it? That phosphene, frozen in time on your retinas?

“Seems nobody can get Capella’s dyin’ glimmer out of their sight. Whole system’s been awash in the names of the
pilots who killed him – and the way I hear it, over both raised drinks and sharpened knives. What must it be like to
be the pilots who killed the Hound of Hell? To most, you’re a hero, scratchin’ out a threat to Calliope’s spacelanes.
To others, you’re an enemy, a threat who needs scratchin’ out yourself.

“But perhaps most unsettlin’ of all, listeners, imagine this: to a very few people you’re somethin’ else entirely: a
curiosity. Somethin’ that warrants further examination – and that examination could be the ‘friendly chat’ kind, or it
could be the ‘insect under glass’ kind.

“If you’re out there, pilots, if you’re listenin’? Stay safe. Seems like you’re the main characters of Calliope today.

“This is Irvin Reid for Icebreaker Public Radio, tellin’ you to… stay cool out there.”

[68]
BEAT 7:
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
A couple of weeks to a month after the PCs return from
the Tachyon, Jerry calls them into the briefing room for
another meeting.
When you enter the room, you notice you and Jerry
aren’t its only occupants – sort of. The holo-projector
displays the flickering image of a severe woman in a
crisp white suit. You know who this is: Rita, station
director of the Icebreaker Borealis. As you arrive,
she cracks her neck a little, and Jerry adjusts his
collar nervously.
When she speaks, it’s in a cool, level tone. “Good
morning. I’ve heard quite a lot about you – from
Jerry, and from system gossip. Word has it we have
you to thank for Andros Capella exiting the stage.
That’s good – I’m glad Hell’s Gate is finally cleaning
up its messes.”
Jerry looks upset by this statement, but Rita cuts him
off before he can speak. “Anyway, let’s get down to
business. Jerry says that since you sent the Hell
Hounds running, salvage and mining crews have
been able to get to work properly for the first time in
months.
“Well, you’re in luck. The Icebreaker is looking at
some major expansion projects. I’m willing to offer
guaranteed, above-market prices for anything you’re
selling; raw materials, construction equipment,
salvage, whatever. I’ll even comp you and your
freighter crews for a few nights on the town. There’s
one condition.”
Jerry takes a deep breath. “There always is, Rita.”
Rita shoots a withering glare at Jerry, before
continuing. “I want to subcontract your team. I have
a very sensitive job that needs a competent crew.
You fit the profile, and critically, you’re not working
for anyone on the Board.”
Rita isn’t the most patient soul in the world, but she
does understand the team will probably have a lot of
questions, so she politely answers them.
WHY US?
“Like I said, you’re competent, you’re available,
you’re reliable – or so Jerry tells me, at least – and
most importantly, you’re not under the thumb of
anyone on the Board. That aspect, in fact, is perhaps
your most important quality – it means that I can
convince the Board to pay you.”
She rubs the bridge of her nose irritably. “The Board
are a gaggle of paranoid, squabbling infants. When
anything – and I do mean anything – goes wrong with
anyone’s business, they immediately suspect a plot
by one of their rivals. Oh, and let me clarify: everyone
– and I do mean everyone – on the Board are rivals.
“They’d never authorise me to hire any member’s
private security team for this endeavour, and due to
the nature of the contract, I can’t trust anyone in the
station’s mutual defence force either. I need a small,
competent team from outside the Icebreaker’s usual
sphere. You killed Andros Capella, and beheaded
one of the system’s most dangerous pirate groups.
Put simply: you qualify.”
THE JOB
“I’m going to have to ask you to wait until you arrive
on the Icebreaker for specific briefings, but in general
terms: I suspect a plot against the Board from an
external force. Odd things have been happening
recently, both on the station and in our orbital
neighbourhood. Power fluctuations, system
intrusions, missing persons, traffic irregularities.
“Everyone on the Board thinks it’s someone else on
the Board, and yes, it’s true they’re always plotting
against each other. But this feels different, in a way I
can’t quite quantify. Things are happening that
wouldn’t benefit anyone in the station’s current order.
Customers are discontent. There’s grumbling from
residents. Seasonal workers are getting spooked.
“No, everyone’s losing money on this. I need you to
look into this, and put a stop to it. I’m willing to pay
top icicle to see it done.”
THE PAY
“Well, as I previously mentioned, I’ll offer guaranteed
prices on everything your station is willing to sell to
us. I know the Gate is always in need of cash.
“I’ll also open a budget for reasonable expenses. As
long as you don’t abuse my generosity too much,
you and your freighter crews don’t have to spend a
single icicle of your own during your stay. I don’t want
anyone – the culprits included – to suspect I’ve
brought in outside investigators, so I want you to be
seen around the station, spending money like
everyone else. It just won’t be your money.
“Lastly, I happen to have better contacts than Jerry
does, and if you need more powerful hardware, I can
hook you up – once I start seeing results, of course.”
[69]
 JERRY’S OPINION • Striga Von Aldenberg is inconsolable with worry
Jerry scratches his head self-consciously. “My? over the PCs’ safety, insisting that the Icebreaker
Opinion? Oh, right. I mean… killing Andros Capella is a wretched den of schemes, intrigue and
kicked the Hell Hounds real good. They’re making, skulduggery. She’s very coherent today, actually –
uh, they’re making all sorts of threats that they’re in all the plots and conspiracies that she’s describing
no state to carry out. The Gate’ll be, it’ll be fine until are well-evidenced and verifiable. It’s kind of
you get back. The militia’s got this locked down. unsettling. Then she goes off about how a secret
apocalypse cult has started operating there, and
“But the Gate could really use money. And… well, it’s back to business as usual.
the Icebreaker is one of our biggest customers. And • Some of Ipswich DeLacey’s subscribers (known as
they’re offering guaranteed prices on our goods. “the Switchboard,” individuals as “Operators”) live
That’s… that’s pretty good, guys? Plus, plus, Rita over on the Icebreaker. Ipswich would like the PCs
knows some people. She can hook you up with mech to take some signed merch over – and also check
stuff we just don’t have the budget for. in on them, make sure they’re okay? Life can be
tough out there, fam.
“She can be…” Jerry pauses for a moment, as Rita’s
glare sharpens to a razor point. “… cold, sometimes. Give a general impression of how Hell’s Gate is faring
But you can trust her implicitly.” You see just a split at the moment, depending on the status of the Station
second of emotion pass across Rita’s face, before Stability clock. If it only has a couple of segments
the stoic mask reasserts itself. ticked, things won’t look great: flickering lights, queues
for essential supplies, jury-rigged fixes due to parts
shortages, grime and an overall air of melancholy. This
PRIOR TO DEPARTURE isn’t anything new, incidentally; this is just how life on
The PCs have a little time to spend on Hell’s Gate Hell’s Gate usually is.
before they leave. Since they’re about to spend a whole
mission away on the Icebreaker, this is a good chance On the other hand, if the clock is at three or four
for them to engage with some of the Gate’s NPCs. segments, the PCs have been putting in the work, and
it’s starting to show. Things look a little cleaner and a
Here are some suggestions for things that might be little brighter. There’s the parts and the time to make
going on around the Gate right now: proper repairs. Shortages are easing and people can
afford little luxuries. Citizens’ lives are better because
• Jerry’s stressed, which isn’t unusual, but it seems of what the PCs did – make sure they know that.
to be specifically related to Rita. If pressed on the
issue, he admits that he used to be involved with
her. But then he became station director, and a
relationship between two station directors was
never going to end well.
• Chief McElroy is watching every single print job like
an angry hawk. She says her vigilance is critical to
prevent a repeat of the accident that nearly crippled
the station. The print team say all it’s preventing is
an end to the backlog the accident caused.
• Zinfandel is a little concerned about the threats the
Hell Hounds have been making, and is stepping up
patrols of Stygia’s orbital neighbourhood.
• Printloaf wants to expand their selection of stims,
which they feel is running a little thin. The Dragon’s
Tooth won’t be subject to the same customs
checks that other ships are, which means it’d be
easier to run product back from the Icebreaker.
Printloaf’s willing to cut the PCs in on the profits if
they help.
• Samorn Patalung mentions there’s a Horizon
Collective repair shop on the Icebreaker that the
HORUS dorks who hang out at her stand have
talked about wanting to knock over for a while – go
and warn them, maybe?

[70]
BEAT 8:
JEWEL OF THE NIGHT
The journey from Hell’s Gate to the Icebreaker Borealis
takes about eleven days. The PCs travel in the
Dragon’s Tooth, as one of the escorts for the convoy of
freighters hauling metal ingots, polycrete and salvage.
Their trip is reasonably comfortable, if not particularly
eventful.
As the sand-yellow sphere of Kalevala and its
majestic ring system grows in your vision, a small,
bright dot grows with it, perched in orbit. Within
hours, that dot resolves into a vast, tangled cylinder
of habitats anchored to the remains of an immense
mining frigate. The station spills bright neon light into
the void, and local space is a hive of activity, dozens
of ships arriving and leaving at this very moment.
The Icebreaker’s forward hangar still works just fine,
and docking is a quick and painless process. The fun
doesn’t start until you take an elevator down the
struts into the Sprawl.
In the Grand Concourse that marks the start of the
Starstrip, a man is waiting for you – one of the
greeters. He explains your hotel reservations,
recommends several of the station’s attractions,
ensures that you receive all your complimentary gift
vouchers, and then very quietly informs you that a
meeting has been scheduled for you at lunch
tomorrow, in the backroom of the Uncrowned King
bar and grille. Until then, you’re told to blend in and
enjoy yourselves.
STATION LAYOUT
The station is built around the original CPS Borealis. An
extensively modified Yabelo Industries Medr-class “ring
eater,” the Borealis is almost ten kilometres long and
once contained all the facilities necessary to produce
several hundred thousand litres of fresh water every
day. She would periodically dive into the rings of
Kalevala, chewing her way through thousands of
moonlets, a task she performed continually for more
than a century with almost no stoppages.
Eventually, the strain of continual use exhausted her
systems beyond repair, and she was placed in a
parking orbit outside of Kalevala’s radiation belts. The
original plan was to scuttle the ship and salvage her for
parts, but that left a whole lot of people without a job or
a place to live other than Hell’s Gate. That wasn’t
appealing, and so the ship was set into a gentle spin,
serving as the core for a labyrinthine tangle of habitats
clustered around it in a rough cylinder.
Like Hell’s Gate and other spin stations, directions on
the Icebreaker take the form of spin/anti-spin, up/down
and aft/fore. The Icebreaker’s cylinder is five kilometres
in diameter, and rotates about once every 90 seconds.
Unlike Hell’s Gate or Impact Plaza, the Icebreaker
wasn’t constructed to any sort of template or plan. New
modules, sections and whole city blocks are bolted on
as they become necessary, forming “the Sprawl.”
Struts anchoring parts of the jury-rigged cylinder to the
ship’s superstructure get added every few hundred
metres. This prevents “the Wiggle,” a hazard in which
insufficiently secured structural elements flail about and
potentially collide with other sections.
The Sprawl is loosely organised into dozens of
“districts,” which range from a handful of modules to
areas of the cylinder the size of a small city. There is
no official definition for what does or doesn’t qualify as
a district, but a general rule of thumb holds that a district
is an area that contains the holdings of at least three
Board members. Any fewer, and it’s likely just part of
another district.
As the station grew, its tangle of modules became
increasingly complex and time-consuming to navigate.
It’s only in the past couple of decades that it’s gotten a
reliable public transit system, which Rita had to fight
tooth and nail for. Even the simplified map looks like
something out of a nightmare. There’s a tidy profit to be
made for those willing to serve as guides, although
visitors can also purchase a variety of navigation
software packages.
In comparison to the recent public transit system, the
station has had a robust system of freight lines since its
inception. These lines are built along the external
surface of the cylinder, “underneath” the Sprawl. The
trains are automated and it’s a good thing too, since the
sheer number of junctions, branches and dead ends
would make it impossible for a human to navigate. Most
freight cars are large enough to accommodate a couple
of Size 1 mechs, or one Size 2 mech uncomfortably.
Life support functions such as water and air processing
are distributed, handled by localised modules and
always with some level of redundancy. Given that the
richer districts can afford it, air and water quality in
those areas tends to be better than in poorer districts.
Unlike Hell’s Gate, there exists no station-wide ban on
smoking or open flames, although certain districts may
have local statutes.
[71]

LOCATIONS
The Pocket Guide to the Icebreaker, available from
almost any street vendor, recommends that any visit to
the station should include “a full range of experiences.”
The Icebreaker is large enough that just about any form
of entertainment can be found, but here are some
highlights.
THE STARSTRIP
“Try your luck in the Long Rim’s most luxurious
gambling halls! Take a load off in unrivalled comfort
at our galaxy-class resorts! Bask in the talent of our
exclusive shows and acts! The Starstrip: walk the
road to the stars.”
The Starstrip is the only thoroughfare to run the entire
ten-kilometre length of the Sprawl, in a bizarre path that
twists, winds and loops several times around the
cylinder. It links all of the major casinos, hotels,
shopping malls and theatres. There’s a saying: “you’re
not on the Board unless you’re on the Starstrip.” It’s not
quite universal, but it’s close.
The Starstrip bustles at every hour of the day and night,
a constant churn of people seeking excitement,
distraction or oblivion. Given the clientele is often ships
making a stopover between Rao Co and the Dawnline
Shore, reservations at high-class establishments are
often booked years or even decades in advance.
In its full-issue edition on the Icebreaker, the Annamite
Cultural Review rated the Gift-Bronze Casino and
Resort as “the number one gambling establishment in
the Long Rim,” citing its tasteful neo-deco architecture,
attentive staff and unrivalled wine selection. This article
became a point of contention when a disgruntled
former employee of the Cultural Review accused its
editor-in-chief of accepting bribes from Evelina
Bondarchuk, the owner of the Gift-Bronze.
HISTORIC BOREALIS
“Marvel at the inner workings of Calliope’s largest
industrial spaceship, and relive its proud history with
one of our affordable guided tours! Proof of zero-g
training and signed safety waiver required.”
Sections of the CPS Borealis are open to the public,
and some areas have been converted into exhibitions
on the history of both the ship and Calliope at large.
Guided tours are available for a nominal fee.
Most of the ship’s engineering sections are cordoned
off, since its reactor and life support systems are
necessary for the station’s continued survival. The
ship’s mining laser was broken down for parts more
than a century ago. Its engines, while still intact, aren’t
functional – a good thing, since the station almost
certainly lacks the structural integrity to handle
acceleration.
[72]
GLADIATOR’S DRAW AND QUARTER
“Your thirst for mech-on-mech destruction might
never be sated, but we gave it our best shot at the
Draw and Quarter!”
Live mech combat is far and away Calliope’s favourite
extreme sport, outpacing jovian windsurfing by a wide
margin. In fact, it’s one of Calliope’s most successful
breakout industries: a vast subculture of Union citizens
thirst for mech violence that isn’t legal to conduct
anywhere in Union space. The Quarter provides.
Although only the Moon Glacier League is officially
“native” to the Icebreaker, the Thunderstorm and
Hellfire Leagues hold most of their matches in the Draw
and Quarter. This suits the Thunderstorm League just
fine, since it’s a joint SSC and IPS-N venture handled
mostly by people who don’t even work in the system.
On the other hand, it upsets a lot of Hellfire League fans
that not a single match of the Gate’s “native” League is
actually held on Hell’s Gate.
By popular vote, the top ten arenas in the Quarter are
The Mechropolis, Laserhäus, Deadmetal, One Weird
Trick Shot, Ring of Fate, All Tomorrow’s Junkers, The
Despair Shop, House of Godhead, Don’t Tell
Management and a HORUS-operated joint marked
only a memetic glyph, which when read is inherently
understood to mean “mech fighting ring.”
There’s always at least a couple of League matches
happening on any given day, but non-League matches
and tournaments happen round the clock. The
Quarter’s concourses never sleep, and neither do its
three Schedule 2 printers.
RAPHAEL BAZA’S BIZARRE BAZAAR
“If it can’t be found in the Bizarre Bazaar, then trust
us: it can’t be found anywhere on this plane of
reality.”
There are marketplaces, malls and shopping
concourses all over the Icebreaker, but by far the most
prestigious is the Bizarre Bazaar. Operated by Raphael
Baza, a flamboyant and eccentric member of the
Board, the Bazaar is a colossal establishment that
occupies an entire district by itself.
Thousands of merchants hold court there every day,
selling every conceivable thing, each paying half their
profits to Baza. That’s the genius of the Bazaar: there’s
so much space that he can make it free, and you only
need to pay him if you break even. This leads to the
Bazaar’s famous eclectic variety of goods and services.
For more successful, ambitious or specialised vendors,
the Bazaar also has a plethora of shopfronts available
for rent. The average operating life of a cafe in the
Bazaar is four months.
SERENDIPITY RESORT HOTEL
“If you want Armory Executive treatment without
Armory Executive prices, look no further than the
Serendipity Resort Hotel. Serendipity Resort Hotel:
ain’t chance a funny thing?”
Rita hasn’t paid for the PCs to stay in the pinnacle of
luxury, but she hasn’t stiffed them either: unless they
specifically want to make other arrangements, she’s
had rooms booked for them at the Serendipity Resort
Hotel, an upmarket establishment that provides tasteful
comfort without breaking the bank. It has three bars, a
restaurant, a sauna and a swimming pool.
While Rita is perfectly happy to pay for the PCs’ room
and board, she’s not going to be impressed if they try
to expense any major cleaning or repair bills.
UNCROWNED KING BAR AND GRILLE
“If you’re looking for the authentic down-home Long
Rim tavern experience, you can find it down any
number of alleyways and access corridors! Please
remember that station security forces can’t always
guarantee a response time of less than five minutes!”
The Uncrowned King Bar and Grille is a crummy dive
in the Gladiator’s Draw and Quarter, with a rentable
backroom that overlooks the House of Godhead mech
arena. Dark, noisy, poorly-cleaned, with tasteless beer
and little variety in its harder liquors, it’s mediocre at
best. But it’s for this very reason that Rita chooses to
hold clandestine meetings with the PCs here – being
from Hell’s Gate, they won’t seem out of place, but
nobody would look for a Board member here.
PERSONS OF INTEREST
RITA SHE/HER
ACTUAL STATION DIRECTOR
If Rita has a last name, nobody ever says it out loud. A
practical, calculating leader who grew up immersed in
the Icebreaker’s ruthless politics, she looks at almost
everything in her life as a problem to be solved. Despite
her coldness, Rita really does have the interests of the
Icebreaker’s populace at heart; someone has to.
Of the many weapons in her arsenal, Rita’s two
greatest are her ability to make her goals seem
beneficial to others, and her ability to hide her motives.
She knows how to make people think they came up
with her schemes themselves, and she can do it without
tipping her hand. These skills are essential for
convincing the Board to do anything, as they perceive
any idea or agenda other than their own as a threat.
As Rita herself would explain it to the few people she
trusts, “never have your own ideas. Just have all of
theirs for them.”
She’s tall and severe, with immaculately coifed black
hair and a steely gaze. She wears glasses, although
she doesn’t need them, and a snow-white suit with lines
so sharp they’d put the Terashima Enclave to shame.
She radiates an aura of effortless calm and superiority.
If you were to remark to her that she’s a contrast to
Jerry Masters in every single way, she’d laugh and
agree with you, then frown and tell you never to
compare her to him again.
As an employer, Rita doesn’t micromanage. She hires
people who’ve proven their competence, tells them
precisely what she wants, provides all the information
they need to get the job done, and then leaves them to
work out how to go about their task. The only thing she
wants is the result she asked for: how you get it is
usually unimportant. She always pays what she owes
promptly, and never forgets a favour.
FAYAD HARB HE/HIM
ICEBREAKER ENGINEERING UNION CHIEF
People look at the Icebreaker’s glittering neon
dreamscape and call it magical – and that view tends
to make them think everything here happens by magic.
But it doesn’t. It takes thousands of man-hours of
backbreaking labour every day to keep this tangled
engineering nightmare running, and if you let the
people up top forget that for even a second, everyone
suffers. Enter people like Fayad Harb.
Fayad and a small number of other union bosses sit on
the Board, ideally as a counterbalance to the
executives and commercial interests that otherwise
tend to dominate it. The rest of the Board would dearly
like to get rid of them, but the saving grace of the
Icebreakers’ unions is that there’s so much enmity and
distrust between the station’s elite that their anti-union
initiatives are scattershot and ineffective.
A short, energetic man, Fayad sports a permanent ten-
day beard, missing a section directly under his chin. His
hair’s mostly silver, despite the fact that he doesn’t look
that old. He’s friendly to those he trusts, but can get
quite vicious with people he disapproves of. He
assumes any action by the wealthier members of the
Board is a threat to his people – an uncharitable
outlook, but rarely wrong. He refrains from drink, but
smokes almost constantly, even while working.
KILEYNA MORTON THEY/THEM
UNION LIASON TO CALLIOPE
It took almost a century for Calliope to cross the desk
of anyone at the Union Administrative Bureau. They
promptly deemed the system too unimportant to
warrant sending an Administrator, and fobbed the
system off on the Bureau of Orbital and Non-Terrestrial
Management, who sent a civilian liaison. Kileyna is the
eighth appointee to this position.
[73]
 Short and bronze-skinned, their dark hair has a few
streaks of white despite the fact that they don’t look a
day over twenty-five. They tend to dress in muted
colours, usually including at least an element of grey,
and they have an unconscious habit of rubbing their
right thumb against their left middle finger when they’re
stressed. They’re empathetic and happy to listen, but
they have to maintain a level of detachment for their
own mental health. Every day, they hear the woes of a
great number of people, and they can’t always help.
Kileyna has a difficult job: to represent Union and its
utopian goals in a place defined by the absence of both.
Almost everyone in Calliope resents Union in some
way. Many resent that there’s widespread suffering and
hardship that Union could fix, but doesn’t. An equal
number resent the idea of Union chipping away at
Calliope’s independence. There’s folk out here who
personally remember the days of SecComm, and don’t
trust Union because of it – and an unsettling few who
are upset those days are past.
This isn’t helped by Union’s general opinion on the
Long Rim: that its humanitarian issues could be solved
if it stopped existing, and everyone was relocated
somewhere nicer. Kileyna advocates for an
organisation that wants to make their job obsolete to
people who despise it; an irony their critics delight in.
With those difficulties in mind, Kileyna’s work ethic is
exemplary. It’s down to their tireless, thankless effort
that Union assigns an aid budget to Calliope at all. The
neutral omninode, bringing omninet access to all
without a price tag, is an accomplishment of theirs.
They got a Union Navy carrier assigned to the system,
and the naysayers called it “overreach,” while at the
same time whining that it wasn’t a full battlegroup. In
their darker moments, they remind themselves: doing
good is its own reward, even if nobody thanks you.
IRVIN REID HE/HIM
THE VOICE OF ICEBREAKER PUBLIC RADIO
If you’ve tuned into public channels in Calliope, you’ve
heard Irvin Reid. He has a voice that could melt butter
and a wit to back it up. In defiance of radio tradition, he
looks exactly like he sounds: tall, dark, handsome, and
settling into middle age with practised dignity. He’s also
one of the few men who can pull off a fedora.
He has an almost mystical way of describing day-to-
day news, making situations seem at once vivid and
deeply relatable. He has a reputation for refusing to
sugar-coat or pull his punches, but also for avoiding
hyperbole; his descriptions might veer fantastical on
occasion, but he still tells it exactly as it is.
Irvin is one of Rita’s closest allies. She convinced the
Board to sponsor Icebreaker Public Radio, while
keeping it free of corporate influence, making it one of
the most trusted news sources in the system.
[74]
SMITH JOHNSON THEY/THEM
IPS-N REGIONAL MANAGER
Smith Johnson is the highest-ranking IPS-N employee
in Calliope. This constitutes a punishment far beyond
simple re-assignment to the Long Rim, which happens
to any number of IPS-N staff who make one too many
screw-ups.
No, Smith’s job is much worse: they’re now responsible
for all of these rejects. Any further mistakes they make
are, so far as IPS-N is concerned, Smith’s fault.
Paunchy, middle-aged, with thinning hair, Smith
routinely overindulges to deal with the immense stress
of their job. They have a vast array of dataplating so
that they never miss a beat. There’s always some fire
that needs putting out, and the longer they leave it, the
hotter it burns – best to nip these things in the bud.
They’re always exhausted, and it shows.
Despite their desperate position, Smith’s been able to
celebrate a couple of victories. It’s not exactly the most
profitable deal ever, but the small-fleet contract with
Hell’s Gate generated substantial goodwill. Trunk
Security has seen an uptick in contracts, too. Surely,
there’s got to be something they can do to convince
IPS-N they’re not a total loser?
Smith is likely who the PCs will talk to should they have
dealings with IPS-N. If they seem like they have money,
Smith is almost pathetically eager to please.
LOKI VALENTINIAN HE/HIM
THE PRODIGAL SON
A pale youth with messy black hair, a winning smile and
a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. His entire being
exudes a constant, infectious energy. He never seems
to be able to sit completely still, some part of his body
always moving – usually his hands, fiddling with a pen
or some part of his uniform. Loki is a Harrison Armory
corporal, and one of the few friendly members of the
Armory the PCs are likely to meet in the near future.
If the PCs engage Loki in conversation, while he’s
happy to talk, he tries to avoid saying anything about
himself. However, if he thinks holding back will lose the
PCs’ trust, he’ll open up a little.
He’s the son of Dr. Odin Valentinian, a prestigious
Armory executive and weapons designer. There was a
terrible accident at the research facility during a test of
one of his father’s prototypes, and his twin brother
Baldur was lost. Loki blames Odin for Baldur’s death,
and signed up with the Legion to get away from it all.
But now he’s learnt that his father is coming out to
Calliope for some reason, and Loki definitely doesn’t
want to be here when he arrives. Speaking about his
family is the only thing that dims Loki’s smile.
EVELINA BONDARCHUK SHE/HER
OWNER OF THE GIFT-BRONZE CASINO
A regal woman with a taste for elegant and complex
dresses. She’s never seen without a cigarette in a long
holder, but never seems to actually light or smoke it.
She’s spent years cultivating an air of mystery and
allure largely just to see if she could; she’s uninterested
in actual intimacy or romantic involvement.

As a casino proprietor and a member of the Board,

Evelina is no stranger to intrigue. She’s become
exceptionally good at navigating the Icebreaker’s
brutal, cut-throat politics, but she has one additional,
dangerous secret: she’s thrown in with Ignatius Aurum
and the Inner Cult.

Evelina’s primary advantage is that she possesses all

the strengths of a Board member and almost none of
their usual weaknesses. She has immense wealth,
prestige and access, and she’s intimately familiar with
how to navigate the short-sighted greed and vicious
social games of the other Board members. But she’s
no longer in a chaotic free-for-all: she has a definite
goal, and allies whom she can trust.

[75]
 ADDITIONAL NPCS
On the Icebreaker, you can meet almost anyone if you walk down the right concourse. Here are some of them.
VIMALA “MISS HIGH ROLLER” PREMJANI
Her main claim to fame is being banned from every casino on the Icebreaker. They say she’s a cheat.
1-2
She insists she’s just good at counting cards and weighing probabilities. Since she can’t make money
gambling anymore, she offers divination with tarot cards, which is inexplicably reliable.
HOWL
A towering, muscular woman, her tan skin covered in tattoos of wolves and other lupine creatures.
3-4 She’s a regular in all three of the Icebreaker’s mech-fighting circuits and reigning champion of the
Hellfire League (during Act 1, at least). Boisterous and friendly. She’s a refugee from Nestor, and has
become somewhat of a heroic symbol to Nestorians – one of their own, out there in the stars, thriving.
TALON KYLE DIAMZON MECHANIC
A wrenchie who got fired from his job at Impact Dynamics for sneaking repair supplies to “the poors,”
5-6
and so took his services to the Icebreaker. Has a massive charitable streak, and spends as much time
fixing things for free as he does for pay.
SUBTEXT ÍSFÛR COWARDS
An argumentative philosopher who got stuck on the Icebreaker when their colony ship left without them
for some reason. Subtext makes a living giving philosophy lectures, as they (allegedly) have teaching
7-8
qualifications. While their debate style is often needlessly aggressive, they make a compelling point
about how a lot of academic philosophy has become “navel-gazing bullshit that’s lost touch with the
day-to-day struggles people in the real world experience.”
ISHIHARA YAEKO
A painter suffering from a long artistic block. She’s searching for new inspiration, and if any of the PCs
9-10 capture her attention, she’ll begin asking about their experiences and trying to spend time with them.
If she gets to know a PC, she’ll share something personal: ever since she came to Calliope, she’s been
having recurring nightmares of her wife dying. Just one problem: she’s not and has never been married.
JÓN JÓNSSON
A smart-looking businesswoman who insists she’s just taking an “extended vacation” on the
Icebreaker, which has lasted about a decade so far. Despite the fact that she doesn’t seem to have a
11-12
job, she never seems to be short of cash, and can be found in the station’s mid-market casinos, making
low-cost wagers and sipping high-cost drinks. If a PC earns her trust, it turns out she’s a grey-market
fixer, and is happy to hook them up with her interested clients or vendors.
YELDA ERGUN
Wait, the Yelda Ergun? From Yelda and the Minesweepers? The pop sensation that swept musical
awards five albums running? The multi-instrumentalist virtuoso whose posters graced the bedroom
13-14 walls of half the teenagers in Union? What’s she doing working as a barista in a crummy cafe in the
Long Rim? Well, she says, burnout’s a motherfucker. Add in a control freak manager, an argument
with a bandmate that turned violent, the paparazzi and a literal cult of obsessive stalkers, and running
away became less about luxury and more about necessity. Now, can she please just take your order?
RAT
Pierced in every place you can imagine (and, he assures you, some you can’t), covered in tattoos, with
his hair dyed any number of colours, Rat cuts an imposing figure despite his short stature. He originally
15-16 turned to sex work to cover the cost of his gender confirmation surgery, but found that not only did he
enjoy the profession, there were a lot of people in it who needed solidarity. Sex work on the Icebreaker
has never been easy, but at least if you ask “Little Rat Boy” for help, he can make certain problems –
like abusive clients or pushy debt collectors – go away.
ANTHONY “CAL” CALLAHAN
A scruffy man with long brown hair and a green spiral tattooed around his left eye. He wears a bullet
on a chain around his neck, speaks in an older dialect of Union Common, and has the haunted,
17-18
suspicious look of someone on the run from the authorities. Always wears a fingerless glove on his left
hand, apparently to conceal something. Makes a living doing sleight of hand and magic tricks that
genuinely seem to be impossible.
SIDAR OMÊD AUGHT-TEN-SIX
An older man with some gnarly facial scars; energy weapon, maybe? He’s an electrical engineer, and
19-20
part of Fayad Harb’s engineering union, but is much more radical than Harb. There are some rumours
that connect him to unauthorised industrial sabotage – only rumours, mind, but he never denies them.

[76]
DAILY LIFE
Life on the Icebreaker is defined by a sharp divide,
whether you’re a visitor or a resident: money. If you
have money, the Icebreaker is open to you. If you don’t,
it’s a daunting and unkind place.
A lot of people who’ve been to the Icebreaker speak of
it in the exact same terms: it’s a lovely place to visit, but
it looks like a hard place to live. They’re right. It takes a
lot of money to live comfortably here, and most people
don’t earn enough to stay in comfort for long.
Sure, there are parts of the Icebreaker where a poor
person can live, but it’s not much of a life. The Board
really only cares for the bits of the station that the
visitors are likely to see, and as far as they’re
concerned, their workers’ quality of life is their own
problem. The station’s best services – food, housing or
medical care – all come with a steep price tag.
Still, the Icebreaker does need its menial workers, and
it’s not like they can commute from somewhere else.
Since she became station director, Rita has done her
best to ensure some basic services for the less
fortunate. It’s not much, but it still manages to be better
than what Hell’s Gate can provide – most of the time.
The Icebreaker’s local currency is “icicles”, which are
thumb-sized, spear-shaped plastic chits, with a hole
drilled at the wide end to allow them to be strung.
They’re infused with glitter, to draw attention and make
putting them on the line at a casino look impressive.
The denomination of an icicle is marked numerically,
although they also vary in colour and sparkle. To
prevent counterfeiting, each icicle contains a unique
RFID chip.
In addition to icicles, the Icebreaker also accepts
manna, corprostate scrip and various currencies from
Diasporan worlds. It accepts Hell’s Gate ingots,
although at a poor exchange rate to icicles. It was
forced to accept Impact Plaza’s new “Steele Bars” at
an artificially inflated exchange rate, with the
implication being that Impact Dynamics would raise
rates on water and essential foodstuffs if they didn’t.
The station functions on Cradle Standard Time, with a
twelve-hour day and twelve-hour night. Kalevala orbits
so far from Calliope’s star that “daylight” is provided by
massive floodlights mounted on the Borealis’ hull. A lot
of the Starstrip exists under permanent night, because
it looks sexier that way.
SCENES FROM THE
ICEBREAKER
Neon billboards the size of skyscrapers
shine their gaudy messages into space.
1-2
Each one consumes enough power to run
a hab block for a month.
A street comedian does an unflattering
impression of John Creighton Harrison III
to gales of laughter from the public. A
3-4
Colonial legionnaire in the crowd is getting
visibly angrier as the act goes on, which
only encourages the impersonator.
A scalper offers tickets to a Moon Glacier
League mech fight that’s happening later
5-6
this afternoon. The prices he’s charging
are outrageous.
Station security forces attempt to clear
away a small group of panhandlers, and
7-8
would clearly be getting more violent if they
weren’t being watched.
A croupier leans against a junction box,
clutching a coffee in trembling hands,
9-10
clearly trying not to cry. They look
completely exhausted.
A street food vendor sells hot burritos and
cheap coffee from their cart. Every so
11-12
often, they throw a nervous glance at a
burly man leaning on a nearby wall.
There’s a solemn affair going on at a bar.
Initially, you think it’s a wake for a
deceased person, but they’re alive and
here at the gathering. They finally got
13-14
enough money to leave Calliope for good,
and the event feels like a wake because
none of these people are ever going to see
the departing person face-to-face again.
There’s a small commotion as a member
of the Board is escorted somewhere by a
15-16 retinue of heavily-armed private security
personnel. They’re very aggressive with
anyone who gets too close.
A line of show-dancers prance and high-
kick at the opening of some special event
17-18 a casino is holding. Their outfits are
ridiculous; somehow they seem to be
overdressed and scanty at the same time.
In the shadows of an alleyway, there’s a
glint as icicles change hands. A small
package is passed in return. Although you
19-20
can’t see their faces clearly, you realise
both parties have noticed you, and they
hastily depart in opposite directions.
[77]
 EQUIPMENT
PLACEHOLDER I will probably have to put more stuff
in here later but honestly, I just wanna get this draft
version out the door and I suspect adding much more
stuff will mess with the page layout so have this weird
protocol system for now and we’ll throw more stuff in
later.
CARDCOUNT_V7.7.7_FINAL.OMEX
2 SP, Exotic Gear, Unique, Protocol, 2l(Self)
For the rest of the turn, this system becomes
charged and you can’t take full actions until the start
of your next turn.
If, during a quick action, you make an attack roll that
misses or force a save that an enemy passes,
expend the system’s charge. That quick action didn’t
really happen; you made a probability calculation
that returned an unfavourable result. Limited
charges aren’t expended, loading weapons aren’t
unloaded, reactions aren’t triggered, and so on. You
must then choose a different quick action, and
perform it instead.
If you don’t use it, this system loses its charge at the
end of your turn, as the calculation’s initial conditions
no longer reflect reality.
Card-counting devices and programs are banned
everywhere on the Icebreaker; it’s one of the
few things the Board can agree on. What makes
this specific distro special (and even more
illegal) is that somehow, it also works on slot
machines, roulette wheels and mech fights.
Programmers hired to examine it reported a
tangle of neural-network-written paracode that
calls variables antichronally.
[78]
A GUN WITH A STORY
There’s a tale of two duelling lancers who cut a trail of
gold and crimson across Calliope in their twin Raleighs.
Marika Wren was a pirate, Lin Zhihao a bounty hunter,
and their names are legendary, as are their custom
firearms. Most people think they’re just a myth, a fairy-
tale, that they never existed. They’re wrong.
The Golden Hand
Auxiliary CQB, Exotic Gear, Loading, Reliable 1,
Unique
[b5] [a3] [1d6i]
On Critical Hit: After this attack, reload every
weapon in this mount.
If you install the Golden Hand in the same mount
as the Crimson Hand, they count as only one
piece of Exotic Gear for installation limits.
Marika was fast as lightning, and she had to
be: she could never aim worth a damn. Zhihao
was quick to mock her wide shots, and it made
her blush.
When your mech levels it, you smell whiskey,
cigar smoke and rose perfume, hear the sound of
dancing, and you want to laugh like the devil.
This weapon presents a sidequest. During an
appropriate downtime action on the Icebreaker, you
may present the Golden Hand to a PC as a reward.
Most likely, someone wagers it in a poker game, but it
could be sold in the Bizarre Bazaar, offered as a
payment instead of money, or even found discarded in
a scrapheap by someone unaware of its true value.
Introduce the weapon’s associated mythology. The
mere existence of the Golden Hand implies that its
equal and opposite, the Crimson Hand, is also out
there somewhere. Moreover, the legend says that no
matter how far they’re separated from each other in
space or time, the guns are destined to reunite. Just
owning the Golden Hand will lead you to the Crimson
Hand – or so the story goes.
Start a three-segment Seeking the Crimson Hand
clock. The character who possesses the Golden Hand
will have the opportunity to uncover more of this story
in future chapters.
GOING SHOPPING
The Icebreaker Borealis boasts what is quite possibly
the foremost shopping experience in the known
universe. Free from Union oversight, almost anything
can be bought and sold here. In particular, Raphael
Baza’s Bizarre Bazaar is a marketplace the size of an
entire district.
MARKETPLACE WARES ROLL 1D20
A box of mint-condition Calliope Project T-shirts in various sizes. The logo depicts Calliope’s nine planets,
1 Furnace City, Impact Plaza, Hell’s Gate and several hands all clutching the haft of a very long spanner
with the Project’s motto underneath: “our many hands shall build heaven here.”
A black cube. In darkness, it casts faint, geometric patterns of colourful light on its surroundings, although
2
this light can’t be seen when looking directly at it.
An oversized Venty the Vent Crab plush toy. Apparently, the printcode for these things was developed
3 early in the Pyrite Age, before they became the bane of the system’s engineering teams. Nonetheless,
children keep asking for them, so they keep getting made.
A framed photograph of eight scientists in hardsuits, standing in front of a terraforming station on the
4 surface of Asphodel. It’s dated at least two hundred years ago. One of them is a smiling young woman
with eyes full of hope, apparently the subject of the picture. There’s something haunting about it.
A twelve-pack of antitumour whitewash ampoules. These were a milestone development in oncology
back in their day, but they’ve since been superseded by more advanced treatments that provoke a less
5
drastic immune response. Still, for people who don’t have nanite allergies, these things work just fine
and they’re dirt cheap.
A small hard drive. It’s filled entirely with pictures of mechs, over which someone has constructed various
6 sentences by cutting and pasting text sections from their owners’ manuals. The narratives range from
humorous to deeply suggestive.
A set of fully poseable, 1/30th scale figurines of the IPS-N mechanised chassis line. The vendor’s got
7 every single one, even the outdated Yi-Sun-Shin, the troubled Ramses and the cancelled Albuquerque,
except for the Caliban. “I just don’t like the idea of selling that thing to kids,” the vendor mumbles.
An old, sun-bleached book of poetry from a Diasporan planet called Pallas. It describes the simultaneous
8 monotony and horror of being “ruled by the endless echoes of a madman,” of recalling a coronation
where the new monarch wore the same face as the old one, and smiled with the eyes of a murderer.
A pack of POWER! Protein Bars, which bill themselves as "the coming revolution in food technology."
9 These snacks can be printed via a printer, but unlike printloaf, they have genuine taste and texture. This
is supposed to be a mixed sample pack, but contains only "Salmonberry Apocalypse" flavour.
A scuffed, dull bronze sphere slightly larger than a human fist, with circuit-like designs carved into its
10
surface. It’s not as heavy as its appearance suggests.
A beautiful, glittering geode that was pulled out of an asteroid a few years back. It’s faintly radioactive,
11 enough that the crystals fluoresce under UV light, but the vendor assures you it’s perfectly safe. This
doesn’t stop it from setting off every single radiological alarm you go through on your way home.
A Smith-Shimano Saraswati electric guitar. It’s a mid-level purchase: a dependable, high-quality piece,
12 but not something you have to mortgage your organs to afford. This one’s being resold on the cheap
because it looks like someone spent a while slamming it against something.
A collection of old optical data discs, using an ancient data encoding format. They contain animations
13 depicting what appear to be cyborgs living in the late era of Old Humanity, and some kind of primitive
mech that vaguely resembles a Death’s Head.
A signed physical copy of Moments of Crystallised Liminality, Cerulean Enceladus’ seventh studio album.
14 The Annamite Cultural Review described it as “a pleasing return to form, not just for Cerulean, but for
the entire nu-retro-stasiscore genre after a disappointing showing in 5015. Four out of five stars.”
A talisman made from the tooth of some large predatory mammal, carved in intricate patterns. The
15 hawker selling them told you up front that it’s the only thing in their stall worth anything. Everything else
is trash for tourists but this, they tell you, is “the real deal.” Maybe that justifies its much higher price tag.
A weathered paperback novel. It’s a first-edition print of a historical romance written during the First
16 Expansion Period and set during the Little Wars. You’re baffled to discover that it contains references to
an omninode, something that couldn’t have existed either when it was set or when it was written.
A jewel-encrusted golden broach from a minor Karrakin house. This would cost a small fortune
17 planetside, but here in space, gold is ubiquitous and the jewels have no industrial value, so this thing’s
literally worth less than a cup of coffee.
An ancient, battered data storage device, centuries old at the least. It still works, and checks suggest it
18 contains nearly twenty-nine terabytes of data – 97% of its storage capacity. The vendor’s letting it go for
almost nothing because all that data is encrypted and write-protected – you can’t even delete it.
A box labelled “the comprehensive solution to writer’s block.” There’s nothing inside it. You can’t tell
19
whether its contents were stolen, or whether this is some insufferable person’s idea of a joke.
A book that at first appears to be the quick reference handbook for a Harrison Armory Sherman, but as
you read further, it descends into increasingly bizarre, surreal and ominous instructions. It must be a
20
practical joke, but if it is, it’s a detailed and intricate one; apart from its contents, this is indistinguishable
from official Armory documentation.

[79]
 BEAT 9:
CONTRACT THRILLER
The PCs have a whole afternoon, evening and morning
to themselves. They may each take one downtime
action, as long as it would fit in that timescale. There’s
easily time for a few hours at a casino, a night out
drinking, or a morning of networking and seeking out
contacts.
When the PCs have finished whatever they’re doing
before the meeting, Rita is waiting for them at the
Uncrowned King.
Rita takes a deep breath. “Alright. I’ve got a lot of
things to get through, so listen closely. The
situation’s developed since I first called you in, and
not in a good way, either."
“Firstly. Two weeks ago, Serendipitous Vitamin, a
census officer and a member of my civic
management team, was murdered in his home by a
single shot to the back of the head. No signs of
struggle or forced entry. Later that evening, his office
was ransacked.
“The very next morning, just before I called you in,
one of our civic management data-centres was
raided by a small paramilitary group who we’ve been
unable to identify. They briefly took the staff hostage,
but no-one was hurt, thank the Buddha. They
deleted every record they could get their hands on,
trashed the place and then vanished. It was in the
middle of a backup cycle, so we’ve lost almost a
week’s worth of data – including the off-site copy of
Vitamin’s notes.
“Secondly, someone forged my credentials, and
wrote a false work order to have repair work done on
the Borealis’ main reactor array. They got some…
charitable religious group, the Faith of the One
Plumed In Golden Flame? Well, they did the repairs.
“Then, somehow, Fayad Harb, the boss of the
engineer’s union, got word of all of this. Now he’s
furious at me because he thinks I used non-union
labour, and the entire tech union are on strike.
“As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, Harrison
Armory’s on my case about some missing scientist
of theirs. They hold me personally responsible for
finding her – as if I’m supposed to keep tabs on the
two million people visiting my station at any given
moment!
“Add to that the printers have been going haywire for
weeks, there’s power fluctuations, pop-up protests…
[80]
I’m positive. Someone is fucking with my station. I
want them found, and I want them stopped.
“There’s just one issue. The Board hasn’t authorised
this operation. They don’t even know about it. I can
make them grant ex-post-facto legitimacy once you
deliver results, but nobody on the board will sign off
on activating you right now. There’s too little trust. In
short: stick to investigation until you have a solid
lead, and confine your efforts to the Sprawl. I retain
the final say on whether or not your mechs get
deployed. Keep that in the front of your mind at all
times.
“I’m currently holding your mechs in storage. When
you need them, here is a secure contact channel. I’ll
need a good justification for the deployment of
military hardware on my station before I release
them. Understood?”
Rita is happy to provide more detail on any of these
topics if the PCs enquire.
SERENDIPITOUS VITAMIN’S MURDER
“I mean, it could have just been a crime of passion,
but I don’t buy it. It was premeditated, quiet and
professional. He was on to something, and
somebody killed him to cover it up. If you need more
information, talk to Officer Lamariano.”
DATACENTRE ATTACK
“Well, it was probably to destroy Serendipitous
Vitamin’s notes before they made it onto an off-site
backup. It really concerns me that there’s a hostile
strike team operating on my station that we can’t
keep track of. I want you to make finding them and
shutting them down a priority. Officer Narangerel is
head of that investigation. Talk to her.”
FORGED CREDENTIALS AND REACTOR REPAIRS
“Let me worry about the forged credentials. What I
want you looking into is why someone wanted the
reactors repaired. If this was just a charity case, why
would they need to fake a work order from me to get
them online again? No, nobody does that sort of
thing if they have an altruistic motive.
“The best people to talk to about this would be
members of the tech union. Unfortunately, a whole
lot of them are strike right now. I guess you could
also talk to the Faith of the One, since they did the
repairs. They insist they were just following the work
order they got given. Not sure if I trust them, though.”
FAYAD HARB’S STRIKE
“I can’t get through to Fayad. And it hurts! He’s one
of my only allies on the Board. He thinks I snubbed
him by using non-union labour. Now the engineer’s
union is striking, and they’re only responding to
emergency callouts. Work is piling up, and visitors
are starting to complain. Maybe you’ll have better
luck talking to him.
At some point in the conversation, Rita is rudely
interrupted.
It happens quite suddenly: every screen in the room
goes blank for a moment, and then displays an
emergency alert. Sirens start sounding. Surprisingly,
Rita doesn’t panic. Instead, she just groans loudly
and buries her head in her hands.

“It’s not exactly as if he’s hard to find. He’s still After a few seconds, the sirens stop, and everything
protesting outside my office.” goes back to normal.

MISSING HARRISON ARMORY SPECIALIST
“Dr. Genevieve Nyambose. She went missing just a
day after you left Hell’s Gate. Some specialist
researcher or something. The Armory’s threatening
legal proceedings against the Board if I don’t get her
back. They won’t win, but that’s not the problem:
they’re also threatening a boycott, and they’re one of
our largest visitor demographics.
FALSE ALARMS
“If you want to try talking to them, you can speak to
Sergeant Hemmingsen. Don’t expect a warm
welcome.”
“Oh, me cago en diez, they promised me they’d fixed
that. No, don’t get up, don’t get up. That’s another
thing I was meaning to mention. Every single day, at
the exact same time, the station’s general alarm
goes off. If all of this other shit wasn’t going on, I’d
think it was someone’s idea of a sick joke.”
“Every day. Every single day, for the past couple of
weeks, at least. I’m this close to just disconnecting
the emergency alert system until they can fix it,
safety be damned.”

LACK OF BOARD AUTHORISATION

“If I suggested hiring external contractors, each
member of the Board would instantly work it into one
of their grand conspiracy theories. They’d think I’d
lost my neutrality, that I’m plotting with one of them
against the rest. So I had to take unilateral action
without their approval.

“You have to understand my position. The Board is

a gaggle of psychotic toddlers, and they all have
guns and lawyers. I have to be the one adult in the
room, and like any spoilt child, they resent me for it.
Every day I wake up and spend dawn ‘til dusk trying
to save these puerile dipshits from themselves, often
against their will, so they don’t tear this station apart
or accidentally dump it into Kalevala’s atmosphere.

“Painfully often, I have to justify my actions after the

fact, when I don’t have weeks or months to play
kindergarten teacher. This is one of those times. I
need you to save this station before they know you’re
trying to help them, because once they do, they
won’t let you.”

[81]
 MISSION 2:
WORKING
HOLIDAY
GRAHAM: Yo, Beej, there’s a package here with
duty owing. Did you order a… “mysterious
portent heralding the beginning of the final
calamity and the emergence of the seven red
princes who will eat the stars one-by-one until
the last light of the universe is extinguished and
Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Underworld, reigns
over a realm of perfect stillness?”
BEEJ: Seven red princes?
GRAHAM: … yeah.
BEEJ: The website said eight! I’m not payin’ for
that.
– LoadingReadyRun,
Crapshots “The Package”
[82]
BRIEFING
Jerry has asked the PCs to subcontract for Rita, who
wants them to look into a possible plot against the
Board. They will need to investigate leads, uncover
clues and neutralise threats. They’ll also need to act
without drawing too much attention to themselves.
GOAL: Ensure the security of the Icebreaker
Borealis, and end any potential threats
to its stability.
STAKES: If the Icebreaker Borealis is no longer
able to operate, the system’s main
source of external revenue will be
gone. More immediately for the PCs,
the Gate’s best customer will be gone.
REWARD: Rita has the resources and contacts to
enable the PCs to advance to LICENCE
LEVEL 2, possibly allowing them to get
their hands on a new frame.
RESERVES: You can bring anything you were able
to acquire during the last chapter with
you, and Rita is willing to expense a
few additional supplies throughout the
mission.
CLOCKS
Check the progress of the Station Stability clock. The
players won’t need to worry about it right now; with the
printer fixed, Hell’s Gate will keep. The success of the
mission, however, will have a profound impact not just
on Hell’s Gate, but potentially the entire system.
Create a new twelve-segment clock called Cult
Influence with no segments ticked. Don’t let the
players see it yet.
THE SLEEPING ANGEL
To bring the death and rebirth of the universe, Feather
must grow stronger. She hibernates within a small
planetoid in Kalevala’s orbit that the locals call Kantele,
and turned it into an egg. When it cracks, a new Feather
will emerge, ready for the next stage of her plan.
This process will require a vast infusion of energy, and
the only nearby thing that can provide it is the
Icebreaker’s old mining laser. Unfortunately, it’s been
disassembled for decades. No matter: the Calliope
Sect will rebuild it, seize control of the station and fire it
at Kantele.
They have assembled two teams for this endeavour.
Mictlan Team has been tasked with maintaining the
Fire Gate that allows personnel and equipment to be
covertly moved onto the Icebreaker. Meanwhile, Balor
Team has been tasked with rebuilding the laser.
The Inner Cult have another advantage on the
Icebreaker: they’ve turned a member of the Board.
Evelina Bondarchuk, owner and proprietor of the Gift-
Bronze Resort and Casino.
MISSION STRUCTURE
This mission is more free-form than the previous one,
allowing the PCs to investigate leads as they see fit.
Each lead fits into one of two investigations, which the
PCs may progress through as they see fit. At the climax
of each of the three investigations, they will discover
something that demands they get into their mechs and
take action, leading to a combat sequence.
They can investigate the murdered census official, the
trashed datacentre and the power fluctuations in the
Zheng Yi Sao district in Beat 10: The Gate of Mictlan
(p. ).
They can investigate the mysterious reactor repairs,
the kidnapped Harrison Armory scientist and the printer
malfunctions in Beat 11: The Eye of Balor (p. ).
If you think the players will simply want to be told what
their PCs discover and how the clues fit together as
they proceed with an investigation, leading up to the
combat sequence at the end of a branch, that’s
perfectly fine.
If either the PCs or the players are running in to trouble
or seem stuck, remember that they aren’t the only
people investigating the Icebreaker’s problems.
Members of the Board and their hirelings want to
restore stability and confidence so the money keeps
flowing, while individual citizens want to help out their
communities. They’ll both be happy to drop the PCs a
hint.
When you want to leave clues for the PCs, remember
that the best way to make clues is to work backwards,
starting at the conclusion. Something was done – a cult
has built a teleportation gate, for instance – and this left
traces and had consequences. The teleportation gate
draws a lot of power, and so is causing power
disruptions.

The PCs can uncover as much as they like in either

investigation, but once they get into their mechs and
fight, they have to put the other investigation aside until
the fighting is done.

The PCs potentially have access to multiple Full

Repairs this mission, one at the end of each
investigation. Combats in this mission are slightly more
difficult to reflect the fact that PCs might only have to
fight two battles before getting all their resources back.
The two fights in Beat 10: The Gate of Mictlan happen
back-to-back, with no time for a rest.

Once the PCs have finished both investigations,

depending on how well they performed, the remaining
hostiles will either go to ground or begin a full-blown
assault on the station, as detailed in Beat 12:
Spreading Fire (p. ).

RUNNING AN INVESTIGATION
Each playgroup are different. Some Lancer playgroups
may be delighted with the idea of chasing a series of
clues, slowly piecing them together and reaching a
conclusion. Others will be less enthused, and just want
to get to the bit where the mechs punch each other –
and that’s entirely valid.

Remember that as the GM, you control the information

your players have access to. Players will only know the
things you tell them, so things that seem obvious to you
– who already knows all the answers – will not
necessarily be obvious to them. It’s generally wise to
err on the side of giving players too much information,
rather than too little.

[83]
 BEAT 10:
THE GATE OF MICTLAN
In order to shore up its numbers and allow ingress of
personnel and equipment, the Inner Cult’s “Mictlan
Team” has erected a Fire Gate underneath the Zheng
Yi Sao district. They would have preferred a less
trafficked part of the station, but it was the only place
with the correct combination of power supply,
abandoned infrastructure and freight tunnel access.
Mictlan Team has been integral in assisting both of the
other teams. Almost all the mechs the Cult has on the
Icebreaker came through the Gate, as did a majority of
the personnel and equipment. In preparation for seizing
control of the Icebreaker, Mictlan Team has been
stepping up its activities.
But some people are paying attention. Serendipitous
Vitamin noticed a whole lot of people who weren’t on
the previous census but whose arrival on the station
wasn’t on any register. Himself a member of the Faith
of the One, he had the terrible misfortune to confide his
concerns in a priest who happened to be a member of
the Inner Cult.
This left Mictlan Team with a problem. They swiftly
murdered Serendipitous, and then destroyed the
datacentre his notes were backed up in. But this tipped
their hand slightly. They might have thwarted an
investigation, but now the Icebreaker definitely knows
something’s up. They’ve begun ramping up their use of
the Fire Gate to summon further reinforcements.
This itself caused more problems. The Fire Gate
consumes an immense amount of power, and it’s
causing disturbances in the district’s electrical grid.
Additionally, its use has begun to generate seismic
activity, causing the Wiggle to manifest in a part of the
station it shouldn’t. Freight lines that should be
abandoned are in use. People are aware something’s
going on. Mictlan Team is perilously close to discovery
– but they don’t need to hide forever, just long enough
to get the job done.
THE MURDERED CENSUS-TAKER
Officer Lamariano can give the PCs all the information
the station’s security forces have. She can even take
them to the scene of the crime, which can be
reconstructed for their convenience via holo-projection.
Serendipitous Vitamin was murdered in his home a
couple of hours after returning from a visit to the Zheng
Yi Sao district where he seemed to be searching for
something. Security cameras in his apartment complex
have no footage from the time of the murder. There
were no signs of a struggle or forced entry.
[84]
The apartment is a spartan affair, with very little in the
way of personal possessions. The only notable element
is a shrine of the One Plumed In Golden Flame.
The cause of death was a single shot to the back of the
head, piercing the brainstem. Loss of consciousness
and death would’ve been nearly instantaneous. That’s
notable in itself – it must’ve been a tricky shot to pull
off. Centre of mass would have been far easier and
likely just as lethal. The fact that it was made while the
victim’s back was turned suggests he either wasn’t
aware of the murderer’s presence, or trusted them
enough to turn his back on them.
A thorough search of the shrine will reveal a hidden
data storage device, upon which Serendipitous
recorded a copy of his notes. He notes a large and
rather sudden increase in unregistered visitors –
people who aren’t on the station’s visitors database –
and believes that a human trafficking operation of some
kind is operating out of the Zheng Yi Sao district. He
was attempting to narrow down where, but now
suspects that he is being followed.
Colleagues describe Serendipitous (“Dip” for short) as
quiet, efficient and withdrawn, with few friends. He was
a great worker but not a particularly good co-worker:
he’d get it into his head to do something, and then go
off and do it, sometimes all but disappearing for days.
The only person he really interacted with was a recent
hire, Gokul Khwaunju, who he was training.
Gokul Khwaunju remarks that even he didn’t get a very
good idea of who Serendipitous was, but he can tell the
PCs that before his death, he kept mentioning having
to investigate matters in the Zheng Yi Sao district.
Serendipitous was also a devout member of the Faith
of the One, which was the only non-work subject he
talked to Gokul about.
THE TRASHED DATACENTER
The datacenter has very little in the way of direct clues:
it was attacked by a small team of professionals who
arrived, took the staff hostage and trashed the place in
a matter of minutes. They then escaped into the freight
tunnels, quickly fleeing into sections where sensor
coverage is patchy or non-existent.
The datacenter would have had an off-site copy of
Serendipitous’ notes, along with a lot of civic
management data. The facility was in the middle of a
weekly backup when the attack hit – all the equipment’s
already been replaced, but an entire week of data was
irretrievably lost.
ZHENG YI SAO DISTRICT
The Zheng Yi Sao district is centred around an
upmarket area of the Starstrip, containing a number of
high-profile shopping malls, hotels and casinos. It
contains some of the station’s most popular gambling
halls, and it’s always busy, even for the Icebreaker – on
any given day, there are more people in Zheng Yi Sao
than any other district than possibly the Gladiator’s
Draw and Quarter. Right now, though, it’s going
through some problems.
Whenever the PCs visit it, there always seems to be a
dozen teams of wrenchies trying to fix something. If the
PCs can get some of them talking, they’ll explain that
the entire sector’s been suffering a rash of blackouts,
brownouts and tripped breakers for weeks now, and
nobody can seem to work out a permanent fix. Every
Board member in the district is blaming the others, but
the wrenchies think differently. They’re positive there’s
something in the district drawing a huge amount of
wattage, but they can’t work out what or where it is.
Rita also assigns some technicians to assist the PCs,
but they quickly report that the depot’s systems have
been cut off from the station’s network and must be
accessed up close. They’ll need to use the PCs’ mechs
as broadcast relays to hack into local systems and
force the doors open.
Mictlan Team has prepared contingency plans for
discovery, but the PCs can catch them by surprise if
they act now. Once the fighting begins, the PCs must
see it through to its conclusion; retreating will give the
hostiles time to fortify and prepare for a siege. Make
sure the PCs know that they will not be able to either
REST or FULL REPAIR until the assault is over.

They’d probably be able to get on top of things if this

part of the station wasn’t experiencing a really bad case
of the Wiggle. Seismic disturbances and strain on the
district’s systems are terrifying visitors and making it
difficult to get repair work done on anything else. But
this shouldn’t be happening; the Board members who
run Zheng Yi Sao district paid for the very best in
anchoring and power supplies. The Wiggle shouldn’t be
present in the district at all, let alone this severely.

There’s also rumours all over the station about activity

on freight lines that should be abandoned, and they
grow more common the closer one gets to this district.

FOLLOWING UP
At the end of the investigation, the PCs will eventually
discover the location of Mictlan Team’s hideout: a
large, abandoned transit depot at the centre of a tangle
of freight tunnels beneath the Zheng Yi Sao district.

The place is a hive of activity, with freight trains coming

and going at all hours. Something inside the facility is
drawing an immense amount of power, although the
PCs won’t be able to see what’s it is until they breach
it. Every time it activates, it causes gravitational
disturbances, which must be the source of the seismic
activity in the district.

The PCs will have to call Rita to get her to authorise

this operation, but that isn’t a problem – the moment
they explain the situation, she’ll rubber-stamp it. She
can’t authorise any deployment of station security
forces without consulting the Board, but she can have
the PCs’ mechs quietly delivered to them within the
hour.

[85]
 COMBAT:
THERMOPYLAE
SITREP: Gauntlet (Lancer, p. 271)
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE BARRICADE
1x BASTION
1x ENGINEER
FOR 4 PCS: +1x SPACER OPERATOR
FOR 5 PCS: +1x ASSAULT
REINFORCEMENTS
FOR 3 PCS: 1x EXOTIC COMMANDER PRIEST
FOR 4-5 PCS +1X SNIPER
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This fight occurs in the outer hall of an abandoned
magtrain depot. At one side there sits a gate further into
the facility, currently sealed. On the other side is
another gate from which several magtrain lines
emerge, routing into loading bays. The PCs deploy
from this gate.
Cover will consist of abandoned trains, old cargo
containers and loading cranes. An adjacent character
can reactivate a crane’s autoloader mode as a quick
action. Thereafter, any hostile character that ends their
turn adjacent to the crane must make a HULL check or
become IMMOBILIZED. They can repeat the check as a
quick action, clearing IMMOBILIZED on a success.
THE FIGHT
The Gauntlet sitrep requires the PCs to push through
enemy resistance and secure a location – in this case,
the bulkhead doors leading further into the depot. They
will have to deal with opponents like the BARRICADE,
which can slow its targets or flash-print blocks of cover
that obstruct movement, and the OPERATOR, a highly-
mobile combat mech that can teleport.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs are defeated or forced to retreat before they
reach the Fire Gate, this branch of their investigation is
over. Realising they’ve been discovered, the Mictlan
Team goes into overdrive, crippling the Zheng Yi Sao
district as they run the Fire Gate constantly. If the PCs
haven’t done Beat 11: Eye of Balor (p. ) yet, they can
[86]
Extrudite, Seismic Repulsor
Arsenal, Mobile Turrets
Fade Generator, Gravity Rifle
Auto-Targeting
Priest options: Empowered Shield
Commander options: Press On!
Exotic options: Blinkspace Carver
attempt it, but Balor team will be on high alert. If they
have, go directly to Beat 12: Spreading Fire (p. ).
PC VICTORY
If the PCs are successful, they force the doors open,
the situation evolves rapidly:
As the doors rattle open, you see what must be some
sort of long-range transit device. Four curved pylons
cradle a sphere of bent space, lensing light around
itself like a black hole, but instead of darkness, it
shines with a magnificent orange firelight, and at its
centre you can see some distant place.
The depot’s public announcement system spits out a
whining burst of feedback, and then you hear
desperate requests in a panicked voice. “They’re
through the doors! They cut down the entire defence
force! Send reinforcements! Send the biggest thing
you have!”
There’s a brief, terrible pause. “Wait… no. No! Not
that big! THAT’S TOO B–”
The sphere contorts violently, bursting from the
containment of its pylons, rushing towards you. Your
mech’s systems are overwhelmed by a torrent of
paradoxical readings, and then… nothing.
The PCs have a single turn in which to take any actions
they deem necessary to prepare (the STABILISE action
might be a good choice), but they don’t have enough
time to take a REST – Combat: Anti-Capital begins
immediately. Any damage, heat or unloaded weapons
they didn’t deal with stay with them.
COMBAT:
ANTI-CAPITAL
SITREP: N/A
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x CORVETTE – ULTRA SHIP RAINMAKER
1x ELITE HORNET
FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN SPACER SENTINEL
+1x SPACER OPERATOR
FOR 5 PCS: +1x SPACER CATAPHRACT
When your sensor feeds return, there is no portal.
There is no transit depot. There is no ceiling or floor.
Your mech tumbles gently in microgravity.
Something gigantic zips past in your peripheral
vision. It’s a support strut, one of many anchoring the
vast bulk of the Borealis to the city below.
You’re floating in the Borealis’ microgravity region.
Far below, you can see smoke and debris rising from
a small, circular void in the Zheng Yi Sao district – a
void you’re fairly certain used to contain the transit
depot you were just fighting inside.
Your tacticals scream a warning at you: hostile
targeting lock. Something gigantic, twirling deftly
between the struts. Silhouette analysis returns a
match: Valencia Combat Solutions Santanella-class
missile corvette. Those are usually deployed against
capital ships. Huh. That seems real bad.
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This desperate struggle takes place in the zero-gravity
space between the Sprawl and the hull of the Borealis.
The battlespace consists of floating islands of debris
large enough for a few mechs to stand on, separated
by small gaps, 1 or 2 spaces wide, short enough that
PCs can jump between them.
At the start of the first round, draw a vertical line three
spaces wide at the left side of the battlefield. Each
round, move it three spaces to the right. This is the
trajectory of one of the many support struts anchoring
the Borealis to the Sprawl. Fortunately for the station’s
populace, these struts are virtually indestructible.
Unfortunately for the combatants, they aren’t. Any
character inside the marked area at the end of the
round takes 8iAP and gets pushed outside the area
by the most direct route possible. Objects or cover
smaller than Size 5 are instantly obliterated.
Rainmaker options: Hades Missiles, Volley
Ultra options: Argus Armor, Wolfhound Missile
Adapt/Evade/Disengage, Umbral Interdiction
Acrobat, Wrath Lock
Gravity Rifle, Skirmisher
Electrified Bola
THE FIGHT
The CORVETTE is an ULTRA, the first the PCs will have
fought. ULTRAS are extremely dangerous enemies with
very powerful abilities and systems. Its WOLFHOUND
MISSILE is a weapon designed for use against capital
ships, and can deal damage terrifying damage – but it’s
a telegraphed attack that takes a long time to reach its
target. Its ARGUS ARMOR makes it highly resilient at the
beginning of the fight, but also gives PCs with armour-
piercing weapons a chance to shine.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs are defeated during this encounter, it isn’t a
terrible blow – the Fire Gate was already destroyed by
the ingress of the gunship and its support team, so the
Inner Cult can’t bring in any more reinforcements.
However, if the PCs haven’t completed Beat 11: Eye
of Balor (p. ) yet, the Cult still have either the focal
array, Dr. Nyambose, or both. They accelerate their
plans with the assistance of any forces the PCs didn’t
destroy, remaining on high alert.
PC VICTORY
If the PCs are victorious, they’ve not only destroyed the
Fire Gate, but also wrecked an expensive and
dangerous piece of the Cult’s arsenal and its attendant
forces. This convinces Rita that they’re worth the
money she’s paying them – not to mention the hell
she’s going through justifying the absolute chaos the
corvette caused to the Board.
If this is the first investigation the PCs have completed,
they have time for a FULL REPAIR, after which you
should move to Beat 11: Eye of Balor (p. ). Otherwise,
consult Beat 12: Spreading Fire (p. ).
[87]
 BEAT 11:
THE EYE OF BALOR
To crack open Kantele, the Inner Cult needs the
Borealis’ immense mining laser. Unfortunately for
them, its focal array was disassembled decades ago,
and even if it was intact, the ship’s reactors no longer
provide enough power to run it. But the Inner Cult is
resourceful, and has made great strides towards
solving both problems. They have designated the
group responsible for this task “Balor Team.”
Using forged credentials, they secured the opportunity
to do repair work on the Borealis’ reactor array. They
needed a specialist, Dr. Hadiyya binti Deraman, for this
work, but to avoid arousing additional suspicion they
brought her to the Icebreaker on a ship after getting her
into Calliope through another Fire Gate elsewhere in
the system. The use of non-union labour had the
additional side benefit of angering Fayad Harb, who
now refuses to talk to Rita.
Meanwhile, they've also been assembling a new focal
array. This required its original blueprint, which they
had to steal from the station’s engineering department.
It also needed very specific components, and so in
order to disguise their plan they’ve been hacking into
various businesses and spamming printers across the
station with junk requests to bury their signal in noise.
Finally, they scouted an abandoned industrial facility
that they could use to assemble the focal array.
In a stroke of luck, Dr. Genevieve Nyambose, a
Purview scientist with expertise in lasers, happened to
be visiting the station. The Inner Cult dispatched a team
to kidnap her so as to have someone capable of
checking their work. They’re also holding on to her in
case they need help configuring it once it’s installed.
THE UNAUTHORISED REPAIRS
If the PCs talk to Fayad Harb, he’s likely to interpret
them as spies or union busters at first. He’s still furious,
but he’s also painted himself into a corner. He’s now
realised Rita wouldn’t pull this kind of anti-union stunt
on him, but he’s gotten the union so riled up that he
can’t just back down or he’ll lose face. To maintain
credibility, he needs the PCs to convince Rita to hand
him some sort of symbolic victory.
If the PCs can swing this, or find some other way to
calm him down, he’ll explain that quite apart from the
labour issues, he’s baffled why anyone would go to that
level of effort to repair the reactors. The Icebreaker
already has more than enough district-local power
plants and redundant electrical infrastructure to meet
double its current demand.
[88]
The reactors on the Borealis are incredibly inefficient if
they’re run below a certain level, and there’s nothing on
the station that could consume even a fraction of their
peak output. They were designed to power an asteroid-
cracking mining laser that was salvaged for parts
decades ago.
If the PCs investigate the Faith of the One, they protest
their innocence: they simply received a work order from
the station authorities, validated the credentials and did
the job that was asked of them. It’s not their fault the
credentials were forged or that the job got tangled up in
a labour dispute. They’ll gladly turn over the relevant
files to the PCs, which will validate their account.
There’s one small oddity: Dr. Hadiyya binti Deraman,
the engineer and reactor specialist who oversaw the
operation. The Faith brought her in rather suddenly
from another habitat in the system, and then quickly
shipped her back out the moment the work was done.
If the PCs can strike up a conversation with members
of the Faith who worked on the project, they speak
positively of her, calling her a genius. But a couple of
them were surprised, because they had thought she
was in Djall, light years away. If the PCs try to contact
her, she’s not currently reachable.
If the PCs do a bit more digging, they can find out that
the Faith’s engineers rent warehouse space in a run-
down part of the Sprawl, and there’s been more activity
around those parts than usual.
THE MISSING SCIENTIST
If the PCs visit Sergeant Hemmingsen, he’s rude and
unhelpful. He stonewalls, insisting that he won’t discuss
anything with non-Armory personnel. The Armory will
find its own, he says, and when they do, the Board will
rue the day it ran such a sloppy operation. He instructs
an attendant, Corporal Valentinian, to escort them out.
The moment they’re out of earshot of Hemmingsen,
Corporal Valentinian tries to pull the PCs aside to talk
to them. If they consent, he assures them: the Armory
isn’t going to take legal action, and it certainly won’t
boycott the station. The sergeant is just stalling for time;
Dr. Nyambose’s safety was his responsibility, and if the
Purview finds out someone else had to be called in to
find her, he’ll be in a world of hurt.
On the other hand, Corporal Valentinian – first name
Loki – is genuinely worried about her. If pressed, he
explains he grew up around her: she used to be
employed by his father. She was always nice to him,
not least because he was clever enough to understand
her doctorate, which studied “the generation of
localised deformations in the topology of spacetime
through photo-excitative induction of very high energy
states.”
“Basically, she made lasers so powerful they cut
holes in space. Oh man, she’d get so ticked off at me
for explaining it like that.”
Loki suspects Dr. Nyambose’s kidnapping was
professional. High-ranking individuals in the Purview
have a biolocator implant. They’re picking up a weak
signal, so she’s still on the station, but it’s not sufficient
to triangulate, which means someone has to be
jamming it. The biolocator implant also broadcasts on
a second frequency, but only out to a few hundred
metres. Valentinian gives the PCs both frequencies.
She disappeared while taking a bathroom break at a
casino she was visiting, the Gift Bronze, in the Zheng
Yi Sao District. Loki wasn’t on duty that night;
Hemmingsen’s interference, he says. Loki can start the
PCs on the trail, but he insists that he can’t be seen
assisting them directly; as much as Loki dislikes
Hemmingsen, the guy’s still his superior officer, and he
can’t risk another write-up for insubordination right now.
If the PCs engage Loki in conversation, he tries to avoid
discussing himself, but will divulge his history (p. ) if it’ll
get the PCs to trust him.
Investigating the Gift-Bronze directly is dangerous.
Evelina Bondarchuk will attempt to do away with
anyone looking into the matter too closely, but the PCs
can discover a lot of freight has been shipped between
the casino and warehouses owned by the Faith of the
One recently.
THE STOLEN BLUEPRINT
At some point after the PCs have started investigating
the unauthorised repairs or Dr. Nyambose’s
kidnapping, they get a call from Riley Hyeon, one of the
Icebreaker’s civic archivists. She informs them that her
office just had an audit and discovered that their
servers were accessed without authorisation a few
weeks ago, and blueprints for the Borealis were copied.
The thing is, these weren’t up-to-date blueprints. The
Borealis’ floorplan was revised during construction after
the original layout proved impractical, so the version
that was stolen is totally inaccurate.
When asked what use the older version might have,
Riley checks over both versions, and then informs the
PCs that the only thing she can see is that the older
version also contains blueprints for the mining laser,
which was already finished by the time the newer plan
was drawn up.
THE PRINTER SNAFU
Printers across the station have been churning out a
steady stream of junk requests over the past few
weeks, printing all sorts of random clutter. The orders
come from all over the Icebreaker, with no apparent
pattern in location, requester, requested object or
urgency. Attempts to filter them out have been
unsuccessful – it’s difficult to filter legitimate requests
from the fake ones, so the printers just have to keep
printing.
Hidden among the junk requests are the components
for a new focal array. They’ve been delivered to a
variety of locations spread across the station to avoid
detection, but they all had to be assembled in one
place. Piecing this together might require some serious
detective work, but if the PCs have already talked to
Riley Hyeon, it becomes much easier.
FOLLOWING UP
If the PCs follow the clues, they’ll eventually find
themselves at the Faith’s rented warehouses, where
Dr. Nyambose and whatever it is that the Faith recently
built are kept. Not only are there a lot of mechs in the
area, they’re all armed and guarding something. Rita
asks the PCs to be sure of what they’re doing before
they engage, to be discreet and to avoid collateral
damage – it would be a bad look for the Icebreaker’s
contractors to smash up a religious movement’s stuff
for no reason. The PCs can run these encounters in
either order, depending on which task they handle first.
The PCs have time for a REST in between fights.
SMASH THE SYSTEM!
Once they discover that someone wants to fire the
mining laser, your PCs might suggest cutting out the
middleman and sabotaging the mining laser. This is
a good idea in theory, as it would utterly sink the
Inner Cult’s plan. However, there are major barriers
to pulling it off.
Most importantly, Rita won’t authorise a deployment
in the laser chamber. It’s right above the forward
docking bay, making it impossible to hide it from the
Board. If the PCs try to deploy without approval,
they’re voiding their contract, and Rita will remind
them of this. Rita is also holding the PCs’ mechs,
meaning they’ll have to break them out if they want
to do anything without her permission.
If the PCs do it anyway, run a three-way variant of
Combat: Thermopylae (p .) in zero-gravity
conditions with twice as many combatants, half of
them being members of the station’s security forces
hostile to both the PCs and the Cult. The aftermath
of either victory or defeat is likely to be comically
disastrous.
[89]
 COMBAT:
PERSONNEL RECOVERY
SITREP: Extraction (Lancer, p. 270)

OBJECTIVE(S): 1x DR. NYAMBOSE (Size 1/2, 6 HP, no weapons)

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE SCOURER Pulse Laser, Supercharged
1x VETERAN BASTION Near-Threat Denial System, Shock Armor
1x HIVE
1x MIRAGE Manifest False Idols
1x SQUAD

FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN CATAPHRACT Acrobat, Electrified Lasso

+1x HIVE

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ELITE SCOURER Pulse Laser, Supercharged

ALLIED FORCES
FOR 3-5 PCS: 1x LOKI – VETERAN MIRAGE Size 1, Limitless, Metafold Shove, Multiplicity

If the PCs made a good impression on Loki Valentinian,

DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
Dr. Nyambose is being held at a makeshift workshop in
the warehouse district, which is a Size 3 building. The
Squad starts on the field next to Dr. Nyambose, and
will start calling in reinforcements when the PCs show
up. Cover in this area is mostly other warehouses.
he will turn up in the deployment zone to assist them
during an enemy reinforcement wave. Corporal
Valentinian pilots an unfamiliar Size 1 Harrison Armory
frame that seems similar to a Mirage, but that the PCs
will almost certainly never have seen before: a Sunzi. If
asked about it, Loki explains that it’s classified, but his
father designed it.

THE FIGHT OUTCOME

In this engagement, the PCs will need to focus on
extracting Dr. Nyambose. More enemies will pour onto
the battlefield every turn, and if the PCs try to spend all
their time fighting them, they are likely to be
overwhelmed. Make sure the players are aware of their
objective.
The SCOURER is a dangerous enemy that prefers to
target one specific PC with its THERMAL LANCE multiple
turns in a row, dealing immense damage and Burn due
to FOCUS DOWN. However, it creates a lot of HEAT. It’s
easy to misunderstand how its COOLING MODULE
works: although it should stay still on other characters’
turns, it can move on its own turn just fine. These
strengths are increased and weaknesses mitigated by
its ELITE status.
The CATAPHRACT’s job is to get close to Dr. Nyambose
and stop her from moving, or to drag PCs away from
her with ELECTRIFIED LASSO.
The HIVE can use its RAZOR SWARMS to create zones
that the PCs either have to avoid or take Burn moving
through.
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs cannot extract Dr. Nyambose by the end of
the tenth round, they are overwhelmed and captured
along with her if they’re still on the field. They are held
prisoner by Balor Team for a few hours until an Armory
strike team rescues all of them. The PCs are safe, but
Balor Team has moved the focal array outside the
station for safe-keeping.
The team’s leads have gone cold. They can investigate
Beat 10: The Gate of Mictlan (p. ) if it remains open,
or move to Beat 12: Spreading Fire (p. ) if not.
If the PCs are forced to retreat, Balor Team moves Dr.
Nyambose and they won’t be able to try another rescue
at this time. They may still look for the focal array.
If Dr. Nyambose is killed, the hostiles peel off,
uninterested in fighting over a corpse. Loki is
heartbroken; if the PCs were directly responsible for
her death, he develops a bitter resentment towards
them.

[90]
PC VICTORY
If the PCs rescue Dr. Nyambose, she’s extremely
grateful and explains that her captors had her working
on some kind of capital-scale laser weapon. If the PCs
aren’t already aware of it, she tells them the location of
the storage unit that the focal array is being kept in –
her captors talked a little bit too much around her.
DR. NYAMBOSE
If the PCs successfully rescue Dr. Nyambose, or at
least get captured and thrown in a cell with her, she can
fill the PCs in on her captors and what they’ve been
forcing her to do.
“They’re trying to to reactivate the mining laser on
the ship this station is built around. It needs a new
focal array, because the old one was scrapped for
parts, I think? They handled the assembly
themselves, but they needed me to check that it
could handle the extremely high power levels they’d
be running it at.
“I had to do what they said. One of them knew
enough that I couldn’t fake it. I was worried enough
for myself, but they said if I didn’t co-operate, they’d
hurt my protection team as well. I’ve had enough
people suffer on my behalf already.”
She can answer more specific questions if the PCs ask.
HER CONDITION
“Don’t worry about me. They’re kidnappers, yes, but
apart from the threats, they treated me well enough.
They seemed to have more respect for the Utopian
Pillars than my previous employer, to be quite honest
with you.”
HER CAPTORS
“They’re part of some local religion! The Faith of the
One Plumed In Golden Flame. Some sort of church
that worships the apocalypse. Not just that, though.
I get the feeling that the rest of the Faith doesn’t
know about these people. They’re secretive,
determined and resourceful.”
THE FOCAL ARRAY
“It would be completely impractical to build a single
lasing medium to deliver the sort of power a mining
laser needs. Instead, they use massive banks of
fibre lasers that are then combined by a focal array.
“Building it to the original spec wasn’t the issue.
What they needed my help for was modifying it. They
wanted to run it at a much, much higher output then
it was intended for. I did what I could, but I told them
straight: whatever demands they made, I couldn’t
make it survive more than one firing. That was
alright, they told me – once was all they needed.”
THE TARGET
“I don’t think they wanted to tell me, but I said I
needed to know what they’d be firing at or I couldn’t
tune the array properly. It wasn’t even really a lie.
The target is Kantele, a small, irregular satellite co-
orbiting in the L4 Lagrange of Ahti. It will pass almost
straight into the firing solution of the laser in a few
days. I don’t know why, but they want to pump
enough energy into it to crack it open.”
WILL IT WORK?
“It might. Emphasis on might. The simulations looked
good enough, but it was never supposed to be used
on targets so large, or at power levels as high as
they’ll need to run it. Even if they succeed, they’ll
melt everything in the firing chamber and burn out
half the ship’s systems. I had to jury-rig in some
cooling systems from… a previous project I worked
on, just to give it a chance.”
THE STAKES
“Well, that entirely depends on why they wish to
shatter Kantele. I never got that out of them. But I
can say for sure this station won’t enjoy the process
of firing the laser. So much of the old mining frigate
has been cannibalised. It doesn’t have sufficient heat
management left to handle the sort of output this will
produce.
“Not only that, but even with the convenient
alignment set to occur in a few days, they’ll need to
rotate this whole station by about three degrees.
Firing the ship’s attitude control thrusters with an
entire city clamped to its outer hull – what is it you
call it? ‘The Wiggle?’ That will be minor turbulence
compared to this.
“And it’s not exactly like this station’s owners are
going to just let them walk in and do this. You’ve
already seen that they’ve got their own private army.
There’ll be blood in the streets.”
HER PAST
“I worked for a brilliant and terrible man. That’s all I
wish to say.”
THE FIRE GATE
Dr. Nyambose listens to the PCs’ account of the Fire
Gate, her frown growing steadily wider.
“A coherent blink tunnel that is stable across
interstellar distances, compressed to mech scale?
The man I used to work for was trying to build
something like that.”
FOLLOWING UP
If the PCs haven’t located the focal array yet, Dr.
Nyambose tells them approximately where to find it.
[91]
 COMBAT:
NARROW FOCUS
SITREP: Recon (Lancer, p. 273)
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE SENTINEL
1x ENGINEER
1x RONIN
1x HIVE
1x SCOURER
FOR 4 PCS: SCOURER: Add VETERAN template and FEIGN DEATH trait.
+1x AEGIS Adaptive Shielding, Ring of Fire
FOR 5 PCS: ELITE SENTINEL: Add COMMANDER template and QUICK MARCH trait.
+1x HIVE
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
The focal array is in one of many warehouses in the
district. They and other outbuildings associated with
them provide the cover for this fight.
A standard-size shipping container occupies two
adjacent spaces, and provides enough hard cover for a
Size 1 mech.
THE FIGHT
The PCs must locate the focal array before the Faith
extracts it. The moment the alarms go off, both sides
dispatch a freight tug. The PCs will have to move
quickly to identify the correct warehouse, and then hold
it until their freight tug arrives.
The players have done a Control sitrep before, so
ensure they understand how the Recon sitrep differs
from it. The hostile force should try to avoid revealing
the true control zone, while still interfering with the PCs’
mobility as much as possible. However, once the PCs
have identified the true control zone, the hostiles
should focus on keeping the PCs away from it.
The Sentinel is the star of this engagement. Its mobility
allows it rapidly reposition, allowing it to lock down
certain targets with OVERWATCH. Remember that a
PC’s standard movement and BOOST are separate, so
if you think a PC intends to BOOST, use RAPID
RESPONSE to put the Sentinel close enough to threaten
the second part of the move.
Remember that even though Elites get two turns, their
reactions don’t refresh until their first turn in a new
round. The SENTINEL can bypass this by using EYE OF
[92]
Impaler, Rapid Response
Arsenal
Supercharged
MIDNIGHT, but this will cause it to become SLOWED,
which disables RAPID RESPONSE.
Think carefully about when to use IMPALER. Ideal
targets are characters with powerful weapons, high-
impact tech attacks or no points in Hull.
The RONIN’s REBOUND ability isn’t actually as powerful
as players think it is: it only has a 50% chance of
triggering, but its psychological effect is profound.
Players don’t like having their guns turned against
them, and after one bad experience will quickly become
leery of firing at it.
If the AEGIS is present, it may help to have it hold back
from the fight, lurking near enough to the true CZ that
once it’s discovered, it can quickly move in and deploy
its DEFENSE NET. Its LIGHT LASER makes it an
unattractive target to get close to.
If the SCOURER has FEIGN DEATH, be very careful about
how other NPCs interact with it. This is the first time that
the PCs will have encountered an enemy that has it,
and if they’re not familiar with Lancer in general, they
will have no reason to assume that it isn’t destroyed.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs can’t secure the true control zone by the end
of the sixth round, the Cult’s freight tug shows up and
retrieves the focal array, whisking it off somewhere the
PCs can’t reach. Remaining enemies peel off, their task
complete. The PCs can still attempt to rescue Dr.
Nyambose if they haven’t rescued her yet – there’s
comm chatter indicating that they intend to move her
shortly.
PC VICTORY
If the PCs secure the true control zone, the freight tug
that Rita sent shows up and extracts the focal array,
taking it to a secure location for further study. If the PCs
haven’t already located Dr. Nyambose, they notice a
build-up of nearby forces and some stray comms
chatter indicating her location and an intent to move her
shortly.
FOLLOWING UP
Take stock of how the PCs performed during this beat.
Hopefully, they successfully rescued Dr. Nyambose
and retrieved the focal array. Failing on either task will
have consequences down the line.
No matter how well they performed, Sergeant
Hemmingsen will show absolutely no appreciation for
the PCs’ actions – in fact, he’ll threaten them with legal
action over interrupting an Armory rescue operation.
It’s pure bluster, though: the last thing he’d do is reveal
to his superiors that a team of locals had to do his work
for him.
Catastrophe Beam
Superheavy Cannon, Exotic Gear, Unique,
Ordnance, 8 l(Self)
[e20] [3d6j + 8m]
You must charge the Catastrophe Beam as a full
action before firing it. While the weapon is charged,
you become IMMOBILIZED and cannot lose HEAT by
any means except overheating, but you benefit
from soft cover. This weapon loses its charge
when you fire it.
On attack: this weapon automatically deals
30jAP damage to all cover, terrain, and objects in
its area. All characters within d2 of you must make
a HULL save or be pushed outside the area and
knocked PRONE.
“I’m not going to bother writing any safety
protocols in the documentation for this weapon.
To be honest, it’s not safe to fire under any
circumstances, but I doubt that will stop you.”
- Dr. Genevieve Nyambose

If Dr. Nyambose was rescued, she has much more

gratitude, as does Loki Valentinian. Loki promises that
he’ll repay the PCs once the Icebreaker’s current crisis
has passed. He can’t offer any more support right now,
though; Hemmingsen is furious with him. Fortunately,
there’s no danger of a write-up, since any investigation
of the matter would reveal the context behind Loki’s
actions.

There’s time for a FULL REPAIR. If the PCs haven’t

finished Beat 10: The Gate of Mictlan (p. ) yet, they
have time to do so, as Rita scrambles about trying to
delay a Board investigation long enough to allow the
team to finish their work. Otherwise, consult Beat 12:
Spreading Fire (p. ).

REWARDS
If Dr. Nyambose and the focal array were both
recovered safely, the doctor can repurpose parts of the
array into a mech-portable laser weapon. It can only
operate at a tiny fraction of its intended power, since it
only has the energy output of a single mech coldcore.
Nonetheless, it has the power to flash-boil an entire
squad of mechs – if its wielder can avoid slagging their
own frame in the process.

[93]
 BEAT 12:
SPREADING FIRE
Once the PCs have completed both Beat 10: The Gate
of Mictlan (p. 84) and Beat 11: The Eye of Balor (p.
88), determine their level of success.
If the Fire Gate has been destroyed, Dr. Nyambose has
been rescued and the focal array has been seized, the
Inner Cult is forced to cut its loses and find another way
to crack Kantele. They no longer have the manpower
necessary to seize the Icebreaker, and even if they did,
without the focal array, they can’t fire the laser. Despite
their zeal, the Inner Cult won’t throw themselves blindly
at death for no benefit. In this case, move directly to the
“Full Success” conclusion in Downtime 2 (p. ).
However, if the Fire Gate is still active, the focal array
wasn’t retrieved or Dr. Nyambose wasn’t rescued, the
Inner Cult’s mission is still viable, if only just. If they still
have all three assets, they’re in prime position, and the
PCs will have their work cut out for them.
ASSAULT ON THE BOREALIS
The PCs have time for a Full Repair before the Cult
makes its next move.
A couple of days pass after the PCs finish their second
investigation. They haven’t tied up all the loose ends,
nor do they have the full picture, but at this point they
should be aware that their enemy is an organisation
closely associated with the Faith of the One. Rita has
been busy stalling the Board long enough to put
together a report that paints her unauthorised actions
as necessary.
Then everything goes to hell.
It happens quite suddenly: every screen in the room
goes blank for a moment, and then displays an
emergency alert. Sirens start sounding. Same as
every day.
You only know something is wrong when the sound
of the sirens is joined by the staccato of gunshots.
Lights start going out. Distant flashes of weapons fire
are visible from various parts of the station. Across
the hull of the Borealis, a series of vast radiator
panels begin to unfurl, already glowing red-hot.
Some extend dangerously close to the Sprawl.
Then the tremors start. The Borealis’ attitude control
thrusters are firing, slowly turning the massive ship
and the city attached to it.
[94]
Rita urgently contacts the PCs.
“We’ve got hostile contacts all across the station! A
strike force has seized control of the Borealis’
command bridge, and they’ve started the mining
laser’s charging sequence – every single reactor on
the ship is spun up! We can’t restore control
remotely, and my response teams are pinned down
in the forward hangar bay! I’m dispatching your
mechs on a freight loader. Get to reactor control on
the Borealis and engage the manual overrides – shut
the power down before this entire station boils!”
If both of the Cult’s teams are still active, they have
enough troops to ambush the fireteam’s freight train.
Run Combat: Getting Railroaded (p. 95) and then
Combat: Powerhouse (p. 96) immediately afterwards
– the PCs don’t have time to rest.
If only one team is left, just run Combat: Powerhouse.
FIGHT THEM ANYWAY!
In the original version of this mission, there was a
third investigation branch involving a third team that
the PCs were required to look into. During early
playtesting, we found that it dragged the mission out
too much and offered too many choices and leads.
Repurposing that content to an optional section that
only happens if PCs fail to complete both branches
optimally felt better for pacing.
However, Lancer is a game about mech fights, and
you might want to run this content anyway. In that
case, it’s fairly easy to imagine that the Inner Cult
were smart enough to keep a backup team hidden
from the PCs – perhaps even from their own people.
The name of this strike force in the first draft was Ifrit
Team.
If you run these encounters despite the PCs
completing both investigations successfully, don’t
penalise them for it! Make sure they get the correct
reward in Downtime 2.
COMBAT:
GETTING RAILROADED
SITREP: Holdout (Lancer, p. 272)

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE BREACHER Painmaker, Superior Ram
1x VETERAN CATAPHRACT Charge, Insulated
1x PYRO

FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN WITCH Hacker

+1x SCOUT

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ELITE ASSAULT Underslung Grenade Launcher

REINFORCEMENTS
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE PRIEST Empowered Shield
1x VETERAN ACE Rapid Response, Acrobat

FOR 4 PCS +1X VETERAN ARCHER Covering Fire, Acrobat

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ELITE OPERATOR Telefrag

Oncoming Train: At the end of the round, all

DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This brutal conflict takes place on a speeding train
rushing through the Icebreaker’s freight tunnels.
Cars should be at least three spaces wide, six spaces
long and two spaces tall, with a space separating each
car from the next. The hostiles have forced each car’s
loading doors open, but leave cargo inside each car as
pieces of Size 1 and Size 2 hard cover. There is an
oncoming line on one side of the train, and a wall on
the other.
Being outside the train is very bad. Any character that
can’t fly who doesn’t end the round on the train
immediately moves 2d6 spaces towards the back of the
map. Characters that fall off the edge of the map are
removed from the fight – they’re not damaged or
destroyed, but they can no longer participate in combat.
Fortunately, the PCs are tethered to the train, and may
take a full action to reel themselves back to the last train
car they were in.
characters on the oncoming line must make an AGILITY
check. On a failure, they take 2d6i and are pushed
out of the oncoming line by the shortest route available.
On a success, they take half damage and are not
moved. Objects are instantly destroyed.
Hard Turn: At the end of the round, all characters on
the train must make an AGILITY check or fall PRONE as
the train makes a sharp turn. Characters on top of the
train who fail the check are also pushed off the edge of
the train.
Tight Tunnel: For the rest of the round, characters on
the train and characters not on the train no longer have
line of sight to each other.
Blockage: An object with 5 Evasion and 12 HP is
blocking the track in front of the train. If it isn’t removed
by the end of the round, every character on the train
must succeed on a HULL check or be pushed three
spaces towards the front of the train. Any character who
collides with an object takes 1d6i.

A character grappling another character can grind them
against the wall as part of the grapple, dealing 1d6i.
If a grappled character isn’t on the correct side of the
grappler, they can rotate, at a cost of one movement for
each space the grappled target is moved.
At the beginning of each round, the PCs are warned of
a hazard by the panicking train driver. Choose a
hazard, or determine randomly. Enemies are aware of
hazards, and will try to avoid them if possible.
Low Clearance: When this hazard is announced,
anyone on top of the train must either immediately take
a reaction to drop PRONE or take 1d6i and become
SLOWED.
Burst Fuel Line: A reactor fuel line has blown open
ahead of the train and it’s spraying white-hot fire onto
the track. At the end of the turn, any character inside
the train and not in hard cover must succeed on an
ENGINEERING check or take 3m.

[95]
 COMBAT:
POWERHOUSE
SITREP: Control (Lancer, p. 268) (special; see below)

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE ENGINEER Mobile Turrets, Shepherd Field
1x AEGIS Ring of Fire
1x ASSASSIN Spinning Kick
1x SENTINEL

FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN CATAPHRACT Capacitor Discharge, Slippery

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ELITE BERSERKER Nail Gun

DETAILS THE FIGHT

THE BATTLEFIELD
The PCs must engage manual overrides on enough of
the reactors to thwart the mining laser’s firing
sequence. This engagement works differently to a
standard Control sitrep. Instead of four control zones,
there’s a number of reactors; about double the number
of players you have. Each reactor is a Size 3 object
that blocks line of sight and is well-shielded enough to
be indestructible.
Control of the reactors is not determined on a tally
system. Instead, while adjacent to a reactor, a PC may
take a full action to engage its manual override, or as
a quick action if they have MANIPULATORS. That
reactor then shuts down. Enemies can’t restart reactors
that are shut down. The PCs must shut down at least
half the reactors to achieve victory.
The room is dangerously hot while this many reactors
are spun up. At the end of each character’s turn, they
take 1l. Any character that ends their turn adjacent to
an active reactor instead takes 2l.
Punctuate the end of every round with increasingly
panicked transmissions from the station’s maintenance
crews. Here are some, if you need inspiration:
“Rita to fireteam! We’re getting cascading power
failures across the station! Whatever you’re doing,
you need to hurry!”
“Calling any available emergency responders!
We’ve got electrical fires in the Zheng Yi Sao and
Floretta districts!”
“Fayad Harb to Central, call a mandatory evac on the
Fortuna district! Lord have mercy, it’s gonna break
loose!”
The ASSASSIN is a dangerous new enemy that likes to
single out a specific target and then make their life a
living hell. In this case, the Assassin also has the ability
to fling the PCs off a reactor with SPINNING KICK.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs can’t engage manual overrides on at least
half the reactors by the end of the sixth round, the
laser’s charging sequence finishes. The PCs won’t be
able to see it fire from here, but they’ll certainly feel the
aftershocks. A massive electromagnetic pulse rips
through the vessel, temporarily disabling their mechs.
When their sensor feeds return, the station is in
absolute chaos. Firing the laser has knocked out most
of the station’s systems, leaving it with emergency
power only. The Sprawl is in complete disarray. The
vibrations severed fuel, oxygen and power lines. The
ship’s radiators fracture under the thermal strain,
spilling molten debris onto the city below. There are
electrical fires everywhere. Bulkheads on the Starstrip
have sealed: it’s open to vacuum in multiple places.
The target of the laser, a small irregular moon known
as Kantele, shatters. Somehow, the PCs can feel it: a
cracking from every direction, as if it were the shell of
an egg breaking around them. There is the shriek of a
predatory bird, and a brilliant light that is somehow
visible even through the plating of their mechs and the
hull of the ship. Then there is silence.
PC VICTORY
If the PCs shut down enough reactors, the laser’s
charging sequence stalls. Rita’s security teams have
time to regroup and storm the ship’s bridge, regaining
control of the Borealis and shutting down the laser.

[96]
DOWNTIME 2:
SO HOW’D WE DO?
FATE OF THE ICEBREAKER
FAILURE
If the PCs couldn’t stop the laser from firing, the next
few days are a mess. Thousands – maybe tens of
thousands – are injured or dead. The Board is in uproar
and the station is a wreck. Its reputation will likely never
recover. Evelina Bondarchuk remains on the Board.
Rita tenders her resignation as station director, but
promises the PCs they’ll still get paid: she has enough
dirt on the Board to ensure it. Nonetheless, she’s
clearly asking herself if it was a mistake to hire them.
The devastation wrought on the Icebreaker has knock-
on effects to the system’s entire economy. Untick a
segment on the Station Stability clock, as this hurts
Hell’s Gate as well.
Moreover, something much more sinister has been
birthed here. Tick four segments on the Cult Influence
clock and reveal it to the PCs.
The PCs don’t have time for a downtime action. In
fact, it might be wise for them to leave the Icebreaker
Borealis as soon as possible.
PARTIAL SUCCESS
If the PCs managed to halt the laser in the final
moments of its charging sequence, the station is
battered and bruised, but still functional. Casualty
counts are within “acceptable” ranges, whatever that
means; few deaths, though injuries are still mounting.
Rita is able to paint the PCs as brave heroes who
helped the station avert total disaster, which pacifies
the Board enough to allow her to both keep her job and
ensure that the PCs get paid. Enough suspicion lies on
Evelina Bondarchuk that she goes on an extended
leave of absence.
Don’t adjust the Station Stability clock. The
Icebreaker will need time to recover, but not too long.
In the meantime, Hell’s Gate will be there to provide the
materials it needs to repair and rebuild.
Tick two segments on the Cult Influence clock and
reveal it to the PCs. This wasn’t a victory for the Cult,
but it was an encouraging test run: they got close, and
it showed how weak the system’s defences are.
The PCs each have time for a downtime action,
although it might not be a happy affair, given the state
of the station.
FULL SUCCESS
If the PCs successfully completed both investigations,
there was never an assault to repel. Rita triumphantly
delivers her report to the Board, outlining the
catastrophe her unilateral action prevented. The Board
grudgingly agrees. In the following days, they launch
their own series of investigations. Evelina Bondarchuk
is outed as a collaborator and forced to flee the station.
Tick a segment on the Station Stability clock. Not only
has the Icebreaker been saved, it owes a debt of
gratitude to Hell’s Gate. This ensures a degree of
economic and political solidarity between the two
stations going forward.
Tick no segments on the Cult Influence clock, and
reveal it to the PCs. Through their investigations, they
will now be aware that something much larger is at work
here.
The PCs each have time for a downtime action, and
Rita ensures that they are treated as heroes and want
for nothing during the rest of their stay.
CHECKING IN ON FRIENDS
The team’s performance will have affected any friends
and acquaintances they made over the course of their
visit to the Icebreaker. If the PCs feel so inclined, run
some vignettes with these characters to show how the
events of this mission have impacted their life.
In particular, if the PCs made friends with Loki
Valentinian and Dr. Nyambose, they send a message
a few days after things quiet down, either
congratulating or commiserating. They’ve had some
bad news of their own: their vessel has been ordered
to stay put and await the arrival of a Harrison Armory
battlegroup currently en route to the system. Both Loki
and Dr. Nyambose suspect they’re about to get roped
into the schemes of Dr. Odin Valentinian, Loki’s father,
a thing they both left the Dawnline Shore to avoid.
WINDING DOWN
Once the PCs have concluded their business on the
station, they advance to Licence Level 2. They have
time for a full repair and then may return to Hell’s Gate.
The duration of the downtime is flexible, but should be
no more than a few weeks.
[97]
 ICEBREAKER BOREALIS DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES
Here’s a downtime action specific to the Icebreaker.
The PCs can really only take advantage of it when on
the station, but if a future downtime is at least a few
weeks long, a PC could take a shuttle from wherever
they currently are to the Icebreaker to indulge in a little
luxury R&R.
FIGHT IN THE HELLFIRE LEAGUE
You paint a logo on your mech, practice your interview
voice and pay sign-up fees to compete in Calliope’s
most popular sport: gladiatorial mech violence. This
isn’t quite the same as real combat: it’s as much about
looking good for the camera as it is about blowing holes
in your opponent, and actually killing an enemy pilot is
deeply frowned upon. Plus, your usual contract work
doesn’t require you to craft a persona or cut compelling
promos.
The only league still accepting sign-ups this late in a
season is the Hellfire League. The Thunderstorm and
Moon Glacier Leagues are too selective about their
membership to allow new entries at this time.
This action is only available until the end of Act 1, after
which the current season ends.
Create an Arena Performance clock with eight
segments, and then make three rolls:
The first roll is about crafting your persona, cutting good
promos and developing good on-camera chemistry
with opponents. It requires skill triggers like Charm,
Lead or Inspire, Take Control or Threaten.
The second roll involves sizing up your opponents,
understanding the current “meta” of the league and
developing a fighting style. It requires skill triggers like
Investigate, Read a Situation, Spot or Word on the
Street.
The third roll involves actually fighting in the arena,
trading bullets, shrugging off an enemy’s attacks,
controlling the environment, winning the battle and
looking good doing it. It requires skill triggers like
Assault, Blow Something Up, Show Off or Take
Someone Out.
Each roll has the potential to fill in some segments on
the Arena Performance clock.
• For each roll of 9 or less, don’t tick any segments.
• For each roll of 10-19, fill in one segment.
• For each roll of 20+, fill in two segments.
[98]
Your Arena Performance clock remains between
missions, so you can take this action over multiple
downtimes.
If you finish a run with no segments ticked, you’re a
disappointment. You don’t have the acting chops to
make an interesting character, your fighting style isn’t
engaging to watch and you don’t have much in-ring
talent. Sorry, baby, but you’re just not league material.
They ask you not to come back. You can’t take this
downtime action again.
If you finish a run with 1-4 segments ticked, you’re
fine. You didn’t win anything, but you were at least able
to make someone else higher up the ladder look good.
The audience thought you were decent. You get paid
enough to cover your repair bills, and gain +1g on all
checks to interact with fans of the sport until the next
downtime.
If you finish a run with 4-7 segments ticked, you’re
doing numbers! You aren’t quite championship level –
not yet, at least – but you’ve got some combination of
charisma, style and skill that’s making the fans happy.
You gain +1g on all checks to interact with fans of the
sport until the next downtime, and enough winnings to
secure a single RESERVE.
If you finish a run with 8 segments ticked, you’re
dynamite! You burst onto the scene with no warning like
a siege ram through a bulkhead. You’ve got that rare
blend of personal magnetism, unique styling and
combat skill that makes a star. There are whispers in
the sports bars and the Omninet forums: you might do
it. You might go all the way. You get all the benefits of
filling in 4-7 segments, plus you get an invitation to the
next league championship.
Championship Invitation
Favours
There are fans out there who’d sell their soul to be
where you are right now: a rising star, climbing the
League’s ladder hand-over-hand. You and your
mech are slowly becoming known across Union.
You’re pure gold, and so they’ve given you a golden
ticket.
During the final downtime at the end of Act 1, you
may Fight in the Championship.
GETTING NEW FRAMES
The PCs have now reached Licence Level 2, which provides the exciting opportunity to acquire a new Frame.
Better yet, for once someone else is paying for it. The Board of Icebreaker is ludicrously wealthy, and they owe the
PCs for their contract work, so the PCs have their pick of any manufacturer’s catalogue. Make a point to mention
how unusual this is.

Getting a new frame could be as simple as a PC as asking the Board to buy it for them. However, here are a few
flavourful vignettes that might happen while the PCs are trying to get new hardware.

IPS-N HA HORUS SSC ROLL 1D6

Smith Johnson is only too
happy to take prospective
customers on a guided tour
through the IPS-N Calliope
showroom. They constantly
1-2 try to get a read on your
tastes and preferences so
that they can recommend a
best suited to you. They
seem desperate to make a
sale.
One of the Thunderstorm
League’s top gladiators is
retiring after an illustrious
career. Given that you put
your life on the line to save
this station, they can think of
3-4 no better inheritor for their
championship mech. Their
only request is that you
keep it painted in their
team’s colours.
Raphael Baza contacts you
to draw your attention to a
sale currently occurring in
his Bazaar. A mercenary is
putting their old frame and
its associated licences on
the market for a price that
5-6 only just covers a ticket out
of the system. They want to
leave, and fast; it’s all about
to go sideways, they say,
and if you know what’s good
for you, you’ll get gone too.
Loki Valentinian wants to
show his gratitude for the
help you gave in rescuing
Dr. Nyambose. Because his
father is an executive, he
can share his access code
to the Armory’s exclusive
catalogue. This might cause
trouble for him down the
line, but he says you’re
worth it.
A Purview colony ship that
was slow-cruising to the
Dawnline Shore made port
at the Icebreaker for R&R,
only to discover that their
colony charter was fulfilled
decades ago by a nearlight
vessel. They’re now holding
an unauthorised fire sale of
their military gear so they
can afford the fuel and
supplies to get back home.
Did you know that the GMS
Systems Normalisation
Department’s technology-
sharing initiative requires
that the Armory maintain an
open-source codebase?
Did you know it’s complete
enough that you can more
or less build a whole off-
brand Armory frame from it?
Did you know the Board
loves to cut costs? Well,
now you know all of those
things!
There’s something hiding in
the casinos. It’s there in the
way the dice and cards fall,
in idle snatches of chatter
around tables, in the drink
orders and guest books. It’s
not about money, or fame,
or anything else tangible.
It’s a pattern, a code written
in randomness. And it gave
you an Omninet address.
A person who introduces
themself only as “a cousin”
comes to see you. They tell
you that “a kindly uncle” has
seen potential in you, and
he’s willing to hook you up
with HORUS tech. You’re
going to have to wait a few
days to get it, though: it
must be “retrieved” from a
former owner who “no
longer requires it.”
You’re contacted by one of
the Icebreaker’s sigdivers.
They’ve picked up a weak,
repeating transmission from
the edge of the system, in
the direction of the where
you found the Tachyon. The
reason they contacted you?
It’s encrypted – with your
private key. When you
decrypt it, it contains a huge
compressed file, and a short
message: “try this instead.”
You get a call. SSC Exotic
Materials wants to buy a
copy of your mech’s sensor
logs so they can study the
blink gateway the cultists
constructed. How did they
know about it? See, instead
of asking that, why not ask
what optional extras your
brand new mech will have?
Spoilers: it’s all of them.
A member of the Board is
blatantly trying to suck up to
you. They want you as an
ace-in-the-hole for some
sort of powerplay, and
they’re willing to spend the
cash to get you access to a
premiere SSC product line.
They don’t ask you to sign
anything, and somehow it
makes this whole business
even more unsettling.
You can’t believe your luck.
Before the Board can even
deliver what you asked for,
you win that exact mech in a
poker game when some
Karrakin brat goes all-in with
his SSC licence. Doesn’t it
seem a bit too good to be
true? Rita gently explains to
you: it is. The Board staged
the whole thing to get your
mech to you in a way that
makes gambling look sexy.

[99]
 CHAPTER 3:

SOME SICK GAME

KADY: I’m Kady Amville – oh, and by the way, did you know it’s fucking legal to abduct people in Calliope?
No, no wait, I’m sorry, my producer is telling me that’s wrong. It’s actually illegal to do that! Problem
is, there’s no legal system here. Also, I don’t actually have a producer – I can’t afford one!

[QUICK PAN ACROSS THE REST OF THE EMPTY ROOM, AND THEN BACK TO KADY]

KADY: See, the system, having just barely cooled down from that whole thing on the Icebreaker, now has
to deal with a string of abductions. And I want to make it clear that we know who’s doing this. We
know it’s CEO of Impact Dynamics and world’s first sentient septic tank Rodericke Steele. We know
this because his “snatch squads” – and yes, those are his words – literally play an announcement.

[CUT TO FOUND FOOTAGE OF A TEAM OF MERCENARIES SEIZING CIVILIANS. A GIGANTIC

HOLO-PROJECTION OF RODERICKE STEELE IS VISIBLE]

STEELE: Hi! I’m Rodericke Steele, and I’d like to personally introduce you to “mandatory recruitment,”
brought to you by Impact Dynamics!

[CUT BACK TO KADY, MASSAGING THEIR TEMPLES]

KADY: I fucking hate it here.

[100]
BEAT 13:
WRECKING FIELDS
This beat takes place some weeks after the team
returns to Hell’s Gate, although no more than a couple
of months. Feel free to play out some vignettes or
expand on individual PCs’ backstories during that time.
When you’re ready to advance the plot, the next beat
begins in the middle of things.
After the chaos on the Icebreaker, an uneasy peace
has settled across Calliope. The Hell Hounds are still
making death threats against you, but even those
are getting rarer. There are rumours of internal strife
in the enterprise, some kind of leadership struggle.
The Faith of the One is present on Hell’s Gate, and
has been for a while now. You didn’t notice before,
but after the Icebreaker, you started to see it. There’s
an old growhouse on the fore hab ring that’s been
abandoned for years, and about a year ago they just
moved right in and turned it into a temple.
Right now, though, there’s a new source of tension.
All over Calliope, people are being taken. It’s mostly
from isolated habs in the inner system – places that
can’t defend themselves. But a couple of days back,
eighteen people from Endymion’s Lament were
kidnapped in broad daylight. They’re getting bolder.
Now, a salvage team has gone silent while out in a
wreckfield near Shore, one of Stygia’s moons. The
militia detail assigned to them isn’t responding either.
You get a ping from Siren. “Look alive, human
persons! We’re coming up on the field, and this as
close as I get. That pile of junk used to be a Karrakin
battlecruiser, so watch out for unexploded munitions,
and be careful: the whole thing’s in a decaying orbit.
I’m not reading the salvage ship in there, but there’s
too much interference for that to mean anything.”
Give the PCs time to interact and move about the
Dragon’s Tooth before deployment. If the team wants
more information on the wreck, Siren tells them it was
the battlecruiser FKS-BC Pistoclerus, reported lost with
all hands thirty-eight years ago. Baronic Unified
Command’s memorial database states the cause as a
direct hit from an Armory dreadnought.
However, local records suggest the Pistoclerus was
absent for the majority of the relevant engagement,
with its only notable actions being to arrive in Shore’s
orbit and then immediately explode. The most likely
explanation for this is that the ship’s commander tried
to “run with scissors” – that is, they executed a nearlight
bolt while their ship’s spinal weapon was charged.
The wreckfield is only twelve hundred kilometres above
the surface of Shore, and is dropping year by year –
folks seem to agree it’ll crash by mid-century. Its orbital
path and a wide, donut-shaped area around it is filled
with fast-moving debris, making it too risky for ships to
approach closely, even relatively small ones like the
Dragon’s Tooth. It has to be approached in mechs, or
not at all.
Worse, something – it’s unclear exactly what – is still
active within the ship’s core, and it causes severe
electromagnetic interference. Communication gets
harder the closer one gets to the centre of the field. All
in all, the wreck of the Pistoclerus is a very dangerous
thing to try and salvage – but that means it hasn’t been
stripped bare yet.
The PCs are looking for a dozen civilian salvage mechs
and six combat frames piloted by members of the
militia. They were dropped off a couple of days ago by
a short-range freighter delivering salvage teams to
several wrecks around Stygia. Strictly speaking, union
regulations require that each team have its own
dedicated transport, but the Gate’s been short of ships
for decades. Quite often, a team will get dropped off to
do some work, left for a while and then picked up later.
The wreckfield is a tense and eerie place – dark and
silent, with colossal sections of ship hull tumbling slowly
through space, interspersed with dangerous clouds of
shrapnel. A fight is coming, but build up the tension
before it hits. There’s a lot of folk tales about
wreckfields – shapes glimpsed briefly at the end of
hallways, strange sensor pings, voices in the radio
static that mutter half-understood words.
After an unsettlingly quiet search, the PCs will pick up
a weak signal over the local interference: a distress
beacon. It belongs to Takama “L-Kay” El Khayat, one
of the missing militia pilots. Her mech is just sitting
there, unpowered, in a large chamber. There’s a life-
sign inside it, but it doesn’t respond to hails.
The PCs might not fall for this obvious trap; that’s fine.
If they don’t take the bait, the enemies will still attack,
but they’ll do so from a less advantageous position.
[101]
 COMBAT:
SURPRISE, SURPRISE
SITREP: Extraction (Lancer, p. 270)
OBJECTIVE(S): 1x L-KAY’S TORTUGA
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE PIRATE ASSASSIN
1x VETERAN WITCH
1x PIRATE DEMOLISHER
1x RAINMAKER
FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN ARCHER
FOR 5 PCS: +1x ELITE PIRATE BERSERKER
ALLIED FORCES
FOR 3-5 PCS: 1x L-KAY – VETERAN SENTINEL
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
In addition to regular cover, the chamber also contains
several Size 1 unexploded munitions. These provide
hard cover, but using them for this purpose is very
unwise. They only have 1 HP, and if they take any
damage at all, they explode. Any character adjacent to
them when this happens must make an AGILITY save
with a target of 12 or take 2d6k and be knocked
PRONE. Characters who succeed on the save take only
half damage and are not knocked PRONE.
And yes, a mech with TOTAL STRENGTH SUITE I can
throw them, in which case they explode at their
destination, dealing only the explosive damage stated
above, using the PC’s SAVE TARGET instead of 12, and
knocking affected enemies PRONE on a failed save
instead of inflicting knockback. It obviously doesn’t
place a piece of hard cover next to your target.
THE FIGHT
This fight serves two purposes: to directly confront the
PCs with the threat of the abductions taking place
across the system, and to give your players a chance
to get used to the new frames and gear they acquired
at LICENCE LEVEL 2.
This extraction sitrep works a little differently to the
standard one. Firstly, there is no time limit. The hostile
forces don’t have any inbound reinforcements; once
the full strength of their force is deployed, that’s all they
have. Secondly, if the PCs fell for the bait, the PCs
deploy next to the extraction target, but the entire
enemy force starts on the field and an enemy character
gets the first turn.
[102]
Size 2, 16 HP
Sap, Prying Claws
Chain, Hacker
Concussion Missiles, Prying Claws
Blinding Shells, Lightning Reflexes
Harpoon Cannon
Size 2, Punisher Ammunition, Lesser Sight
L-Kay’s Tortuga, No Please, I Insist, is in cold shutdown
and she’s locked out of the controls. An adjacent PC
can make an ENGINEERING check as a full action to
jump-start the reactor, after which a PC will need to
INVADE her mech (E-DEFENCE 10) to end the lockout.
Once both of these actions are performed, L-Kay is
able to move and fight under her own power as an NPC
ally, using the profile above. She’s no longer subject to
escort rules – but note that this also means hostiles
now consider her a valid target. She still needs to
extract at the extraction zone as usual, but as long as
she’s in her mech, she can move their herself. If her
mech is destroyed, she ejects and turns back into a
Size 1/2 extraction objective with 6 HP.
This might be the first time the PCs have encountered
an Assassin or a Witch, so be prepared to explain how
their mechanics work as they come up.
Remember that the Witch is Invisible only during its
own turns. This is a niche ability that makes it less
vulnerable to PCs that make attacks as a reaction, but
not much else.
Several enemies in this fight have the Pirate template,
meaning they do bonus damage on critical hits. The
hostiles in this encounter also have Prying Claws, a
terrifying ability that lets them tear a pilot right out of
their mech. Note that the enemies in this fight are trying
to take prisoners, not corpses – they will happily
incapacitate the PCs, but they won’t kill them.
The hostiles have covered up the livery on their mechs,
but a good result with the Spot skill trigger will reveal
that these hostiles are members of the Hell Hounds.

OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If PCs (or L-Kay) are defeated but unable to extract,
they’re captured by the pirates. Within a few hours,
they’re herded out of the wreck and onto a transport
that’s just showed up. Siren can’t help; she doesn’t
have enough firepower to match the pirates.
It quickly becomes clear, despite their efforts to hide it,
that the kidnappers are members of the Hell Hounds,
or at least were. They’re particularly abusive towards
the PCs, whom they recognise as Andros Capella’s
killers. Given that this is potentially uncomfortable
content, make sure that players are informed in
advance and safety tools are available.
If a PC plays their cards right, they might be able to
obtain some of the same information about the current
state of the Hell Hounds as detailed below under the
victory section. Reward good roleplaying or a high skill
trigger roll. The Hell Hounds are angry, but it’s a
talkative kind of anger – they want to vent their
frustrations at the PCs, whom they see as responsible
for their current grief.
A few hours pass. But just before the transport breaks
orbit, there’s a massive commotion and the sounds on
battle erupt all over the ship. The door of the holding
cell slides open, to reveal several people in elaborate
hardsuits resembling knightly armour and covered in
chivalric emblems. At their head is a tall, smirking
woman whom the PCs will be familiar with by
reputation, if not personally: Mistress Elske, leader of
the Knights of the Dark Core, another pirate faction.
She announces that she’s the bearer of excellent news:
not only have the PCs been honoured with a rescue by
the finest outlaws in Calliope, but she’s rescued the
salvage team and the other militia members who were
abducted as well. Thanks to her, they will all soon be
returned to their homes and families. Even better, she’s
already thought of a way you can repay her kindness!
In fact, she was just on her way to Hell’s Gate to talk to
you specifically. Isn’t chance a funny thing?
Proceed to Beat 14: Knights in Shining Glamour (p.
104).
PC VICTORY
If the PCs clearly outmatch the pirates, they will attempt
to retreat; this isn’t worth losing their mechs or their
lives over. They already got what they came for, a fact
they will happily gloat about over local comms. If the
PCs cut off their exit, some pirates will fight to the bitter
end, knowing Hell’s Gate is unlikely to be kind to human
traffickers. Some will surrender anyway, seeing it as
better to take a chance than die for sure.
Any prisoners the PCs take will try to conceal their
affiliation with the Hell Hounds, but they’re not in a good
position to do so. Some of their mechs and hardsuits
still have the colours and livery. Some might break
under interrogation. At some point, one of them will
snap and blame everything on the PCs – and reveal
something concerning.
“We had to take this job! It was all we could get! The
Hounds are falling apart! Nobody takes us seriously
anymore. Everything went to shit when you killed the
Bossman! Half of us are starving, and the other half
went batshit insane and joined a fucking cult!”
If the PCs enquire further, it becomes quite clear who
the captive is talking about.
“The firebird creeps! Heard you ran into them on the
Icebreaker – wish both of you had killed each other!”
Their prisoner likely won’t be co-operative, but with a
little persuasion they can be convinced to go into more
detail about what’s happening.
“Half a year back, this psycho shows up at the Fort.
Says he can give us a line on some good salvage if
he can stay a while and preach. Bossman says ‘sure,
why not.’ Next thing we know, maybe a third of the
Hounds are babbling this firebird apocalypse bullshit!
“Bossman says the psycho’s gotta go, but by that
time enough of the Hounds are brainwashed it starts
a mutiny. Psycho says ‘do one more thing for me,
and I’ll go.’ Sends the Bossman out to some wreck
he wants something from. Well, you fuckers know
how that turned out!
“Now the Fort’s a free-for-all, and it’s all your fault!
Nobody can step into the Bossman’s shoes! Every
time someone tries it turns into a bloodbath, and the
psycho’s just sitting there laughing, pulling strings.
“Can’t go back to legit life with the ink and the rep.
Can’t defect either! Knights won’t have us ‘cause we
broke the Code, the Blacksmith put a deathmark on
anyone who helped strikebreak in ‘04, and the
Circuit? Well, they’re just as much of a fuckin’ cult as
these firebird freaks! Even the moonlighters don’t
respect us no more.
“So yeah, when that piece of shit Steele calls up and
says he’ll pay for every person we bring him, we took
him up on it. Think I wanted this? Think it makes me
proud? But he’s the only one left who’ll still pay us.”
In any case, the PCs may return to Hell’s Gate at their
leisure – but with the somber news that the salvage
team and most of its militia escort have been taken.
[103]
 BEAT 14:
IN SHINING GLAMOUR
As this beat begins, the PCs have either returned to
Hell’s Gate, or are being returned to Hell’s Gate by
Mistress Elske and the Knights of the Dark Core. In
either case, it starts with a squadron of Dark Core
spaceships arriving outside Hell’s Gate.
If the PCs are on the station, it’s a few hours to day after
they returned from the wreckfield. They get an urgent
all-hands call from Zinfandel DeJean, stating that pirate
vessels have been detected on approach to the station.
Every militia pilot needs to get into their mechs and be
ready to defend the station.
However, the pirates decelerate as they approach the
station’s point-defence screen, and politely request
docking clearance. If the PCs are listening in on the
channel, the operator passes it up the chain to their
superior, who passes it up the chain to their superior,
who finally passes it up the chain to Jerry.
Jerry looks bewildered, but there’s a determination
in his voice you don’t usually hear. He taps his fist on
his desk to punctuate his reply. “Come? Aboard?
You’ve, uh, you’ve got to be kidding me, Elske!
You’re a pirate! I’m not letting you on my station!”
The woman on the other end of the call moves back
from the camera, revealing several familiar faces –
the salvage team, and the rest of L-Kay’s squad. “I
have your people with me, Jerry. I rescued them
from the Hell Hounds, and I’m bringing them home.
You wouldn’t shoot a woman who rescued your
citizens out of the goodness of her own heart, would
you? Well, even if you would, you won’t shoot your
own people. So, I’m coming aboard.”
If Mistress Elske rescued the PCs, they’re on camera
too. In either case, Jerry is out of options. He relents
and allows Mistress Elske’s ship – but only her ship –
to dock. Militia pilots are warned to get ready, but
probably not for violence; for pretension. The woman
has one hell of an entrance.
The orderly machine drone of the docking bay is
broken as a line of eight pirates bearing trumpets
and horns file out of the transport and begin blasting
a fanfare. Each of them is clad in a hardsuit that’s
styled after the armour of a medieval knight.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Zinfandel grunts.
You get the feeling that if you weren’t in microgravity,
they’d be unfurling a red carpet.
[104]
There she is, gliding serenely out of the airlock. Tall,
broad-shouldered, with her hair dyed silver at the
roots, fading into sunset purples and blues. Like the
others, her hardsuit is fashioned as knight’s armour,
but hers has a lot more emblems on it. She also has
a sword – an actual sword – strapped to her waist.
She’s flanked by six guards carrying pikes and a
young attendant – a squire! – carrying a scroll. They
unfurl it and begin to read from it. “Presenting Elske,
Grandmistress Martial of the Most Noble Order of
Knights of the Dark Core, her honour guard, and
several residents of Hell’s Gate, freshly liberated!”
Zinfandel narrows their eyes. “Hope you’re not
expecting a parade.”
Elske smirks. “I didn’t know that was an option, but
no. The only gratitude I require is an audience with
the station director. I’m owed that much.” She turns
to your team, sweeping her hand across each of you.
“And I’d like them to be there, as well.”
Elske has the unwritten right to request this. Long Rim
custom states that you owe someone who saves your
life (whether from death or other unpleasant fate, like
slavery) a recompense you’re “easily and freely able to
give.” Jerry has no obligation to grant her request, but
everyone Elske saved is obligated to ask him to. Jerry
soon realises it’s easiest to just let her talk to him.
THE KNIGHTS OF THE DARK CORE
The Knights of the Dark Core are a great example of
how living in Calliope (or anywhere in the Long Rim,
really) can make you a little bit… odd. Founded more
than sixty years ago by Prem Bhagat, its first
Grandmaster Martial, the Dark Core is a self-described
“chivalrous order of hedge knights.”
In reality, they’re still pirates just like any other
sunlighter, but they’re far and away the most principled
pirates the system has. Each initiate must swear a
number of oaths in a formal ceremony before being
awarded the title of Knight. These oaths forbid a Knight
from, among other things, stealing from the poor except
in a life-or-death emergency. The Knights prey almost
exclusively on the wealthy.
While they’ve certainly got robbing the rich down to a
fine science, they’ve not yet perfected giving to the
poor; that’s “not really a pirate’s area of expertise,” they
claim.
Still, the system has a fair bit of affection for the
Knights, however grudging it might be. They do
occasionally indulge in charity towards Calliope’s
poorest, and they also see it as their duty to enforce
standards of behaviour on Calliope’s other criminals.
Be they moonlighters or sunlighters, pirates must be
wary of straying too far from “The Code,” as the Knights
refer to it, lest the Knights come looking to “correct”
them.
Another thing that endears Calliope to the Knights is
just how extra they are. They’re knights. They roll
around the system in mechs and hardsuits custom-
tailored to look like medieval armour. They carry
swords and pikes. They have squires. They refer to
each other as “Ser” and talk about chivalry and oaths.
Most of all, they seem to do all of this without irony; this
isn’t some big joke to them. They’re genuinely invested
in it all. They’re so ridiculous that it’s hard to stay mad
at them, and yet they have an intensity and conviction
that makes it hard not to take them seriously.
MISTRESS ELSKE SHE/HER
GRANDMISTRESS MARTIAL
Elske is the Knights’ fifth Grandmaster Martial, a
position she’s held for twelve years now. Although
she’s not the first woman to hold the position, she’s the
first to insist on the gendered “Grandmistress,” for
reasons she refuses to elaborate on.
As leader of the Knights, Elske has presented herself
as a return to principle, after her predecessor allowed
the Knights’ enforcement of The Code to lapse. After
defeating him in single combat, she took the unusual
step of exiling him, rather than allowing him honourable
retirement as a martial instructor. She also had his
name struck from the order’s records.
Elske is tall, broad-shouldered, with ochre skin and a
livid scar running up her right cheek which she received
in a duel with the previous Grandmaster Martial. She
dyes her hair in muted sunset colours. By her accent,
mannerisms and certain figures of speech, she’s
obviously Karrakin, and probably high nobility, but it’s
unclear from which house.
In person, she manages a delicate balancing act of
being grandiose but still approachable. She’s a pirate
queen, and she lives life to enjoy it. She’s a lover of
luxury, but she’s happy to share with others – after all,
being able to splash the cash around is a sign of her
wealth and status.
THE MEETING
Jerry schedules the meeting with Elske and the PCs as
soon as he possibly can – having a pirate leader on his
station is only going to cause trouble, and the faster this
meeting is done with, the faster she can leave.
You walk into Jerry’s office to discover Elske has
already arrived, and is sitting perched on his desk,
very close to him. Jerry has a look of indescribable
discomfort on his face. As he sees you, he smiles
and blinks slowly, in a way that suggests he wants to
scream and is having trouble holding it in.
He squeaks a greeting to you. “Oh. Good. You’re
here.”
Elske proceeds to explain everything. Rodericke Steele
is behind the abductions; everyone knew that already.
What they don’t know is why: he’s about to unveil his
competitor to the system’s mech fighting leagues: the
“Steele Games.” He’s apparently been watching a lot of
old “battle royale” media lately, because his idea is to
dump a lot of people into mechs and force them to kill
each other until only one is left.
This is a flagrant violation of the Utopian Pillars, of
course, but Steele’s been violating them for years now
and Union’s repeated failure to punish him has only
emboldened him. Captain Ordaz of the UNS-CV
Thames refuses to intervene, and Elske doesn’t even
blame her – she only has one carrier, and Impact
Dynamics has a whole defence fleet.
Steele has had an arena – the “Steele Dome” – built on
the surface of Asphodel, and the abductees are being
brought there. Approach by space or air is out – the
Impact Dynamics fleet controls the planet’s orbit, and
the arena has top-of-the-line anti-air defences. The
only option is on land, below radar altitude, where
surveillance is spotty.
The Knights are already spread too thin fighting
Steele’s hired abduction teams; they’ve always been
the smallest of the pirate bands. They don’t have any
manpower to spare. Even if they did, the only place
ships can put down without attracting attention is
Furnace City – somewhere that won’t give pirates like
them landing clearance.
The PCs have already demonstrated that they can
punch far above their weight and accomplish tasks few
else in their position could. She needs a small team of
competent lancers to sneak into Furnace City, brave
Asphodel’s wilderness and infiltrate the arena. Once
there, they’ll need to locate and free the prisoners, shut
down the anti-air defences, junk as many of Steele’s
security forces as possible and then wreck the arena
so it can’t ever be used again.
“If Steele gets away with this, if nobody stops him,
how long before he starts making us pay for food and
water in people? He already acts with impunity, and
everyone’s too afraid to stop him. We need to draw
a line in the sand, send a clear message to both him
and the system that he’s not invincible and there’s
some things we won’t allow him to do.”
[105]
 If the PCs have more questions for Elske, she’s happy
to answer them.
HOW SHE KNOWS THIS
“Trouble at Chez Impact. Steele has always
underpaid his labourers, but now he’s starting to put
the squeeze on mid-level managers too, and they’re
grumbling. Nothing public, of course; they’d get
tossed out an airlock. But a few of them know how to
get their grievances heard by the right ears, and one
of them happened to have juicy insider information
on Steele’s new scheme.”
THE TIMESCALE
“I can’t give you exact dates, unfortunately, but I got
the impression from my source that we don’t have all
that much time. The arena’s functional, and there’s
already enough abductees for a couple of rounds,
but they’re still working out the broadcast specifics.
We should hurry.”
HELP IN FURNACE CITY
“I can get you a valid landing permit, but only for a
couple of ships. That’s the extent of my influence
planetside. The Burning Forge holds sway there, and
after a tiff we had last year, I’m not on the best of
terms with the Blacksmith. That’s a large part of why
we can’t do this ourselves – hence why I’m here. Still,
I think he might be sympathetic to this cause
anyway. You might try talking to him.”
ROUTE TO THE ARENA
“We can give you the arena’s exact location, but
figuring out a route is something you’re going to have
to do by yourself. We don’t have planetside
reconnaissance. I’d advise leaning on the locals;
they’ll know the terrain.”
EXPECTED RESISTANCE
“Steele’s security forces don’t mess around, but he
can’t have pulled that many off regular duty to staff
the arena, or we’d be seeing it elsewhere in the
system. Expect a well-armed, well-trained force, but
in limited numbers.”
EXTRACTING THE PRISONERS
“That’s something you’ll have to work out on the
ground. Furnace City isn’t my territory – that’s
Burning Forge turf. And I can’t make deals with them
directly right now, for… reasons.”
DANGER OF RETALIATION
“Yes, there’s a possibility Steele might attempt to
retaliate against you if you ruin his arena. But the
alternative is you do nothing, and let this go
unopposed. You think he won’t eventually lash out at
you anyway? At least this way, we’ll force him to look
even more petty and vindictive. Maybe we’ll even
convince that Union captain to finally step in.”
[106]
THE PAY
“Is it not enough to know you’re doing a good turn for
the system, rescuing innocents from an unhappy
death and spitting in the eye of a tyrant? Must this be
about nothing more than material benefit?” She
pauses for effect. “Oh, come now, I’m only kidding! If
your hearts can bear the burden of being paid by a
notorious pirate, I’m more than happy to be your
wealthy patron.
“And on top of that, pull this off, and I can get you the
equipment you need to beef up that ship of yours –
the Dragon’s Tooth, you call it?”
THE TITLE “MISTRESS”
She smirks. “I think you’ve already formed an
assumption, so I won’t spoil your fun by clarifying.”
They PCs can still refuse Elske at this point, and that’s
okay. You’ll need to prepare something different for
them to do for this chapter – explore a PC’s backstory,
perhaps. Elske, driven to desperation, goes to the Inner
Cult for help. They’re only too happy to take the job.
The arena gets ruined, the abductees get rescued, and
a lot of grateful people become converts. Tick two
segments on the Cult Influence clock.
If the PCs accept, they can begin making preparations
to leave. Elske suggests, despite the urgency, that they
give it a couple of days before they depart – she needs
time to do something flashy and distracting elsewhere
in the system, so that people forget she was here.
PRIOR TO DEPARTURE
While preparations for the mission are underway, the
PCs have time for a little bit of relaxation. Since they’ve
spent a whole mission away on the Icebreaker, and are
about to spend another on Asphodel, this is a good
chance to ensure the PCs stay familiar with the Gate’s
residents.
If you need some plot hooks, consider the following:
• Jerry’s flipping between anxious and furious
because PHASE//SHIFT, the only competing
mining operation in the system, somehow got
awarded a contract that didn’t even get offered to
Hell’s Gate.
• Ipswich DeLacey wants to interview some or all of
the PCs about what happened on the Icebreaker. If
Loki or Odin Valentinian are mentioned, Ipswich
chokes on their milkshake and hurriedly tries to
hide their shock.
• Cerulean Enceladus has heard of the PCs’
impending trip to Furnace City and would like them
to run some goods to a “legitimate business
associate” there.
• Following Elske’s visit, Striga Von Aldenberg is • [CustomerName]! BARTENDER MOTHERFUCKER
even more paranoid than usual. She demands the requests that you [suggestive eyebrow wiggle]
PCs tell her if Elske is working for Them. Who’s “acquire” some liquor the wildcats make! Do not
Them? Well, depending on whether she’s on her worry! You and your team will be compensated with
fifth or sixth energy drink of the day, it’s either a [/dev/random] days of free drinks!
race of hyper-intelligent vent crabs or a cabal of
SecComm remnants led by a mutant clone of John • Dr. Vanhatalo insists on giving the team a medical
Creighton Harrison I. exam before they go planetside, since they’ve
spent a while in microgravity recently. Given the
• Chief McElroy would like a PC to check in on population density of Furnace City, she’s also got
someone living in one of the outlander settlements booster shots to administer.
beyond Furnace City. She uses the word “sister,”
Give another insight into how Hell’s Gate is faring
but it’s obvious in the way she says it that the
based on the status of the Station Stability clock.
relationship is a lot more complicated.
• Zinfandel wants one or two PCs to help with a
training session they’re running for some militia
recruits in the simulator. By the way: have the PCs
noticed how nobody’s heard from the Circuit lately?
Weird for technocultists to be this quiet.

[107]
 MISSION 3: BRIEFING
Placeholder.

TO THE DOME GOAL: Navigate the wilderness of Asphodel.

RICH: Aw, bad luck. It looks like Hopkins’ team
has reversed the checkmate, which means it’s
all over for Corbin.
DANNY: You know Rich, this is why I love
covering Indentured Servant Chess. You just
never know what’s going to happen.
RICH: Unfortunately, I think Corbin’s king
knows exactly what’s about to happen.
DANNY: Well he should have thought of that
before his great-grandfather sold his family into
eternal bondage.
RICH: True words, Danny. True words.
– LoadingReadyRun,
“Decadent Sports League”
Rescue the abducted citizens of
Calliope. Wreck Impact Dynamics’
arena. Send Rodericke Steele a clear
message: the lives of Calliope’s
people are not his playthings.
STAKES: A lot of people will be forced to kill
each other for sport if they aren’t
rescued, and Steele will be further
emboldened to exploit Calliope.
REWARD: Mistress Elske will provide the team
with enough funds to advance to
LICENCE LEVEL 3. She’s also promised
to source upgrades for the Dragon’s
Tooth.
RESERVES: The PCs have access to any reserves
they acquired from the last two
missions or on downtime activities
along with them, so long as it makes
narrative sense for them to be
available on Asphodel.

CLOCKS
The Station Stability clock placeholder

The Cult Influence clock placeholder.

MISSION STRUCTURE
Placeholder

[108]
BEAT 15:
THE ONLY CITY
Once the preparations are made, the journey to
Asphodel takes about five days. Jerry sends a freighter
along with the fireteam to give them some sort of
excuse as to why they’re out there.
The curve of Asphodel slowly begins to flatten as you
drop into the atmosphere, your vessel’s hull glowing
cherry red with re-entry heat. Gravity begins tugging
on you – real gravity, not spin or thrust.
They say Asphodel was colder once, that it even had
polar ice caps, but those days are long past. They
left sharp, craggy mountains with deep valleys
carved by meltwater, and over time these were worn
down by aeons of wind and rain. But the highlands
still provide shelter from the worst of the elements,
and so that’s where they built Furnace City.
There’s a low-lying haze drifting from the industrial
sprawl outside the city’s dome, and with the light of
the planet’s long morning shining through it, it bathes
the entire valley in an ethereal glow. At the centre,
that same sunlight strikes the glass of the central
city’s dome, making it glitter like a jewel. There it is:
the only terrestrial city in the Long Rim.
Siren’s voice cuts in over the roar of the atmospheric
engines. “Pillar Control, this is Hotel Golf Four Five
One, alongside Hotel Golf X-Ray Zero-Niner-Seven
Heavy, requesting landing clearance and approach
vector for both vessels, over.”
“Hotel Golf Four-Five-One from Pillar Control, we
have you on radar and on the list. You are clear for
bowl three. Please descend to flight level one six
hundred and turn right heading three-one-zero. Hotel
Golf Zero-Niner-Seven Heavy, you’re landing at bowl
eighteen. Maintain current heading and await further
instructions. Welcome to Furnace City.”
CITY LAYOUT
Furnace City is enclosed in a low, slightly ovoid dome
just under four kilometres at its widest point. It reaches
a height of four hundred metres above the surrounding
terrain, but there’s a wide central column known as “the
Pillar” that rises roughly fifty metres further than the
crown of the dome.
The dome encloses a V-shaped crater that is at least
three times as deep as the dome is tall. The city itself
is built in a series of three major tiers that descend
downwards, with the Pillar at the centre.
The top tier, known as “the rings,” contains the vast
majority of the city’s living space. It’s a series of
stepped, concentric rings following the slope of the
crater, connected by a series of funiculars. There are
few free-standing structures; residential, commercial
and municipal spaces are built into the crater walls.
At the bottom of the rings, built on the roof of the second
tier, there is a large, flat green space around the Pillar
dedicated mostly to leisure, with some scattered
agricultural elements.
The middle tier, known as “the farms,” is a series of
vertically stacked agricultural installations which
provide Furnace City with food. The city’s sewage and
water processing systems are also located on this tier.
The lowest tier, known as “the sump,” is a mostly
abandoned area full of equipment used during the city’s
early days. A couple of the lowest sub-basements
flooded at the turn of the century and were sealed off.
The Pillar contains the city’s communications
infrastructure, most notably its local omninode, in
addition to its air traffic control centre. It also contains
the primary freight elevators that move equipment and
produce between the farms and the rings – and if
necessary, mothballed gear from the sump.
Outside the dome is a sprawling industrial complex
known as the Burnfields, linked to the city proper by a
tangle of monorail lines. The Burnfields contain a stable
reactor plant that provides power at night or during
periods of heavy load, and a second stable reactor
plant simply to provide power to the orbital accelerator.
Beyond the Burnfields, but within the outer perimeter of
its air defence network, there are several landing bowls
for visiting ships. Due to the fumes from the city’s
industrial sector, the solar collectors have to be placed
even further away from the city, outside the air cordon.
LOCATIONS
CITY HALL
Located in one of the middle rings, the Assembly meets
here every two local days to discuss pressing issues.
All sessions are open to residents for comments,
questions and suggestions, except during a state of
high emergency. Elections are held every local year,
with Assembly representatives maintaining a ratio of
roughly one for each ten thousand residents.
PLACEHOLDER
[109]
 PERSONS OF INTEREST
CANAAN ZHOU THEY/THEM
TEMPORARY OVERSEER
Furnace City’s Municipal Assembly is, technically
speaking, a non-hierarchical council of civilian
representatives. During important initiatives, however,
it becomes useful to appoint an individual with strictly
defined powers to ensure that the Assembly’s
decisions are implemented.
The current Overseer is Canaan Zhou, a veteran
emergency planning specialist appointed to handle the
current abduction crisis. As this initiative relates to the
city’s security, Canaan may request the militia detain or
remove people actively endangering the city. However,
it’s important to note that they aren’t in the militia and
aren’t part of its command structure; they are simply
authorised to bring issues to the attention of the militia
without consulting the Assembly first.
Like most landborn, Canaan is tall and lanky. They
wear their long hair in a loose ponytail, and can most
often be seen in a short-sleeved denim shirt and cargo
trousers, each with enough pockets to hold all of their
pens and notepads. Usually, they’re a lot more
personable, but they haven’t gotten much sleep lately.
Their attitude towards the PCs will depend on how well
things went on the Icebreaker.
RATIO SALVAGER HE/HIM
GENUINELY HONEST SCRAP TRADER
Ratio Salvager showed up in Calliope a couple of
decades ago. After a year or so bouncing around
various ports of call, he finally settled in Furnace City
and took a job as a scrap and salvage dealer. He’s the
sole owner and proprietor of the Ratio’s Golden
scrapyard, one of the largest in Furnace City.
He’s short, even for an off-worlder, with olive skin, neat
black hair and a constant pensive expression. A few
people say he reminds them of someone, but they’re
not sure who. He’s friendly and conversational, with a
quick wit, a broad general knowledge and a love of
esoteric humour. He’s well-thought of around the City,
although people do find it odd how rarely he tries to
fast-talk or haggle.
Ratio has a secret: he’s actually Basil [37:6:Theta], a
clone of the late Basil 36, previous King of Pallas,
making Ratio one of his two remaining heirs. This might
be a problem if Calliope wasn’t the back of beyond:
seriously, who’s going to come looking for him out
here?

CLIP MAGAZINE HE/HIM

MILITIA QUARTERMASTER
An outlander who grew up living a hardscrabble life
outside the dome, Clip left the planet as soon as he
could. He spent much of his adult life in the Icebreaker’s
mech arenas, where his gruff persona, tireless
endurance and pragmatic fighting style made him a hit
with the fans.

A close brush with death during a match left him

changed, and he returned to Asphodel only to find the
community he’d grown up in had long disbanded. He
took up work for the city militia, where his talent for
keeping mechs running in any climate and through any
amount of abuse made him indispensable.

Clip’s shorter and bulkier than most landborn, the result

of spending some of his early years in stronger gravity.
He still has all his hair, but despite the fact that he’s not
that old its colour has faded to a dirty steel grey. His
right leg is gone, lost in the accident that nearly took his
life, and he has a replacement that he built himself,
having gotten tired of “all the fiddly shit” on the SSC
prosthetic he was given. He also has prosthetic
replacements for three of the fingers on his right hand.

He’s likely sympathetic to the PCs’ mission; after all,

outlander communities were the first to suffer
abductions. He might even try to slip the team
something under the table.

[110]
ADDITIONAL NPCS
Furnace City is full of interesting people. In fact, as the only planetary city in the Long Rim, almost nobody in it
is uninteresting.
ANSHAR ZEVI
The city’s chief hydrologist and environmental impact investigator, whose job is to ensure the city’s
industry doesn’t poison the region’s water table. Anshar Zevi has a problem: he’s been on the take
1-2
from the Circuit for years now, feeding them data on the city’s security patrols. But now, one of those
patrols has been abducted. He’s pretty sure it’s a horrible coincidence, but who’s going to believe him
if he gets found out? To make matters even worse, the Circuit hasn’t been returning his calls.
AVEK SOL
3-4
Placeholder.
MECHANIC TEMPORARY
A young truck mechanic who just reached adulthood and is currently looking for a permanent name.
5-6
Nothing’s stuck yet. If they get a chance to talk to the PCs, they’ll ask for their favourite words to see if
any catch their imagination. In their spare time, they’re reasonably talented with a saxophone.
DOWELS DEKALB
Dowels Dekalb is Impact Dynamics’ corporate liason in Furnace City, and was quite probably the most
hated person in the city even before the abductions started. But it’s not her fault; she’s in massive birth
7-8
debt to Impact Dynamics and her family’s still on the Plaza, so she can’t quit or the debt will be passed
onto them. Dowels won’t have anything to do with the PCs publicly, but she will anonymously pass
information to any scheme she suspects will weaken Rodericke Steele’s position.
TEIJI AND EZRA
Two professional gravball players who are never seen apart. It’s the off-season right now, so they’re
visiting home. They’re arrogant and sports-obsessed, but also kind, generous and dependable when
9-10
the chips are down. Currently, they’re training even harder than usual due to the fact that there’s less
gravity on the planet than on most orbital habitats, so they can often be found jogging around the rings
during one of their long cardio routines.
ESMAE “DJ E-ZZ MCFEAR” MCPHERSON
By day, she’s an odd-job girl. She doesn’t talk very much about that. By night, she’s a DJ, and she
talks about that a lot. If you need someone on the ones and twos for a function, she’s the girl to call. If
11-12 you can pay her travel costs, she can get out to anywhere in the system – and if you can’t, she can still
run the decks remotely. Ipswich DeLacey hires her for their annual VR fundraiser raves, and this year
they’ve told her to “go all out and blow the roof off, you feel me,” so she’s currently looking for new
sounds, samples and musical inspiration.
GARETH VANDERSLELD
13-14
Placeholder
PENCILS MULTITUDE
A sigdiver obsessed with finding the wreck of the Persimmon, a first wave colony ship. The Persimmon
carried most of the colonists who built Endymion’s Lament, but was still in orbit of Mróz when the
15-16
station was towed to Zahhak. After Endymion’s Lament began producing helium-3, it disappeared from
the historical record, along with a skeleton crew of roughly fifty people assigned to maintain it. Pencils
is convinced it travelled to Chameleon for some reason.
HERBY ZA’ATAR
17-18
Placeholder.
PLACEHOLDER
19-20
Placeholder.

[111]
 DAILY LIFE
Daily life

Furnace City possesses two Schedule 2 printers and

one Schedule 3 printer – equipment from the original
colony vessels, sent during the first wave when the
system’s planets were thought to be much more
inhabitable. Furnace City is thus one of three places in
Calliope where a Schedule 3 printer is available, and it
likely has the most reasonable price for its use –
although it’s still by no means cheap.

Like many frontier colonies, the local currency of

Furnace City is requisition. The Assembly tries to
ensure every citizen has enough to live comfortably;
depending on the system’s conditions, that sometimes
has to be downgraded to merely “enough to live.”
Technically, outlanders are also entitled to a basic
stipend of requisition, but many among both the city folk
and outlanders look down on those who “suckle the
city’s teat.”

Where requisition won’t acquire something,

Time on Asphodel doesn’t fully use Cradle Standard

Measurements. An Asphodellian day is 36 hours long,
and other time measurements are based on its two
moons. The closer, smaller Orpheus orbits once every
eight Asphodellian days, and an “Orph” is a unit roughly
equivalent to a week. The larger, more distant Eurydice
orbits in a 1:4 resonance with Orpheus, every 32
Asphodellian days or 4 Orphs, comprising a “Eury.” A
year (sometimes an “Asp”) is almost exactly 6 Eurys, or
192 Asphodellian days.

SCENES FROM THE CITY

1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
11-12
13-14
15-16
17-18
19-20

[112]

WILDCATS AND OUTLANDERS
A sizeable minority of Asphodel’s population lives
outside Furnace City, in communities ranging in size
from a handful of families to thousands of people. Some
are nomadic, while others maintain permanent
settlements. Not all communities live permanently
outside Furnace City; some will travel to the city during
the summer months.
The name “wildcat” comes from an old term for
independent strike activity not sanctioned by a labour
union. Given that the General Assembly had its origins
as a labour union, when independent communities
started popping up outside city limits, someone made a
quip on how they were “striking out on their own, like
wildcats” and the name stuck. Most communities don’t
use the term to refer to themselves, however; many
prefer the term “outlander.”
Outlanders divide territory outside the city – Terra
Solus, “the lonely land” – into a complex system of
claims, based on what resources it contains and the
needs of a region’s communities. They can be as small
as a couple of acres to as large as thousands of square
kilometres. A community might hold only a single claim,
or several – or even none, if they’re very unlucky.
Claim-holding communities will often allow others
access to their claims on a limited basis; for instance,
most permanent settlements allow nomad communities
passage through their claims, although this isn’t
universal. Some allow others to mine, forage or even
build on their claims in return for some form of payment.
No single central authority exists to recognise and
enforce claims, although coalitions of communities will
sometimes take this role for a region. Traditionally,
claim disputes are resolved at a meeting adjudicated
by a third party on neutral ground, but the exact format
differs. Contrary to stereotypes, the overwhelming
majority of disputes are settled peacefully; most
communities just can’t afford to risk losing people in a
turf war. That said, it’s not unheard of, and trials by
combat or unarmed brawls are fairly common.
Furnace City tends not to interfere in outlander disputes
unless specifically asked to intervene. The city is on
good terms with most communities, and doesn’t want
to risk it by earning a reputation for meddling.
Life in the Terra Solus is harsh. Every resource is in
short supply and must be strictly conserved: food,
potable water, even breathable air. Outside the dome,
temperatures can spike as high as 70ºC (158ºF) in the
summer months. Air pressure is twice that of Cradle.
The atmosphere lacks free oxygen, and contains
dangerous levels of sulfur and nitrogen dioxides.
Outlanders rarely venture outside their dwellings
without a hardsuit.
Trade between the outlanders and the city largely
consists of raw materials for finished products. Most
communities don’t have the facilities for fabrication at
scale, and – as far as the city knows, at least – no
outlander owns a printer. There’s also extensive trade
between communities, facilitated in large part by the
nomads; some nomad communities make a living
entirely by carrying trade goods between settlements.
Most communities are cautious of newcomers,
especially those who aren’t outlanders themselves, but
will quickly warm to those who show respect. Outlander
opinions vary widely; many outlanders don’t trust “city
folk” at all, but are perfectly happy with “outworlders.”
There are several “recluse” communities that don’t trust
anyone at all, even other outlanders.
Permanent settlements are usually small clusters of
prefab buildings, often older models brought with the
first two waves of colony ships and then mothballed.
They tend to be built in areas with lots of natural shade,
close to a source of water. Power is usually provided
by a combination of wind and solar collectors, although
a coalition of larger communities might share the cost
and labour of running a stable reactor.
By long-standing tradition, settlement communities
usually have a two-word name, with a proper noun and
a descriptor: Nicoboro Refuge, Wallhazy Enclave,
Antois Town, and so forth. The origin of this practice
has been lost to time. There are exceptions to it, but
other outlanders consider it odd.
Nomad communities consist of convoys of vehicles:
supply crawlers, trucks, trailers, mobile habitats,
mechs; whatever can carry the people, their belongings
and their homes. It’s usually easy to tell how a nomad
community makes its living; you’ll see the gear slung
on the sides of trucks and carried by their mechs.
Nomad communities have a lot of variation in their
names. If it’s a family or a clan, it will usually take their
name. If the community is based around a particular
job, the name might reference it. If it has a regular
route, it may name itself after that route, or after a
geographical feature on it. If it’s just a broad alliance of
people, the name can be almost anything.
The exact number of outlanders is unclear. Common
wisdom puts it at about 10% of the planet’s population,
which would put their numbers at somewhere around
300,000, but this figure is back-of-a-napkin guesswork.
There are rumours of communities venturing beyond
the “400 line,” four hundred kilometres away from the
city, where the Terra Solus gives way to the Terra
Incognita, “the unknown land”. This is one of the only
outlander matters that Furnace City feels it necessary
to weigh in on: “if you go into the Terra Incognita, we
cannot help you. Good luck.”
[113]
 BEAT 16:
WALK AND TALK, BUDDY
The PCs have five possible objectives in Furnace City:
• Find a route to the Impact Dynamics Arena.
• Get supplies, support and expertise for the journey.
• Avoid attracting attention from Impact Dynamics.
• Work out what to do about the giant orbital laser.
• Secure some way to evacuate the prisoners.
However, the PCs’ arrival in Furnace City has not gone
unnoticed. There are several important people the PCs
might talk to, and each of them has their own agenda.
A MEETING WITH AN OVERSEER
As soon as they reach Furnace City, Canaan Zhou
sends the PCs a meeting request. The PCs don’t have
to go, but Canaan has many ways to make life difficult
for the PCs: all rolls to interact with residents of Furnace
City receive +1h until the PCs go and meet with them.
Canaan’s opinion of the PCs differs based on how well
they did on the Icebreaker, and how hard it was to get
them to meet. In general, they’re friendly but guarded.
“Thank you for coming. Let’s cut to the chase: you’re
here about the abductions. I’m Temporary Overseer
Canaan Zhou, and the Assembly’s assigned me to
sort out the same problem. Hypothetically, that
means we’re on the same side. I’m hoping we can
translate that into practical terms as well.
“There’s three major problems you’re gonna have to
deal with. Firstly, the arena is about six hundred
clicks out in the wilderness, and we only have
reliable maps out to four hundred. After that, it’s
satellite only. Resupplying will also be a challenge.
“Second. Every single mech you’ll be running
against once you get there will be, at the very least,
military surplus. They have a lot of mothballed tech
from the Pyrite Age.”
The Overseer fiddles with their computer for a
moment before bringing up a graphic which they
display to you, indicating an orbital trajectory passing
right over Furnace City.
“And third, most terrifying of all: Rodericke Steele
has an orbital laser, and he’s already test-fired it
within the Terra Solus. The message is clear: if we
interfere with his business, he’ll start firing on us.
[114]
“Officially, I have to inform you that we won’t employ
your help, we’ll provide no assistance, and we fully
intend to deal with this matter ourselves. Unofficially,
what’s your plan?”
Allow the PCs time to describe their plan. They each
roll a skill trigger to convince Canaan they know what
they’re talking about. If they were able to conclude both
investigations on the Icebreaker successfully, give
them +1g on the rolls. If they failed to prevent the laser
firing, give them +1h instead.
If the most PCs roll 1-9, Canaan sees them as a liability.
They can’t stop the PCs, but they won’t authorise any
official help from the city folk. The PCs are on their own.
If the most PCs roll 10-19, Canaan sees promise in
them. They can’t offer any public support due to the
threat of informants, but he puts out the word to a few
people he trusts. The PCs get +1g on one roll of their
choice to get help in Furnace City.
If the most PCs roll 20+, Canaan is convinced they’re
the real deal. The PCs get +1g on all rolls to find help
in Furnace City.
Whatever the result, Canaan is at least willing to
answer a few questions.
THE APPROACH
“Overland’s the only way in. Orbital insertion’s off the
table, on account of the subline patrols he has in
geosynch. And he’s got a massive anti-air cordon set
up, so I can’t recommend aerial insertion either.”
THE WILDERNESS
“Outside the city is the Terra Solus. Think of a circle,
four hundred kilometres out from the city in every
direction. It’s where most of the wildcat communities
live. It’s mapped frequently, but not regularly or
exhaustively. Just about any pathfinder can plot you
a route through it, even the rookies.
“But out beyond the ‘four hundred line’ you have the
Terra Incognita, only ever mapped by satellite or
drone. The wildcats sometimes go out further, but
not often. Teams that go out that far don’t always
come back, and the ones that do tell all sorts of
stories about what they saw.”
“Steele had the arena built six hundred out. I’ll hand
it to him: good choice. Difficult to get there on foot,
and he knows we’ll hesitate to travel that far.”
THE ENEMY FORCES
“Before it switched to agriculture, Impact Dynamics
was a third-tier munitions company. We’re not talking
IPS-N or Harrison Armory, not even Chandrasekhar
& Herschel, but they built guns, mechs, even subline
starships, and when they moved their HQ here, they
brought their whole arsenal with them. Most of that
arsenal is just sitting in mothballs up on Impact
Plaza, but every so often Steele pulls some of it out
of storage.
“The man’s a piece of shit, but he’s no slouch. I’ll bet
he expects someone to pull something like what
you’re pulling. I think he might even be counting on
it. If he is, he’ll send the big guns.”
THE ORBITAL LASER
“Far as we can tell from profile, it’s an Impact
Dynamics Candelabra-4, an older model laser
platform. The good news? The Candelabra series
are clunky: cheap, mass-produced, deployed in bulk,
tricky to run independently. You need a targeting
uplink with a ground unit to fire accurately.
“Bad news is, Furnace City is a massive target and
even if Steele doesn’t have a spotter nearby, all he
needs to do is get a single good hit; punch a hole in
the glass big enough that we can’t patch it.
“If you have a plan for getting rid of it, well, I’m all
ears, but it had better be pretty damn fool-proof.”
THE EXTRACTION
“As long as the air cordon is up, I can’t send
transports, and even if it went down, I’m not
comfortable authorising it while that laser is still in
play. Steele’s going to be out for blood if his arena
goes down, and there’s two things he’d target with it
– the arena, or us. I wish I could help more.”
JOURNEY PREPARATIONS
Create two clocks:
• Create a Journey Progress clock with four
segments. This represents how far the PCs have
progressed in their travels.
• Create an Enemy Attention clock. By default, this
clock has four segments. This represents how
aware Impact Dynamics is of the PCs and their
intentions, and how much preparation they’ve
made.
Each PC has time to take a single action around
Furnace City to try and secure support for their task.
Make it clear that the PCs might not be able to secure
everything they need, and that this isn’t a disaster –
there might be more opportunities during the trip.
FIND A ROUTE
The arena is 600 kilometres away from the city (about
370 miles). The furthest prospecting expeditions only
go out to about 400km (250 miles), and only the bravest
wildcat communities live further out. Beyond the “400
line” is the Terra Incognita, periodically mapped from
orbit but never explored on the ground. There are
plenty of pathfinders, rangers and prospectors who can
provide solid routes up to the line, but the PCs will need
one who can plot beyond it based on satellite maps.
Describe how you find a guide, and then roll:
On 1-9, you can’t find anyone willing or able to plot you
a route. You’ll have to work things out on your own.
On 10-19, gain a counter – you can represent this with
a d6. Spend this counter to gain +1g on a single
navigation roll.
On 20+, gain two counters.
SECURE SUPPLIES AND ASSISTANCE
Journeying across the Asphodelian wilderness is
dangerous. It’s going to be a long trip; it might be wise
to get hold of supplies before leaving Furnace City. This
can mostly be done through the Scrounge and Barter
or Power At A Cost actions. Here are some
suggestions for things the PCs might want or need, and
possible problems acquiring them might cause:
• A supply crawler capable of carrying enough
supplies to give the PCs access to a FULL REPAIR
at some point during the mission. It might have
limited supplies, not restoring Core Power or
charges on Limited weapons and systems, or it it
might tick a segment on Enemy Attention if it’s big
and noisy. It won’t help out in combat.
• A wildcat settlement has agreed to help the team
when they come by. They can provide some
number of Repairs.
• The PCs might be able to get their hands on some
military-grade RESERVES. If they’re old Impact
Dynamics stock – something very common on
Asphodel – getting hold of them might tick a
segment on the Enemy Attention clock if the PCs
aren’t subtle about it.
• An NPC or two who’ll help out in fights throughout
the mission. While Canaan Zhou has put an “official
prohibition” on city residents openly assisting the
team, a few are willing to ignore it (and that might
even have been Canaan’s intent).
[115]
 ARRANGE A DISTRACTION
It might be beneficial to keep the attention of Rodericke
Steele and his flunkies occupied elsewhere. To this
end, the PCs might be able to lean on a contact who’s
in a position to do something distracting. If they’re on
good enough terms with the person they call up, it
automatically succeeds. Here are some examples:
• Ipswich DeLacey, Kady Amville or Irvin Reid can
run smear campaigns on their platforms that sting
Steele’s fragile ego.
• Rita, Fayad Harb, Raphael Baza or another
member of the Board of Icebreaker can propose a
vote to revoke Steele’s Ultra High Roller status. It
likely won’t succeed, but Steele will have to show
up on the omni to defend his prestige.
• Loki Valentinian and Dr. Nyambose can lean on a
few of their Purview contacts. That day, the Armory
files a patent infringement suit over a weapon that
Impact Dynamics haven’t sold for two centuries.
• If the PCs can come up with something sufficiently
outlandish, like a cyborg vampire super-soldier
program, Striga Von Aldenberg and her rowdy
band of sigdivers can be convinced to raid Impact
Dynamics’ servers over it.
• Kileyna Morton doesn’t have the clout to stop
Impact Dynamics from running the battle royale,
but they can submit a bunch of complaints to
CentComm, which will irritate ID’s shareholders.
• Crrrk Captain Mercedez Ordaz Crrrk UNS-CV
Thames Crrrk Neutral Omninode undergoing
maintenance Crrrk might interrupt Impact
Dynamics’ broadcasts Crrrk oh no we’re going
through a tunnel Crrrk
Multiple PCs can take this action. For every PC who
takes this action, reduce the maximum number of
segments on the Enemy Attention clock by two.
DEAL WITH THE LASER
As much as they might like to, there’s not really very
much the PCs can do about the orbital laser right now.
Siren will ruefully comment that if she were still in the
bomber she flew with SecComm, she could make short
work of it. But the Dragon’s Tooth is woefully under-
armed, and she doubts she could mission-kill the
platform even if it was undefended.
• Mistress Elske, if informed about the laser platform,
promises she’ll “think of something.” Unfortunately,
whatever it is will take time, so she can’t take it
down in advance of the PCs’ departure.
• Jerry, Zinfandel and Chief McElroy discuss
something called “Operation Rainy Day.” They’re
fairly certain it can be completed by the time you
get to the arena, but not before – and you’ll need to
send the Dragon’s Tooth to collect it.
[116]
• Striga Von Aldenberg can be convinced to try and
take down Impact Dynamics’ platform if she hasn’t
already been tapped to distract them. The good
news: the Candelabra-4’s security code is ancient
and full of holes. The bad news: Impact Dynamics
knows this, and disabled its transceiver. It can only
be controlled via point-to-point laser from Impact
Plaza itself. She will have to hack into that, first.
HAIL MARY PASS
Since the PCs are currently at LICENCE LEVEL 2, it’s
just possible one of them might be piloting a
Barbarossa, the one mech that has a chance of
taking out the laser platform on its own. It could work:
the platform is small enough that a fully-charged,
perfectly-placed Apocalypse Rail shot could wreck it.
This is Power at a Cost, with the cost being 1 CP. The
Enemy Awareness clock immediately spikes to its
maximum level. By destroying one of his toys, the PCs
now have Steele’s full attention, and he’s pissed.
On the other hand, SCOUTS in this mission can’t use
ORBITAL STRIKE, no matter what the Enemy
Awareness clock is at: there’s no laser to call. Better
yet, if the PCs pull this off before leaving Furnace City,
Canaan will offer them transports to retrieve the
abductees.
Make this moment dramatic. The PC is pulling off
nothing short of a miracle: a one in a million shot,
hitting a tiny target moving kilometres a second from
hundreds of kilometres away, with a window of only a
few seconds to do it.
SECURE AN EXIT
Because Canaan can’t authorise any direct help from
Furnace City while the orbital laser is still up, nobody
with the required fleet of transports will help the PCs
without some major convincing.
Any roll to secure air transports is Heroic; that is, it will
only succeed on a 20+, unless they can demonstrate
they have a reasonable plan for getting rid of the laser
satellite that’s threatening the city.
Air Transports
Favours
You’ve managed to arrange transport back to
Furnace City for yourself and the abductees.
During Beat 18: The Battle Royale (p. 134), skip
Combat: Expedited Boarding (p. 138).
However, another option soon presents itself, although
it has some strings attached…
A MEETING WITH A BLACKSMITH
Once they’ve finished a couple of tasks, or immediately
after they start looking into how to get the abductees
out of the arena, some or all of the PCs are accosted
by some goons, who inform the PCs the Blacksmith
wants to talk to them.
The PCs can refuse, but this will mean getting into a
scrap with the Blacksmith’s enforcers, which will upset
him. This won’t have any immediate repercussions, but
the Blacksmith won’t help them, and future interactions
with the Burning Forge will be negatively impacted by
this poor first impression.
If the PCs accept, they get taken to the man himself:
You’re escorted through a service tunnel, to one of
the industrial units outside the dome. The Blacksmith
certainly has a flair for the dramatic: he’s set up shop
in a foundry, and the clash and clatter of steelwork
rings out all around. Sparks fly and molten metal
pours, and you’re led all the way through it.
EXPECTED RESISTANCE
“The thief’s holed up with some flunkies. Hired guns.
Don’t care what you do with them.”
WHETHER HE CAN BE TRUSTED
The Blacksmith turns to look at you for the first time,
and a dangerous edge creeps into his voice. “Ask
anyone I’ve ever made a deal with if I’ve broken faith.
And then you’ll know never to ask me that again.”
WHY HE CAN’T JUST HELP FOR FREE
“Oh, you want to shame me for not helping people
out of the kindness of my heart? Go ahead. See if
you can airlift all those people with your moral
indignation. I used to do a lot of things pro bono, and
I got burnt. Nobody rides for free in Calliope.”
“THE BLACKSMITH”
“Everyone has a vice. Everyone. Most have a few.
And every vice can be exploited, but some? Some
are easier to exploit than others: drugs, sex,
gambling. Me? This is my vice.”

The crash of machinery fades, replaced by the slow
beat of a hammer on hot metal. The Blacksmith is
working his namesake trade in a small, well-
equipped forge. The man’s a giant – at least two
metres, maybe two and a quarter. Built like a
battleship, too, but he doesn’t have the look of a
bodybuilder; this is someone who got all his muscle
on the job.
He doesn’t look up as you enter, and just starts
talking. His voice sounds like a gravel pit smoked a
pack a day since the Armory were on Creighton
Number Two.
There’s a hiss of steam as he plunges glowing-hot
metal into water. “Impossible to exploit? No. Not so
arrogant as to say so. But harder? Yeah.”
If the PCs accept the Blacksmith’s offer, at some point
before the halfway mark of the journey, the PCs will
have to seek out the thief. Refer to Encounter: What’s
Coming To You (p. 131). They will need to complete it
to the Blacksmith’s satisfaction in order to receive its
reward. They don’t need to roll for this encounter – the
Blacksmith tells them where to find the thief.

“You’re working for Elske on my turf. Normally, that’d

be a problem, but you killed Andros Capella and I like
that, so I’m inclined to forgive you. Plus, I know what
you mean to do, and I approve. Cut to the chase: you
need a way to get all the folks Steele abducted out
of his arena. You need transports. I have them. I also
have a condition. Meet that condition, and you get
the transports.

“There’s a thief out in the Terra Solus who stole from

me. Nobody steals from me. You find the thief. You
kill the thief on a live feed. You show me proof the
thief is dead. You get the transports. Those are my
terms. Do we have a deal?”

The PCs can ask the Blacksmith some questions, but

he’s terse and cagey about his answers.

WHAT THE THIEF STOLE

“Can’t be recovered at this point. Not asking you to.
It’s the principle of the thing.”

[117]
 A MEETING WITH A PRIEST
At some point, while they are out in the rings, some or
all of the PCs will encounter a crowd surrounding a
preacher.
“We see the freighters pass us by, siblings! They are
immense! At a mile’s distance above the surface of
this world they would turn the whole sky of this city
to night. Their cargo bays are cavernous, large
enough to fit a district inside, each of them packed
with the lucre of an entire civilization! And they pass
us by. They pass us by as if we were not here at all!”
There are howls of agreement from the crowd, along
with applause and the stamping of feet.
“We see the names inscribed on their hulls.
Interplanetary Shipping Northstar. Harrison Armory.
Smith Shimano. Corregidor Group. The House of
Stone. We know, children, we know! We know that
with just a wave of their hand they could end so much
suffering. They could donate a tiny fraction of what
they have. They would not even notice it was gone.
And yet even this tiny, patronising act of charity is too
great for them. They, who deal in sums of money so
vast the human mind cannot even express them,
they will not spare a penny to help the suffering!
“And we see Union, too! The promised land, the
utopia, that they will not bring here. Not only do they
have the power to end suffering beyond any
corporation or barony, they have the power to punish
those who would not help! Those who made the
misery worse! But they do not.
“I have seen so much pain, children. Babies, starving
in the trembling hands of their mothers. Workers,
pale and dying of radiation sickness while a vendor
sells curatives down the hall! And now, Rodericke
Steele takes our parents and our children and our
neighbours from us!
“There is a reckoning coming! There is a spark, lit in
the empty bellies of the starving and the tired eyes
of the overworked! We are the flame, children. And
we will rise from the ashes!”
There is a great cheer from the crowd. He opens his
mouth to continue speaking, but then he sees you,
and pauses. He reaches a hand out towards you, as
the eyes of the crowd follow. When he talks again,
it’s quieter, more measured. “You. Please. Will you
come and talk with me?” The crowd parts, allowing
you a clear path to the man.
The PCs are absolutely within their rights to just walk
away, and the preacher won’t press the issue. If they
do walk over and talk to him, the man introduces
himself.
[118]
Up close, he’s certainly a spectacle. He looks to
have been badly injured at some point, enough that
extensive cybernetics were needed. His skin is shot
through with lines that look like cracks in shattered
pottery, filled with gold. He wears a crimson robe and
a masked hat that obscures his face above the
mouth.
“I am Ignatius Aurum, Speaker for the One Plumed
In Golden Flame. You may not know me, but I know
you. We were enemies quite recently, were we not?
Don’t worry, children, I bear no ill will towards you; in
fact, I perceive that we have a common enemy in
Rodericke Steele. The man’s crimes cannot be
allowed to stand. Though we stood against each
other before, will you accept my help now?”
Ignatius is only too happy to answer questions; he’ll talk
for hours if the PCs let him.
WHAT HE GETS OUT OF THIS
“Very soon, I believe, the One will arrive to bring an
end to the indignity of this universe. But while it
endures, our creed demands we not stand idly by
while the innocent suffer. It is enough for me to know
that we have done good in this world, as long as
we’re here. Perhaps others will know it, too.”
WHAT THE FAITH WAS DOING ON THE
ICEBREAKER
“Our saviour was in a transitional phase, and
required our assistance to move beyond it. I grieve
for the pain that was caused to others in the process;
it grieves me that it was necessary. I hope you will
understand one day.”
WHETHER HE CAN BE TRUSTED
“Rodericke Steele is a man of unparalleled iniquity.
He is to blame for more suffering casually than most
tyrants inflict on purpose. I am here to ensure that
his scheme fails. You do not trust me, and that is
understandable, perhaps even logical. But you may
trust the conviction of my hatred for Steele and the
apparatus of his power.”
HOW HE CAN HELP
“Name the supplies you need. I can obtain them.”
If the PCs accept his help, Ignatius can source four
RESERVES of their choice. However, a rumour that the
Cult were instrumental in assisting the PCs leaks out.
Tick a segment on the Cult Influence clock.
The PCs might choose to try and kill Ignatius Aurum –
that’s fine, he’ll be back later. Worse, if the PCs get
found out, they’ll be exiled from Furnace City, unable to
take further actions there before departing.
A MEETING WITH AN OUTLANDER
Just before the PCs are ready to leave, a summons
arrives from a very strange source.

A young man – clearly an outlander, given that he’s

wearing his hardsuit indoors – walks up to you. “I’m
runner Arkady Tame, of Whiphead Retreat. I’ve got
a message for people matching your description. It’s
from the Crone. She says you’ll come see her. That’s
all. I’ll show you the path on a map, and then I’ll go.”

Arkady will provide instructions for reaching the Crone,

and then immediately leave. He can be convinced to
stay and answer a few questions, although not many.

THE CRONE
“The Crone. Her claim lies far out from any
settlement. She lives like one of us, but she isn’t.
People stay away unless she calls, or unless we’re
desperate. When you talk to her, just remember:
you’re paying her something, and it’s always more
than you think.”

THE MESSAGE
“I’ve already told you: you’ll come to see her.
Respectfully, I want nothing more to do with this. I
already risked so much just looking her in the eye
and bringing this message to you. I want to go home
and never think about it again.”

THE DESCRIPTIONS
“She looked me in the eye and told me exactly what
you’d look like. In frankly unpleasant detail.”

He proceeds to accurately describe features of the

PCs, even ones that aren’t presently visible.

“She said I wouldn’t forget a single detail of what she

told me, and I didn’t. That troubles me.”

THE DEFINITIVE NATURE OF THE MESSAGE

“She’s never been wrong yet.”

WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?

“Hell if I know.”

Going to see the Crone will take the PCs slightly out of
their way; if they decide to go and see her. At some
point during Beat 17, they may experience Encounter:
The Crone (p. 129).

[119]
 BEAT 17:
UNFORGIVING TERRAIN
A lot of omninet dramas depict Asphodel as a desert,
an unforgiving sun beating down on rolling sand
dunes. It’s difficult for humans to imagine “lifeless
world of searing heat” and not see a desert.
But Asphodel’s problem was never lack of water; in
fact, perhaps there’s too much. Relative humidity is
always one hundred percent; the air is constantly at
saturation. Direct sunlight is rare; the sky is choked
with sickly yellow-grey clouds. You don’t bake to
death on Asphodel; you boil.
Beyond the gleam of Furnace City’s dome and the
smoke of the Burnfields lies a rolling, barren plain, its
dust consumed by endless rainfall. Far across this
waste is the Steele Dome. Saddle up; it’s going to be
a long ride.
CROSSING THE WASTELAND
Crossing the Terra Solus will take about four days, and
in that time the PCs have the opportunity to take quick
detours to examine points of interest.
Each day, tick a segment on the Journey Progress
clock. Then, show your players the encounter table on
p. 121. They may decide amongst themselves which
encounter they want to have.
A PC may then roll a skill trigger like Get Somewhere
Quickly or Survive on behalf of the group. Characters
with the Landborn background get +1g on these rolls.
On a 9 or less, the attempted detour only winds up
costing precious time and secrecy. Tick a segment on
the Enemy Attention clock.
On a 10-19, the player chooses one:
• The encounter happens. Tick a segment on the
Enemy Attention clock.
• The encounter doesn’t happen.
On a 20+, the encounter happens, and the Enemy
Attention clock doesn’t increment.
When the Journey Progress clock is full, the travelling
is done. Go to Beat 18: The Battle Royale (p. 134).
[120]
VIEWS OF THE TERRA SOLUS
In the distance, a point of red light can be
1-2
seen: the beacon of a radio tower.
A wide, flat patch of dust and mud whose
edges are marked by a circle of flat stones;
3-4
a rest stop and meeting place for outlander
nomads. Right now, it stands empty.
A loose cluster of prefab structures sit on
the rim of a canyon. Up above, there’s a
5-6
lookout tower from which a glint can be
seen; a pair of binoculars, perhaps.
Rain batters the rusting metal skeleton of
7-8 a colony ship. Centuries of scavenging
and salvaging have picked it clean.
A makeshift road, scraped into the dirt and
sand, alongside which a pipeline runs.
9-10 There are crude signs placed every so
often declaring the distance and direction
to the next settlement.
A dilapidated mobile shelter, seemingly
abandoned at the side of a path. Its rusted
airlock is marked by outlander glyphs. If a
11-12
PC knows how to read them, this is a
“silent meeting place” – somewhere two
parties can meet in privacy and secrecy.
Across a valley, a plume of white smoke
drifts from a distant habitat, and some trick
13-14 of air pressure has stopped it from rising.
The sun catches it just right, and the whole
valley is bathed in an ethereal haze.
A shrine has been carved into the stone
wall of a canyon, dedicated to a number of
religious figures; Christ the Buddha, Ahura
15-16
Mazda, the Trimurti and the One Plumed
In Golden Flame are all present, as are
others. Many offerings have been left here.
Toward the horizon, a thin cloud of dust
17-18
rises as a nomad convoy passes through.
On a hill stands a tall pillar of stone, around
which are several circles of smaller stones
placed on low mounds. The central pillar is
19-20
carved with many names, and each name
is repeated on one of the smaller stones.
This is a grave site.
ENCOUNTER Page Description
Distress calls scream out across local radio frequencies – the kidnappers are coming
Abduction in Progress 122 for a settlement! You’re the only ones close enough to help…
An abandoned Impact Dynamics weapons testing site. Deadmetal slowly poisons the
Firing Range 123 groundwater, but there might still be working prototypes here…
A trashed settlement, recently raided by the abductors. Some mourners are here,
Ghost Town 124 trying to tidy things up…
An old electromagnetic orbital launch system stretches out towards the horizon,
Mass Driver 125 slowly rusting. Say, that piece of junk might actually still work…
A peaceful trading township, with a weekly night market. And hey, no matter when
Night Market 126 you arrive, it always seems to be tonight…
A training ground where outlanders learn to fight, both on foot and in their mechs.
Sparring Field 127 Perhaps you can find some allies here…
A huge atmospheric processor sits in a wide valley, slowly churning out breathable
Terraforming Station 128 air. A coven of “weather witches” are rumoured to have set up shop here…
You were told of a strange woman, living far out in the wilderness. She lives as the
The Crone 129 outlanders do but isn’t one of them, all fear her, and she’s asked to see you…
The thief the Blacksmith wants you to find and kill is hiding in an abandoned village.
What’s Coming to You 131 The Blacksmith’s intel was good; you don’t need to roll for this encounter.

[121]
 ENCOUNTER:
ABDUCTION IN PROGRESS
Two particular demographics have borne the brunt of A crackly, distorted voice replies. “Ai! Tanner
the kidnappings: residents of the Thousand Habs, and Crossroads, this is the Nolan-Ruiz Runners, we’re
outlanders. Both tend to live in relatively small, isolated about an hour out, we can come to you!”
communities that are physically separated from each
other. Both tend to be too impoverished to put up much “An hour?! They’ll be here in five minutes!”
of a fight. Worst of all, both of them often have nobody
to protect them. But maybe that’s not true today.
“It’s the best we can do! Just hold on!”

You pick up a transmission on a radio band – VHF, Tanner Crossroads is only two and a half clicks to the
probably only a few clicks away. It carries the voice
southeast. The PCs can actually see the landing craft
of a panicked, desperate young woman.
as it dips below the horizon. They might just be the only
hope Tanner Crossroads has.
“Is anyone out there?! Can anyone help?! This is
Tanner Crossroads! We’ve got Hounds landing less
than a click outside the town! They’re coming for us!”

COMBAT:
GUARDIAN ANGEL
SITREP: N/A

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE DEMOLISHER Broad-Sweep Haft, Concussion Missiles
1x VETERAN PIRATE ASSAULT Micro-Missile Barrage, Limitless, Coreworm Rockets
1x SQUAD

FOR 4 PCS: +1x HORNET Lock/Hold Javelins

+1x RAINMAKER Hades Missiles

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ASSASSIN “Devil’s Cough” Shotgun

+1x SUPPORT Defensive Pulse

DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
Tanner Crossroads is a small settlement with lo
buildings – most of them are only Size 1 cover, with
only a couple of Size 2 buildings.
THE FIGHT
The Hell Hounds are desperate for a payday, enough
that they’ll even risk their lives for it, but they won’t stick
around if the fight is obviously not going their way. The
PCs don’t need to destroy every target on the
battlefield, just enough to turn the math against the
enemies. Once that happens, they’ll turn tail and flee.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs are forced to withdraw, the abductors will
make off with some of the settlement’s people, but the
mere presence of resistance blunts their offensive. The
team didn’t manage to save everyone, but they
managed to save a few.
PC VICTORY
If the PCs rout the abductors, they save the entire town.
The PCs get +1g to interactions with outlanders for the
rest of the mission.

The ASSAULT’s COREWORM ROCKETS is a nasty little

trick that can threaten a pilot directly. Make sure the
PCs know how they can deal with them.

[122]
ENCOUNTER:
FIRING RANGE
It’s easy to forget that Impact Dynamics used to design
and manufacture weapons. It’s been out of that game
longer than it was ever in it, but in the late 4600s and
early 4700s, it was a legitimate third-tier manufacturer,
competing with the likes of Alta All-Theater Ballistics
and Blackburn Heavy Industries. Part of the reason the
company came to Calliope in the first place was to take
advantage of the lax legal status a frontier colony would
have in regard to weapons development.
This site is a piece of that legacy: an old testing site,
half-buried by dirt and sand. Outlanders consider this a
cursed place, and that’s not just superstition: toxic
chemicals have leached into the groundwater,
unexploded munitions lurk beneath the soil and some
of the old security drones are still active. On the other
hand, there is one upside: the danger and ominous
reputation ensure that it sees few scavengers.
PCs can rustle up a total of 3 Repairs here, which they
may distribute amongst themselves as they wish.
There’s no risk to doing this; the supplies they need are
just lying around.
There are also intact, functional mech-scale weapons
here – not on the surface, where everything has long
rusted or decayed, but deep in the bowels of the facility.
The security drones are hundreds of years old and the
few that are still functioning are in poor repair, so
there’s no need to run a fight. The real danger is that
the low-level security systems are still linked to the
Impact Dynamics network, and they might notice
people poking around in their old black sites.
Suitable skill triggers for dealing with this site include
Act Unseen or Unheard, Hack or Fix and Take
Someone Out.
On a 9 or less, the attempt is badly botched. Tick a
segment on the Enemy Attention clock.
On a 10-19, tick a segment on the Enemy Attention
clock, then the player chooses one:
• They find an intact weapon and the tools to install
it on their mech. They may immediately replace
their Heavy weapon with an ID-440 “Obelisk”
Kinetic Repeater, one of their Main weapons with
an ID-730 “Hardcastle” Automatic Shotgun or
any number of their Auxiliary weapons with ID-820
“Sermon” Compact SMGs. They won’t be able to
use them after this mission ends.
• They find working printcode for one of these
weapons instead. They can’t install it now, but it will
be available to them permanently, starting at their
next full repair.
On a 20+, the player chooses one of the above options,
but the Enemy Attention clock is unaffected.
ID-440 “Obelisk” Kinetic Repeater
Heavy Cannon, Exotic Gear, AP, Inaccurate
[b5] [2d6i]
On hit: Make a secondary attack against all
characters in a c3 area directly behind the target.
These attacks lose AP, can’t deal bonus damage
and don’t trigger further secondary attacks. This
effect triggers automatically if the attack is made
against a piece of hard cover.
Intended as an answer to the GMS standard-
pattern heavy machine gun, the Obelisk failed
to wow the market. Its proprietary
Overpenetrator rounds are failure-prone and
incompatible with other firearms, its recoil is
considered unmanageable even compared to other
weapons in its weight class, and its range
leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, Impact
Dynamics made thousands of them and they can
still be found all over Calliope.
ID-730 “Hardcastle” Automatic Shotgun
Main CQB, Exotic Gear, Loading, Overkill, Unique
[b3] [a3] [2d6i]
If Overkill triggers, this weapon doesn’t need to be
reloaded.
The ID-730 was undergoing its first design
revision when Impact Dynamics abandoned weapons
development. Results from the initial release
were promising, but its trigger had an
unfortunate tendency to “run away,” emptying
entire magazines or melting the barrel.
ID-820 “Sermon” Compact SMG
Auxiliary CQB, Exotic Gear, Reliable 1
[b5] [a3] [1d3+1i]
Any number of ID-820 “Sermon” Compact SMGs
installed on the same mech count as only one piece
of Exotic Gear for installation limits.
The ID-820 was designed with one specific goal:
put as much lead downrange, in as little time,
with as little recoil, in as tight a frame as
possible. It hit all of these targets, and was
one of Impact Dynamics’ flagship products
before it switched to agriculture. It’s one of
the few firearms it still revises and updates.
[123]
 ENCOUNTER:
GHOST TOWN
Life in the Terra Solus is bitterly hard. Not everyone
comes out ahead, and not everyone comes out at all.
This isn’t the first ruin the PCs will have seen, nor in all
likelihood will it be the last, but it’s painful to see
nonetheless. Until recently, this was a prosperous little
settlement called Glenford Camp, but it was raided by
the abductors a few weeks back, and they got
everyone. Those who wouldn’t surrender were gunned
down where they stood.

A large number of outlanders from nearby settlements

and nomad groups are currently here, tidying up the
place, giving the dead proper burials and holding a
memorial service. A few light vehicles and a handful of
mechs are here to provide security, and they initially
treat approaching strangers with suspicion. If the PCs
dismount and demonstrate good faith, however, they
can help out.

The outlanders are singing hymns as they go about

their task, and will teach them to the PCs if they wish to
learn. It’s tradition to do this when tending to a dead
settlement – the idea is that if the place will be silent
from now on, it should ring one last time with voices
remembering those who used to live here.

Hopefully your players won’t even consider this, but

looting or grave-robbing here will enrage the
outlanders. They’ll chase the PCs away, and from then
on, no outlander will provide aid or assistance to them
– any Reserves or other benefits that rely on the
support of outlanders are removed. Subsequent
encounters in this Beat that involve outlanders will be
extremely terse and hostile. It will take a long time for
the stain of such an action to wash clean.

If the PCs help memorialize the settlement, however,

they quickly earn the mourners’ respect. They don’t see
the PCs as locals – the PCs had no obligation to care
for the dead of this place, and yet they did. The
outlanders gladly share their provisions, along with
stories of the people who used to live here. This is
another outlander tradition: when loved ones or friends
pass on, strangers and travelers are asked to carry
their stories with them and retell them to others.

Should the PCs mention their mission, the outlanders

will rally round – if someone is determined to take on
Impact Dynamics, maybe Glenford Camp and the other
abducted settlements haven’t seen their last days just
yet.

Eventually, an agreement is reached: they’ll show the

PCs some local paths that can get them to their next
destination quickly and quietly. The PCs don’t need to
roll for the next day’s encounter; they just get there.

[124]
ENCOUNTER:
MASS DRIVER
During the early days of Asphodel’s colonization, back
in the First Wave era, the scarcity of rocket fuel was a
serious concern, and so several mass drivers were built
on the planet’s surface to conserve fuel for orbital cargo
launches. People still had to go up the old-fashioned
way, since the driver tracks weren’t long enough to
allow for orbital velocity to be reached at human-safe
g-forces, but they could still throw six ten-ton cargo
pods into space every hour.
A lot of these mass drivers were decommissioned
when the system’s infrastructure became solid enough
that fuel scarcity was no longer an issue, but this one
was abandoned, and recently at that – all the working
parts are still there.
PLOTTING A TRAJECTORY
This will involve a skill trigger like Blow Something Up,
Get Somewhere Quickly or Take Someone Out.
On a 9 or less, the best launch window the PCs can
find won’t intercept the laser’s trajectory, but if the cargo
pod is detonated in orbit, it will fill the region with
Kessler debris which will force the platform to move.
This won’t help the PCs, but it will stop Steele from
retaliating against Furnace City in the long run.
On a 10-19, the PCs have an orbital trajectory that will
hit the laser if they fire it now. This will immediately fill
the Enemy Attention clock to maximum. SCOUTS in
Beat 18: The Battle Royale can’t use ORBITAL STRIKE.

If the PCs haven’t yet found a way to deal with the On a 20+, the PCs have plotted a wide variety of
orbital laser, with a healthy dose of cunning and trajectories for various possible situations. They can
improvisation they could use this mass driver to shoot wait to take the shot until their assault has already
it out of the sky. started and then remotely trigger it. SCOUTS in Beat 18:
The Battle Royale can’t use ORBITAL STRIKE.
If they don’t feel like doing that, they can strip the site
for supplies, gaining a Core Battery, 6 Repairs and 4
charges for Limited weapons and systems to be
distributed amongst them as they wish.

RESTORING THE DRIVER

If they want to shoot down the orbital laser platform, the
team will firstly need to reignite the Stable Reactor that
powers the driver. Then, they will need to find a
projectile with some level of guidance system. Finally,
they will need to calculate a viable launch trajectory and
timing to hit the laser platform.

RESTARTING THE REACTOR

The only way to cold-boot a Stable Reactor of this size
with the time and tools the PCs have available to them
would be to jump-start it using one of their mech’s
coldcores. This will require Hack or Fix, Invent or
Create or some other skill trigger dealing with non-
standard improvised reactor restarts, and the mech will
have to donate 1 CP.

On a 9 or less, it works, but the jump puts immense

strain on the mech’s coldcore, which immediately takes
a point of Stress damage.

On a 10-19, the reactor spins up.

On a 20+, the reactor surges with power. The mech

regains the 1 CP it spent.

FINDING A PROJECTILE
This is largely a narrative concern; they might have to
spend a few hours digging through the warehouses
before they find a cargo pod capable of self-guidance.

[125]
 ENCOUNTER:
NIGHT MARKET
It’s Sarabhai Township sits at a very convenient
crossroads: it lies close to the seasonal routes of
several major nomad communities, it sits right next to a
major road that connects this part of the Terra Solus to
Furnace City, and its claim contains the safest source
of fresh water for about thirty kilometers. The
settlement sees a lot of traffic and has become the local
region’s trading hub.
Sarabhai Township is a “welcome claim” – that is, no-
one must ask its residents permission to enter, make
camp or conduct business. The settlement still retains
the right to ban unruly individuals from its claim, but it
hasn’t needed to for years; people respect that
Sarabhai is neutral ground and outside drama should
stay outside.
Disrespecting the township, getting in fights or
otherwise breaching the peace of Sarabhai will go
down very poorly among the outlanders, and news of it
will travel fast. If the PCs act disrespectfully, all
interactions with outlanders will receive +1h for the
rest of the mission.
Unlike most settlements, the PCs’ arrival is not greeted
with any particular interest; city folk and off-worlders
come through all the time. They’ve chosen a good day
to show up, too: every week or so, Sarabhai holds a
Night Market (it’s far too hot to do business during the
day) and the next one is set for tonight, so things are
busier than usual.
Some merchants set up stalls out in the open, some
operate out of mobile habitats, and others crowd into
the pressurised market halls the settlement has built for
this exact purpose. A lot of what’s traded are
necessities – air and water filters, food, medicine,
repair supplies and reactor fuel. But there’s a lot of
luxuries here, too: tea and coffee, tobacco and hemp,
crafts, charms and talismans. Miners and salvagers
often sell raw materials or scavenged components
here, as well.
Likely the most interesting thing for the PCs, however,
will be the opportunity to acquire RESERVES. In one
corner of the market, there’s a big cluster of folk selling
military hardware.
This operates as Scrounge and Barter, with a few
extra considerations:
If the PCs still have Additional Funds from Beat 3,
they can expend a charge. If they do, they don’t need
to roll for the first thing they buy: the funds just cover it,
no problem.
[126]
If they picked up a piece of interesting salvage during
Downtime 1 or purchased something from the
Icebreaker’s marketplace during Mission 2, they can
hand it over instead of making a roll so long as they can
sell someone on the item. Have them give a sales pitch.
Here are some interesting outlander wares the PCs
might be able to acquire while they’re here:
Sylphlex
Gear
An example of outlander ingenuity, the Sylphlex was
a successful attempt to merge the features of an
SSC Sylph Undersuit and a flexsuit into a single unit.
This provides a base-layer suit that recycles air and
water, deals with waste products, cleans the user,
maintains a supply of nutritional paste and seals
against external atmosphere, allowing the user to
wear a hardsuit comfortably for days or weeks
without having to remove it – essential for long
expeditions.
Given that the Sylphlex suit is an unauthorised
modification of its proprietary technology, SSC
briefly considered legal action, but their local office
convinced them that suing a group of impoverished
Long Rim residents would be a PR disaster. Instead,
they granted outlanders the exclusive right to
manufacture Sylphlex suits in Calliope, while SSC
retains rights to the product elsewhere in the galaxy.
Headache
Gear
Headache is a lesson in how outlanders describe
things: bluntly. It’s a volatile liquid that’s usually a
clear golden-brown colour. Few know what it’s made
from and the rest know better than to ask. It’s 100
proof at the very least, so it can disinfect wounds,
degrease the moving parts of your mech, act as an
accelerant and if you’re very, very brave you can
even try drinking it – but take note of the name.
The Soup
Gear
Outlanders, particularly nomads, often have to keep
their hardsuits on for days or weeks. A Sylphlex
provides an edible paste that contains the essentials,
but after a while it’s like eating styrofoam. To address
this problem, outlanders created “the Soup” – a
nutrient-rich liquid that comes in a variety of flavours
and can be drank via a standard hardsuit port. The
flavours are named only as colours; cinnabar, ochre
and saffron are favourites, while fern is an acquired
taste. Stay away from ultramarine.
ENCOUNTER:
SPARRING FIELD
Outlanders have often needed to defend their homes
from pirates and unruly trespassers, but now they’re
being threatened by Steele’s kidnappers as well.
Training camps just like this one have been running for
decades, but since the attacks they’ve been packed.
People are looking to train both on foot and in mech.

The outlanders here are standoffish at first, but as long

as the PCs haven’t made any social gaffes elsewhere
on their trip, it’s not hard to convince people of their
good intentions. A lot of the people here are young
radicals, scared and angry about what’s happening to
the outlying settlements. If the PCs mention they’re
here to deal with Impact Dynamics, they’re likely to find
a lot of support.

There are two main benefits that the PCs can obtain
here. Firstly, the PCs can recruit some of the outlanders
to fight with them against Impact Dynamics. The PCs
can obtain one of the following reinforcement profiles:

• A SQUAD with ARMORED and DUCK AND COVER.

• Four GRUNT BERSERKERS with HARPOON CANNONS.
• A RONIN with CHAFF LAUNCHERS and a SENTINEL
with RAPID RESPONSE.
• A VETERAN ASSAULT with ACROBAT.

These reinforcements will assist with any and all battles

in the mission, or until they’re destroyed. However, they
won’t help with the fight against the thief in Encounter:
What’s Coming To You. Likewise, they won’t go
anywhere near Encounter: The Crone – they’re
terrified of her. The PCs will have to deal with those
issues on their own.

The second benefit is training. A few hours’ training isn’t

even close to enough for the PCs to learn the
outlanders’ complex and nuanced fighting style, but it
is at least enough to reinforce what they already know,
and for the instructors to correct a few flaws in their
technique.

If the PCs train, they may take the +1 talent rank from
their next LICENSE LEVEL as if they had levelled up right
now. When they actually level up at the end of the
mission, they may reallocate talent ranks as usual, but
they don’t get another one; it was simply brought
forward.

[127]
 ENCOUNTER:
TERRAFORMING STATION
The air of Asphodel lacks free oxygen, and is roughly
twice the pressure of Cradle’s atmosphere. The first
wave of colonists erected terraforming stations across
the planet to rectify this problem, but the process was
predicted to take many centuries. Some progress was
made during the Pyrite Age, but it stalled after the
Calliope Project folded. The last time any station got its
routine maintenance was a century and a half ago.
The outlanders maintain the process as best they can,
but the necessary tools and supplies are scarce, and
the requisite knowledge of terraforming is not always
easy to pass on to subsequent generations. There’s
one thing the outlanders have retained knowledge of,
though: how to use the stations to mess with the
weather.
The residents of this station have set themselves up as
a coven of weather witches. With the correct incentives,
they can affect weather patterns across a wide area,
bringing sunshine, rain, storms or cold snaps through
careful manipulation of atmospheric conditions.
Mostly, they use this power to assist their fellow
outlanders and their communities, but given the recent
abductions, it might be possible to convince them to
turn it into a weapon against Impact Dynamics.
The coven is good-natured, mischievous and dramatic;
PCs might be reminded of Mistress Elske or Striga von
Aldenberg. They’re hammy and love to play up their
role as “guardians of the weather,” but they also have
a genuine passion for both science and esoterica. PCs
might bond with them over this, or they can do
something else; perhaps fix technical issues at the
station or make a convincing sales pitch.
The PCs should roll – on any sort of success, the
witches agree to help them. However, if the PCs have
any item from the Icebreaker’s marketplace (p. 79),
they don’t even need to roll. The witches love it, ask for
it and will take it in exchange for their services.
If the PCs secure the assistance of the witches, prior to
any battle, they may select a weather condition from
the table below and ask the witches to whip it up.
Weather is not an exact science, however: roll a d20.
On a 9 or less, select randomly instead, and the PCs
aren’t considered to have “called it in,” even if it’s the
one they originally wanted.

WEATHER CONDITIONS ROLL 1D6

Torrential rain pelts the battlefield, churning the ground to mud. While it persists, all
characters have Resistance to m. Additionally, at the start of each battle, mark four
1 Downpour
Size 3 areas of difficult terrain somewhere on the battlefield. If the PCs called this in,
they decide where the difficult terrain goes.
Vast, blinding clouds of dust and sand blot out the sun, the moon or the stars.
Characters always have soft cover. This cover is sufficient for a mech to hide in, but
2 Dust Storm
only if it has no HEAT. If the PCs called this in, they can hide in it as long as they’re not
in the Danger Zone.
At the end of each round, choose a character randomly. They and all characters in a
Lightning d1 area around them take 2jAP and 2 l as they’re struck by a bolt of lightning. If
3
Storm the PCs called this in, the lightning won’t strike them, but they’ll still take damage and
HEAT if they’re adjacent to a target that gets struck.
Gale-force winds rake the battlefield. Indicate a direction before battle starts.
Characters moving any number of spaces in that direction may move an additional 1
4 Strong Wind
space. Characters moving in the opposite direction treat the first space of movement
as if it were difficult terrain. If the PCs called this in, they choose the direction.
Trace a path across the battlefield. The tornado starts at one end of it, and moves 1d6
spaces along the path at the end of each round. If the tornado passes through or
5 Tornado! adjacent to any of a character’s spaces, that character gets pushed 3d6 spaces up,
and then 2d6 spaces in a random direction. Unless they can fly, they immediately
begin to fall. If the PCs called this in, they draw the path.
A combination of torrential rain and high temperatures creates a unique Asphodelian
weather phenomenon: a vapour shock. The air is choked with clouds of boiling steam.
6 Vapour Shock Mechs always have soft cover sufficient to hide in. Whenever a mech would lose any
amount of HEAT, it loses only half that much HEAT instead. If the PCs called this in,
they may clear HEAT as normal.

[128]
ENCOUNTER:
THE CRONE
As the team approaches the Crone’s dwelling, they get
a series of pings on their short-range motion sensors,
but no corresponding signature on thermals or optics.
They blink, and then it’s there – a jagged, flickering
shape that makes odd, clipped stuttering noises.
COMBAT:
[ERROR]
SITREP: N/A
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3-5 PCS: 1x ??? – ULTRA Size 2, Corrosive Bite, Rampage, Regenerator
EXOTIC MONSTROSITY Exotic options: Blinkspace Carver, Chronotorus, Realspace Extrusion
Ultra options: Devastator (j)
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
The scene of this battle is the usual Asphodellian maze
of canyons, so there’s plenty of cover. Their foe,
however, is anything but usual.
THE FIGHT
This MONSTROSITY is a creature not in synch with the
world around it; that the Crone can live in a place
inhabited by such a thing should be a big hint to the
team that she isn’t what she seems.
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
If the PCs lose the fight or are forced to retreat, they
briefly black out. When they wake up all HP, Structure
and Stress lost during the battle returns, along with any
expended charges on Limited weapons and systems
– as if they’d never engaged in the battle at all. They’re
much further along their journey than they expected to
be, and they’re nowhere near the place they were told
the Crone lives anymore. If they attempt to backtrack,
they discover that her dwelling isn’t where they
remember it being. All the paths look different.
PC VICTORY
If the PCs win the fight, the damage to their mechs
remains, but they may continue onwards to meet with
the Crone.
MEETING THE CRONE
The Crone’s dwelling lies at the far end of a small
box canyon, accessible only from a much larger
canyon dug by a nearby river. It’s a small, squat
habitat with an attached growhouse dome. The
rusted hulk of an old colony ship looms over the
canyon, with its prow snapped off and fallen in, close
to the building.
The airlock isn’t protected by any sort of passcode or
keycard – you can just walk right in. Inside is a scene
of strange disorder. The habitat is cluttered, covered
in all sorts of miscellaneous trinkets and junk. Books,
slates and papers are strewn all over with no rhyme
or reason. The lights are low. The walls are daubed
in strange glyphs.
An ancient woman with a visible spinal augmentation
sits stooped over a desk, writing something. As you
approach, she looks up. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting you
for another ten minutes, at least. My apologies. Let
me get you some tea.”
PCs who have knowledge of magic or esoterica
immediately notice the disorder isn’t random – almost
everything in the room is arranged in what amounts to
a three-dimensional incantation. Meanwhile, a PC with
Spot or Investigate might not know exactly what’s going
on, but they’ll still recognize there’s a pattern in the
apparent randomness.
If the PCs bought the photograph from the Icebreaker’s
marketplace (Lot 4, p. 79), the Crone is recognizable
as the young woman in the photograph. For just a
second as the PCs look up from it, she appears to be
that young woman. Blink, and she’s old once more.
[129]
 Speaking with the Crone is initially pleasant: she’s a
sweet, kind old lady, if a little scatterbrained. But the
more she talks, the more ominous it gets. She seems
to know things about the PCs that she shouldn’t: their
birth names, their histories, things about their friends in
Calliope that those friends haven’t told them yet.
“I wanted you to visit? Why, yes, I must’ve, mustn’t I,
why else would you be standing here? You must
forgive an old woman her forgetfulness. I will soon
need your help with something, and so I feel it’s only
fair to help you first.
“The help I give is to answer questions. You probably
have many, so please ask now.”
Ask the players to pick a number between 4 and 12.
Set out a clock the players can see called Something
Is Coming... with that many segments.
Every time the PCs ask a significant question (trivial
inquiries or follow-up questions don’t count), the Crone
will answer it, and then casually enquire on a number
of troubling topics. Every time the Crone answers a
significant question or a PC refuses to answer one of
her questions, tick a segment on the clock while you
describe subtle signs that something is very wrong.
• “Do you ever feel as if your actions are controlled
by an external entity?”
• “If I told you that one of you is lying to the rest, who
would each of you suspect I was talking about?”
• “Have you ever imagined that things don’t exist
when you aren’t looking at them?”
• “Why do you think we often don’t notice the
strangeness in our dreams until we wake?”
• “Have you ever had a dream that was so mundane
and believable you mistook it for a memory? How
would you know?”
• “Have you ever had the sensation of time passing
differently when you’re doing something important?
What were you doing exactly three weeks ago?”
• “Describe our surroundings. Do you find yourself
using specific words? Almost as if you’re being told
what it looks like, rather than seeing it?”
• “How many times have we had this conversation?”
• She asks a question about part of a PC’s backstory
that she shouldn’t know – preferably something
that other PCs don’t know yet either.
The Crone is very, very old – older than should be
possible even with modern medical technology. Exactly
how old is up to you, but at the very least she’s a first-
wave colonist. She knows a great deal – a great deal
more than it should be possible for her to know.
[130]
As a GM, you should be aware that she has the ability
to see possible timelines. Also, she knows about you.
Hello, dear.
Her ultimate goal is to outlive Calliope itself: she wishes
to endure the billions of years it will take for the sun to
burn out. This has no relevance to the PCs; it’s a quest
for personal revenge. But Feather intends to destroy
the universe, thus posing a threat to that goal, so the
Crone will try to help the PCs in any way she can.
However, her ability to answer questions directly
related to Feather is limited. Feather comes from a
timeline that, by Feather’s arrival in the current era,
cannot exist. This puts her outside the Crone’s sight.
HER IDENTITY
“I must’ve had a name once, mustn’t I? I’ve forgotten
it. I know that I came here a long time ago, but I can’t
recall exactly when, or why. Perhaps I was a
member of a far field team? That would explain the
breadth of my scientific expertise, wouldn’t it? I dimly
recall there was a crisis of some sort unfolding when
I was dispatched.”
THE THING SHE NEEDS HELP WITH
“It’s not time to explain that yet. I realize that sounds
like an excuse, but you haven’t seen enough yet. I
can’t really explain it to you – you’ll have to
experience it all on your own. You’ll know when it’s
time to come back to me. Or perhaps you won’t.
Time will tell.”
WHAT’S WAITING AT THE ARENA?
Give players information on the mechs and threats
waiting for them in Beat 18: The Battle Royale, as if
they had the Scouting Reserve.
ASPHODEL
“I’ve spent a long time studying Asphodel. It’s quite
fascinating from a historical perspective. Conditions
here resemble those on Cradle two and a half billion
years ago. Atmospheric composition is ninety
percent nitrogen, ten percent carbon dioxide with
almost no free oxygen.”
THE THING WE FOUGHT
“Oh, don’t worry, you didn’t hurt it. I don’t think it can
be hurt, not really.”
If the PCs leave before the clock is full, nothing obvious
happens. If the PCs do not leave before the clock is full,
they space out briefly, then find themselves much
further along their path than they expected. Tick a
segment on the Journey Progress clock if it isn’t
already full. They don’t remember how they got here.
ENCOUNTER:
WHAT’S COMING TO YOU
If the PCs agreed to hunt down the thief for the
Blacksmith, they eventually catch up to him and his
crew of hired guns in a long-abandoned settlement next
to a dry lakebed.
Desolation in every direction, as far as the eye can
see. A dark wind blows across the plain, bone-dry
and hot as a venting core. Hollowed-out carcasses
of old shelters rattle in the breeze. Your quarry
stands not a hundred metres away, behind a small
number of other mechs.
“He sent you to kill me, right? Oh, who am I kidding,
of course he did! But do you wanna know why he
wants me dead? Because he doesn’t want everyone
in this system to know the truth – that his whole
fucking anti-corporate, pro-worker crusade is a lie!
He’s been on the take from Smith-Shimano for
years, and I can prove it! The Blacksmith himself is
a corpro stooge!”
If PCs ask to see the promised proof, it’s pretty
convincing – transmission logs, ledgers, even omnivid
feeds proving the Blacksmith was taking money from
SSC.
THE BLACKSMITH’S MOTIVATION
“I don’t know. Maybe he thinks he can use corporate
cash for his revolution. But if that was the case, why
would he need to hide it from all of us?”
SMITH-SHIMANO’S GOALS
“I don’t know exactly what Smith-Shimano want, but
you can tell a few things by context, by what the
Blacksmith’s been having us do. They’re searching
for something. It’s big, not an object, exactly, more
like a place. A location – a facility, probably. If I had
to get into speculating about it, I’d say it was
something built early in the Pyrite Age.”
NEED FOR THE TRANSPORTS
“You need the transports. I need to live. Blacksmith
won’t give you the transports unless you kill me. So
one of us isn’t gonna get what we want. Like, for real,
I respect that you’re trying to save those people, I
really do. But I’m not just gonna lay down and die.
Don’t be a tool for a man who sold out his own
ideals.”
WHY THE BLACKSMITH EMPLOYED THE TEAM
“You think he was really gonna send any of the Forge
to do this? No, my friend, not when he knew I might
tell them why he wants me dead. It had to be you.
You were in the right place and the right time to be
useful to him.
“And for the sake of the One, please don’t tell me
you’re so naive as to think you’re not next on his list.
You’ve seen and heard way too much. He can’t know
I didn’t give you a copy of the data I stole.”
THE THIEF’S INTENTIONS
“There’s an old broadcast station about eighty clicks
east. I’m headed there. Let me go, and I can tell the
whole of Calliope who the Blacksmith really is.”
The PCs may think to confront the Blacksmith on this
matter. He is unfazed.
“Our arrangement isn’t affected by whatever lies he
may have told you. You kill him, you get the
transports. You let him get away, you don’t get the
transports, and we won’t do business again.”
If the PCs allow the thief to get away and the
transmission to go out, they will later get a short but
definitive message from the Blacksmith, which he
delivers in the same level tone as all the other
conversations they’ve had with him.
A Blacksmith’s Enmity
Burden
“I want you to know that you’ve made a terrible
mistake in breaking faith with me. One fine day when
you think you’re doing well for yourself, I will use you
as an example to the rest of Calliope.”
Oh boy, you really pissed him off. This will definitely
come back to bite you in the ass, but probably not
until Act 2.
On the other hand, the thief will remember what the
team did for him.
A Thief’s Honor
Favours
“It can’t have been easy, risking what you did on the
word of someone you barely know. I don’t know how
to repay you, but I swear on the One I’ll find a way.”
A thief and a traitor to the Burning Forge may not
seem like a useful ally, but people in Calliope find
surprising ways to pay back their debts.
If the PCs seem determined to fight, the Thief will be
forced to defend himself.
[131]
 COMBAT:
GUNS AT NOON
SITREP: N/A
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x THE THIEF – ELITE SLINGER
1x VETERAN MERCENARY ASSAULT
1x BASTION
1x SUPPORT
FOR 4 PCS: THE THIEF: Add VETERAN template and VIPER’S SPEED trait.
+1x MERCENARY RONIN Last Word
FOR 5 PCS: VETERAN MERCENARY ASSAULT: Add COMMANDER template and PRESS THE ATTACK trait.
+1x MERCENARY SNIPER Scout Drone
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This engagement takes place in a small, abandoned
settlement on a low, flat plain. Most of the buildings are
dilapidated – they provide Size 1 and Size 2 cover, but
they only have half as much HP and will come apart
very quickly under sustained weapons fire.
The settlement’s water tower is a Size 3 object with 15
HP. If it’s destroyed, it comes crashing down, dealing
1d6i in a d1 area around it.
THE FIGHT
This is a straightforward battle – if the PCs want the
thief dead, they’re going to have to go through his hired
guns to get to him.
This battle introduces the SLINGER, a new NPC type.
The Slinger is a potent area-denial controller. It has a
weapon which deals low damage with a single shot, but
it can place a mark on enemies when it scores a critical
hit against them, then unleash a flurry of attacks against
marked characters at the beginning of its turn.
The Thief, in particular, has several of the Slinger’s
optional abilities. DARK WIND allows it to immediately
retaliate against hostile ranged attacks, FAN THE
HAMMER turns its regular attack into a cone that can hit
several enemies while sparing its allies and THE
DEVIL’S EYE can see through a marked character’s
attempts at stealth.
The Thief’s allies are a combination of moonlighters
who truly believe in his principled stand against the
Blacksmith and outlander hirelings who are protecting
him because the money’s good. If the battle turns very
much against them, characters with the Mercenary
template might cut and run.
[132]
Dark Wind, Fan the Hammer, The Devil’s Eye
Underslung Grenade Launcher, Headshot
“Pause” Engine
Remote Cloud, Remote Reboot
OUTCOME
PC DEFEAT
The Thief has no interest in anything other than his
safety, and will only try to kill the PCs if he thinks they
won’t give up the chase. If he forces the PCs to retreat,
he goes to ground and is impossible to track down
again in the time the PCs have left – they must press
on to the arena. The Blacksmith is unimpressed, and
does not provide the offered help.
PC VICTORY
“I get it. You have to save all of those people. What’s
one life in comparison to that? I just want you to know
I don’t blame you. I’d probably do the same.”
If the PCs defeat the thief and his allies, he’s got
nowhere to run. If the PCs are determined to kill him,
he faces it with dignity. Make sure the PCs are aware
they’re executing an unarmed man. The Blacksmith
requires a live video feed of the execution, which would
be difficult to fake – a Risky, Heroic roll, at least.
The PCs can, with a successful Hack or Fix check,
salvage the data from the thief’s mech if it wasn’t totally
obliterated (by a meltdown, for example). But as the
thief discovered, holding blackmail on the Blacksmith
can be a very dangerous game.
If the PCs relent at the last moment, the thief is left
without a way to get to the broadcast station he was
heading for. The PCs can take him there themselves,
but it’ll take time. Tick a segment on the Enemy
Attention clock. Doing this will incur consequences
identical to having spared the thief in the first place.
If the PCs execute the thief as requested, the
Blacksmith upholds his end of the bargain and provides
the transports.
INTERLUDE:
UNFAMILIAR MEMORY
If one of the PCs possesses the Golden Hand, at some
point during the journey they feel an inexplicable “pull”
towards a location far out in the wilderness.

When they get there, they begin to feel very odd, and
their mech starts behaving strangely.

The scent of whiskey and cigar smoke drifts through

the cockpit of your mech once again. You see things
as they are now, puke-yellow sky over a winding
river canyon snaking off towards the horizon – but
also as it was then, on a day when clouds were clear,
the sun was blazing overhead and the river was
almost boiling.

Your mech’s sensors flicker, and a cascading series

of error messages begins to fill every screen.

If it’s not an IPS-N Raleigh, the mech starts throwing a

tantrum because it seems to think it is, and none of its
device drivers are working properly. If it is a Raleigh, it
still throws a tantrum because it’s trying to respond to
two temporally desynchronized sets of input.

The PC, meanwhile, starts experiencing the world

through a similar dual lens: in one world, they’re
themselves, and in the other, they’re Marika Wren,
notorious pirate queen. Marika is currently in a fight with
her nemesis (and on-off love interest), Lin Zhihao. That
fight bleeds through into the present.

Lin Zhihao has tracked Marika out into the wilderness.

Officially, it’s to claim Marika’s bounty, but Marika
suspects it’s an excuse for another tryst. In any case,
she insists that she’s gone legit; the crime she’s wanted
for was committed by her old crew, who she quit some
time back. She’s a treasure hunter now. Zhihao is
understandably skeptical.

Marika’s currently enroute to see the Crone, in search

of information on the treasure she’s hunting: the wreck
of the Persimmon, a colony ship that went missing
during the hardscrabble days of the first wave. Zhihao
dismisses both the Persimmon and the Crone as
myths, but Marika replies that the Crone gave her
foreknowledge of “that time on Amphion two years
ago,” an event in which she apparently saved Zhihao’s
life.

This seems to be enough to convince Zhihao to at least

listen, but she asks how the Crone could possibly know
anything about the Persimmon. Marika replies with the
most terrifying secret she knows: the Crone came here
on it.

[133]
 BEAT 18:
THE BATTLE ROYALE
The gaudy bastion of the Steele Dome rises out of
the landscape like a tumor. It’s not actually a “dome;”
it’s a massive hexagonal complex roughly four
kilometres across, with thirty-metre walls built in an
inverted slope like the sides of an upside-down
pyramid, leaving an imposing overhang.
Atop the central tower, there’s a giant, fifty-meter
statue of Rodericke Steele himself. It’s plated in gold,
but it’s not as impressive as he thinks – besides iron,
gold is one of the easiest metals to find in Calliope.
Limited orbital reconnaissance combined with your
passive sensors have provided your tacticals with a
map of the complex that should be good enough to
operate on. You know where the facility’s security
control systems and the landing pads are, and you
can make a reasonable guess at where the prisoners
are being held. Hopefully, that’s enough.
THE OBJECTIVES
The assault on the Steele Dome has four major
objectives:
• Disable or subvert the facility’s security systems.
• Locate and liberate the prisoners.
• Evacuate the prisoners and extract.
If the PCs couldn’t secure Air Transport from either
Furnace City or the Blacksmith, all is not lost: the facility
has a large number of aircraft. The PCs are going to
have to hotwire them, though, which will take time.
ENEMY PREPARATIONS
When the PCs commence their attack, consult the
Enemy Attention clock.
If no segments are ticked, the SCOUTS in this Beat
can’t use their ORBITAL STRIKE ability. The laser
platform simply isn’t in the right orbit, and Impact
Dynamics can’t adjust it in time.
If any segments are ticked, the SCOUTS can use their
ORBITAL STRIKE ability as normal.
If at least 2 segments are ticked, Steele sends a
member of his personal hit squad to deal with the PCs.
Run Combat: Bad Star in addition to the other
combats, after Combat: Roadblock.
[134]
If at least 4 segments are ticked, additional
reinforcements are deployed. Add a SQUAD with
ARMORED to each engagement.
You may notice that the Arrange a Distraction action
in Beat 16 reduces the maximum number of segments
on the clock – if the PCs remove enough, it will stop the
clock from ever reaching certain thresholds.
ASSAULT STRUCTURE
The action starts off with Combat: Lowest-Bidder
Work (p. 135), with the team vying for control of the
facility’s control systems. Then, once they rescue the
prisoners, run Combat: Roadblock (p. 136) as a bus
carrying rescued prisoners breaks down.
If the Enemy Attention clock has at least 2 segments
ticked, run Combat: Bad Star (p. 137). Finally, if the
PCs don’t have Air Transports, run Combat:
Expedited Boarding (p. 138).
STEELE’S COMMENTARY
The moment the team’s assault begins, Rodericke
Steele takes notice. Eager to have new victims to bully,
he starts broadcasting live footage of their assault to all
of Calliope, adding his own commentary.
In terms of character, Steele is all flaws: he’s a petulant,
spiteful, narcissistic, short-tempered, deeply insecure
capitalist. He feels invincible because he never takes
any risks himself, leaving all the work to waves of
underpaid henchmen while he takes all the credit.
The PCs can’t confront him right now, because he’s
safe in his luxurious penthouse on Impact Plaza – a fact
he will gleefully brag about. However, the PCs can lash
out at him in other ways: there’s several statues of him
scattered around the complex, and smashing them will
upset him. While taunting the PCs, his face is displayed
on giant monitors – these can also be smashed.
Steele’s taunting will cover a variety of topics: Hell’s
Gate and its recent troubles, known associates of the
PCs, any known flaws they possess and anything else
about the PCs that’s a matter of public record.
Steele assumes his victory is a foregone conclusion:
his forces massively outnumber and outgun the PCs,
and he’s too self-obsessed to consider the possibility of
failure. As the PCs continue to prove him wrong, Steele
becomes progressively more furious and unhinged,
towards both the PCs and his own lackeys.
COMBAT:
LOWEST-BIDDER WORK
SITREP: Control (Lancer, p. 268)
ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x VETERAN SCOURER
1x GOLIATH
1x RAINMAKER
1x SCOUT
FOR 4 PCS: +1x ELITE SEEDER
FOR 5 PCS: +1x AEGIS
+1x BARRICADE
DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This battle takes place in a makeshift operations center
at the base of the central tower. The techs are still
getting this place ready for primetime, so there’s a lot
of equipment still sitting in cargo containers strewn
about the place, which provide Size 1 hard cover.
Larger prefab structures provide Size 2 hard cover.
Some of the electrical equipment here is shoddy and
poorly installed. There are Size 1, HP 5 electrical
substations scattered throughout the battlefield. When
hit with weapons fire, they arc violently, dealing 4j in
a d1 area.
THE FIGHT
To shut down the facility’s air defense cordon and free
the prisoners, the team will have to seize control of the
operations center and subvert its computer systems,
just like when they raided S1GN4L’s listening post.
The way the SCOURER’s STEEL JAW trait works isn’t
perfectly intuitive; its damage reduction applies after all
others. If an attack with an Auxiliary weapon deals
enough damage to overcome the Scourer’s armor, it
still deals 1 damage.
The GOLIATH is a towering monster of a mech that
protects its allies by demanding the attention of its
enemies. Use its CRUSH TARGETING ability on a PC who
prefers to stay at range, and its SIEGE ARMOR will force
them uncomfortably close. Its WATCHFUL GUARDIAN
trait allows it to protect adjacent allies from damage –
use it to cover an advance.
The RAINMAKER’s ATLAS MISSILES can be used to force
PCs into an uncomfortable choice: stay on the control
point and risk taking tremendous damage, or flee and
allow an enemy to seize it.
Supercharged, Steel Jaw
Watchful Guardian
Atlas Missiles
Orbital Strike*, Spotter
Hopping Mines, Tripwires
HA Blackwall System, Ring of Fire
Titan-Snare Drone
DEVELOPMENT
The first fight is over. The team’s intrusion systems
spool down; for now, they have control over the base’s
essential systems. The air defence cordon is down,
they have control of the security gates and they have
the access codes to free all of the prisoners. Security
forces have backed off to regroup, and so the PCs have
time for a rest.
Once they’re done with that, they may proceed through
the facility to the prison complex where the abductees
are being kept. Getting them out of their cells isn’t a
problem; the access codes see to that. The main issue
is that the prison intentionally wasn’t stocked with
hardsuits, or even breathing equipment. The only way
to get them to the landing pads and into the evacuation
aircraft is a fleet of personnel transports.
The personnel transports are big, pressurised all-
terrain buses meant to move prisoners from place to
place. Fortunately, enough of the abductees are
qualified drivers to get every transport moving, and
there are enough transports to get all the prisoners to
the landing pads in just two trips.
The first trip goes fine, but there’s a major complication
during the second trip.
As you’re only two hundred metres from the landing
pads, there’s a loud grinding noise from one of the
transports, and it falls behind, pouring thick smoke.
The driver grabs his radio, clearly panicked. “Shit,
shit, shit! My engine sprung a coolant line! The whole
thing overheated and seized up; I’ve got no drive
power at all! I can’t move!”
In addition to the driver, there are sixty passengers on
that bus.
[135]
 COMBAT:
ROADBLOCK
SITREP: Escort (Lancer, p. 269)

OBJECTIVE(S): 1x PERSONNEL TRANSPORT (Size 2, 20 HP)

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE BARRICADE Extrudite, Hunger/Pursuit Limpets
1x VETERAN CATAPHRACT Lightning Reflexes
1x SCOUT Orbital Strike*

FOR 4 PCS: +1x PIRATE WITCH Chain, Petrify, Slaver Signal

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ENGINEER Arsenal

REINFORCEMENTS
FOR 3 PCS: 1x BERSERKER
+2x GRUNT CATAPHRACT

FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN BERSERKER Nail Gun, Steel Jaw

FOR 5 PCS +1X BARRICADE Titan-Snare Drone

DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
There are several Size 1 walls separating sections of
the facility, with checkpoint gates allowing movement
between them. Arrange the battlefield so that the team
has to move the transport through at least one of them.
Because the PCs have subverted the facility’s systems,
they can control the gates: as a protocol, a PC can
open or close a gate. The gates are two spaces wide
and provide hard cover only when closed.
DEVELOPMENT
Once the team have escorted the stricken transport to
the landing pads, the security forces back off again and
the PCs have another moment to breathe and take a
rest before the next assault begins.
If the Enemy Attention clock has at least two
segments ticked, that next assault takes the form of
one of Rodericke Steele’s elite flunkies. Run Combat:
Bad Star (p. 137).

If the Enemy Attention clock has less than two

THE FIGHT
The PCs have to manually move the broken-down
transport to the landing pads while an Impact Dynamics
response team tries to stop them.
The BARRICADE’s HUNGER/PURSUIT LIMPETS create a
large area of difficult terrain, costing twice as much
movement to pass through, and can also strip enemies
of the mobility tools needed to leave it quickly.
segments ticked and the PCs didn’t get access to Air
Transports, run Combat: Expedited Boarding (p.
138).
If the Enemy Attention clock has less than two
segments ticked and the PCs have access to Air
Transports, the mission is over – they’ve successfully
extracted the prisoners. Proceed to the aftermath on p.
.

The WITCH has SLAVER SIGNAL, a very powerful single-

target effect that can completely shut down a PC. Note
that a PC who installed a COMP/CON-CLASS ASSISTANT
UNIT or has the TECHNOPHILE talent will be able to
continue fighting, as their AI can tag in for them. If
you’re feeling generous, make them the target!

[136]
COMBAT:
BAD STAR
SITREP: N/A

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x BAD STAR – ULTRA BREACHER Breacher options: Follower Count, Superior Ram
Ultra options: Limitless, Siege Shield
1x GOLIATH Power Knuckle
1x SCOUT Dataveil, Orbital Strike*

FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN SNIPER Defensive Grapple, Selective Loader, Lightning Reflexes

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ELITE SPACER HORNET Concussion Gun

“Well, I think since you’re being such ASSHOLES, Bad Star is definitely the star of the show here, and
maybe now is a good time to introduce you to a other units on the field should act in a supporting role.
trusted associate of mine!” The GOLIATH should operate in a gatekeeping role,
drawing the focus of high-damage PCs away from the
There is a scream of deceleration thrusters as orbital Ultra, and the SCOUT should be sticking to the edges of
drop pods rain from the sky. the battlefield, using its MARKER RIFLE to mark targets
for Bad Star’s attacks.
Your comm feed fills up with the obnoxious yelling of
whoever’s piloting the lead mech. “What’s up, If the SNIPER is present, sasda
lancers?! It’s ya boi, Bad Star, coming at you Fresh
from Calliope!”
DEVELOPMENT
“Oh, okay, okay, I see how it is. Well, I’m always
On one of the undamaged vidscreens, Steele grins looking on the bright side. Bright side here? That
proudly. “See, figured I’d break into the whole guy’s salary just got freed up! Hey, you know what?
streaming gig. What do you think? Sorry, I forgot: I I’ll pay you his whole retirement fund to FUCK OFF.”
don’t care! Bad Star, waste these losers.”
Slapping down Bad Star briefly intimidates the rest of
DETAILS Rodericke Steele’s goons, leaving enough time for
another rest.
THE BATTLEFIELD
This fight takes place just beyond the landing pads,
where Steele’s kill-team have landed. If the Enemy Attention clock has less than two
segments ticked and the PCs didn’t secure access to
Air Transports, run Combat: Expedited Boarding (p.
There are several Size 2, 20 HP fuel tanks on the field 138).
that provide hard cover. If destroyed, they erupt in a
d1 burst of cryogenic deuterium, forcing mechs to If the Enemy Attention clock has less than two
make an ENGINEERING check. On a failure, they are
IMPAIRED and IMMOBILIZED until the end of their next segments ticked and the PCs have access to Air
turn. Pass or fail, any mech in the burst clears all l. Transports, the mission is over – they’ve successfully
extracted the prisoners. Proceed to the aftermath on p.
.
THE FIGHT
BAD STAR is another ULTRA, decked out with some of
the most powerful equipment Impact Dynamics can
offer. FOLLOWER COUNT fits perfectly with Bad Star’s
bully personality. Get close to a character, mark them
and keep running after them, using the +1g to offset
the Breacher’s woefully inaccurate DUAL SHOTGUNS.
SIEGE SHIELD forces PCs in close if they want to deal
damage effectively.

[137]
 COMBAT:
EXPEDITED BOARDING
SITREP: Holdout (Lancer, p. 272)

ENEMY FORCES
FOR 3 PCS: 1x ELITE SLINGER Draw!, Shouldna Aughta
1x BOMBARD Bunker Buster
1x BREACHER Flechette Shot, Thermal Charge
1x SCOUT Expose Weakness, Orbital Strike*

FOR 4 PCS: +1x VETERAN GOLIATH Retribution, Watchful Guardian, Self-Repair

FOR 5 PCS: +1x ASSAULT Micro-Missile Barrage

REINFORCEMENTS
FOR 3 PCS: 2x ASSAULT Micro-Missile Barrage

FOR 4 PCS +1X SLINGER Another Hand Cannon

FOR 5 PCS: +1x GOLIATH Pin

The ELITE SLINGER can use DRAW! to force PCs to

DETAILS
THE BATTLEFIELD
This fight takes place on the landing pads, as transports
carrying the abductees are hotwired and begin takeoff.
There are six Size 4, 40 HP transports that provide
hard cover. One disappears at the end of every round,
taking off and escaping. Enemies will try to avoid hitting
them (they’re expensive, and it’ll come out of their
paycheck) but aren’t forbidden from doing so by a rule
of engagement.
As in the previous fight, there are several Size 2, 20 HP
fuel tanks on the field that provide hard cover. If
destroyed, they erupt in a d1 burst of cryogenic
deuterium, forcing mechs to make an ENGINEERING
check. On a failure, they are IMPAIRED and IMMOBILIZED
until the end of their next turn. Pass or fail, any mech in
the burst clears all l.
THE FIGHT
If the team didn’t secure transports from the Blacksmith
or by some other means, they’ll need to hold back what
remains of Impact Dynamics’ forces while some of the
more technically-proficient abductees hotwire some of
the VTOL aircraft sitting on the landing pads.
Unlike a regular Holdout, the PCs can extract at any
time. A transport takes off at the end of every round,
and if the situation is untenable, a PC can board a
transport they’re adjacent to as a quick action.
Transports left behind with no PCs left to defend them
will be overrun.
attack it or suffer severe penalties, while SHOULDNA
AUGHTA lets it mark them for its volley attack if they
attack its allies. Remember that its reactions only
refresh on the first turn it takes every round – if it uses
its reactions in between its two turns, it doesn’t get them
back at the start of its second turn.
The Breacher can use its THERMAL CHARGE to destroy
cover and punish PCs for bunching up, but it only gets
one, so be judicious about its use. FLECHETTE SHOT can
be used to subvert cover if it’s aimed correctly, since
the cone is the part of the attack that counts.
The BOMBARD is a long-range artillery platform that
forces PCs to get in close if they want to damage it. Its
CLUSTER MUNITIONS deal more damage the more
characters its cannon catches in its blast radius, but
notably these characters don’t need to be hostile. You
can have an ASSAULT move into the line of fire, then
HUNKER DOWN to mitigate the damage – but their
presence will still increase the damage dealt to players
caught in the blast.
There’s a funny little aspect of the SCOUT’s EXPOSE
WEAKNESS trait: its bonus damage applies on a “ranged
or melee attack,” which can be a grapple, ram, or the
Scout’s own MARKER RIFLE. If the Scout deals damage
this way, it’s i.

[138]

AFTERMATH
Once the PCs are away from the facility, what happens
next is largely down to what provisions the PCs made
for dealing with the laser platform. If the PCs got rid of
the laser earlier, Steele can do nothing but screech
impotently at them. If it’s still operational, however:
Like a migraine, Rodericke Steele’s face and voice
intrude on your consciousness once again. “You
think you’ve won?! You think you’ve… saved
someone?! You haven’t saved anything! Watch!”
He turns to one of his techs, rage in his eyes. “You!
Fire the laser! Maximum power!”
The broadcast cuts to a view of the laser platform,
slowly spooling up for a killshot.
If the PCs did nothing to get rid of it, the laser’s target
depends on the Enemy Attention clock: if no
segments are ticked, the target is Furnace City. If any
segments are ticked, it’s the arena.
Furnace City gets lucky – the laser, lacking a target
painter, touches down in the Burnfields rather than the
dome itself. Its industrial sectors are heavily damaged,
but firing the laser at full power has burnt out the
platform and they won’t get another shot.
If the target is the arena, the transports are damaged,
forcing them down or crashing them in the wilderness;
Impact Dynamics is in no position to give chase,
though, seeing as Steele just levelled their base of
operations on the planet.
If, however, the PCs called in some help, things play
out differently depending on who it was they called in.
MISTRESS ELSKE
The channel goes dead for a second, before it
comes back to reveal Mistress Elske’s grinning face.
“Ah, Steele. If there’s one thing that brings endless
joy to a pirate’s heart, it’s taking your toys from you.”
The screen cuts back to the laser platform, just in
time to see it torn in half by a spinal railgun shot.
JERRY, ZINFANDEL AND CHIEF MCELROY
The camera suddenly pans to the left and zooms. In
the far distance, coming over Asphodel’s horizon, is
the Dragon’s Tooth – carrying something massive
underneath it.
Siren’s voice cuts into the feed. “Missile away.”
Whatever it is that she’s carrying hangs in the void
for just a moment.
You hear the tech from earlier, his voice rising in
panic. “… Christ the Buddha, that’s an NKP!”
There is a brilliant flash of light, and the feed cuts out.
STRIGA VON ALDENBERG
There’s a tense few moments of nothing.
Finally, Steele’s frustrated squawk cuts the silence.
“What’s the problem? Why isn’t it firing?”
“Sir, some sort of command override! The reactor’s
still spinning up, but it’s not feeding power to the
capacitors! Heat levels are critical! It’s cooking itself!
I can’t stop it!”
The camera cuts back to Steele, who shoves the
technician out of the way. “Get out of the way, idiot!
I’ll fix this!” He wrestles with the controls for a
moment, before stopping, a look of utter
bewilderment on his face. “… the fuck does
‘felicitations, comrade’ mean?!”
The platform detonates, spraying debris in every
direction.
RETURNING TO FURNACE CITY
Whether it’s triumphantly by air transport or limping
back through the Terra Solus, the PCs are able to
return to Furnace City. If they rescued all or most of the
abductees and avoided complications for the city, they
are welcomed as returning heroes. The welcome is
more muted if they only managed a partial rescue, or if
the city had to suffer for their actions.
If the rescue was largely successful, tick a segment on
the Station Stability clock, as Furnace City starts
discussing closer ties with Hell’s Gate.
The PCs are free to head home at their leisure.
[139]
 DOWNTIME 3:
HOMETOWN HERO
If killing Andros Capella put them on the radar and
saving the Icebreaker convinced people of their
competence, rescuing the abductees and spitting in
Rodericke Steele’s face is what turns the team into folk
heroes across Calliope. There isn’t a bar in the system
that doesn’t raise a toast to them the moment the news
comes through.
Though Rodericke Steele screams, blusters and
makes dire threats against Hell’s Gate, it’s all just talk.
His security forces are in such disarray that he can
barely keep hold of his own station, much less attack
others. Over the medium term, he might be able to
pursue economic warfare, but it’s obvious that no
military action is forthcoming.
CONTINUING ON
The team has time for a Full Repair after they get back
to Hell’s Gate – which will likely include printing new
gear or frames they may have just unlocked.
The team might have made new friends on Asphodel –
either in Furnace City or amongst the outlanders – or
they might be eager to see how their friends on the
Gate or the Icebreaker are doing. Give them time to
recover from their experience on Asphodel, to pursue
their own personal stories and to connect with friends.
When they’re ready to continue, Chapter 4: Circuit
Breaker picks up about two months later.

Assuming the rescue was reasonably successful and

they didn’t offend the outlanders on their way through
the Terra Solus, a number of outlanders arrive on Hell’s
Gate and volunteer for the militia. Some of them are
hoping for a shot at Rodericke Steele somewhere down
the line, while others simply want to repay a debt they
feel they owe to the team.

Mistress Elske delivers on her promise: she provides

the money and connections to advance the team to
LICENCE LEVEL 3. In addition to this, she gifts the team
an IPS-N “Maelstrom” Offensive Suite to beef up the
Dragon’s Tooth. She insists she isn’t doing it for them
– she had a few conversations with Siren, and took a
shine to her. Siren, needless to say, is overjoyed.

IPS-N “Maelstrom” Offensive Suite

Ship Upgrade
A spinal railgun is the great equalizer: even
battleships have to sit up and take notice when a
corvette fields one. Add in a rack of missiles, three
point-defence cannons and a cutting-edge electronic
warfare suite, and the Dragon’s Tooth quickly begins
to live up to its name.

Once per mission, the Dragon’s Tooth can provide

an orbital strike, as per the Bombardment reserve
(Lancer, p. 52), so long as they’re in a location the
Dragon’s Tooth has line of sight to. The ship is also
capable of holding its own in combat.

[140]
ACQUIRING AN NHP
The PCs have now reached LICENCE LEVEL 3, and if they've spent all three Licence Levels in the same mech, there's
a possibility they now have an NHP. As stated on page PLACEHOLDER, acquiring a fresh clone of a specific class
of NHP is nearly impossible in Calliope. That said, if an NHP co-pilot is needed, one can and will be found – Jerry
will see to that, if nothing else. But there are far more interesting ways to come into contact with a co-pilot, and
some interesting co-pilots to come in contact with.

ROLL 1D20
A sad lady sits alone at the bar, sipping a drink. Joan’s lost someone very dear to her; you can tell
just by a couple of minutes of talking. She says she has something that could help you; it used to
be theirs, but you can probably make better use of it. Chaac is a cocky, self-assured TLALOC-class
1-2
NHP, eager to get back into mech combat. He dearly misses his old Monarch, the Bravado Tempest,
and its old pilot, Harris, but has no idea what happened to them – see, Harris didn't bring Chaac
with them on their last mission, and Joan won't tell him anything…
The Hell's Gate tabletop gaming guild has heard you need an NHP. After some discussion, they've
decided to loan you The Gamemaster, an ATHENA-class NHP, on the condition that you keep her
3-4 safe, treat her with the utmost respect, and always allow her access to an omnihook on Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday nights. She's energetic, friendly, a massive nerd, and often makes glib
commentary about your tactical decisions.
You meet a striking woman, covered head-to-toe in piercings and tattoos, who introduces herself as
Galanades. She happens to know – through a variety of station scuttlebutt – that you're in need of
5-6 a co-pilot, and... well. Okay, so she and her girlfriend had a breakup, it was messy, a lot of harsh
words were said, threats were exchanged… look, long story short, Harmony, a SEKHMET-class
NHP, needs a new place to live.
In an unprecedented event, a group of Sparri espadas show up, announcing that the Voldaor are
summoning you to a meeting. If you accept, the Volador present you with a casket. They explain
7-8 that they’re introducing you to “a friend you will sorely need,” in return for an undisclosed service
they will require from you “once you've resolved the coming crisis.” The casket contains MT-ST-
Helens, a very confused AGNI-class NHP.
Years back, all the big pirate bands, usually rivals, teamed up and executed Operation Firework, a
daring ambush on an Armory convoy moving through the system. It was a disaster – but surprisingly,
not for the pirates. The Armory's capital ships punched out unexpectedly, leaving their subline
9-10
escorts behind. A lot of fighters got wrecked that day, and Stoneleigh, an ASURA-class NHP, was
co-pilot in one of them. She retains no loyalty to the Armory: they left her pilot to die, and Stoneleigh
was stuck as the pirates' lackey for years afterwards.
You get an urgent message on the Omni from someone who's asking you to... rescue them from a
dumpster? When you get there, there's a casket just sitting in a pile of trash. As you fish it out, its
11-12
resident declares “huh. You're not the one who usually shows up.” Millstone is a SISYPHUS-class
NHP, and cryptically claims to have “been through this many times before.”
Atalanta, a NOAH-class NHP, heard that her line was descended from a traffic controller, so she
13-14 tried her hand at it. For a while, she was doing great – the best anyone in that position had ever
done! Unfortunately, everything changed after the incident, and now she needs a new job real quick.
Ahoy, matey! You've picked up Captain Dirk Derringer, the ADVENTURE!-class NHP! The
Captain is a former pirate, who insists he was press-ganged into service by the Knights of the Dark
15-16 Core. Prior to that, he was Penkov, a Solistice/Winter-class shipboard logistics and inventory
management NHP. If pressed about the new name, he explains that adopting that persona “just
makes combat less stressful, y’know?"
You take some time to perform routine maintenance on your mech. Suddenly, its sound system
roars to life and imperiously declares: “YES! This form is resplendent! Kneel before me, mortal!”
17-18 With no apparent explanation, Ozzy, an OSIRIS-class NHP, has manifested within your mech –
although from his perspective, Ozzy has manifested within his mech, and you have been awarded
the unthinkable honour of co-piloting it.
You receive a package with no listed origin or return address. It contains an uninitialized casket,
inside of which is an as-yet-unnamed NHP of the class appropriate to your mech. It’s
19-20 accompanied by a single piece of paper with your name, today's date, and a message: “don't turn
it on. Just get it to this person on that date. And for fuck's sake, remove this note
before you send it!”

[141]
 APPENDIX
PLACEHOLDER TEXT

[142]
NEW NPC CLASSES
Placeholder text, here are some new NPC classes.

[143]
 PARALLEL
Striker

PREPARED BY: UIB-TERMINALCLICHE

RECOVERED FOR: UIB-KATABATIC
CLEARENCE REQ: SOLEMN VIGIL

I can verify that mechs belonging to pattern group “Parallel” match the profile of
contacts first observed during the Calliope Incident. I’m still trying to work out
who developed it. Current best guesses are SSC, the Armory, Horizon, or even the
Cult of the One, but in my opinion, none of them should’ve been able to. This tech
is decades ahead of even the biggest corprostates, let alone a bunch of cultists in
a garage.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: +0 Systems: +1 Hull: +0 Systems: +2 Hull: +0 Systems: +2
Agility: +1 Engineering: +0 Agility: +3 Engineering: +0 Agility: +5 Engineering: +0

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 14 Armor: 0 HP: 16 Armor: 0 HP: 18 Armor: 0
Evasion: 8 E-Defense: 8 Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 10 Evasion: 12 E-Defense: 12
Speed: 5 Size: 1 Speed: 5 Size: 1 Speed: 5 Size: 1
Heat Cap: 6 Save Target: 11 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 13 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 16
Sensors: 5 Sensors: 5 Sensors: 5

Whenever the Parallel teleports, it leaves behind an

TACTICS
Parallels are highly mobile strikers that can harass
enemies and hold large areas of the battlefield by
literally being in two places at once. Phase Echo lets
them position a surrogate that can make Overwatch
attacks against characters close to it, and they can also
switch places with it to avoid incoming damage.
A Parallel’s main weakness is its fragility; it relies on
careful positioning and judicious use of Revert to avoid
high-damage attacks. It can’t stand up to repeated
damage, and removing its echoes hampers its mobility.
BASE SYSTEMS
Possibility Blade
Heavy Melee, +1/+2/+3, +1 g
[a2] [8/10/12i]
echo. An echo is an obstruction the same size as
the Parallel, has EVASION 10, E-DEFENSE 10 and is
destroyed if it takes any damage or HEAT. The
echo projects the same THREAT as the Parallel’s
weapons. The Parallel can only have one echo at
once; creating a new one destroys the old one. The
Parallel also gains the REVERT and ACHRONAL
RESPONSE reactions.
Revert
Reaction, 1/round
Trigger: A melee or ranged attack is made against
the Parallel.
Effect: The Parallel interrupts the triggering attack
and teleports to the space of one of its echoes,
destroying it. The attack now targets the new echo it
left behind. If part of the same attack also targeted
its previous echo, it now targets the Parallel.

Wraith Pistol Achronal Response

Auxiliary CQB, +1/+2/+3 Reaction, 1/round
[b5] [a3] [2/4/6j] Trigger: A hostile character starts movement
This weapon makes one extra attack per echo the (including BOOST and other actions) inside the
Parallel has active. Each extra attack originates THREAT of one of the Parallel’s echoes.
from a different one of its echoes. Effect: The Parallel immediately teleports to the
echo’s space, destroying it, and then triggers
FOLDWALK Trait OVERWATCH as part of the same reaction, before
The Parallel teleports when they make a standard the hostile character moves.
move.

PHASE ECHO Trait

[144]
OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
Branching Timeline Doppler
System System, Protocol
The Parallel can have two echoes active at once, The Parallel may move one of its echoes up to 5
instead of one. It always decides which of its spaces. Echoes are not characters, so this
previous echoes to destroy if it creates a third. If movement ignores engagement and doesn’t
this system is destroyed, an echo of the Parallel’s provoke reactions.
choice is also destroyed, even if it only has one left.
SHATTER Trait
Cracked Mirror Whenever an echo is destroyed, it deals 3/6/9i in
Reaction, 1/round, Recharge 5+ a d1 area.
Trigger: A melee or ranged attack is made against
the Parallel or one of its echoes.
Effect: The attacker must makes a SYSTEMS save.
If it fails, the attack doesn’t happen and the attacker
and the target swap position, both teleporting. The
attacker must then repeat the attack against
themselves.

DEATHWALKER Trait
The first time that the Parallel is destroyed each
combat, if they still have an echo active, they’re not
actually defeated. At the start of the Parallel’s next
turn, they teleport to their echo, destroying it and
returning to 1 HP. If their last echo is destroyed
before their next turn, this trait doesn't function and
the Parallel remains destroyed.

[145]
 SLINGER
Controller

Slinger-class mechs are a favourite among pilots who value skill with a weapon over
raw firepower. Stable, agile and dependable, Slinger frames don’t need military-
grade guns or fancy tech. All they need is someone at the controls who knows when
to take the shot that ends the fight. Stepping into battle against a Slinger is a
nerve-wracking experience: a quiet duel of resolve, each combatant seeking their
perfect moment, the razor-thin window that separates the quick from the dead.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: +1 Systems: -1 Hull: +2 Systems: -1 Hull: +3 Systems: -1
Agility: +2 Engineering: +1 Agility: +3 Engineering: +1 Agility: +4 Engineering: +1

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 16 Armor: 0 HP: 20 Armor: 0 HP: 20 Armor: 0
Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 8 Evasion: 12 E-Defense: 10 Evasion: 14 E-Defense: 12
Speed: 4 Size: 1 Speed: 4 Size: 1 Speed: 5 Size: 1
Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 11 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 13 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 16
Sensors: 8 Sensors: 8 Sensors: 8

TACTICS Ring The Bell

Slingers are potent area denial specialists who trade
heavily on their Deathmark mechanic. It inflicts these
upon a critical hit, so it will benefit allies who can
provide LOCK ON. Its attacks ignore armour and deal
damage even on a miss, and if it’s inflicted a lot of
Deathmarks, it can unleash several at once at the start
of its turn, threatening multiple foes in a wide radius.
OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
The Slinger’s primary weaknesses are its inability to
deal with targets at long range and its reliance on
Deathmark to be effective. Inflicting IMPAIRED or using
cover will make marks harder to inflict.
BASE SYSTEMS
Hand Cannon
Auxiliary CQB, +2/+4/+6, AP, Reliable 1
[b8] [a3] [3/4/5i]
COOL HAND Trait
The Slinger gains ACCURACY instead of DIFFICULTY
from being ENGAGED.
NUMBERED DAYS Trait
When the Slinger scores a critical hit, their target
gains Deathmark.
SUN’S ZENITH
Trait, Recharge 5+, Quick Action
Choose any number of characters within line of sight
and b8 of the Slinger. They each gain Deathmark.
Trait, Protocol
The Slinger makes a Hand Cannon attack against
each character with Deathmark. Any character hit
by these attacks becomes IMPAIRED until the end of
their next turn. Then, any character attacked this
way loses Deathmark.
ANALOG TARGETING Trait
The Slinger can make ranged attacks while JAMMED.
Another Hand Cannon
Auxiliary CQB, +2/+4/+6, AP, Reliable 1
[b8] [a3] [3/4/5i]
When the Slinger makes an OVERWATCH attack with
another weapon, they can also make an attack with
this weapon against the triggering character.
This weapon is considered a Hand Cannon for any
traits or systems that refer to one.
Dark Wind
Reaction, 1/round
Trigger: A character attacks the Slinger with a
ranged weapon.
Effect: The Slinger makes a Hand Cannon attack
against that character. If the triggering character
has Deathmark, clear it, and the Slinger’s attack
happens first.

[146]
Draw!
Reaction, 1/round
Trigger: A character with Deathmark starts their
turn within line of sight and b8 of the Slinger.
Effect: Clear that character’s Deathmark. Until the
end of their turn, that character receives +3 h on
any attack that doesn’t target the Slinger.
Fan The Hammer
System, Quick Action
The Slinger prepares to unleash a hail of lead. The
next attack it makes with its Hand Cannon becomes
c5, but doesn’t hit allied characters.
Shouldna Aughta
Reaction, (1/2/3)/round
Trigger: A hostile character within line of sight of
the Slinger attacks one of the Slinger’s allies.
Effect: That character gains Deathmark. At T2,
this reaction can be used twice per round. At T3, it
can be used three times per round.
THE DEVIL’S EYE Trait
The Slinger ignores HIDDEN and INVISIBLE on any
character that has Deathmark.
TRUE GRIT Trait
When a character with Deathmark attacks the
Slinger, the Slinger gains RESISTANCE to damage, l
and m from that attack. Then, clear that character’s
Deathmark.
[147]
[148]