Alternity - Stardrive - Star Compendium - Systems of the Verge

7/15/2019 Alternity - Stardrive - Star Compendium - Systems of the Verge

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DEWI 18W w 18Today 20Belatu 22T ~ Ereth Commonwealth 23cadros 26Ameethon 26The Co-Orbitera 29Carldwan 32W o n 35wan 36Bran 36llrlanrhod 363637pwvtlIntarnatlonal RelationsCommDnweakh Defenses 40W m on 42

TALBOTT 4 3btw 43"ha Plannarn 43Conn&ucnon Begins 46W Steam Ahead 47Henan 48B l a h o r a 49The Foucalt Asteroid Belt 49Thorn Shipyards 50.%em Lag 52

KARNATHHuman HistoryBhruu HistoryndevLuumunK e e hAalsemunBhruusilCheeqhunThe Outer Plan&Kmath DefensesSystem LogELDALAHistoryCulture clashDanWellVillage of the Falls%v!dlRive1 91Stellar Relations 91system Lon 91

VIERONwryAt WarCorazdn de Fuega%&aAlgedrasJ e hT h e Uninhabited Planetssvstem Lon

939397101103106107108109

W C H U S 1 1 1Prehistory 1 1 1History 1 1 1TodayGovernmentEconomyIron MinlngYellow skyEmpty SpaceQchus Defensessvstemhi


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Welcome to Star Compendium:Sy~femsf the Verp,an accessory fo r th e STAR'DRIVE'ampaign setting andthe h . F I N l T Y 5 rolto STAR'DRNEr erial to build your campaign! both expans ion ofinformation and whola new star systems for

be based. There are d e a s CrmCePning tha Verge-basedgame. Wheih er you'rof it s stars, you'll find

EXplOI'E.NEWO STAR*DRIVE? w& to lakeadvantage tiIthe major m a n t i l a treffic tohd a tham travut$a the reuion at a aood clip. And thanks- , -The year is 2502, and humager a nd bigger chu nk of thehas made contact with innumas men and women dividegre at powers of the day: stehundreds, wan thousands, of sta r sys tem s.

ed e share of their interest.lar real estate, the Verge bcolonists before humanity's great civil wars dissolved ribed in the Armsall contact. %day, more than a century later, the stel-lar nations have returned to ac&aaory make those

to ~ E E W heir starships.

The Verge is a region of the fron tier that ha s attr

ry. A few mentions of mate&Equipment Guide and~their lost colonies, firm ' accessories a good ideawardheir intenthildreno hringack thent NTRODUCTI N bu;~o;q~;T,,R*DRIVE

various colonies try to deter- ate a setting and backst

should taksZittle

tion is similar%

In this first section


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The Verge is a funny place, thanks to and despite allthe attention it receives. First just a term to describe aspecific region that happened to lie on the edge of awide nebula, now "the Verge" h as become ve sted w ithall sorts of meaning, all manne r of interpretation, andall types of ambition. More than any other frontier, itreigns supreme in the minds of stellar nations as th efrontier. The media can be blamed fo r some of that, asboth newsnets and entertainment studios have focusedon the Verge as a means to portray either a place ofdanger or merely a locus fo r representing anywherethat's not in settled Old Space.The attention of outsideseems actually to act in

.

competitive, building cyclThe aggression that malpeoples of the Stellar Flitshare makes them look fiopportunities to compeland the Verge is a llkeplace a near neutral g ro uover which to express thegrievances. So when 01group becomes involvedthe Verge, it can encoura!activity from another or mctiple others, who themselvi,spawn off additional cor',petitors: a chain reaction,vicious circle.That's not to say that for ithe interested pafties,.,lifefiVeraers has become som I

THEFUTURE"What does the future hold for me?" is a iestion thatevery sentient-excepting a few exc nal precognitives-asks itself. For Vergers, daily news stories posethe question collectively.For many, it's enough to be aLison, a citizen of the Regency, or even a freeperson ofPenates. There is no state beyond that of their ownworld, no starspanning giant, that can pretend togovern their lives, after all. To their advantage, theaverag e Verge government is to o concerned with sup -porting it5 people and a growing sea of immigration toconcern itself with managing the minutiae of its

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people. Small coloniesmay not have any significant form of leadership beyond a mayor o rcolonial council, theyalso lack fo r any protac-tion against any threat,human o r otherwise.As A r r i m pour intheir money and theirpeople and their desire tocontrol virgin territoryhowever, many Vergershave come to realmneed for something todone. In some; this

inspires support of pollti.cal interest groups or --w e n ' Aemari8t ... , g r o u p s ----how easy in the years sin1 such as Concord Free'L, 'n others, this leads1111111 !giance to a singlesteuar MI irp( the Orion League,StarMech, iat they hope will play the- ole of uniting leader. Th e debatepublic forums! open Grid nets, and t2497. Althoughheir peoplmhe s\!Iolved here% an nere w e ouma6borders, no stellar nation has any illusionrabout the Verge's ultimate slgruhcance. At bsst, Efew billion people tin in the Verge, and the regorcould easily fit inside the confines of the smallest stellarnation several times over. Supportq and defenduig theburgeoning population of the Stellar Ring demands all ofthe stellar nation's resources. The crumbs hat fall to theVerge fmm Old Space are ust that: a mere fraction of a sin-gle percent of the total governmental expenditure.So the Verge stumbles on. Maybe if a single nationsuch a s the nearby StarMech Consortium- o r even theillustrious Concord-had the a n s r m free to devote itselffully t o developing th e Verge, it might someday achievea measure of interstellar significance. It's stin possible.Today, however, the Verge consists of hundreds ofmostly independent enclaves, largely bereft of $rungties to one anothar or anyone. Likm it DF Mt,change. B P a f l l l i b many bf i

lounges on every straet corner.Whet, eventually, will the Verge becomim n c GALACTICCONCORD

In m a t least, the Concord is the state that has legaldaim o administer thewe,under pmvisions agreed toin the h a t y of Concord As open space, the Verge is theConcord's to oversje as it sees fit-at least until such a timeas it decides to incorporate the Verge, or any stinto the brudars of a stallar nation.The Concord's real power to govern in theopw tq ,any number of challenges, however. SV&ga pkdates the Concords ow n existence soP


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11p)~eporter speaks of a pr@--- to form a specialht th pmt'ct8rata' wMh greater ndRpead- mivers who come to the Verge wither under thecommunications blackout that plagues the region.e to W Mm ay lnternelly and w b n Be&gpawars. The Verge governmentswould havelocally but would be ultbn&dy renponsible to the. Life without a drivesat seems unbearable to them,cut off not 1ust by hours or days, but weeks or evencOf4Clrrd prcltedOl'Rta'R adnIluistratlon. ffS R model foundIn both t$e Orion League and the h m d tself, and for months. nYg parties have indicated an mterest ina bas mdirit I@ mmess in these two stallar changing the situation. Only a few months ago,the papie of vprge VoidCorp announced its generous plan to contnbutewith it, make more likeIy its entrance anta three funchonal, if used, drivesats to Cornvale,Oberon, and Algemron. They could be deployedwithin a year. Despite any misg~vingshat some mayhave about VoidCorp or its mohves, the gdi is soimpressive, so mcredble, that It can't be refused.The Galachc Concord, despite its lunited resources,as been pressed in the last year mto promising the~nshuchon f a few mobile space stahnns "quippedwith drivesat platforms. They would function k e hefiFh&oW although Wth b m g Suarzm for ahundred or so and only 25 light-year stardnves.Hanscall for beginning their consiruction next year with thefirst activahnn m early 2504 and continuing with one

every six months una the last is delivered m 2506.Assunung all goes well with the two rutiahves, theVerge could be a Merent place to live m only fiveyears. It will also mean an estimated 25% reduction

I infotradmg, but the number of small Verge~ l o n i e s h a te s infotrading won't be disappearinganyUme soon.Hw, the arrival of unproved commu--'cations should atbad more immigrants and moresources from the Stellar Ring, bringing a rise in allirms of economic growth.

TECHNOLOGICALINDFALL

thtl'vprp poHtlcal erena wmeday.A NEWEG INN IN^

br man^ the tdaa of a new leaderahip from the Stellarh ' t worth dismsing, much less mna~daring.After&,the Vergere didn't ai@ thfs Rmty of Concord, no mat-buwhat t Jaime to aceompllsh. Theyweren't i n a d o thealgnin~ i tMe magnificent treaty, and their interestsweren'tavm li it in represented by e 888311-

11

QaoSofl l ldMdual V i Q E SyEtaRq plmm, and mlm.iiw?P#EIIl, hb&OtthXl the SOlUUDnh Others ask whe t kind Of Status SDch R VRrga State wouldw m new stat^ as the Vergeht haw a t b p t e d to dn.The pnliUcalwillan i n c r ~ d l b l ~ much Ilke theCDncord itself,dmply doesn't exktVerge. Instea& cartain proponeofs of urdficetlrmrepreemm the laqest and moet het-n of the Verge worlds, and make it

R government. Thay're spa&, ofd m ~ .Iheidea ~elpeshe l s rnr~ f how much p m r he & R R ~ V&&ad lhbtnpharHale ahnuld haw, or R Y B ~wan&.Halah an autos 88 b m t he haa a flrm wasp of ths rplneofBuG L t b m a l - d e d Vaqers wondar atdDms hat the Nlrent &d& CltlZenShawand be d d o aU Vwers should a~verarise.lhbtnph~rHaledeniclstbathe hmaster .in bsooming invnlvad in Verp ktaddip

enjoy. T h d d stlu ha w to deal with the rest d humanity,and no m wan@ to support a fourteenth atEllar net&espedally not the already-overworked Galactic Concord.For m thing,symp~th~tkm o r d a n s such as T h a whaw notad, th e Treaty of Concord, humauttfs newcovenant, containsM provisim for the ~ R R ~ ~ I I If a newstellar natloa Moreover,theprewnt om wouldn't allow anew government to rise up and dhplaca or even appropri-atathtexwngw8tsintheregion.If you listen to conaptracy hounds, the p ~ ~ t ~ s t sf pmerful Stellar naUona may not matter much at d.aranoidor prnphetlc, these chdaric few say the externals, repre-wntfng some collection of hostile aliena, wlll have theirown voica in the deciding the R W ~ E of tomorrow. In thibfuture, the Invo~vammtof humann in Wted to that ofprey for the predator, food for the famished, or slave to

what is sup&aUy a simple recomrnendaUm:

mmolg than he&&'h RE the hedsr Of OllRDfb


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Bh 12497, no serious competltion &ad to chal-enge Bluefall's amlnence in the region. fithoueh n m rirrlcidy recognized as anythhg more than another cdov,dluefall formed the nexus for Verge culture. when th eRegency announced its posftlon on an Issue,many fDflowed

iut of course, and others at least hed to teke t into accountWith the return of the stellar natlons, Bluefall has bothliminished and grown in importance. Many colonies canook o other sources for resources, aid, and supply. T h y:an also look elsewhere for the opinions of an innuentialAt th e same time,howm r , Bluefall hasf operations for most Arrivar pcditi-ant to deal with a stellar natinn'a chid

' h eblock& of the syd@ai dnavylakewlza

readola,bclthinvrss&sadepresentatives, they often come to Bluefall to do it.iegancy dossn't want to jwpardlze that special status


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Dther reesonable optlon for meeting ordars, they hawchoice but tu C the probtmhg. N&m ta

~ f iho tend to come to this m m rs thoh u m m htarin 'terrorists.'Luclrlhu:The FederalS t d B O f MgRIlWO

appearances. The sole exception ia fhe ~IU

be h i m . %day both contlnue to bad^ withut the two e t a b of Akpnuon, ltke the stellarthey are Wd, haw become concerned aboutfwrms.

the dvilwar or lDoklng lor a place to hide,the l a a t h years Spes has fulfllledthe s e m~mle Ioc dbGahrlrdteg. Mnst of these am r-aa whose deparfFm Gaivin'a sacurltg farcesta cnn&red ~~BWIIUUB, as


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1 the hatches and hide under Llson, they help a full twclwe& before they make th e call, nr beI Hopefully, n m r have to fhd out. tu hold out for that long.the &age inhabitant rd spee. htheimore, them'sdandestlne Bfforte of stellar natlm l o m g g l e a molony-compared to the@an&of AB@ that clvll war-arm6 that thsyindepandent Boreelins on I& surface, Hammer'sstar qwbm a pfor tha &ate to forge ties with other Borealinshaw e q m s a d the, ln reahy, the Galactlc Concord eleln byckhna anyway, andtheVerge and settte that p o i n b Utth dvil war formr.

o w n ohannals to d d with them-

HAMMER'STAR

the bugs pay thab next viait to Alg&man: Tha Branch C&m rd M c e Ethics haa m

GETTINGAROUNDGattlng from place to place can pome a dFor hemes, travel can become an annoyancechallenge of the &ry. Evan if they haw ready accwasterahip, ifs juat as M l y that the v e ~ ~ e lau a stercapable of only 5 or at best 10 ]reht-year &ad&. lkto cruse the Verge can be a FOCWf month at surate-not very satbfactary forbaa in a hurry.aggrawtlng.In the StellaF &,ranapDltstlrm is far eto w m y.When ~ U ' C Baurruundmdby hundmda rd weach wtth population in the billirms, ife easy to slrppddapedtranapDltstlrmindw.Inthe ypicelq n h n om, ac h day will nee a damn nreo depertures ofmerdelpeeswger&pa and anrrther dozen bulk cargolb B O ~ B xtent, there'a rurthing to be dom aboVergers might wish for such regular and dapandableIc e at that -orb, but tbe mncimlc reallties of thepopulated frWw rneke thet unrsallstle Far much oftravmle, Vmgm hew 110choice but to bearme accustmFor heroes, thrs is m r

h r MWI'S, SDmE BBfSB, tha Bvw I

HITCHINGRIDE

Eomafemtuarwltbywkchawre

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When hearing the words "relic" or "artifact" in connec-tion with a place in the Verge, the average pe rson is like-ly to think of the bizarre objects found in the SkywardMantebron Yet for visitors to the Dewi star system, theterm "relic" ha s a new mean ing. Historically, it could beapplied to the dying star Dewi. Today, it's also rightfullygiven to the system's p rimary inhabitants, members of alost but not forgotten culture: the Dreth Commonwealth.The star system consists of a relatively simplegrouping of nine planets orbiting a single orange KOstar, Dewi. Although Dewi sheds less light, heat, andenergy than does Sol, it's SIinner planets, Belatu and

Commonwealth, thereby adding a strong e lement olegitimacy to a people struggling to sunrive.Caverns of Tendril or in the Glassmaker ruins of EXPLORATION

After the First Galactic War( the Dreth Commonwealthmuch like the Anarchist Union and the Free KyrenSociety, turned its focus inward. Whrle many of thother stellar nations seized the peace dividend texpand their frontier tmritories, the Commonwealtpaid attention to its domestic issues and in ternal diffeencefi. It wasn't until 2335- a full twentythree year",a


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as the bwchtst Union, Utopia Nmv!, and e m hecornmanwealth?WMne to a culture m g g l l n g lo be t r u ~o Its rwts andyet stili reinvent Itself, thn Dewi is witnmlng theriaing of a new day for ita inhabitants. Th e o n l ~uediim isex& what wu1 emarge. Wh o wtll be in charp?Is themany hnpe for a u n h d svstem,and wlll the Cammmmalthevm h e p to be even a shedow of its former glory?

ro HELLITH THEREST FTHE GALAXY .The Dreth enjoy a sinbar advantage that very few of theindependent-minded systems of the Verge can daim In2497 the &&on, a &er in the servlw of the GalacticConcord, arrived in Dewi system.The Concord had beeninfDrmed of the system and Dreth occupation of it beforethe Monitor even left Kendai, and the poulton was dis-patched to rMew the situation.From aboard the Monitor, Michael "have &pedConcord ambassador Mred 'Ibma!ds [Hm/Concord/DTO-8) and Concord Administrator Lodiri ha Tiras(FVConcorUMW-10) the task of analyzing the Dreth cul-ture and determining its readiness to enter th e galactic fold.

The Gale& Concord hersby recrrgnfzs the independ-ence and smrei5ty of the New h t h Commonwealth,snle authnrfty w i t h the conhex of Dewi star systemAmazing as the p r o d a m a h was, inspiring jealousy in

numerous systems-Oberon, Rolemy, and Coulomb, toname only a few-the wording of the legal proclamationinspired a whole new round of debate. Since th e Concordofficially acknowledged the Dewi settlements as the NewDreth Commonwaalth, it opened wide the possihilty ofother related claims. At h t , many Dreth hoped to claimreparabns for l o m s suffered during th e Second GalacticWar.Yet the Eeaty of Concord had put aside that con-tentlous IEBUE n the interast of peace. Still, k e a ldertreaties, signed between the old Commonwealth andnumerous stellar nations, that the Concord had just allowedthe possibility of reinvigoratlng. Most notably, ulis includesthe Compact of Expansion, sealing an alllance now morethan 150 years old.

TABLE 'I SYSTEMB.Iptn Allu4wn EuidmnDewi Dewi Day i DayiG1 (0.39 gl E1 (0.24 gl 62 (1.07 g) 62 (1.00 g]R5 (650 em/hour] R3 (45 rem/day] R2 (8.2 r e d w k ] R1 (7.5r e d p )A0 (vacuum) AD [vacuum] A1 IHz, He) A1 IHz, He1W (0 atnl PO (0 atnl P5 [gas @ant) P5 Isas giant1

,s Class 5 Glass 4 Clm 5 Class 5

H4-5 (400-3600 C1 H4 (145' C) H2 (-24.4" C] H1 (-71" CJ:e 0.0033 AU 0.28 AU 0.64 AU 0.80 AU6,440 kin 8,264 kin 120,200 km 58,840 km3.47 hours 60.5 days 187 days 261 days3.47 hours 72.44 hours 25.57 hours 25.53 hours0.0"0.7702.101.37I

14.2"1.1 11814.2'0.2210

Bw*dionDewiG1 (0.57 g]R3 (45 rem/day)A1 (Hz, He1p5 (E= @ant)H1 (-161' C]66,100 kin4.11 years14.51 hours38.0"0.1114

s Class 5

a 2.38 AU

wDewiclass 562 (0.88 g)R3 (67 redday]A1 (Hz, He1P5 (gas giant]H1 (-171' C)3.64 AU49,500 !a7.76 years11.5 hours0.0"0.239

h n ArtnrhDd pwruDewi Day i DewiClass 5 class4 Class 462 (0.SS gl GO (0.06 gl GO (0.051RZ (15r d w k l R3 I34 remldayl R4 (400 r d h r lA1 (Ha, He) A0 (trace) A0 (vacuum)P5 (gas @ant) W 0 atm) P5 (0 a h )14.05 AU 18.54 AU 26.10 ALI37,500 km 5,405 km 3,660 Irm58.88 years 79.83 years 133.34 years29.5 hours 153.6 hours 59.1 hours0.0" 65.7" 35.0"0.32 0.13 0.176 0 0

HO (-221' Cl HO (-228" C] HO (-232" C)

I


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Even other Concord offtdels seamed tekan aback at the'andma's box that the two rnpreesldatlveshad opened Yetirme of them seamed wilhnn to overturn the dadrdan, andan it rdood untll ullimately r&d by tha Galactic Court in2500.Moreovar, few of the stellar natlons seemed to flnd

le@ enhanced fo&caUow n m he q u b doa't peset an obstade toDewifromto 300,000 Mlometars. Lam cmantratait worth their w k o aballrb the puhliE-relatlOns disastsrthat would d t rm trying to StrOngaFm the last basUonof Lhth sodety. Of course, erne reprewntaUve of theConcord m d o express disapproval by permanentlyAdministrator %RE end h b a d o r Torn& tothis distant comer of spew, suapendhg what lockad0 ep ~ m i s f n gar- for both of them.hst what mired the Concord delqatas to eo fawr thelreth waa and r a m a f ~ pen to wetlon. Sutwly TDmSkie

heated p an lkk o m ainhqthe planst another f@w lhDusaMfdec&rnegnetlcrdoIme.TI

Ed& w a r i h k Yet plwudacs (W about 500,000their pmclama~~n.m,hen? Torn& was, before nin&~the Concord, a RLgrmmor, and many balleve that he har-b o d a e r n e of @libout his natlon'e cooparaUon In theW a f the old Commonwealth. Mhers scoffed at the.i&n of a Rlgunmor, awn one who C ~ D ~ Eo lcdn theC ~ n c d , m O h e d ~CUM~NIW.A mcmared doc---&the infamous 'to hd with the rest nf the galaxy'nemo lbma!ds addressed to Tiras-may reveal thatkmakls imply hoped to cause trouble.Tiran' mowanone have nwer been explsined, deepiteier conUnued presence in the star system. For m m nfornatlon on the Concord and other stellar net lo^' presentavithtn the Dewi star ayntm, eee 'International Relatlona'atmr tn thls chapter.

planetquake. 6ut mmthess m m m n m n' t pnrfad A sgle mMa!a can lead to dssth ll~lB h t u Ib date, mr tbresearcham have lwt theirh.Staffsd by about a h h d m%mUab the Belatu lbatIS kqely forgotten among the apuP naws and curraevants of the Dreth The only UM It draws aththu toWis in the rare nstance of e dfredaglka near the p Wow of Dewl's e& lares. It has kppened four limathe 8Latlpn's crmsbvetnn, and ea& tlrne tha hr& hsunrhredage,tancthe sdwtlala could be

- =e'-."ka first &&I to appr--. B e h chrtatensd It with thelame of a fire-god and the spithet 'today I found all thebas of Hsll.' On the day& of Belatu, the te4nperatuFewerages in excees of 3000' C-wugh to rander ib sw-am e giant ocean of li&d matals and compounds. Forvhlle the planare interior cooled long ago, today the sup-ece contains all the heat the planet could want, and more.D ~ ~ m e del& stanrl8 in its lest davs-h astrrm~mlcal FREEDOMAIDtsrms. Like moBt plan& eo clone to t k k pmnts, it hasM now tha tides on BeWs r n b stretch and twist thejlanet an he half newer to the star feels e greater pull thanthe distant half. Withtn a &n year5, ro&y Belatu wlll betorn lo places by the stress of Dewi'B gavitp:wltb eachpwdng month, an average of h e or SIXignificant (6.0 or9ghm m d a n the venerable FUchter scale] quakesodc tha planefa surface. Milder quakue and afterahuckaiceur h o s t day , B~lah'shakw,mhey we called, me-I a r O d y of 8 wa$r o w mhenwhile, Belath perpetual nQhbida IS cool emwhtoh w ar a mHd contlnerdsl d a c e and numerous solid

CommrmwBoard @RE]. T ~ Edea p o w mlm whan


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THL, PRETH COMMONWEALTHFor thepmgress of sentient lifewerywhere, the rnonstms-dy known as I rOdCq r n d be expunged froin the g a l q '-Joshua Kanar, September 2388The Dreth Commonwealth, for all intents and purposes, isio more. It is one of many stellar nations whose eatence1s a political state came to an end in the middle years ofGW2 at th e hands of Fligunmor naval vessels and thetreachery of VoidCorp. Yet the memory of great days andIreat dreams lives on. Through music, p o w , and stories,he Dreth remember. On Dreth worlds occupied by theirlated enemies, in marginal settlements of Dreth in:oncord space, and in a small system at the edge ofiuman space, the Dreth remember.

HISTORYienerally, the development of the stellar nations followed.me of two courses. Either a corporation, government, or

private individual sponsored their creation, as is the casewith the Thuldan Empire, VoidCorp, and the OrlamuTheocracy, or the nation formed through consolidation,confederation, or conquest. Various forms of this modelcan be found in StarMech, the Orion League, the NariacDomain, and the former Dreth Commonwealth.The Dreth Commonwealth occupied space that includesmost of present-day Insight and some sectors within theRigunmor Star Consortium. But before the DrethCommonwealth existed, there was only the planet Dreth,colordzed by several hundred thousand people in the latterhalf of the 22nd century. The original expedition was spon-sored by one of the nations of Earth that had fled to Jupiter'sGanymede after the formation of Earth's six superpowers.But by the time the Dreth colony was up and running, thisnation had been absorbed into the European Union,one ofthe s a m e growing superpowem of the Sol system.The loss of a patron didn't worry Rachel Dooley, theprime minister of Dreth at the time. After all, the colonialstar system contained a rich new home and room to grow.The colonists had found no fewer than three beautiful,Earthlike (Class 11worlds within the hiary star system;Dreth was only one of them. Over the next few decades,the colony grew and expanded under Dooley's enlightenedleadership. She championed a great number of freedomsand personal liberties for the inhabitants of Dreth, allow-ing local leaders to address most needs without nationalintervention. Attracted by the prospects in the region,thousands-and eventually m il l io n s4 additional immi-grants made their way to th e Dreth star system as well asnthers nearbv.

As he largest colony, it fell upon the Inhabitants of Drethto take a leadership role in the area. They formed a con-federate state, first including all settlements in their star+em and eventually an expanding radius of star sys-tems. Officially, the Dreth Commonwealth came into exts-tence, recognized as a colonial government by the %rranEmpire, in 2258. Meanwhile, since the Dreth had no strongties badt to Earth, none of Commonwealth's neighbors sawthe Dreth Commonwealth as a force of oppression.By the star+of the Fint Galactick,he Commonwealthhad grown to include almost twohundred colonizedstar sys-tems in its sphere of influence, and thousands more unset-tled stars within the region of space it could claim as its own.The seat of government had been moved to Adalcus, closerto the center of Dreth space. Yet entanglements with theincreasingly aggressive b a n Empire had bred a strongsuspicion of centralized government into the Dreth d u r eand body politic. Even as the Commonwealth gmw in size,its individual systems and planets offered up less and lessa&ty and responsib&ty o the mal governmentMeanwhile, more than a century of independence hadbegun to mold the Dreth character. Where once the peopleof this fledgling stellar nation had little in common, someshared cultural tratts began to emerge among them. Thefirst and most important of these was a dnve for the p e rfection of the individual. The Dreth became enthralled withthe notion of personal achievement, and the socieiy gavebirth to this new philosophy, akin to humanism, but invit-ing itself to all sentients in the egalitarian Commonwealth.Just what that idealistic quest meant depended on eachperson's own desires. Some strove for athletic perfection,others intellectual, and still others looked to reform wholesodeties and find new ways to enhance cooperationamong peoples and maintah the greatest possible indi-vidual freedoms. Outside of the Commonwealth, foreignersoften characterized the Dreth as dreamers and romantics,with all their talk about perfection of the body and spirit.For the Dreth, however, perfection was all about action,and no dream of bettering oneself or the world wasworthwhile unttl put into motion.Now leading one of the ten largest stellar nations, SeanBarnes, Dooley's successor, became actively involved inthe coalition to oppose the Terran Empire, joining theThuldan Empire and others to combat Earth-based van-ny. Victorious, the Dreth Commonwealth nonetheless sus-tained heavy losses throughout GW 1, not only against theTerran Empire, but during occasional skirmishes with bothof its neighbors:VoidCorp and the Fiigunmor StarConsortium. Connick with these two nations were a ,=prophecy of the terrible days to come.


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ACCWATIOBIn Mw of 2502, a spDkeepars~nfor the Awtrln-OntlsSdmUficP i o n e m Commntee-the same organizw n thathas &en 2488 dDnated&m of dollars each year to thna preas canferpncs on F s d . W e xpres%y hls rBmarfrs in a caraiul end diplomatic m-Geoffrey Blgge @ i m / M D T O - 4 ) cha r pd that the BRBd not lived up to I ~ E ledg~ f complete and kea d l ~ c l o -f data. Spedfbdy, the Awbin c h m d that longof s e ~ m ylackout during the first twomonths ofyear ware being usad to cover secret solar &sung.Big5 haa p d hat evidence of the BRBe clandes-a w t y Is forthcomkq, end ha 8xp& thet wlthrmtand complate access to BRB data, b i ~ackared munemw othern will withdraw the& suppal of thefad&. LBslie A d a r ~ , peaking for the Em,any mngdolngand invitnd the Austrins and any

parties to an unwal cohr ence on he surfaceBelatu The rare opportuuity to viait Balatu haa alreadywln local and interstellar opiniDn f a v n r ~hesdantlsts. Aa a result, most of the other BRB contrib-have remained neutral on thls issue while thmy lookto attanding the Belatu Crmference, to be hdd inof yaw. Tha mt is scheduled to coincide withe appearance of comet Mald-Adams, a mqrazer thatpass thrmqh the narrow wlndow batween Ealatu andthen BWQ around @ddy and head out into deepmore than a hundred gwdn haveinvitation to witnegs the majesty of a Btar atdo@ range.

IMILT MINIMh e exidmnca of tons of m d , much of it fn a relathrelysla$ betwsm quakes, preeents a ternptlng targat fornew orm of i the Dewi far svstan.Atnot wen any of the s$llar netlons has pinneeredmeans to extract deb, and effldently the valuablemlnsrals frcun Balatu,but that hasnt stopped indwal teams from s d f the New Dreth states k wit.Evmy few months or so, a bam of anginaera arrives onready with some new schema. A recent PNJBUthe raptd co&g and seizuFe of a section of theocean using ~xp~mshnuparmplantsvstm mount-d on large k a h t e r a . Tractor beams and m n explosivesbeen used to pull or blast th e valuable metals away


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rom the surface to waiting shtps. With each p mittempt, the pioneers step closer to profitability; they alsoah the attention of observers from the Stellar Ring whonight seek to purchase or copy the ingenuity that the Dethforge in Belatu's cauldron.I CADROS:or all of the condibons that would mak e it m e ikely to;upport life-a nonmolten surface, protection from radiationmd geologic stabulty, among others-Cadms haswon Me ofhe attention that Belatu has. I still inhnhospitable, but in am cnnvantional fashion.Givan the presence of the more:omfortable moons of Amaetbnn and Caridwen, Cadrosleans destined to an hsi@ flcant and h d y existence.

APTHONMween the two Jovian ..--..la of Amaethon and CaridwenIes the heart of the New Drsth Commonwealth. Of course,ieither of the two $ants draws much attenth for them-iahres. At best, they reprasent abundant smcas of hydm-[en uel and a few Mbk gases. Instead, interest in thesys-em focuses on the lunar bodies orbiting the gaa @antsat the heart of Dewi's habitable band

MAE~HON'S IOR MoonoA total of twenty-eight nalural satellites have b m Umoons by Dreth ashnnomers. Of these, more than halfirrelevant asteroids that fell into Amaethnn's g r a wEven the largest of this gmup has a diameter meaaurinmore than 50 0 kilometers amoss. At the other end ofspechum, five of the most massive have enough mehold onto atmospheres of t h ~ lwn.Penance, one of these and the dosest to Amaethon,fers forever under the skong electromagnetic flslAmaethon. Moreover, much like the planst Belah,alowly being torn asunder by the gravity of tts parentOther uninhabited moons of A m a e h n incCherbnurg, the second moon, and N~LUIS,he asvmth.Penzance, they only see use as sourcen of mnaU mconcerns, as the absence of stgnlficant heavy metrrlthese worlds make them none too attrsctlw for davement h r b o u r g , in addition,has seen some BctMty asGalactic Concord has made it an oWaal base of operain the system. The Concord maintains a singh smalldotown on h b o u r g . Both the ambassador and-ator spendmost of their tlme on Fmend wurclosely with the New Dreth gweFnmsnt


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W POPULATION4,s 30,523 SENTIENTSRan 91%OrionThddanOrlamuRigunmorSolarVoidCorpConcord

nuell 9%SesheynMechaluFred

Austrin 0%Nariac 0%Insight 3%Haiire 0%Borealin 1%StarMech 0%Independent 90%Dreth 85%)Tsa 2%Weren 64'

"ALL HE FIRESOF HELL"loredm t bymg to survive on he surface of Belatu is a short-lived exercise in foolishness. Follow the standard d e s using theiRAPH system (see Chapter 3: Gamemasters in Action in the GmemasferGuide)).On the dayside of the planet,xireme H5 (Inferno]conditions prevail. Only on the coolest center of the nightside does the planet dip down into H4onditions and temperatures below 500' C. With skill checks every phase to avoid damage, at a cumulative penalty,ven characters in hard e-suits will be dead within 30 seconds, long before the problems of radiation can come into

Even starships navigating this dose to Dewi must be careful. Landing an unmodified vessel on Belatu's cool side isic!q given the planet's high rate of revolution around the star [one orbit about every 2 hours), requiring alavigation-system navigaLhn skill check at a +2 step penalty. Exposure to temperatures in excess of 3000O C is dan-e r m o starships not specifically designed to handle suchconditions. For each hour that a vessel spends within Belah'srbit exposed to the sun,each of its comparhents suffer 2d4 wound points of energy [En)damage. Meanwhile, the ves-el's armor will slowly be eaten away by the constant heat. Each hour permanently subtracts 1 point from the armor'sffediveness. A shipyard can repair th e vessel, but only if it survives the trip back to safer dimes.If a hero wants to customize a vessel spedically to survive super-Inferno conditions, it's possible to modify a shipsing technology of the day so that it can survive temperatures of up to 5,000' C with regular maintenance. Installinguch systems cost 20% of a vessel's total durability and '1,000,000 per 10 durability points of the ship.

1hy.

I I


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I '

THEDREWCOM~ONWEALTHOUNCIL THECO-ORBITEFU


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IIIIIiIII

' ' I1.

I 1%!.. 1

Frm Lousanne's or Arb' sur$ce, the R!prlmmthrllHng and man a little scary. ' b y can watch 81 theirtsr moon dmes in to only a fsw thousand ldbmtm,hgthe day and night*, e h e the affhangsa wmand the pursulng mom l m s velodty and ita qunrrytens along. Newcomars to the mons, BVBR if ulpv upstand the gravltlc mechanics perfectly, can't hdp fdab t namua about the q d a r near-mad.It's imnic that the fraquent prmdmlty behrvean thmmoon8 hasn't resultsd in b e datbns and hang bobetwarn the Dr& Uv!q on tham At thelr cheat poinsealed h a r c d rm the dtst8nm behrmen thes a w s wtthout the need for a spaceahtp of any klndbeyond the economic tr& and BxdLengs of wodaone mtght axpea, the two moon8 share tttla ebsa

LOUSANNE


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i

II


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DVENTURE HOOK:T T H E BEHESTF T H E NEW RETH O M M O N W E A L T H

Despite the best hopes and dreams of many Dreth,their coallaDn government stiU has trouble rallyingbehind all but a few Lwes. One of the passions thevdo ahare, though, invokes harassing, antagonfifng,humiliating, or in any way opposing the interesb ofthe interstellar giant VoidCorp. Yet few have accusedthe Dreth of outright stupidity; even as they wantVoidCorp to h o w who has hurt it, they need to pro-tect their assets and their modus operand. So theDreth are clever enough to use hlind operatives, free-lance agents, and wen crimhak in their efforts. Theheroes, h l y unknowns, it the bill. No one said thata quest for perfectiondidn't occasionally mean gettlngmw dirty.BACKGROUNDThe heroes are contacted, either by a regular agent orthrough a mutual acquaintance. Thereafter, aprospective employer invites the heroes to a meetingtha~an occur in the D e w i system (inChelt, for exam-ple] or even in some other star system Introducinghimself as Jeff Lakons, the human male claims to rep-rasent the October Corporation, a travel booldng com-pany that owns several shuttlecraft in the Verge. TheOctober Corporatlan is owed several miuiOn dollarsby the moon-state of Lousanne, and Lakons has a writdemanding that Bastone Apple appear before anindependant Concord court on Bluefall. Ths hemes'talents are required as bounty huntars to deliverApple, who has refused to ~ ~ 1 8 w e phe summons of acivil court. A shuttle will await them on the Torpointspaceport to make a quick e d tLayer of deceit are being used here. On the d a c e ,LakonS story stands up to some checking. He doeswork for the October Corporation, and the writ hepossesses seems to be in order, as evenAdministrator 'Eras could confirm. As delicately aspossible, encourage the heroes to accept the &ion.The next stage of the adventure invalves going toLousanne and, essentially, Iddnapping Pitme MinisterApple. You can play up this segment as much as youdesire, with advanced reconnaissance, pollticalintrigue i n v o w the moon-state's bureaucracy, andpossibly even the presence of other moon-states.Ultimately, the heroes should find their mission chal-lenging but not beyond their abilities.With Apple in tow, the heroes return, as planned, totheir shuttle waiiing to take them and their charge toBluefd There. waitinu for them, s a mu0 of more

and charged with kidnapping. After a few hours oreven daw in holding with only some short question-ing sessions, the heroes are told another story. Thewrit they have is a fraud,and the Concord has norecord of the civil court action against Lousaune orBastone Apple. The Dreth offer a deal:Mscwer thereal s o m e of this job and t e d y against him, and theDreth Cornonwealth wiU drop the charge of Iddnap-ping. Ray up tbis offer as a tvpical little-fish-for-big-fish legal drama.Now, the heroes must invmgate their formeremployer, only to discover that Jeff h n s nd theOctober Corporation are both fictional entities.However, after some careful digging and taking towitnesses, the heroes can discover that the OctoberCorporation ts a holding of Transtats Industries, ahm subsidiary of VoidCorp. Now e w y b m g seemsexplainad, and the heroes can evenluaUy identifv theman they met as leff Lakons es none ather thanVaidCorp executiva and deputy ambassador Om2323KIK [JeffreyRogers).Then they can either go afterOPE23 or take thelF temv and evidsnce to theheth and the ConcordEither way, they've been duped again-or rather,from the stari. The man the heroes met at the start ofthe adventure wasn't really OP823, but a Drethimpersonator. The whole adventure hopes to frameOB23 and VoidCorp, and the use of the heroes min-imized risk of discavery and increases their believ-ability as vdtuessas.For t adventure, you'll need to create atatlstics forBastone Apple, OP823 23KIK, and, most importanUya dozennr so personal guards [Combat Specs) for theformer. OPE23 23KK is a Diplomat (Free Agent)Remember, the Drath won't ba p u h g up a hard-fought rssistance during the i n i d stage of the adven-ture They want the hemes to succeed in kidnappingApple, and their sacurUy forces may either be in onthe conspiracy or diskacted from orders on high dur-ing their watch. Apple himself will play the role ofwounded and lost while the characters have him.As for OP823, his surprise at the hemes' accusa-tions is not feigned. To be clear, he's probably beeninvolved in operations and crimes that merit thlstreatment, but for once he's innoceni of h e charges. Itwill be up to the heroes to discover this and thendecide what to do with him

SUPWRTING CAST

- -than a dozen !&I&hers. The' heroas are m e +


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en. Today, as Ferrand has grown more and more w t h g oembrace a single powerful nrliryr g0 the rift hssgmwn.Daphne Rtce (Hf/DrethiT0-6) and Man CoreUararely a p e on ssues, and the two haw had heated puMcexchanges. For Corella, it may be m e l y an fssue of ambi-tion and the primacy of Ferrand; if the politics of the kmthever truly leaned fully back toward the old DrethCommonmalth,Bodmln would naturally edipse h a n d ,For Rice, such a goal doasnit represent M appeUte forpower, but tha chance for a Drmth cultural reinvesUture. ButB V B ~ he can't dose th e doors to the star and thefrequent Influx of immigren$ and new ideas. Nor wouldshe Iruly want to. But for her, th e oft-argued need for unf-ficatlon only masqueradee as a maam to sabotage the pos-sihutty of a vibrant Dreth Gammonwealth. In truth,Riceb B h ~ ~ e 5hat ceding additlord rights to a new g o v m e n twill only lead to corruptton and htehctual dtshonasty.

LAUCESTONLauceston, by all rights, should have attracted just as muchattention and colonization as any of the six other moon-states. Settled in the midst of the decade of revolt,Lauceston netted the fewest number of Dreth colonists, withonly a few thousand choosing to cloister themselves ln themoon's light atmosphere and gravity lbday, the bend has

continuad, and at 68,000, auceston has n mthan a dv, Tilbrlburn, o hold its p&tlcm.Legally, Leuceston has E& power and votlng euthwithin the Commonwealth Coundl. In redity, AnMayeskl (Hf/Dreth/FA-6), a formar jpurnalist who didraspondance work on d swm of the moonstatss, waher bench in most of the monthly conferences withouting more than a word. The attentlon of th e DCcnnmonwealth seldom turns to Laucaston, and thetmost inhebitants of Laucaston just h e .POMcally, the colony follows its neighbor Bodmin ht h k q ~ . h e smallpopulatlon i~ or iy known for a lndinfo r mattam martial; once upon a t h e , th e old kCommonwealth planet "burn hosted mora than e dmttttary youth academies. Om of the reaeons that Lauwhas n m rown Is that its children oftm t&a servicethe Dreth Commonwealth'ssmallnavy,and even after yof peace, they seldom return to their hrmw homes, ching a life h he Bters or on another moon.

The fourth moon of Cadimn casts it^ S ~ B S utwardwer gazing into the dtstant corners of the star nptmbeyond. Astronomically,brpoht's status an the furtharsettled world is raletlvely insignificant; only a few m


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separete lbrpoint and Laucaston, and indeed aof o d y a couple of hours separates lbrpoint andduring a COrJunetlnn. psychdo@~allynd political-, however, lb rpo!d~ tatue as Dewl system's vanguardrarely been open to qumon.The Dr& Cmnmmal th '~ e upmport, e morthlp repairs, nrW lbrpoint. So its not ethat mllttary and mal c o d e r s ultivate~ t hhe gw enm ent of Tnrpoint, even if theirlqdtiee Bttach than to another moon-state (sea

Defenses'belowl.The paopl~of lbrpnint, once &bitan$ of a h tF& colmynamed Marglow, have experienced the great-est drrvelopment and c h q e of ell of th e bath populations.Mpeople of the orb$d Marglow were hown for quietnot Unwre the people of Bodmh In the lestcentury, the people living in the dty of Afterglow and itshave bacDmR mnre extoveFted and more interest-in the polfttd climate of the g a l q around them. MDstattribute th e change to an affllclion that has shuck all

aodety to some axtmk the abandonment ofe quest for a more vieble intarsteltar sod@ in which the

can live alongaide people of VeriDUs stellar nations.the Ba th of lbrpnlnt have grown more interesteda purely Beth-based rslationshlp with nearby system.Over the years, U has always basn the people of lbrpolntfor the expansion of space under~ ~ O n W s d t hWW&@f.

e Commonwealth shava n!a ofthe DBwi ayateq but Altte Spinner (Hf/Dreth/DTO-Ei]hasfor numerous colonization attempts in nearby starThe cost of serlous effoh to expand makes theleery,and thsre's h y s he question of how toadmWster the new colony:Will e single moon-state rul~hecolony, or Win the C o d have sway?WiU additionalexpand the recognized moon-states beynnd the cur-

\ent seven?Untll recently, the possibility of comprodse onthis me was low; of late, its more Illrely. Currently, theDreth Commonwealth suppor t s coloni~sn the Tarsisand theGilex qatsmn, with plans to expand I$ sphere of Innume.In some sense, the deslre to expand emerges from ecompstltive spirit The Dreth quest for perfacUon didn't failp h , settlements, and nations. Since mod of the most pow-erful nations of tha Verp-the Regency of Bluefall, theCommon Council of Alaundd, the United &on %tR, andothers-demonstrate thalr power through expansion, somust th e Drath Commonwealth follow heir example if Itwantu to be taken seriously 88 a power in the region.The people of lbrpoint have been at the forefront of thesenew colonization attempts. The Ltquid, one of the Drethcruisers that ha s hiatnridy given loyalty to Spinner andlbrpoin\ is the only miner to leave th e Dwvi star -emon re&r patrols of nearby star systems. For months at ame, the tlgufd disappeam to watch over settlemen$ thatwould otherwise be largely undefended aqalnet thecopbnl 3 ystem of their o w n

to Consider the kU@lUg n a b Of F i V h S between pea-

adVEllCe# Of Cl%&& CW UnSaUpllhB h " e r S SRRldng toTHEL I ~ R Q L O WurrlwmMost of the traffic into and out of th e Dewl qa tam comesthrough the Afterglow starport. The beth encourage dsl-to rs and merchants arriving in their space to StDp at theport to regiElter their vessel's presence and dear customs.Each moon-state has a small staff aboard th e port and hasthe authorlv hsre to offer viaas and passes to poinis in h esystem. All the typical mnverdences of a tom center,Concord chancary, and custom center are onboard.

GWYDIONA common msdum-aked gas giant, Gwydion poaseeses agas doud of hydrogen and helium in Its outer layas, waterand ammonk in Its lnnar layers, and at Its depths e moltan

TABLE: CARIDWEN'SMAJOR OONSBmlmh L0Uent.n mCaridwen Candwen Caridwenclagsz class 2 Qms 2G1 (073 gl GI ( 8 4)R2 (16 d w k ) R2 (13 e d w k ) Fi3 (19 an/day)P1 (04 h ] P2 72 a b ] P1 (031a h ]0.24ALl 0 37 AU 0 74 AU6 270 km 7035h 7380h

62 (0 96 g]A2 IN2, 021 A2 Nz, 021 A2 (Nz, 021H2 (180 0 H2 (16" C) H2 (-5"042.8 daw32.1 ho&13.9'1.07

83.2days iii days3.4 day5 15.5 ours22.4" 4.301.18 0.97


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7APACITORS MATTER?A few of the more careless soldiers and mercenaries of the Verge mocked the sudden interest in the technology throlled out of Dreth assembly lines. "After all,' quoting one Thuldan legionnaire, 'can a more developed rifle do modamage or shoot farther?' The answer is no. But improved weapons do promise longevity and reliabdity. Drecapacitors increase the clip size of any energy weapon (personal, ranged, or heavy) by 100% . For example, armder d e owered by a Dreth lanthanide capacitor can fire sixteen shots before decharging, instead of the normeight. In combat, that can mean the difference between running empty or shooting the enemy. If nothing else, it savthe effort of frequent reloading.Similarly, a Dreth accumulator (1 dwab&ty point system) aboard a starship can retain a charge of 20 power fators instead of the normal 10. Unfortunately, few Dreth shipyards still stand A small, privately held shipyard o!des builds a few scouts and traders every year, but mostly does just repairs. Of late, demands for Dreth tech havled its owner to build a few dozen capantors every year for off-planet construction, but the design plans and engneering techniques remain a Dreth secretAs for reliabiliM Dreth capacitors are m uch less likely to fail. If using the 'Weapon Failwes'de (see ChapterGamemasters in Action in the Gamemaster Gd..],gnore any result of 'Jammed' or 'Out of ammo' for a firearpowered by a Dreth lanth cell. Similarly, in ship combat, if a system failure targets a Dreth accumulator, allow thcompartment to make a second durability chedt; with a success, the system failure is ignored.High demand and the diminished number of Dreth manufacturers have raised the price of Dreth technolog[ultiply the clip cost (or accumulator system cost) by five times.

have nsither a crushing gravity nor a high density. Long ago,such cloud layers were a popular place for crlrrpnals andpirates to hide. The &engh of a N e d Dreth MV,odayaugmented by occasional Concord presence, has madeGwydlon considerably lass appealing as a hiding place.

DYLANSornetlme in the last thousand years,interesting cosmic event-a collision wit Id,cornet, or wen one its minor moons. Since then, the plan-et has been surrounded by a cloud of dust and ice that isslowly coalescing into a ring system In another few hun-dred years, hlan will possess rings as developed asSaturn's or even famous Callin's (in the Borealis Republic'sAgralne sptem]. Then, hlan may be a fashionable t o mstop or image for poster producers everywhere. For now,Dylan remahe undeveloped

111

BRANThe flfth of five gas giants in the system, Bran barely makwthe grade. It stands just on one side of a critical graviiybaraly able to retain a hydrogen atmosphere. Forhmatelyfor Bran, the solar wind is considerably weaker out in thedistant reaches of the solar system, dow ing the smallest ofDewi's gas giants to preserve its status.Of all the gas @ants,Bran ts the most Ukely to see mln-eral prospecting someday. Its relatively low ratio of com-mon gases (hydrogen and helium] to r e m compoundsmakes it an attractive target for someone to develop.

m u c h l l k e t h e S p ~ i n t h E a l s $ m , t h ehadsuffldent-tu attract much of h s p h a r e , not evmmpamthdy t t h onas Bmund typical [3ass 1mds.Wtatmrmatkermi&haw bearme an strnosphereiniiw in a thhlaym of water andmethane ice on the rnckyet's surface. Thb, and the dust the mom has mlleaed, folapr several meters deep, w w b g much of the planet

PWVLLThe reason why the Dreth Commonwealth leases righPwyll, f all places, to the Thuldan Empire eeema clearmost constant of the old b e t h Commonwealth's alliesl'hddans mahtain strong ties to its sucwsmrMoreover, with all the generosity that the Thuldan Emhaa shown to the Commonwealth, the Dreth C o u n d lhardly refuse the request of a Thuldan ambassador tothe uae of Pwyll-at a contract rate of several trConcord dollars over the ten-year span of the lease.In February the Thuldans began cowtructing a suport, capable of refitkg and repaking capital shipPwyll. Ib allay any fears, Dreth inspectors and obaewill have a permanent statlon at the PwyU starport, abwatch and report on the comings and going of Thu

Some outsiders speculate that the Thuldana mayleave the Dreth as they are-friendly allies-and mbeyond this edge of what's generally considered the Vtu wand in a new direction. If that is true, a starportin the DBwi star system could be an advantageous toothe Thuldans to embark upon their exploration. It w

d w nd M d t q l'aft


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Ih repreeent a slurdflmt chanue in standard knpsrialdoctrlne, which for years has ocused on Bxtendinga contml of the Stellar Fhu and the core of hum-,than expandtng 8sborders ihrauuh natural Unhttmatelg for th e hhebltanta of the Dewl sy8Bm (aswell as moat othar system in the Vergm), drlvssat htatla-Uon6 am excepbndly expansha. Spread over theof human-explord pace, C o n c d resources can't tadtlethe problem here. 'Ibo much effort was into rehulldtng andINTERNATIONALELATIONS the a a ~f *e f h g &r the rav-ems of the Second Galactlc Wac M I&. it eesm rnhe ~~mpltadtiesf DFeth pnlib, r & t m with theallarthanthe cham sla$ of &ah n t d y hanks o the

prodamatIan of 2497, the D a yl sss$m haswhoUy frea of fordun fleets, fomtgn tmops, anden 'advisors'frmn the Stellar Ring. It cannot,wrnplatnly r e m $slf from their frit&.Trade, fm ons thinu, has meds the stellar nations inter-in dealing with the system. With seven habitablepreaent and aavmal &n inhabitants, th e manu-base represented here cannot be iunnred iwhen compared to any first or even second worldOld Space, but ham on the frontier Dewl is one of the topen d a c t u r i n g centera.

many of t$ beat tadrnologies and sd&w e ost, captured or dmlrqwd in a scorched-p&cy before they could be acqulred by thecnnqum. Drs(h aupmmnduaar technol-and L$ ofktmt of lenthaaida capadtar tach have kspt&y DYBT the years and wen today mtpdmnthe best&Mach or any other naUnns hdwlrias havs to d h

ALONEN THE DARKD s w i star -em is one of the many aptems in thethat does not as yet posaesa e drivaspace canmuni-

relay atation Communicatlona to and from the sgs-on nfDtrading starshlpe to carry dl mnE of data:massages, business communiques, fiaandalnews, and entertalnment. On l y in the ramm e r twice in auivanyear-whanthehappens by does th e q%hm have full andtmmedlate access to the interstellar Grid.Almost all of the data traffic to the Dewl system c a m son the Awls q%hm's &weat and Grid. Given the dilep-condition of networks there, the ni!uatton far thesystem is gVBn w n m by comparisonTha Dwtqaimm, like meny othm,has appeaiad to the

Concord to construct a drhraspacs crmnunicatians

&ly that drhresats may arrive in the Verge t h r q h theve& to cm?ivalq obemn, and Algwnrnn But ire unlore-ly e VoidCcup drivesatwill be seen ham anytime noonA pant fmm he h&ht goVERlmEnt sBBms more m yMany Dreth live in Ensight ~pm,nd th q actively atd thatnation in oppoahg the further expansion of VoldCorp Innu-a n c ~ . egahtinm CmrtiMe with Insight reprasentativm, butham racently r&d the stage of 'when' rether tban 'If! Byall estlmatsa, the two partlea will agree on a delivery datasmnetlrne in latn 2503 or early 2504. As for the Thuldans,the progress of Inseer nagoaatlons hasmade the h u e moot;Stiu, he Empfre's delegatton to the CDmmonweaHh hasmadeno s e a t that it would be willing to Hnance a & m e t h e e

and other f o r m power^ far SaSlSr to Imder- b e n e v h a of VU-, which has o f b d o d e h ri-

Moramr, with the collapse of the old Dreth nhauldthe bqahhgwithLLS1ghtfail

As l ~ l swncord has twunuauy oennao me n u m tu &r-nattanelralathnainthe Dawisystmq ith also h rg d apreaence to encourage nwcDnfrmdatiDnel powth andexcharge. An embessy has bean opened on Ferrand, thefourth moon of Amasthon, c-nang ita gPowlnu -e asthe capital and leader of the sewn CO~IIII~S. For BrianC o d a , the placement of the embassy demonstrates thattherest ofthe galaxy cnnnidarahimthe de factoleadar ofthe New Dreth Commonwealth. h u c h s the rest of thegalaxy cares, hta presurnptton m ay be correctEven so, e well Concord Blzlfidal envlmnmwt has beancmnpletsd an barrenand a k k skm ,he wwnd momof Amadwn Thfg follows what seems tub are& hmdof the hncord to &abM ad oothold in V a g~ w h & m r o n a p ~ n m m , o r ~ a t a t l o n A s i ntherest oftheb,heCDFmrd 8$1ionhmw !a mtnnmmmmd at a & dlstanca mmthewd-populatedcdonklh oncord tlauaeniesmanly a fmvveda in tha system,and thesa ars mDsup ccuritlrs and kensptir$. Most of thetime, the dInngEst OlnCDrd lntbrypmenca in he qmtmn aa e m t or an w d d w w d , and wen thesa atay ndylong EmDughtoredurrgethafrBteFrmvesandcmmnm mwfth

'*


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I

I

RWl@)' haW b w &d, and mat Of the at& ll&M mads6 Vth S Dhave availshletarrkwytobargainm.bmakls them e c d u y m,~ v a n l a a w ~ m m t o f t h e ~ n t a r a c ~ u ~ w i t h t h e ~ t o ~ a s .nd thalr irderssteAnothar taak fur Admfntstrator Was Is to the VoidGFp sxecutlvwdaty of all visitors to the Dawi system, Arriver or Verger. ble, VcddCoThe Concord ie th e n a t d agancy for travelers to ea& bayonr e b e or aid tu th e want of a dispute. The met difficult redcame to date involved th e exh-adtthn of a VoidCwp drawnnoreE h p l ~ ~ pho had the tameritq to leave hlmsd vulnera- b s .bla tohth dtlzens and their gDvarnment

STELLAR NATIONS THETHULDANMPREWith any chance of reallymving tuatailed by theConcordand public opinion, repraaantahs of the stellar nationshave had to adopt a different tack aa they hope to exploitthe Dewi system and tts lnhabitante. Indeed, moat h w ein the system represent small indepandant corporationsfrom the S t e h Ring, wing about the businese of tradingc o m m ~ d i ~o andfmm the Drath in the system. Eventheoffldal repraaentethres of hdgn states seem m e aler-satsd in inhading with ths Dreth economy rathar thansteldng any clams of Soverslgnty.Mher fartore beyond the economic one make thta starsystem interesting to stellar natlrms. Cast off on oneuncrowded edge of the Verge, DEWI ie a kely hrmchtnepoint for future exploration and colordzatlon-a charactaria-tlc more often assodated with the Hammer's Star spbmOf c o m e , that's why the CSS has settled here.Thanke o the Galacac Concord's inferventton, there hasbeen relw little orgardzed acbvity on the part of stellarnatlm tu th e Dewi systsm Plus, as Drath representattw-9address foreign mWatPra and dds@w they are qutdc todamand racognltlon as represantaths of th e Naw DrethC o m m m a nd o demand the recorntion of any pre-viously negotiated agreements. Drath succa~~n thta regardcan I&be described aa mixed. A# tolerant 88 the stellarnatlnns ham hem to the thy republic, most haven't beensager to Indulge tu renewed prarniaaa of auppoat, mutualdefense, and bade guarantew. If for no other raaam, th eddEg&S of the stellar Ring are bath to demonstrate twmuch favor to the Dreth &C E it could matB &rder q a e -tatlone in pthar Verge cobnlas and gllvenmenta.Thus, the s t e h natlnns have chosen a frl~ndly,helpfulpdinlwithth@N~~DrlrthCommonwaalth,whilestilldeny-ing any Dffldal rasponsibiltty or obligation. With a d pack-agee, h b p m e n t programs, and favorable economicagrssmanb, ~tallar atlnns as varlad as the Drionhap,

Mhly structured space. TheMa&, and expr ws d h ead d rewste

p o d has little chance of

f

Thuldans b emdr on he Duter shes

Dawi system has ya to becoras dear. '&& dsgadexsmpltflad wwtn th Drsth thmnw

L


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BDIRI BA Tim1

ir l


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.

VI QI m edd status amon# many of the Srertul and pppd81- n a ~ ~OUU ndt render It ImInune to IndepEIdRIrecently, the return to the b qest,theDawi sy5tem hasnetrar been &on& infhranced by nation assets-espedally thopanother of the Verge gwermnen$. Buelnass and trede with cnntlnued ag~ressionn Hamma'sstabla for decadea At the samu time, relatlrmsbehrvaan Dewl have inagassd the nsed for d hand mat of the spgtemshavemrbeen pwttcdarlywarm.Why have the Dreth and other Vergers hed such a itfl- ~ J Is one of the fswcult Um e g%lUngm? the eark days comph is s y ~ t fensive rekg (Me !hpimmcDmpetinginter~of~arnatlrmskaptmany..le 4: he VW n the SPARI)RIIR:campatp -1 ABBut been the w e or decades, he b6ckbone of the mkmby four military cruhrere, m becmd Gdaetlc W~F . he U&, ths dcrash w&,a had Vm h d on lbrp&t, t v p l d y @ow8k Sass0 of LDlleat Meanwhtle both

la from any of the ma

AB@, Algemmn, and even more distant Tsndrllhaw been smd SxtSl'Ud spedes 8ppar1

oast only a small defense fcm nmen andwmm, montof wdouble as mnetaba and peace offlceraThe rxuhere also play e Wor role in the internaltlcs of the Dr&h moon-statm. While they've nwerin actual military aetlans, the fad that each ofee to one of the Dmth moon-s8xplnM && mar space. CoreUa, for mm

meetkg d e d by the V e p Cwfedaration in rfmponse tothe d~strudbnf Hammer's Star-and the continuad cool-n888 betwean Dewi and the rest of the Verw is sxplalnad.COMMONWEALTHEFENSES

The other dtsedvantaa that the remota emsVerge d e r under is the need for organized dearmaments and streteglee. hlB cruisers.

r

andthousandmorunlikely to &E&& smheyam

take some d w h t in b&@g a feseshsyana,dtlzens of theVoidcmp,in turn,has re

e avatlable ram for saxchanm of e d d c , mthe Dretb Cmnmonwedaffordha them status of mhistem of culture from thstate of V&Corp. The actic isnot .;uithout smne mmedic value 8s& nfants-anu are greded as HonorahlMhistee of 14th-CentuFy R and thek.he Galactic Concord apparenthasn't found time to rule on many to believe that it may never deal direc


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ADVENTURETHESEEHEYAN h l U r O AAs noted in the sfdebar The Sesheyanway that the ba th cast gleeful spte etgranting dtizansbip to hundreds, eventhe Mtsoms We Dreth state, and has deddedsteps to remedyther i t tuet ipnbydsr ingthegmund "S8sheyanRailmad' too perilnus to @averse.

assault mew to find the seaheyam and

such rescued reiugees, these threeteered to assist their still-enslaved only begun. Mer imrsstigatlon, they should begin to

its protocols, and its endorsament by the Drernment, the VoidCorp sesheyan agents eretion to strike.

BACKGROUND

way fmmTmdril to Dewi.Unbelolownstto he heroes,

stops along the way [with88 the Gamemaster dmfres).

Llmvdul until theh eaches TkrEIs,mts lheir arrival The W W 'to dockwith the EImysrandme

I

I /,/

(


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1who can datm to be'part of skneihing the Dreth once had,and sUU dream of.N l u u n c o k ~ ~

Uaimlng an insufferablezens, th e Nariac Domain made an offldal request of theGalactic Concord and the New Dreth Commonwealth to signa decade-long lease for the use of the planet Cedros. Whileth e requset ah ow led ged th e relative worthlessness of theplanet, it is dea r that the NarIacs are &ply desperate fore place to call thel own n this reglon.The Dreth Commonwealth Cound 's reply waa swift and&&They immediaisly forbade th e of anyNariac colony or government colony t in theBS part of the New Dreth Commonwealth. 'The puppets ofVDidCorp &d ave no dominlon hare, read the pressrelease. Nariec diplomats q r e s s e d outrage at the accusa-tion and the public means by which it was delivered Whilenot q ~ c t l n guch UCCRBS, they plan to appeal once againto the Commonwealth, and to the Concord.LQUID TO DRETHOMMONWEALTH:'THE PHANTOM SHIPS ARE BACK"Last week interplanetary travelers heard an interestingcall on a public radio frequency. A young man's miceC ~ Rrough, and in squeaky and excited re@sters pro-

COnflneS Of the Dewl Star System or any System reco@zed

Somaone w l h e radio transmitter dedded to play aniujoka, and the government w-d jnvestlgete the impropeof publlc ChEMElS.ADMINISTRATORi w NAUSEBY SESHWAN CUISINE

While many AdmM skatore have become known faforthright and dlrect deallngs with other culturesspedes, the heal, including AdmhWrator mas, genly exercise e great deal of diploma!lc @&pmtte.wasn't the case at a Dreth elate diMer earliar thin wture who wished to express their thsnks tCommonwealth.Soon after being served, AchWsirator &as becpale and rose Io excuue herself, only moments beforeLap- to the ground, h d y egurgltallng the contensesheyan dining. It makm for spectacular viewing, edally glven that I one of very few holnrecorheal, as e local n m utlet put it, 'tossing her

%as was taken to a ne& hospital and releasedthat Bvening h e health AE for th e ~asheyansseemed sad, but not offended; AdmWtrator Ttres alrmade the humornun sugge-n that she hopes to by eand this tlme avoid the bidngbl firworks.

thrDwn at the behest Of RBverd 8RshVan mlnlsters

rhE TARSISYSTELocated about three light-years away, the W star system houses the most populous mtflernent of the New DfsCommonwealth outside of Dewi. Like the other four small sdements set up by the Dfsul (Thorn Malova, Sobeand Goddard], little attention IS given to the Tarsis system. Arrivers mostly ignore thetiny system untl a r m cof note or population of size can be found Vergers have enough to concern hemselves with, and the I3raCommonwealth's rate of growth has languished, concerns about the Dreth kig spreadkg rn shpikmt armhave diminishedSome eight thousand sentients, mostly Dretb, live on he worlds that &t lhts, an M4 tar. Most of i h % ~ ~welon Kliot [G3/FlZ/AZ/P3/Hl], a large, cool C l a s s 2 world thars the best Tamis has to offer of .Aearly as the settlement of the Dewi q-stmn during the Interbellum, the sy&m drew tbe a u m h of DretDreth forerunnersexplored Tarsis and Dewi simultanemly.The choice was made to colonka Dswi instead of l Wbecause of the vibrancy and stability of so many near-Earth mom.Now, that hiice seems to nrperslng itsell, withe population of Tarsis growing faster than that of D e w i Much of that QT&, though, cow from independenand unpatriated Vergars looldng for a safe place to maka a new start.Industry on m ot is slowly growing. The heavy metals so abundant in the p h d a nvst nvite e x p b i i n ~nd thCommonwealth has put out a call, at the b k t e n c e of Mta Spinner of Torpoint, for skilled and prnksional manufacturing experts. The move is sure to irritate Arrivers and stellar nations that want more Verge systems as me

ts for their own goods and as places to grab raw resources, not Verge systems as SOUPCRS f competition.


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Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Especially when it's anartificially genera ted ignorance, a conspiracy of silencecreated by sentient minds. Such was the case withTalbott. Only a few months ago, the only people whocould readily reveal the star Talbott were a few stellarcartographers and astronomers working in the Verge.Today, than ks to the leadership of four pioneers, that hasall changed. hople from Alaundril to Spes have heardthe name Talbott an d its crowning echiavement,Thorn.It's understandable that Talbott went ignored byhumankind for generations. The dull red star, an M9-classed dwarf, has little to recommend it. The star itselfis only barely worthy of thename.Moreover, none of itsplanets ere inhabitable.They're light worlds, too; anyvaluable minerals or heavierelements lurk deep within theplanetary crusts, making ittoo expensive to mlne them.All of thaee conditionsmede Talbott the ideal low-tion for a secret operatioNeither Vergers nor Arrivecame to Talbott, and whino one was looking, ffflclever industrial ists buThorn 5uperpol.t Shipyarin ten short years. And nothat the galaxy knows of Iexistsnce, the system wnever"be Wd 914!$$mflP1f r o m t h e S d a r e and tlRegency to private e ntreprn e w s and pirates wantspiece of the action.

expansion. A century later, the Nariaced truggle tocetch up with the achievements of otheraAfter Talbott left his namesake,no one made starfall tothe system-or made a record of thair trip, at Isast-for156 yaars.

THEAMBITIOUS PLAN

I :1

In 2489, he destruction of the Silver Bell colony inHemmer's Ster ehpok the people of the hrge. It wasshortly after evmt that an enterprising-andwealthy-mechelus busin ssew oma n named copilTemma put together aplan to build a secondshipyard in the Vergethat could produce capi-tal-class ships. It wasn'thard to foresee a futureof struggle between

Virrgrps and whoever hadattacked Hammer's Star.This level of tensionproved even more trueoncE the Arriwrs beganto show up after 2497."'uggle demanded th ettnu nm t3 of war, even

,'atbs.In the 26th wn -

HISTORY-.-z

aged no return visit to zhrfour hopasteroid belt. Thmwwere dozens ofcolonization or exploitation withii th

which to build effectively


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' . . . . > - -. . ", ..e,:.', * ::; ',

. .

M wealthy a# %mumI lave been, she estimated thatshe had leas than 5% 0. m n e y she would need to ptthe project r o b g and the conatructlon of the Shlpyard~underway. So % m a began doing SOIIUWI# ~ R Malready known for: getting invwtmvl and ~ E F ~ I R ~ So shamthe capital costs and the profits. She began lntervlewlnelikely individuals,ho private conferences with many of"le rich and famous n the Verge"he flrst p m o n h a ro )i indeberg.

At th e time, h i e b e r g s m d as the VPof ShlpOperatlona at Ion Productions, the Alaundril-based corr d o n that would be Copt l Tmma's competitor.With agle &actton, h a rabbed a brilltant managertechnlcal expert and dealt a severe blow to SWluiammon's company. Deliwring that blow pleaLindaberg, who had hls own remow to dislike hls CEOh j i Lindeberg didn't bring more than a cmph of t ddollars in wet s . What he had instead was the h l a d

rABLE 5: TALBL SYSTEBB1.dnnm FrmlTalbott TalbottClass 4 class 5GI (0 60 g)R2 (2 r e d w k )A0 [vacuum)W (0 a h ]HO (-214' Cl1.05 AU18,740 km878 days 8 2 1 years9.0 o r n 14 2 hours31 3" 8 1"0 4 1 0 16


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I


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r r r m ~ ~ ~AN DERKADESHAREHOLDER, THORNNDUSTRIESIIFX 11 (01 W IL 12 (01CON 1 0 PER 10Durability: 10 /1 0/ 5/ 5 Action check: 13 +/ 12 /6 /3Move: sprint 18, run 12, walk 4 #Actions: 23eaciion score: Ordinary12 Last resorts: 1I l l hAcrobatics-def 14/7/3 d4s/d4+ 1 /d4+2s L1/0Laser pistol' 14/7/3 d4+lw/d6+lw/d4rn En/O

'-d4 base situation dieD d m ~ n sh o r : none (LI), one (HI),one [En)IkillsAthletics [E]; Awobatics [l ]-defensive [14J Zen-g [14J.Modern [l ]-pistd[14h Vehicle [111-space 1141;Stamina[101-endurance [lZ]; Business [12]-corpurate [14Jaut [18]; Knowledge [12]-cumputer [13J languaga:Standard [15hSystem Operation [12];Tacks [El-space[14]; Awareness [12]-intui17m [15];Sbeet Smart [12]-criminal [IB]; Deception [lO]-bl~if f [ISJ bribe [ lSJgamide [IZ]; Interaction [lO]-bargain [IZJ charm [ lZJinbmidate [lS];Leadership [lO ]-c um an d [ lZ].This Solar has witnessed every turn of fortune the vergecan offer. A decade ago, he called seven pirate &ips hisown; a bounty on his head made him more than worth amillion Concord dollars-even before the Vergers knewwhat a Concord dollar was. Yet his personal fortune eas-ily eclipsed that meager sum, and after making a ! d i n gin piracy he decided to go legitimate. He paid off certain-ly bounty hunters, bribed a few legislators, and made apublic apology. Suddenly, he was a respectable business-men w o r h g for Redman-Smith 'hading Corp.Van Der Kade can't deny that Emma has a good eye ford e n t She wanted snmeom who could get things done, andshe realy didn't need to !sow the details of how it got done.Even better. In the early days,Van Der Kade served as thecompany CFO; his real job was to keep the flow of suppliesrunning into Talbot %*, his job is more nebulous.He's onthe ThornBoard of Directorswith 5% of its stodr But his realjob is to act as he head of a corporate counterespionageunitThat makes him he enmy of men like Stefan GalouniVan Der Kade derives little pleasure from his workthese days, an d he longs for the excitement of a newendeavour. He stays for one reason: Sometime along theway, he fell in love with Copil Temma. He has never toldher. But in watching her for five years, he has also divined!met, and now he keeps both hers and his.

CONSTRUCTIONBEGIN?I

the W supply shtp landed onD&Ue, an aatamid thatto s m s the conshcthn team's h a a d p ~ a r hwar


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TALBOTTOPULATION18,878 SENTIENTSHuman 97%Orion 11% Auswl 8%Thuldm 6% NariaC 7%Orlamu 5% Insight 1%Fltaunmor 9% Haiire 5%Solar 6% Borealin 6%VoidCorp StarMech 13%Concord Independent 19%Alien 3%Sesheym 5%Mechalus. 39%Fraal 12%

T"" 771


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wuld p r m prohtbitive to life. With an averagehsverlng only 80 degrees a b m absohtaanah ia a frcnen and weless ball of rock glezad&at ITA& heve been an atmwphm.BLACKMORE

mi d i E Bledrmnrs,d mIbswSrairrce lrnd~ D D t n c m m ~ ~ d . l \ l m o e t

and W S r B a I i y M dlrerreasDnt0 vl8yTHEFOUCAULTASTEROIDBELT

the dearth of an interasbg planet in the svsteun,ed the Bxpeditinnto focus on the smaller rocka andof the Foucault ABtamid Belt not jut for secrecy,for ease of we.No ship bullt or refit at the Thorn hip-needs to negotiate the dangars of abnoaphsnr entrywaste fuel acbiwim~ scape wludty. Thorns advertise-to ths Verge makes just such s e h g potnb-bahshatg ht at the Alaundrll yards.Foucault Is a fairly dispersed belt without a 5sat deal ofminerals or metals to recommend It Metals canneed refined metals and dura&& not raw iron,cop-or alumirnrmorme. h a ants to m d SUJl re5nar-

s somwhe nearby and decrease her CorporeMonson outelda sounes, but for MW she has toon proving the Thorn ShipyaMis profitable.88 aaterrddshave in common a dark skp,with theMBn g h .74 W awqc None ofthem have an ainmphera,

M t s L l l p m & mnstdarlnethatthe~ m e e s u r e s1,000 dlmmtmm%1ndmdmesses less hanhalf of eIttakapjwl rn yeers for an as$rnldkl corn-w & T a l b ~ ; t h epaceyards keep ~ p ~ -a b f astmtdsbyorbbg at the

DEUU

foun4.hut WminlngOCarrsyetinthe belt. The sblp-

re

not tha shipyards,snrwdas home to the irst humanso live in mot!,and the loneiy estmdd remains home tov i sh r s t0 the klbottayatam that dont wurk $rThOmhe estemid%chnically*dto m srarddmcw of

thEfI-8 batter kMwn Mw as the moet OvqlrlcedtntheVerge. Amom ltttle b i ~han a mf-andwwlJustas few amdW cps$ upwardsof8400 perq l m l e m suwdv -gokUp the C h O I E aband pay about the m e mount-par m d h .

R C l l p O r a $ hOU&lQ W I l p b X S Sheve baeD hllh bib

KOJI INDEBERGVP, THORNNDUSTRIES,d8 human T.eh OpiTR 11 f+11 INT 13 101IEX 10 i+ij WIL 9 iojON 10 PER 10lurability: 10/10/5/5 Action check 13+/12/6/3love: sprint 20, run 12,walk 4 #Actions: 2leadion score: Ordinary/Z Last resorts: 1U(PdrSnamed-brawl 12/6/3 d4+ls/d4+2s/d4+3s Imm ch pistol 12/6/3 d4+lw/d6+lw/d4m HInfanrarm o r : none (Lo, one (HI), none [En)ik ik,thletics [ ll] ; Unarmed [Ill-brawl [lZh AcrobaticsIO]-zero-g Its]; Modern [lO]-pistol 1121; VehicleIO]-& [l lJ land [llJ space [14J,. Stamina [lo];miness [13]-corporafe [16h Computer Science [131;nowledge [13]-lanpage:Sfandard [Ifi]; Navigationl31-sysfem [14J drivespace I 1fihPhysical [13]-physjCs1 ih System [13l-engineering [ZU]; Technical [131-howledge:sfarship cons&uction [ZZ];Administration+management 1131; Awareness [9]; InteractionIOl-bargah [lZJ charm [ l Z ] ; Leadership [lO]-impire!4].oji Lmdeberg, they say, runs a tight ship. Probably thengle greatest reason for Thorn Ind M es growing suc-3 s in th e Verge marketplace, Lmdeberg served Ionlrodudions and Scott W iam son well-until Copil Temma,ea!ized just what an asset Lindeberg was. With years ofqerience in yard management, Lindeberg might haveZen the only man in the Verge capable of * on therojed of the Thorn Shipyards.But no man is perfed, or can work under perfect con-itions. The strain of bringing the shipyards online soffit, and producing vessels so quickly, has worn hardI Lindeberg. Of late, hes forced into the role of crisisianagement; not a day goes by when he doesnt haveI respond to one emergency or another. Most of themem from Thorn itself, and while Lindeberg could oncetribute it to w o r h g the kinks out now hes begun to~ubt hether hes done the good job he was hired for.:ost people believe that he has; hes the miracle work-. that keeps the place going. All the same, hed defi-,tely love the chance to relax a bit-or find a capable;sistantor two that could take som e of the workload offoi his hands


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x.

ZL. ..Albert Van Der Kade daimed ZeHr as hls annualbon2499. Since than, he haa reladed hls parsDnal m i dthere and mounded It with tmms, guarde,msora. When it cmm to in!m&n~, eflr m y a bdefended than th e shipyards hemselves.Knowing a p o d tbjngwhanthq saw it, most of fheDelllle to Z&. Van IlerHade lilc8s It thatwq tw; i8 inal sacurtty teams flnd it e a s o watch o m he hpurcompany leadere whw thay'm eatharedh ne piece.

CHORN SHIPYARDSA dlstant gravltk scan or radar pulse of WS aecticln osystem might never reveal fhe shipyards to be awmom than another of the Foucault Belt'sml8Bhapmm

mclm exBcutlves, ld*i$nma WdBrWk mrnrad


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CMAPMAN-CW TRADERIrhnents: 6 Dm 24ver Retlng: aSpeed: 2 AUhour>ant:Plasma cannon (turret]4/8/16 Mm d6+2w/d8+Zw/d6+lm En(e)/ALight neutmnlte (0 ur) d60,6(W,6 - 1 0ter: Good computerww, ood dedicated battle,navigatlrm, business,defenses, and sensor computers

5: Hyparmagnetic anginsMass reactor rated for 10 power factors5: Security (0 ur]

ACE: 1 MppBerthing: 6 crew

35: StEdti7 shierd, Stardrive mmbler

5 ughkyearsper starfau

-t s r t n r I R p / h lCommand C d eck [O/O]Stedth&nld (2/2)Multiband radar (O/O)Mass &@or (1/0]EM detector (010)Radio ranscshrer (0/1)Reentry capsule [O/OlAiflodc (om)Good computer cow (2/0)Engtneerlns HypsnnagWc englne (416) E4/14/7Autosuppart unit (011)

A d a r Y 8/8/4Autosupportunit (011)Weapon#Crew crew quark5 (1/0) rill,Stardrivescrambler (1/2)Autocargo (2l.2)

lap.1.I ~ 4 ~BweP fm )e Damesecannon 0 4/8/16 En [e] d6+2w/d8+2w/d6+lm 3

3d with a steatth sMd and a stardriv~~hera ha shtp os or vmere its gdng. AU the tedfnolow do=le& sen the chepmaa o those to whrrm theBIssessuchthblgs.listcrtstforths not lrlcl* WfiahnrRrbrlbss or doc-1,000.

d, bit's abmy q s k m and busy governmmt

-&cturine required to hdktaie its p&, is

II


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\


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TARG~CLASSYSTEM DEFENSEOAThmpartrnents: 8 Du r : 404aneuver Rating: -1:mise Speed 2 AU/haurh e n t : lasma cannon turreth g e : 4 /8 /1 6 Mm d6+2w/d8+2w/d6+lm En[el/Aaunch tube w/ 15missileslefenses: Good damage controlh o r : Medium neutronite (4 dur) d6+1 [Lo, d6+1 (HI), d6 (En]:omputer: Good computer core, Good dedicated battle,hgines: Induction enginelower:Mas5 reactor rated for 20 power factorslrive: nonelatches: Security (0 dur)

Acc: 3 MppBerthing: 12crew

(15 PLA)

engineering, navigation, sensor, and tactical computers

w Cnaplulmmll- Command

-2 Engmeering 1Engineering 2

j- 6 Engineering 3

7-9 Weapons 110-12 Weapons 213-16 Crew17-20 Crew

sy.1.m @u/Rw) hpGood computer core (2/0) 12/12/62 Marginal computer core (O/O)2 Multiband radar (O/O)Mass detector (1/0]2 EM detector (O/Ol2 IR detecior (WO)2 Radio transceiver (0/2)2 Laser kansceiver (0/2)Mass transceiver (111)Good damage c m l ( 2 / 2 )Reentry capsule (O/OlAirlock lO/O]Mass reactor (4/"]Autosupport unit (O/l)Mass reactor (2r)Induction engine 15/51Stabilizer [1/0]Autosupport unit (O/l)Induction engine (5/5]Stabilizer (1/O)Autosupport unit (0/1)Plasma cannon in turret (4131 8/8/4Launch tube and magazine (4111 W8/4

Mass reactor [W] I

Crew quarters ( l / O ] 2/2/1Crew quarters (I/@ 2/2/1mis is Thorn's entry into the potentially lucrative system-defense mar-cel While tensions in th e Verge remain high, systems look to defendmgheir own territories."be Taqeclass system defense boat is designedo fill that need. It is not fitted with a stardrive, but it can be carried tolther systems aboard larger craft As yet, few orders have been placedit Thorn, a situation the executives hope will soon change.


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Fate never intended the h t h em for hum anity Yet EXPLORATIONfo r tha last 167 have proventheir tm ci ty , tha k matiVitY, and their CaPdtV forThdwade the a re*if not P&@, home. That's not an uncommon pa ra h ofpmgrem in the Verge, but here that m - l eggad marchthrmtens to trample over a four-lageed destiny.The K a t h ystem consists Of a sing10 F5 P wSt= orbited bu 13 mckv Worlds. InterestinglX none ofits many planets attracted much material out of thegiant molacular cloud durin g the early avolution of thesystem. As a result, they never accumulated the grav-ity to hold onto thalighter gases (hydrogenand helium] whenKarnath ignited and itssolar wind blew theremainder of the cloudinto the distant reachasof space.Most of these planetam nothing mora tha.barren chunks of ro ccast a d d in th e :-*-planetary void, bi

its man and The early yews .ofhwnan hiatpry in the Harnath sytem wma written by the ~ p l o y g e s f v o ~ c o r p .years of the Intarballurn wara good ones for th e co.poralion: P b f i b had m Wprmedmtad higand rgvmtlea sontimed to rise in naw markethroughout explored apaca. VoidCorp institutad man' n m ro gra ms an d r a y vgnturga as a result. T&gprt in the a@oration of the Verge bec&,-,g the pON deleted),who funded numunknown reaches of th e frontie~

of I h m a t h

of

. tations of succefare high. Long-distanetronomy had revealedozen planets ce white star, anAappeared tarre!

ather than gaseous. U any n t p had a reasonabharica'of posse ssing a ha:ab b world, b t h id

uniqua characteristicit and decided its fate.

the now-classic scenario of colonization,abanresettlementj the history of othen, Such ascomplicated and unique.From the anthropocentric, perspective, thegreatest potential value-istlers had no idea what thknow that tlbeyond their:k in the S santii The na


56/130

The VoidCorp team had prepared well They'd secretlyobserved and fistened to the npedse' NstDms and lan-/guage. They even wme nose filters. But it wes M use.Despite hours of psychologically tested dialogue, the firstconference with a poup d ifeform vex 885792 endedp m Y , at least from the pmpecthrs of M5422 4SnOK,now Chief ExecuavS of the Karnath I)welopmant D M o n .T h dtsplaw of power and descriptiDne of fantasac oppor-tunftim offered by the cpmpanv went en wd a~ in any

LTABLE: KARNATHYSTEM

LvlnnurnDewiclass 4G1 (0.47 g)R4 (100 remldavlA0 (vacuum)

lMvunDewiClass 4GI (0.63 g)R3 (50redday)A0 (vacuum)W (0 a b )H4 (300' C)0.48 AU6,812 km128 days34 days49.4"1.180MnchunDewiclass 4G1 (0.63g)A0 (vacuum)W (0 atm)H4 (300' C)0.48 AU6,812h128 days34 days49.4"

R3 (50 r e d d a y )

AdamnunDewiclass1 cIass1GZ (0.99 g) 62 (1.04 01)baniPlanetary ClassGravityRadiationAtmospherePressureHeatOrbitalDistanceDiameterYearDayAxial TitDensltv# Satellites

W (0 a h )HO-4 (400" C)0.24 AU5,580h45.3 days198 days4.901.070=-+nDewiClass 4G1 (0.47 g)R4 (100 r d d a y )A0 (vacuum)PO 10 -1

3

HO-4 (406' C)0.24 AU5,580h45.3 days198 days4.901.070 1.18

. .


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IIi

wtthln VoidCq (which would c o m to cd It treaMore and more of Its w h t mployees gave away sinformatlm and sabDtaged important plans.As the decades rolled by durlng GW2, aven Volcouldn't remainunaware of data le& and internal stra number of h&ht agmte c m u under suspidm Muthem fled to distant c o r n of spac

Documents

Alternity - Stardrive - Star Compendium - Systems of the Verge