Strfndr Pact Worlds - Flip eBook Pages 51-100 (2025)

PACT WORLDS 49 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 AKITON GEOGRAPHY Akiton’s famous red hue is a result of its rocky, iron-rich surface, which is marred by craters and is virtually absent of visible plants or liquid water. Like many other rocky planets, Akiton has a molten core, though that has cooled considerably over the past tens of millions of years. Not only has this process slowed tectonic activity, but it has also allowed solar winds to gradually erode the atmosphere, leaving it barely suitable for most humanoid respiratory systems. As the planet cooled, its weather systems gradually precipitated the world's liquid water into static ice caps, leaving behind immense trenches, virtually lifeless plains, and swaths of salinized soil where oceans once reigned—at least so the leading theory insists. Ancient myths speak of a time of great floods, though geological studies of the sundry trenches and channels suggest a variety of origins, with some pointing to a distant past of raging rivers and others indicating an ongoing divergence of tectonic plates. The greatest of these canyons is the extraordinary Edaio Rift, which nearly circumnavigates the planet like a jagged belt. The largest “ocean” is the utterly dry Irkonian Sea, created by the collision of a prehistoric meteor that slammed into Akiton at a shallow angle and left an oblong scar. This impact corresponds to a mass-extinction event that killed off virtually all of the planet’s larger fauna and, as paleontologists believe, paved the way for the evolution of intelligent humanoids such as the ikeshtis and ysoki. Force waves from this explosive event are evident in the surface for thousands of miles, and even the Arlkari Plateau appears to be a geological percussion bulb uplifted by the strike. Immense ice caps known as the Winterlands cover both of Akiton’s poles in a crystalline shell several miles deep. Descending winds blow with withering speeds across the frozen landscape, sometimes colliding to create extremely powerful twisters that blast the ice and sublimate water directly into short-lived clouds. In the north, beyond the hardy Ice Clans that still eke out a living here, the only signs of life are the abandoned Progenitor Cities that scholars now know the mysterious witchwyrds built long ago. To the south, different ruins peek up from the glaciers, but all creatures avoid these purportedly haunted sites that tend to scramble electronic devices brought nearby. The planet’s surface appears barren but sustains a wide variety of hardy cacti, grasses, and shrubs whose roots burrow

50 THE WORLDS WINTERLANDS WINTERLANDS Gantim Dal Dawat Etob Angkal Heights Booster City Arl Maro Halls of Reason VitariTech 5 VitariTech 3 Eeha Ashok The Shears Hivemarket Utopia of Tivik Daza Great Gwaz Khefak Depot IRKONIAN SEA NGUR LOWLANDS Pau, Heart of the Land TEETH OF JOLGADUSTWARREN Dry Delta GOLDEN BAY THE RIDGELANDS THE BOUNTY Ka, Pillar of the Sky SLOUGHSCAR HILLS High Shanzu Estuar KAVIRI PLAINS ARLKARI PLATEAU EDAIO RIFT

PACT WORLDS 51 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 AKITON as deep as 100 feet in search of Akiton’s anemic groundwater. Dust storms maraud across the rocky plains, practically circumnavigating the planet unless interrupted by a mountain chain. During the thasteron boom, engineers began an intensive terraforming operation dubbed the Bounty. Its goal was to stabilize the soil, restore Akiton to its prehistoric levels of flora, and kick-start a new agricultural industry. When funds dried up, many of the experimental sites withered, though the heart of the Bounty north of the Hivemarket has remained a fairly stable, albeit increasingly dangerous region of lush greenery unseen elsewhere on Akiton. RESIDENTS Despite its relatively inhospitable climate, Akiton has attracted a wide range of species, many of which remained even after the thasteron bust. Even so, five intelligent species are both native and dominant. Tens of thousands of years ago, humanity settled on Akiton by means now lost to prehistory. Commonly known as the Hylki, these Akitonian humans have deep-red skin and warm-hued irises, but they are otherwise identical to humans originating from Golarion. Although most outsiders use the label “Hylki” to refer to all Akitonian humans, the Hylki subdivide themselves into five distinct ethnicities whose differences are lost on the typical offworlder. The Hylki tend to be skeptical of the bold claims of strangers, and this skepticism translates into agnosticism in religious matters for many Hylki. Despite this wariness, however, the Hylki are a hospitable and passionate people, as ready to offer a stranger shelter against Akiton’s cold nights as they are to demand recompense for a perceivedslight. Of all Akiton’s species, few can match the ysoki for how well they exploited the advent of space travel. Already curious and gregarious, the ratfolk have made themselves invaluable on starships and space stations across the galaxy. On Akiton, they command considerable respect—at least compared to the teasing they sometimes receive on other worlds—and ever since the thasteron bust, ysoki ingenuity has been one of the key components keeping Akitonian cities afloat. Their population is split roughly in half between urban opportunists and wandering nomads whose motorized convoys transport key resources to settlements all across the planet. Over untold generations of evolution and genetic modification, the creatures known as the contemplatives of Ashok have transformed into psychic geniuses whose atrophied bodies dangle from their immense brains. Consummate scholars, most are content to direct their extraordinary mental faculties to complex mathematics, theoretical physics, and esoteric mysticism from the comfort of the Halls of Reason. With increasingly regularity, contemplatives have settled on other worlds, taking prestigious positions with think tanks, trading companies, universities, and even exploratory expeditions. Many other species find contemplatives unsettling for their appearance, but also for their insistence of referring to themselves with pronouns such as “we” and “us”—and practically never in the singular “I”—whenever found in agroup. When technological advancement exploded throughout the Pact Worlds, most contemplatives took these changes in stride, but two fringe groups (each representing a small fraction of all contemplatives) took opposite stances on the digital age: the Transcendent Cortex embraced technology wholeheartedly, and its advocates dedicated themselves to digitizing their minds to finally exceed the limitations of the flesh. The Pristine Muse, on the other hand, found technology disruptive, believing societies (including contemplatives) that relied on computers would find their thought processes and critical thinking atrophying. The two groups remain at odds but rarely clash directly; instead, they regularly call upon proxies to perform semilegal acts of sabotage against oneanother. The red-scaled ikeshti lizardfolk of Akiton have long lived on the fringes of “civilized” society, in part because their ravenous young can inflict lasting harm on unprotected settlements. During their adolescent phase, ikeshtis are at their most social, and they favor opportunities for the mechanically inclined, seeking jobs as technicians, wreckers, or traders of technology. In ages past, Akiton lacked the resources to support especially large populations, but after more than a millennium of imported foods and terraforming, the ikeshti and ysoki populations have grown so large that they have come into conflict with one another. The result is that the two species often clash over territory, and the ysoki have increasingly exploited space travel as a means of avoiding competition. Thanks to their group-oriented life cycle, most ikeshtis are born on Akiton. Many seek out opportunities elsewhere in the Pact Worlds, though it is very common for ikeshtis to send substantial remittances back to their brood-mates on Akiton. Travel abroad often disrupts an errant ikeshti’s reproductive cycle, though, and more than one starship crew has woken to find a stymied ikeshti crewmate transformed into a hulking, rage-filled rivener. Even at the height of Akiton’s terraforming initiatives, immense tracts of the planet remained a dusty wasteland. This suited the shobhad-neh just fine, and these four-armed giants stubbornly clung to their nomadic lifestyle of herding, hunting, and raiding. They have integrated into society over time, though most shobhads spend the better part of each year eking out a living in the wilderness. When they accept work, the warlike shobhads are often mercenaries or gladiators who carefully negotiate in their contracts what their codes of honor will allow. Shobhads very rarely accept long contracts of menial labor, believing that such work makes them cogs in the urban machine and erases their individuality and identity. When the price of thasteron plummeted, many mining settlements emptied but for those too poor to leave. Many Hylki and offworld miners looked to the shobhads’ way of life and adopted it for themselves, beginning an enduring fad of neopastoralism. This cultural appropriation grates on the shobhads, who balk at how casually others don leather harnesses, sport bone jewelry, and attempt to herd the planet’s large and destructive livestock. They have little recourse against others claiming their culture, but flaunting

52 THE WORLDS such affectations in the face of a shobhad is a surefire way to get into a fight. SOCIETY Despite the virtual implosion of the thasteron industry, the people of Akiton have found new ways to survive and even thrive. Competitive cities clash for resources, and only the Pact Worlds’ most fundamental rules have much sway over the largely lawless wilds. As governments slashed their budgets, regulatory commissions were among the first to go, and now Akiton is a hotbed of quasi-legal industry. The porous customs agencies make the world an excellent smuggling hub, and it’s often up to the community to police all but the most egregious ethical violations. For all its upscale businesses, the planet is now famous for its junkyards, mercenaries, recyclers, and masses of people willing to rent themselves out as guinea pigs for tests both cybernetic and pharmaceutical. As far as the records are concerned, Akiton also has some of the fastest growth in the Pact Worlds, though that’s largely thanks to the many power brokers who exploit the cities’ loose business licensing to create untraceable accounts. Upward mobility is the grand goal of many Akitonians. While plenty turn to crime or other get-rich-quick schemes, the most famous route is gladiatorial combat. Akiton’s arena tradition dates back untold millennia. Although the city of Arl has almost always boasted some form of blood sport, the purists maintain that most ancient bouts focused on ritualized combat and low lethality. Ceremonial clashes hold little interest for the galactic market, though, which eagerly tunes in to watch the major arenas’ increasingly flashy grudge matches. Those who can prove themselves in the arena stand to earn immense wealth and fandoms, and the people of Akiton practically fetishize their favorite gladiators— even starting brawls over the results of a recent match. The Three-Scar League manages the games and is one of the few surviving planet-wide regulatory commissions. Even so, untold numbers of underground fighting circuits defy even the League’s rules, often in order to preserve the “traditional” fighting styles of Akiton’s countless cultures in the face of broadcastsensationalism. For all the economic desperation and jostling, Akitonians are largely sympathetic to those who’ve fallen on hard times. They share freely with the destitute, though some gangs use charity as a way to recruit new followers in ongoing turf wars for control of cities such as Arl, Daza, and Maro. Others offer handouts as incentives to sign on with the thousands of mechanized caravans that travel between cities, trucking goods around and keeping a keen eye out for newly discovered salvage. CONFLICTS AND THREATS With scattered city-states, vast swaths of uncontrolled territory, and no centralized government, Akiton is far from the safest destination in the Pact Worlds. Even in the best of times, Akiton’s barren surface discouraged permanent settlements, and the frontiers remain the dominion of dozens of ferocious species such as the octopodal hrugs and the four-pincered silt dancers. Where these beasts dare not roam is often home to roving bands of brigands such as the daring Arroyo Boyz and the merciless Red Razors. Most infamous of all are the Sandstorm Nine, a group of ex-military kasathas who have founded their own bandit kingdom in the Ridgelands northeast of Arl. A number of Akiton’s raiders relish the income from abducting travelers and either ransoming their captives or selling them into slavery. Even though few settlements openly allow slavery, hidden slave rings across Akiton supply gladiators, labor, and test subjects to the planet’s less scrupulous souls. Most local governments have a standing bounty on slavers—at least on paper, as some of those same officials receive handsome bribes to look the otherway. Travelers who don’t have reliable aerial transport usually join motorized convoys that wind their way through the dust, seeking safety in numbers while carrying passengers and cargo. For these heavily armed caravans, there’s no such thing as too many guards, and a capable mercenary can find reliable work just by hopping from one expedition to the next. Ambushes aside, the Akitonian wilderness is a dangerous place, with punishing sandstorms, polar vortices, and deadly bolts of orange lightning that strike without warning from atmospheric dust clouds. To make matters worse, the prevalence of craters and ravines makes traveling in stormy conditions potentially disastrous, and the resultant dunes can slow even the most capable land vehicles. Cities may seem safer, but they hold their own dangers. With the decline of thasteron, gangs have become the refuge for the economically downtrodden. Rival groups clash for territory, often catching bystanders in the crossfire of their turf wars. Municipalities can rarely dedicate the funds to combating local crime because the plutocrats who hold their cities together are also busy fighting over access to resources, and these magnates regularly hire freelance groups to perform covert operations against each other without leaving a significant paper trail. Even animals can pose a threat in cities, both where blighted neighborhoods have become the realm of dangerous beasts and where scavengers have tunneled up into well-established districts. NOTABLE LOCATIONS The following are some of the most famous sites on the red planet of Akiton. Arl Magnificent Arl is one of the oldest and largest cities on Akiton, having stood atop the Arlkari Plateau for millennia before the Gap. Its equivalent to kings, called thuroks, ruled the plateau for ages before being deposed, and as can best be reconstructed, Arl’s rulers were largely figureheads in a parliamentary thurokracy during the Gap. Since the thasteron crash, Akiton has become increasingly dangerous, and a military coup reinstated the thurok as a supreme ruler. The current thurok, Vahal Ayos (N male human soldier), favors bold shows of force over sustained recovery, often sending warriors to crush nearby raiding parties or posting bounties on dangerous fauna anywhere near Arl. The city rebooted its manufacturing industry, though it struggles to remain

PACT WORLDS 53 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 AKITON financially competitive—a matter Vahal Ayos sometimes sweeps aside by imposing new tariffs to protect the factories. Arl is most famous for its historic district, one of the bestpreserved, continuously occupied neighborhoods of pre-Gap architecture in the system. The star attraction is the Crimson Forum, a crumbling arena that once housed the greatest fighting tournaments on the planet. It has since been upstaged by the VitariTech Coliseum, a state-of-the-art stadium that hosts sporting events of all types and seats up to 150,000 people. ARL N metropolis Population 18,350,000 (38% human, 36% ysoki, 11% android, 15%other) Government autocracy (Thurok Vahal Ayos) Qualities cultured, in recession, profiteering Maximum Item Level 14th QUALITIES In Recession The settlement is experiencing an economic downturn, usually resulting in higher unemployment rates. Profiteering The businesses of this settlement engage in unethical practices in order to make profits. Ashok Akiton’s native contemplatives are often referred to as the contemplatives of Ashok—a term that can refer to both this impact crater and a state of enlightenment that many contemplatives seek to achieve. The exact relation between the crater and this philosophy remains unclear, though some scholars of prehistoric Akiton have postulated that Ashok may originally have been the contemplatives’ ancestral homeland, obliterated when a meteorite struck the planet, forming the crater that now bears its name. Today, the crater of Ashok functions as an immense amplifier that focuses and intensifies psychic energies, much like a particle accelerator for telepathic waves, allowing the contemplatives to broadcast their telepathic communiqués throughout the galaxy and dissect the fundamental energies of magic itself. The researchers at Ashok are very protective of their discoveries and publish only frequently enough to allay the Stewards’ concerns. Even so, few creatures dare inhabit the region for miles around, reporting terrifying dreams and even spontaneous mutations as a result of the psychic radiation that resonates from the crater. Bounty The grand terraforming operation known as the Bounty was supposed to revitalize the planet and spur industry, but ecologists traced its early failures to a lack of supporting fauna to crop the native plants, disperse seeds, and aerate the soil. In an effort to restore the prehistoric conditions, a multilateral effort began to excavate ancient animals, extract their DNA, and clone them. It worked, but perhaps too well. What scientists believed to be simple, small, burrowing proto-lizards were in fact only the juvenile form of a titanic species of subsurface predator. Upon reaching maturity, these scar gnashers began bursting from the ground to consume farmers, machinery, and even entire houses. Akitonian starships attempted to wipe out the creatures by orbital bombardment, but the scar gnashers merely burrowed to safety and they have since spread a modest distance from their terraformed home. Fortunately, they seem unable or unwilling to travel far beyond this region, but their presence makes the area increasingly dangerous. VitariTech Industries has proposed using an experimental weapon to exterminate the creatures, but so far no one has been brave enough to carry the armaments into the overgrown wilds. Company Towns Where the best veins of thasteron lay, mining companies were quick to assemble new towns populated almost entirely by employees and their families. With the near collapse of the thasteron industry, laid-off workers hastily fled these VAHAL AYOS

54 THE WORLDS settlements, leaving behind eerily empty ghost towns in their wake. Most of these surrounded the basin once known simply as the Deep, where the concentrated thasteron earned it a new name: Golden Bay. Booster City was the largest of these boomtowns. Several years ago, an extensive mining sinkhole caused a chunk of the city to slough down the side of the Deep, revealing an extensive network of previously unknown tunnels both artificial and natural. Etob on the northern rim is a wreck of ice-cracked structures, whereas Great Gwaz to the west has streets choked with dust. Not content to keep building settlements, Angkal Unlimited created a mobile town named Angkal Heights the size of several city blocks and propelled by treads more than 100 feet wide. After the structure became hopelessly mired in Golden Bay, the company abandoned thasteron mining entirely. Perhaps the most famous settlement is the Utopia of Tivik, the creation of the egomaniacal ysoki Tivik who had her image etched into virtually every surface of the city. Her employees suffered this stream of propaganda largely because Tivik paid the best benefits and wages, and living conditions were otherwise some of the best in the industry. Even after being abandoned, the Utopia of Tivik still hums with energy as its digital billboards flash heroic scenes of its founder, speakers scratchily blare songs that praise her courage, and the occasional parade of robotic entertainers built in her image marches down the street. The city’s become a haven for ne’er-do-wells and raiders. Even these tend not to linger, though, for no matter how many of the flashy signs they demolish, something stealthily repairs the damage within a week. Dal Dawat Ikeshtis’ nomadic lifestyles leave them with few settlements, but all know of Dal Dawat. Carved into a ridge overlooking the Irkonian Sea, this monumental sculpture of two intertwined reptiles is a sacred site for ikeshtis, who view it not only as a monument of fertility but also as a reminder of the warring instincts that sleep within themselves. Those ikeshtis who cannot find a mate make pilgrimages here to breed and avert transformation into riveners, though many lose their senses before completing the journey. As a result, riveners are common for miles around the site, and ikeshtis regularly organize patrols to hunt down their wayward kin—sometimes even attacking other creatures in a vain attempt to preserve their species’ dignity. Daza The Pact Worlds may have developed several sources of clean, renewable energy, but tragedy litters the path to innovation. Daza traces its origins to the Gap, and it emerged from that period with a unique and extraordinarily efficient power plant that combined magic and technology in ways modern scientists still struggle to understand, earning it the name City of Fusion. Its post-Gap citizens easily pieced their lives back together, but within a few years, many of them fell ill, poisoned by arcane and chemical radiation that had leaked from the plant’s core for months or more. While many fled the irradiated city, those who stayed had irregular responses to the contamination. Certainly a large percentage became ill or died, yet an impressive fraction grew redundant organs, recovered from terminal illnesses, or even developed beneficial mutations. Within a decade, Daza became a destination for miracle seekers of all stripes, and a cottage industry of mystics promising the means to unlock Daza’s curative energies emerged. Advances in individual radiation shielding have made it practical for people to once more live safely in Daza, drawing upon its functioning plant for energy at virtually no cost. It’s also an informal holy site for disciples of Oras, who view the city as one glorious, living experiment. Still, Daza is best known as a galactic leper colony that attracts the incurable, who settle in the city to work while awaiting salvation. Dustwarren The fierce dust storms that erode Akiton’s rocky surface don’t distribute their payloads evenly, and much of the grit eventually settles in an immense rift known as the Dustwarren, forming a vast sea of fine silt. The dust constantly and slowly sloshes about, with powerful winds regularly sweeping up and depositing material. Innumerable tiny invertebrates slither through the grains in search of food particles the storms leave behind, and immense filter-feeding huikarls gorge on these virtually invisible creatures while leaving ephemeral furrows with their sharp-edged fins. The sea of dust experiences unpredictable tides that can last for several weeks, and the ebbing sands reveal networks of scoured tunnels that riddle the submerged coastline. Among the most enduring tales on Akiton are those of space pirates and bandit kings who hid their loot down various tunnels, and shady traders are always eager to sell a “genuine” map to one of these abandoned troves. Interest might have faded were it not for regular sightings of starships landing near the Dustwarren and drunken tales of pirates on shore leave insisting their captains continue the tradition to this day. Estuar This small town at the edge of Akiton’s southern Winterlands is deceptively quiet. Not much seems to happen aside from the thriving “icing” industry, where workers collect water from the polar caps and store it in large metal vats to be traded to the rest of the planet. Those familiar with Akiton’s criminal underworld know that Estuar is run by a collection of criminal syndicates that prosper from kickbacks and shady deals within the icing industry. The Szuri Ring is the largest and most ruthless of the settlement’s cartels. Five Tines Fortress Akiton’s early history is rich in warlords who aspired to create empires, and although records of those would-be emperors from the Gap are now gone, many of their weapons remain. Among these is a flying citadel that patrolled the wastes but whose defenses were no match for post-Gap technology. The first to explore it found no signs of its creator beyond wall art depicting a ysoki warlord wielding a five-tined polearm. With the site considered safe, entrepreneurs moved in and transformed

PACT WORLDS 55 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 AKITON Five Tines Fortress into a touring attraction that boasts a carnival, rides, and luxury gambling. For all its relatively quaint technology, understanding of the aerial fortress’s navigation system has eluded engineers, and the structure meanders the planet at its own unpredictable pace. Five Tines Fortress is most famous for its annual Redstone Raid, in which the site’s staff populates a different section of the citadel with lethal threats and sends teams of fortune seekers into the gauntlet for a chance to win a huge cash prize. The whole affair is broadcast live throughout the Pact Worlds, which has made the fortress’s current owner, Zukar Nurkop (CN male ysoki), very rich on the proceeds. Gantim What began as a normal adolescent ikeshti camp several decades ago has become a scientific curiosity. Located near the edge of Akiton’s northern polar cap, Gantim is now home to an almost religious order of ikeshtis who have staved off their rutting instincts long past their normal reproductive cycle. They attribute their “success” to deep meditation and focus on intellectual pursuits, but some scientists have noted increased levels of radiation in the area. The ikeshtis of Gantim refuse to evacuate despite the threat to their health. Halls of Reason Like powerful computers, the pulsating brains of the contemplatives of Ashok function best when kept cool, and these creatures often congregate in small research hermitages secreted in the darkened channels that crisscross the planet. The greatest of the contemplatives’ bastions, though, are the Halls of Reason, a vast array of windowless cubic towers. Whereas most of these boast cutting edge technology, nearly a dozen are completely devoid of electronic devices—all the better to concentrate on the most esoteric conundrums. The advent of Drift travel has expanded the contemplatives’ figurative horizons, driving them to excavate a vast network of tunnels and sealed laboratories that shield them from the technological chatter of the Pact Worlds so they can listen for the telepathic projections of distant societies calling across the cosmos. The contemplatives openly admit to having made contact with at least five otherwise unknown species in distant, unexplored systems, but they remain cryptic about further details while commissioning crews to dig ever-deeper vaults below the Halls and exterminate the subterranean beasts that keep infesting the tunnels. Hivemarket On Akiton’s largely lawless surface, any place that sustains honest commerce forms an oasis of relative prosperity. No marketplace is larger than the Hivemarket, a sprawling bazaar that exists in equal parts aboveground as well as within a subterranean network of lava tubes beneath Mount Ka to the northeast. Although its tunnels provide considerable safety from raiders and the weather, the greatest reason for the Hivemarket’s millennia of success is the khulans. These ghostly, glossy-eyed creatures have lower bodies that seem to trail away into nothing. For all their spectral appearance, khulans are utterly vigilant and viciously attack anyone who performs major thefts or attempts to take over the market by force, but any legitimate business, no matter how immoral, goes unpunished. Most patrons have learned to accept the khulans as an eccentricity of the site, but several universities sponsor ongoing studies of the strange creatures to determine where they come from and what they want. A recently developed psychic tracker has allowed one group from the Qabarat University of Xenoarchaeology and Xenoanthropology to ascertain that the khulans retreat to tunnels far below those used by the market, and at intervals the tagged subjects all gravitate toward Ka as if following unheardinstructions. Several governing bodies help maintain the Hivemarket, perform minor policing, and provide directions, though these groups are often at odds with each other as they maneuver for greater shares of the bazaar’s profits and influence. The most influential of these is the Goldvein Census, a network of Abadaran temples that authenticate goods, notarize deals, and encourage economic growth—all while watching the khulans with suspicion. The minimal oversight and considerable safety of the Hivemarket have attracted several large businesses, including Sanjaval Spaceflight Systems, one of the leading producers of interstellar transport. Ka, Pillar of the Sky Whereas its canyons are gigantic, several of Akiton’s volcanoes are outright titanic. Peaks such as the cinder cone High Shanzu and the composite volcano Eeha (nicknamed “the World Flare”) dwarf most mountains on other planets, but Ka, Pillar of the Sky, reigns supreme as the tallest mountain in all the Pact Worlds. This shield volcano rises to a height of 22 miles, bringing its summit well above the point that most creatures can breathe. Rather than deter visitors, the height has invited them to test their fortitude against the mountain. The old shobhad Test of the Mountain, in which a person seeking validation or exoneration climbs to the summit and back, remains popular to this day. Those who survive are forever changed, though in the past century, many of the mountain-tested have returned having formed a strange mystic spellcasting connection. Ka is a sacred site for the shobhad-neh. Every year the disparate shobhad tribes send representatives to the Clanmoot here, the only gathering of their kind at which peace is guaranteed while the giants air grievances, trade, and develop alliances. This peace is not guaranteed to outsiders, however, and with the exception of a handful of approved minor outposts and tiny science installations that ring Ka’s lower slopes, the shobhads have mercilessly destroyed every attempt to establish settlements closer to the mountain. Some shobhads sell their services as guides to those seeking the summit, which also allows the giants to keep their clients on established paths and far from areas the shobhads would rather keep secret—including ominous obelisks and steaming caves reported bytrespassers. Khefak Depot Located near the largest concentration of wrecked starships and named after the trash-eating vermin that plague the area,

56 THE WORLDS this small settlement has a surprisingly robust economy based on an industry the residents call “junk tourism.” Khefak Depot has styled itself the go-to place for offworlders—mostly amateur archaeologists and Gap historians—who want a glimpse at Akiton’s famed wrecks without braving the dangers of the planet’s wastes. The town is chock full of hotels, restaurants, and tour guides, all eager to charge exorbitant prices to anyone naive or foolish enough to pay them. Maro Plenty of settlements cling to the sides of Akiton’s trenches, but none are half as spectacular as Maro, which stretches for miles along the Edaio Rift and nearly 3 miles vertically from the surface to the chasm floor. Its ancient epithet of “Thousand Lights” is now a laughable understatement, for the lights of millions of billboards, businesses, and residences compete for attention. In past ages, Maro suffered from considerable wealth disparities, but the city admirably shared the profits of the thasteron boom. This upward mobility—both figurative and literal—shook up the city’s hardwired social identities, triggering an ongoing cycle of creative media that continues to this day. Lately, Maro echoes with the shumka beats style that resounds off the chasm walls, and a rash of pig-growling (short for pigment-growling) has left the upper reaches vandalized with immense graffiti masterpieces sprayed from speedinghoverbikes. Maro may be famed for its fashion and nightlife, but it’s also infamous for its gang warfare. The city’s relative prosperity attracted many ambitious and desperate souls as thasteron failed, and gangs formed to round up a quick credit from the unsuspecting urbanites. Maro’s citizens have learned how to avoid the worst side effects of the turf wars, few of which creep beyond the bottom mile of the city. Even so, recruiters frequent virtually every neighborhood, always on the lookout for new hotshots willing to join up. Nurkop Richpick Sometime during the Gap, the Nurkop ysoki clan went from relative poverty to fabulous wealth, and no one—not even their descendants—knows quite how. The mythology quickly arose that among the innumerable wrecks found on Akiton’s surface, the Nurkops found the mother lode of them all and sold off their prize. Ysoki love telling the tale of the Nurkop Richpick, that legendary site said to lie somewhere within the Dry Delta. As rumors insist, the Nurkops left behind enough loot to make AbadarCorp’s executive archdirector choke. Nobody’s ever rediscovered this wreck, but that doesn’t stop treasure hunters from braving the delta’s tusk-winged norkasa and biting sandstorms in the hope of finding a fortune. Pau, Heart of the Land Whereas Ka, Pillar of the Sky, is the testing ground for great leaders, the massive impact crater the shobhad-neh call Pau, Heart of the Land is where their people prove their worth. Located between the Ngur Lowlands and the Teeth of Jolga, Pau has some of the richest natural grazing on the planet, making it valuable territory to shobhad herders who have traveled this region for untold ages. Its value also makes it the most hotly contested regions among the giants, who regularly raid one another and spill blood for control of the reddest grasses. The resurgence of herding among other species has led to bitter centuries of skirmishes between the shobhads and their insistent neighbors, and the former have buried the hatchet with one another in order to present a more united front against the usurpers who want their territory. The Shears Akiton’s cities host dozens of registered arenas and gladiatorial companies, but numerous independent operations exist outside these municipalities. The largest of these is the Shears, an ancient fighting school that boasts trophies dating back to the early days of Arl’s Crimson Forum. Operated by the unforgiving priest of Damoritosh Shazzag (LE female shobhad mystic), the Shears offers the most brutal—and, so it claims, the best—training regimen on the planet, promising that students emerge either as hardened champions or as pulverized carrion. Its teachers regularly send groups of students out on “field trips” to reach some nearly inaccessible point or capture an imposing beast. As a result, these muscular disciples are a fairly common sight on the Kaviri Plains or in the unforgiving Sloughscar Hills. Most of those who graduate the Shears depart to join urban gladiatorial stables, but Shazzag invites the very best to remain as part of her 15-member elite squad that competes only a few times a year. The school never enters the same championship twice in a row—these veterans are very confident that their repeat participation would be unfair to a region’sgames. VitariTech Research Sites The thasteron bust spurred a gradual brain drain of Akiton, especially in industrial sectors. The homegrown VitariTech Industries was among the hardest hit as property values fell and neighborhoods decayed. However, in the past century, the company has found new life thanks to Akiton’s virtually nonexistent research regulations, allowing it to engage in bleeding-edge research that often veers into deeply unethical territory, sometimes with Aspis Consortium funding. The studies at Site 3 are especially disturbing, using hired test subjects to endure torturous procedures in the pursuit of new cybernetic augmentation and gene therapies. Failed test subjects often conveniently disappear, and the privately owned company rarely publishes its findings or methodologies. Those few settlements near the facility sometimes come under attack by rampaging escapees with bounty hunters in hotpursuit. For all the heinous practices of Site 3, the scientific community is more concerned by the claims out of Site 5, a separate facility studying atmospheric regeneration. The mountainside lab claims to have discovered the means to stabilize and rebuild Akiton’s atmosphere, though peer reviewers insist the procedure could as easily set fire to the whole planet. Some suspect it’s only a matter of time before VitariTech tests the technology anyway.

PACT WORLDS 57 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 AKITON GLADIATOR THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) Your experience in the arenas has exposed you to countless warrior cultures, and you both recognize strange martial arts and know how to impress others with your own unique style. Reduce the DC of Culture checks to recall knowledge about entertainment combat, fighting styles, and gladiatorial traditions by 5. Intimidate is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Intimidate checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Constitution at character creation. FAMOUS FIGHTER (6TH) You have developed a considerable fandom that loves you for your arena prowess. You’re famous enough that others require only a DC 15 Culture check to recognize your name and a DC25 Culture check to recognize you out of context from your appearance alone. Because you’re famous for your brutal stage presence, you can spend twice the normal amount of time when using Intimidate to bully a creature whose attitude is indifferent or better. If you do and succeed at the check, when the effect wears off, the creature’s attitude toward you is worsened only to indifferent, not unfriendly. At the GM’s discretion, a die-hard fan’s attitude might be worsened to friendly instead, or you might be able to use this ability against an unfriendly target. PART OF THE OUTFIT (12TH) Your name is synonymous with your gladiatorial persona and outfit. As long as your gear is in good condition, you don’t take any circumstantial penalties for wearing light armor or heavy armor in social situations (such as wearing golemforged plate to a formal event). You can use Intimidate or Profession (gladiator; Charisma) to “hide” up to two smaller weapons (such as a small arm or one-handed melee weapon with light bulk) or one larger melee weapon on your body, though you do not conceal the weapon so much as convince others to accept your carrying it without any objections. You can draw these weapons as normal; you do not need to spend a standard action as you would to draw a hidden weapon. Otherwise, this functions as the hide object task of Sleight of Hand. You are a veteran of the public blood sport industry—a survivor of countless battles to earn a shiny credstick of winnings, the adulation of your fans, or both. You might be a veteran of Akiton’s fighting pits, a student of the ritualized styles of Triaxus’s battleflowers, or the sort of masochist who can’t help but return to Eox’s Halls of the Living. You’re likely to die before your habits do, though, as you find few things more exciting than the rush of battle and the pounding cheers of a thousand fans. +1 CON At the GM’s discretion, areas with especially high security may not allow you to carry weapons at all, no matter your reputation. CROWD FAVORITE (18TH) The first time each day you deal the finishing blow (reduce a creature to 0 Hit Points) to a significant enemy in front of an audience (consisting of at least one bystander or ticket-holding fan, but not another enemy), you regain 1 Resolve Point. If the audience contains 20 or more creatures, you instead regain 2ResolvePoints.

58 THE WORLDS VERCES Orbiting the sun between Akiton and the Idari, Verces is a highly civilized world, a cultural hub forever at the forefront of social and technological progress. Tidally locked, with the same side always facing the sun, it lacks the day-night cycle of most other Pact Worlds; instead, the side known as Fullbright is constantly scorched by a never-setting sun, while Darkside is trapped in eternal frozen night. Fortunately, a narrow ring of temperate climate along the terminator line where the two sides meet has proven surprisingly welcoming to intelligent life, and today nearly the entire population of this cosmopolitan world packs itself into the sprawling megacities filling this ring, while the rest of the planet is left to fringe groups and monsters. While already heavily cultivated and industrialized by the native humanoid verthani before the advent of interplanetary travel, Verces proves hospitable to most of the major Pact Worlds races, having gravity and atmosphere similar to that of Absalom Station, Castrovel, and Triaxus. Most of its citizens, both native born and immigrants, live in the Ring of Nations that circles the planet along the terminator where night and day meet, relaxing in sky-gardens atop their massive urban towers or laboring in the gritty, workaday slums below where the slanted sunlight never reaches. Generally curious, egalitarian, and peaceful, the urban citizens of Verces are deeply proud of their patchwork planetary culture, which not only produced the Stewards but inspired the governing structure of the Pact Worlds. The lands outside the Ring are generally left to automated solar and water farming, sparsely populated by denigrated groups collectively known as the Outlaw Kingdoms: notorious bands of criminals, cultists, political exiles, survivalists, and—though most may be loath to admit it—a few unjustly maligned cultures indigenous to these harsh regions. GEOGRAPHY Over half of Verces is dry land, as the sun-scorched Fullbright hemisphere lacks any water. While local legends often speak of ancient seas that used to occupy regions such as the Firesalt Basin and the Keppenvos Badlands, the truth is that VERCES

PACT WORLDS 59 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 VERCES the several enormous dust basins in this area never held water in their current location but were rather seas from the Ring that tectonic movement carried into Fullbright, their water boiling away as they left the temperate region. Darkside, by contrast, contains most of the planet’s water and is full of half-frozen seas such as the Godswater and glaciers whose boundaries are obscured by snow and ice. Between the two, the Ring of Nations is primarily dry land punctuated by a few bodies ofwater. The fact that Verces is tidally locked means that Fullbright constantly bakes under the blazing sun while Darkside is in an eternal winter. In the terminator zone, temperatures slowly shift from near freezing on the edge of Darkside to over 100º F on the edge of Fullbright. Beyond the terminator zone, temperatures become much less hospitable, requiring the use of environment suits and special precautions for most machinery. There are no seasons on Verces; instead, the permanent imbalance in temperature is the main driving force behind its weather patterns. Superheated air over Fullbright rises and expands, while the frigid air over Darkside sinks and condenses. This effect pulls heated air toward Darkside at high altitudes, where it cools, sinks, gathers moisture, and flows back out at low altitudes toward the low-pressure Fullbright, where the cycle begins again. The wind thus constantly blows across the Ring of Nations from Darkside toward Fullbright. Storms arise erratically as a result of fluctuations in this pattern, and the terrain over which the wind passes also plays a role—the plains see windstorms that can reach tremendous strength, mountainous areas have gustier winds and greater temperature variation, and regions downwind of seas experience more rain. Being tidally locked also means that the planet lacks a day-night cycle. Light conditions never significantly change in any particular area, other than temporarily dimming during storms. Fullbright is always blindingly bright, while Darkside is lit only by the scattered lights of civilization. The colder, dimmer edge of the terminator zone is twilit, and bright stars can be seen in the few regions away from city lights; the slow movement of these heavenly bodies is the only cue the planet gives its residents as to the passage of time. In warmer, brighter regions, the stars are invisible, blotted out by a perpetual, static sunrise. While the unchanging light is often confusing and eventually exhausting for visitors from planets with a day-night cycle, native Vercites find themselves

60 THE WORLDS at home with the constant artificial lighting of starships and space stations but unnerved by the changing daylight and seasons of other planets, as they associate changes in lighting and temperature with geographical movement rather than the passage of time. RESIDENTS By far the most populous inhabitants of Verces are the native verthani: 8-foot-tall humanoids with protruding, mouselike black eyes and skin colors that can be shifted at will to display complex patterns. In practice, verthani forms vary significantly between individuals due not to biology but technology— augmentation is common among them and ranges in scope from minor sensory upgrades to whole-body modifications that permanently embed the subjects into starships or other control centers. Other races are frequently encountered on Verces, though, due to the planet’s long history of interplanetary travel and urbanemulticulturalism. Ubiquitous throughout the Pact Worlds, humans are common on Verces, finding its dense cities comfortably reminiscent of bustling Absalom Station, or perhaps homesteading on its barely hospitable frontiers. Many are permanently employed by universities or corporations such as Ringworks or the Spellsight Cooperative, yet as Absalom Station’s closest political ally, Verces sees a huge number of transient human traders and visitors as well. While the Stewards may have relocated to Absalom Station with the signing of the Pact, the organization maintains strong roots here, and many officer candidates pursue advanced training at the Steward fortress called Peacewatch. In addition to enjoying the similarities between the planet’s hotter regions and their own desert home world of Kasath, many kasathas appreciate the stability and tradition of Vercite society, particularly their governmental structures. Some even valorize the verthani’s ancient caste system, to the verthani’s amusement or irritation. An unusually large number of ryphorians live on the edges of the Ring, as they are well adapted to extreme climates and see a strong echo of their own home world’s century-long seasons there. When the shirrens first entered the Pact World system, fleeing their former kindred in the Swarm, their first contact was with Captain Korma Anwero and her crew aboard the Vercite aethership Third Chance. An agreement was quickly reached to let the refugees land and establish a permanent colony in the Fullbright region, and today shirrens have integrated thoroughly into all levels of Vercite society, though some of their original settlements remain almost entirely shirren in population. Many ysoki come to Verces for the technology and personal augmentation, while others simply find ample financial opportunities in the squalid warrens beneath the planet’s gleaming metropolises. They are also encountered with some frequency in the Outlaw Kingdoms, whether engaging in illicit trade between the Ring and other settlements or simply exploring life on the edge. The precise size of their population remains unclear, but there have been permanent ysoki communities on Verces since even before theGap. The winged humanoids known as strix (see page 214) occupy Qidel, Aerie of the Sun, a tall, mysterious spire in Fullbright. Though the strix mostly keep to themselves, large delegations of them have left Qidel to integrate with mainstream Vercite society. Very few non-strix are allowed to enter the tower, and the winged humanoids speak little of their life within the structure, a structure widely believed to be reinforced by magic. While not part of Vercite society at any level, bloodbrothers are intelligent enough—and popular enough as bogeymen in Vercite media—to warrant mention. These huge monstrosities lair in the glaciers of Darkside, with vaguely humanoid torsos atop long, millipede-like bodies. They hunt any trespassers in their frigid world but, rather than eating those they catch, place victims inside large cavities within their chests and incorporate them into their circulatory systems, gradually draining all nutrients via their still-living victims’ blood over the course of months. Rumors that they were born of a spectacularly flawed attempt to adapt verthani to life on Darkside have largely been discredited, as the race is known to date back to antiquity, but such hearsay is nevertheless cited regularly in arguments against biotech of all sorts. SOCIETY The temperate portion of Verces is composed of 27 different countries, many of them roughly rectangular as increasingly inhospitable environs define their eastern and western borders. For millennia, these have been largely unified as the Ring of Nations, a coalition governed by a representative Grand Assembly and defended by the original cadre of Stewards— the organization of warrior-diplomats that, once dedicated to keeping the peace between Verces’s nations, now serves the same function for Pact Worlds as a whole. Theoretically independent, Verces’s nations nevertheless have deeply intertwined cultures, economies, and legal systems, with citizens passing unhindered between nations and outright warfare unknown for millennia. While each nation is proud of its particular customs and sensibilities, Vercite culture has long been more homogenous than those of many other planets. Originally, this was due to the fact that the relatively narrow band of easily habitable land led to significant population density, facilitating trade and making true isolation hard to find in even the most difficult terrain. Even in preindustrial times, merchant caravans and traveling universities circled the globe in decades-long routes, transmitting goods, knowledge, and traditions as they went. The rise of modern media has continued the trend toward a uniform culture, and bullet trains now transport commuters in hours across distances that once took days, with megacities sometimes blending into one another in vast urban sprawls. Verthani society (and Vercite society generally) is welcoming toward outsiders, though otherwise gracious locals are sometimes patronizing about the valuable institutions and knowledge their world has generously bestowed upon the Pact Worlds. As a result, the world is truly as cosmopolitan as it claims, with travelers of all races coming here to study, conduct business, or seek out Vercite expertise, generally with regard to political theory, starship mechanics, or technomancy.

PACT WORLDS 61 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 VERCES Such visitors frequently marvel at the endless bustle of Verces’s cities—with no day or night to divide up the time, businesses, government offices, schools, and other institutions tend to run continuously, with employees arranging their sleeping and waking hours for the convenience of their families. Verthani culture was once defined by a rigid caste system, in which individuals chose at puberty to permanently align themselves with one of three castes: the Augmented, who embraced technological and magical modification of their bodies; the God-Vessels, who channeled the gods’ power and permanently branded themselves with holy symbols; and the Pure Ones, who eschewed augmentation and divine magic alike, instead focusing on agriculture and governance. Traditionally, Augmented and God-Vessels were allowed to marry only Pure Ones in order to maintain the balance of power and build empathy between the castes. Today, the caste system has fallen by the wayside in most of the Ring, with the majority of verthani embracing augmentation to some extent, changing paths as inspiration strikes them, and marrying whomever they please. However, the Augmented caste has recently seen a rebirth as a powerful faction in wider Pact Worlds society, and its membership now transcends the verthani race to include members of any races interested in improving themselves and society through technological or magical upgrades. Another thriving practice born of the caste system is plural marriage. In the earliest known times, plural marriage was most common in regions where the caste system’s restrictions on marriage made it difficult for people to find appropriate partners. Records suggest, however, that it was also practiced as a way for people to work around the strict laws regarding marriage. These marriages varied widely in nature—in some, all members shared strong emotional and sexual bonds, while others served only to facilitate one or more otherwise illegal relationships, and many were somewhere in between. Rather than fading away with the gradual loosening of the caste system, plural marriage has become increasingly common; several of Verces’s most prominent corporations, including Haruspex Interplanetary, have their roots in plural marriages between business or research collaborators who leveraged their complementary skills and mutual affections, interests, and trust to create tight-knit economic powerhouses. Many of the most popular sports on Verces are astonishing to behold but require significant augmentation or magical ability to compete, from hyped-up metabolisms and superhuman strength to magical flight or direct neural interfaces. In vithrar drone racing, for instance, riders jack into rigs that directly link their minds to supersonic jets, navigating dangerous obstacle courses at the speed of thought, while the popular Thaumatic Addicts game show turns spellcasters into celebrities as they unveil neverbefore-seen spells in response to elaborate challenges. While the Pure Sport League represents athletes without special powers or augmentations, it finds its largest audience in the hinterlands, where clans still practice the traditional sport of eshara, in which athletes ride serpentine mounts in elaborate zone-capturing games that can last days. Outside of sports, many pastimes also take advantage of advanced technology, with multimedia artists directly activating sensory augmentations to create abstract sense-poems or allow audience members to experience virtual-reality programs. Those who prefer more mundane fun can find limitless variety in the dance clubs, nature parks, restaurants, and theaters of the cities, or in the River of Returning Joys. While the Ring of Nations holds all the choicest territory on Verces, not all residents of the planet recognize its authority. Often derisively called the Outlaw Kingdoms, these diverse dissidents exist on the very fringes of the planet’s habitable terminator or turn to technological and magical adaptation to live in the planet’s inhospitable wastes. Organized into clans, cults, and tiny unrecognized nations, these scattered stalwarts range from traditional ice fishers and desert nomads herding rock-beasts to barbaric gangs and militias who survive by raiding outlying settlements and caravans. Some actively take in exiles, fugitives, refugees, and anyone else seeking to escape life in the Ring, while others have learned to shoot trespassers on sight. The fact that many of these so-called kingdoms have their own caste systems or other wildly divergent social norms only further distances them from residents of the Ring, whom they see as soft and decadent. Most ordinary Vercites, in turn, see the Outlaw Kingdoms’ residents as embarrassingly backward and inbred—though this doesn’t stop them from consuming endless media about them, or from employing them for difficult or illegal activities. It’s common knowledge that many of the raids and kidnappings conducted by Outlaw Kingdoms are paid for by corporations looking to hinder their rivals—especially in the solar farm and ice mine industries—but proving it can be notoriously difficult. CONFLICTS AND THREATS While Verces is more politically stable and harmonious than most Pact Worlds, the planet still retains its share of dangerous and ungoverned regions, and the monolithic unification of the Ring of Nations can actually exacerbate violent dissent— all of which can provide lucrative business opportunities for freelanceadventurers. This strategic importance of Skydock has its drawbacks, and in recent years there have been several terrorist attacks aimed at snapping the elevator cable—with one very nearly successful. Strangely, the group claiming responsibility for the attacks has issued no demands, only identified themselves as the Ring Saints, and stated that their attacks are for the good of all Verces. In addition to hackers with a wide variety of criminal aims, groups like the Remakers and NextStep prominently claim that “evolution doesn’t need consent” and commit transformative crimes against “stock” individuals, resulting in waves of violent backlash from both the general public and the public relations assassins of the procybernetics group known as the Cypremacy Collective. Officially condemned throughout the Ring of Nations, the ultraconservative Banner of Purity movement styles itself as a response to techno-terrorist groups such as the Remakers and NextStep, instead promoting a strict adherence to the

DARKSIDE Whalehook Sea Site 37 LEMPRO Singing Rifts Worldbelt Mountains Cruori Caves Great Trade Sea ULKOTHRA THAPUKAR KASHAK Nabokon Southfield Klebani Range RING OF NATIONS SHUBU Outcast Peaks KEPPENVOS BADLANDS Qidel THE DUSTLANDS Camshaft Outcast PeaksFULLBRIGHT TEMORA DESERT Gekken Sisk Hasetaru Sanctuary Takoris RING OF NATIONS DARKSIDE Twilight Mountains Whitewave Riversea North Arm Range OBARSHI Skydock Worldbelt Mountains Fastness of the Ordered Mind VIMAL Cuvacara Klebani Range The Godswater FIRESALT BASIN SLICKSAND HEIGHTS Mafentra Amokishu Mountains ATHALOThreq Peacewatch Sunteeth 62 THE WORLDS

PACT WORLDS 63 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 VERCES antiquated caste system and preaching violence against the “improperly” augmented. Their tactics range from kidnapping citizens and brutally removing their augmentations to tailoring viruses that cause verthani bodies to reject augmentation altogether. While several cults of personality in Fullbright and Darkside claim to speak for the movement, operatives seem to spring up everywhere, enjoying particular support in conservative nations like Thapukar and Ulkothra. Verces is a hotbed of espionage and outright corporate assassination, and even the most urban corporate headquarters may find itself under attack from elite mercenary teams making smash-and-grab infiltrations to steal top-secret research or prototypes. Ironically, these same teams can often be hired to reacquire stolen data or kidnapped personnel, or even enlisted by the lawful authorities to protect whistle-blowers or gain evidence of malfeasance when regulations tie official hands, making it possible for such specialists to do their business with an unusual level of openness. Those who live on the edge of the Ring of Nations have always had to deal with bandits from the hardscrabble lands beyond, whether that’s drone submersibles capturing barges on the Great Trade Sea or eshar-riding barbarians from the traditionalist Ysbo Clans charging in from the Slicksand Heights to carry away livestock. While all Ring nations maintain a certain degree of border defense, cheap land and other opportunities often incentivize citizens and corporations to settle beyond the safe zones. A relatively recent threat—simultaneously attributed to Eox, the Banner of Purity, and a dozen other sources—is a series of outbreaks of cybernetic undeath. These appear to be the result of some unknown virus that causes augmentations to kill their hosts and reanimate the corpses, driving the new zombies to kill and infect others. NOTABLE LOCATIONS The following are just a few key nations and sites of interest on Verces. Athalo Athalo started as a nation of sailors plying the myriad fjords that gave the Riversea its name and often joining with bands of Darkside pirates to raid traders from softer nations. With the advent of spaceflight, many Athalo turned these same skills to crewing starships, yet they continue to retain a strange sense of pride when it comes to taking money from the unwary, even if this is now more often via predatory business deals rather than outright robbery. This penchant for theft is strangely balanced by a legendary generosity, and the oft-spoken Athalo adage that “those who take must also give.” Its capital city, Threq, is a mobile morass of thousands of ships and autobarges that slowly traverse the Riversea, still following the migrations of the deadly but valuable mirakos who boil the seas with their inherent magic. Camshaft The raiders known as the Rustrunners prowl through the Dustlands on their antique combustion vehicles attacking any unfortunate travelers (and sometimes each other) for precious commodities such as water, food, and fuel. While the Rustrunners are an organization in only the loosest sense of the term, they do recognize a form of authority in the Wrecking Court, a council of five of the toughest raiders who live and accept tribute in a shared camp called Camshaft. Rustrunners with grievances they can't settle on their own take them in front of the Wrecking Court. These issues are usually determined by challenges (such as races or gladiatorial combat) set by the council, and many leave one of the participants dead or severely wounded, but no one has complained too much about the Court's influence. Camshaft is divided into five sections, each run with an iron fist by a member of the Wrecking Court and inhabited by that judge's most-trusted crew. Tensions between the camps always run high, but there has never been a recorded all-out war between the factions. Cruori Caves The highest concentration of bloodbrothers on Verces can be found just northwest of the Great Trade Sea in a series of caves at the base of the Worldbelt Mountains. The area has been quarantined by the Vercite government for over a hundred years after an explorer named Hin Cruori stumbled upon a large migration of the blood-drinking beasts to these caves and barely escaped with her life. Scientists are unsure how many bloodbrothers exist within the caves or how they survive with no obvious source of the vital fluids they drink. Some posit there is a massive creature slumbering within the mountains and that the bloodbrothers are feasting upon it like leeches, though this theory is generally dismissed as ludicrous. Fastness of the Ordered Mind A cluster of linked fortress-temples, the Fastness houses the Ascetics of Nar, one of the oldest monastic societies in the Pact Worlds. Within its walls, the ice-obsessed scholars undergo bizarre rituals in order to further their mystical study of the cosmos, seeing in the crystalline structure of ice a blueprint for the inherent order of the multiverse. For some, this means using melting shards of ice to carve magical sigils into their flesh—thus supposedly taking the ice’s order into themselves— while others meditate unprotected on exposed glaciers, letting the cold ravage their bodies. The most aggressive of these allow frostbite to take all of their limbs, and these honored individuals, called the Clarified, are either wired permanently into starships or joined psychically into neural networks with their cenobites in the Fastness’s most secure heart, helping take the order’s research of the universe to new heights. While most Vercites find the legendary Ascetics disturbing, most are forced to admit that their suffering is voluntary, and that the scientific and occult breakthroughs that come from their prayer labs (not to mention their astonishingly proficient limbless starship pilots) present a disproportionate boon to the planet’s economy. Star shamans, void mystics, and technomancers vie for educational audiences with the monks, as do warriors and assassins seeking to master the monks’ seeming transcendence of pain. Many people—including the

64 THE WORLDS church itself—believe the monks to be a cult of Zon-Kuthon, due to both their self-mortification and the similarity of the Clarified to the Kuthite Joyful Things—voluntary amputees in service of the Midnight Lord—yet for whatever reason the Ascetics have steadfastly denied the association. Fullbright Mountain Ranges The Amokishu Mountains, the Outcast Peaks, and the Sunteeth make up the largest lines of mountains in Fullbright, and while their peaks see some of the highest temperatures on the planet thanks to the thin atmosphere and lack of clouds, life can almost flourish in the scant shade they provide. Many Outlaw Kingdoms have fought bloody wars over these small respites from the sun, despite the otherwise scorching climes. Industrial Plantations Corporate-run “charter cities” are scattered across the cold expanse of Darkside, housing hundreds or thousands of workers responsible for maintaining the massive mining rigs and other industrial facilities whose floodlit platforms rise into the icy night. Near the Ring, many of these facilities are hyperfortified server farms taking advantage of the naturally low temperatures, or water-harvesting stations that feed the Aqueducts, massive pipelines pumping desalinated seawater across the Ring to irrigate the edge of the desert. Farther into Darkside, deep-bore mining operations employ workers in specialized mechanical suits attempting to harvest shelynium, a rare variation of water ice found only in this region. Held by theologians to be the frozen tears of the goddess Shelyn, spilled over her brother Zon-Kuthon’s fall into darkness and depravity, the material exhibits a variety of bizarre magical traits, from superconduction to the power to heal a broken heart, which are still only beginning to be understood by researchers. Some of the largest of these plantations are GlaceTek’s Site 37 on the edge of the Whalehook Sea and Vorceaux Inc.’s Southfield north of the Klebani Range. Kashak Verces has long been seen as a bastion of technological modification, and nowhere is this truer than the Ring Nation of Kashak. From the Woven Towers in the nation’s capital city of Nabokon, the Cypremacy Collective speaks not only as the national government, but also as the de facto voice of the powerful Augmented faction. Permanently wired into their buildings and effectively immortal, the members of the Collective influence policy across the Pact Worlds via insectile drones, living agents, and a powerful media arm backed by the best machine learning money can buy. As a result, Kashak is home to a variety of cutting-edge cybernetics and technomancy labs and research institutions, such as the Everlife Adaptation Corporation, Haruspex Interplanetary, and the Spellsight Cooperative. Yet being the public home of the Augmented carries risks as well, such as threats from traditionalist extremist groups like the Banner of Purity and techno-terrorists like the Remakers and NextStep, along with less ideological hackers and spies drawn by the immense amounts of wealth flowing through the nation’s corporate coffers. Lempro Not a true Outlaw Kingdom, Lempro is instead a tiny nation separated from the Ring only by geography and a staunch refusal to join. Its inhabitants are exclusively intis—many-eyed creatures with almost skeletal frames who evolved to survive the extreme cold by forgoing blood entirely. Obsessed with spirals, fond of riddles, and prone to dispassionate violence over strange infractions, the nomadic intis survive via hunting and ice-fishing while patrolling the vast sealed fortresses they call the Cairns. Within these sacred tombs, they claim, are the last members of an extinct race that raised them to sentience long ago, held between life and death until someone can answer the Last Question. Unfortunately for researchers, attempting to study the tombs or learn the Last Question are transgressions warranting immediate execution. Mafentra The dangerous Slicksand Heights are inhabited by the Ysbo Clans, nomadic barbarians who ride serpentine beasts called eshars across the sands and into battle. To avoid baking in the constant sun, the Ysbo Clans stick to the shadows of the Amokishu Mountains most of the time, except when they make the occasional attack on one of the nearby Ring nations. The only permanent Ysbo settlement is the vast graveyard of Mafentra, where the nomads take their dead to be buried. The sands quickly swallow the corpses thrown within, but mystical wards mark the “tombs” of the most important Ysbo and are maintained by a group of elderly shamans who live just outside the softest areas of sand. Outsiders are strictly forbidden from approaching Mafentra, and clan riders are always a few moments away to drive off intruders. Oasis Temples Throughout Fullbright, explorers occasionally come across forgotten temples in tiny patches of inexplicably lush vegetation. These “Oasis Temples” are almost always in some degree of ruin, having been abandoned or actively torn apart for unknown reasons, and they are often treated as taboo by even the local Outlaw Kingdoms who forage on the oases’ outskirts. In each case, the incongruous foliage and humidity is the result of a tiny planar breach to the First World, the verdant realm of the fey. Sigils carved into the walls suggest the temples were built to honor the fey deities called the Eldest, or perhaps to offer a gateway between the realms, depicting interactions between verthani and a variety of fey creatures. Each tribe has its own story for why the temples were abandoned, yet strangely, almost all speak cryptically of “the Petal War” and include the phrase “a price too high.” Nevertheless, religious scholar Pemano Teth (NG male verthani mystic) from Kleriark University has recently put out a call for self-styled adventurers interested in helping him study these temples, in the hope of expanding the gateways to a useful size once more, and potentially even tapping their energy to terraform Fullbright. Obarshi Surrounding the foot of Skydock’s space elevator, high in the northern peaks of the Twilight Mountains, this nation is

PACT WORLDS 65 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 VERCES effectively a giant port—one desperately fighting the slow slide into obsolescence. While the space elevator still provides cheap transportation to orbit for goods that arrive via train from all over the planet, the increasing ubiquity of spaceflight has slashed the amount of shipping crossing the nation’s borders, and today many of the outlying train yards and warehouse districts are abandoned, controlled by heavily augmented street gangs who run protection rackets or simply steal incoming freight outright. In order to make up for its lost income, Obarshi has doubled down on its role as a cosmopolitan port of entry, building specialized hotels and entertainment districts catering to the tastes of nearly every known race, as well as actively courting the church of Triune to position itself as a leader in Drift tech and communications. Qidel Rising from the center of Fullbright, this narrow stone spire is one of Verces’s oldest mysteries. In ancient times, the spire—also known as the Aerie of the Sun—was avoided by verthani due to strange metal-winged humanoids who attacked the surrounding lands from a temple-fortress at the spire’s tip. No one has seen these presumably augmented raiders since the end of the Gap, and many believe they have fled or gone extinct. They have been replaced by strix, other winged humanoids who trace their lineage back to lost Golarion. They are far different from their isolationist predecessors, and many of these modern strix have peacefully integrated into the Ring of Nations. While generally happy to share their unusual customs and skills, so far the strix universally refuse—or are unable—to reveal much about life within Qidel, and very few outsiders are allowed to see what lies within the tower’s interior. River of Returning Joys Part of every nation and yet belonging to none, the River of Returning Joys is actually a massive caravan, a rolling festival that has circled the Ring of Nations since time immemorial. While its traditional role in the facilitation of communication, trade, and understanding between far-flung nations has long since been rendered obsolete, the River is still a vital cultural touchstone, and the arrival of its snaking train of groundcars and antique carbosa-drawn wagons is one of the few recognized holidays in a world without seasons. Inside the River, attendees are dazzled by magically augmented circus performances and mind-bending illusions, while also encouraged to leave restrictive social customs and status at the gate and express themselves in a riot of well-intentioned artistic frivolity. Commerce is forbidden within the River, the festival instead supported directly by the municipalities it passes through. Most Vercites take great pride in the tradition, yet there are also those who resent its deliberate disruption of societal mores (and power structures), question the motives of its leaders, or note the ease with which its costumed anonymity has sometimes concealed fugitives, terrorists, and other undesirables. Shirren Colonies When shirrens originally arrived in the Pact Worlds system, Verces was the first planet to offer them asylum. In what may have been either miscommunication or simple shirren literalism, the shirrens named this initial colony Sanctuary, spreading out from there through the Temora Desert to a series of satellite colonies, including Gekken, Hasetaru, Sisk, and Takoris. While many shirrens quickly immigrated to the Ring of Nations to take advantage of the greater opportunities found here, these original shirren cities still remain densely populated bastions of shirren culture. Sanctuary houses the prestigious Kleriark University, a free-form institution catering to scholars too independent or controversial to be tolerated at more mainstream universities, while Gekken is a hub for primarily shirren mercenary organizations that specialize in extreme synchronization and coordination between members, making them terrifyingly effective on the battlefield. Shubu This idyllic realm of rolling hills and perfumed kurkurrek forests is widely believed to be the place where civilization first arose on Verces. Today, the nation is essentially a planetary park, its pastoral landscapes home to tastefully concealed artists’ retreats, elegant towns tucked away in sleepy valleys, statesponsored archaeological digs, and colorful river temples. Undoubtedly the most recognizable of Shubu's landmarks, however, are the Enigma Keeps, nine enormous stone fortresses preserved by magic and dating back to the planet’s ancient eras. It’s from these troves of knowledge and FULLBRIGHT SHIRREN

66 THE WORLDS history that scholars learn much about the verthani’s earliest civilizations—and indeed this time capsule functionality appears to be part of their purpose, as huge sections of the rambling structures remain locked away behind powerful magical seals, opening and revealing their secrets only upon the correct solution to seemingly nonsensical puzzles. Yet solving the puzzles is just the beginning, as each new subterranean warren to be unlocked reveals a gauntlet of deadly traps and stasis-preserved monsters. Those university-sponsored teams who manage to make it through inevitably broadcast their exploits, with each new discovery cause for planetwide interest. Singing Rifts Here the furious winds come howling down off the Osho Glacier in the Worldbelt Mountains, tearing through these fingerlike ice canyons. The crevasses earn their name via the strange tunnels bored into the rifts’ icy walls that channel the wind into bizarre, fluting melodies and eerie chords that can be heard miles away. Who crafted these twisting corridors remains a mystery, but many of them interconnect or turn deep into the stone beneath the ice, inhabited by bloodbrothers and other predators, scribed with strange designs from no living culture. Legends among the local tribes claim that one of the tunnels eventually leads to a chamber with ancient machinery capable of setting the planet spinning on its axis once more, but so far only shards of alien technology have ever been recovered, and even these are of dubious provenance. Skydock This ancient space platform dates back to long before the Gap and stays in a fixed position above the planet, tethered to the equator by the immense cable of a space elevator. Though its terrestrial anchor lands in the nation of Obarshi, the station is managed by the Grand Assembly for the good the entire Ring— an arrangement that’s admittedly unpopular among both the Obarshi and residents of the station vying for self-rule. Once, Skydock was Verces’s most valuable resource, as transporting goods up the stalk of the space elevator and out of much of the planet’s gravity well made spaceflight economically viable for Vercites long before other worlds achieved it. Today, conventional thrusters and antigrav technology make surface launches easy, yet Skydock still hosts Verces’s most prominent shipyards—producing both legendary racing ships from brands like Terminator and Redshift Revolution and a variety of more commonplace designs for companies like Ringworks Industries— as well as the bulk of the planetary navy. The space station also remains a popular hub for ship crews on leave, and the party never stops in its entertainment districts, despite regular tensions between these tourists and resident workers. SKYDOCK N space station Population 786,000 (55% verthani, 15% shirren, 10% human, 5% kasatha, 5% ysoki, 1% ryphorian, 9% other) Government council (coalition appointed by Grand Assembly) Qualities academic, financial center Maximum Item Level 16th Solar Farms The constant scorching daylight in Fullbright means that solar power on Verces is plentiful and steady—presuming it can be transported. Numerous megacorporations like Sunnyside Inc. and Convectus Solar maintain huge banks of solar panels tended by robots and techs wearing protective suits (most of whom would rather be anywhere else). Other companies maintain automated factories just at the edge of Fullbright to take advantage of the free power pouring from the sky. Of course, the general lawlessness of Fullbright means that such corporations necessarily operate at their own risk. Conduits carrying power back to the Ring are constantly under threat from sabotage, clever siphoning by Outlaw Kingdoms tribes, and the electrovores that chew through lines in order to guzzle power, heedless of the crackling death all around them. Similarly, the installations are heavily guarded by corporate mercenaries, as capturing and ransoming the facilities is popular revenue stream for raiders, such as the spikes-and-leather-clad Rustrunners who hunt the wastes of the Dustlands on antique combustion vehicles. Thapukar and Ulkothra Sometimes called the Twin Nations, these neighboring countries are deeply tied together by a shared conservative culture, in which the traditional caste system is still practiced and heavily enforced socially if not legally. Thapukar is traditionally agrarian, its plains long viewed as an easy target by outlaws, while Ulkothra is a mountainous region whose mines produce most of the planet’s rare starmetals. Thanks to their codes against widespread augmentation, the Twin Nations turn their attention outward and excel at producing robots, powered armor, and massive mechs for both defense and industry. Vimal One of the larger nations on Verces, Vimal is the physical home of the Grand Assembly in the capital city of Cuvacara, as well as Peacewatch, the original stronghold of the Stewards high in the mountains of the Klebani Range. While it’s unclear today exactly what wars or social upheaval led to the unification of the Ring of Nations or the creation of the Stewards, several ancient massive black obelisks in seemingly random locations around the country—as well as in both the Grand Assembly and Peacewatch—hint at the answer, bearing the inscription “From strength unity/from unity strength/thus do we stand against chaos/thus do we honor their sacrifice.” A different engraved rune of no known meaning, inert but still exuding magical auras, follows each inscription. Whitewave The fishing village of Whitewave has resolutely refused to join the Ring nation of Athalo since the end of the Gap, though pre-Gap records show that it was once protected by that nation's soldiers. A series of laser batteries—now maintained by skilled mechanics from the village—keep the bolder creatures and raiders at bay. Whitewave maintains its independence by processing and selling the bladders of a species of flatfish found only in this area into a powerful sedative.

PACT WORLDS 67 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 VERCES CYBERBORN THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) You enthusiastically study the field of cybernetics and seek to keep abreast of new applications and experimental technologies. Reduce the DCs of Engineering checks to identify cybernetic augmentations and of Life Science checks to recall knowledge about cybernetic augmentation techniques, as well as corporations and other research facilities involved in the production of and experimentation with cybernetic augmentations, by 5. Computers is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Computers checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Intelligence at character creation. SELF-HACKER (6TH) Your constant experimentation has blurred the lines between your body and your augmentations. Once per day as a full action, you can overclock one of your cybernetic augmentations to regain a number of Stamina Points equal to the augmentation’s item level; you must have a cybernetic augmentation installed in your body to use this ability. HARDENED SYSTEMS (12TH) You understand the potential vulnerabilities of cybernetics and have tinkered extensively with your own to make them more resilient. The DC to hack your cybernetic augmentations via magic or technological means increases by 5, thanks to the devious security countermeasures you have added to them. Additionally, your cybernetic augmentations grant you electricity resistance 5; this resistance stacks with one other source of energy resistance. MASTER MODDER (18TH) You feel energized whenever you demonstrate the improved capabilities of your cybernetically enhanced body. Up to twice per day, when you have succeeded at a significant task in a way that crucially relied upon abilities granted by your cybernetics (GM’s discretion), you can spend 10 minutes testing and performing system maintenance on those augmentations to regain 1 Resolve Point; this doesn’t count as resting to regain Stamina Points. You’ve had some form of cybernetic augmentation since you were very young, and you see further augmentation as a path to self-improvement. You might be a verthani from the Augmented caste, a steelskin orc seeking to distinguish yourself from mainstream society, or anyone else inspired by the possibilities technology offers. Either way, you strive to master your current cybernetics and seek to further upgrade yourself whenever the opportunity presents itself. +1 INT

68 THE WORLDS IDARI The only ship to be recognized as a Pact World, the Idari serves as the de facto home world of the kasathas in this region of space. Launched from the desert planet of Kasath shortly after the Gap ended, the massive colony ship was originally intended to establish a new home on Akiton. When these kasathas arrived in the system, they saw that Akiton was already bustling with life and decided to place the Idari in orbit between Verces and the Diaspora as a world in its own right. The Idari has seen generations die and be born aboard it—and it will most likely see a multitude more. The kasathas who remain aboard the Idari almost all strive to hold on to traditional kasathan values, which prioritize stability over everything else, and they look to the wisdom of the past to plot a course to the future. However, they also maintain a brisk trade with the rest of the system and good relations with the other Pact Worlds races. Visitors to the Idari can find the cultural atmosphere impenetrable without a local guide, as most kasathas develop a unique set of personal traditions. But with a few pointers, most Pact Worlders learn to fit right in. GEOGRAPHY The Idari is a world inside a vast starship. The rotation of a central cylinder called the Drum provides the semblance of gravity. The Drum is approximately 2-1/2 miles long and half a mile in diameter, and tapers slightly at each end; its interior surface area is just under 4 square miles. Its surface area holds both urban centers whose towers rise toward the cylinder’s center to accommodate most of the population and areas set aside for micro-ecosystems whose flora, fauna, and even atmospheres are contained by technomagical barriers. The architects of the Idari recognized that sustaining functional ecosystems would make maintaining the ship’s environmental balance much easier—plants require less upkeep and fewer replacement parts than oxygen recyclers. The doyen of ecology and his team of Ecobalancers—high-tech park rangers—closely monitor the ship’s ecosystems, armed IDARI

PACT WORLDS 69 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 IDARI with contingencies for every conceivable imbalance drawn up during centuries of travel. The lush forests, grasslands, and riparian biomes in the central portions of the Drum’s surface hearken back to Kasath’s desert oases, and provide psychological benefits for the ship’s inhabitants as well as oxygen exchange. At the ends of the Drum, the floor rises up as the Drum narrows near its ends. The lower slopes, known as Fore Kasath and Aft Kasath, simulate the drier portions of Kasath’s ecosystem. Farther up toward each point, the slopes rapidly become cliffs. The Drum boasts three major bodies of water, which are used for recreation and help drive the vessel’s weather system. The Sternward Reservoir and the Foreshore are busy with small boats and swimmers, while the Lake of Memories is left untouched except for the Pillar of the Homeworld, which serves as a visual reminder of what was left behind. The Drum also holds two sets of smaller ponds. The Lower Lakes are the favorite rural retreat of the kasathas; lightly forested and with numerous small lakes, the Lower Lakes are tame country, full of trails and discreet amenities as well as access points to subterranean transportation. The Upper Lakes are much wilder and more isolated, with fauna roaming freely. The inhabited portions of the Drum’s surface are divided into sectors, each of which consists of an urban center and the surrounding area. Almolar is crisscrossed by several small rivers, and its densely populated domes surrounding an open-air marketplace are reminiscent of the oasis settlements of Kasath. The domes are filled with garden-passageways, so residents of Almolar are always surrounded by lush plant life. Brispex is the spiritual center of the Idari, home to temples and churches of many faiths from Kasath, as well as a few newer ones. Gesilad is populated by kasathas dedicated to preserving the knowledge of their home world no matter where its children might roam. Most of the population of Gesilad lives underground, which causes this sector to look like one expansive garden on a hill punctuated by temples, reflective pools and ceremonial spaces. Situated on a highland ridge, Heravex is built in the style of one of Kasath’s military installations. The land between its towers and walls is as red and dry as both Kasath and Akiton. Khovi’s habitation towers are home to nearly half of the Idari’s population, and this sector has few of the wide vistas and lush gardens of the other sectors. However, Khovi is a vibrant center of culture and entertainment, with many corridors turned into art galleries or gaming spaces. Mesacand is an agricultural center

70 THE WORLDS featuring compact, high-tech vat-farming operations. (Most of the Idari’s traditional and hydroponic agriculture is instead carried out in subsidiary farm pods outside the Drum.) Work at the vat farms requires more technical knowledge than sweat, but the ceremonies and traditions of kasathan subsistence farming continue, with the whole Mesacand community coming together at daybreak and dusk for elaborate communal rituals. Running through the center of the Idari, a zero-gravity transport tube known as the Hub connects to the “ground” of the Drum via elevator spurs situated conveniently in all of the cities and other major areas of the vessel. The Idari’s bridge and its combat stations are located at the far fore of the vessel, while its engineering decks are near the now-quiet ring of reaction engines that circles the Idari’s aft, which in turn holds the manufacturing bays known as the Crucibles. Other areas vital to the function of Idari as a starship, such as its weapon mounts, are scattered about the ship and are accessible only by the crew. The majority of the Idari’s interior is constantly illuminated with artificial daylight, thanks to light captured by solar collectors on the vessel’s hull. The “day” is an artificial 27-hour period broken into three 9-hour shifts, each equally busy; the most important areas of the ship are maintained around the clock. Multiple airlocks are situated at either end of the ship, close to the final stops of the Hub; these airlocks include larger access points, which are required to move goods in and out of the Idari’s manufacturing sectors via automated transportsystems. RESIDENTS The vast majority of residents of the Idari are kasathas, descendants of emigrants from a distant desert world. Other races must muddle through the resident kasathas’ many cultural traditions, often with the help of a kasathan guide, but learning these traditions sometimes takes years. Kasathas prompt these outsiders to seek wisdom in their own races’ ways and to build their own legacy of customs, though some outsiders find it easier to completely adopt established kasathan rites. The vessel’s kasathas are mostly empathetic to the plight of newcomers trying to find a place for themselves on the planet-ship, and they go out of their way to connect with new visitors who want to share their culture. Androids and ysoki make up the largest percentage of nonkasathan residents of the Idari. Androids are concentrated near the vacuum-insulated construction modules of the Crucibles, where they have proven invaluable given their ability to function without atmosphere. A sizable ysoki population has taken up residence in the utility spaces of the engineering decks. As they grow more and more familiar with the vessel’s systems, the ysoki are slowly becoming increasingly integral in keeping the Idari’s systems up and running. The humans who call the Idari home favor the more planetlike Drum areas and are largely merchants in the Outland Markets of Almolar. They tend to all move in the same circles, embracing the familiar sights of other human faces as they live in another race’s home. Lashunta scholars are honored on the Idari, and many study in the temple complex surrounding the Sholar Adat. Many of these sages are fascinated by the connection between kasathas and witchwyrds and spend much of their time researching ancient kasathan traditions to learn more. The few shirrens on board are students of the philosophy of the Cycle, as its maxims about the connectedness of all things mirror the hive mind their species used to share. IDARI LG colony ship Population 43,607 (93% kasatha, 7% other) Government oligarchy (Doyenate) Qualities bureaucratic, insular, technologically advanced Maximum Item Level 20th SOCIETY Society on the Idari is similar to that on Kasath, though distilled by centuries in the challenging environment of the colony ship. For example, the meritocratic nature of the Doyenate, the ship’s governing body, is an artifact of the journey’s need for ruthless competency and replaces Kasath’s more explicitly hereditary leadership systems. A majority of the Idari’s social institutions function in ways with no easy analogies to other races’ organizations, which is a continuous source of consternation for offworlders. Most kasathas work for the ship’s government in some fashion. A representative council called the Doyenate governs the Idari, chosen by a uniquely kasathan combination of democracy, meritocracy, and aristocracy. Doyens are chosen through the consensus of their peers and assume their positions as previous doyens step down. Whisper campaigns are the norm, with slow and steady sub-rosa conversations eventually erupting into a public consensus. While there are formal mechanisms for power transitions, they are seldom used—when it becomes apparent that a doyen needs to be replaced, that doyen is expected to step down without causing a disturbance. This organic power dynamic is almost impenetrable to outsiders who see doyens assume and concede offices with little fanfare and even less explanation, but the system has worked for the kasathas over the centuries. The Doyenate mediates policy discussions and examines the changing opinions of the kasathas, synthesizing them into policy with minimum disruption and hard feelings. The Doyenate is a high-trust institution, with all of the players playing the long game, knowing that even if they lose on one issue, they may come out on top on another matter. While most of the lower and middle levels of the Doyenate are made up of the kasathan governmental ideal of gradually promoted civilian bureaucrats, at the highest levels, the Doyenate operates much more like an aristocracy. Appointments are made by merit and acclaim, but somehow the highest offices, especially those of the doyens, tend to rotate through the same few families every generation. As the harsh necessities of the journey fade further into history, however, some radicals have begun to whisper that a meritocracy that looks like an aristocracy is no meritocracy at all and that serious reforms are needed, even if it means moving away from appointment by acclaim. Some doyens hold positions of importance on the Idari’s crew, such as captain and chief engineer, but certain roles

PACT WORLDS 71 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 IDARI have declined in significance over recent decades, leading to those doyens holding less power on the Doyenate than they did during the journey. These doyens are attempting to alter the scope of their responsibilities, and arguments about which doyen is accountable for which area of the ship have begun to hamper Doyenate meetings. The rank-and-file crew positions are akin to clerical government positions built upon a foundation of military-style training. They range from engineers who maintain the Idari’s reaction drives to botanists overseeing various sections of the Drum’s ecosystem. However, all crew members are ready and willing to defend the colony ship with their lives, should the need arise. Most crew members are descended from the Idari’s original crew, and only a select few non-kasathas have the honor of being named a full crew member. Any Idaran—kasathan or otherwise—who has lived at least 1 year aboard the ship can train for an auxiliary crew position. Auxiliary crew members are mobilized for the defense or protection of the Idari in dire emergencies, but they typically have other professions, sometimes unrelated to their crew rank, and live and work alongside the vessel’s civilian residents. Many kasathas are taught that becoming an auxiliary crew member is their civic duty and that the occasional training day is a small price to pay for protecting the long-term viability of their ship and the kasathanspecies. Adata are the attendants of the Sholar Adat, which serves as a physical and mystical repository of all kasathas’ ancestral knowledge. Through the process known as adat, a deceased kasatha’s knowledge and personality are preserved via a thin slice of the brain, enabling a technomagical link to her eternal soul to be established at need. In this way, kasathas not only honor their ancestors but also retain the ability to learn from them. Much of kasathan culture on the Idari revolves around the Sholar Adat, where the old ways are studied and the traditions of the past are mined for new relevance. The current doyen of the adata is Barasul Naedarin Allar of Clan Allar (LN female kasatha mystic), who holds great sway in the Doyenate; she staunchly opposes non-kasathas becoming adata, despite pushback from her more liberal associates. Those on the Idari who don’t belong to the Doyenate, the crew, or the adata are mainly artists, entertainers, and merchants. They live in the Idari’s city-like sectors, much like the inhabitants of other planets, with the largest concentration in Khovi’s warren of living spaces. These residents drive many of the Idari’s cultural developments. Currently, the hottest new Idaran trends include laser sculpture—where artists place harmless laser beams in specific configurations to appear as three-dimensional images when viewed at the right angle— and an open-source virtual reality game called Chrononuance that allows developers to show players their theories of what happened during the Gap. CONFLICTS AND THREATS To an offworlder, the Idari may appear to be a consensus free of dissent or a riot of individual actions; but underneath the cooperation and personal autonomy are some deepconflicts. The main purpose of a colony ship is to colonize, and this particular fact is at the heart of a brewing conflict between three factions onboard the Idari. The largest group believes that the present course is best—using the Idari as a home world and carving out a niche in the Pact Worlds without conquest or further travel. They argue that the kasathas have wisely and successfully updated their strategy with new information about the Pact Worlds and now pursue the course that their ancestors would have favored had they been able to foresee the current situation. A second faction believes that the mandate of the Idari is to colonize Akiton as its builders intended. These are generally members of the crew who believe that they owe their loyalty to Kasath as a whole, not merely the complacent splinter of kasathas here in the Pact Worlds. A third faction wants the Idari to power back up and move on to another suitable planet. This group doesn’t have much influence but is well represented by the doyen of exploration’s staff, who hope to find an uninhabited planet so perfect that it will convince the majority to begin their journey anew. While these factions haven’t come to blows over their differences of opinion, the tensions between them are rising. Another fracture within kasathan culture revolves around allowing offworlders onto the Idari. Cosmopolitan kasathas wholeheartedly embrace visitors and immigrants from the other Pact Worlds, believing either that exposure to kasathan traditions will elevate the culture of outsiders or, more radically, that kasathan culture can be BARASUL NAEDARIN ALLAR

1,320 feet 72 THE WORLDS MESACAND BRISPEXKHOVI ALMOLAR HERAVEX GESILAD Culinarium Outpost Umber Aft Kasath Paradise Village Outland Markets Sternward Reservoir Hub Station 3 Lower Lakes Assembly of the Doyenate Jungle of Kusad Tempering Pool Museum of Ancestral Technology Windcatcher Archives Pradulex Monastery Proving Pits Redoubt of Damoritosh Delimar Gallery Foreshore Red Corridors Temple of Ibra Temple of Talavet New Kasath University Upper LakesSea of Grass Temple of the Black Butterfly Pillar of the Homeworld Lake of Memories Sholar Adat Garden of All Kasath Fore Kasath The Complex Vat Farms Hydroponic Towers FORWARD

PACT WORLDS 73 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 IDARI improved through judicious infusion of the best that other cultures have to offer. However, some groups of isolationist kasathas find this to be a form of cultural contamination. These isolationists can be found everywhere—among the Doyenate, the crew, and all other walks of Idari society—but most don’t insist on being absolutely cut off from the Pact Worlds. Instead, they generally believe that outsiders’ stays should be brief and restricted to a few areas where they can’t cause very much trouble or contaminate kasathas with their outlandish beliefs. Additionally, a small contingent of kasathas is attempting to live free of technology by occupying shantytowns on the edges of the Idari’s cities and surviving by hunting, fishing, and foraging in the ship’s more natural areas. Those who have to keep the Idari’s ecosystem in balance view these kasathas with a combination of awe and consternation, but they tend to leave them be. When asked why they don’t just relocate to an actual planet, these kasathas claim that the Idari is due for a tragedy that will leave the ship bereft of power and that their skills will be necessary for the survival of all on board. The ship’s security officers keep a close eye on this minor cult, as they believe the cult’s supposed purpose constitutes a veiled threat. Members of a small sect of kasathas called the Undiminished believe that the wisdom of one’s entire ancestry is contained within one’s brain and claim the process of adat represents a loss of that kasatha’s ancestral knowledge. To the Undiminished, only a whole brain can possibly hold all of that expertise and insight. While a small number of these adherents are open about their beliefs and lobby for a change to adat through standard political channels, most operate in the shadows, stealing corpses and imbibing psychotropic drugs as they attempt to commune with freshly extracted brains. NOTABLE LOCATIONS The following notable locations are found on the Idari. Assembly of the Doyenate Separate from the six sectors, the Assembly of the Doyenate stands alone in the midst of verdant fields, symbolically aloof from the population it serves. The separation is more figurative than actual—in reality, the line between the Doyenate and the people it serves is more a gradient than a sharp divide. The nature of civil authority among the kasathas is a gradual accrual of respect, responsibility, and authority. Many of the staffers who work in the Assembly of the Doyenate are so devoted to their public service careers that it no longer makes sense to maintain a second life outside the building; they instead take quarters in the residential halls there. Other government officials do their work from within their communities, coming to the Assembly only for important meetings and ceremonies. Bridge Staffed with only a skeleton crew the past few decades, the Idari’s bridge is filled with monitors and gauges that track the ship’s multitude of systems and alert the crew to any malfunctions. The role of Captain Imma Elotok Hin Xogathu (LN female kasatha mechanic) has been largely downgraded to be more perfunctory than when the ship was underway, but she is still in charge of the bridge crew and has a seat on the Doyenate. Captain Xogathu and her personnel are expected to step up in the case of dire emergencies and take charge of the Idari, going so far as to moving the vessel out of orbit and to another system if necessary. Though the ship’s chief of security has the authority to fire the Idari’s weapons, the captain can override him if she believes that would be a step too far. Since gaining this position, Captain Xogathu has begun to feel a kind of wanderlust and might abdicate very soon. The Complex Separated from the bulk of Heravex but still part of its sector, the Complex is a closed installation about which little is known outside of the upper echelons of the Doyenate. Some say it’s a weapons cache dating back to the Idari’s launch, some think it is a Doyenate bunker for emergencies, and a few even speculate it is a prison for dissident kasathas who have turned cannibalistic. The higher kasathas’ rank and social standing, the less willing they are to speculate about the Complex, and the Doyenate continues to remain silent. The Crucibles The manufacturing heart of the Idari is the series of vast manufacturing bays known as the Crucibles. Located in the aft hull and fed by the enormous energies of the Idari’s idling drives, the Crucibles are among the most advanced manufactories in the Pact Worlds. The primary exports built here are starships, advanced electronics, and delicate nanotechnology. Many of the Crucible modules operate in complete vacuum for structural reasons or to avoid contamination. The androids of the Idari prove their worth in these areas, as they are able to operate without space suits and thus remain more nimble and adaptable than their kasathan counterparts. Leading isolationists have continuously raised the alarm about outsiders being given access to the heart of the Idari, but their cries have fallen on deaf ears, even after it became clear that several previous android workers were agents of the Android Abolitionist Front who had found their way into employment as programmers for portions of the ship’s computers. Culinarium The researchers of this institute are both genetic engineers and gourmet chefs, and they work at creating interesting new ingredients to grow in Mesacand’s hydroponic towers. Cooking techniques such as molecular gastronomy and the even more esoteric quantum flavoring flourish in the Culinarium. Every 4 months, the Culinarium holds a massive banquet to showcase some of its new recipes and foods, and tickets to this event sell out in a matter of moments. As such, the doyen of nutrition is constantly on the lookout for counterfeit tickets, leading to a recent policy that restricts non-Idarans to attending only one such banquet per year. Delimar Gallery One of the larger art galleries in Khovi, the Delimar Gallery is run by Salasari Mou Qari of House Delimar (NG female

74 THE WORLDS kasatha envoy), once a star in the art community for her daring vidcollages. She now seeks out and fosters young artists of all mediums, showcasing their art in exhibits that change weekly. The gallery is the talk of the Pact Worlds’ high society; some of the more interesting recent displays have included scent sculptures, highly immersive VR experiences, and portraits painted with pigments created from stardust. Farm Pods While the central Drum has its own vat farms and hydroponic towers, it does not come close to producing enough food for the vessel’s population. A small portion of the main crew, supervising large shifts of auxiliary crew members, manages the farm pods attached to the Idari’s outer hull. Service in the farm pods demands frequent labor far in excess of that needed for other responsibilities on the ship. The farm pods never lack for recruits, however—a “back to the vat” culture has caused many kasathas to take an active interest in being part of their own food production. The fact that farm workers get first pick of some of the pods’ best foodstuffs is another significant factor, but it doesn’t fully explain the zeal with which so many Idarans work these vats and hydroponics racks. Garden of All Kasath One section of Gesilad has a special purpose, though it may not be evident to the untutored: the Garden of All Kasath is a working garden dedicated to preserving every plant species from the kasathan home world as it existed before the journey. The master gardeners who work in this space are punctilious in making sure the plants here don’t cross-pollinate with more modern cultivars—a farsighted labor intended to preserve Kasath’s oasis flora for such a time as the kasathas might need to make a new desert planet bloom. Hub Station 3 Hundreds of visitors and citizens pass daily through Hub Station 3, the busiest of the Drum’s many elevator stations. Most non-kasathas head directly to the Outland Markets from here, though those wishing to see more of the ship’s natural areas can step onto the paths that lead past the Lower Lakes or over to the farms of Mesacand. While all visitors are screened before entering the Idari, ship security has a large presence in Hub Station 3, keeping an eye out for anyone attempting to smuggle illegal goods off the ship or engaging in other suspicious activity. Hydroponic Towers While flat vat-farm paddies take up most of the surface area of Mesacand, much more produce is grown in hydroponicfarm towers that double as residential high-rises. Unlike the farm pods, which are mostly given over to staple crops, these towers grow a range of foodstuffs that grows ever wider as Mesacand’s genetic engineers create new exoticvarietals. Jungle of Kusad While much of the forested land of the Idari is lightly treed and temperate, the Jungle of Kusad is a exception. This small, tropical rain forest is kept humid by complex machines that disperse moisture into the region’s air. As the jungle is home to dangerous predators and poisonous plants, few Idarans enter unsupervised. Nasenlir Zye Fassar of Clan Vophious (NG male kasatha solarian) runs regular tours of the jungle for the entertainment of hundreds every year. The cost of the expedition isn’t cheap and requires participants to sign liability waivers, should things go horribly awry. Museum of Ancestral Technology The largest building in Gesilad is the Museum of Ancestral Technology, a collection of Kasath-era tools, vehicles, and practical techniques. The museum emphasizes hands-on learning and has replicas of many of its exhibits available for use. The most eye-catching piece in the collection is no replica—a fully functional prejourney Trigrammaton fightercraft suspended from the ceiling. New Kasath University Located apart from the temples of Brispex, New Kasath University is a bastion of traditional kasathan educational programs. While the institution accepts members of other races for admission (with strict entrance requirements and higher tuition rates), any kasatha can take classes at this school as long as she has undertaken the yearlong walkabout known as the Tempering. Lectures here are mainly about anthropology, history (especially kasathan history), and philosophy, though an entire course readies students for becoming a member of the auxiliary crew. Outland Markets The area in the outskirts of Almolar is the Outland Markets, home to one of the largest concentrations of non-kasathas on the Idari. The area is often a riot of different species and cultures, and the modest architecture of the underlying structures is decorated heavily to catch the eye of visitors. The merchants of the Outland Markets run the gamut of Pact World species and even include some from farther afield. The most numerous, however, are humans; a thriving human community has carved a niche for itself in the neighborhood and has become tightknit due to members’ shared inability to fully understand the intricate cultural ecosystem of the Idari’s kasathas. Amid the marketplaces is the Outlander, a bar catering to offworlders that plays up its theme by serving the most garish cocktails from Absalom Station. Almost every human who comes to the Idari ends up in the Outlander eventually, either seeking it out for familiar companionship or being ushered to it by helpful kasathas. Thus, the proprietor, Yuki Utsama (NG female human envoy), knows most of the humans on the Idari by sight, and their business as well. Outpost Umber Though arid, the desert planet of Kasath is by no means lifeless, and the areas of Aft and Fore Kasath attempt to maintain as much of that planet’s flora and fauna as possible. To this end, the Ecobalancers use a handful of stations throughout the Drum from which they can safely observe the ecosystem, keep

PACT WORLDS 75 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 IDARI notes, and perform other vital duties. In addition to these tasks, the crew of Outpost Umber in Aft Kasath have begun illegally trading the narcotic flowers of a cactus called tacee with a ysoki criminal gang operating out of the ship’s engineering decks. At the moment, the doyen of ecology is unaware of this smuggling operation as the kasathas involved have been storing their illgotten credits in secret accounts, planning to wait until the ysoki have had their fill before spending them. Paradise Village Several rivers and streams flowing from the sector of Heravex down to the Sternward Reservoir pass through the dome of Paradise Village in Almolar. Built around these flows are a profusion of buildings whose architecture hearkens back to Kasath, from market squares to humble dwellings, all interspersed with a profusion of kasathan flora. Paradise Village is the major urban relaxation destination for kasathas of the Idari—being this close to their ancestral society speaks to something deep within them in a way the habitation towers and natural preserves can’t imitate. No Hub elevators connect directly to Paradise Village; it is accessible only via corridors painted with murals of Kasath landscapes. Pillar of the Homeworld This solemn monument stands in the middle of the Lake of Memories and can be accessed from the shore by a small bridge. It was crafted during the second century of the Idari’s journey by kasathas who had never set foot on Kasath and knew the planet only through vids, holopics, and stories, but now it is visited by many alien species who are a bit homesick. A powerful enchantment on the pillar causes any creature that touches it to feel a profound sense of serenity, as if that creature were standing on its favorite place on itshome world. Pradulex Monastery Kasathas originally brought the philosophy of the Cycle to the Pact Worlds, and to this day, many kasathas are solarians. Pradulex Monastery, located on a hill just outside the sector of Gesilad, trains many solarians by focusing on the Cycle in concordance with ancient kasathan traditions. After several years of study and meditation, solarians who complete their instruction at Pradulex Monastery are some of the most contemplative and disciplined warriors in the Pact Worlds. Proving Pits Though kasathas use projectile and energy weapons at need, they have never allowed them to become the center of their military; most prefer melee weapons. The Idari’s security force looks upon physical combat prowess as a major qualification for entry and elevation in the ranks. The doyen of security is almost always among the top one percent of melee fighters, and other high ranks are filled with similarly skilled members of the martial elite. The Proving Pits provide training opportunities and diverse combat experiences kasathas might one day need to rely on. Offworlders who participate in these battles are paid handsomely for their trouble and are given full medical treatment afterward. Reaction Drives While they haven’t been fully powered up since the Idari entered its current orbit, the reaction drives remain idle, rather than fully off-line—the process of completely shutting them down and firing them back up being deemed an unacceptable risk. The idling drives also serve to power the entire ship, and their internal fuel supply is potent enough to keep the ship powered for millennia at current levels of consumption. While idle in their current configuration, the drives still require constant and delicate maintenance. In the days of the journey, hundreds of engineers were assigned to the task, but more recently, the crew found themselves stretched a little thin. Thanks to a forward-thinking outreach program, talented ysoki mechanics were headhunted into the auxiliary crew, and now entire ysoki families live in or near the ship’s engineering decks. This particular state of affairs put some of the more traditionalist kasathas on edge, but the doyen of engineering regularly assures the Doyenate that the ysoki don’t have unfettered access to the more sensitive systems—something he knows deep down he couldn’t enforce should the ysoki decide to harm the colony ship. Red Corridors Even some kasathas are stifled by their tradition-laden society. During the journey, there was no outlet for malcontents and iconoclasts who couldn’t follow the basic rules of kasathan society. After continued failures to rehabilitate them, the Doyenate hit upon a new solution in the form of the Red Corridors. While not completely lawless, these subterranean levels of several Khovi habitat towers are incredibly anarchic. Kasathas here can live whatever life they want, throwing even the most important kasathan values to the wind, as long as whatever trouble they cause doesn’t extend into the rest of the Idari. The Doyenate keeps an eye on the Red Corridors, but it interferes only in situations where the anarchy threatens to spill out into Khovi. The Red Corridors have been highly effective in isolating the most unruly kasathas from the rest of the ship. They are filled with small artist collectives and communes, where the urge to innovate can be indulged without having to mind their conservative neighbors’ sensibilities. But it is also home to crime lords and drug peddlers, as the spotty surveillance in the area makes criminal activity easy to conduct. While the doyen of tourism warns offworlders against visiting the Red Corridors (when forced to acknowledge their existence), many visitors make brief stops there before emerging and going about the rest of their entirely legal business. Redoubt of Damoritosh While Brispex houses many of the Idari’s temples, the Redoubt of Damoritosh can be found atop the hills of Heravex, looming above its neighboring buildings. Any who worship the Conquerer are welcome to worship here, and the Redoubt’s warrior-priests also offer martial training for a small donation to the church. These sessions are often brutal, leaving participants bruised and exhausted. The warrior-priests are adept enough to avoid breaking their customers’ bones, but

76 THE WORLDS accidents do occur on occasion. Fortunately, the clergy can provide medical services, which they do for free to those who sparred honorably. The warrior-priests reserve the right to send away anyone who they see as too weak, though this is usually a test of that applicant’s strength of will. After all, those who deserve this training wouldn’t give up after a few harsh words. Sea of Grass Imitating the lost grasslands of the Kasath continent of Furalev, the Sea of Grass is generally avoided by modern kasathas at the behest of the small camp of technology-rejecting kasathas that call the area home. This clan lives by tending long-legged virix herds in the ancient manner of their ancestors. Some younger kasathas belonging to this group have recently gone missing, and the elders believe they have been abducted by some of the less savory inhabitants of the nearby Red Corridors in Khovi. Not trusting the Doyenate, the distraught parents have put out a call to investigators from outside the Idari, hoping those who are a bit more adventurous can navigate the seedy underworld of the Red Corridors and recover their lost children. Sholar Adat The Sholar Adat is one of the tallest structures on the Idari, its central spire almost reaching the Hub. As the most important institution of kasathan cultural transmission, the Sholar Adat is where the ceremony of adat is performed and the resultant slices of brain are stored. The precise methods involved in the ritual itself and the technomagical processes used to store and access the memories of the brains are carefully guarded secrets, though that hasn’t kept various corporations, cults, and other organizations from attempting to acquire them. The Sholar Adat is something of a holy place for kasathas, most of whom make pilgrimages to the temple complex to meditate, worship, study traditions of the past, or commune with their ancestors (though this requires a large expenditure of credits). Many of the temple’s attendants—adata—are tasked with sorting through many of these memories at once and searching for patterns within them, which they do by hooking themselves up to a machine called the Sensorium for hours at a time. As memory sifting is a grueling, mind-bending experience, adata must take a month to recover between Sensorium shifts. Tempering Pool Adolescent kasathas are encouraged to participate in the Tempering, a yearlong excursion in which participants experience a multitude of other cultures in order to help develop their own personal traditions. Some kasathas continue their lives as adventurers or settle elsewhere in the galaxy, but those who return to the Idari to become a part of traditional kasathan culture often celebrate their homecoming with a small ceremony at this reflecting pool in Gesilad. The celebration for each kasatha is different, however, with some quietly coming alone to dip their hands in the water and others inviting friends and family to share a meal in the colorful gazebo nearby. Thereis no official way to book time at the Tempering Pool, and when two ceremonies overlap, the participating kasathas often happily merge their celebrations into one. Temple of the Black Butterfly Worship of the Silence Between is infrequent on Kasath, but during the Idari’s journey, many kasathas turned to the enigmatic Black Butterfly for guidance and comfort in the face of the bleakness of the inky void outside. Today, the Temple of the Black Butterfly is home to a sect of priests known as the Stillness. The members have taken a vow of silence and train daily to hone their fighting skill to be ready in the event that evil ever attempts to breach the Idari’s hull. Temple of Ibra While the priests of Talavet work to preserve the knowledge already amassed by mortals, the priests of Ibra are dedicated to discovering secrets never before known. They believe that through careful study and mystical pattern matching, they can discern the true pattern of the universe. The least of that new knowledge, they believe, will be the location of a new home world for the kasathas. Ibran priests believe the answer lies not out in deep space but within the walls of the Drum. They propose that Ibra worked through the architects of the Idari to encode the location of the new home world in the very plates of the hull. If the patterns of the utility tunnels, ducts, and pipelines, and even the orientation of the buildings and the borders of the various sectors are all synthesized, the data they yield could lead the way to a new and permanent home. Temple of Talavet The kasathas are a traditional and retrospective people and were thus affected much more than most other races by the Gap, which they call the Time of Silence. At the Temple of Talavet, worshipers of the Storyteller grieve for the lost stories of the past that will never be told again. There is a joyous purpose to the grief, however: the priests of Talavet, who include many shirrens among their number, work tirelessly to archive the stories and folk knowledge of every species of the Pact Worlds, dispersing the resulting compendiums across the system and beyond in an attempt to increase the knowledge that might survive any future Time of Silence. Windcatcher Archives This trio of mostly walled-off, connected buildings stand at the top of a small rise overlooking Gesilad. The headquarters for the Ecobalancers and the office of the doyen of ecology, Esax Jana Meritus Rhee of House Hadulan (LN male kasatha mystic), it contains records of all of Idari’s varied ecologies dating back to the vessel’s launch. While the buildings look stark from the outside, the interiors are decorated with bright landscape paintings and clippings of the ship’s various flora. Lately, Doyen Rhee has been taking meetings with agents of the Xenowardens in the archives. The two groups share techniques for protecting nature and are formulating plans to seed Kasath fauna onto Akiton in order to ensure their continued existence.

PACT WORLDS 77 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 IDARI TEMPERED PILGRIM THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) You have read and studied much in your eagerness to learn about and experience new cultures, and you often know about them before you encounter them. Reduce the DC of Culture checks to recall knowledge about a culture’s customs and related topics by 5. In addition, whenever you take a rank in Culture, you learn to speak and read two new languages instead of one. Culture is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Culture checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Charisma at character creation. COMPELLING INFLUENCE (6TH) You understand a variety of social cues and are quick to take advantage of them when you interact with others. When you exceed the DC of a Diplomacy check to improve a creature’s attitude by 5 or more, you need to spend only 1 extra minute interacting with the creature to improve its attitude by one additional category. In addition, you worsen a creature’s attitude only if you fail the Diplomacy check to improve its attitude by 10 or more. BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE (12TH) In your many travels, you have accumulated a wide base of knowledge about all manner of subjects. You can always take 10 on skill checks to recall knowledge, no matter the circumstances. In addition, once per day when attempting a skill check with a skill you have no ranks in, you can roll twice and take the better result. DIVERSE EXPERIENCES (18TH) The Tempering is about learning something of your own culture by experiencing others. Up to twice per day, when you participate in an established cultural tradition that takes at least 10 minutes and is significantly different from a tradition of your own culture, you can reflect on those differences to recover 1 Resolve Point. What constitutes a cultural tradition is subject to the GM’s discretion, but it usually involves a formal or festive ceremony such as a dance, a feast, a parade, or even ritual meditation. In their adolescence, kasathas undertake a yearlong walkabout known as the Tempering, in which they are encouraged to experience other cultures. You have examined this practice (or perhaps undergone it yourself) and have concluded that a year is not enough time to learn from the countless other civilizations. In any case, you don’t need to be a kasatha to consider yourself a student of the universe. Many tempered pilgrims are also followers of the philosophy of the Cycle. +1 CHA

78 THE WORLDS THE DIASPORA The Diaspora is a geographically diverse region of space marked by millions of asteroids ranging in size from less than a meter across to hundreds of miles in diameter. These planetoids are scattered over so vast a region of space, however, that collisions between them are rare. The majority of the Diaspora is formed from the debris of two planets called Damiar and Iovo, which were destroyed in the primordial time prior to the Gap. Little is known of the geographical makeup of these twin worlds, but their geology is readily apparent by researching the composition of the local planetary debris. GEOGRAPHY Many of the Diaspora’s planetoids are barren rocks with no atmosphere, parched from solar radiation and blasted by cosmic winds. Others are self-contained biospheres maintained primarily by the sarcesians, but artificial habitats such as dwarven space stations and mining colonies dot the otherwise inhospitable reaches of the Diaspora as well. Further, due to the ancient catastrophe that destroyed Damiar and Iovo, the Diaspora is rife with supernatural phenomena that defy scientific categorization. Planar fissures, intermittently appearing clouds of energized plasma, and other unknown mysteries haunt the darkness between the Diaspora’s celestial bodies. Despite the asteroid field’s diverse and eclectic inhabitants, only eight percent of all planetoids in the Diaspora are known to be inhabited, leaving vast stretches of the asteroid belt both unpopulated, and in many cases, unexplored. RESIDENTS The dominant residents of the Diaspora are creatures called sarcesians, who claim to descend from the native inhabitants of Damiar and Iovo. Some dispute this claim, but in fact, the remnants of ruins from those twin worlds found scattered throughout the Diaspora clearly exhibit the presence of sarcesian culture, lending much credibility to the sarcesians’ assertion of their origin.

PACT WORLDS 79 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 THE DIASPORA The Free Captains, a notorious collective of pirates and smugglers, are another major group within the Diaspora. While not every raider in the asteroid belt belongs to this faction, the most prosperous and notorious of pirates claim membership in the Free Captains. Individual Free Captains can be found operating throughout the Diaspora, but their power center is the secret asteroid fortress called Broken Rock (see page 82). Beyond sarcesians and space pirates, itinerant peoples from across the Pact Worlds and beyond inhabit the Diaspora. Dwarves constitute the largest group within the Diaspora, with holdings ranging from large organized mining operations to the more traditional dwarven Star Citadels. Other inhabitants include colonists from lost Golarion seeking to settle new homes on the frontier of the system, miners hoping to find their fortunes in the asteroids, pirates and smugglers looking to maneuver outside of the eyes of law enforcement, and even extraplanar entities slipping through breaks in the walls between planes brought about by the destruction of two entire worlds. Additionally, thousands of small colonies of mercenaries, merchants, and xenobiologists are scattered across the millions of miles that the Diaspora spans. SOCIETY Though they are the largest population within the Diaspora, the sarcesians lack a centralized government. As a result, the Diaspora is officially classified as a Pact Worlds protectorate, and several factions of Diasporan inhabitants send non-voting representatives to the Pact Council, though the sarcesian delegation is by far the largest and loudest. The sarcesian envoys regularly petition for the Diaspora to be given full Pact World status on the Pact Council while simultaneously claiming to be the “true” representatives of all Diasporan peoples—a political stance that is a sharp contrast to that held by most sarcesians, who remain largely libertarian individuals. They care primarily for their own corners of the asteroid belt and otherwise are largely content to allow others to do as they please, as long as they do not impinge on the personal liberties of any one given sarcesian settlement. Similarly, the dwarves of the Star Citadels maintain law and order within their fortresses but remain largely indifferent to the activities of other groups, so long as they don’t come into conflict with them. Despite being autonomous pirates, the Free Captains ultimately owe allegiance to an elected council of pirate lords, who meet regularly on Broken Rock (see page 82) to decide

Footprint of the First Ones BROKEN ROCK Songbird Station Chainbreaker One Giant’s Toe RIVER BETWEEN Parley Archon’s Halo Havinak’s Vortex Heorrhahd Congregant Halls Wailing Stone The Abattoir Jioh Station Farabarrium House of the Void Refuge Sejada NISIS Cairn The Forgotten King Broadsides Broadsides Broadsides Besmara’s Smile Pirate Council Vaando Merhja Broodnest Ahilira Broadsides Broadsides Not to scale. 80 THE WORLDS

PACT WORLDS 81 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 THE DIASPORA overarching matters of great import to the organization and to settle large disputes between its members. However, this council doesn’t concern itself with the day-to-day operations of the Free Captains, which would be a nearly impossible task for such a loose, chaotic coalition. Instead, the Free Captains have all agreed to abide by a code that guides their conduct and states protocols for raiding, capturing, and destroying other spacefaring vessels. In the depths of the Diaspora, beyond the fringes of civilization, society begins to break down. While major corporations and private interests hold small stakes within the disparate debris field, few have enough vested interests to maintain sizable peacekeeping or law-enforcement retinues. Hellknights are sometimes dispatched to the Diaspora to hunt down lawbreakers pertinent to their specific orders, but the majority of their concerns keep them in the more civilized corners of the Pact Worlds. Independent cells of Stewards occasionally operate within the Diaspora as well, uncovering sinister plots and apprehending those who threaten the system’s peace. CONFLICTS AND THREATS With the Diaspora home to so many diverse groups, conflict is a common occurrence. Piracy is the single largest threat in the Diaspora, largely due to the presence of the Free Captains and their continuous push to keep planetary police, Hellknights, Stewards, and other extra-Diasporan law enforcement out of their “free” territory. Lesser gangs of independent criminals also wreak chaos across the Diaspora, and tales of their barbarism and terror are often conflated with stories of the Free Captains, giving all pirates—both organized and not—the same reputation among the general populace. The sarcesians are largely content to allow outsiders to come and go through the Diaspora, but they ferociously defend their pockets of civilization, especially against any incursions into their territory by Eoxians, whom the sarcesians blame for the demise of their ancestors and ancestral home worlds. While not normally a hazard to most spacefarers, Eoxian vessels do occasionally venture into the Diaspora in search of raw minerals and supplies—including, in some grim instances, raw materials for their dark necromantic practices. The sarcesians mostly ignore such small incursions, but larger Eoxian fleets can unite the otherwise placid sarcesians, who combine their disparate ships into a militia fleet intent on driving off the emissaries of the bone sages at any cost. The airless void between asteroids can hold its own dangers beyond enemy starships. Choirs of asterays occasionally lead vessels to crash upon the rocks and then drift playfully among the wreckage. Dreaded shantaks—intelligent winged beasts covered in slimy scales—are fiercely territorial and do not hesitate to attack anything that gets close to their lairs. Most shantaks are relentless once they begin pursuing a target, and some organizations offer bounties for shantak heads to encourage hunting and keep their rapidly expanding population in check. A variety of other dangerous creatures make their homes on the Diaspora’s asteroids and planetoids. Some, like the massive, wormlike surnochs, burrow mindlessly through the rocks and exist only to feed, while others, including cunning void hags, seek out the seclusion offered by the Diaspora to perform astral experiments. Even an asteroid seemingly devoid of life could have a deadly virus lying dormant within an innocuous rock or an alien creature magically held in stasis in a crumbling ruin. NOTABLE LOCATIONS The Diaspora is rife with interesting and notable locations, if a crew can find them among the scattered asteroids. The Abattoir In the chaotic years following the Gap, a gang of space pirates broke away from the Free Captains, finding their code too restrictive. Unfortunately for them, the small asteroid they chose to use as their base was the prison of a cruel undead creature exiled by the bone sages of Eox for unremembered crimes it committed during the Gap. The foolish pirates accidentally released the creature, who quickly slaughtered them all. Only garbled transmissions of bloodcurdling screams escaped the remote asteroid, which was dubbed the Abattoir by local Diasporans and summarily quarantined. Some believe the unknown catastrophe turned its victims into undead monstrosities, and the unliving pirates are rumored to occasionally set sail from the rock to add to their burgeoning armada of the damned. As of yet, no one has been brave enough to explore the Abattoir to prove or disprove theserumors. Archon’s Halo Archon’s Halo is a militarized research station located within the accretion disc of Havinak’s Vortex (see page 84). Not directly operated by any one governmental body, Archon’s Halo is instead maintained by a sect of Eloritu’s church called the Disciples of the Sixth Rune. This strictly lashunta sect of Eloritu’s church is obsessed with studying not only Havinak’s Vortex, but also the gravitational anomaly of the Phantom Rift (see page 85) and the ship graveyard of the Hum (see page 85). Disciples of the Sixth Rune have highly advanced magical and technological talents and count numerous technomancers among their number. However, the Stewards have classified the sect as a hostile organization, and most encounters with the Disciples have resulted in catastrophic losses of life. The Disciples of the Sixth Rune has one public-facing representative, Gaileia Seeoh (LE female damaya lashunta envoy/technomancer), who professes to hold the title of Dark Glyph within the Way. Gaileia occasionally makes diplomatic appeals to the Pact Council when tensions between their order and the Pact Worlds grow too high. More commonly, however, Gaileia secretly entreats with gray, bulb-headed humanoids for undisclosed reasons. Ascendant Shard A rumored supernatural stone adrift in the Diaspora with the purported ability to grant those who discover it their hearts’ desire, the Ascendant Shard is a location of myth and legend. Some scholars on Absalom Station theorize that this rock is

82 THE WORLDS a fragment of the original meteorite that became the fabled Starstone prior to its collision with lost Golarion. Others believe the Ascendant Shard is all that remains of a dead god’s heart, and those who discover it can siphon off a fragment of the deity’s lingering essence. Most who have sought the shard have returned empty-handed, but a few never return at all, and there are just as many stories that those treasure seekers found all they sought and more as there are tales insisting that they died in countless horrible ways. Recently, a lone spacefarer at the helm of ship meant for a crew of a dozen or more arrived at Absalom Station, claiming to have returned from the Ascendant Shard. Before she could get close enough to dock with the station, however, her vessel mysteriously imploded, as if crushed by a giant invisible hand. Investigators found no trace of sabotage aboard the ship, and records of the vessel state that it had been missing for over 2 decades. The Blockade An easily avoided stretch of the Diaspora is littered with deadly weapons known as necrotic mines. These disastrous weapons are forged of seething bone, flesh, and sinew and infused with terrible volumes of negative energy. These undead mines each contain a tiny portal to the Negative Energy Plane, allowing them to reconstitute after detonation. No one is certain who created this minefield, as it was in place when the Gap ended, though most point their fingers at Eox. No one group has committed the time and resources to disarm these weapons, but the Stewards have noted that the mines seem to self-replicate. While it might take centuries for them to reach densely inhabited reaches of space, the outright destruction they could cause if and when such an event happens isunfathomable. Broken Rock Known as the stronghold of the Free Captains of the Diaspora, Broken Rock is a 450-mile-wide asteroid with a large, prominent crevasse dubbed Besmara’s Smile by the locals. The space pirates discovered and colonized the rock at some point during the Gap, building a sprawling settlement of docks, taverns, and warehouses around the crack. This city has continued to grow over the centuries, and it remains a haven for Free Captains and their crews, offering merchants who purchase their illicit goods, mechanics who can repair their starships, and gambling halls where they can throw away their credits. To keep law-enforcement organizations such as the Hellknights and the Stewards off these ne’er-do-wells’ backs, only Free Captains and those they vouch for know the exact location of Broken Rock. In the event of an attack, an array of automated capital laser weapons known collectively as the Broadsides defends the asteroid. In addition to being a guaranteed safe harbor for the Free Captains, Broken Rock is also where the Pirate Council—the organization’s elected leadership—meets to discuss matters of import and occasionally modify the Free Captains’ pirate code. The Pirate Council determines which megacorporations’ vessels are off-limits (thanks to exorbitant protection fees) and which are viable targets. They also settle disputes between Free Captains, usually decreeing the wronged party is owed a monetary sum from the party at fault; rarely do these disagreements end in formal duels to the death anymore. Finally, the council resolves what to do when marauders, smugglers, and other extralegal groups begin to infringe on the Free Captains’ territories; this often involves putting bounties out on these rival factions. When a pirate lord leaves the council—whether through misfortune or retirement—all Free Captains are invited to return to Broken Rock to nominate and elect a replacement. This period of open application lasts for 1 month, which usually ensures that only the pirates with the fastest Drift engines and those who happen to be on Broken Rock at the time make it onto the ballot. Voting lasts for an additional 3 months and is open to all Free Captains, but all votes must be cast in person. Following ancient tradition, votes are cast manually using goldplated plastic tokens, and the collected tokens are guarded around the clock by a roster of Free Captains who directly serve the current Pirate Council. Candidates frequently remain on Broken Rock during the voting period, many of them bribing incoming voters with drinks, goods, or promises of both. The longest-serving member of the Pirate Council is Ceris Hightower (CN female human mechanic/soldier), a toughas-nails engineer with little patience for tomfoolery and even less mercy for those who cross her. Ceris was born on Verces, the CERIS HIGHTOWER

PACT WORLDS 83 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 THE DIASPORA daughter of a climate scientist and a factory worker (now both deceased). She lived a solidly middle-class early life, occasionally trekking out to relatively safe areas of Fullbright and Darkside for tastes of adventure with her friends. When she came of age, she sought out the Vercite citadel of the Hellknight Order of the Furnace and enlisted as a trainee. Ceris spent several months in hard training, but she couldn’t master the level of discipline and respect for the chain of command required to become a Hellknight. Instead, she used the martial skills she learned to good effect in several mercenary groups and eventually joined up with the Free Captains. She worked her way up to the rank of pirate lord, aided by her strength and willpower, before becoming a member of the Pirate Council soon thereafter. She is well respected, if not exactly liked, by the majority of the other Free Captains, and she has a reputation for getting things done. Now at the age of 88, Ceris has resorted to cybernetics to extend her life so that she can continue leading the Free Captains. But as she continues to advance in age, other Free Captains are maneuvering to sweep in and fill the power vacuum when she passes on, or to nudge that event to take place sooner rather than later. BROKEN ROCK CN asteroid base Population 45,600 (41% human, 23% android, 22% ysoki, 14%other) Government council (Pirate Council) Qualities insular, notorious, secret location Maximum Item Level 15th QUALITIES Secret Location The settlement is concealed or hidden in some way, or its precise location is a closely guarded secret. Cairn After it broke away from the regular Eoxian navy, the Corpse Fleet sought out places where it could hide and build up its forces before striking against the living creatures of the Pact Worlds. One of the group's earliest bases, this roughly cubeshaped rock is located far from other inhabited asteroids and provided the Corpse Fleet enough secrecy to organize, but they couldn't stay here for long, knowing the Stewards or another peacekeeping force would find them soon enough. The surface of the now-abandoned rock is littered with scraps of Corpse Fleet equipment, though anything obviously valuable was looted long ago. Rumors hold, however, that the place is haunted, possibly by incorporeal Corpse Fleet agents who were left behind to guard a secret weapon. Chainbreaker One This seemingly unassuming asteroid is only a mile in diameter, but it holds a large secret—it is the headquarters for the Android Abolitionist Front (AAF), a coalition of agents who work tirelessly to ensure freedom for all synthetic sentient beings. The base is inside the asteroid’s hollow interior, its entrance cloaked with holographic projectors and its energy signatures dampened by well-placed signal maskers. Chainbreaker One’s only permanent residents are the AAF’s leadership (a shadowy council known as Ex Novo) and a small contingent of android and robot guards and mechanics. Ex Novo’s current composition is widely unknown, even to the majority of the AAF’s membership, though rumors hold that it consists mainly of androids and a sentient AI program. Within Chainbreaker One, Ex Novo coordinates the AAF’s actions, chooses the group’s next targets, and generates the pirate broadcasts that make sure the general public remains sympathetic to their cause. The asteroid’s exact coordinates and security codes are given only to the organization’s most trusted agents. A series of small nuclear warheads are embedded within the asteroid’s crust, primed to be detonated at a moment’s notice should the base’s secrecy ever be compromised. Congregant Halls A mysterious rock riddled with passageways and corridors of all shapes and sizes formerly called the Vacant Halls, Congregant Halls is now a buzzing hive of activity. Shortly after the end of the Gap, an Aballonian anacite named Intricate-GrayCube learned of the Vacant Halls and became convinced that the asteroid’s random twists, turns, and dead ends served a purpose. It traveled to the Diaspora with a few other interested anacites and established a base within one of the asteroid’s larger chambers. Over 2 centuries later, Intricate-Gray-Cube and its comrades have still not cracked the asteroid’s secrets. They have filled the halls with thousands of drones, each examining and analyzing imperfections in the stone, no matter how small. Complicating the anacites’ mission is that every few months, corridors seem to appear, move, or vanish with no rhyme or reason. Some think Intricate-Gray-Cube has been driven insane by its obsession, but that hasn’t stopped other anacites from occasionally lending their own processing power to studying the asteroid’s secrets. EC-40 Pilots are warned to avoid the region of space around the icehoracalcum comet designated EC-40, which seems to move at a speed slower than such a celestial body should be capable of. Astronomers on Verces originally discovered the comet long before the Gap and sent an expedition aboard the aethership Gloaming to investigate. The crew of the Gloaming learned that the comet was relatively close to Damiar at the moment of the planet’s destruction, and the energy of that catastrophe interacted with the comet’s composition to trap that moment in time. Those who approach within a few hundred miles of the comet become trapped in a time loop that has been repeating for millennia, in which they witness Damiar’s destruction play out over and over again—a fate that befell the Gloaming and its crew. Since the Gap, other vessels have attempted to learn more about EC-40, only to become trapped in the anomaly themselves. Strangely, however, sensors can detect only one ship near the comet, which most assume to be the Gloaming; the fate of the later vessels that approached EC-40 remains amystery. Farabarrium The ysoki trade frigate Farabarrium is a salvaged ATech Immortal left adrift by the Knights of Golarion after a brutal

84 THE WORLDS confrontation with an Eoxian cruiser several years ago. A group of ysoki salvagers called the Shirsask Kaia laid claim to the damaged ship and were able to bring the vessel back online within 2 years’ time. With the significant firepower and space provided by the Farabarrium, the Shirsask Kaia decided to put down roots in the Diaspora and operate as a trade hub and salvage way station. The Shirsask Kaia were quick to negotiate a lucrative protection deal with the Free Captains in return for offering priority maintenance for all Free Captain vessels. Now the Farabarrium is a well-known hot spot of trade activity within the Diaspora and a noteworthy pit stop for travelers scouring the forgotten reaches of the asteroid belt. Footprint of the First Ones The shattered remnants of one of Iovo’s moons drifts on an erratic elliptical orbit through the Diaspora, often veering wildly away from the typical path of the Diaspora’s debris before rejoining it centuries later. This irregular orbit is due to the fact that the moon fragments frequently pass through the perimeter of the Phantom Rift (see page 85), which scatters the moon fragments’ orbital trajectories. A still-functional and highly advanced robotics facility is nestled within an impact crater on one of the largest fragments of the sundered moon. Dubbed the Footprint of the First Ones, this sealed facility is believed to be similar to the automated machine forges found on Aballon, except that the facility remains tightly sealed from the outside. The material of the facility is an unknown alloy with a chemical composition similar to both adamantine and mithral. Demolished solar collectors on the moon’s surface and scans of the structure indicate that the facility is running on reserve power, but those inside the building have yet to request any assistance, even from the anacites of Aballon. The Forgotten King One of the more curious “asteroids” found in the Diaspora, the Forgotten King appears to be a human skull 12 miles in diameter. Appearances notwithstanding, this morbid artifact is crafted not out of bone, but of an ancient and sturdy type of ceramic. Hundreds of thousands of lines of verse in some unknown language that resists magical translation and comprehension cover the interior of the skull. A massive joint effort between several institutes of learning to study this epic poem has so far gleaned only that the text refers to a long-lost monarch and his enormous wealth. This particular piece of knowledge has set the imaginations of many aflame, all trying to discover exactly what this treasure is and where it is located. Countless charlatans and con artists across the Pact Worlds offer phony translations of the poem to gullible souls for the right price, or claim they know where to find the Forgotten King’s hoard but need a few thousand credits to buy supplies for the journey. It is likely that the translation efforts will eventually come to fruition, though what they might uncover is anyone’s guess. Giant’s Toe From afar, this hunk of rock gives the appearance of some giant humanoid’s big toe, and would be otherwise unremarkable save for two things. The first is a fossilized colony of a neverbefore-catalogued species of foot-long nematodes. The second is that divination spells cast while on the asteroid cause an eye-shaped rune to glow on the caster’s forehead for a short period of time. Some claim to have had prophetic dreams after the rune has faded. Whether these two aspects are related has yet to be established. Havinak's Vortex One of the most dangerous hazards of the Diaspora is the gravitational phenomenon known as Havinak’s Vortex. The vortex is a roughly planet-sized gravity well that sporadically appears twice annually for anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes, funneling all matter within a 10,000-mile radius into the Maelstrom. The vortex gets its name from Azirian Havinak, the human astronomer, explorer, and devotee of Ibra who was the first to enter the rift and return. He spoke of a bizarre space station forged of raw willpower and inhabited by proteans, the Maelstrom’s chaos-living inhabitants. Havinak described the space station as an amalgam of structures, building styles, and construction materials like an architectural teratoma. Since his return, Havinak and a few brave others have made several trips into the vortex, returning with increasingly disturbing stories of the proteans’ activities on their space station, as well as strange relics from the Maelstrom. However, since Havinak failed to come back from his most recent trip a decade ago, no one has been bold enough to travel into the rift. Heorrhahd The first Star Citadel of the dwarves, Heorrhahd was founded in the years shortly after the Gap, following the destruction of the dwarven mining colony Arngrannam in the chaotic conflicts of the era. The founders of Heorrhahd began by carving a gigantic dwarven face into a suitable asteroid and then attached powerful engines to the rock, allowing them to situate it within the Diaspora at a location of their choosing. Thousands of dwarves volunteered to carve a subterranean city within the asteroid, attempting to mimic the interiors of the long-lost Sky Citadels of ancient dwarven history. Modern airlocks seal off the Star Citadel’s interior from the vacuum of space, but most of the tunnels and structures within are fashioned of stone rather than plastic, metal, or other advanced materials. Heorrhahd represents a focus on certain dwarven traditions in the face of the existential crisis posed by the Gap. The Star Citadel is governed by a council of Rivethun—members of an ancient order of dwarven animists who treat with spirits for knowledge and power—who use communication, empathy, and insight to better understand the dwarves’ position and role in the universe and who see it as their duty to use that knowledge to carry their people into a new golden age. Many of Heorrhahd’s dwarven residents are adept at channeling benevolent spirits, often of their ancestors, after prolonged periods of meditation on their past travails. Outsiders are welcome to visit Heorrhahd, but non-dwarves are usually permitted only temporary stays within the citadel without special dispensation.

PACT WORLDS 85 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 THE DIASPORA The Star Citadel is also the headquarters to a large number of dwarven mining companies—most notably Bolka Mining Consortium and Stonequarry Industries—who operate mostly within the Diaspora, tunneling into asteroids in search of valuable resources or lost artifacts. As such, the spaceways surrounding Heorrhahd are always under threat of pirate attacks. To combat this threat, the dwarves maintain a small navy usually capable of fending off marauders who would attempt to ambush trade ships and frigates loaded with newly mined treasures. House of the Void The House of the Void is a squat, sprawling monasteryfortress that is disproportionately large in comparison to the small asteroid it sits on. It is home to an order known as the Acolytes of the Void, ascetics and anchorites who all wear perfectly black robes that conceal their species (though they do seem humanoid) and speak only through vocoders, giving all acolytes the same mechanical voice. The Acolytes supposedly contemplate the void of space in search of enlightenment, but their true philosophy remains something of a mystery to people outside the order. In fact, the Acolytes of the Void are a sect devoted to the Empty Traveler, one of the many forms of the Outer God Nyarlathotep. Dedicated to bringing about the return of the Great Old Ones, the Acolytes often appear unexpectedly at scenes of great chaos in the Pact Worlds, as if to bear witness to these events—or possibly to encourage them. Strangely, despite their worship of the Crawling Chaos, no Acolyte of the Void has ever been seen anywhere on Aucturn. The Hum Beyond the inhabited reaches of the Diaspora is a sprawling graveyard of starships that dates back farther than anyone can tell. When a vessel comes within a thousand miles of the graveyard, its hull is permeated with a subsonic hum that gradually becomes audible to most species. Creatures exposed to this subtle noise become increasingly erratic and prone to tempestuous emotional outbursts. Worse, astrogation is negatively impacted by the hum, causing sensors to return false positive readings of incoming objects. By the time the hum is audible, most ships begin to vibrate sympathetically with the noise and, unless the crew is able to divert course, soon suffer total loss of hull integrity as their ship literally vibrates into pieces. Exploration of the Hum has been a fruitless endeavor, as even those ships whose hulls survive the noise still suffer catastrophic crew loss from the psychological breaks brought on by the subsonic hum. At present, the source of the Hum is unknown. Jioh Station The Veskarian navy maintains this outpost within the Diaspora in a fixed orbit synchronized with that of Verces. More than 3,000 vesk soldiers and a small fleet of short-range exploratory vessels are posted to Jioh Station, and a Veskarian battle cruiser brings supplies and a new garrison every 72 weeks. In spite of numerous attempts by the Free Captains to oust them, the vesk remain entrenched in their outpost, though their reasons for doing so are not entirely understood. Vesk tactical procedures would not classify the location of Jioh Station as a valuable asset. Whatever the vesk are doing on Jioh Station is a well-kept secret, even within the Veskarium. Nisis The 600-mile-wide ice-crusted planetoid called Nisis is home to several colonies of sarcesians who inhabit underwater dome settlements attached to the underside of the ice. Outfitted with hydrogen extraction plants and gas turbines, the largest of these domes are Ahilira, Merhja, and Vaando. The residents of all three settlements must always be ready to desert their homes and hole up in the dozens of small bunkers on Nisis’s surface should the aquatic predators within the planetoid’s inner sea decide to attack the domes en masse. Xenobiologists suggest that the gigantic coral reef floating within the planet, dubbed the Broodnest, is the main source of this hostile life, though no one has gotten close enough to the miles-wide reef to fully explore it and confirm these theories. Nisis’s waters are also renowned for being the starting point of a cosmic phenomenon called the River Between (see page 86), the serpentine river of liquid water that snakes its way through the Diaspora. When the waters of the River Between recently turned dark, so too did much of Nisis’s internal ocean, a disturbing fact whose discovery coincides with the revelation that the planetoid’s ice crust has also begun to thicken, slowly increasing Nisis’s size. Parley Not much more than 2 miles in diameter, this strange site is entirely spherical and covered in alien runes carved into its surface. Though it can't be quite proven, these runes are thought to be the source of Parley's unusual power: no one within several miles of the asteroid can speak a deliberate and intentional lie (as if under the effects of a zone of truth spell). Due to this, the space around Parley is often used among the Free Captains to negotiate alliances and contracts. Expeditions of arcane scholars who come to study this asteroid often fall to in-fighting as prolonged exposure to the magical emanation causes people to blurt out unspoken truths. Phantom Rift Close to the orbital path of the Diaspora lies a point in space with a fixed distance from the sun. This stellar anomaly looks similar to a heat mirage against the blackness of space, distorting the appearance of any stellar bodies it occludes. The Phantom Rift measures roughly 7,000 miles across and is generally spherical, roughly the size of a planet. Vessels that pass through this phenomenon suffer no ill effects, though passengers sometimes complain of brief bouts of dizziness. Some scholars believe that the Phantom Rift is the afterimage of a gigantic portal to another dimension, through which a mysterious progenitor race traveled millennia ago. According to the theories, these aliens supposedly seeded the galaxy with the first samples of life and then returned to their own time and space. A handful of scientists, many

86 THE WORLDS considered unbalanced by their peers, study the anomaly in the hope of opening the portal once again and contacting this unknownrace. Refuge Recently, a group of androids calling themselves the Refugists have staked claims on a cluster of uninhabited asteroids within the Diaspora. Hoping to build an android home world, they have begun using tractor beams and artificial gravity generators to pull these asteroids together into a single mass. The new planetoid is not yet big enough to rival the Diaspora’s other larger celestial bodies, but only time will tell if the androids will succeed at their efforts. The Free Captains have made a few overtures toward offering a protection deal to the Refugists, but they have been soundly rebuffed each time they approach, as if the androids don’t want them to get too close to the project. The Refugists have also been actively recruiting more androids to their cause but insist that new recruits leave their previous lives completely behind. The River Between The River Between winds through the Diaspora, a rushing waterway contained with a cylindrical containment field of unknown origin. Some legends claim that the River Between was constructed shortly after the destruction of Damiar and Iovo by beings from the Plane of Water in an attempt to lay claim to the newly formed asteroid field, while others believe the survivors of that catastrophe (who eventually became the sarcesians) built the waterway gradually over centuries, hoping to reclaim their lost worlds. Either way, the River Between was used as a safe means of travel between certain asteroids until the advent of interplanetary travel. Some still used the river for a while thereafter, as building a boat is considerably cheaper than purchasing a starship. However, in the years since the Gap, the waters have turned dark and fetid, and sailors have begun to go missing on their voyages. A few survivors have returned to sarcesian crèche worlds from the River Between, claiming they were attacked from below by terrible serpents. Sarcesians have petitioned the Stewards to do something about these “diaspora wyrms,” which have also been spotted on the River Between’s source world of Nisis (see page 85), but to date, the Stewards’ fact-finding missions have met with little success and they have found no sign of these mysterious creatures. Sejada The largest of the sarcesian crèche worlds, Sejada is the de facto sarcesian capital, where the few decisions that affect all sarcesians are made in large, town-hall-like meetings that any sarcesian can attend to vote on the presented referenda. These forums are held at irregular intervals, sometimes with little to no notice, but most sarcesians don't seem to mind. Sejada also hosts the births, upbringing, and education of thousands of sarcesians a year. Sarcesians take a very hands-off approach to their own families, leaving children in the care of trained sarcesian crèche-minders, who are often assisted by robotic nannies. Some sarcesian parents remain on the crèche world to assist in their children’s training for a few years, but most return to their own lives, seeing their offspring only once they are full adults. Outsiders might see Sejada as a cold, unfeeling place, but the children there are happy, allowed to grow and learn at their own pace until they are old enough to start studying a trade. The early stages of apprenticeship usually occur on this planetoid, but some masters leave the world with their charges after as short a time as a year, giving the young sarcesians hands-on training in fields such as mercenary work, piloting, and trading. Songbird Station Situated on an asteroid just half a mile in diameter, the temple and performing arts center named Songbird Station resembles a jewel-studded stone set against a field of black, and the gleaming, opalescent structure is further adorned with rainbow streamers of energy that radiate outward from the station’s perimeter like banners flying in the wind. Founded a few decades ago, Songbird Station is a temple-school dedicated to Shelyn, the goddess of art, beauty, and music. Her priests instruct the faithful and visitors alike in a myriad of art forms both practical and therapeutic, making Songbird Station a bastion of creative endeavors in an otherwise remote and hostile corner of the Diaspora. Additionally, the station’s concert hall frequently hosts massively famous entertainers from across the Pact Worlds, including sugar-pop sensation Strawberry Machine Cake and Aballonian euphonics composer Zed-29. Performances at Songbird Station are viewed as both reverent worship of Shelyn and a beacon of hope for the Diaspora’s residents. The main organizer of Songbird Station, Nairon Shalorrh (CG male kasatha mystic), believes that if worshipers create enough art and beauty and spread that beauty to envelop all the known worlds, Shelyn’s voice will ring out loud and clear for all the galaxy’s people to hear, perhaps even bringing peace to all worlds. Wailing Stone The asteroid known as the Wailing Stone has been abandoned since some time during the Gap. Miles of corridors are drilled into this rock (which presumably originates from Damiar or Iovo’s inner mantle). Evidence suggests that the area once served as a prison during the Gap, and that its origins may stretch back even further in time. No trace of the Wailing Stone’s residents have ever been found, and attempts at recolonization have always resulted in the disappearance of the settlers, leaving behind nothing but enigmatic references to something called “the Sign.” Recent expeditions to study this phenomenon have reported terrible nightmares afflicting the expeditions’ members, as well as the appearance of hostile, flayed creatures wearing tattered yellow rags. For the time being, the Stewards have quarantined the Wailing Stone and placed a hazard beacon nearby to warn away approaching ships, but some representatives to the Pact Council have put forth proposals to once more utilize the asteroid as a prison—or execution site—for the Pact Worlds’ most dangerous criminals. These motions are widely considered foolish and have gained little traction.

PACT WORLDS 87 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 THE DIASPORA SPACE PIRATE THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) You have a distinct advantage over others when operating in the shadows of society. Reduce the DC of Culture checks to recall knowledge about black market locations, known smugglers, and notorious space pirates by 5. Bluff is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to your Bluff checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Dexterity at charactercreation. SMUGGLER (6TH) You know how and when to move illicit goods and how to get in and out of tight situations that might spell doom for a less seasoned smuggler. Once per day when you attempt a Stealth check to hide, you can roll twice and take the higher result. Additionally, whenever someone attempts a Perception check to search your body for objects you have hidden on your person using the hide object task of the Sleight of Hand skill, the searcher receives only a +2 bonus to the check, instead of a +4 bonus. SWORD AND PISTOL (12TH) You are well trained in a traditional piratical fighting style dating as far back as the antiquated ages before the Gap. When you are wielding at least one one-handed melee weapon and at least one small arm, you can make two attacks against the same target with one of each type of weapon as a standard action. Each attack takes the same –4 penalty as a full attack action. BESMARA’S BLESSING (18TH) The pirate goddess Besmara blesses your thieving and marauding ways, even if you don’t worship her directly. Up to twice per day, when you successfully ambush and defeat a significant foe or group of foes in tactical combat or starship combat in order to take any goods and valuables they are transporting (or simply have in their possession), you recover 1 Resolve Point. You are a free-ranging corsair within the wild and unpredictable fringes of galactic civilization and live by your own code, or a code shared with other like-minded individuals. You tend to view personal property as a laughable concept, unless it is your gear. You might be a freebooter on your own ship, a member of a space-bound gang of raiders, or even a member of the Free Captains of the Diaspora. Alternatively, you might be a new recruit to the piratical lifestyle, just learning the ropes under a more seasoned crew. +1 DEX

88 THE WORLDS Eox is among the most mysterious of the Pact Worlds, and it is likely the member planet most feared by citizens of the rest of the system. It is a dead world, killed long before the Gap in what is believed to have been fallout from an interplanetary war fought when most of the Pact Worlds’ idea of advanced technology was limited to metallurgy and printing presses. Most of Eox’s inhabitants are undead, with the most powerful— the bone sages—serving as regional lords with nearabsolute local authority. These centuries-old masters of magic and technology brook no interference with their plans, but they carefully keep their experiments and long-term schemes within the bounds of what the Absalom Pact permits member worlds to perform in their own territories… or at least, no outsiders have successfully proven otherwise. GEOGRAPHY What was once a verdant planet with an ecosystem capable of sustaining life is now nothing more than a charred husk with a thin, poisonous atmosphere awash with radiation. With no remaining seas and little of the planet’s history surviving to the modern era, the massive mesa of Remembrance Rock serves as a planetary monument of all that Eox has lost. The Atraskien Shelf is the remnant of what used to be the continent of Atraskia, the largest landmass on Eox, before the world faced its cataclysm. The area remains somewhat raised above the basins and hollows that were once seabeds, though the massive upheavals that created the Facinora Basin also altered the relative altitudes of many areas, leveled mountain ranges, boiled bedrock, and altered much of the landscape. The atmosphere of the Atraskien Shelf is somewhat less toxic than the rest of Eox, but it has many more radioactive zones. Deminas Hollow is a lowland area formed by the basin of what was once the Deminas Ocean, before the seas of Eox boiled away. The hollow is the largest of the lowlands, stretching across the equator of the planet. Many areas of the Deminas Hollow are unclaimed by any bone sage, and home to both wandering bands of starving undead and small herds of the mighty ellicoths that are among the only EOX

PACT WORLDS 89 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 EOX fauna to survive Eox’s devastation. Those settlements within the hollow generally have stronger, taller walls for defense, and the notable wild areas are considered unsafe even by nativeundead. Another artifact of Eox’s disaster is a continent-sized crater, hundreds of miles deep and thousands across, known as the Facinora Basin, though the origin of that name was lost to history well before the Gap. The basin cuts close to the core of Eox, so the planet’s central heat and radioactive materials make the basin churn with lava and toxic gases even millennia after it formed. The region is extremely dangerous even by Eoxian standards, and most residents give it a wideberth. The basin is demarcated by a ring of mountains called the Fringe, which are home to a handful of twisted creatures that love heat but aren’t completely immune to fire. The southern cap of Eox is a vast, broken plain with few undead settlements. Though ellicoths are rare here, many varieties of the strange plants that cling to life on Eox can be found in this area. The original name of the region is unknown, as is its nature prior to Eox’s fall, but the gray, blasted rock and colorless scrubs common here give the territory its modern name: Gray Hollow. The vast, flat, northern reaches of Eox are known as Lacustria Hollow, the basin of what was once the arctic Lacustria Sea. Though no major settlements exist here, the area is littered with the wrecked remains of airships, diving spheres, sailing vessels, submarines, and underwater cities from the time when it was a thriving ocean beneath an eternal ice pack. What appear to be centuries of experimental ships, shattered strongholds, submerged ports, and wrecks suggest that before the planet was devastated, the Lacustria Sea was extremely active and saw trade, naval battles, eldritch wars, and even attempts to settle the seafloor. Though bone sages and Starfinders have been exploring these wrecks and runes for centuries, many are buried under hundreds of feet of dust, silt or even molten rocks, and new sites are constantly discovered after chemical sinkholes, earthquakes, or toxic storms. The Eternal Convocation (see page 90) approves more offworld expeditions to the Lacustria Basin than any other part of the planet, though most find nothing but rust and scraps of ancient textiles. As a result of this activity, the protected zone of the Lifeline was built at the southern edge of the hollow. The few cities on the world—strange settlements known collectively as the Necropoleis—are sprawling mixes of ancient

90 THE WORLDS tombs, high-tech mausoleums, and lifeless offices and factories. Some have accommodations for living visitors, specifically the city of Orphys and the trade zones of the Lifeline, but while they are generally considered the safest areas of the planet, no part of Eox is truly safe. RESIDENTS Some of Eox’s original living inhabitants, the elebrians, survived the cataclysm that destroyed the planet’s ecosystem in sealed underground bunkers, but the extent of the devastation made it clear that their old way of life could not be easily restored. Elebrian leaders conferred and decided to turn themselves and much of their population into undead beings, enabling them to survive on the surface. These spellcasters were the first bone sages, and many continue to rule the planet. However, a small population of living elebrians still exists to this day. They are often considered second-class citizens, relegated to settlements with breathable artificial atmospheres and radiation shielding. Though still relatively small, the largest contingent of living elebrians can be found in the Halls of the Living, an underground city that acts as a backdrop for various cruel shows broadcast for the rest of the planet’s amusement. The undead far outnumber the living on Eox and range from cannibalistic ghouls to charming vampires and from skeletal bone troopers to spellcasting necrovites. Except for the bone sages, who are almost all necrovites, social standing isn’t dependent on the type of undead a citizen is, though usually only the more powerful undead have the intelligence and drive to own their own businesses or climb the social ladder. SOCIETY Politically, Eox is divided into individual fiefdoms. In each fiefdom, a bone sage—a title granted to only the most politically and magically powerful Eoxians—rules absolutely over potentially thousands of vassals, both intelligent and monstrous. While the bone sages constantly bicker and battle among themselves, they present a powerful unified front to the rest of the Pact Worlds, one that, contrary to popular rumor, is not so much evil as coldly amoral and utilitarian. The Eternal Convocation, a group of bone sages who set aside personal differences to come together and make decisions regarding Eox’s dealings with the rest of the system, maintains this unified front. From the jointly controlled necropolis of Orphys, the Convocation assigns Eoxian ambassadors to other Pact Worlds, appoints representatives to the Pact Council on Absalom Station, and establishes planetwide laws regarding when visitors from other worlds are allowed on Eox and how they are to be treated. Though the bone sages of the Eternal Convocation are not always among the most powerful of bone sages, their centuries-long unity in enforcing Eox’s Absalom Pact commitments has proven they have the numbers and political acumen that make them, collectively, more than a match for individual bone sages who might oppose them. In matters beyond those of dealing with the Pact Worlds and citizens from other planets, however, the Eternal Convocation is no more unified than any other collection of oligarchs, but conflicts between bone sages are rarely solved with direct combat. As timeless beings beyond the need for sleep or fear of age, bone sages know that such feuds are among the riskiest activities they can possibly engage in. Instead, when two bone sages disagree, they are likely to apply pressure to one another, trying to create problems that take an opponent’s time and money to fix, until it becomes clear that acquiescing to a rival’s demands is less burdensome than a lifeless cold war. When issues must be settled more quickly, proxy wars are often established, with third parties (never the Eternal Convocation, but sometimes the Conclave of Whispers) agreeing to enforce the result should one of the two undead rulers opt to renege after a loss. These proxy wars are frequently arranged as specific blood sports within the Halls of the Living, not only ensuring a large audience to guard against cheating, but also generating revenue to help offset the expense of the conflict. Only if a bone sage is pushed too far does the idea of eldritch vengeance become appealing. As long as private disputes do not spill into others’ realms or violate Pact World rules, they are generally allowed to continue without interference until one side is destroyed. Of course, if either side is weakened too much, another coldly calculating bone sage may join the fray to expand her ownholdings. This laissez-faire attitude is generally carried down through the ranks of lesser oligarchs, important agents and servants, and the undead rank-and-file citizens. In most necropolises, the laws are simple and designed primarily to ensure the ruling class is not bothered or threatened. For example, while it is generally forbidden to attack other undead, this is a pragmatic measure designed to ensure enough workers and guards exist to protect the rulers of each settlement. Minor violations are likely to be overlooked as long as they do not create significant problems. The undead citizens of Eox know that they will not age, weaken, or lose their lifeless vitality. There is no concept of retirement, nor any real need for it. A ghoul tasked with guarding a wall knows that in 3 centuries, both the wall and the need to guard it will likely continue to exist and the ghoul will remain capable of filling that need. Further, Eox’s undead population tends to be stable, with no births, no deaths from natural causes, and enough new bodies coming in for trade or sale to ensure a slow trickle of undead to replace those lost to accidents or violence. Low-ranking undead’s lives of endless menial labor are undertaken not out of a sense of duty, but for a need to gain both credits and whatever is needed to sate their hunger. If a common Eoxian fears anything, it is having some supernatural hunger go unsatisfied, driving the undead to increasing desperation and eventual madness—the unclaimed wastes of Eox are filled with packs of roving undead driven by a desire to feed on living prey that no longer exists. For the most part, bone sages consider such packs to be useful as early defenses of their walled strongholds and a good way to ensure enemies of Eox do not establish secret bases on the planet. Beyond the largest and most powerful cities of the undead, thousands of smaller settlements and strongholds are scattered across the nearly lifeless world, each controlled by its own undead overlord. Many are younger or weaker bone sages, either incapable of or uninterested in ruling larger areas, but

PACT WORLDS 91 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 EOX some are lesser undead of other types seeking to control as vast an area as their own abilities (and tolerance of the major bone sages) will allow. These settlements are significantly less stable than the Necropoleis, but their rules are also often less aloof, and more in need of assistance in the form of trade, mercenaries, or agents to handle issues beyond Eox. CONFLICTS AND THREATS More than once in recent centuries, champions of light and virtue have suggested that Eox and its undead populace represent a clear and present danger to all life within the system. After all, many undead feed on the living, and Eox is one of the few worlds known to have launched planetary assaults against its neighbors, even if such actions were in the ancient past. The idea of accepting a world of undead tyrants as allies does not sit well with many citizens of the various Pact Worlds. But as the bone sages are fond of reminding other planetary governments, Eox was the very first world to sign the Absalom Pact, and though many Pact World citizens are suspicious of the long-term plans of the denizens of Eox, there is no doubt that their power was instrumental in defending the system during conflicts with the Veskarium and later against the first attacks of the Swarm. The bone sages and their animated corpse minions are distasteful to many within the Pact Worlds, but Eox’s leaders are very careful to maintain diplomatic ties through the system. As feared and mistrusted as the bone sages are, their political machinations have so far prevented the authorities of other worlds from breaking the Absalom Pact’s terms in order to attack them. Of course, not everyone in the Pact Worlds avoids dealing with the undead of Eox. Numerous groups work with citizens of Eox to seek out and oppose the Corpse Fleet, the undead space armada created by defecting soldiers when the bone sages signed the Absalom Pact. Mercenaries and merchants alike appreciate the opportunities brought about by the cadaver markets where bodies are bought and sold, the trade in necrograft augmentations and dread technologies shunned on other worlds, and the academies that draw in engineers and spellcasters with their vast stores of knowledge. In the unpopulated stony wastes outside of the necropolises, strange, non-sentient creatures wander and hunt, thanks to centuries of radiation and sources of other magical pollution. Some of these beasts have adapted to feast on the necromantic energy that sustains the massive undead population, but this makes them no less dangerous to living beings. Chief among the natural threats of Eox are the elephantine ellicoths, whose touch can drain the souls of both the living and the undead. NOTABLE LOCATIONS Despite its generally blasted landscape, Eox is home to a great number of thriving and bustling settlements, as well as other points of interest. Arran Rifts The Greater and Lesser Arran Rifts, both hundreds of miles long and thousands of feet deep, are among the two most dangerous regions onEox. They are named after island chains or subcontinents that existed before Eox’s ancient cataclysm— records are unclear which—in approximately the same location. What caused these areas to crack and form immense canyons that stretch down nearly to the original mantle of Eox is unknown, but the strange metals and bizarre fossils found on the few expeditions to go to these zones and return lead some Eoxian scholars to theorize there was once a vast cavern system here, with its own ecologies and native life separate from what existed on the surface of Eox at the time. The areas are rich with a few rare skymetals, radioactive metals, and even some ancient Eoxian artifacts, but are also home to many angry incorporeal undead. The rifts’ sulfur springs are among the most active on the planet, and numerous forms of grub swarms swell within their pools and near their gas vents. Rumors claim bizarre, enormous living monsters also dwell within the rifts, as the ellicoths do the plains, though this is generally considered just legend. Blackmoon The cataclysm that killed Eox also created the Thousand Moons, a ring of asteroids around the planet that forms a never-ending arc of glittering lights visible from the surface. In the years before the Gap, sarcesians scheming to destroy the bone sages prepared a complex web of magic energies to allow the moons to be dropped on every major necropolis and outpost across the planet. For whatever reason, that planetkilling trap was never triggered—until a few years after the Gap. In the year 7 ag, the bone sages launched the Magefire Assault in an effort to take control of Absalom Station. No nation was coordinated enough to mount an effective defense, but some party or parties unknown managed to trigger the ancient Thousand Moons trap. The bone sages abandoned their attack on Absalom Station to flee back to Eox to prevent the devastation, but they were only partially successful. While most of the Thousand Moons were kept in orbit, one of the largest orbiting chunks fell (though at a much reduced speed) and crushed the mighty necropolis of Murthal, destroying everything within 1,000 miles of it. The massive chunk of rock that remained was named Blackmoon, and it is now one of the tallest mountains in the Pact Worlds. Blackmoon is a nearly hemispheric orb of rock riddled with caves and tunnels that date back to precataclysm Eox. Beneath the stone, some small sections of Murthal survive, cut off from the outside world. More than one necrovite has sought to build a new necropolis on Blackmoon in the centuries since it fell, but all have met untimely ends from ancient traps and curses. Rumors suggest there are sarcesian renegades within Blackmoon even now, keeping a watchful eye on the bone sages and preparing for the day the undead betray the Absalom Pact. Catacomb Mountains It is well documented that the Catacomb Mountains did not exist prior to the Gap. The lands where these imposing and angular slabs of basalt and black quartz now rise up were once a barren plain of radioactive lowlands and poisonous clouds. No record exists of why or how they were constructed—but

92 THE WORLDS FACINORA BASIN LACUSTRIA HOLLOW DEMINAS HOLLOW ATRASKIEN SHELF GRAY HOLLOW The Fringe Oubliette Thanox Karus Halls of the Living Exantius Church of Silence Orphys Zinhew Blackmoon Remembrance Rock Great Arran Rift Lesser Arran Rift The Lifeline Urabron Pact Port Spiral Basilica Necroforge Catacomb Mountains Grim Reach Fading Run Eternal Barrows The Pyre

PACT WORLDS 93 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 EOX they are certainly not natural. The Catacomb Mountains are a manufactured range of rock and strange ores honeycombed with hundreds of thousands of tombs, most sealed with advanced security systems and magic glyphs. Early expeditions into the outermost tombs revealed them to be filled with the remains of destroyed undead, often sealed in computerized sarcophagi designed to douse the corpses with acid or flame at any sign of movement. Other tombs were empty, with Eoxian runes warning that “necrovores have escaped” and similar vague messages. A joint agreement made by the most powerful bone sages forbids any further exploration into the Catacomb Mountains, but it is strongly suspected that numerous secret expeditions to the site are undertaken every year. Church of Silence Located on a highland area that was once an island just off the continent of Atraskia, the Church of Silence is considered part of the Atraskien Shelf, despite being just beyond the long-gone coastline. The Church of Silence is an ancient monument to the perfection of undeath that has existed as neutral ground among the bone sages for eons as the closest thing to a sacred place the undead of Eox have. It is overseen by the Conclave of Whispers, a respected collection of the oldest bone sages, who claim to have given up secular matters in favor of pure research into undeath and eternal existence. The Conclave of Whispers specifically does not include any members of the Eternal Convocation, ensuring that the two groups each work to their own ends, rather than conspiring together. Within the Wordless Halls, the oldest parts of the Church of Silence, the conclave seeks to understand secrets nearly lost to time and to gather all lore on death and undeath available from anywhere in the galaxy. While the Wordless Halls are off limits to most living creatures, the bone sages grant open access to any androids, undead, and self-willed robots who wish to peruse the ancient libraries within, as long as they swear to obey the rules of the halls. The outer sections of the Church of Silence have much less lore and material within them, but the bone sages allow living necromancers to petition for access to research specific topics, especially if the practitioners bring some previously unknown bit of undead lore with them to barter foraccess. Eternal Barrows When Eox joined the Pact Worlds, not all bone sages agreed with the decision. Though the Eternal Convocation and Conclave of Whispers both supported the idea, many bone sages felt it placed them in a position of weakness and was an unacceptable limitation on their self-rule. The details of the brief, vicious conflict that followed have been kept from the living, but it is known that multitudes of undead on the losing side were imprisoned in the massive field of penal tombs known as the Eternal Barrows. The most powerful undead prisoners, including ghosts, necrovites, nightshades, and vampires, were placed in stasis tombs so they would not experience the passage of time. The bone sages surrounded upstart undead masters with vast vaults; each of these vaults contained lesser undead creatures that did not answer to the undead master contained within, thus avoiding the possibility of collusion. The ruling bone sages of Eox ensure that the deepest of the Eternal Barrows are untouched, and they seem unconcerned with how many centuries might pass before the undead who opposed them could be released. Many admit that destroying their political opponents would not be worth losing the vast knowledge those undead contain, and some even hint that the most powerful of those imprisoned are simply beyond destruction by any force. But with no fear of the ravages of time, the rulers of Eox are content to allow their foes to be locked away until the situation changes, maybe centuries or eons from now. Exantius One of the newest of the Necropoleis, Exantius was founded and constructed by undead from other worlds only 50 years ago. The Eternal Convocation reluctantly gave permission to Tzurrtk (N host shirren corpsefolk mystic; see Starfinder Adventure Path #6) to create this settlement as a show of good faith to the rest of the Pact Worlds, but has yet to grant them a seat on their council. Exantius is a burgeoning city, as nonelebrian undead flock to the area after facing discrimination elsewhere. The bone sages are wary that this will eventually result in a shift in the planet’s balance of power; while such an event would realistically take centuries to occur, the bone sages are known for the long-term thinking. For their part, Tzurrtk has no malicious intent, and they are very open about their motivations. After an extrasolar expedition left the shirrens with a fatal disease, Tzurrtk opened themself up to the universe and was rewarded with eternal life after death. Shunned by their family, they took to the spaceways to find a new home. Tzurrtk felt Eox was an obvious destination, but they found the culture of the native undead elebrians not to their liking. Rather than continue their search, Tzurrtk decided to make a place on Eox that would also welcome people like them. Fading Run A shallow chasm in Gray Hollow, the Fading Run is home to those bloodsports and reality events that are too large or too elaborate to fit within the Halls of the Living. Demolition derbies and protracted obstacle courses make up the majority of the competitions that take place here, with competitors brought in from the Halls of the Living and offworld gladiatorial companies. While only a few of these contests are fought to the death, accidents and sabotage occur regularly, resulting in a staggering number of fatalities per year. A couple safety advocacy groups call for an end to these events, but the Eox’s government is always quick to point out that participation is voluntary and that contestants know the risks. Grim Reach Far into Lacustria Hollow stands a ghostly town of translucent buildings of ancient design. Phantoms of elebrians walk through the streets, ignoring any being who approaches them and continuing routines that observers have noted repeats from week to week. While the Grim Reach appears to be the echo of an elebrian city that existed before the planet’s cataclysm killed

94 THE WORLDS most of Eox’s inhabitants, all pre-Gap records indicate that this location would have been at the bottom of a deep sea. The diaphanous buildings seem to be built for normal atmosphere, making this literal ghost town an true enigma. This supernatural phenomenon isn’t well understood, even by Eoxian occult scholars. A few fringe researchers have recently put forth the theory that the Grim Reach is a vision of Eox’s not of past but of its future. At some point, living elebrians will thrive once again and the planet’s atmosphere will be breathable once again. These academics explain the settlement’s architecture as being a throwback to ancient elebrian heritage and scrutinize every detail about the phantom people to get any indication of whether their theory is correct. Halls of the Living The Halls of the Living are an aberration on Eox—a subterranean city designed and maintained purely for the benefit of its living inhabitants. However, it is not a city where most people would choose to live, as it is maintained only as a backdrop for the cruel games and invasive reality shows that are the primary entertainment on Eox and are broadcast throughout the Pact Worlds. Many of the transmissions are outlawed on other planets, but little can be done to prevent them from being sent, and even the most depraved recordings can easily be found in archives of illicit sections of the infospheres of most Pact Worldcities. Though numerous groups protest the existence of the Halls of the Living, as an entirely local issue, they are not a violation of the Absalom Pact. Further, every citizen is—at least officially—a willing participant. Children born within the Halls of the Living are removed to state-funded quarters in Urabron and not allowed to return until they reach the age of maturity. Anyone else is free to go at any time and receives a complementary oneway ticket to Absalom Station... and little else. Despite this, the potential fame and fortune that participants can earn in just a few years of games and programs have fostered a long waiting list of citizens petitioning to join the halls. Those citizens who manage to build a fan base of viewers and patrons can often skip the deadlier shows and instead participate in live feeds of their day-to-day activities or skillbased entertainment contests. The vast majority of participants are humans and vesk (who seem to relish the challenges), but a noteworthy number of dwarves, Forlorn elves, lashuntas, and ysoki also participate. Undead are forbidden (though undead camera crews, guards, showrunners, and administrators operate within the city for specific broadcasts) and androids and kasathas are very rare. A small number of living elebrians—the dominant race of Eox before the disaster that killed the world—also participate and have done so for centuries. However, it is whispered that none of the elebrians who dwell in the Halls of the Living are true surviving members of that race and that all those who claim to be either are undead in disguise or are surgically altered humans. The most well known promoter of events within the Halls of the Living is Zo! (NE male elebrian necrovite), a flamboyant host whose antics draw in as much of an audience as the games and blood sports he introduces. Zo! occasionally travels to the less reputable areas of the Pact Worlds and Near Space to personally recruit new contestants or to host special transmissions. The charismatic necrovite presents a different face of undead than most people are familiar with, which is perhaps the main reason behind his phenomenal ratings. Karus Karus was originally constructed around and on top of the Halls of the Living, and for centuries it existed purely as a place for the undead of Eox to gather to view the events the denizens of the halls were forced through for entertainment. Because it was one of the few places bone sages peacefully gathered, over the centuries it also became the council center for the undead rulers of Eox—a place where they could meet in neutral territory to form councils and make treaties. As a result, it came to be the center from which the Sleepless Watch was formed to oversee control of the Sentinel—a moon-sized defense platform that was ancient even before the cataclysm struck Eox centuries prior to the Gap. The settlement expanded well beyond the Halls of the Living, in time growing to be an entirely separate complex. When Eox signed the Absalom Pact, one of the most powerful dissenting bone sages was the Festrog Queen, who felt that agreeing to sign a treaty with living creatures was an affront to her undead perfection. Rather than confront her and attempt to banish her to the Eternal Barrows, the newly formed Eternal Convocation offered to salve her dignity by granting her control of Karus, and thus the greatest say in the control of the Sentinel. Whether the Festrog Queen saw opposition to the Convocation as doomed to ZO!

PACT WORLDS 95 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 EOX failure or if she was truly mollified, she accepted the tribute and has ruled Karus for over 250 years. Both because of her true dislike of them and as a security measure, the Festrog Queen has outlawed the living within Karus, restricting them to the nearby Halls of the Living. The Lifeline The Lifeline is a literal line demarcating the safe zone containing the Necroforge, Pact Port, and Urabron. A massive wall—more than 200 feet tall, 50 feet thick, and topped with spiked ridges and defensive plasma turrets—denotes the location of the Lifeline, but that is only the physical part of this barrier. A magic shield created by dozens of bone sages working in concert exists in the same location, independent of the wall. It prevents the radiation clouds, wild zones of magic, and fields of necromantic energy that roam across the rest of the planet’s surface from entering the safe zone. Skeletal guards and ghoul overseers who answer to the Eternal Convocation monitor the wall constantly; they keep out the numerous undead (and few living) threats that run wild in the lawless places of Eox. The atmosphere within the safe zone is still thin and poisonous, but the Lifeline keeps many of the dangers of Eox at bay, allowing visitors to move more freely and safely between the region’s three settlements. Necroforge The Necroforge is less a city than it is an extensive industrial complex dedicated to the creation and study of undead, necrografts, and necromantic magic. Along with Orphys, it is one of the primary destinations for living beings who wish to augment themselves with necromantic implants and for necromancers who seek to become undead (often at the price of a century of unliving service once their transformation is complete), as well as for body merchants who bring corpses to Eox to be turned into new undead citizens or elements of necrografts and other experiments. Though very few living creatures permanently dwell in the Necroforge, it has extensive facilities to house and entertain its clients, guests, trade partners, and visitors. The Necroforge is ruled by the Painted Lady (NE female elebrian necrovite), a bone sage who maintains a nearly living appearance and has adorned her entire body with tattoos depicting dozens of living creatures becoming various forms of undead. Orphys Orphys is the largest and most prosperous of Eox’s few cities, and is home to the Eternal Convocation, the council of bone sages who assign Eoxian ambassadors to other Pact Worlds and appoint representatives to the Pact Council on Absalom Station. The Eternal Convocation also rules Orphys directly, making it the only major necropolis not controlled by a single bone sage. All of Orphys is enclosed within a bubble of breathable atmosphere, making it one of the most common destinations for living visitors outside of the Lifeline. Given that Orphys is as close to a planetary capital as Eox offers, most citizens of the Pact Worlds believe the necrovites who rule the city maintain the atmosphere to encourage living tourism and make it easier for Pact World officials to interface with their Eoxian counterparts. In truth, the Eternal Convocation doesn’t much care how the atmosphere impacts the daily lives of living visitors. The atmosphere domes were established centuries ago as part of an experiment into how various conditions impact the long-term stability and potential decay of undead bodies, and that experiment has continued uninterrupted for hundreds of years. Unlike the cities within the Lifeline, Orphys does little to accommodate living residents beyond providing a suitable atmosphere for them to breathe. Food vendors are rare and almost exclusively deal in preserved foods with shelf lives measured in years. Even so, it is far easier to maintain livable conditions here than in nearly any other necropolis, and Orphys has built a number of businesses around the opportunities living creatures present. Like the Necroforge, it is a major hub in the necrograft trade and contains administrative and business centers that allow Pact World companies and organizations to interact with the Eternal Convocation. ORPHYS NE necropolis Population 1,450,000 (88% undead, 7% android, 5% other) Government oligarchy (Eternal Convocation) Qualities academic, polluted, technologically advanced Maximum Item Level 20th Oubliette A few unfortunate souls are completely broken, body and mind, by the transformation into undeath. Instead of being immediately terminated, many of these poor folk are brought to the Oubliette, an underground hospital of sorts. Director Ulla Vhasgos (LE female elebrian necrovite) and her small team of talented physicians and psychologists keep close watch over their charges and attempt to rehabilitate them. The facility maintains powerful magical security systems to prevent the escape of its more dangerous patients, but every so often, Oubliette goes dark, neither accepting or broadcasting transmissions. These periods can last days or even weeks, and when Oubliette again makes contact with the outside world, it is usually Director Vhasgos looking to fill a vacancy on herstaff. Pact Port Pact Port is the only city on Eox that is not part of the Necropoleis. Instead, it is a standard city designed primarily as a landing place for Pact Worlds trade ships and for the warehousing of Eoxian goods for export. Pact Port is a small domed city of 100,000 denizens, more than half living, and is administered by Sadrat Phain (NE male elebrian ghoul envoy) in the name of the Conclave of Whispers. Within the dome, ventilation systems maintain air designed to support as many forms of life native to the Pact Worlds as possible. Sadrat is permissive about most issues, upholding only those laws required by the Absalom Pact, with the sole exception of strictly forbidding any relic of ancient Eox to be removed from the world without the approval of theConvocation.

96 THE WORLDS Every year, dozens of travelers come through Pact Port to purchase necrografts and have them installed. Before making the trip to Orphys or the Necroforge, they are directed to a small neighborhood in Pact Port called the Hospice, where necrograft merchants display catalogs of their wares. Prospective patients must be ready to negotiate the exorbitant fees and ironclad contracts before they can have the necessary surgeries. Necrograft companies maintain these storefronts in Pact Port to dissuade those not serious about the procedures and to keep unwanted applicants from their front doors. The Pyre The Pyre is the only major settlement within the Facinora Basin, though some much smaller lava-mining stations and research outposts exist. A massive tower stretching more than a mile up from the lava, the Pyre is an arcology: a self-sufficient building that houses an entire city. It is also one of the primary sources of power on Eox, using the heat of the endlessly churning lava to incinerate waste materials from all over the planet (according to legend, including the bodies of any undead the bone sages do not wish to see again) to form a massive tornado of flame that drives hundreds of turbines before it ejects into the Eoxian sky as an eternal pillar of fire. The Pyre is ruled by Kalantrodoch the Unburning (NE male elebrian necrovite mystic), a necrovite less than a century old who is concerned almost exclusively with technological advancements rather than magical ones. Kalantrodoch rarely allows visitors or tourists within the walls of his arcology, but he has a well-known curiosity regarding pre-Gap technology and nearly always grants audiences to visitors who can provide examples of such devices he’s not yet familiar with. Remembrance Rock An enormous mesa created by the energies of the cataclysm, Remembrance Rock is riddled with tombs and monuments to all that was lost when Eox was killed. Most of the tombs and shrines are long since empty, but a few deep in the interior remain protected by active guardians that allow respectful visitors but destroy tomb raiders. The most visited memorial is a large cenotaph called the Reflection, which gets its name from the mirrorlike sheen placed on the marble from which it is built. It is protected from erosion and defacement by powerful magic, and all who peer into its surface see undead versions of themselves reflected back. Recently, a few people have complained that they can see nothing reflected except for a few vague shapes. These forms are said to undulate and draw closer to the viewer’s location, causing a dread chill to run down the viewer’s spine. Spiral Basilica The center of worship for Pharasma on Eox, this large cathedral sits outside of Port Pact but still within the Lifeline. The Spiral Basilica caters mainly to those visitors to Eox who worry about interacting with the planet’s undead residents. The Pharasmin priests offer protective blessings to these folk for a modest donation to the church, and their very presence seems to be a soothing balm to those who must travel to Eox but who have religious or moral conflicts about it. The main church of Pharasma isn’t interested in starting an extended holy war against the inhabitants of Eox, though most high-ranking members aren’t comfortable with the planet’s inclusion in the Pact Worlds. The Eternal Convocation tolerates the church’s presence on their planet, as long as it doesn’t disrupt everyday activities. As such, when hot-headed Pharasmin crusaders come to the planet, the Spiral Basilica acts as kind of release valve, pointing those devoted warriors toward patches of rogue undead creatures that the Eternal Convocation has sanctioned for destruction. Thanox One of dozens of midsize necropolises scattered across Eox, Thanox is ruled by the bone sage referred to only as the Soulless One, and it would be unremarkable among such cities of the dead if not for its ruler’s claim to fame: in the minutes after all the undead of Eox realized they were suddenly recovering from a widespread amnesia, the Soulless One moved with decisive force and claimed the city from its former ruler. Such conflicts between bone sages are unremarkable, but the Soulless One was the first undead to claim the rank of bone sage without being some form of lich or necrovite. Instead, he is an apparition, seemingly a shadow with bright green circuitry patterns forming his eyes and running along his shoulders and arms. For decades it seemed likely some coalition of “proper” bone sages would form to strike down the upstart who dared claim that ancient title, but the Soulless One successfully played his foes off one another in political maneuvers until his strong support of the Eternal Convocation’s signing of the Absalom Pact cemented his place among the ruling class. Urabron Urabron is a small settlement that predates the construction of the Lifeline. It is ruled by the bone sage Quatherat Hafet (NE male elebrian corpsefolk mechanic), an undead who is more machine than corpse after centuries of existence. Hafet claims to have existed for eons before the Gap, and he shrugs off questions about the missing centuries of his memory as one of the things that simply happens after existing long enough. Urabron is small enough to be encased by a large dome that maintains heat and an atmosphere similar to that of Castrovel, and it houses a few thousand scholars and spellcasters who study there alongside the bone troopers who serve Hafet. Why he allows such study or let Urabron be included within the area of the Lifeline is unknown. Zinhew The necropolis Zinhew’s claim to fame are its wide collection of “flesh vats,” which produce chemically created flesh and blood that allows undead who require such sustenance to get it without harming living innocents. Though many of Eox’s undead complain these products don’t have the same flavor and texture as the real thing, Zinhew’s industrial sector still turns a profit, thanks in part to generous subsidies from the Eternal Convocation. The flesh vat bioengineers conduct ongoing research into the realism problem and are confident they will crack it eventually.

PACT WORLDS 97 WELCOME TO THE PACT WORLDS THE WORLDS STARSHIPS SUPPORTING CAST PLAYER OPTIONS 1 EOX DEATH-TOUCHED THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) Thanks to your experiences with the undead and the growing power of the grave within your form, you have an instinctive understanding and recognition of negative energy and undead. You can use Perception, rather than Mysticism, to recall knowledge about undead and negative energy effects when you first observe them. Perception is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Perception checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Constitution at character creation. DREAD VITALITY (6TH) You draw dark strength from the spark of negative energy within you, and you gain a fraction of the resistances that undead creatures have. You gain a +1 bonus to saving throws against disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning. INURED TO THE GRAVE (12TH) Your body, always somewhat cool to the touch despite how much warm clothing you wear, becomes resistant even to extreme cold. You gain cold resistance equal to your level. If you already have greater cold resistance from some other source, that cold resistance instead increases by an amount equal to half your level. LIFE EATER (18TH) If you are close to a sapient creature when its life is snuffed out, you can draw part of the released energy into your deathinfused body, fueling your vitality. The first time each day when a living creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or more dies within 10 feet of you, you regain 1 Resolve Point. You need not be the one to deal the killing blow. Additionally, anytime you are unconscious and a living creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or more dies in a space adjacent to you, as a reaction you can spend the appropriate number of Resolve Points to stabilize or, if you are already stable, you can spend 1 Resolve Point to stay in the fight (Starfinder Core Rulebook 251). You have been affected by the energies of death and negative energy. You are not undead, but you have an affinity for the dead and undead that is inexplicable to most living creatures. You may have suffered an attack from an undead creature when very young, or you may have been exposed to strange radiation, dimensional rifts, or magic that caused a weak but permanent link between you and the Negative Energy Plane. You survived this formative experience, but not without some change. +1 CON

98 THE WORLDS More than any other celestial body in the Pact Worlds, Triaxus is a place of extremes. Its plodding and eccentric path around the sun mires this world in centuries-long winters and summers that define existence for all life upon it. During the frozen decades, enormous glaciers creep a thousand miles or more from the poles, while rivers remain icy floes and snows howl practically without end. Summers are just as brutal; sweltering heat envelops the planet, jungles and forests bloom riotously, and fire and drought become deadly threats despite the most aggressive technological interventions. Strangely, the transitional seasons—spring and fall—last only as long as it takes for the summer vegetation to grow or fall dormant, respectively. Life on this planet is hardy, however, and Triaxus’s organisms have long since adapted accordingly to the differing climates. Each main season’s flora and fauna enter a state of hibernation as their time draws to a close, only to awaken upon the harbinger equinox. In the winter, enormous furred insects roam the lands, as do gigantic snowbirds, predatory packs of tusked felines, and other arctic horrors. In the summer, an array of diverse and often brightly colored wildlife covers the planet. Some of Triaxus’s humanoid inhabitants experience vast shifts in biology depending on the season during which they’re born. These include the dominant ryphorians, whose life cycle and adaptability resemble those of humans. Other species, including the planet’s dragonkin and dragons, simply weather the seasons by taking precautions and making lifestyle changes as necessary—an easy task for those who can afford it. Long before the Gap, the conflict between Triaxus’s dragons and the ryphorians dominated nearly the entire planet, with dragonkin fighting on both sides. However, as Triaxus’s residents developed spaceflight and the territorial wars became moot—particularly after the Gap and upon the signing of the Pact—the planet’s active hostilities ceased. Though evil dragons still treat their humanoid vassals with disdain, they are less overt with their schemes and plans, preferring to meddle behind the scenes in interstellar politics and hoarding information as well as riches. TRIAXUS


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