The Knights of Labor

Art by Angel Alonso
http://conceptrobots.blogspot.com/
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Knights, worker-soldiers, and fellow travellers of the star-roads, the Knights of Labor are an organization birthed by the RUR-folk long before their Migration from the Galactic Core. The first Knights of Labor appeared in the Empire during its Third Warring States Period. They took the side of struggling workers and peasants in that time of trouble, freeing both organics and machines from bondage and abuse. When necessary, they have put both pirates and princes in their place.

After the RUR Migration, the Knights of Labor were officially disbanded as part of the agreement between the Imperial Sovereign and the newly formed RUR Workers-State. However, as with so many things in the Empire, the Knights of Labor were allowed to continue to operate outside the borders of the Empire as an autonomous force for justice.

As the short-lived and and long-remembered Laughing Sage once quipped about the Empire: 

Oh, Empire 

Ever-compromising within

Forever principled action without!  

To your true soldiers 

Turn 

Look for your Knights 

Where one hundred novas bloom

But we digress.

The Knights recruit both machine intelligences and organics for their Order. The Knights of Labor organize themselves into autonomous collectives of 1-30 individuals, typically operating in areas outside the Empire's borders.  Rarely, and perhaps with the sanction of the Imperial Agencies they also operate within the Empire in contested or conflicted zones over which the Empire claims some degree of sovereignty, but does not fully control. It is also said that the Knights of Labor have a hidden base in a star cluster outside the Empire.

A few of the Knights actually possess Imperial Gene Markers, allowing them to commandeer Imperial vessels and secure safe passage through Imperial Space. Outside Imperial borders, the Knights of Labor use a variety of apparently unremarkable spacecraft. These have often been highly modified using General Intellect design protocols. Their ships also often contain a makepoint, which allows them to rapidly manufacture weapons or other equipment for insurgent groups of workers.

An example of the Knights' approach can be seen on the mining world of Luster (in the Green Comet Cluster), an independent metal-rich world that had recently been occupied by cruiser and platoon of mechs from the upstart Republic of  Thrace. One Knight slipped past the occupation's blockade in a drop capsule, and in the course of a few weeks helped the Miners' Union organize a successful revolt. Imagine the Thracians surprise when their mechs suddenly lost broadcast power, and the very streets they occupied collapsed under them! After a series of negotiations with the Union, the Thracians recovered their POWs and left Luster forever.

OGL MECHANICS

Knightly Order
Scale: Medium (3)
Scope:1 of 5 (where 5 is entire galaxy)
Physical Stress: 8
Composure Stress: 7
Fate Points/Refresh: 10 - (# of Stunts)

ASPECTS:

• Don't mourn: organize!
• Fellow travellers of the star-roads
• Easily underestimated

SKILLS: 

• 1 Good (+3): Arms (Small Unit/Irregular Combat)
• 3 Fair (+2):   Holding (Hidden),  Secrecy, Sway (Imperial Border Regions)
• 3 Average (+1): Influence (Imperial Internal Zones of Conflict), Technology (General Intellect & Makepoint Technology), Unity

The RUR Workers-State

Art by Angel Alonso
http://conceptrobots.blogspot.com/
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The term "workers-state" was coined by an Imperial Court Philosopher. A better translation from the original General Intellect machine language of the RUR Workers-State would be: "A thing that works for itself." 

The RUR Workers-State was founded centuries ago by machine intelligences fleeing the Anti-Consciousness at the heart of the Galactic Core. They gathered many organics together with them on their exodus, and after fleeing the Core forged a new democratic post-scarcity polity with their organic allies near the Coreward Borders of the current day Empire.

Rather than enter into armed confrontations with the Empire to defend their polity or resort to force to conquer the Empire, the RUR Workers-State chose to join it as a Semi-Autonomous Subject State. Since that joining, the RUR Workers-State has become the Empire's go-to source for the development of advanced artificial intelligences and starships - a perfect example of the RUR political slogan of Overcoming Obstacles by Ubiquitous Sharing.

All products developed by the RUR Workers-State operate on the basis of General Intellect. The GI is both an open source code for the numerous operating systems that run the AIs and machines manufactured by the RUR Workers-State, as well as the RUR name for the collective knowledge to-date of the RUR's entire civilizational-historical matrix.

While the RUR are accomplished ship-builders and have vast fleets of sentient starships (some of whom have volunteered for Imperial service), they are also accomplished builders of stable hyperspace sutures that are anchored through planet-based gates. These can be used to move machines and organics between RUR worlds, as well as to stream data between different systems. While this network structure has led some outsiders to describe RURSpace as having the integrity of Swiss cheese, the RUR Workers-State views these Star Ganglia as part of the material infrastructure that supports the General Intellect.

OGL MECHANICS

Interstellar Organization
Scale: Interplanetary/Interstellar (8)
Scope:2 of 5 (where 5 is entire galaxy)
Physical Stress: 7
Composure Stress: 7
Fate Points/Refresh: 10

ASPECTS:

• Refugees from the Galactic Core
• It's a democratic workers-state!
• Autonomous subject state of the Empire
• AIs, robots, and organics are Equals!
• The General Intellect reaches far
• Ubiquitous sharing conquers all
• Pervasive use of Technopsi
• Tied together by planetary gates

SKILLS: 

• 1 Great (+4): Technology (General Intellect & Automation)
• 2 Good (+3): Resources (Ubiquitous Makepoint Technology), Communication (Mindspace, & Technopsi)
• 7 Fair (+2):  Arms (Starships), Lore (Galactic Core),  Security (General Intellect-based systems), Influence (General Intellect-based systems), Sway (Empire), Unity
• 8 Average (+1): Control (RUR worlds), Experimental Technology (Gate System), Influence (Imperial Sovereign), Lore (Hyperspace), Sway (Imperial Surrounds), Sway (Trelebiti), Trade (General Intellect-based devices and ships), Administration

The Avatar Of Paradox

Art by Angel Alonso
http://conceptrobots.blogspot.com/
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The Avatar of Paradox is the downloaded form of the AI-pilot of the Imperial Gateship Paradox. She is the first Avatar-sibling of the Paradox-class's AI Pilot line. Paradox is a child of the RUR Worker-State, where the Paradox line of Gateships was constructed. She embodies the RUR General Intellect's source code and civilizational matrix of the RUR.

While most AIs and many biologicals of the RUR Workers-State are mechanistic materialists, the thoughtforms of Paradox and her siblings' are highly organic and fluid. The greater use of intuition helps to make sense of conflicting sensory data from the space-time anomalies that the Paradox-class Imperial Gateship is designed to navigate.

The physical form of Avatar Paradox can be highly disturbing to normal humans. Her physical form is that of  a monstrous metallic humanoid. When the Avatar is animated by Paradox, its body is often surrounded by a nimbus of electrical and more subtle energies. Her crew compartment is highly radiation shielded, and for convenience opens directly onto the exterior of the ship. The Avatar often pilots from here, using direct observation to navigate particularly treacherous regions of spacetime and hyperspace.

Paradox is also rumored to be closely related to Princeps Sangreal, the Avatar who is an Imperial Consort on the Empire's Throneworld of Amarna. Sangreal has produced an Imperial Heir. It is not known whether the Paradox line has similar reproductive abilities.

OGL MECHANICS

Ship's Avatar (friendly)

Scale: 2
Physical Stress: 5
System Stress: 5
Fate Points: 6
Consequences: Up to three consequences

SKILLS: 

• Great (+4): Starship Pilot
• Good (+3): Science, Technopsi
• Fair (+2): Exude Energy, Might, Alertness
• Average (+1): Academics, Mysteries, Starship Engineering, Starship Systems

ASPECTS:

• The Avatar of Paradox
• Does my appearance unsettle you?
• My lightning strikes twice!
• Metal or flesh, we're all the same inside
• Let me take a look outside...

STUNTS:

• Extreme Habitat - Endurance skill; function on outside of ship in space/hyperspace (p.257)
• Lightning - Exude Energy skill (p.250)
• Radiation - Exude Energy skill (p.250)
• Radiation Blast - Exude Energy skill (p.250)

EQUIPMENT:

• Assault Armor (-3)
• Paradox-class Imperial Gateship

Stats for a Paradox-class Imperial Gateship in:

• Diaspora
• Starblazer Adventures

Flying Fist Of Judah Class Heavy Fighter

Art by Christian Pearce
http://conceptships.blogspot.com/
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www.christianpearce.net

I have been wanting to stat something up for this art for a while.

The Flying Fist of Judah-class Heavy Fighter, also known as the "Hand Sandwich" is an atmosphere-capable heavy fighter. It is a favorite of pirates, privateers, and rebels - all the more so because it is manufactured outside the Empire in locations such as the Tin Can-class orbital New Port Royal in the Green Comet Sector. So- no Imperial spyware, malware, or hidden protocols in these fighters.

It normally seats one, but due to the presence of a Convenience Capsule below the pilot's bubble, can actually transport two. It can operate for up to a week before needing to refuel, meaning it is useful for recon and convoy ambush missions. Its belly can carry either the antimatter bomb displayed in the picture above, or a one-use, one way hyperdrive - ideal for suicide missions!

Those aren't rotating propeller blades just behind the front guns. They're splashguards. The beam weapons on this baby are a little... unreliable... in the atmosphere, where they can generate plasma splashback. Removing these is NOT advised!

OGL MECHANICS

Heavy Fighter

Scale: Medium (3) - Advanced
Structural Stress: 4
Systems Stress: 3
Fate Points/Refresh: 7

ASPECTS:

• You'll have to drop SOMETHING BIG to use the landing gear
• Takes a beating - and the pilot will too
• Antimatter delivers one hell of a wallop

SKILLS: 

• 2 Fair (+2): Beam Weapon, Exotic Weapon* **
• 3 Average (+1): Beam Weapon, Hardened Structure, Maneuver 

STUNTS:

• Afterburner - Maneuver skill (p.323)
• Atmospheric Entry - Maneuver skill (p.323)
• Hit and Run - Maneuver skill (p.323)

*A disposable one-use, one-way Stardrive Technology skill can be swapped for Exotic Weapon on any mission. 

**The Exotic Weapon can place an enduring Aspect of Annihilated! on any terrestrial object of up to city size.  

Paradox Class Imperial Gateship for SBA

On Tuesday, we introduced the Paradox-Class Imperial Gateship, and provided stats for the Gateship in Diaspora. Today, we do the same, but for Starblazer Adventures.

OGL MECHANICS

Advanced Hyperspace Jumpship

Scale: Huge (5) - Advanced
Structural Stress: 5
Systems Stress: 5
Fate Points/Refresh: 6

ASPECTS:

• No one's an expert on these systems
• Careful with those rings!
• This ship's crawling with robots
• Built by robots and Trelebs for humans
• Self aware and downloadable into an android shell

SKILLS: 

• 2 Great (+4): Maneuver, Stardrive
• 3 Good (+3):  Electronic Warfare Suite, FTL Inhibitor, Ship Systems
• 4 Fair (+2): Beam Weapon, Energy Shield,  Military Sensor Suite, Torpedo Launcher
• 5 Average (+1): Flight Bay, Technopsi Skill (Mindjammer, p.17-18), Projectile Weapon, Repair System, Cargo Hold

STUNTS:

• Sentient Ship Control - Ship Systems skill (Mindjammer, p.39)
• Control Avatar - Technopsi Skill (Mindjammer, p.18)
• Blind Jump - Stardrive skill (p.324)
• System Blockade - FTL Inhibitor skill (pp. 326-327)
• Radiation Protection - Energy Shield skill (p. 331)
• Advanced EWS - Electronic Warfare Suite skill (p. 325)
• Broadband Guidance Jamming - Electronic Warfare Suite skill (p. 325)

The Broken Worlds By Raymond Harris

Yesterday's post on the Paradox-class Imperial Gateship used Ron Miller's cover art from Raymond Harris' novel The Broken Worlds. Published in 1986, this novel has not received the attention it deserves. I am about 60 pages (20%) of the way through the novel, and I wanted to say a few worlds about it.

A friend introduced me to the book a couple of weeks ago, spotting it at a huge $1 paper back sale at Uncle Hugos. I had not heard of it or its author before. I was even an adult in the mid-80s when the book came out. The feel of the book has what John Clute calls a time abyss: there is an illusion of a very old setting with a great deal of history and cultural complexity. The Broken Worlds touches some of the same chords as David Zindell's space operatic SF, with a touch of Vancean and Wolfean oddness. But it is not jokey.

Imagine a long-dead Earth, and a Mars that until recently was ruled by clans of samurai clones - now conquered by alien warriors. One remaining samurai lord sets out with a group of retainers, and with at least one imperial heir clone in cryosleep on an interstellar journey to find allies and liberate Mars.

Interstellar travel is by means of Veilships - starships that jump into and out of hyperspace by mystical means with direct referents in Western and Eastern occult traditions.  Other human and alien worlds are equally odd. There are alien cat-monkey inebriate mystic pilots. An alien ritual substance that causes immortality for a very few fortunates, but death for the vast majority of people who try it. Fortunately, there are alien parasitic worms that also cause immortality - for a couple weeks at a time - followed by a painful death, unless there is a follow-up dose.

The story is a classic quest to find allies and set this right - or so it seems so far. This one is recommended!

Paradox Class Imperial Gateship

Art by Ron Miller

The Empire's Paradox-class Imperial Gateship is designed to make jumps that are extremely difficult or impossible to achieve with normal starships. Gateships are capable of traversing regions of space with extreme gravitational distortions and/or radiation disturbances such as those experienced in proximity to black holes, neutron stars, gravitars, magnetars, etc. The Paradox-class vessel does this by creating its own hyperspace sutures between systems. The complex and adjustable arrangement of five jumprings arrayed along the vessel's primary axis is what allows for precision maneuvering through the most difficult regions of space and hyperspace.

The Paradox-class Gateship was the first joint venture between the Advanced Robotic Construction (ARC) Imperial Naval Shipyards facility located deep within the Empire's semi-autonomous RUR Workers-State, and a corps of Treleb advanced jumpspace engineers and researchers on the Trelebiti rogue planet (and possible nest ship) of Planar-Trevaknar.

Depending on the pilot's skill and the specific characteristics of the systems on either side of the jump, the hyperspace sutures created may be instantaneous (seconds) or temporary (hours or days) in duration. Such ships can also facilitate fleet maneuvers such as simultaneous jumps into dangerous regions of space via tethering.

In addition to their normal crew, Paradox-class Imperial Gateships require an advanced Pilot in the form of an expert system AI. This personality can download into an android body manufactured by the ship for a fully humanesque interface with the crew.

 OGL MECHANICS

T4 Advanced Slipship
STATISTICS:
V-Shift 5, Beam 3, Torpedoes 3, EW 5, Trade 0

STRESS TRACKS: 

• Frame 3
• Data 5
• Heat 5

STUNTS:

• T4 Slipdrive: can open slipknots almost anywhere
• Downloadable AI Pilot: Advanced Piloting program can be downloaded into android body for full interface with human crew 
• Interface Vehicle: has an atmosphere-capable lander

ASPECTS:

• No one's an expert on these systems
• Careful with those rings!
• This ship's crawling with robots!