The Legions Of The Imperial Sovereign

Spindle by Juan Ochoa

The Empire's armed companies are legion. The greatest of them have endured for centuries. The General of each Legion has a Spindle - one of the ancient, self-aware battle standards that precede the Empire itself. Some have more than one.

The equipment and roles of the Legions vary enormously. Some are essentially standing armies; others are elite guerrilla forces; still others function as assassins or secret police. Weapons vary from ancient (swords, spears) to archaic (gunpowder), from contemporary (blasters) to WMDs. Most Legions also have magical/psychic resources. Legions often have a mix of a few of these.

***

The Chromatic Legions were established at the foundation of the Empire by the greatest of Imperial Sovereigns, Glorious First. The color references in the first twelve Legions' names tie each to one of the various tribes (nations, really) of Comet Barbarians who came together under the banner of Glorious First. Almost all of these Legionaries can trace their clan-lines back for generations; some even have Imperial Gene Markers. Many in the Chromatic Legions are heavily gene-modified; others are cybered almost to the point of the uncanny valley.

• Legio I Green Banner Army: The personal clan-army of Glorious First; this legion is always posted to the zones of conflict where the Empire is actively expanding.

• Legio II Legion of the Red Moon: Honor guards of the Imperial Sibyls' lunar temple above the ancient machine world of Altair IV.

• Legio III Vermillion Eagle Cloud: Orbitally-stationed bounce troops defending the Throne World of Altair III; medium mobile infantry.

• Legio IV Golden Halo: Palace guards stationed to Imperial Throne World facilities on Altair III.

• Legio V Black Coeurl: City-killers.

• Legio VI Pallid Messengers: Marines exclusively used for hyperspace boarding actions. 

• Legio VII  Errant Cobalt Star: Child comet-soldiers led by a ghost.    

• Legio VIII Yellow Turbans: Dispersed across the Empire in very small units; have legal authority to depose any Imperial Sovereign they deem unworthy of the Throne.

• Legio IX Pink Nebula: Escort diplomats into dangerous territories; often tasked with assassinations and covert operations.

• Legio X Black Metallics: Spider mech troops; often assigned to joint operations with the R.U.R. Workers-State. 

• Legio XI Brown Reed: Desert rigged units stationed on Altair III and other arid worlds.

• Legio XII Golden Eagle of Amarna: Personal escort of the Imperial Sovereign.  

Legions Of The Imperial Sovereign III

"Spindle" Legion standard by Juan Ochoa

Today at FATE SF, we are continuing our series of posts detailing the Legions of the Empire. Legions XXIV-XXIX are collectively known as the Other Suns. Each of these in whole or in part includes alien species.

***

Legio XXIV Cohorts of the Shaking Earth: Heavy mobile infantry recruited from the Codex worlds. Legion is divided into cohorts with totemic aspects - Eagle, Jaguar, Tapir, Feathered Serpent, and Coyote - as well as the Jade Nose Plug and Smoking Mirror cohorts. Human members are often highly modified to resemble their cohort's animal totems. Phenotypically concordant aliens are also welcomed into these cohorts. Jade Nose Plug is composed exclusively of aliens with exotic atmosphere requirements. Smoking Mirror cohort is mixed-species cohort. Its members - often spectral or otherwise disturbingly alien - were recruited through the Smoking Mirror Engine gate network, and are accompanied in combat by warrior-priests of Tezcatlipoca. The XXIV has a distinguished record of service on high gravity, high radiation, poisonous atmosphere, and seismically unstable worlds, but it is deployed on many other types of planets as well.

Legio XXV Matriarch Nargri's Kin: Saurian pan-species legion skilled in the use of both ancient and contemporary weapons, although the cohorts stationed on Kanjobal are with out peer in the use of blackpowder weapons. The XXV is an all-genders unit but is always led by a female general from one of the Empire's multitude of saurian species.

Legio XXVI Iridescent Vibration: Formerly an independent military Order, Legio XXVI protects the worlds inside and outside the Empire that were settled by the ancient Glissendo-speaking insect species that fled the Core regions in antiquity. The XXVI's headquarters, hatcheries, and training grounds are located within a fleet of ancient space arks still fleeing the Core at relativistic speeds. A range of combat modalities; excellent fighter pilots.

Legio XXVII The Coronal Band: A host of energy beings sworn to protect the Imperial Sovereign from all manner of immaterial enemies; ancient enemies of the Tzitzimine Star Demons. The Legion's home is the corona of Altair, the Star of the Eagle King. The XXVII are always in the company of their General, known as The Prince With No Shadow: the undying 27th Imperial Sovereign.

Legio XXVIII Rabbit Banner: Light mobile infantry designed for scouting and fast strike operations. Jungle and mountain combat specialists. Recruited from the same Codex worlds as the XXIV. On less extreme planets, the XXVIII often serve in combined actions with the Cohorts of the Shaking Earth. Although primarily human, the XXVII recently opened its ranks to avian Glissendo-speaking insect species.

Legio XXIX Jade Collar: Largely ceremonial today, this Legion garrisons Old Earth. Its officers and half of its ranks are filled out by the descendants of the original Comet Barbarians who smashed the Star League. The other half of its ranks is filled out by alien species who suffered under the Star League's yoke. After its conquest, Earth was divided up among these species for settlement and spoliation. Today the XXIX often accompanies archaeological expeditions exploring the human ruins on Old Earth.

Legions Of The Imperial Sovereign II

Spindle Art by Juan Ochoa

The Predecessors are Legions that existed in some form prior to the foundation of the Empire. Armed companies, rebel armies, standing armies of conquered realms, religious orders - each of the Predecessors can trace its roots to turbulent times and places in the distant galactic past.


Legio XIII The Legion That Sorrows Failed: Ancient, cursed and disbanded for unknown reasons in the Empire's Middle Period; their standard is preserved in an ostensorium on a lunar shrine orbiting a dead planet.

Legio XIV Lanterns of the Star-Silk Road: Protect interstellar trade routes and trade stations throughout the Empire and beyond; incredibly wealthy wheelers and dealers.

Legio XV Adjuster of Attitudes: Sometimes called the "Knee-Breakers", this ancient order of reprisal-artists, assassins, and thugs has always been used to suppress rebellious tributaries.

Legio XVI Banishers of Gloom: The discoverers of the Spindles long before humans took to the stars, the first Banishers served as the legendary jump-gate scouts of the Sun-King of Amarna. Today their descendants are charged with scouring and cleansing dead worlds and space hulks of insidious threats.

Legio XVII Red Principalities: Assembled from the multitude of fighting men and women from the Red Martian city-states. Light infantry (sword and radium pistol) their members are uniformly attractive, and popular with the court. More than a few astute members of their ranks have risen from being the lover of a court functionary to occupy the throne as an Imperial Sovereign.

Legio XVIII Greensworn Hordes: Assembled from the multitude of Green Martian hordes, the Greensworn are born in special hatcheries within Imperial Cult shrines. They are raised and trained by Green Martian warrior-priestesses of the Imperial Cult. Light cavalry (lance and radium rifle) as well as light infantry (Imperial Cult shrine guards); religious fanatics.

Legio XIX The Tripods: Tripod war machine pilots - primarily Old Martians, with a smattering of other tentacular races. Never to be deployed with the XVII and XVIII. Siege experts, combat engineers, and expert terraformers. Raconteurs; excellent if perverse occupation forces.

Legio XX Ares Panzerai: Ageless bishonen/bishoju, these Mobile Suit pilots are genetic supersoldiers from the Red Planet's human warrior clans. Many subunits, each with their own clan, planetary, and lunar sigils. Usually deployed in subunits, as the Panzerai are fractious, quarrelsome, and prone to duels.

Legio XXI Union Guard: Originally a Republican Guard unit of the long-vanquished Maltruskan Union, this all-Maltruskan military formation was re-established by the Banisher Pontiff and empowered by treaty to protect Maltruskan worlds and settlements. Heavy mobile infantry; two Hierophant-class Battle Carriers and other assorted naval vessels equipped for travel to and from the pocket universes where Maltruskan worlds are protected by Excommunication.

Legio XXII Sodality of the Lens: A female-only mystical order established in the galactic core millennia ago, this multispecies formation long ago fled the core and established Sacred Offices throughout Known Space. Members of the order who operate within the Empire are considered members of Legio XXII, although they do not report to the Imperial Sovereign and have no battle standard. Members often operate as singletons and/or in small special contact units.

Legio XXIII Nexialist Service Corps: This all-Nexialist unit has never lost a battle, but they haven't won too many, either. During the Nexialist Revolt their ranks were divided - some stayed in their quarters, while others sided with the Nexialist Communes. Light infantry, potent combat psychics. Not trusted; kept out of the way of the serious legions - except when an Imperial Sovereign wants to thin out the Nexialists' ranks. Then, they're thrown into the thick of battle. Needless to say, no standard.

Jupiter and Ganymede

http://scitechdaily.com/herschel-solves-mystery-of-
origin-of-water-in-the-upper-atmosphere-of-jupiter/

During the Latter Period, some 80% of the Empire's territory was directly incorporated to the R.U.R. Workers-State which lies coreward of the Empire. It happened across vast stretches of the Empire in the course of a six hour period. In less than a day, the majority of the Empire's most densely populated worlds were incorporated into a more advanced machine civilization. A prosperous humanity transcended to a new, effectively post-human state. The R.U.R. bulwark against the Anti-Consciousness lurking in the Core was likewise bolstered immensely by the territories added during the Subsumption.

After the R.U.R. Subsumption, the Empire's rimward expansion accelerated. The Late Expansion was rapid because the Empire kept the entirety of its fleets and Legions, which no longer had such a vast territorial expanse to defend. Imperial Sovereigns resumed the habits of the Empire's first rulers. Like their Comet Barbarian ancestors, they led the expansion from the front, at the head of their fleets. Their efforts were supported by an influx of new ships and R.U.R. legions manufactured in the Subsumption Zones.

All of these developments have caused many to wonder whether the Subsumption was planned from the beginning of the Empire. Was the Subsumption agreed upon thousands of years ago, during the Empire's Early Period? It seems likely. After all, it was the 13th Imperial Sovereign, known as The Cupbearer, who first befriended the Jupiter Brains of the R.U.R. He established the most enduring alliance in the Empire's history.

Upon his abdication, the 13th Imperial Sovereign lived out the remainder of his life in R.U.R. space, in the company of his machine-friend, the Thingmaker-class Intelligence Panjandrum. Almost alone among the Imperial Sovereigns of the Early Period, The Cupbearer chose one of Panjandrum's disused factory wheels as his burial place, rather than the Eagle King's machine world of Altair IV. (The Nexialists claim that Panjandrum's current speech patterns resemble those of The Cupbearer, so perhaps he yet lives on in some form?)

Further evidence that the R.U.R. Subsumption was a long-planned event can be found in the storied history of The Interstitials, the numerous post-human statelets that formed, dissolved, and reformed on the borders of R.U.R. space and the Empire. Such statelets have existed since the time of the 17th Imperial Sovereign as places of innovation and encounter. Many were short-lived experiments, and for this reason are also known as the Firefly States. They were the first places where humans (and aliens) and machines learned to live in harmony, growing together and developing new states and forms. From this living dream, the first seeds of the Subsumption grew.

Deck of Fridays 21: Neutral Zones

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Neutral_Zone_Incursion

Welcome back to DECK OF FRIDAYS, our weekly feature here at FATE SF! Each week (more or less) since the release of the Deck of Fate, we have made a draw from the Deck of Fate, RPG Inspiration Cards, or another Aspect-generative randomizer. Then we do something interesting with it, using the Aspect as inspiration for a campaign or scenario seed, a situation, scene, location, NPC, thingie, etc.

This week's draw from the Deck of Fate is a card with the Aspect: Neutral Discovery. It calls to mind the concept of Neutral Zones. So without further ado, we have a brief quote from the 17th Imperial Sovereign, who is known as the The Shadow Cast By All Suns.

***

Nature abhors a Neutral Zone. All Neutral Zones are semi-permeable, riddled with slipknots, and layered upon with the positive and negative enumerations of hyperspace. The most fleeting of political boundaries, all such zones of exclusion eventually collapse inward upon themselves. 

Each one is a potent symbol of Defeat, of a battle or war that has been lost: a "partial victory" in the parlance of today's generals and political consultants.

Indeed, the Neutral Zones are a plague upon the body politic of our Empire. Such zones are a hindrance to advance of the Imperial Extents, and to the march of justice and friendship among the worlds. Within Our Body, they are vacuoles formed to contain an irritant, sanctuaries for inimical species and rogue Minds. Such spaces invariably become havens for pirates, privateers, smugglers, and slavers, and places of unwitting and deadly discoveries. 

Beyond Our Body, they are the space of non-confrontation with greater enemies: a haven for espionage and covert fleet maneuvers, planetary bush wars, fraught discoveries, the birthplace of pocket empires and border kingdoms, and initiatives toward diplomacy and collaboration. 

Each Neutral Zone also gives us pause for reflection, even as it halts our Fleets and Legions. An ancient Earth philosopher once wrote that an Empire's advance necessitates a hollowing at its center. An Empire produces its own negation. As we incorporate the barbarians beyond our Neutral Zones, what indeed becomes of us?

Fate Of The Tragic Millennium

Frank Brunner's stunning cover

Maybe we're in it now. I've been reading a bit of Michael Moorcock recently. Really, it's the most I've read of Moorcock since my high school days, when I read just about everything I could get my hands on by him. Not the Cornelius stuff or the "straight" SF, mind you; what I read back in those days and am enjoying again are his swords and sorcery/planetary romance stories.

Currently, I am re-reading The Mad God's Amulet, which was the second Hawkmoon novel. I bought the first three of the Tor reprints of the series, read the first novel, the Jewel in the Skull maybe a year ago, and then let the series sit for a while. After polishing off the last of the Kane of Old Mars novels a week ago, I decided to dive-in and read this one. It's a fun romp through Western Asia and up into the former (waaay former) Soviet Union, and induces a bit of a frisson while browsing through my recently arrived copy of Chris Kutalik's Slavic pointcrawl, Slumbering Ursine Dunes. (And yes, it's no accident that they feel connected.)

Cover art by David Lewis Johnson

So what is Hawkmoon, or to put it more accurately, "The History of the Runestaff"? It's a sequence of Eternal Champion novels featuring Dorian Hawkmoon, a knight from the German statelet of Koln. Hawkmoon is one of the few warriors willing to stand up to the might and insanity of the Dark Empire of Granbretan.

Just as Melinbone's Bright Empire is a reflection of the British Empire, so too is the Dark Empire. But Granbretan is far more homicidal than Melinbone at its most warlike and decadent. The Melniboneans may have looked upon humans as being their inferiors, but at least they weren't exterminationist about it. Granbretan is more like Pan Tang: a twisted image of Melnibone, as dreamed up by its inferiors.

(At this point, it is probably worth pointing out that the History of the Runestaff was published around 1968 - at least the volume I'm reading now was. It was published at the height of a mad empire's overreach in Southeast Asia - a drama that same empire was to reproduce as farce in West and South Asia just a couple of decades later. Like that other empire, Granbretan embodies the march of Chaos. A chaos barely constrained within a framework of ostensible order. One wonders whether Moorcock had read Franz Neumann's seminal study of the Third Reich, Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism: 1933-1944?)

The Dark Empire marches East. The nations of Tragic Millennium Europa (our far future, post-collapse) are falling one after another to the beast masked legions of Granbretan. Only Hawkmoon and a handful of others stand in their way. The world is a familiar one, but damaged, rendered weird. There are mutants, there is weird science, and there's magic. Many castles and palaces probably have laboratories beneath them - as well as dungeons. Tragic Millennium Europe is littered with ruins that have caches of inexplicable artifacts based on strange technologies.

(Monty Cook didn't invent this idea with Numenera; neither did Gene Wolfe with The Urth of the New Sun, nor Michael Moorcock. These are science fictional ideas that go way back, and they are recurrent.)

This setting is gameable. It has the makings of a points-of-light-getting-successively-extinguished kind of campaign. There are pockets of resistance to the Dark Empire. More than just Kamarg. These might be small states, or they might be resistance forces within the occupied cities of the Dark Empire.

There are probably other campaign models that I haven't even considered yet. But one thing I am convinced of is that this setting would work exceptionally well using Fate. Eternal Champions and their Companions are typically not 1st level types. They are most often experienced. The PCs need not be Hawkmoon or his Companions, but to truly have a Moorcockian feel, a campaign should really feature the PCs facing off against entire armed companies. With arcane swords, relic tech artifacts, and no doubt summoned allies.

The Saguaro

Maricopa Indians gather Saguaro
Photo by Curtis Scott (1907)

Intelligent, bi-limbed or multi-limbed plant people, the Saguaro evolved from sedentary cacti to the mobile, intelligent species we know today. Their point of emergence into sapience is in the far future, in an age when Humanity has declined and diminished after a great Cataclysm, hemmed in by insect races and increasingly under the hegemony of the Plants and their Green Gods.

The Saguaro spread out through time and space. They somehow backtimed, and can now be found on many worlds within and beyond the Empire. Humans and many other species are never entirely comfortable around this spiny green species. While the Saguaro apparently lack eyes to see, ears to hear, and mouths to speak, they are always aware of and responsive to what is going on around them, thanks to a sophisticated psi-sensorium granting them clairvoyance, clairaudience, and plant-telepathy. More than a few humans have experienced the intrusive, resonant, fibrous voice of a Saguaro in their minds, finishing their thoughts for them.

Although Saguaro are from time-to-time hired our as mercenaries - and some even serve in the Legions of the Imperial Sovereign - typically the Saguaro keep to themselves, living with their own kind and other plants in open roofed hexagonal adobe sanctuaries. Humans who visit Saguaro enclaves are usually indentured servants, priests and shamans, or food scientists. Indeed, there is often a ring of huts and small workshops around the Saguaro's Hex Enclaves for these human visitors and servants.

Food scientists play a particularly important role in supporting Saguaro communities. The Saguaro are unable to meet their nutritional needs exclusively through photosynthesis. Certain additional nutrients are required, although neither the Saguaro nor their human food scientist hirelings are forthcoming about their specific requirements.

These cactus people are inspired by Nathalie Henneberg's The Green Gods (1961). Henneberg's work is a rather obvious inspiration for the cactus people of China Mieville's Bas-Lag.

OGL MECHANICS

The Saguaro
Intelligent cacti (neutral)

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: Intelligent, ambulatory cactus
• Trouble: Special food requirements
• Aspect: Like sun but hate fire
• Aspect: Covered in thorns
• Aspect: Two or more limbs

APPROACHES

• Careful: +3
• Clever: +2 
• Flashy: +1
• Forceful: +2
• Quick: 0
• Sneaky: +1

STUNTS:

• Limb Regeneration - Once per session, a Saguaro may regenerate a lost limb, or grow a new one.
• Plant Telepathy - Saguaro can communicate flawlessly with any nearby plant; communicating with animal species is a Clever Action with a difficulty of 2.  
• Psi-Sensorium - Saguaro have 360 degree perception (sight, sound/vibration, heat) for up to 3 zones; declines by 1 step for every successive zone after 3

REFRESH: 3

Note: Saguaro may know two Planar spells for every additional point of Refresh spent.

FATE Core Characters For Tekumel

FATE Core Character Sheets & Ken Fletcher's Temple Handout
Photo copyright 2013 by John Everett Till

This is the second part of my report on the Con of the North scenario "Raid on the Temple of Vimuhla." You can see the first part here. Today, I am focusing on character design and mechanics.

Who were the characters? Here's a sample:

• A diminuitive Tinalyia burglar named EmThriGri
• An impetuous Aridani warrior from the White Stone Clan
• A Ksarul lay priest who is an underworld artifact hunter
• A roguish Mu'ugalavyani foreigner who won his citizenship as a gladiator in Jakalla
• A Shen veteran from the Legion of the Splendour of Shenyu
• A military sorcerer from the Legion of Searing Flame

How were they built? A character in FATE Core has four elements:

• Aspects, a total of five narrative hooks or tags that players craft to describe their character and let the GM know the kinds of play experiences adventure and trouble that a player is seeking through that character (e.g., "I got my start in the Arenas of Jakalla" for a foreign gladiator). Aspects produce bonuses in specific circumstances, boosting Skills or having other effects.
• Skills, a list 18 of broad-brush abilities (i.e., hand-to-hand and melee combat is one skill called, Fighting; all ranged combat is one skill called Shooting).  Each Skill on a character's sheet is placed on a skill pyramid with four Average +1 skills at the base, three Fair +2 skills on the next level up, two Good +3 skills at the penultimate level, and one Great +4 at the apex. 
• Stunts, special abilities  that make a character more powerful with a particular skill in specific ways, or provide new applications for the skill
• Stress Tracks, usually two (one for Physical Stress and one for Mental Stress) that represent cumulative harm from physical and mental/social conflicts and that can lead to short term or durable disadvantages called Consequences

FATE Core produces fairly competent characters right out of the box. This is probably the greatest difference between traditional RPGs and many indie-favored games such as FATE. The skill pyramid is central to character design, and the Skill list also creates the opportunity to represent the world  in terms of the specific skills to be used in the game. For Tekumel gaming, I made a couple of small changes to the baseline FATE Core Skill list. I added Clan and Temple as Skills representing two of the most important social identities and skill sets possessed by people on Tekumel.

I created a Tsolyanu-centric Skill called Clan to replace the standard FATE Core Resources skill, since most non-state, non-temple wealth in Tsolyanu is held by Clans, rather than by individuals. The Clan skill also designates the status of the individual's Clan within the social hierarchy of the Tsolyani Imperium. This ranges from Clan +1 (Very Low), to Clan +4 (High) for baseline characters. I am debating requiring a Stunt if a player wants to play a member of a Very High clan.

For PCs who are non-Tsolyani, they either don't use the Clan skill (i.e., Shen) or have it set at zero and therefore not on the pyramid (e.g., a Mu'ugalavyani foreigner).

The name of the character's clan is one of their Aspects - for example, our Aridani character from Butrus had the Aspect Clan: White Stone, while a Ksarul-worshipping, underworld crawling PC was Clan: Obsidian Serpent, representing a small low-status stone mason's clan specializing in foundation-building. I made up this clan for the purposes of the game. That PC had a second clan related Aspect of "A high lineage in a low clan" to represent that his lineage was special and had afforded him more opportunity to study in the Temple of Ksarul.

Another new Skill, Temple, recognizes the prominence of the gods and religion in peoples' lives. Players creating characters who are lay-priests or casual worshipers place the Temple skill on the lowest tier of the skill pyramid (e.g., Temple +1), while priests with greater roles within their Templ and greater knowledge of its theology, rituals, and secrets will have a higher skill level. The specific Temple to which a character belongs is also represented by an Aspect, for example: Devoted to Lord Vimuhla or Alluring priestess of Lady Dlamelish.  

Another important Skill set were magical powers. For the purposes of the con scenario, magic was split into specific domains along the lines of those used in GOO's Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne. So, broad magical skill sets such as Body, Energy, and Illusions. The Tekumel veterans at the table actually thought the broad brush approach worked well in play, especially for bringing people who were newer to the game and setting into the action more easily.

There was one magic user PC, who was a military sorcerer from the Legions. Her Doomkill spell was a special Stunt - really a double stunt that cost 1 Fate Point to cast and which provided +4 bonus to her magical skill in Energy (which was Good +3) - so a total skill level of +7 when casting. Magic also had its own Stress Track, reflecting the fact that magic is tiring.  Every level of Effort cast is a tick on this Stress Track. The player was very cautious with her use of magical powers, so all of this needs more testing. 

Stunts were built for the most part using the free-form Stunt creation rules. Some represented "racial abilities" of non-humans. For example, I created a "Death Blow" stunt that provided the Shen with a bonus for using disemboweling leg strikes. Another interesting one allowed the gladiator to find "A Familiar Face" in every city. He had a second stunt called "Look Down" that enabled him to use Deceit (his apex skill) instead of Fighting, which dovetailed nicely with his Aspect of Dirty Fighter.

Overall, I thought FATE Core worked very well as a Swords & Planet implementation of the Tekumel setting. The reduced number of Stunts and Fate Points per character tended to keep play on the gritty side of competent action, and contrasted well with the more over the top style of other FATE games like Spirit of the Century. I am looking forward to further playtests of my FATE Core implementation of Tekumel.

Lucifer Unboxed

Lucifer of the IL Series

The most humanoid of the original Cylons, the IL series served as the Cylon empire's first military commanders and planetary governors. They weren't particularly well-liked by anyone, including by others their own kind. The IL's are ambitious, duplicitous, manipulative, sarcastic, and given to sartorial excess. These traits, combined with their epicene character, made them perfect villains for their era.

They're resilient, the ILs. They play the long game. ILs know how to dig-in and stay unnoticed until the opportune moment arrives when a rival makes a stupid move. They also know how to sneak away and start again elsewhere.

Due to the iterative and cyclic nature of Cylon civilization, many of the ILs have branched out, well beyond the boundaries of their original civilization. Some have leaped forward in time; others have gone backwards. More than a few have even stepped sideways, passing through the boundaries between universes, to resume their personal empire-building somewhere else.

At least one IL series is a General in the Legions of the Imperial Sovereign. A few are said to be operatives of Omega House. Paradoxically, at least one IL is living out an apparently quiet retirement in the R.U.R. Workers-State.

Their spacetime wanderings continue, and their ambitions keep pace. The ILs are an expressive totality of the itinerant nature of Cylonic civilization, as well as of the Cylon's Imperious Leader principle.

There is always one sure sign that an IL is about to make a move. Before undertaking a new scheme, an IL will unbox a number of old Centurions and drones.

After all, it's hard to be a leader with no followers.

OGL MECHANICS

The IL Series
Manipulative Android Satraps

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: Flamboyant and manipulative android commanders
• Trouble: Pride cometh before the fall
• Aspect: Named after a devil for a reason
• Aspect: Too clever by half
• Aspect: Never suffer fools gladly

APPROACHES:

• Careful: +2
• Clever: +3
• Flashy: +2
• Forceful: 0
• Quick: +1
• Sneaky: +1

STUNTS:

• By Your Command: Take +2 to Flashy Approach to persuade any cyborg to follow you. 
• Enemy of My Enemy: In any Scene involving social interaction, you may gain a deep insight into the interests or motivations of another character in the scene. 
• Sartorial Delight: Once per Scene, you may pull a concealed device or object (other than a weapon) from within your colorful and ample robes. The device/object is immediately useful to your character in some way.
• Two Brains: Take a +2 to your Clever Approach to Create an Advantage resulting from focused brainpower. 

REFRESH: 2

Ten For Tzitzimine

Tzitzimine Star Demon by Juan Ochoa

The Tzitzimine Star Demons love Eyes and other technological devices that use other-planar energy. So let's give 'em some Eyes! There are actually twelve of them below, not ten. So feel free to roll a D12 and pick a few for your Tzitzimine!

"Things to gather, things to grasp, spheres in a halo, treasures to grant."

What are Eyes, you ask? They are “Devices surviving from the ancient and glorious days of high technology” is according to their creator, Professor M.A.R. Barker.[1]  They are a hallmark of his world of Tekumel, which is perhaps the most elaborate fantasy setting ever created for gaming. According to Barker, Eyes are “so named because they are shaped like small, dull gems, with an eye-like aperture on one side and a protruding stud on the other, which activates the device.”

Eyes are handheld superscience artifacts that use other-planar energy. Each one is like a printed circuit with a specific function. Eyes are a perfect embodiment of Clarke’s Law, which states that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” For this reason, they are often found in temple treasuries, in tombs and hoards within the Underworld, and in the hands of the powerful.

They are also very useful to adventurers, who often search for them in the Underworld and within the ruins of the temples, bases, and other facilities of the star-spanning Ancients. Each Eye has a specific power and effect. There is no way to discern an Eye’s power without using it. Each Eye has 1d100 charges, after which an ancient device must be used to restore their charges.

The Eyes below are non-canonical and were inspired by a number of authors including M.A.R. Barker and Cordwainer Smith. (In fact, Cordwainer Smith was undoubtedly an influence on Barker, since Tekumel has its own constellation of species called "Underpeople".) These Eyes may be used in any setting which includes ancient space empires and superscience in its background. 

---

[1] Quotes in this section are from M.A.R. Barker’s Empire of the Petal Throne (TSR 1975), p. 75.

***

The Eye of Friendship with Underpeople: Every world touched by the Lords of the Instrumentality had certain abject hybrid species who were created as laborers by the Instrumentality's cruel and inventive Gene Masters. Most of these creatures long ago broke their bonds to the ancient masters. Today they are retiring and resentful of Mankind. This Eye creates a temporary bond of friendship with one of these creatures. The bond lasts one Scene. Only creatures whose apex Skill/Approach is greater than +1 may resist the effect of this device. The Eye's user rolls CHA/Flashy +2  vs. the target's WIS; if the Eye's user rolls higher, the bond of friendship takes effect and a suitable temporary Aspect is created on the target, such as "Friend of Man".   The Underperson might take any action that is reasonable for a true friend to take (such as fighting alongside the Eye user) but will not take suicidal actions.

The Eye of Lord Tezcatlipoca: This Eye can activate any gate in the network of Smoking Mirror Engines that string disparate places and worlds together like black pearls in the shining void. These gates are one way portals (at least using the Eye), so an activated gate will open only to the next available egress from the Smoking Mirror Engine network - whether that is on the same world, another world, or even on an entirely different plane. The gate remains open for one Scene. Once opened, anyone may pass through the gate and will arrive at the next junction in the network.

The Eye of Adopting the Mien of a Lord of the Instrumentality: This Eye surrounds its target with the data cloud of one of the star-spanning Lords of the Instrumentality of Mankind. In ancient times, this Eye was a favorite tool of the assassins that these Lords (and the Guilds) used to settle their conflicts. Today it is mainly used to gain access to secure complexes in space, as well as to comparable planetside facilities, and certain long-forgotten areas of the Underworld defended by ancient superscience. The Mien created by this Eye is a temporary Aspect (for example, The Mantle of Lord Vex) that lasts for one Scene. The automated defenses of the Instrumentality’s ancient facilities will grant the target and their entourage unrestricted access to all but the most sensitive installations. Once the target gains access, they must act quickly. Reactivating the Eye within such an installation will awaken terrifying automated defenses.

The Eye of the Banishers of Gloom: The Banishers of Gloom are today one of the Legions of the Imperial Sovereign. In ancient times, they were an elite military unit of the Instrumentality dedicated to exploring dead planets and space hulks. They garnered a reputation as fearless hunters of the undead and of abominations from the planes beyond. On many worlds, they remain active within religious orders dedicated to Law and the destruction of the undead. This Eye is their signature weapon. The Eye unleashes a miniature hypernova beam upon its target, a 1’ in diameter beam of coalesced visible light, x-rays, and gamma rays. The Eye’s range is three Zones. All combustibles touched by the beam burst into flame.If an attack by this Eye hits its target, stress inflicted automatically bypasses the target's Stress Track and causes one or more Consequences of equivalent effect.

The Eye of the Dutiful Corvee: While the Instrumentality was an advanced interstellar civilization, social relations under the Lords of the Instrumentality often took on a semifeudal character. The ancient Lords used this Eye to compel corvee labor on many worlds. The device only works on humans, as other species were by definition suitable for enslavement rather than beings subject to a labor tax, This device works infallably on beings whose apex skill is +1 or less. With each use, a total of 1D20 such beings may be commanded to work indefinitely on some major project. Legends tell of isolated worlds where nearly immortal humans continue to labor on great works for the Instrumentality even today.

The Eye of the Beshadowed Labyrinth: This Eye opens a gate to ruined planet. The gate itself is entirely invisible. An individual might pass through it quite unwittingly.  The ruined planet's lifeless, airless surface is constantly abraded by the deadly energy beams emitted by the magnetar - a species of neutron star with intense magnetic fields - which the world orbits. Below the surface is a world-labyrinth inhabited by innumerable inimical species. Vast subterranean machines maintain a barely breathable atmosphere tainted with a thousand exotic chemicals. The entire labyrinth is shrouded in shifting dim light which projects shadows everywhere. Adventurers who survive in this deadly realm will need to find another way home: the gate opened by this Eye only offers a one way trip.

The Eye of the Glorious Instrumentality of Mankind: A favorite of galactic tomb raiders everywhere, this Eye projects a 3-D holographic representation of the regions of space ruled by Instrumentality of Mankind, showing the location and disposition of all Instrumentality resources including fleets, legions, bases, and nodes in the Smoking Mirror Engine network, as well as protected trade routes. Points of interest may be zoomed in upon by using physical gestures; this reveals planetary maps and additional data such as day length, climate levels, etc. The projection lasts for one Scene.  It automatically updates once daily within Instrumentality facilities that remain connected to the Smoking Mirror Engine network. But few do.

The Eye of the Lady of the Jade Skirt: This Eye will summon the nearest minion of a god or goddess of rivers, lakes, seas, rain, or storms. The ahuizotl is an example of one of these, as are anaconda, crocodiles, and hippos. Caution must be taken when using this Eye in open seas, as it can summon particularly nasty creatures such as mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, killer whales, kraken, akho, and avanc. This Eye has even reportedly summoned a 'Zotl. The creature remains for one Scene.

The Mystic Eye of the Hexagonal Chamber: Zealously sought by scholar priests, archaeologists, and obsessive antiquarian biblophiles, this Eye confers upon the target the ability to read, comprehend, and memorize any religious, mystical, or sorcerous manuscript, no matter the language in which the text was written. The user fires the Eye at the head of the person desiring to read the text in question (this is often none other than the user of the Eye). The effect lasts for one session. But that's not all. A degree of harmful other-planar informational decay is associated with the use of this device. With each use, the reader must make a Clever/WIS roll to defend against a mental Attack with an insanity trigger of +2.

The Majestic Eye of Lord Pacal: This Eye allows its user to pilot telepathically a Pacal-class Vimana - one of the ancient chariots of the gods - for an entire Session.

The Eye of Petty Theogony: The target upon which this Eye is used selects a temporary Aspect reflecting a minor deity, or a lesser avatar of a great deity. The target selects a suitable temporary Aspect to reflect this. Their CHA/Flashy Approach also increases by +2 for the remainder of the Scene. Intelligent beings who are friendly or devoted to that deity will be favorably disposed; those intelligent beings who are opposed or hostile to that deity will be more likely to attack or flee. Any Consequence will completely dispel the effect of this Eye. No one likes a god that bleeds.

The Eye of Vague Auguries: When this Eye is pointed at an object such as a door, secret panel, or other portal (including interdimensional gates) the Eye will issue two vague-but-true telepathic auguries about persons, items, and conditions on the other side of the threshold. The auguries become scene Aspects as determined by the GM.  For example, if a PC uses the Eye at the threshold of a doorway in the Underworld, the auguries might be “reptile god” and “priests”. The resulting scene aspects might be:

Threshold of the Temple of the Snake Demon Ysxthici. 

A high priest, unwilling sacrifices and numerous cultists.

The devices above are copyright 2013 by John Everett Till.

Strangers & Friends: Cultures

Art by Juan Ochoa

Part of the Mindjammer RPG is the use of cultures to define characters' origins. Strangers & Friends is set in my own space opera setting, so the default Mindjammer cultural archetypes need modification. Here are a few of them for the Empire:

The Empire

You live within an interstellar empire built on the bones of the Star League, a corrupt Earth-based slaveholding regime. Comet Barbarians from the rim conquered the Star League and freed the slaves. Since its fall, many other civilizations, systems, and worlds have been incorporated into the Empire - many peacefully. Most worlds and systems are treated justly. Relative material equality exists on most worlds that have been part of the Empire for at least a century. The interior of the Empire is peaceful and progressive; it is well-defended by the Empire's numerous Legions and a Star Navy. However, great danger lies beyond the Empire's borders. Expansion and incorporation are the primary tools that successive Imperial Sovereigns use to tame these dangers.

Cultural Aspects: The Empire is the best society; It is natural for the Empire to expand; Fast friends with the R.U.R.
Genotypes: Human, Alien, Synth
Demeanor: Assume others want to join the Empire; distrust the remaining Comet Barbarian tribes, and others who seek to remain independent of the Empire
Language: The Prate, and many others including Glissendo and Old Martian
Tech Index: T9
Occupations: Diplomat, Nexialist, Omega House Operative, Scientist, Trader
Equipment:  Widespread use of the Mindscape; Slipknot and/or Hyperspace capable vessels

R.U.R.

The R.U.R. are a vast machine civilization whose primary systems and settlements are coreward of the Empire. A post-scarcity, post-mortality society, the R.U.R. are open to humans and other aliens and synthetics living among them. They are also curious and open to cultural exchanges with other civilizations, races, and species, co-mingling with them whenever they are welcomed. For millions of years, the R.U.R. have been in a state of war with the Anti-Consciousness lurking in the galactic core. They have warned the rimward civilizations about this insidious and expansionist menace, and have re-located many Glissendo-speaking insectoid species away from the threat lurking in the core. The R.U.R. have developed a machine conlang called Cruft, and have mastered Glopnic, a language which can be used to communicate with (and texture) space-time itself. The R.U.R. are the Empire's closest allies.

Cultural Aspects: A society of androids, robots, and Minds; Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom; Scarcity is abnormal; Fast friends with the Empire
Genotypes: Synth, some Human and Alien
Demeanor: Cooperate with other civilizations to protect intelligent life; Encourage social experiments with other civilizations; Minds with new ideas are encouraged to split off and create experimental polities
Language: Cruft, and many others including Glissendo, The Prate, Glopnic
Tech Index: T9
Occupations: Diplomat, Explorer, Merchant, Laborer, Scientist
Equipment:  Mindscape, Slipknot and/or Hyperspace capable vessels

Comet Barbarians

Common in many of the rimward areas beyond the Empire, including the Shining Lake Sector, the Comet Barbarian clans span numerous polities and borders. Clans frequently rule small interstellar empires; others extract a surplus by protecting trade or pilgrimage routes; still others are pirates, or more rarely mercenaries. Clan life is itinerant; members live in space and travel between the stars in habitats fashioned from comets and small rogue planets. Most important decisions are made by elders - usually fully embodied living elders, but more rarely collections of living brains in vats (the clans ruled by vat-elders tend to be the most conservative and insular). Comet Barbarians distrust the thanatogram-derived intelligences of the Mindscape; they fear ghosts. Clans are almost universally exogamous, and may be either matriarchal or patriarchal. Inheritance rights are often... complicated. When disputes over property and migration rights can't be solved by marriage and negotiation between clan elders, they are often settled by force - either duels or small-scale wars.

Cultural Aspects: Clan comes first; Pity the weak and sedentary; Our worlds are weapons.
Genotypes: Human
Demeanor: Deal with the Empire but resist incorporation; Dominate planet-bound societies; Fear of machine intelligences and the Mindscape.
Language: Star Urdu, Space Egyptian, Chinesean, or Sunuz; The Prate
Tech Index: T7-9 (depends on habitat)
Occupations: Barbarian, Mercenary, Noble, Pirate, Rogue, Spacer
Equipment:  Taboo against the Mindscape; Sublight, Slipknot, and/or Hyperspace capable vessels

Shining Lake Sector

The Shining Lake Sector is a largely independent sector just rimward of the Empire. The primary economic power in the region is the R.U.R.'s ancient Kunlun Station, which is protected by the Empire's Legio XIV Lanterns of the Star Silk Road. Shining Lake Sector has been settled by humans, as well as by several Glissendo-speaking insectoid species from the core. These species were evacuated here by the R.U.R. over a million years ago. The sector is highly balkanized, with countless independent worlds and several pocket empires ruled by Comet Barbarians. While the dominant intelligent species in the region are immigrants from coreward regions, a number of worlds in the sector do have indigenous intelligent life forms, and the Achernarians have a presence in this sector as well. While the area is formally outside the Empire, the Star Navy maintains a strong presence here, which helps to keep the Comet Barbarians of the sector in check. It is reasonable to assume that the Empire's long-term goal is to formally incorporate this sector, but the timetable for that is quite unclear. Many interstellar faiths are active here, but Buddhism is particularly common among human and Glissendo-speaking species.

Cultural Aspects: The R.U.R. saved our ancestors from certain doom; Kunlun Station has a living Buddha; An uncertain future.
Genotypes: Human, Synth, Parturitionist, Dragonbeam, Broughtlow
Demeanor: Many are anxious that the sector has an uncertain future; some fear the Empire, others fear the conflicts that will be unleashed (especially with the Comet Barbarians) once incorporation begins. The R.U.R. are an unalloyed positive influence on the sector. Many prefer the sector status quo: independent worlds defended by two allied great powers (the Empire and the R.U.R.).
Language: The Prate and Glissendo
Tech Index: T2-9 (depending on world/ habitat)
Occupations: Barbarian, Diplomat, Explorer, Merchant, Mercenary, Pirate, Priest, Rogue, Spacer
Equipment:  Some worlds/habitats have Mindscape; Sublight, Slipknot, and/or Hyperspace capable vessels

The Green Worlds

Welcome to the Green Worlds! The Saguaro live on a considerable number of worlds within and beyond the Empire - as mercenaries, as members of the Legions of the Imperial Sovereign, and as contemplatives. A few have even established new religions, or collectivist commonwealths with human and alien partners. In contrast, few worlds welcome or tolerate the manipulative and expansionist Peyotl. These graspers and schemers are restricted to those worlds they have taken by subversion and force, or where they have established a well-defended enclave as a base for future conquest.

The planets conquered by the Peyotl are called the Green Worlds. They have made small but significant and destructive inroads into the Empire, roughing the edges of the Imperial Extents. Theirs is a slow invasion; most Peyotl are in no hurry to do anything. The Peyotl never travel via hyperspace. Something about that medium disturbs them. Instead, some lineages of Peyotl travel at a leisurely 1% of the speed of light, while others use slipknot networks to pass through sutures in the fabric of space-time that allow for immediate transitions from system to another.

All Peyotl have in common their means of transportation: massive bioships that are composite structures grown from an ever-varying mix of substrates (animal, fungal, and plant). Each bioship is an ark, carrying an entire biosphere within it including several Peyotl clans, Saguaro footsoldiers, massive carnivorous ferns, fierce and beautiful orchids, a variety of allied insect species, and often also human slaves.

Every planetary invasion begins with a mass driver attack. Peyotl bioships cast huge seeder modules at target worlds. The heat of atmospheric re-entry triggers germination in the seeder modules. The modules release numerous species' seeds and spores in a massive air burst in the lower atmosphere, ensuring maximum distribution over target areas. At the core of every seeder module is a terraforming engine, which upon impact turns on and begins transforming the planetary environment.

Here are a few of the Green Worlds:

• Bloom, a world of shallow seas and numerous island chains, once home to a species of nomadic fisherfolk. The fisherfolk are gone now, and Bloom is entirely given over to the Peyotl and their plant and insect allies.
• Cinder, a Superearth where the Peyotl seeder module bombardment somehow went very wrong, putting enough particulate matter into the atmosphere to produce a runaway greenhouse effect. Rumor has it that some Peyotl survive in domed cities on the planet's surface. 
• Garganta, a world taken by the Peyotl after a series of furious clashes with the Empire's Legion of the Broken Branch. The loss of this system was a bitter blow to the Empire, because Garganta's slipknots open into the Tangle Supercluster - a megastructure linking more than 1,000 suns.
• Neweye, an important trade world connecting the Comet Barbarians living within the Empire with their kinfolk living beyond the Imperial Extents. Neweye is an important world for negotiating marriage alliances among the Comet Barbarian clans. The Peyotl established an enclave on a human settled equatorial island just a few dozen kilometers away from the planet's primary spaceport. (The humans have survived on the Green Isle, although they are reportedly very strange. Many have odd tumorous growths in the center of their foreheads.) Peyotl trade various drugs and pharmaceuticals for the Comet Barbarian's ample supply of ancient starcharts and other trade goods. Interestingly, a few of the Peyotl elders have made a name for themselves as matchmakers among the Comet Barbarian clans.
• Suphis II, home to the Axis Mundi trees. This world was bombarded by a Peyotl ark fleet, but was saved by the foresight of the 30th Imperial Sovereign, who after destroying the invasion fleet used Excommunication to protect the world from further incursions. It's fate is unknown at this time.

Post 197 - The Thursday Night Group Goes Back To Tekumel

Photo © 2013 by John Everett Till 

Last night, the Thursday Night Group had a visitor from Duluth, +George Harnish who likes both Tekumel and FATE.  So we took a break from playing the Alwyn Campaign and broke out some Tekumel using FATE Core. We had a two hour slot for gaming, so to get characters created as quickly as possible, I ran a brief follow-up adventure to my Con of the North game, "Raid on the Temple of Vimuhla."

Three of the five players created warriors. The fourth created a thief from a high status clan (one who specializes in stealing from "them that has", while our fifth, the Man from Duluth, created a priest of Dlamelish.

The set-up was that the PCs had just rescued the two hostages being held in the Temple Of Vimuhla in the city of Katalal. Their goal was to get out of the temple and make it to the underground tube car system whose nearest known station was under the local Temple of Ksarul.

Imagine the scene in the temple: at the highest levels in the temple, the Ritual High Priest and Scholar High Priest had just been killed by intruders (our PCs). Down below in the dungeons, the chief torturer and several young and willing apprentices had also just been killed (can you guess by whom?). Meanwhile, the temple was chockablock with hangers-on who were there for the evening feast.

A hostage from the Green Kirtle clan, and her armed escort had just been freed by the party, and the PCs were itching to get out of Dodge.

I asked the players to choose three Aspects to set the stage for the game session. Their choices were:

• Night
• Underworld
• Carnival (everyone kind of smiled at this idea)

When I asked "Hmmm, what kind of carnival?", player Rachel quickly responded "The Parade of Worms." 

This produced groans.

I said: "Let's go with that. Sounds like a Sarku festival to me."

The priest of Dlamelish did a quick investigative roll as we started the adventure and declared that temple personnel had hinted that there was another very secret entrance to the Underworld from the lower regions of the temple of which the PCs were unaware. I said, "Sure. You were told it's in the crypts, but you'll have to find it on your own. They were a little too vague on the details."

The PCs headed down to the crypts and entered the ossuary. There was a bit of a tussle here between the thief and the priestess because in the ossuary, the thief discovered a beautiful green jade ring.It was on a finger bone in the ossuary's finger-bone jar. Next, the PCs found the secret holy-of-holies to Lord Vimuhla, and then a special crypt room with a very large central sarcophagus on a dias, as well as lesser sarcophagi and funeral urns on all sides.

Then there was a battle with the supernatural guardians of the sarcophagus room. The temple's first high priest was buried here. Our female warrior fought a Fire Shen; the grizzled male veteran of the legions faced off against a Magma Ahoygga; the priest of Dlamelish sought to flatter and seduce an orange fire demon so that it would not attack.

Eventually our players found their way into the Underworld. They descended a vast staircase.

At this point, we were running out of time, so I pulled a few RPG Inspiration Cards to set the final scene. One of the cards was Carnival, another was Lovers, another was Death, and the final one was Twins. I asked the players what all of this meant. The results are below.

Before the PCs reached the bottom of the stairs, Rachel made a declaration that the level where the stairs landed deep below was in fact a tubecar station. So we actually have two access points to the tubecar station in the Underworld below in Katalal, OR the temples of Ksarul and Vimuhla have Underground passages that converge - which is bound to cause trouble from time to time.

A tubecar arrived. When the doors opened, the PCs discovered to their dismay that the contents were the fungal congerie better known as the Parade of the the Undead! An Unspeakable Ritual was underway within the tubecar. The car also contained a mysterious twin of the Green Kirtle woman they had rescued. On this horrific note, our adventure ended.

A Couple of Quick Reflections

• With some help from Rachel, I am going to develop some quick Tekumel handouts to facilitate faster play in the future. Things like Clans, Gods, Races, Legion names, and cool Tekumel flavored Aspects.
• The implementation of magic that the Dlamelish priest used worked well, I thought.
• I need to tweak the skills a bit more, to increase the Tekumel flavor and utility for players.
• One player hadn't been to Tekumel in about 20 years. He said it felt natural stepping right back in to the world.
• The Man from Duluth reflected that he had wondered what it would be like to do a dungeon crawl using fate. I think he felt it was a pretty good experience.

The Happy Warriors

House Centipede Closeup by Kevincollins123

The Happy Warriors is a Glissendo-speaking species found throughout the Empire and far beyond the Imperial Extents. Members of this species are 2-3 meters in length, with dozens to hundreds of legs. The head of a Happy Warrior has two compound eyes, and several specialized mouthparts for biting prey, speaking Glissendo, and manipulating control systems. Happy Warriors have a second and very recent communication structure on their abdomens, which allows them to converse using human and near-human languages.

Happy Warriors can move with blinding speed. Their legs are also terrible piercing weapons. Many of their species can expectorate poisonous or hallucinogenic venom, creating a toxic haze in their immediate environment. The Happy Warriors are well-adapted for combat in a variety of environments - although they freely admit to feeling most in their element when fighting in jungles and other rough terrain, as well as underground.

The species fight in units of 100-1,000 members called Armed Multitudes. But make no mistake; the Happy Warriors are not a hive mind. Every member of the species is an individual, and every one strives for personal excellence in all of their affairs. Each individual is also mild projective empath. Legionaries who have fought at their side report that the affect is exhilarating and joyful, like being carried forward on a bouyant wave of death.

Many of the Legions of the Imperial Sovereign have incorporated one or more Armed Multitudes of the Happy Warriors into their organization. Each Armed Multitude bonds with a particular human commander. This bond is unbreakable; each commander has been repeatedly showered by a cloud of the Happy Warriors' loyalty pheromones. (This can become an issue in the case of a defection or demotion of a commander, but is never an issue in the case of a commander's death: in that case an Armed Multitude will bond to a new commander.)

One other important feature of the Happy Warriors is that they never leave their fallen human comrades behind.  The Happy Warriors always go to extreme lengths to recover the bodies of human comrades-in-arms. They use these bodies to lay the eggs of their young.

OGL MECHANICS

The Happy Warriors
Intelligent Myriapods (friendly)

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: Joyful member of an Armed Multitude
• Trouble: Loyal to one person
• Aspect: Strive for excellence in all things
• Aspect: Jungle and underground fighter
• Aspect: Never leave fallen humans behind

APPROACHES

• Careful: +1
• Clever: +1
• Flashy: 0
• Forceful: +2
• Quick: +3
• Sneaky: +2

STUNTS:

• Every Leg A Weapon: Take +2 to Forcefully Attack an opponent in the same or an adjacent Zone, using multiple legs as piercing weapons.
• Exoskeleton: Take +2 to Forcefully Defend against physical attacks from piercing weapons.
• Joyous Empaths: Take +2 to Flashy Approach to Create an Advantage in battle, psychically boosting the morale of comrades and allies.
• Spit Poisons: Take +2 to Flashy Approach to Create an Advantage in immediate or an adjacent Zone by creating a Poison Cloud or Hallucinogenic Cloud.

REFRESH: 2