Acknowledgements
I would like to thank:
Isabelle, for their exceptional work on the character sheet and
color scheme, their help in the playtesting, and being incredibly
patient whenever I started rambling about this.
Isabelle, for being an incredibly patient sounding board who
put up with my rambling, for their help with playtesting,
and for their exceptional work on the character sheet.
Howard Tayler, for his Schlock Mercenary webcomic and its
perspective on science fiction and religion.
Joss Whedon, Keiko Nobumoto, and Sunrise Studio for their contributions
to the Space Western genre in Firefly and Cowboy Bebop.
Keith Laumer, for inventing the Bolo universe
whose stories helped kickstart this whole idea.
David Weber, for his Honorverse setting and the
inspirations it provided for the hyperdrive.
Fantasy Flight Games, for creating the Genesys system, without which
this would have been a much clunkier setting.
The Genesys system, Fantasy Flight Games, FFG, and all other associated imagery are © and ™ 2020 Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.
Firefly is © 2002–2005 Mutant Enemy, Inc., Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox.
Cowboy Bebop is © 1998 Keiko Nobumoto and Sunrise Studio.
GM Binder theme based on the Genesys Theme available here.
All other components of this work are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Table of Contents
Rising From the Ashes of War
It is 4091 CE, 1385 in the Galactic Calendar (GSC). The few remaining inhabited worlds of the Orion Sector, formerly known as the Orion-Cygnus arm of the Milky Way, are finally beginning to reach for the stars agai, Standardn, two and a half centuries after the de facto end of the Final War. Long-range interstellar communication is limited to courier ships, so few of the inhabiting species know what happened to their planets of origin. A few star nations survived the war without completely losing their
capacity for space travel, but none had the resources or reason to seek beyond their own systems.
The Orion Sector is now a largely lawless frontier, where wary and battered star systems play the roles of city-states as they spread out and meet their neighbors for the first time in centuries—often neighbors that they’d never remembered.
A Sector Ravaged by War
In 3614 CE (908 GSC—Galactic Calendar), the worlds of the Orion Sector were consumed by war. One by one, every star nation in the region joined the fray, and what would be called the Final War raged for over a century, intensifying as the combatants grew more and more desperate until all sides adopted a scorched earth approach. Finally, in 3789 CE (1083 GSC), the war ground to a halt, as all sides had been pounded to dust, with a final death toll of 95% of military personnel and an estimated 80% civilian death toll across the entire sector. Most star nations were knocked back to an effective tech level of the late Information Age, and those that retai, Standardned
some spaceflight capabilities had neither the resources nor the time to worry about interstellar travel. The space lanes were silent.
It is now 4091 CE (1385 GSC). The worlds of the Orion Sector have slowly recovered over the course of the past two and a half centuries. Nascent star nations now dot the cluster, and interstellar travel has been flowing again for 24 years. But without a central authority, such as the old Stellar League that collapsed in the war, it is a largely lawless place. Often as not, justice flows from the barrel of a gun out here in the Sector.
Wandering Heroes
The setting of Phoenix Dust is a space western—civilizations are rising from the ashes of a horrific, all-consuming war, and your character is one of the larger-than-life figures making history on this frontier.
As in other tabletop RPGs, the shape your character takes is up to you—your group might be the crew of a small starship, making ends meet by doing odd jobs (see Firefly or Cowboy Bebop), you might be a local marshal who gets tapped to hunt down a maniac who fled your planet, or you could just be some technician or militia person who was in the right place at the right time to get pulled into the surf of history in the making.
The surviving worlds of the Orion Sector are few and far between, compared to the densely populated systems before the Final War. Most systems are at least a week’s travel apart by hyperdrive.
However, while many secrets were lost in the Final War, not all were lost forever. Old tech might lie slumbering beneath the wreckage of the war, or secret military projects might still be bubbling away in their hidden bunkers. Who knows what will turn up as the Orion Sector comes back to life?
Terms & Terminology
Most of the technology and terms used in this setting are either English words applied to the setting or are self-explanatory (e.g. “palm light” for a palm-sized flashlight). The rest of the terms are defined here, for convenience.
The metric system is almost universally used in the setting, and the measurements in this document reflect that. Many of the measurements given will also have Imperial unit conversions for convenience.
Table 1-1: Definitions of Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| lsec | Light-second (299,792 km). |
| kt/Mt | Kilotonne/megatonne (mass). |
| T-day | One Earth day (short for “Terran day”). |
| T-month | One Earth month of 30 T-days. |
| T-year | One Earth year. |
History of the Orion Sector
Most of the details of the Orion Sector’s rich history have been lost in the confusion following the Final War. The average denizen of the Orion Sector has even odds of not knowing anything about the years leading up to the Final War. As such, the actual history of the setting is rather fluid. A general outline is provided here, but you are encouraged to make up your own tidbits to fill in the data.
Humanity: To the Stars
In the late 22nd century, the underlying principles of the hyperdrive were discovered and refined by Whetū Kahurangi at the ACPR (Auckland Center for Particle Research). After another decade of research, development, and a small mountain of failed tests, the hyperdrive—or Whetū (FEH-too, IPA /) drive, as it was often called—was tested in August of 2197.
The test was a resounding success. The probe seemed to vanish, then, about six and a quarter hours later, reported its position in orbit around Pluto. It had traveled almost 6 light-hours in just under fifteen minutes, traveling at an apparent real-space velocity of 25c while recording an actual velocity of approximately 3,800 m/s.
The Whetū drive revitalized the space industry. Further development and refining allowed apparent velocities of up to ten times the speed of light, and the first attempts to colonize planets outside the solar system were put into motion in 2241. Despite a few failed starts, including the derelict colony on Proxima Centauri b, the Terran Union became a single sovereign state in 2316, with the founding of a colony on Iris (formerly Tau Ceti f).
Artificial Intelligence
With the race to the stars came a new age of AI. While artificial intelligences had been an integral part of science and technology as early as the mid-21st century, the creation of truly sapient AIs still eluded humanity. To
meet rapidly increasing personnel and processing needs, research into actual thinking machines boomed.
The first breakthrough was made by Nasrin Hashemi and David Baines-Hashemi—a brother and sister team working for the Terran Union Defense Corps as researchers—who managed to make a working electronic brain. This technology was quickly fast-tracked and, in 2267—just eight years after the Hashemi-Baines design was first discovered—was used in the first automated ACV (Autonomous Combat Vehicle).
Due to the natural distrust of truly thinking machines, especially when they controlled enough firepower to obliterate a tank, these first Hashemi-Baines AIs were fettered with an array of failsafes and cutbacks, to prevent them from turning rogue. Chief among these changes was an underlying drive to loyally serve humanity. Eventually, this triggered an upward ethical spiral in human leadership—people began to trust AI leaders more than humans, and the AIs served honestly. Even if it didn’t last, it at least curbed some of the more excessive tendencies toward corruption and venality for a while.
Civil War
In 2460, the Terran Civil War broke out between the human colony on the planet Afanc (formerly Kepler-442 b) and the rest of the Terran Union. The war was brutal and bloody, with heavy losses on both sides due to the long distances involved. While the Terran Union had greater numbers, the budding Afanc military proved to be masters of guerilla tactics, and the war dragged out for 27 years. The Civil War ended in early 2487, with the official recognition of the Independent System of Afanc as a sovereign state in its own right.
The Galactic Standard Calendar
While few actually remember the reason, the Galactic Calendar is modeled after the Gregorian calendar of Earth. When the Terran delegation first suggested it during the formation of the first Stellar League, they were given free rein to draft a proposal for the calendar. Due to internal pressures and the laissez-fai, Standardre attitude of the other league members, the Gregorian calendar was used as a basis for the resulting calendar.
Meeting the Neighbors
The first human contact with alien life occurred in 2483, near the end of the Terran Civil War, when a small task force of the Drensharr Dominion encountered a Terran Union battle group. No shots were fired, and the two star nations maintained a tenuous peace for 79 years.
In 2562 CE, a tense border dispute between the Terran Union and Drensharr Dominion erupted into full-fledged war. The Terran-Drensharr War lasted for five bloody years, ending with a stalemate and cold peace. While there were a few border disputes here and there afterward, the two star nations avoided open warfare for roughly two and a half centuries from that point.
The Kezh’vara and Sseskur made contact with humanity thirty years later, in 2597 CE. Cooler heads prevailed in each of these encounters, although there were a few incidents—including what the Terran Union called the Terran-Sseskur War in 2603—the star nations managed to avoid repeating the same mistakes the Terran Union and Drensharr Dominion had made. If anything, the Sseskur Imperium seemed strangely pleased by the Terran-Sseskur War—despite being the defenders, they refused to call it a war and instead described it as “just a friendly disagreement, and you gave as good as you got.”
In 2707 CE, the Stellar League was founded: a central governing body to maintain peace and prosperity among the various species of the Orion Sector—bionics, Drenshari, humans, Kezh’vara, Lluashi, Peshtar, and Virrak. It also instituted the Galactic Standard Calendar for interstellar trade and coordination. The League lasted for almost two centuries, before it splintered into three separate factions in 2896 CE, or 190 GSC.
The First Galactic War
The First Galactic War broke out in 3132 CE (426 GSC), as the three splinter factions of the Stellar League became more and more belligerent. It lasted seventeen T-years, during which several planets were slagged and rendered inhospitable, and hundreds of billions of
military personnel were killed. The total civilian death toll was unknown, even before the Final War, but conservative estimates place it in the tens of trillions.
In 3151 CE (445 GSC), two years after the First Galactic War came to a close, the Second Galactic League was founded. Unlike its predecessor, it kept its own navy to serve as a peacekeeping force, and was restructured to prevent the sort of splintering that had led to the war.
The Final War
The Second Galactic War, now known as The Final War, began in 3614 CE (908 GSC) with the sudden, simultaneous destruction of the Sseshkar space station H’ssarakh Rralots and the Kezh’vatt Hive of Izhrah-Szzarrot. Neither catastrophe left any survivors, and tensions rose dramatically. Tensions broke into squabbling after several “border incidents,” and then into full-blown war. Soon enough, the entire Galactic League was embroiled in the in-fighting. By 3718 CE (1012 GSC), the Galactic League had dissolved again as the Tch’hosh-Marduk Convention was discarded in favor of scorched-earth policies. The fighting had gained a momentum of its own, and none of the combatants particularly cared why they were fighting.
In 3742 CE (1036 GSC), after 229 T-years of combat and destruction, the Final War wound down to a de facto peace. 95% of all combatants’ military forces had been obliterated, and the civilian death toll was quite literally uncountable. The vast majority of inhabited planets had been scoured free of life, whether by planetary bombardment, bioweapons, or other means.
Rebuilding
The few survivors of the Final War lost everything. Interstellar communications were gone, and much of the technology available was useless without the now-destroyed infrastructure. Some planets were colonized in a last-ditch effort to escape wholesale mutual destruction, but those were faced by many of the same issues—when your primary goal is to keep your people fed and alive on an unexplored planet, nano-assemblers for heavy torpedoes aren’t so important.
The Tch’hosh-Marduk Convention
The first resolution of the Second Galactic League was the Tch’hosh-Marduk Convention, which required that warships request a planet’s surrender before engaging in widespread orbital bombardment. Failure to do so was a war crime and punishable with summary execution of the commander who gave the order and every commander who carried it out.
Gender, Race, and Religion in Phoenix Dust
Just as we see in the real world, people from all over or beyond the spectrum of gender identity and sexuality exist in the world of Phoenix Dust—in fact, some species might not even have a concept of gender. How you handle these topics is entirely up to you, of course.
On a similar note, any intraspecies racial tension has largely fallen by the wayside—in the nearly two millennia since leaving the confines of Earth, the lines between the different races of humanity has become heavily blurred, and the same holds true for the other species in the setting.
There are groups of people who still identify strongly with their ethnic heritage, but it’s just as likely that you’ll meet someone who doesn’t know much, if anything, about their mix of phenotypes. Instead, any parallels to real-world racial tensions will generally be found in relationships between species and/or star nations. Again, how you handle these is up to you, though you should always make sure your players are comfortable with those sorts of themes first.
Finally, there are several religions mentioned in the information about different species, but they are left intentionally vague. I find that delving too deeply into specific religions in tabletop games is tricky at best, so it’s better to provide them as window dressing instead of digging down into the nuts and bolts.
Slowly but surely, the survivors began to rebuild—or build, in the case of the colonists. Over the three and a half centuries between the end of the Final War and the present day, these survivors tenaciously managed to cling to life and build new star nations. Now the star nations are meeting the neighbors again. Whether the mistakes of the past will be repeated, now that most of that history has been lost... well, that’s up to you, now, isn’t it?
How To Play
The Phoenix Dust setting uses the Genesys rule system designed by Fantasy Flight Games. The core Genesys rulebook can be found on DriveThruRPG here. It also uses the supplementary PSI rulebook as inspiration for the psychic abilities and draws on some of the Star Wars RPG rules.
Most of the Talents, Skills, etc. in Phoenix Dust can be found in the core rulebook or the PSI supplement. However, there are a few new rules added. These are addressed in more detail in their corresponding sections, but are summarized in this section for ease of reference. All external sources and their abbreviations can be found in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1: Sources
| Abbrev | Source |
|---|---|
| AoR | Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook |
| EotE | Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook |
| F&D | Star Wars: Force and Destiny Core Rulebook |
| Core | Genesys Core Rulebook |
| EPG | Genesys Expanded Player’s Guide |
| PD | Phoenix Dust Setting |
| PSI | Genesys PSI Supplement |
| RoT | Realms of Terrinoth Core Setting Book |
Skills
The skills available in Phoenix Dust are listed in the table on the next page, along with their sources. More details are available in the Genesys Core, the PSI core book (note associated Characteristics have changed for the PSI Skills), and the Skill descriptions on the following pages.
Education (Intellect)
The Education skill serves as a catch-all knowledge skill. It represents how much formal education your character has in general knowledge about daily life in the Sector.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character tries to recall a bit of information about a famed pilot in the Sector.
- Your character wants to figure out where they should go for a cheap, safe refuel.
- Your character needs to determine the best way to proceed in an interaction with local governments.
- Your character needs to apply basic scientific knowledge (such as high school level knowledge) to something.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character wants to recall some information about an infamous pirate in the Sector. You would use Underworld for that.
- Your character needs to identify a rare plant. Identification of flora and fauna are covered by the Nature skill.
- Your character wants to impress someone with their learning and erudition. You would need to use Charm or Deception for that.
- Your character needs to determine how long a corpse has been dead. The Medicine skill covers all sorts of medical and forensic analysis.
- Your character tries to remember something that would be commonly known to most, if not all, Sector denizens, such as how to use a palm light, what 2+2 is, or anything else that would be trivial knowledge.
Exotic (Intellect)
The Exotic skill represents how comfortable your character is using ancient or esoteric weaponry. These are usually artifacts from before the Final War, and thus are both heavily automated and require intelligence to use.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character tries to fire an ancient alien weapon at an enemy.
- Your character operates a pre-Final War automated war machine.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character wants to identify an ancient alien artifact. History or Xenology would cover the identification of ancient artifacts.
- Your character tries to attack an enemy using an ancient Earth sword. This is still a sword, so the Melee skill would still apply.
Table 2-2: Skills
| Skill | Char | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astrography1 | INT | General | Core |
| Athletics | BR | General | Core |
| Brawl | BR | Combat | Core |
| Charm | PR | Social | Core |
| Coercion | WILL | Social | Core |
| Computers | INT | General | Core |
| Cool | PR | General | Core |
| Coordination | AGI | General | Core |
| Deception | CUN | Social | Core |
| Discipline | WILL | General | Core |
| Driving | AGI | General | Core |
| Education2 | INT | Knowledge | Phoenix Dust |
| Exotic | INT | Combat | Phoenix Dust |
| Gunnery | AGI | Combat | Core |
| History | INT | Knowledge | Phoenix Dust |
| Leadership | PR | Social | Core |
| Manifestation | INT | Psychic | Phoenix Dust |
| Mechanics | INT | General | Core |
| Medicine | INT | General | Core |
| Melee | BR | Combat | Core |
| Mind Over Matter | WILL | Psychic | PSI |
| Nature | INT | Knowledge | Phoenix Dust |
| Negotiation | PR | Social | Core |
| Operating | INT | General | Core |
| Perception | CUN | General | Core |
| Piloting | AGI | General | Core |
| Ranged (Heavy) | AGI | Combat | Core |
| Ranged (Light) | AGI | Combat | Core |
| Resilience | BR | General | Core |
| Riding | AGI | General | Core |
| Skulduggery | CUN | General | Core |
| Stealth | AGI | General | Core |
| Streetwise | CUN | General | Core |
| Survival | CUN | General | Core |
| Telepathy | PR | Psychic | Phoenxi Dust |
| Underworld2 | INT | Knowledge | Phoenix Dust |
| Vigilance | WILL | General | Core |
| Warfare2 | INT | Knowledge | Phoenix Dust |
| Xenology2 | INT | Knowledge | Phoenix Dust |
2Inspired by the Skill of the same name in FFG’s Star Wars RPG line.
History (Intellect)
The History skill represents your character’s knowledge of historical events, both recent and ancient. Also note that most historical records were lost or garbled in the Final War, so most people probably won’t have heard of a person or character that we in the 21st century assume everyone would know, such as William Shakespeare,
Psychic Skills
Some characters in Phoenix Dust are psychic, possessing almost magical abilities harnessed with the powers of the mind. However, characters cannot have ranks in more than one Psychic Skill. Each of these Skills must also be unlocked with a Tier 1 Talent.
Achilles, or Frodo Baggins. Or the layperson’s assumption might be a jumble of time periods, such as thinking that Achilles fought against Napoleon at the Battle of Britain.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character is trying to find out information about an ancient dig site.
- Your character wants to pull up news records on a wanted fugitive.
- Your character needs to remember some tidbit about a historic battle in the Final War (this will be especially difficult for battles later in the Final War).
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character is trying to determine likely hideouts for a wanted fugitive. The Underworld skill would apply in this case.
- Your character needs to remember who the local magistrate is for the planet they are on. You would use Education for that.
- Your character wants to puzzle out how a piece of ancient pre-War technology works. Mechanics would be the skill to use here.
- Your character tries to interpret the ancient language on a crumbling alien ruin. Xenology handles alien languages and cultures.
Manifestation (Intellect)
The psychic skill Manifestation is used to project one’s mind over great distances or times, or in extreme cases to manifest psychic energy within the material world.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character wants to see something that happened far away or a long time ago.
- Your character is trying to predict the future (or a possible future, at least).
- Your character throws a bolt of psychic energy at an enemy.
- Your character is learning the history of an object by touch (psychometry).
- Your character is possessing the body of someone else.
- Your character crafts a visible psychic illusion to fool anyone who can see it.
Your character should not use this skill if...
-
Your character is trying to sneak past someone who can see astral forms. You would use Skulduggery or Stealth for that.
-
Your character is trying to read minds, put a thought in someone’s mind, or sense people around them as a whole. You would use Telepathy for that.
-
Your character is using their powers to scare someone with an apparition. You would use Coercion for that.
Mind Over Matter (Willpower)
The psychic skill Mind Over Matter is taken from the PSI supplement without any changes.
Nature (Intellect)
The Nature skill represents a character’s understanding of and education in the natural world. It covers botany, basic veterinary biology, weather patterns, and so on.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character is trying to determine how long an alien ruin has been sitting on a planet based on the plant growth and wear patterns.
- Your character wants to determine whether a captured animal is native to the current region or planet.
- Your character needs to identify the planet they are on by the native flora and fauna.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character needs to determine if a storm is coming. You would use Survival for that.
- Your character wants to identify the species of skeletal remains. Medicine or Xenology would cover that.
- Your character is watching for animal ambushes. Vigilance covers all forms of passive awareness of one’s surroundings.
Telepathy (Presence)
The psychic skill Telepathy is used to read minds, communicate psychically over long distances, affect the mental states of others, and sense the emotions/presence of other beings in the area.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character is trying to read the minds of others.
- Your character attempts to plant a thought or idea in another’s head.
- Your character wants to communicate psychically with other people.
- Your character reaches out mentally to detect living creatures in the area.
- Your character plants an illusion in a single person’s mind, that no-one else can see.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character is trying to read the history of an object. You would use Manifestation for that.
- Your character tries to find a specific person that is hiding. Perception would cover that.
- Your character wants to telepathically win someone over. The appropriate skill there would be Charm.
Underworld (Intellect)
The Underworld skill is inspired by the FFG Star Wars RPG line (Edge of the Empire, etc.) and represents a character’s knowledge of criminal activities, black market sites, etc.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character wants to determine what kinds of criminal activities occur on a given planet, colony, or settlement.
- Your character needs to recall information about historical criminals.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character is tracking down possible criminal hideouts, or looking for black market contacts. Streetwise would be the skill for that.
- Your character wants to find news articles about a criminal. You would need to use Computers or Education for that.
- Your character tries to haggle a black market seller down to a lower price. Negotiation would be the skill to use here.
Warfare (Intellect)
The Warfare skill is inspired by the FFG Star Wars RPG line (Edge of the Empire, etc.) and represents a character’s knowledge of strategy, tactics, and other military matters.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character is analyzing the most likely move that an enemy ship will make
- Your character needs to determine whether a ship dealer is trying to stiff you on a fast-attack cruiser.
- Your character wants to recall the details of a particular historical military campaign.
- Your character tries to remember the rules and regulations of one of the military groups in the Orion Sector.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character tries to determine if a newly purchased military ship is in good repair. You would use Mechanics for that.
- Your character wants to pretend to be a member of a military group in the Orion Sector. You would need to use Deception.
- Your character needs to keep their crew disciplined and focused on the task at hand. That would be Leadership.
- Your character is trying to remember the name of a Sector-famous military leader (e.g. the equivalent of Napoleon or Genghis Khan). This would be trivial knowledge and should not require a roll.
Xenology (Intellect)
The Xenology skill represents your character’s knowledge and understanding of alien languages and cultures. “Alien” in this case is relevant to your character’s species—for example, a Peshta or Sseshkar would use Xenology for human languages.
Your character should use this skill if...
- Your character is trying to identify the unknown dialect or language that an alien is using.
- Your character needs to identify the civilization to which an ancient alien ruin belonged.
- Your character wants to determine what the right etiquette is for an obscure alien ceremony.
Your character should not use this skill if...
- Your character tries to identify a dialect of their own species. You would need to use Education for that, or History if it’s an ancient dialect.
- Your character needs to determine the species of a decayed corpse. Medicine is used for forensics-related checks.
- Your character is trying to speak or interpret an alien language. Languages are either known or not known.
- Your character wants to learn a new language. Learning new languages is done as a downtime activity, not as part of a Skill check.
New Item Qualities
A few new item qualities have been added to the game, as summarized below. They are described in detail in the Equipment section.
- Fragile: Adds a chance for the weapon to take damage during attacks.
- Spinal Mount: Requires a spinal mount on vehicles.
- Tracking: Improves turret accuracy against smaller craft.
Other Rules
Item Attachments
This setting uses the optional rules for item attachments from the Genesys Core Rulebook (pp206–209), with custom hard point values.
Silhouette and Capacity
Whenever a something lists the number of people that can fit inside, this refers to Silhouette 1 people/people-shaped things. Someone of Silhouette 0 takes up half the space of a Silhouette 1 person, while someone of Silhouette 2 takes up twice the amount as someone of Silhouette 1. Do not extend this past Silhouette 2.
If capacity is given in encumbrance, a person of Silhouette 1 counts as 10 encumbrance for those purposes (use the standard rules for carrying living things on p84 of the Genesys Core Rulebook in all other cases). The same scaling above applies here as well, so a Silhouette 0 person would be 5 Encumbrance and a Silhouette 2 person would be 20 encumbrance.
Vehicles
This setting uses the optional vehicle rules from the Genesys Core Rulebook (pp220–231) and the Vehicle Creation rules laid out in the Genesys Expanded Player’s Guide (pp58–62). See also Chapter 6: Vehicles.
Languages
Instead of using a skill to represent understanding an alien language (such as the Star Wars RPG’s Xenology skill), there are several languages that characters can learn. Your character starts with a number of languages during character creation and can gain more during downtime (see Step 5 of Chapter 3).
The languages available are:
- Orion Standard: The trade language of the Orion Sector, Orion Standard is a patois of multiple languages, both Terran and otherwise. All characters start with this language by default.
Range Bands in Space
Space is big, really big. To reflect this, I strongly suggest treating Planetary Range Bands out in space as much larger than they would be on the ground. You can just handwave the effect on things like personal comm ranges, or give a rule of thumb for edge cases—for example, maybe a personal commbead Mk II (planetary range of Short) can’t reach beyond a very near Close range, and a Mk I can’t reach outside your ship without being plugged into the ship’s comm arrays.
If you want to get a feel for the distances involved, here are some recommended space range band distances, depending on whether you want a harder (The Expanse, David Weber’s Honorverse) or softer (Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who) science fiction feel.
Table 2-3: Recommended Space Range Bands
| Range | Soft Sci-Fi | Hard Sci-Fi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | <100 km | <5,000 km | |
| Short | 100–2,000 km | 5,000–100,000 km | |
| Medium | 2,000–5,000 km | 100,000–300,000 km | 0.3–1 lsec |
| Long | 5,000–100,000 km | 300,000–6M km | 1–20 lsec |
| Extreme | 100,000–5M km | 6M–360M km | 20 lsec–2 lmin |
| Strategic | >5M km | >360M km | >2 lmin |
- Eshvarolat: The language of the Peshtar. It is a rhythmic, flowing language—context is generally provided by the shifting of the speaker’s stance and petals. Many non-Peshtau diplomats know at least a smattering of the language.
- Igrashi: The language of the Virrak. A highly inflected language, it bears more similarity to human languages than those of the other races.
- Kishrakha: The language of the Sseskur. Its words are a mixture of sibilant and guttural, and has no sounds that would require flexible lips.
- Llarohat: The melodious language of the Lluashir. The phonemes l, sh, m, and n are particularly prevalent. Most merchants know at least a smattering of Llarohat.
- New Terran: A constructed language that first arose around the turn of the third millennium CE. The official language of the Terran Union before its collapse in the Final War.
- Old African: African languages.
- Old American: Native American languages.
- Old Asian: Asian languages. This includes many languages from the Middle East, such as Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Persian.
- Old European: European languages. This includes Turkish, as well as dead languages such as Latin and Ancient Greek.
- Old Oceanic: Polynesian and Australian Aborigine languages.
- Shaamarak: The growling, guttural language of the Drenshari. The only words with sounds where the lips curl over the teeth (B, V, etc.) are loan words, and even those are few and far between.
- Z’hara-Kezh: The buzzing, vibrating language of the Kezh’vara. Technically two dialects: Traditional and Standardized (the latter is called Z’sharat-Kezh). Traditional Z’hara-Kezh is difficult, if not impossible, for non-Kezh’vara to speak, as it includes minor pheromone exchange for subtext.
Character Creation & Growth
This chapter contains the rules for creating and advancing your characters in Phoenix Dust. Since the setting uses the Genesys framework, this chapter only covers areas that are different.
All other rules are contained in the Genesys Core Rulebook and the PSI supplement (see [LINK]).
Step 1: Determine Background
The very first step is to choose your background. Like Genesys core, this doesn’t really affect your character’s stats or anything.
Some things to consider when deciding on your character’s background:
- Where did your character grow up? Are they a country bumpkin from one of the remote farms that feed their home planet, or did they grow up in the city, never leaving the shelter of the polysteel forest? Were they a sneak thief, living hand-to-mouth in the slums of a large city?
- What did your character do before becoming an adventurer? Were they a law-keeper, tracking down fugitives and criminals in a remote town? Did they serve in their system’s defense force, and were they honorably or dishonorably discharged? Are they an engineer who just wanted to see the world?
- Why did your character leave to become an adventurer? Do they have any hopes of returning home, or anyone waiting for them?
Step 2: Choose Your Species
The next step is to choose your species. In addition to humans, you can choose to be a Bionic (a sapient robot, though calling them a “robot” is insulting at best, and a slur at worst) or one of six other sapient species in the Orion Sector.
Bionics
Unlike the robots and A.I.s used in manufacturing and starships, bionics are truly sapient artificial intelligences. They are generally humanoid in shape, though their specific design might be tailored for one lifestyle or another. Ever since the early 28th century CE, bionics have been granted full rights as sapient beings. As such, their creation is generally an internal matter, handled by bionics. This freedom of agency that was once enforced by law has become customary across many inhabited planets, and remains so even after the terrors of the Final War. This is especially true now that interstellar travel is beginning to become more common, with interstellar relations slowly forming—few colonies are willing to risk their neighbors taking exception to particularly brutal labor techniques.
No-one knows for sure why the formula used to create bionic A.I.s produces sapience, especially now that so much knowledge has been lost since the Final War. There are a handful of theories, but without knowledge of any of the underlying theories, these are little more than mass conjecture.
Lifespan. While the components of bionics are nigh-indestructible, the slow wear and tear of entropy often causes a creeping senility in A.I.s over three or four T-centuries old. Bionics are particularly susceptible to this, though no-one is quite sure why. Most bionics will succumb to senility or wear and tear by the age of 200 T-years or so.
Physiology. Bionics are generally crafted from contemporary carbon tubule-reinforced alloys. As such, they do not need to eat, breathe, or sleep, though some older models had holding tanks that allow them to partake in such activities for social purposes. They also tend to be more durable than other species thanks to this construction.
Society. Bionics are usually found within other, larger societies, instead of having fully distinct societies.
Names. Bionics generally take on a name that reflects their goals or passions in life, such as Tinker or Warden, or a name from the culture in which they grew up, such as Watkins or Stan.
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
- Bionics start with 1 rank in either Cool or Vigilance.
- Increase Soak by 1.
- Artificial: Bionics are immune to toxins and poisons, and do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Nanopacks cannot heal them, and the Mechanics skill must be used instead of Medicine to repair them, but rest works as for other races.
- Psionically Inert: Bionics cannot take ranks in Psychic talents or skills, but are also immune to any mental effects of Psychic skills.
- Starting Experience: 70.
Drenshari
The Drenshari (singular Drenshar, adjectival Drensharr), originally from Darrek’Shai, are a mammalian marsupial species. Their bodies are vaguely reminiscent of Terran mustelids, such as martens or weasels, but with longer, boxier snouts. Of their six limbs, their front two have evolved into hands, though they can still run on all six limbs for added traction/speed.
In close-quarters combat, Drenshari warriors often rear up to their full height, standing on two legs to better maul their enemies with their claws. Past Drensharr star nations have prided themselves on their navies, both mercantile and military, a heritage in which many of the surviving Drenshari take pride. An average Drenshar will live about as long as humans do (110–130 T-years).
Physiology. Drenshari are lean, wiry predators. They sport two sets of ears, one atop the other, each of which can be swiveled independently. Their fur is short and downy, often mottled or dappled to blend into the sunlight filtering through the trees of their homeworld. They are obligate carnivores and still have sharp, mineral-laced claws. Females are generally larger and more aggressive than the males—historically, the females were responsible for leading the hunt, while the males kept the den safe.
Female Drenshari are 150–180 cm (4’11”–5’10”) long, with an additional tail length of 60–70 cm (1’11”–2’2”). The males are smaller, with a length of 125–155 cm (4’1”–5’1”) and a tail 50–60 cm (1’7”–1’11”) long. Their height depends on their stance (see Table 3-1 below).
Table 3-1: Drenshari Heights.
| Stance | Female Height | Male Height |
|---|---|---|
| Six legs | 70–80 cm (2’3”–2’7”) | 60–70 cm (1’11”–2’2”) |
| Four legs | 125–140 cm (4’1”–4’7”) | 110–125 cm (3’7”–4’1”) |
| Two legs | 185–205 cm (6’1”–6’9”) | 155–175 cm (5’1”–5’8”) |
Females are generally more brightly colored than the males, often having red, russet, gold, gray, or blue-gray fur. The males, meanwhile, are tend towards blacks, dark blues, and deep browns. Mottling and stripes are somewhat common, but have no particular tendencies between the sexes.
Reproduction. Drenshari young gestate in the uterus for 1 Drensharr month (roughly 1 Terran day) before being born as a neonate. The young Drenshar is then deposited into the male’s pouch, where it suckles and grows for another 16 Drensharr months (about 16.5 T-months) before venturing into the world on its own.
Drenshari kits emerge from the pouch able to walk, but do not usually learn to speak beyond basic vocalized sounds for another eight Drensharr months (eight and a half T-months). Traditionally, the kit’s raising is primarily the responsibility of its sire, with the mother and the rest of the clan playing supplementary roles, but this structure has become more difficult with the limited number of survivors from the Final War.
Society. Drensharr culture is strictly matriarchal and emphasizes loyalty to one’s clan. Pre-sapience, females would band together in small groups of three to seven, with several males to care for the young while the females hunted. While there is no word of any surviving Drensharr-only star nations, this societal structure lives on in the culture of the Drensharr diaspora.
Drenshari are not especially religious—many of the traditional Drensharr religions tended toward the animistic, but some modern variations still exist. About half of the actively religious Drensharr are members of religions originating in other cultures.
Names. Drensharr names are often an elaborate set of titles and lineage. Drenshari are given their matronymic and clan name at birth—during childhood, they are referred to simply by number, similar to Primus/Secundus/etc. When they come of age, they choose their given names. At formal events, their entire lineages are usually recited out to five generations.
For example, Narrosh arh-Udrask Garrush was the third kit of her litter. Her mother was Udrask of clan Garrush, so when she was born, her name was Rauga arh-Udrask Garrush—“Third child of Udrask clan Garrush.” When she came of age, she took the given name Narrosh, “Gentle Steel”.
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 11 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 9 + Willpower
- Drenshari start with 1 rank in Discipline or Vigilance.
- Claws: Unarmed combat checks have +1 damage and a crit rating of 3.
- Night Vision: Remove up to bb imposed by darkness.
- Climbing Claws: Remove up to bb from climbing checks.
- Starting Experience: 70.
Humans
Modern humans, or Homo sapiens, originated on the planet Terra in the Sol System, circa -303,000 GSC (300,000 BCE). Relative newcomers to the galactic stage, they nonetheless became significant contenders prior to the Final War. Humans are not as specialized as some of the other races, but this lack of specialization makes them one of the more flexible races in the Orion Sector.
Lifespan. Even with many of the more advanced medical knowledge lost in the Final War, the average human lives approximately 120 T-years. This is reduced slightly for some of the frontier planets, though most sicknesses and disorders can still be treated even on the fringes of the Sector.
Gene Mods. Some humans undergo somatic or germline gene tweaking to improve their abilities. Changes beyond simple physical capabilities often carry unintended (though rarely negative) side effects—perhaps increasing the density of light-sensing cells in the retina to improve perception gives one’s blood a purplish tint. There are often other, expected side-effects, such as an increased metabolism for improved strength, but those are thoroughly controlled and documented.
Society. As in the twenty-first century, humanity is a cultural mixed bag. Many of the old religions have survived, and new doctrines and movements have also sprung up, such as the Zoroastrian Revivalist Movement, the Afanc Neo-Catholic Church of Christ Ascendant, and the Church of the Star Spirits.
Names. The exodus to the stars has thoroughly blurred or erased many of the distinctions between names and ethnicity. You might find someone looking stereotypically Irish named Hachirou Nkosi, or someone with a mixture of African and Asian features named Bunny Johnson. Some systems might still follow some of the Old Earth trends for names, but by and large those have fallen by the wayside.
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
- Humans start with 1 rank in a non-Career Skill of their choice. Psychic Skills still require the appropriate talent.
- Starting Experience: 110.
Kezh’vara
The Kezh’vara (singular Kezh’val, adjectival Kezh’vatt) are an omnivorous insectoid race with a chitinous exoskeleton. They evolved from eusocial animals, somewhat similar to Terran wasps, a heritage reflected in their cultural values and tendencies. Their star nations tend to have strong militaries, with an emphasis on defense. Originally hailing from the Ril’kavir system, the Kezh’vara spread through the sector was cautious at first, though by the time of the Second Stellar League’s founding in 445 GSC (3151 CE), they were as widespread as any other species.
Physiology. Like Terran wasps, Kezh’vara are six-limbed, though their two front limbs have evolved into arms and hands. Their wings are smaller, relative to their body size, and are limited to assisting Kezh’val in making large leaps. Kezh’val also sport venomous stingers—approx. 5 cm (2”) long on average, with a diameter of 0.5 cm (0.2”) at the base—which they can use in combat with surprising dexterity, due to the flexible nature of their abdominal exoskeleton.
Female Kezh’vara stand 180–225 cm (5’ 11”–7’ 4”) tall, with a length of 120–160 cm (3’ 11”–5’ 2”) and wingspan of 135–175 cm (4’ 5”–5’ 9”), while males stand 150–195 cm (4’ 11”–6’ 4”) tall, 75–115 cm (2’ 5”–3’ 9”) long, and with wingspans ranging from 110–150 cm (3’ 7”–4’ 11”). Females generally weigh 70–90 kg (154–198 lb) and have iridescently colored carapaces—green, blue, red, or blue-green—with black or gold mottling, while the males weigh 60–75 kg (132–165 lb) and have more muted carapace colors—dark greens, reds, and blues, dull browns, etc.
Each of a Kezh’val’s arms ends in a four-fingered hand, all tipped with minor claws. They are insufficient for combat, but provide a minor edge when gripping things. Similarly, their “feet” have four claws each, two pairs pointing in opposite directions. Because of this, their traditional numbering system uses base 24, and the number 24 and its multiples are generally considered sacred.
Reproduction. Female Kezh’vara lay eggs in clutches of 200 to 1000—of those, only 25% are viable (50–250). The remainder are unfertilized and serve as the first meal
for the young when they hatch five Kezh’vatt months later (roughly six and a half T-months). The larval stage lasts for three Kezh’vatt years (roughly three and a quarter T-years), at which point they pupate for eight Kezh’vatt months (approx. ten T-months).
Society. Traditionally, Kezh’vatt warriors were primarily female, while artisans and crafters were primarily male. The origins of this tradition lie in their eusocial heritage—in their evolutionary predecessors’ large ground-hives, the males were responsible for the upkeep of the hive, while the females were responsible for the defense of the hive. No known Kezh’vatt hives enforce these roles, however, and many ignore them entirely.
With a strong cultural ethos of defensive fighting and protecting the hive, Kezh’vara often fit the description of “reluctant warriors”—while they will not hesitate to defend themselves or their loved ones, they are rarely aggressive. Traditional Kezh’vatt tactical doctrine reflects this philosophy, focusing on responsive strategies.
Many Kezh’vara tend toward mysticism, though only a few structured religions have come from the Kezh’vara culture. One of the more popular religions is the Zz’halakh Marussh, which teaches a doctrine of patience and vigilance, watching and waiting for “news of a savior from beyond the stars.”
Names. Kezh’vara generally have four or more names. Their full “official” name is composed of their original hive, a given name, and a matronymic name indicating their mother. In addition to these three, when a Kezh’val comes of age, they will take a fourth name, which they generally only use among their family or close friends.
For example, Sh’hovret Tszarekk Ikk’vassra goes by T’kkro to his friends and family. Sh’hovret is his hive name—he was hatched in the Sh’hovrak hive—and his given name is Tszarekk. His mother was named K’vassra, hence the matronymic Ikk’vassra.
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
- Kezh’vara start with 1 rank in Negotiation or Leadership.
- Great Leap: Add bb to all Athletics checks made when jumping.
- Venomous Sting: As a maneuver, you may activate this ability to give all of your unarmed attacks +2 damage and a Crit Rating of 2 until the end of the round.
- Starting Experience: 90.
Lluashir
The Lluashir (singular Lluash, adjectival Lluashi) are a slender, large-eyed reptilian species. One of the older species of the Orion Sector, they discovered space travel early on (around 1877 CE), and are just as comfortable on orbital colonies as they are on land. Especially agile, they excel at any job requiring agility or flexibility over strength. Originally hailing from the Muut Velash system, their inherent curiosity and wanderlust saw them quickly spreading across the galaxy in the early days of spaceflight.
Physiology. Adult Lluashir are on the short side compared to the average human. Males stand 135–170 cm tall (4’ 5”–5’ 7”) and weigh 25–50 kg (55–110 lb), while females stand 145–185 cm tall (4’ 9”–6’ 1”) with a weight of 35–60 kg (77–133 lb). Their large eyes allow them to see better in darkness, which helped their ancestors hunt the large nighttime insects of their homeworld Tselosh.
Much like Terran geckos, their hands and feet have sticky pads that allow them to adhere to smooth surfaces. Their heads are reminiscent of Terran lizards such as the tegu or monitor lizards, but with blockier, squared-off snouts. They are omnivorous, generally getting their protein from large insect species.
Their scales are usually mottled, most commonly with blues, greens, and browns, but occasionally with darker reds and yellows. Males are often more brightly colored than the females, with additional markings such as stripes or speckles around the head and face.
Lluashir reach sexual and physical maturity at the age of thirteen Tseloshai years (roughly 17.5 T-years). The age of majority varies slightly depending on system, but is never more than two Tseloshai years (~2.7 T-years) past the age at which they mature. The average lifespan is about 105 Tseloshai years (~143 T-years), slightly more than an average human’s.
Reproduction. Despite their reptilian appearance, Lluashir bear live young in litters of two or three. They gestate for seven Lluashi months (approx. 228 T-days, or seven and three fifths T-months) and are born capable of crawling immediately. They grow quickly: young Lluashir are generally able to walk after six Lluashi months (slightly more than six T-months) and able to speak after one Lluashi year.
Society. The Lluashir tend more toward the individualistic, prizing personal freedom and inquisitiveness. Past Lluashi star nations tended toward collections of small sovereign states working in ever-shifting federations and alliances. After the fires of the Final War ended, many Lluashir survivors rose to prominence as explorers and merchants.
Names. A Lluashi has two names that they will use—a full name that speaks to their lineage, and a shortened name for use in everyday conversations. The shortening of a full name in other ways is usually a grave insult, and is one of the better ways to start a fight with even the most easygoing of the Lluashi—insults along those lines often have the implicitly call one’s lineage into question, or even worse, accuse one of forging one’s lineage. Some shortenings, however, are used as endearments, as they can highlight positive traits about the person.
For example, the merchant Ellaraishne’rannivruul goes by Raishe (RYE-sheh) in everyday conversations. Her name indicates that she is from the mercantile house of Vruul, and her descent includes her grandmother Ranniv, her father Ellarash, and her great-grandmother Neraishen. Her nieces and nephews all call her “Auntie Rai,” which is similar to the word rhai, meaning “kindness.”
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 9 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 11 + Willpower
- Lluashir start with 1 rank in Athletics or Vigilance.
- Climbing Pads: Lluashir gain an automatic s on checks made for climbing.
- Night Vision: Remove up to bb imposed by darkness.
- Starting Experience: 75.
Peshtar
Tall and resembling leafy conical trees, the Peshtar (singular Peshta, adjectival Peshtau) are a fungoid species native to the planet Verestra, near the rimward end of the Orion Sector. They made contact with the Sseskur and Drenshari early on, in the early 33rd century of the Modern Reckoning of the Peshtau calendar (late 20th to early 21st century CE). Their natural bent towards diplomacy served them well in the days of the First and Second Stellar Leagues.
After the carnage of the Final War, many Peshtar can be found working odd jobs as negotiators or public officials—any role where their knack for negotiation and diplomacy serves them well.
Physiology. Peshtar are 180–215 cm (5’11”–7’1”) tall and are reminiscent of conical trees, 90–115 cm (2’11”–3’5”) at the base. They are much lighter than their stature would imply, though, generally weighing only 50–80 kg (110–176 lb). A vaguely head-like appendage of pale blue-white flesh sits at the top, featureless except for two large eyes, entirely blue-black.
The rest of their bodies are covered in fleshy, leaf-like structures 9–10 cm long and 3–5 cm across at the widest point (3.5–3.9 in by 1.2–2 in). These structures, or “petals,” are similar to hair or feathers in that they do not have contained nerve endings, but Peshtar have more fine control over them than a mammal has over its hairs—the swaying of petals is a key element in the Peshtau language, similar to human body language. These petals are generally either a single color or are bordered with a secondary color. These colors range are generally deep, bright colors such as purple, gold, green, and red.
Beneath their petals and the stalks lies the actual body of the Peshtar. As a fungoid species, their body is primarily composed of mycelial filaments, which allows them to regenerate minor wounds and even slowly regrow limbs. Their bodies are thin, similar to an octopus with a narrow, elongated head, with a broad base 50–60 cm across (1’8”–2’). Five tentacles for locomotion are arranged symmetrically around the base, each 40–50 cm (1’3”–1’8”) in length and 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 in) in diameter at the widest point. Tapering up from the base, several large stalks, all braided together, form the main body of the Peshta, 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) in diameter. Two manipulator tentacles sprout from the central braid, 70–90 cm (2’4”–2’11”) long and 6–7 cm (2.4–2.8 in) across at their broadest point.
Peshtar feed primarily on decaying organic matter of any sort, though they will occasionally feed on live prey. Their mouths are located in their upper torsos, in the form of a horizontal slit between the braided mycelial stalks of the body. Food is deposited in here with the manipulator tentacles, bathed in proteolytic enzymes, and then deposited into a digestive organ deeper in the body.
Waste is produced primarily in the forms of gases and volatile oils, giving each Peshta its own unique bouquet of scents based on their diet and their genetics. Most diplomats, therefore, are exceptionally careful about their diet, eating mostly decayed fruits and plants, so that the odors they emanate are pleasing to other species. Their bodies are also covered in a waxy, slightly fragrant substance, residues of which are left behind on anything a Peshta touches.
Reproduction. Reproduction among the Peshtar is almost universally viewed as something personal and not to be discussed in public, so not many non-Peshtar know much about it after the Final War. Much like some Terran fungi, there are multiple mating types—roughly analogous to human sexes—where any combination of different mating types will bear viable young. The exact number of mating types is unknown, but conservative estimates put it at more than twenty.
The mating process itself takes approximately six to eight hours, during which the mating Peshtar intermesh their mycelia and their central nervous systems, to the point that their consciousnesses become fully shared. During this time, the mating Peshtar are immobile, but fully aware of the world around them.
Peshtau children are born from spores, which are released by their parents in dark, moist rooms. The spores grow mindlessly at first, forming simple hyphal networks which merge with several of their neighbors. Despite the hundreds of spores that are released, only three to five Peshtar ever come from a mating—as the initial hyphal networks grow, they merge with their neighbors to become collective organisms, slowly growing toward sentience in the process.
Society. Peshtar society is highly communal—true monarchies are rare, given their collectivist mindset (though tyranny and brutality are no less common among them than any other race). Past Peshtau star nations were often oligarchic or democratic, and focused on diplomacy with a small (but often well-trained) military held as a last resort.
Mating (ashrallat in Eshvarolat, lit. “the joining of flesh”) can be a divisive topic among the Peshtau. One school of thought holds that, because the act is incredibly intimate, mating with multiple partners, either together or in short succession, cheapens it. Another popular belief is that sharing this experience with multiple people is good for all Peshtar involved, because of how it broadens one’s horizons.
Much like the rest of their culture, Peshtau religions tend toward the collectivist. One of the more well-known ones is Eshralla Vlaihess, “The Joint Way of Life,” often shortened to Eshravlai or “the Joint Way.” This religion focuses particularly on the idea that, in the end times, all of its followers—Peshtar and otherwise—will become one people. All of the various sects of Eshravlai preach tolerance and patience, though some take a more defensively militant stance—their reasoning being, “we must not only care for but protect the faithful.”
Names. Peshtau names are generally single words. A Peshta with multiple names is most likely an ambassador or adopted. Their names are generally a combination of Eshvarolat words chosen by the parents, such as Tareshnam, “golden fronds,” or Gellathrim, “quiet strength.”
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
- Peshtar start with 1 rank in Coordination or Gunnery.
- Peshtar start with 1 rank of the Talent Forager.
- Night Vision: Remove up to bb imposed by darkness.
- Regeneration: When resting, heal 1 additional Wound. Lost limbs regenerate over the course of one T-month.
- Starting Experience: 75.
Sseskur
The Sseskur (singular & adjectival Sseshkar) are a stocky reptilian race with a rich martial history that evolved on the planet Halah’ss. Due to their strong warrior ethos and carnivorous, insect-favoring diet, their nations were often at odds with the hives of the Kezh’vara. After the Final War, many are found working as bodyguards, mercenaries, or in other professions where an imposing demeanor, solid build, and tough hide are useful.
Physiology. Adult Sseskur are tall and stocky, standing 180–260 cm (5’10”–8’6”) and weighing 65 to 220 kg (143–253 lb). They can live for well over 250 Halah’ssat years (roughly 630 T-years), and continue to grow in size until well into their 300s. Their beaks bear some resemblance to Terran turtles’, particularly the snapping turtles. Their beaks and scales are both made of mineralized keratin, making them far tougher than those of a Terran turtle.
Sseskur coloration tends towards blues, grays, and greens, sometimes with flecks of brighter colors like gold, red, and purple around the head, or occasionally along the arms or back.
Reproduction. Sseskur lay eggs, much like the reptiles of Earth, and protect them for the entire two-year gestation period (approx. 5 T-years). Sseskur hatchlings are fully developed, 90–110 cm (2’11”–3’7”) in height, and able to move immediately. Sseskur become sexually mature when they are 30 Sseshkar years old (approx. 76 T-years). A female Sseshkar will generally lay four to twelve eggs in a clutch and will only lay one clutch every three Halah’ssat years (about 7.6 T-years).
Society. Sseshkar society generally admires and values strength coupled with careful consideration. Despite their fierce reputation as warriors, they prefer to assess threats from afar first—as one of their primary sayings goes, “a quick warrior is a dead one.” This, coupled with their long lifespan, gives them a strong “wait-and-see” approach to diplomacy and war. They also tend toward contemplative religions, though most modern Sseshkar religions are tied to war in some way.
The most prevalent Sseshkar religion, Tsa’Shalakh, revolves around the teaching that at the end of the world, the Tsa’kro (Creators) and the Ngarosk’Shai (Lurkers in Deep Waters) will call all life in the universe to fight in their war. After the Tsa’kro are victorious, they will greatly reward those who fought beside them.
Names. Sseshkar names are a long, ever-growing list of lineage and accomplishments. At hatching, a Sseshkar is given a simple, descriptive name (such as Ushkal, “dark one”), as well as their family name. When the Sseshkar comes of age, they choose a new name of their liking. After that, they are granted new names based on their accomplishments throughout their lives: battles won, discoveries made, and other such deeds of note.
For example: at birth, the warrior Tsuur’khalass kir’Ttakra Dashro Akhraddot Zarkhos il’Dralakh (and so on) was born as Udrosk—“silent” in Kishrakha. When she came of age in mid-3704 CE (698 GSC), shortly before the last brutal phase of the Final War, he took the name Tsuur’khalass. As she distinguished herself in the Final War, she gained the other titles in her name—kir’Ttakra from her role in the battle of Tzakhro station, Akhraddot after she saved several of the Kendrassokh Empire’s noble families’ incubation pools, etc.
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 12 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 8 + Willpower
- Sseskur start with 1 rank in Resilience and 1 rank in Perception or Survival.
- Amphibious: Sseskur can breathe underwater and receive no movement penalty for swimming.
- Fearsome: When interacting with other species, add b to Coercion checks and b to all other social checks.
- Large: When creating a Sseshkar, you may choose to be Silhouette 1 or Silhouette 2. Silhouette 2 Sseskur should be at least 300 years old.
- Starting Experience: 80.
Virrak
The Virrak are one of the older races in the Orion Sector, with a civilization stretching back tens of thousands of T-years. They are roughly humanoid in shape, with three fingers and a thumb on each hand and elongated, almost egg-shaped heads. They are completely hairless, though they possess sensory cilia in a few areas that are covered in hair on humans, such as the forearms and lower legs. The surfaces of their heads are ridged in swirling, undulating patterns, often mottled with small flecks of darker pigmentation. Each pattern has traits unique to a given clan. Marriages between clans generally results in a mingling of the patterns. Their home planet, Idrosh-Karrai, lies near the coreward end of the Sector, within the Idraloth cluster.
Physiology. Virrak are short and slender, ranging from 90–125 cm (2’11”–4’1”) in height and have skin that ranges from pale green to deep blue and mottling ranging from dark blue to purple. They are trisexual,
with minimal trimorphism—the primary differences are in the mottling of the torso, the depth and extent of their scalp ridges, and vocal modulation—faint pheromones are also used to distinguish between each other. Naturally adapted to the tropical climate of their original homeworld, Virrak are nevertheless capable of adapting to other conditions as well as other species. With their increased metabolisms (relative to humans), Virrak generally only live to about 60–90 T-years old.
Reproduction. Virrak reproduction involves the “male” (Virrak Shavik/-a, pr. sha) and the “female” (Virrak Volash/-i, pr. vol) depositing their genetic material in the womb of the bearer sex (Virrak Olokhat/-u, pr. olo). Children gestate for 8 Virrak months (approximately 6 Terran months) and are born in sets of three to six, depending on how many eggs were present in the egg packet of the Volash.
Evolutionarily, the Shavik was responsible for gathering food while the Volash was responsible for tending to the children and helping the Olokhat with childbirth—pre-sapient Virrak generally formed family units of one or two Shavik and Volash each with several Olokhat to bear their young. Faint remnants of this dynamic persist in many Virrak societies today, though few, if any, have any actual limitations on what roles a Virrak can have.
Society. Virrak cultures are generally organized in a roughly oligarchic fashion, due to the ancient family unit structure. Modern Virrak are equally likely to form a small family, with just one to three other Virrak, as they are to form a “traditional” family.
Several religions have come from the Virrak homeworld, including Eldrashai, Kothranism, and the Voshari Way. Many of these religions emphasize cleverness and resourcefulness coupled with a communalistic way of life.
Names. Virrak names are composed of three components: a given name, often based on a trait, virtue, or poetic meaning—compare the human names Grace, or Elisha (meaning “my God is salvation”1)—a “birth name,” derived from the name of the olokhat that bore them, and an eponym, a combination of the names of the shavik and volash who donated the genetic material. For example, Mishtarak’s full name is Mishtarak il’Vaesos Gish’Tanos—Mishtarak meaning “clever bird” from mish “bird” and hetark “clever”. The middle name indicates that olo was/they were born to an olokhat named Vaesos and dolu/their other parents were Gishrokh and Tanosiit.
Species Abilities
- Wound Threshold: 8 + Brawn.
- Strain Threshold: 12 + Willpower
- Virrak start with 1 rank in Education, History, or Mechanics.
- Virrak start with the Talent Swift.
- Adaptable: Remove b imposed by climate conditions.
- Small: Virrak count as Silhouette 0.
- Starting Experience: 85.
Virrak Pronouns
Unlike many of the other species, the Virrak have their own pronouns that they use for their three sexes, even when speaking Orion Standard. Depending on your group, you may want to translate these into the English pronouns “he/him” for Shavika, “she/her” for Volashi, and “they/them” for Olokhatu, or use the Igrashi pronouns in Table 3-2 below:
Table 3-2: Virrak Pronouns
| Case | English | Shavik | Volash | Olokhat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | He/She/They | Sha | Vol | Olo |
| Accusative | Him/Her/Them | Shu | Vor | Olai |
| Dative | Him/Her/Them | Shar | Val | Olu |
| Genitive | His/Her/Their | Asha | Uvol | Dolu |
| Possessive | His/Hers/Theirs | Ashai | Uvor | Doru |
Step 3: Choose Your Career
After choosing your species, you will need to choose a Career. This is roughly equivalent to the core Genesys Career system (Core pp40–43) and determines which of your skills are Career Skills. The key points of the Phoenix Dust career system are:
- Each Career is split into a Profession and a Specialization, and each of those comes with their own list of career skills. There is no overlap between a Profession’s career skills and a Specialization’s career skills.
- In addition to the 6 specific career skills you gain from your Profession and Specialization, choose any other two Skills to be career skills. You must have the corresponding Talent to choose a Psychic skill as a career skill.
- Choose 4 of your 8 career skills. You gain 1 rank in each of those skills.
Colonist
Colonists are the average civilians of the Orion Sector. Even in the bigger cities, the lawless nature of the sector can rear its head, so most civilians have at least some form of self-defense.
A colonist’s base career skills are Coordination, Perception, and Streetwise.
As a colonist, you can choose between the Diplomat, Doctor, Farmer, and Marshal specializations.
Diplomat
Diplomats prefer to persuade instead of fight, trading barbed letters instead of blows. Trained in the art of negotiation, they are generally at home in cities or well-kept space stations—“civilization,” as the more arrogant ones might put it.
A diplomat’s additional career skills are Charm, Negotiation, and Vigilance.
Doctor
Whether a trauma surgeon, a radiologist, or a general physician, doctors are always welcome in colonies—as far as science and technology might have advanced, injury and disease have remained.
A doctor’s additional career skills are Cool, Medicine, and Resilience.
Farmer
Even before the Final War, farmers and hydroponicists were in high demand. Now that the tech base has been knocked back, the need for people to manage and work the fields is even greater. While the stereotype of the uncultured hick still remains, most farmers now have secondary or tertiary degrees, often in fields such as botany or advanced genetics.
A farmer’s additional career skills are Mechanics, Nature, Ranged (Light), and Survival.
Marshal
Without a centralized interstellar government, the responsibility of law enforcement falls to the planets themselves. Many planets therefore have a title of “Marshal” or equivalent—officers with the authority to pursue criminals through the stars.
A marshal’s additional career skills are Athletics, Ranged (Light), Resilience, and Vigilance.
Engineer
In the high-tech future, even after the survivors’ tech levels have been knocked back by centuries’ worth of advancement, civilizations still run on infrastructure. Engineers are the people who keep that infrastructure working: administering transportation networks, maintaining software, repairing machinery, and all the other little tasks that keep their worlds alive.
An engineer’s base career skills are Cool, Coordination, and Mechanics.
As an engineer, you can choose between the Cyber Tech, Military Tech, Slicer, and Vehicle Tech specializations.
Cyber Tech
Cyber techs are responsible for working on or installing the cybernetic enhancements and interfaces in prosthetics, high-tech computer nodes, and more. Their training combines computer science, mechanical engineering, and biology, and is one of the more rigorously regulated fields of engineering.
A cyber tech’s additional career skills are Computers, Medicine, and Resilience.
Military Tech
Military technicians are often tank operators, members of the engineering corps, naval engineers, or something similar. Instead of fighting on the front lines, they serve their star nations by keeping the machinery of war running smoothly.
A military tech’s additional career skills are Discipline, Operating, and Ranged (Light).
Slicer
The software of warships, freighters, city infrastructures, and even everyday hand-computers use languages that are orders of magnitude more complex than their 20th-century counterparts. These are the bread and butter of slicers—technicians and analysts whose computer skills are often the only thing keeping the software of civilization afloat. While many slicers are law-abiding citizens, many others find less savory ways to earn a living—either as cybercriminals or by providing black-market software.
A slicer’s additional career skills are Computers, Perception, and Streetwise.
Vehicle Tech
Vehicle technicians are responsible for designing and maintaining the various fleets of civilian vehicles that traverse the stars and the planets of the Orion Sector
A vehicle tech’s additional career skills are Athletics, Driving, and Operating.
Explorer
Explorers are wanderers at heart. Never satisfied with the status quo, they prefer to push the boundaries of knowledge, to seek out new things and new experiences. Whether a wandering trader, a xenoarchaeologist, or a freelance bodyguard, they rarely set down roots in one place, choosing instead to travel the stars.
An explorer’s base career skills are Athletics, Coordination, and Survival.
As an explorer, you can choose between the Archaeologist, Bodyguard, Hotshot, and Trader specializations.
Archaeologist
With so much of history lost in the Final War, the reopening of the starlanes was a dream come true for many scholars. At last, the far-off planets which might hold some historical secret about the Final War, or some lost piece of technology, were accessible again. But the spaceways are not nearly as safe as they once were, so any would-be archaeologist must be wary and resourceful.
An archaeologist’s additional career skills are History, Perception, and Xenology.
Bodyguard
While not quite omnipresent, bodyguards are still a fairly common sight in the spaceways and cities of the Orion Sector. Some are little more than thugs protecting crime lords, others work for private security firms, and a few are simply guns for hire.
A bodyguard’s additional career skills are Brawl, Ranged (Light), and Resilience.
Hotshot
No matter the era or species, there will always be a few daredevils who manage to turn their thrill-seeking into a paying job. In the Orion Sector, these individuals usually find work as daring pilots of small, speedy craft that jump between planets. They might be couriers, independent journalists, or any number of other such careers. One and all, they share the need for excitement and derring-do.
A hotshot’s additional career skills are Astrography, Cool, Piloting, and Perception.
Trader
Out of the thousands of tramp freighters and haulers that ship goods and passengers between worlds in the Sector, 80–90% are privately owned. The remainder belong to a few remnants of the pre-war interestellar corporations, whose empires were shattered in the collapse of the Sector. The crew of these private haulers are often fiercely independent, usually functioning as a mixture of a small company and tight-knit family, born of long weeks and months spent in hyperjumps.
A trader’s additional career skills are Astrography, Negotiation, and Operating.
Scoundrel
Every civilization has its criminal underworld, and the Orion Sector is no exception. Any number of rogues and thieves ply their trade in the void between stars. The sector is also home to those who skirt the edge of respectability. Not criminals, but not exactly “upstanding citizens,” either—knaves and scoundrels, rather.
A scoundrel’s base career skills are Skulduggery, Streetwise, and Underworld.
As a scoundrel, you can choose between the Bounty Hunter, Grifter, Smuggler, and Spy specializations.
Bounty Hunter
While the marshals enforce the laws between worlds and can pursue criminals across systems, there are only so many of them to go around. Many less scrupulous people, or those with too checkered a past to make Marshal, hire out as bounty hunters, either officially through one of several agencies or under the table. Ruthless and efficient, they are often experts with weaponry, and are more likely than a marshal to burn down a target if the threat to their lives is great enough.
A bounty hunter’s additional career skills are Athletics, Coercion, and Ranged (Heavy).
Grifter
The most skilled thieves are those who convince their mark to give up their wealth willingly. Confidence tricksters, grifters, call them what you will—they can charm and finagle their way into most situations and find some sap gullible enough to fall for their story.
A grifter’s additional career skills are Charm, Deception, and Perception.
Smuggler
Wherever there is trade, you have smugglers. There’s always someone wanting to get something without having to deal with tariffs and import fees. In the Orion Sector, this translates into a mixture of computer knowledge for forging shipping credentials and piloting ability for the interstellar trips needed to carry one’s goods.
A smuggler’s additional career skills are Deception, Negotiation, and Piloting.
Spy
Spies can be criminal informants, operatives of an official intelligence agency, or members of any other sort of profession that focuses on gathering and selling information. After all, information is always valuable, no matter the era.
A spy’s additional career skills are Athletics, Coordination, and Stealth.
Soldier
Soldiers are people who are currently serving in a planetary militia or defense force, or those who have served in one. Always at home on the battlefield, their training with a wide variety of weapons combined with their experience in combat ensures they know how to survive armed combat and make sure their opponents don’t.
A Soldier’s base career skills are Athletics, Discipline, and Ranged (Light).
As a soldier, you can choose between the Officer, Pilot, Special Forces, and Vanguard specializations.
Officer
Officers of any stripe are leaders, or should be. Keeping their cool in the heat of battle, they must be able to form tactical decisions under fire and keep the strategic goals of war in mind, whether they are infantry captains, marine colonels, or naval admirals.
An officer’s additional career skills are Cool, Leadership, and Warfare.
Pilot
Every star navy needs pilots. While fleets of capital ships often carry the firepower to turn planets into molten hellscapes, fighters are far less expensive and have better scouting and space superiority capabilities than a cruiser weighing hundreds of thousands of tonnes.
A pilot’s additional career skills are Astrography, Gunnery, and Piloting.
Commando
Commandos are highly trained infiltrators, skilled in the arts of subterfuge, close-quarters combat, and stealth. Whether a member of the Sh’shaaruk Royal Guard, Briganti’s Banshee Group, the Yllashro “Wraith” Regiment of Tselosh, or some other such group, their skills command respect and fear.
A commando’s additional career skills are Melee, Stealth, and Skulduggery.
Vanguard
Vanguards stand on the front lines: exacting a bloody toll from the enemy for every inch of advance, pressing attacks to rout the enemy forces, or even simply keeping a watch from a fortified position. Trained in infantry weaponry and operation of small vehicles, their skills are invaluable on the battlefield.
A vanguard’s additional career skills are Brawl, Ranged (Heavy), and Vigilance.
Step 4: Spend Starting Experience
This step is handled just as in the core Genesys rulebook (pp44–45). Talents are available in Chapter 4: Talents.
Step 5: Determine Derived Attributes and Buy Starting Gear
Wound Threshold, Strain Threshold, and other standard derived attributes are covered in the Genesys Core Rulebook (pp 45–46).
Languages
In addition to the derived attributes in the core Genesys rulebook (pp45–46), your character starts with a number of languages, as detailed here.
At character creation, your character starts with Orion and a number of extra languages equal to their Intellect or to their Cunning rating, whichever you prefer. See the Languages section above for a list of avai, Standardlable languages.
Starting Gear
By default, every character will start with 600 credits to spend on gear. After buying your starting gear, determine your starting funds by rolling (2d10) × 5. Your GM may, of course, change either or both of these amounts as they see fit, or provide other, fixed starting gear instead of or in addition to your default starting gear.
For more details on gear, see Chapter 5: Gear & Equipment
Step 6: Determine Character Motivation (Optional)
If you like, or your GM instructs you to do so, you may develop your character’s motivation as shown in pp46–50 of the Genesys Core Rulebook.
Character Growth
Experience is handled as in the standard Genesys core rulebook—GMs are recommended to award 5—15 XP per session, depending on how much the characters achieved.
Downtime
In between adventures, or on long trips, your character can spend time improving their abilities, practicing a profession, learning a language, or something else.
Overall, this is up to your GM to administer. Some suggested rules for common pastimes are included here for convenience.
Crafting
Characters with skills in **Mechanics**, **Computers**, or another suitable skill (dependent on GM approval) can craft or modify items during downtime. In addition to the time it takes, you will need the appropriate supplies and materials for the item. You can either buy the
supplies for 75% of the item’s base cost (rounded down), or scrounge/salvage the materials. Scrounging or salvaging the items requires a skill check (generally Mechanics, Streetwise, or Survival, at the GM’s discretion). The difficulty for scrounging/salvaging the materials is determined by the rarity of the item being built—see
The crafting process itself is identical to the process for Realms of Terrinoth (see RoT Core pp112–113).
The Alchemy rules from Realms of Terrinoth (see RoT Core pp113–114) have been adapted for crafting consumables, such as nanopacks. Instead of using the Alchemy skill, use the Medicine skill for organic consumables (emergency med kits, etc.) or Mechanics for mechanical consumables (repair patches, etc.). Otherwise, the system is the same.
Installing Modifications
Installing a modification on your gear takes 2 hours and requires a successful Average (dd) Mechanics check.
Learning Languages
Learning a language takes 800 hours of downtime work and requires either the purchase of a language pack for that language (Cost/Rarity 1600/6) or a trainer. Any more than 8 hours per T-day will not count toward the total. If a character hires a trainer, consult Table 3-4 below for the pricing. Better trainers can train a character more quickly, but at a higher cost–for example, a Multiplier value of 1.25 in Table 3-4 means that each hour of training removes 1.25 hours of the total.
Table 3-4: Hired Trainer Rates
| Rank | INT | Cost/Hour | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 1–3 | 2 | 1.00 |
| Advanced | 4 | 2.5 | 1.25 |
| Expert | 5 | 3 | 1.50 |
If another character is providing training, that character’s downtime will also be taken up by the process. Based on their INT rating, the hours they spend teaching will have the same effect as the corresponding hired trainer in Table 3-4 above.
Talents
This chapter contains all of the information on the Talents added in the Phoenix Dust setting, as well as a list of talents from other Genesys books that are allowed.
Psychic Talents
If a talent is marked as Psychic, then it requires one of the Awakening talents (marked with a ✚ in the PSI column of Table 4-1), in addition to any other prerequisites.
New Talents
This section lists the new talents added for the Phoenix Dust setting.
Tier 1
Center Yourself
Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: Yes
Requires: Clairvoyant.
If you take a moment to stop and focus your mind (1 maneuver in combat), you may spend 2 Strain to add b for each Rank in Center Yourself to your next Manifestation check.
Clairvoyant
Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Psychic: Awakening
Ranked: No
You are able to project your mind to far-off times or places, or even manifest psychic energy in the material world. You gain access to the psychic skill Manifestation.
Kineticist
Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Psychic: Awakening
Ranked: No
You are able to use the power of your mind to move objects. You gain access to the psychic skill Mind Over Matter.
Mentalist
Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Psychic: Awakening
Ranked: No
You are able to read others minds, speak into their minds, or even plant thoughts or ideas in their heads. You gain access to the psychic skill Telepathy.
Push Yourself
Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: No
When you use a Psychic Skill or Talent that requires a roll, you may spend an amount of Strain to add an equal number of s. The amount of Strain cannot exceed your ranks in the associated psychic skill.
Tier 2
Memory Search
Tier: 2
Activation: Incidental
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: No
Requires: Mentalist
When reading the thoughts or emotional state of someone, you may take 2 Strain as an Incidental to see a single memory related to their current thoughts, mental state, and/or emotions. The GM chooses the memory.
Table 4-1: Phoenix Dust Talents
| Talent | Psi | Rank | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | |||
| Barrage | ⯁ | EotE (p132) | |
| Bought Info | Genesys Core (p72) | ||
| Center Yourself | ⯁ | ⯁ | PD (pX) |
| Clairvoyant | ✚ | PD (pX) | |
| Clever Retort | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Defensive Sysops | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Desperate Recovery | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Duelist | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Durable | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p73) | |
| Fine Tuning | ⯁ | AoR (p147) | |
| Forager | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Gather | ⯁ | PSI (p9) | |
| Gestures | ⯁ | PSI (p10) | |
| Grit | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p73) | |
| Hamstring Shot | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Jump Up | Genesys Core (p73) | ||
| Kineticist | ✚ | PD (pX) | |
| Knack For It | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p73) | |
| Know Somebody | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Let’s Ride | Genesys Core (p74) | ||
| Mental Defenses | PSI (p10) | ||
| Mentalist | ✚ | PD (pX) | |
| One with Nature | Genesys Core (p74) | ||
| Overwhelm Defenses | ⯁ | AoR (p154) | |
| Parry | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Personal Touch | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p11) |
| Point Blank | ⯁ | AoR (p154) | |
| Proper Upbringing | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Push Yourself | ⯁ | PD (pX) | |
| Quick Draw | Genesys Core (p74) | ||
| Quick Strike | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Quiet Mind | PSI (p11) | ||
| Rapid Reaction | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Respected Scholar | ⯁ | AoR (p155) | |
| Second Wind | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Shortcut | ⯁ | AoR (p155) | |
| Smooth Talker | ⯁ | AoR (p156) | |
| Sniper Shot | ⯁ | AoR (p156) | |
| Surgeon | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p74) | |
| Swift | Genesys Core (p75) | ||
| Technopathy | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p11) |
| Toughened | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p75) | |
| Unremarkable | Genesys Core (p75) | ||
| Talent | Psi | Rank | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 2 | |||
| Attention Grabber | ⯁ | PSI (p12) | |
| Clarity | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p12) |
| Confusion | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p12) |
| Coordinated Assault | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p75) | |
| Counteroffer | Genesys Core (p75) | ||
| Daring Pilot* | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p75) | |
| Dead to Rights | AoR (p145) | ||
| Deadly Accuracy | ⯁ | AoR (p145) | |
| Defensive Stance | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p75) | |
| Defensive Sysops (Improved) | Genesys Core (p76) | ||
| Dual Wielder | Genesys Core (p76) | ||
| Expert Tracker | AoR (p146) | ||
| Heightened Awareness | Genesys Core (p76) | ||
| Inspiring Rhetoric | Genesys Core (p76) | ||
| Inventor | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p76) | |
| Lucky Strike | Genesys Core (p76) | ||
| Magic Bullet | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p13) |
| Memory Search | ⯁ | PD (pX) | |
| Precise Aim | ⯁ | EotE (p141) | |
| Redundant Systems | AoR (p154) | ||
| Scathing Tirade | Genesys Core (p77) | ||
| Shield | ⯁ | PSI (p14) | |
| Side Step | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p77) | |
| Size Matters Not | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p14) |
| Solid Repairs | ⯁ | AoR (p156) | |
| Spare Clip | AoR (p157) | ||
| Take Note | ⯁ | ⯁ | PD (pX) |
| Through Their Eyes | ⯁ | PD (pX) | |
| Weapon Overcharge | PD (pX) | ||
| Tier 3 | |||
| Animal Companion | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p77) | |
| Barrel Roll | Genesys Core (p77) | ||
| Body Guard | AoR (p143) | ||
| Burst | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p14) |
| Dead to Rights (Improved) | AoR (p145) | ||
| Distinctive Style | Genesys Core (p78) | ||
| Dodge | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p78) | |
| Eagle Eyes | Genesys Core (p78) | ||
| Feint | FnD Core (p142) | ||
| Field Commander | Genesys Core (p78) | ||
| Forgot to Count? | Genesys Core (p78) | ||
| Full Stop | AoR (p147) | ||
| Full Throttle | Genesys Core (p78) | ||
| Grenadier | Genesys Core (p78) | ||
| Talent | Psi | Rank | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Strike | ⯁ | ⯁ | PD (pX) |
| Heroic Will | Genesys Core (p79) | ||
| High Velocity | ⯁ | ⯁ | PSI (p15) |
| Inspiring Rhetoric (Improved) | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p78) | |
| Master And Commander* | AoR (p144) | ||
| Mental Leech | ⯁ | PSI (p15) | |
| Mentor | ⯁ | PSI (p15) | |
| Mind & Body | ⯁ | PSI (p16) | |
| Natural | Genesys Core (p79) | ||
| Nanopack Specialization* | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p79) | |
| Parry (Improved) | Genesys Core (p79) | ||
| Pressure Point | EotE (p146) | ||
| Psychic Shield | ⯁ | ⯁ | PD (pX) |
| Push | ⯁ | PSI (p16) | |
| Regeneration | ⯁ | PSI (p16) | |
| Ricochet | ⯁ | PSI (p16) | |
| Scathing Tirade (Improved) | Genesys Core (p79) | ||
| Sense Emotions | ⯁ | FnD Core (p151) | |
| Technopathy (Improved) | ⯁ | ⯁ | PD (pX), PSI (p14) |
| Time to Go | AoR (p158) | ||
| Tier 4 | |||
| Can’t We Talk About This? | Genesys Core (p79) | ||
| Deadeye | Genesys Core (p79) | ||
| Defensive | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p80) | |
| Defensive Driving | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p80) | |
| Enduring | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p80) | |
| Field Commander (Improved) | Genesys Core (p80) | ||
| Guided Strike (Improved) | ⯁ | PD (pX) | |
| Hold Together | AoR (p149) | ||
| How Convenient! | Genesys Core (p80) | ||
| Inspiring Rhetoric (Supreme) | Genesys Core (p80) | ||
| Overcharge | Genesys Core (p80) | ||
| Scathing Tirade (Supreme) | Genesys Core (p81) | ||
| Shutdown | ⯁ | PSI (p18) | |
| Time to Go (Improved) | AoR (p158) | ||
| Tricky Target | AoR (p158) | ||
| True Aim | ⯁ | AoR (p158) | |
| Tier 5 | |||
| Brilliant Evasion | AoR (p144) | ||
| Dedication | ⯁ | Genesys Core (p81) | |
| Fire Control | AoR (p147) | ||
| Indomitable | Genesys Core (p81) | ||
| Master | Genesys Core (p81) | ||
| Overcharge (Improved) | Genesys Core (p81) | ||
| Ruinous Repartee | Genesys Core (p81) | ||
Take Note
Tier: 2
Activation: Incidental
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: Yes
Requires: Clairvoyant
When you use Manifestation to seek out something far away, you may take 2 Strain as an Incidental to make a mental note of it. For the next hour, you remain aware of its position and any changes that might occur to its position. This increases to eight hours with two ranks and twenty-four with three or more.
Through Their Eyes
Tier: 2
Activation: Incidental
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: No
Requires: Clairvoyant
When viewing an event in the past with Manifestation, you may take 2 Strain as an Incidental to view the scene through the eyes of one of the people involved, gaining insight into their surface-level thoughts and emotions.
Weapon Overcharge
Tier: 2
Activation: Incidental
Psychic: No
Ranked: No
Once per encounter, before making a combat check with an energy weapon (your GM has the final say on whether a weapon is an energy weapon), your character may use this talent to add the Auto-fire quality to the weapon when resolving this check. If your character does, the weapon runs out of ammo exactly as with an Out of Ammo result (see p104 of the Core Rulebook).
Tier 3
Guided Strike
Tier: 3
Activation: Incidental
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: Yes
Requires: Clairvoyant
When making a combat check, you may spend 3 Strain to add s equal to your ranks in Guided Strike or your ranks in Manifestation (whichever is lower).
Martial Finesse
Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Psychic: No
Ranked: No
When you use a Melee weapon that is not Cumbersome or Unwieldy, you may use Agility instead of Brawn for your attacks.
Psychic Shield
Tier: 3
Activation: Maneuver
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: Yes
Requires: Kineticist
By projecting a wall of psychic energy, you can create a barrier between you and incoming harm. As a maneuver, spend 2 Strain to to increase your Soak by 1 per rank in this talent while it is active. While active, add b to all checks you make to use other Psychic skills. You can end this effect as an incidental.
Tier 4
Guided Strike (Improved)
Tier: 4
Activation: Incidental (Out-of-Turn)
Psychic: Yes
Ranked: No
Requires: Guided Strike
The cost to trigger Guided Strike is now 2 Strain.
Changed Talents
Some of the talents from the external sources have been changed to better fit Phoenix Dust.
Renamed Talents
Talents marked with a * in Table 4-1 have had their names changed from the original sources, as shown here.
Table 4-2: Renamed Talents
| New Name | Old Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Daring Pilot | Daring Aviator | Core (p75) |
| Master And Commander | Command | AoR (p144) |
| Technopathy (Improved) | Technopathy, Advanced | PSI (p14) |
Psychic Talent Requirements
Several psychic talents have been taken from the PSI supplement from Genesys Foundry. Some PSI talents require a specific Awakening talent, in addition to any other prerequisites, as shown in Table 4-3.
Any talents from PSI that are not shown below have their standard requirements. As with other talents, any PSI talent that is marked as Psychic in Table 4-1 also requires any one of the Awakening talents, unless otherwise indicated here.
Table 4-3: PSI Talent Requirements
| Talent | Requires |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | |
| Center Yourself | Manifestation |
| Gather | Mind Over Matter |
| Technopathy | Manifestation |
| Tier 2 | |
| Attention Grabber | Telepathy |
| Clarity | Telepathy |
| Confusion | Telepathy |
| Magic Bullet | Mind Over Matter |
| Memory Search | Telepathy |
| Shield | Mind Over Matter |
| Size Matters Not | Mind Over Matter |
| Take Note | Manifestation |
| Through Their Eyes | Manifestation |
| Talent | Requires |
|---|---|
| Tier 3 | |
| Burst | Mind Over Matter |
| Guided Strike | Manifestation |
| High Velocity | Mind Over Matter |
| Mind & Body | Mind Over Matter |
| Psychic Shield | Mind Over Matter |
| Push | Telepathy |
| Regeneration | Mind Over Matter |
| Ricochet | Mind Over Matter |
| Sense Emotions | Telepathy |
| Speed of Thought | Mind Over Matter |
| Technopathy (Improved) | Manifestation |
| Thousand Eyes | Manifestation |
| Tier 4 | |
| Guided Strike (Improved) | Manifestation |
| Shutdown | Telepathy |
Gear & Equipment
This chapter covers the setting-specific gear available to characters, as well as a few special equipment-related rules.
Special Rules
New Item Qualities
Fragile (Active)
Fragile weapons are particularly delicate, and prone to becoming damaged. When attacked with a Fragile weapon, the defender can spend d or h h to damage the weapon by 1 step (see the rules for the Sunder quality in the Genesys Core Rulebook, p88).
Spinal Mount
Vehicle weapons only
A Spinal Mount weapon is too large to be mounted in anything other than a forward-facing fixed mount. The rating of the Spinal Mount quality shows the minimum silhouette a vehicle requires for that weapon. If you want to install multiple Spinal Mount weapons on a vehicle, add 2 to the Spinal Mount rating for each additional Spinal Mount weapon.
A Spinal Mount weapon costs 2 Hard Points for vehicle modifications (see [TBD]).
Tracking
Vehicle weapons only
When a turret-mounted version of this weapon is used to attack a vehicle that is at least 2 Silhouette lower than the vehicle on which it is mounted, then add b (if positive) or b (if negative) equal to the Tracking rating.
Restricted Items
Items marked with an (R) in their price are not available to most civilians and must be obtained on the black market. For more details, see the rules for restricted items and the black market in any of the FFG Star Wars RPG core rulebooks (AoR pp164–165, EotE p150, F&D pp157–158).
Equipment Hard Points
As noted earlier, item attachments and hardpoints (Genesys Core, pp206–209) are used in Phoenix Dust. However, the number of hardpoints is specified in the HP column of the tables, instead of being ENC / 2.
Weapons
Brawl Weapons
Brawl weapons are usually used by martial artists or street thugs, and include weighted gloves, metal knuckledusters, and other such weapons.
Knuckleduster
Composed of metal-polymer rings linked together, knuckledusters (or polyknuckles, or knucks, or sandwich-makers, or any of a thousand and one other slang terms) are a cheap self-defense measure, especially for those with hand-to-hand training.
Models Include: Aldroshta Peacekeeper, Kzha’huur ZS-17, Maugrosh G7.
Knuckle Dagger
Based on the knuckleduster, this weapon has a short blade extending from the knuckle rings, providing more damage potential.
Models Include: Hllaruut Peace of Mind, Kahinu-Hirasaka HF-127, Sh’shuurath ST-4 Claw.
Monoknuckles
Like a standard knuckleduster, monoknuckles are formed from a set of rings welded together. Instead of a blunt surface, however, a monatomic blade is welded lengthwise along the outer edge.
Table 5-1: Brawl & Melee Weapons
| Name | Skill | Dmg | Crit | Range | Enc | HP | Price | Rarity | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brawl Weapons | |||||||||
| Knuckleduster | Brawl | +1 | 4 | Engaged | 1 | 1 | 50 | 1 | Disorient 2 |
| Knuckle Dagger | Brawl | +1 | 3 | Engaged | 1 | 1 | 100 | 2 | Pierce 1 |
| Monoknuckles | Brawl | +2 | 2 | Engaged | 1 | 0 | 150 | 4 | Pierce 2, Fragile |
| Stun Gauntlet | Brawl | +1 | 4 | Engaged | 1 | 1 | 200 | 5 | Disorient 3, Stun 5 |
| Melee Weapons | |||||||||
| Monic Knife | Melee | +2 | 2 | Engaged | 1 | 2 | 300 | 4 | Accurate 2, Pierce 2, Fragile |
| Monic Blade | Melee | +3 | 2 | Engaged | 1 | 2 | 350 | 4 | Pierce 2, Fragile |
| Polyknife | Melee | +1 | 3 | Engaged | 1 | 2 | 100 | 1 | Accurate 2 |
| Polyblade | Melee | +2 | 3 | Engaged | 1 | 2 | 200 | 2 | |
| Shockblade | Melee | +2 | 1 | Engaged | 1 | 1 | 450 | 3 | Cumbersome 1, Disorient 2, Stun 2 |
| Shock Baton | Melee | 5 | 4 | Engaged | 1 | 2 | 120 | 4 | Disorient 3, Stun Damage |
| Sledgehammer | Melee | +4 | 4 | Engaged | 3 | 4 | 250 | 2 | Cumbersome 2, Knockdown |
Models Include: Maugrosh KF3 “Eviscerator,” Minerva Sauroter Mk III, NCDS M-7 Equalizer.
Stun Gauntlet
More expensive than a knuckleduster or variant thereof, a stun gauntlet is basically a 20th-century stun gun in glove form. Electrodes on the backs of the knuckles deliver an electrical shock to stun the target when the onboard system detects sufficient impact force.
Models Include: IEI GN-3 Minpraulsh, Mononoke Nue Glove.
Melee Weapons
Even in the far-flung future, hand-to-hand weapons are still in use. While laser and plasma weaponry can pith or incinerate enemies with ease, a melee weapon still excels when it comes to concealability and silence. Swords are generally only carried by old-fashioned people, or those putting on airs.
Polyblade
Polyblades (a portmanteau of “polymer blades”) are knives, swords, and other bladed weapons composed of a metalloceramic polymer. They are not as sharp as one with a monatomic edge, but are inexpensive and still maintain a cutting edge far better than a metal or ceramic weapon on its own would.
Models Include: AA Stilvraup knife, Kahinu-Hirasaka Namahage Self-Defense Knife, KIV Kh’harrzha Auvvra’ap sword.
Monic Weapon
Monatomic weapons, or “monic weapons,” have their cutting edges honed to the width of a single atom. This costly and time-consuming process leaves the edges brittle but able to cut through most common materials, even some models of body armor.
Shockblade
Shockblades are specially manufactured polyblades with a built-in microfusion power source and electrodes running along the blade. When the weapon is activated, a
corona of arcing electricity surrounds the blade tor damage and incapacitate its targets.
Shock Baton
Similar to a shockblade in design, the shock baton is a nonlethal weapon that utilizes electrical shocks. Shock batons are often used by law enforcement agencies to subdue even the most stubborn criminals.
Sledgehammer
While not as technologically advanced as a monic knife or a shock baton, a hefty sledgehammer can serve as a useful backup weapon in a pinch.
Energy Weapons
Many of the more powerful weapons technologies in the Orion Sector use some form of directed energy, instead of a kinetic projectile. While some are less powerful than pulse weaponry, they tend to offset this with improved accuracy.
Table 5-2: Ranged Weapons
| Name | Skill | Dmg | Crit | Range | Enc | HP | Price | Rar | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Weapons | |||||||||
| Laser Pistol | Ranged (Light) | 4 | 3 | Medium | 2 | 2 | 500 | 3 | Pierce 1 |
| Laser Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 5 | 3 | Long | 3 | 2 | 700 | 4 | Accurate 1, Pierce 1 |
| Heavy Laser Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 6 | 3 | Long | 4 | 2 | 1,000 | 4 | Accurate 1, Pierce 2 |
| Precision Laser Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 10 | 3 | Extreme | 4 | 3 | 2,000 | 6 | Accurate 3, Slow-Firing 1, Pierce 2 |
| Laser Cannon | Gunnery | 10 | 3 | Extreme | 6 | 3 | (R) 2,000 | 6 | Accurate 1, Cumbersome 4, Pierce 5, Prepare 1 |
| Plasma Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 8 | 2 | Medium | 3 | 2 | 1,100 | 6 | Burn 1 |
| Plasma Cannon | Gunnery | 12 | 2 | Medium | 8 | 3 | (R) 2,500 | 7 | Cumbersome 3, Burn 1, Blast 8, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Shock-Net Launcher | Ranged (Heavy) | 6 | 3 | Short | 4 | 3 | 1,400 | 6 | Accurate 1, Blast 6, Disorient 3, Ensnare, Limited Ammo 3, Stun Damage |
| Shock Pistol | Ranged (Light) | 6 | -- | Short | 2 | 2 | 400 | 4 | Disorient 3, Stun Damage |
| Shock Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 8 | -- | Short | 3 | 2 | 800 | 5 | Disorient 4, Stun Damage |
| Suppressor Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 8 | 3 | Short | 4 | 3 | (R) 1800 | 7 | Blast 6, Disorient 4, Stun Damage |
| Projectile Weapons | |||||||||
| Coil Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 9 | 3 | Extreme | 4 | 3 | 2,200 | 6 | Accurate 1, Concussive 1, Pierce 1 |
| Flechette Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 4 | 2 | Medium | 3 | 3 | 1,500 | 6 | Auto-Fire, Blast 3, Vicious 2 |
| Heavy Flechette Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 5 | 2 | Medium | 3 | 3 | 1,900 | 6 | Auto-Fire, Blast 4, Vicious 3 |
| Precision Flechette Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 8 | 2 | Extreme | 5 | 3 | 1,700 | 6 | Vicious 3 |
| Pulse Pistol | Ranged (Light) | 5 | 2 | Short | 1 | 2 | 400 | 1 | Auto-Fire |
| Pulse Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 6 | 2 | Medium | 3 | 2 | 750 | 1 | Auto-Fire |
| Heavy Pulse Rifle | Ranged (Heavy) | 8 | 3 | Medium | 3 | 2 | 1,000 | 2 | Auto-Fire |
| Rotary Pulse Cannon | Gunnery | 15 | 4 | Long | 7 | 3 | (R) 3,300 | 7 | Auto-Fire, Cumbersome 4, Inaccurate 1, Pierce 1 |
| Explosives & Ordnance | |||||||||
| Fusion Rocket Launcher | Gunnery | 12 | 5 | Extreme | 8 | 3 | (R) 2,800 | 7 | Breach 1, Blast 6, Cumbersome 3, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 3, Prepare 1, Vicious 5 |
| Grenade Launcher | Gunnery | 9* | 4* | Long | 3 | 3 | (R) 2,200 | 5 | Accurate 2, Limited Ammo 5, ammo qualities*. |
| Hand Grenade, Frag | Ranged (Light) | 8 | 3 | Short | 1 | -- | 50 | 3 | Blast 4, Limited Ammo 1 |
| Hand Grenade, HE | Ranged (Light) | 10 | 3 | Short | 1 | -- | 75 | 5 | Pierce 3, Blast 4 |
| Hand Grenade, Plasma | Ranged (Light) | 9 | 2 | Short | 1 | -- | (R) 400 | 5 | Blast 6, Burn 1, Limited Ammo 1 |
| Hand Grenade, Shock | Ranged (Light) | 6 | 4 | Short | 1 | -- | 300 | 5 | Blast 4, Concussive 1, Disorient 4, Limited Ammo 1, Stun Damage |
| Microrocket Launcher | Gunnery | 8 | 4 | Long | 4 | 3 | (R) 1,400 | 6 | Cumbersome 3, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 4, Linked 4, Prepare 1 |
Laser Weaponry
Lasers are the most common and most accurate personal energy weapons in use in the Orion Sector. While not as devastating as plasma weapons, their long range and armor-piercing capabilities more than make up for it.
Plasma Weaponry
Plasma weapons fire balls of superheated plasma, contained in temporarily self-sustaining magnetic fields. The power requirements to maintain these fields gives
the weaponry a short range, but most anything that survives the initial blast will continue to smolder from the extreme heat.
Shock-Net Launcher
One of the more uncommon forms of weaponry in the sector, a shock-net launcher is a short-range canister launcher. When the canister gets near enough to a potential target, it opens and deploys an electrified, weighted net. This weapon is often used by pirates or slavers—due to the chances of lethal complications, police forces rarely employ shock-nets.
Table 5-3: Ammunition & Ordnance
| Name | Dmg | Crit | Encum | Price | Rarity | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Rocket | 12 | 5 | 1/4 | (R) 200 | 7 | Breach 1, Blast 6, Guided 3, Vicious 5 |
| Fragmentation Grenade | 9 | 4 | 1/6 | (R) 75 | 3 | Blast 7 |
| HE Grenade | 12 | 3 | 1/4 | (R) 100 | 4 | Pierce 3, Blast 5 |
| Plasma Grenade | 9 | 2 | 1/4 | (R) 100 | 5 | Burn 2, Blast 6 |
| Shock Grenade | 6 | 4 | 1/4 | (R) 150 | 5 | Blast 5, Concussive 1, Disorient 4, Stun Damage |
| Microrocket Pack | 8 | 4 | 1/5 | (R) 175 | 6 | Linked 5 |
Shock Weaponry
In the vein of the shock baton and shockblade, shock pistols and rifles fire ionized particle bolts to deliver incapacitating shocks. Designed to stricter standards than shock-net launchers, there is little to no risk of a lethal complication with shock weapons. Because of this, many city police forces use them as primary service weapons.
Suppressor Rifle
Based on the same principles as other shock weaponry, a suppressor rifle fires a spray of electricity in a cone in front of it. Due to the chaotic nature of the lightning, it has a higher chance of lethal complications than a shock weapon, but is still invaluable in dealing with large crowds.
Projectile Weapons
Coil Rifle
Coil rifles are long-range, high-powered versions of pulse rifles (see Pulse Weaponry below for more details on the principles involved). They are often favored by snipers that cannot afford the higher-powered laser equivalents.
Flechette Rifle
Flechette rifles use electromagnetic pulses to accelerate clusters of metal flechettes to supersonic speeds. The magnetic apertures are configurable, allowing users to fire a tight stream of projectiles or spray the projectiles in a cone of bladed death. They are less effective against armored targets, however, due to their lower muzzle speed relative to pulse weaponry.
Precision models also exist, which fire a single flechette per shot with increased range and accuracy. While they lack the armor-piercing qualities of precision laser weapons, they can deal devastating damage against unarmored or lightly armored targets.
Pulse Weaponry
Pulse weapons, also known as “gauss weapons” in some circles, use electromagnetic pulses to accelerate metal slugs to supersonic speeds (usually Mach 4 to 4.5). They are usually the least expensive ranged weapons available, as the technology is several centuries old.
Explosives and Ordnance
Fusion Rocket Launcher
Fusion rockets, despite their name, share little to nothing in common with the fusion weapons of 20th century
Earth. Instead of fusing hydrogen, the missile’s warhead uses magnetic fields to compress ionized plasma until it begins to fuse, producing a “clean” fusion reaction without neutrons. These weapons are primarily designed for anti-materiel use, but can be used against heavily armored personnel to devastating effect.
Grenades
Many types of grenade are available for purchase in the Orion Sector. The most common types are fragmentation, which is nearly ubiquitous, and the slightly less common HE/high-explosive grenades. Other varieties include the rarer plasma and shock grenades.
Most high explosives in the early 5th millennium CE are “doped” with small amounts of unstable particles, such as stabilized mesons, which allow them to punch through even the most modern body armor. Plasma grenades ues the same principles behind plasma weaponry. Shock grenades use concussive electrical blasts to stun enemies and disable technology.
Grenade Launcher
The primary differences between 20th century Terran grenade launchers and the grenade launchers of the Orion Sector are propulsion and payload. Much like pulse weapons, grenade launchers rely on magnetic fields to launch their payloads. Most any grenade that is designed for use by infantry can also be found in a grenade launcher-compatible model.
Microrocket Launcher
Microrocket launchers are roughly twice the size of a pulse rifle, with either a broad muzzle or an array of
several small muzzles. They fire five guided rockets at a time, all with the same target. At 10–12 cm (3.9–4.7 in) long, the rockets are too small to carry anything more powerful or complex than conventional explosives.
Armor
Thanks to advances in material sciences and power plant miniaturization, the armor of the fifth millennium CE is far lighter and more durable than its 20th-century analogs.
Armored Vest
The most commonly available armor, armored vests and their equivalents aren’t pretty or fancy, but they’ll usually get the job done. Most of these use a mixture of polymer plate inserts and heat-conductive layers to dissipate attacks from both ballistic and energy weapons.
Ceramo-Polymer Breastplate
Made of several plates of a ceramic polymer compound within a fabric harness, ceramo-polymer breastplates, or CBPs in common parlance, are stronger than armored vests and can deflect grazing shots as well as absorb heavier hits.
Clamshell Combat Armor
Most system militias and defense forces use some sort of composite polymer armor for their troops, often worn over their uniform fatigues or jumpsuit. While not restricted to the military, civilians usually find it harder to find a suit of clamshell for purchase.
Elite Trooper Armor
Some of the most advanced armor belongs to the elite shock troopers of the wealthier planets’ defense forces. Composed of a flexible bodysuit underneath an inter-
locking set of metalloceramic polymer plates, the armor contains a limited onboard computer and a set of servos that offset the weight and bulk of the armor, as well as absorbing the force of long falls.
Infiltration Suit
Most often used by government espionage agencies and commandos, infiltration suits use limited optical camouflage to help their users blend into the background. These suits are also often close-fitting to provide the best range of movement.
Lined Clothes
Often used by diplomats, undercover agents, and the like, this sort of armor resembles normal clothing. The inner lining, however, is composed of energy-dissipating fabric and anti-ballistic plates, giving the user a moderate level of protection without being obvious.
Personal Shield Projector
This rare form of protection uses the same technology used in starship shields, scaled down to a personal level. When activated, it projects a force field to deflect incoming attacks. However, its power requirements are severe, and the miniaturization leaves it more prone to failure—when a portable shield projector is in use, an enemy can spend any d generated by the wielder to cause it to run out of power or short out until the end of the encounter.
Table 5-4: Armor
| Armor | Def | Soak | Enc | HP | Price | Rarity | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armored Vest | 0 | +1 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 3 | |
| Ceramo-Polymer Breastplate | 1 | +1 | 1 | 1 | 300 | 3 | |
| Clamshell Combat Armor | 0 | +2 | 2 | 2 | 600 | 5 | |
| Elite Trooper Armor | 0 | +3 | 4 | 3 | (R) 5,500 | 6 | Immune to fall damage up to Medium range band. |
| Infiltration Suit | 1 | +0 | 3 | 2 | (R) 3,000 | 7 | Upgrade your ability check once when hiding. |
| Lined Clothes | 0 | +1 | 3 | 2 | 600 | 6 | Someone must succeed on an Average (dd) Perception check to detect that this is armored. |
| Personal Shield Projector | 3 | +0 | 1 | 2 | 2,600 | 6 | d can be spent to cause it to run out of power. |
| Star Marine Armor | 1 | +3 | 5 | 4 | (R) 9,000 | 8 | Immune to fall damage up to Medium range band; counts as a space suit against hard vacuum. |
Star Marine Armor
Some of the wealthiest star nations have begun developing elite marine units for interstellar/heavy boarding combat, based on similar units from the Final
War. The armor used by these units is derived from the powered armor used by elite shock troopers. In addition to the built-in servos and computer, Star Marine armor is also vacuum-rated and can provide the wearer with up to 2 hours of air.
Gear & Equipment
Besides weapon and armor, there are many different types of gear and equipment available in the Orion
Sector, including communications devices, personal computers, space suits, and even cybernetics.
Communication & Computer Gear
Commbead
The average commbead is a small electronic earbud with an adhesive microphone strip extending from it down the user’s jaw. It allows communication on an open frequency—the range depends on . It can also be linked with a computer to provide encryption based on the user’s Computer skill—when an enemy tries to crack the encryption, they must succeed on an opposed Computers check against the encrypter’s Computers skill.
Multiple versions are available, with different ranges and prices, as shown in Table 5-5.
Table 5-5: Commbead Models
| Commbead | Price | Rarity | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mk I | 25 | 0 | Close (Planetary) |
| Mk II | 125 | 1 | Short (Planetary) |
| Mk III | 500 | 2 | Medium (Planetary) |
Commbead Encryption
Encryption packages can be added to commbeads to secure the channel at varying prices and levels of encryption (see Table 5-6).
Table 5-6: Commbead Encryption
| Encryption | Price | Rarity | Decrypt Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mk I | 100 | 2 | Average (dd) |
| Mk II | 500 | 3 | Hard (ddd) |
| Mil-Spec | (R) 2,000 | 6 | Daunting (dddd) |
Comm Relay
This portable satellite dish provides a relay point for comm transmissions. It is a civilian model, without the armor and other security features of a military relay.
Long-Range Comm Implant
This sub-dermal communications implant provides communication on an open frequency at up to 2,500 km. Like a commbead, it can be linked with a computer to provide encryption.
Wrist Comp
This wrist-mounted computer has a limited A.I. and a database of general information on the Orion Sector. It also has general-purpose software packages for purposes like encryption. Add b to all Knowledge-type skill checks.
Cybernetics
Cybernetic replacements are fairly commonplace in the Orion Sector. Even after the Final War ended, the dangers of frontier life keep the need for limb and organ replacements high.
All cybernetics limbs and organs are available in two tiers: Mk I and Mk II. Mk I cybernetics are replacements, and do not reduce the user’s Strai, simplen Threshold. Mk II cybernetics also provide bonuses to various skills/characteristics.
Due to the additional demands on the user’s body, the first installation of any given Mk II cybernetic type (Arms, Legs, etc.) reduces the user’s Strain Threshold by 1.These reductions are also noted in the descriptions for each type of augmentation. Also, a character cannot receive a bonus to a Skill, Characteristic, or other stat more than once from prosthetics.
Cybernetic Arm/Leg
Most planets have at least a few people with cybernetic arms and/or legs, especially on the more remote ones—while most planets have at least basic medical tech (which includes cybernetics), more advanced industrial tech is often lacking on the remoter systems, which leads to a greater risk of losing a limb.
When a character takes a Mk II cybernetic arm or leg for the first time, they may choose a Mk II-A or a Mk II-B. There are also the rarer, restricted Mk III Dragon, Manticore, and Tsa’vokk cybernetic arm models, which contain concealed weapons.
Mk II-A. The first time you install a Mk II-A arm or leg, increase your Agility by 1 and reduce your Strain Threshold by 1. Cannot be installed if you already have a Mk II-B of the same limb.
Mk II-B. The first time you install a Mk II-B arm or leg, increase your Brawn by 1 and reduce your Strain Threshold by 1. Cannot be installed if you already have a Mk II-A of the same limb.
Table 5-7: Gear & Equipment
| Item | Encum | Price | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communications & Computers | |||
| Commbead, Mk I | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Commbead, Mk II | 0 | 125 | 1 |
| Commbead, Mk III | 0 | 500 | 2 |
| Commbead Encryption, Mk I | 0 | 100 | 2 |
| Commbead Encryption, Mk II | 0 | 500 | 3 |
| Commbead Encryption, Mil-Spec | 0 | (R) 2,000 | 6 |
| Comm Relay | 4 | 1,200 | 3 |
| Long-Range Comm Implant | 0 | 500 | 2 |
| Wrist Comp | 0 | 2,500 | 5 |
| Cybernetics | |||
| Cybernetic Arm/Leg Mk I | -- | 2,000 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Arm/Leg Mk II-A | -- | 4,000 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Arm/Leg Mk II-B | -- | 4,000 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Arm Mk III Dragon | -- | (R) 6,000 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Arm Mk III Manticore | -- | (R) 6,000 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Arm Mk III Tsa’vokk | -- | (R) 6,000 | 7 |
| Cybernetic Armor | -- | 2,500 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Eye Mk I | -- | 800 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Eye Mk II | -- | 1,600 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Organ Mk I | -- | 1,000 | 5 |
| Cybernetic Organ Mk II | -- | 5,000 | 5 |
| Neurojack | -- | 6,000 | 5 |
| Infiltration & Stealth | |||
| Comm Jammer, Small | 2 | 250 | 4 |
| Comm Jammer, Large | 4 | 800 | 6 |
| Comm Jammer, Mil-Spec | 4 | (R) 1,500 | 6 |
| Comm Scrambler, Simple | 2 | 400 | 4 |
| Comm Scrambler, Advanced | 3 | 1,200 | 6 |
| Disguise Kit | 2 | 200 | 4 |
| Electronic Lock Breaker SW, Simple | 0 | (R) 600 | 6 |
| Electronic Lock Breaker SW, Advanced | 0 | (R) 1,250 | 6 |
| Electronic Lock Breaker SW, Mil-Spec | 0 | (R) 2,500 | 7 |
| Opticamo Blanket | 2 | 5,000 | 7 |
| Nanodisguise Kit | 4 | 1,000 | 6 |
| Slicer’s Kit | 2 | 400 | 5 |
| Medical | |||
| Diagnostic Leech | 0 | 800 | 7 |
| Diagnostic Nanopack (1 use) | 0 | 40 | 2 |
| Emergency Medkit | 1 | 100 | 2 |
| Item | Encum | Price | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Anesthetic (1 dose) | 0 | 50 | 4 |
| Medkit | 2 | 400 | 3 |
| Nanopack | 0 | 40 | 2 |
| Scanning & Surveillance | |||
| Advanced Scanner | 4 | 750 | 5 |
| Binoculars | 1 | 20 | 1 |
| Handheld Scanner | 1 | 200 | 5 |
| Scanner Binoculars | 1 | 350 | 3 |
| Scanner Goggles | 0 | 900 | 6 |
| Tracking Device, Class I | 0 | (R) 150 | 5 |
| Tracking Device, Class II-A | 1 | (R) 750 | 5 |
| Tracking Device, Class II-B | 0 | (R) 1,500 | 6 |
| Tracking Device, Class III-A | 3 | (R) 1,000 | 5 |
| Tracking Device, Class III-B | 0 | (R) 4,000 | 6 |
| Survival/Travel | |||
| Beast of Burden | 0 | 5,000 | 3 |
| Field Rations (1 day) | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Hazard Shelter | 5 | 2,000 | 6 |
| Hazard Shelter: add Radiation Immunity | 0 | +1,000 | 6 |
| Hazard Shelter: add Stealth Coating | 0 | (R) +3,000 | 7 |
| Life Support Rig | 3 | 800 | 6 |
| Prefabbed Shelter, Two-Person | 5 | 500 | 1 |
| Prefabbed Shelter, Six-Person | 6 | 1,200 | 1 |
| Rebreather | 1 | 250 | 3 |
| Riding Animal | 0 | 1,200 | 3 |
| Spacesuit | 4 | 1,000 | 2 |
| Tent, Two-Person | 4 | 200 | 1 |
| Tent, Six-Person | 5 | 500 | 1 |
| Thermal Blanket | 1 | 300 | 3 |
| Tools & Utility | |||
| Backpack | +4 | 50 | 0 |
| Bag/Bandolier/Utility Belt | +2 | 25 | 0 |
| Climbing Kit | 2 | 60 | 1 |
| Emergency Repair Kit | 1 | 100 | 1 |
| Extra Ammo Pack | 1 | 25 | 1 |
| Flashlight | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Mechanic’s Kit | 3 | 100 | 0 |
| Palm Light | 0 | 40 | 2 |
| Plasma Cutter | 2 | 200 | 2 |
| Portable Reactor | 5 | 1,200 | 4 |
Mk III. Each time you install a Mk III cybernetic arm, reduce your Strain Threshold by 1. Each model of Mk III arm has a built-in weapon: a small laser for the Dragon, a short-range flechette launcher for the Manticore, and a reinforced blade for the Tsa’vokk (named after a dangerous creature on the Kezh’vatt homeworld). See Table 5-8 for the weapon statistics.
Table 5-8: Mk III Cybernetic Arm Weapons
| Model | Skill | Dmg | Crit | Range | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon | Ranged (Light) | 4 | 3 | Short | Accurate 1 |
| Manticore | Melee | 3 | 3 | Short | Vicious 1 |
| Tsa’vokk | Melee | +1 | 3 | Engaged | Pierce 2 |
As a maneuver, you can deploy or retract the hidden weapon in your arm (or one of your arms, if you have multiple Mk III cybernetics). For each weapon deployed, you gain bb to wielding two-handed weapons.
When two Mk III arms of the same model are deployed, you may spend 2 Strain as an incidental to treat them as a single weapon with Linked 1 for your next attack.
Cybernetic Armor
Subdermal armor plates provide additional protection against damage, increasing your Soak stat by 1 and decreasing your Strain Threshold by 1 when your first set is installed.
Cybernetic Eyes
Cybernetic eyes are the second most common cybernetic enhancement in the Orion Sector, narrowly trailing behind arms and legs. Mk II cybernetic eyes provide additional features such as optical zoom and additional spectra for vision. The first time you install a Mk II cybernetic eye, you gain 1 rank each in Perception and Vigilance (up to the maximum of 5), and can remove b added to checks because of darkness.
If you have one or more Mk II cybernetic eyes, decrease your Strain Threshold by 1.
Cybernetic Organs
Enhanced cybernetic organs are more common among mercenaries and militias, as they can provide redundancy or toxin filtering. For each cybernetic organ Mk II, choose one of the following bonuses:
- +1 Athletics.
- +1 Resilience.
- +2 Wound Threshold.
If you have one or more Mk II cybernetic organs, decrease your Strain Threshold by 1.
Neurojack
This cerebral implant installs a computer with a queryable database and direct neural connection inside your skull. It also comes with a built-in commbead and computer connection. The neurojack increases your Intellect rating by 1.
If you have a neurojack, decrease your Strain Threshold by 1.
Infiltration & Stealth Equipment
Comm Jammer
Communications jammers are available in various shapes and sizes and allow the user to blanket the area
with jamming static to prevent communication. The smallest jammers have a fairly short range and are small enough to fit on a belt. Larger jammers require a small backpack or equivalent, but have configurable ranges up to 100 km. Military-grade jammers are configurable up to 500 km and can be set to jam specific frequencies.
Table 5-9: Comm Jammer Models
| Jammer | Enc | Price | Rarity | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 2 | 250 | 4 | Extreme (Personal) |
| Large | 4 | 800 | 6 | Close (Planetary) |
| Mil-Spec | 4 | (R) 1,500 | 6 | Short (Planetary) |
Comm Scrambler
Scramblers add an additional layer of security to communications by scrambling the transmission, so that the reverse of the algorithm must be applied to interpret the message. and models are both avai, advanced, Simplelable.
Simple scramblers are geared toward the civilian market and increase the difficulty of cracking encrypted communications by 1, or add an Average (dd) Computers check to attempts to unscramble an unencrypted transmission.
Higher-end models use more advanced scrambling algorithms, and are usually found in mercenary companies, corporations, and military usage. Use of an advanced comm scrambler upgrades the difficulty of cracking encrypted transmissions by 1, or requires a Hard (ddd) Computers check to unscramble an unencrypted transmission.
Disguise Kit
An average disguise kit is generally tailored to a specific species and contains wigs (or the species-specific equivalent), makeup, applicators, and other such tools of
the trade. The user can spend up to an hour to disguise themselves—others must succeed on a Hard (ddd) Perception check to see through the disguise.
Some disguise kits also include general-purpose camouflage paints, which can be applied over the course of 15 minutes to give bb to Skulduggery checks made to hide outdoors.
Electronic Lock Breaker Software
When run on a wristcomp or similar computer hooked up to an electronic lock, electronic lock breaker software allows the user to slice the lock over a period of time. The amount of time required depends on the complexity of the lock and the type of software used.
The exact time is up to the GM, but some recommended times are given in Table 5-10.
Table 5-10: Electronic Lock Breaker Software Times
| Lock Difficulty | Simple | Advanced | Mil-Spec |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple (–) | 5 min | 1 min | 10 sec |
| Easy (d) | 10 min | 2 min | 20 sec |
| Average (dd) | 30 min | 6 min | 1 min |
| Hard (ddd) | 2 hr | 25 min | 5 min |
| Daunting (dddd) | 4 hr | 1 hr | 15 min |
| Formidable (ddddd) | -- | 8 hr | 2 hr |
Nanodisguise Kit
A step up from a typical disguise kit, this kit includes packets of nanites that can be programmed with the provided console to either permanently or temporarily restructure someone’s appearance, down to their retinas and their fingerprints. For temporary restructuring, the nanites form a thin layer over the user’s body. Permanent restructuring, however, is performed on a cellular level. Neither type can fool a genetic test, but both require a Daunting (dddd) Perception check to see through otherwise.
Applying or removing a permanent change takes two hours and one of the kit’s ten charges. An accelerated change can be performed, with a duration of thirty minutes, at the additional cost of 3 Strain and 1 Wound. Applying a temporary change takes two charges and an action. Once the kit is out of charges, it must be discarded.
Opticamo Blanket
Optical camouflage, or “opticam,” is expensive but provides an additional level of stealth. When wrapped in an opticamo blanket, the user is undetectable by sight while remaining still. When moving, the difficulty of ranged attacks against the user are upgraded once,
unless the attacker can detect them in some other way (e.g. thermal imaging).
Slicer’s Kit
Slicer’s kits are not standardized and are usually assembled piece by piece. They usually contain some sort of shielded/stealthy computer, an array of network nodes and other paraphernalia to provide cutout access points, and other such things. This kit provides the necessary tools to perform slicing work.
Medical Equipment
Diagnostic Leech
The diagnostic leech is a bioengineered annelid (very similar to the Terran medicinal leech) that will analyze the blood it consumes and display the results on its back with
specialized chromatophores and cilia.
Using a diagnostic leech of the correct type during a Medicine check reduces the difficulty of the check once. This effect does not stack with other Diagnostic Leeches or Emergency Diagnostic Nanopacks.
Emergency Diagnostic Nanopack
These consumable packs of nanites are preprogrammed with diagnostic routines and can be used during a Medicine check to reduce the difficulty of the check once. This effect does not stack with the bonus from Diagnostic Leeches, and multiple uses during the same check do not have any additional effect.
Emergency Medkit
This small, portable pack contains medical supplies for emergency medical treatments. It is usually used by frontier medics and other people who need quick and easy access to emergency medical supplies. You can use it to make Medicine checks to heal wounds or critical injuries without penalties, but if the user rolls h h h or d, the kit runs out of supplies.
Local Anesthetic
Various forms of local anesthetic exist, in both multi-species and species-specific forms. While the more powerful ones require some sort of prescription or equivalent authorization, the average civilian can easily access lower-strength versions of most such compounds.
Medkit
Bulkier than an emergency medkit, this fully stocked medkit provides all of the tools you need to make Medicine checks to heal wounds or critical injuries without penalties. On a d, it runs out of supplies.
Nanopack
These consumable packets of nanites can be used for emergency healing if a medkit is not available. Nanopacks operate the same way as painkillers in the Genesys Core Rulebook (p94).
Scanning & Surveillance Equipment
Advanced Scanner
These large backpack-mounted scanning units can detect artificial entities and communications at up to Short range (Planetary). They can be operated using the Computers skill and can penetrate 10 cm of metal/armor, 3 m of wood or equivalent construction material, or 20 m of packed dirt. Life forms can be detected at up to Extreme range (Personal).
Binoculars
Binoculars have changed little in the past few millennia. The primary differences are in materials and size, though a few of the more expensive collector’s models also include nanomaterials to allow them to compress themselves.
Handheld Scanner
The term “handheld scanner” is used a catch-all for various types of handheld scanning devices. On the frontier, most are simple communications/motion scanners (Long range), though some models have limited LIDAR and/or medical scanning capabilities. The price listed assumes basic communications scanning, motion scanning, and limited light spectrum analysis capabilities.
Scanner Binoculars
At their core, a pair of scanner binoculars is a pair of regular binoculars with additional electronic processing capabilities. They usually include filters for light enhancement, alternate spectra (often UV and/or infrared), and basic motion scanning capabilities. While using scanner binoculars, you have normal vision regardless of lighting or weather conditions and can remove b on checks to see or notice things at long distances or in dim light.
Scanner Goggles
Scanner goggles are effectively a set of scanner binoculars in goggle form. Instead of the extra distance, however, they include an additional set of algorithms to assist in aiming. These goggles provide normal vision regardless of lighting, weather conditions, smoke, etc., and when you take the Aim action, you can choose to gain an automatic a instead of a b.
Tracking Devices
Tracking devices come in many shapes and sizes, from small adhesive “beads” to larger boxes that can be disguised as supplies. Tracking range is dependent on the class of tracker, as shown in Table 5-11.
Table 5-11: Tracking Device Ranges
| Tracker | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Class I | Medium (Personal) | Generally CD-ROM size. |
| Class II-A | Extreme (Personal) | Usually about 1 m3. |
| Class II-B | Long (Personal) | Usually a small disc. |
| Class III-A | Short (Planetary) | Usually 3–4 m3 |
| Class III-B | Extreme (Personal) | Usually a small disc. |
The smaller, longer-ranged Class II-B and Class III-B trackers are generally more rare, and are prized by militaries, bounty hunters, and mercenaries. They require a successful Hard (ddd) Perception check to notice.
Survival & Travel Equipment
Beast of Burden
The planets of the Orion Sector are home to a multitude of animals, both genengineered and naturally occurring. Many of these animals are used to carry or pull things, especially on the less wealthy frontier planets.
The exact nature of the beasts of burden available is up to the GM, who is encouraged to be creative with the appearance. A beast of burden is assumed to have the statistics listed above.
Field Rations
These rations are hardly gourmet food, but they’re nourishing and can keep for months or even years on end. Some manufacturers sell them in ready-to-eat, species-specific packets. Others sell them as a “one box feeds all” product where each box contains an assortment of pouches that can be combined in different ways to meet the nutritional needs of any of the sapient species in the Sector.
Hazard Shelter
Portable hazard shelters are compact, prefabricated (“fabbed”) shelters, complete with airlock, that can be
quickly assembled to protect against environmental hazards. In 5 minutes, a structure can be set up to protect against inclement weather and atmospheric hazards, big enough for 8 people.
Hazard shelters can also be enhanced with radiation shielding or stealth coatings, as shown in Table 5-7.
Life Support Rig
This large harness includes a tank of compressed gas and a breathing mask. It can be used to provide four hours of breathing while worn and can be refilled with life support tanks (see Table 5-7).
Prefabbed Shelter.
civilian prefabricated shelters can be found for a modest price and serve as a sturdier alternative to tents. After 5 minutes of setup, the shelter provides protection from weather conditions, though these models lack the airlocks of the hazard shelter. They are avai, Standardlable in both two-person and six-person models.
Rebreather
A rebreather mask provides air filtration and recycling. While wearing one, the user can survive up to two hours in an environment lacking oxygen (or the equivalent gas for the user’s species) and can breathe underwater indefinitely. It also provides immunity to airborne pathogens and toxins.
Spacesuit
Less bulky and more energy-efficient than 20th century suits, spacesuits have a thousand different slang terms among the worlds of the Sector. More common ones include “exo” and “evvy.” Spacesuits provide the ability to survive in vacuum and come equipped with magnetic gripping soles.
When fighting in a spacesuit, any hit that inflicts 4 or more damage automatically applies Sunder to the suit, as it punches a hole through the suit’s hermetic seals. Suits are generally equipped with self-sealing mechanisms, but their capabilities are limited at best.
Tent
As a cheaper alternative to prefabbed shelters, composite polymer fabric (“com-poly”) tents are quite common among explorers, travelers, and other wanderers in the Sector. A tent takes 15 minutes to set up and requires level ground to be anchored.
Capacity is handled in the same way as for prefabbed shelters.
Thermal Blanket
Made of a lightweight, thermally reflective substance, this blanket allows you to remove bb from checks to handle extreme heat or cold while you are wrapped in it. It also adds bb to attempts to detect you with infrared scans.
Tools & Utility Gear
Backpack
A backpack increases the wearer’s encumbrance capacity by 4. You cannot equip more than one backpack.
Bag, Bandolier, or Utility Belt
A bag, bandolier, or utility belt increases the wearer’s encumbrance capacity by 2. You cannot equip more than two such items, or one such item and a backpack.
Climbing Kit
A climbing kit generally contains cables, pitons, and a climbing harness, and counts as The Right Tools for the Job (see Genesys Core Rulebook, p93) when trying to climb or scale something.
Emergency Repair Kit
Emergency repair kits are compact, one-use items containing mechanical sealants, epoxies, and other such tools for performing quick-and-dirty repairs. They can be used as The Right Tools for the Job (Genesys Core, p93) when repairing something with Mechanics. They also contain a small amount of nanites that can be used on a Bionic in much the same way as a Nanopack works on organic species.
Extra Ammo Pack
One of the more common variants of Murphy’s Law out on the frontier is that “You never have enough ammo.” Invariably, you run out of ammo just before your enemy does, or you spend your last clip right before everything goes pear-shaped.
An extra ammo pack can be consumed as a maneuver to ignore the Out of Ammo result triggered by a d.
Flashlight
While most citizens of the Sector use palm lights due to their smaller size, some of the less fortunate or more old-fashioned still prefer the heftier, archaic flashlight, especially if they need something that can double as a crude weapon.
With the advancement of energy technology, most flashlights now have a lifespan of one to one and a half T-years of continuous use.
Mechanic’s Kit
A mechanic’s kit is generally composed of a large chest with the various tools of the mechanic’s trade: calipers, electrospanners, nano-circ manipulators, epoxies, etc. It serves as The Right Tools for the Job (Genesys Core, p93) for Mechanics checks.
Palm Light
A compact version of a flashlight, the palm light is a small circle that fits in the palm of the user’s hand, held on by a strap around the hand. The circle itself is flexible and contains small, high-powered LEDs, powered by a small fusion battery in the strap. The average palm light has 2 T-years of constant runtime in its battery, thanks to the low power consumption of the LEDs.
Plasma Cutter
Plasma cutters in the Orion Sector are compact, higher-powered versions of pre-spaceflight plasma cutters, able to cut through most industrial materials with enough time. The average model’s fusion battery pack is good for 4,000 hours of continuous use.
Portable Reactor
Portable reactors are small fusion reactors, roughly the size of a small water cooler, that can power small to moderate sized machinery. Two or three such reactors would be required to jumpstart a small vehicle (Silhouette 2–3), and even more would be required for larger vehicles. Anything above Silhouette 5 cannot be powered in any significant way by these reactors.
When running smaller items (safety lights, portable stoves, etc.), these usually come with enough fuel pellets for 1 T-year of operation.
Item Attachments
The optional Item Attachment rules (Genesys Core Rulebook, pp206–209) are used in this setting. Table 5-12 lists all of the attachments allowed.
Armor Attachments
Enhanced Sensor Suite
This attachment adds various enhancements to the sensor suite(s) of the armor to which it is added, such as low-light optics, infrared/thermal imaging sensors, video recording, zoom features, and polarized light filters. More advanced models often include ultrasound and/or RADAR/LIDAR systems.
Models Include: KIV Zz’rahoksh Ittlar (Veil Piercer), IEI L-7 Ishllaroth, MDS Panoptes Mk II.
Use With: Can be applied to any armor that includes a helmet.
Modifiers: Remove bb added to checks from smoke or darkness.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Heavy Plating
Usually formed of interwoven layers of carbon fullerene fabric and/or metal-ceramic polymer plates, these attachments improve armor’s ability to deflect melee attacks.
Models Include: IEI KL-3 Eprrausha System, Mononoke Uwabami Inserts, Ngrauroth Rammosh Glarrun Laminated Plates.
Table 5-12: Item Attachments
| Attachment | HP | Price | Rarity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armor Attachments | ||||
| Deflective Plating | 1 | 400 | 3 | Core (p209) |
| Enhanced Lifting Servos | 2 | 1,500 | 5 | Core (p209) |
| Enhanced Sensor Suite | 1 | 1,000 | 5 | PD (pX) |
| Heavy Plating | 1 | 400 | 3 | PD (pX) |
| Integrated Computer | 1 | (R) 3,000 | 7 | PD (pX) |
| Intimidating Visage | 0 | 125 | 3 | Core (p209) |
| Jump Jet System | 2 | 1,000 | 6 | PD (pX) |
| Long-Range Sensor Suite | 1 | 750 | 3 | PD (pX) |
| Reactive Myomers | 1 | 1,000 | 6 | PD (pX) |
| Vacuum-Hardened | 1 | 400 | 3 | PD (pX) |
| Weapon Attachments | ||||
| Balanced Hilt | 1 | 1,000 | 8 | Core (p207) |
| Biometric Lock | 1 | 200 | 3 | PD (pX) |
| Bipod Mount | 1 | 250 | 2 | Core (p207) |
| Extended Barrel | 2 | 1,000 | 4 | Core (p207) |
| Hair Trigger | 1 | 150 | 3 | Core (p207) |
| High-Capacity Magazine | 1 | 150 | 4 | PD (pX) |
| Razor Edge | 1 | 1,250 | 6 | Core (p208) |
| Serrated Edge | 1 | 75 | 2 | Core (p208) |
| Targeting Override | 1 | (R) 1,750 | 7 | PD (pX) |
| Telescopic Sight | 1 | 200 | 3 | Core (p208) |
| Tripod Mount | 2 | 400 | 3 | Core (p208) |
| Weapon Sling | 1 | 25 | 1 | Core (p208) |
Use With: Can be applied to any armor.
Modifiers: Increases melee defense by 1.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Integrated Computer
While a fair number of full-body armor systems have at least rudimentary electrical systems (practically all helmeted armor systems have some sort of heads-up-display, or HUD), some users need more computerization. This attachment allows such users to incorporate a high-powered computer, or even a limited AI, advanced framework.
Models Include: MDS Pallas AI System, Ontaummarg Aungrossh NgKL-11
Use With: Can be applied to any armor with a helmet and at least 2 Encumbrance.
Modifiers: While wearing this armor, you have access to the internal computer/AI, providing the same bonuses as a Wrist Comp.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Jump Jet System
This attachment adds small, high-powered maneuvering jets that can be used to gain a short burst of flight, or to arrest a fall. They take a while to recharge, but can be invaluable in the heat of battle.
Models Include: MSD Icarus, TSGU Steelwing
Use With: Can be applied to any armor with a hardened carapace.
Modifiers: While wearing this armor, you may activate the jump jets as an incidental. Until the end of your next turn, you may fly and do not suffer fall damage. Once this is used, it cannot be used again for 6 rounds, or until the end of the encounter (whichever comes first).
Hard Points Required: 2.
Long-Range Sensor Suite
This attachment adds a variety of long-range sensors to the armor, similar in function to a long-range scanner but miniaturized and with more limited range. Such sensors usually include high-powered communications systems, including comm lasers, high powered radio antennae, long-range RADAR/LIDAR, and other sensor systems.
Models Include: Hllaruut Tuulash-Nai VF-7, NCDS S‑11 Strix, Zontrath ZXF-117.
Use With: Can be applied to any armor with 3 or more Encumbrance.
Modifiers: The armor contains a scanning system that can detect entities of Silhouette 2 or higher at Extreme range (Personal). It can detect Silhouette 1 life signs at Long range (Personal) and can penetrate 2 cm of metal, 1 m of wood or equivalent construction materials, or 10 m of packed earth.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Reactive Myomers
Reactive myomer systems detect the electrochemical impulses or equivalents that accompany movement and give additional strength to the wearer’s movements. Equipment such as this is in high demand within industry and military settings.
Models Include: Kahinu-Arasaka KAA-M7 Tahurangi, MDS Ajax.
Use With: Can be applied to any armor.
Modifiers: Add s to all of your Brawn-based checks.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Vacuum-Hardened
By reinforcing and pressurizing the armor, this attachment allows the user to go extravehicular in the vacuum of space without suffering from explosive decompression.
Models Include: Custom work or official armor variants only.
Use With: Can be applied to any armor that covers the body entirely.
Modifiers: Ignore the effects of vacuum or other hazardous environments for up to two hours.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Weapon Attachments
Biometric Lock
A biometric lock includes a small biometric reader and a secure quanticomp that prevents an unauthorized user from firing or activating the weapon. The mechanism is not unbreakable, but is largely foolproof and can only be cracked by expert code slicers. They are most often used on ranged weapons, but can also be applied to powered melee weapons, such as power swords.
Models Include: Iversen-Tjäder SecuTrigger STF‑7 through STF‑11, Ontaummarg Gremmosh MKN-31
Use With: Can be applied to any ranged weapon, or any melee weapon that requires power.
Modifiers: Cannot be fired (if a ranged weapon) or activated (if a powered melee weapon) by anyone except the user and up to four other approved users. To crack and reprogram a biometric lock without authorization, you must pass a Daunting (dddd) Computers skill check. The GM may break the weapon with hhh or d from this check.
Hard Points Required: 1.
High-Capacity Magazine
Running out of ammo in a fight is almost every soldier or mercenary’s worst nightmare. Because of this, many modify their weapons for higher ammo capacity.
Models Include: Custom or weapon-specific only.
Use With: Can be applied to any ranged weapon.
Modifiers: The Out of Ammo effect (Core p104) requires dhh to trigger, instead of the usual cost.
Hard Points Required: 1.
Targeting Override
The targeting override includes an onboard computer and a suite of sensors that allow the weapon to distinguish between enemies and friendlies (with a very small margin of error). With this information, it will provide a warning message if the user attempts to fire in a way that would hit a predicted friendly.
Models Include: IEI FP-775 Shalluroth (Watcher), Zontrath NgTK-407.
Use With: Can be applied to any armor.
Modifiers: When using this weapon, the GM must spend dhh to cause your attack to hit a friendly character engaged with your target, instead of the default d.
Hard Points Required: 2.
Armor and Species Morphology
Most general-purpose armor in the Orion Sector uses a modular system of plates and flexible sheets to create the suits. Thus, with a little bit of reconfiguration, a suit of armor can be adapted to fit any of the species—some newer models can even automate the process.
Therefore, armor is usable by any species unless it is a custom design without this modular system.
Vehicles & Starships
The vehicles of the Orion Sector are legion. Sleekly lethal battlecruisers, lumbering freighters, swift and agile couriers, plodding war striders, expensive luxury skimmers, and more make their way through the streets and spaceways of the sector, carrying their passengers and cargoes about their business. Some are new models,
built by recently founded shipyards, while others are salvaged antiques from the years of the Final War.
This chapter contains vehicle profiles, vehicle weapons, and templates for customizing your own vehicles, and rules for building your own vehicles.
Vehicle Characteristics
In addition to the default characteristics defined by the core Genesys rules, vehicles and starships have a couple of additional characteristics/systems.
Firing Arcs
Some starships have weapons stippled across their hulls such that they can cover all firing arcs with a portion of those weaponsIn these cases, the arcs will be listed as “Firing Arc All [X/arc]”—for example, “Firing Arc All [2/arc]” means that no more than 2 weapons out of that set can focus on a given Firing Arc.
Hangar Capacity
Hangar capacity indicates the total combined silhouette that can be stored within the hangar(s) of a starship. Unless otherwise noted, a starship can only carry ships at least 2 Silhouette smaller than itself, as in the FFG Star Wars RPG.
Hard Points
Phoenix Dust uses the same vehicle modification system as the FFG Star Wars RPGs. The Hard Points characteristic shows the number of modification hard points a vehicle has. See the core rulebooks (AoR p285,
EotE p269, F&D p269) for details on that system. The modifications available in Phoenix Dust are listed later in this chapter.
Hyperdrive
The hyperdrive/Whetū drive uses the seven-dimensional topography of hyperspace to carry starships at seemingly faster-than-light speeds. Hyperdrives are classified on the Whetū Scale from 1 to 4, from slowest to fastest.
This ranking is roughly logarithmic—a Whetū 3 hyperdrive has about twice the max speed of a Whetū 2 hyperdrive and about four times the max speed of a Whetū 1 hyperdrive. For more information, see the section in Chapter 7: The Orion Sector Guidebook.
Sensor Range
Phoenix Dust uses the sensor range mechanic from the FFG Star Wars RPG. See any of the core rulebooks (AoR p239, EotE p227, F&D p233) for details.
Many ships also have stealth algorithms for minimizing their emissions. To detect a ship that is actively trying to avoid detection, the sensors check becomes an opposed Computers check.
Vehicle Profiles
Land Vehicles
Car
In the Orion Sector, the term “car” refers to any ground-based vehicle. Some are wheeled, others use low-power repulsors to float a little off the ground. Otherwise, there
is little difference between them and 21st-century cars in their function and purpose.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 driver
Passengers: 3
Consumables: 3 hours
Encumbrance Capacity: 12
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 6,500/4
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: None
Truck
Much like cars, the principles behind wheeled or low-level repulsor trucks remain much the same since the 20th century. The main improvements are found in durability and automation.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 driver
Passengers: 2
Consumables: 1 T-day
Encumbrance Capacity: 125
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 8,000/3
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: None
Armored Troop Transport
Most ground-based armored troop transports have been phased out of usage in favor of transport skimmers, but smaller planet militias often don’t have much in the way of other options. They still benefit from the same technological advances in weapons and armor, and thus the only drawback is their limited maneuverability compared to a flying vehicle.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 driver, 1 gunner
Passengers: 12
Consumables: 1 T-day
Encumbrance Capacity: 30
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 16,000/5
Hard Points: 0
Weapons: Heavy pulse repeater (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1).
All-Terrain
When making a driving check to operate this vehicle, remove up to bb added to the check by terrain.
Light Tank
Both during the Final War and now, light tanks serve as forward scouts and quick battlefield support. Those few War-era models that remain are often used as heavily
armed tractors or by mercenary groups. Equipped with armored repulsors, light tanks can easily navigate rough terrain, though the weight of their armor and weaponry prevents them from hovering more than 10 meters above the ground.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 commander, 1 driver, 2 gunners, 1 engineer
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-day
Encumbrance Capacity: 15
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 17,000 (R)/6
Hard Points: 0
Weapons: Light laser (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1).
Heavy pulse repeater (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1).
Antipersonnel plasma repeater (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 2; Range [Medium]; Auto-Fire, Burn 1, Blast 4, Personal Scale).
All-Terrain
When making a driving check to operate this vehicle, remove up to bb added to the check by terrain.
Heavy Tank
Slower and bulkier than their smaller cousins, heavy tanks generally weigh 100–150 tonnes and are 10–15 m long, 5–6 m across, and 3–4 m tall. Heavily armed and armored, they form the central bulwark of ground combat. Their repulsors allow them to float over all but the roughest terrain. Most of the surviving War-era models are found in the wealthier systems’ militaries or in well-off mercenary companies.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 commander, 1 driver, 3 gunners, 1 engineer
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-day
Encumbrance Capacity: 10
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 42,000 (R)/8
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Heavy plasma cannon turret (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard; Gunnery; Range [Short]; Burn 1, Slow-Firing 1).
Light rotary mass driver (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 4; Crit 4; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Tracking 2).
Port and starboard heavy pulse repeaters (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1).
All-Terrain
When making a driving check to operate this vehicle, remove up to bb added to the check by terrain.
Antipersonnel Crawler
These large tracked vehicles are designed to counter infantry assaults. Bristling with antipersonnel weapons, they make an affordable alternative to tanks for holding the line against infantry assaults.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 operator, 1 gunnery officer, 5 gunners
Passengers: 4
Consumables: 4 T-days
Encumbrance Capacity: 8
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 26,100 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Dorsal twin heavy pulse repeater turret (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Linked 1, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1).
Twin antipersonnel plasma repeaters (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 2; Range [Medium]; Auto-Fire, Burn 1, Blast 4, Linked 1, Personal Scale).
Port and starboard antipersonnel plasma repeaters (Fire Arc Forward, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 2; Range [Medium]; Auto-Fire, Burn 1, Blast 4, Personal Scale).
All-Terrain
When making a driving check to operate this vehicle, remove up to bb added to the check by terrain.
Artillery
At heart, artillery emplacements are still gigantic guns with just enough stabilization to keep from flying apart when fired. Most mobile artillery in the Orion Sector is either found in the form of orbital support or as repulsor-mounted heavy weaponry. This stat block represents the latter, for either lasers or mass drivers.
Control Skill: Driving
Crew: 1 gunner, 1 engineer
Passengers: None
Consumables: None
Encumbrance Capacity: 5
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 14,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 0
Weapons: Heavy artillery laser (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Extreme]; Accurate 1).
OR
Artillery mass driver (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 7; Crit 4; Range [Extreme]; Vicious 1).
War Strider
War striders are large, walking weapons platforms—effectively mobile military bases. Few of these survived the Final War, and no planet has the industry or knowledge necessary to manufacture more.
The exact shape depends on the original manufacturer—Drensharr designs are usually six-legged, while human designs tend more toward four or eight legs. No Kezh’vatt designs are known to survive—during the Final War, most Kezh’vatt hives relied on aerospace superiority.
The turret batteries are generally operated by firing teams, so it’s best to treat them as minion groups, just as with capital ship combat.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 pilot, 20 crew.
Passengers: 30
Consumables: 2 T-days
Encumbrance Capacity: 20
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 96,000 (R)/9
Hard Points: 4
Weapons: Dorsal heavy tri-laser turret (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 2).
Chin-mounted twin heavy plasma missile launchers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 10; Crit 5; Range [Short]; Breach 1, Guided 3, Linked 1, Limited Ammo 3).
4 port and 4 starboard light rotary mass drivers (Fire Arc Forward, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 4; Crit 4; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Tracking 2).
4 antipersonnel plasma repeaters (Fire Arc All [1/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 2; Range [Medium]; Auto-Fire, Burn 1, Blast 4, Personal Scale).
Point Defense
Add bb to attacks made with launcher weaponry (missiles, etc.) against this vehicle. This includes secondary attacks from the Guided quality.
Air Vehicles
Skimmer
Skimmers are one of the more common methods of transportation on the planets of the Orion Sector, though many of the outlying areas make equal use of horses or equivalent mounts. Skimmers use repulsors to hover in mid-air, and usually have a maximum flight ceiling of 8–10 km.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: 3
Consumables: 3 hours
Encumbrance Capacity: 12
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 8,500/4
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: None.
Cargo Skimmer
In many ways, a cargo skimmer is the flying equivalent of the 20th-century truck. Slower and bulkier than a standard skimmer, the cargo skimmer makes up for that in its cargo capacity and durability. Usually equipped with rear, underside, and top docking ports.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 driver
Passengers: 1
Consumables: 1 T-day
Encumbrance Capacity: 125
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 9,500/4
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: None.
Armored Skimmer Transport
Armored skimmer transports can easily carry personnel or materiel into combat areas. Their repulsors are built to higher specs than civilian models, giving them a flight ceiling of 800 m.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 2 gunners, 2 engineers
Passengers: 20
Consumables: 4 T-days
Encumbrance Capacity: 200
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 20,000 (R)/6
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Port and starboard heavy pulse repeaters (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1).
Gunship
While most air superiority is handled with starfighters and bombers, gunships provide an additional level of mobility to ground troops by serving as both assault ships and transports with a much lower price tag than a space-capable equivalent.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 6 gunners, 2 engineers
Passengers: 12
Consumables: 2 T-days
Encumbrance Capacity: 80
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 38,000 (R)/6
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 4 heavy pulse repeaters (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1; max 2 per arc).
Dorsal and ventral heavy twin laser turrets (Fire Arc Top or Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Starship Profiles
The Orion Sector is a vast and often lawless place, with dangers lurking in the spaceways. For this reason, most starships are at least lightly armed, and even the most stringent of regulations provides some level of legal protection for this practice.
Even before the Final War tore the sector apart, no method of practical long-range FTL communication had been found. Because of this, courier ships are the primary long-distance communication method and sending a message between planets can take several T-days or longer.
Starfighters, Gunboats, and Shuttles
Arrusk-class Interceptor
The Arrusk-class interceptor is a small, nimble fighter of Virrak make. Its sleek, narrow design leaves little room for arms, armor, or modifications, but its high speed and maneuverability more than make up for that.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 4
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 35,600 (R)/7
Hard Points: 0
Weapons: Light plasma repeater (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
Fjällfalk-class Heavy Bomber
Named for a bird of prey on Old Terra, this heavy bomber is one of the newer entries on the market. Built
to last, its slow speed and sluggish performance are offset by its durability and firepower.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 gunner
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 8
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 62,700 (R)/7
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Twin light plasma breachers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Breach 2, Linked 1, Slow-Firing 1).
Heavy Plasma Repeater Turret (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
Twin heavy plasma missile launchers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 10; Crit 5; Range [Short]; Breach 1, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 3, Linked 1).
Grallosh-Marr Light Gunboat
The Grallosh-Marr light gunboat is a Drensharr design, first introduced halfway through the Final War. The most recent model was released about thirty T-years ago and the line discontinued seven T-years later. Designed with redundancy in mind, its reinforced twin engines are situated below and behind the cockpit, with a moderate cargo/passenger area between the engines.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot, 1 engineer
Passengers: 6
Consumables: 3 T-weeks
Encumbrance Capacity: 20
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 44,200/6
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Twin forward heavy lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Dorsal light plasma repeater turret (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard; Gunnery; Crit 3; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
Limited Turret Automation
When flying without a gunner manning the repeater turret, it can be locked to a single fire arc. As a maneuver, you can change this fire arc.
Guldrai-class Scout
Sleek and nimble, the Guldrai is a Virrak scout fighter. Lightly armed and armored, its primary purpose is to provide advance pickets or patrols for mercenaries and less wealthy system defense forces.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 2 T-weeks
Encumbrance Capacity: 5
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 32,250 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Twin light laser (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Guldrai-class Scout (Civilian Model)
Due to the effectiveness of the design, the Guldrai class was re-released in the civilian market, with more limited armaments.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 2 T-weeks
Encumbrance Capacity: 5
Hyperdrive: II
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 32,250/7
Hard Points: 3
Weapons: Light mass driver (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; )
Hrassashk-class Strike Fighter
Designed to take a beating and dish one out in return, the Hrassashk two-person strike fighter is a recent development by the Sseshkar-owned K’sshrakh-Tsasshur Shipyards. Less agile than other fighters, it makes up for it in durability and firepower. Equally suitable for bombing runs and dogfights, its long-range sensors provide it an additional edge for avoiding enemy interceptors.
Without a gunner, the turret is linked to fire forward and its fire arc becomes Forward.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 gunner
Passengers: None
Consumables: 2 T-weeks
Encumbrance Capacity: 15
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 55,000 (R)/8
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Twin light plasma breachers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 2; Range [Close];Breach 2, Linked 1, Slow-Firing 1).
Light tri-laser turret (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Top; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 2).
Heavy plasma missile launcher (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 10; Crit 5; Range [Short]; Breach 1, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 3).
Keshau-class Stealth Fighter
The Keshau stealth fighter was rolled out near the end of the war by one of the Lluashi star nations. Its armor incorporates a special light- and radar-absorbent coating, making it difficult to detect at long ranges.
Hyperspace
The hyperdrive—often called the Whetū Drive in Terran circles—is a faster-than-light propulsion system. The human discovery of the hyperdrive was made by Whetū Kahurangi, a Māori physicist, during her tenure at the Auckland Center for Particle Research.
The hyperdrive works by transposing a ship into hyperspace—a spatial topography or “plane” that overlaps our own (“realspace”). In short, distances are exponentially shorter in hyperspace, so trips far take less time than they would in realspace (see the section in Chapter 8: The Orion Sector Guidebook for details).
Because of the mathematical peculiarities of hyperspace, a ship trying to get from point A to point B will always have at least four direct paths available, with four different travel times. Under the Whetū rating system, these paths are rated from Class I to
Class IV, with Class I indicating the slowest path and Class IV indicating the fastest path. When traveling a Class I path, a ship’s apparent real-space velocity is about two million times its actual speed in hyperspace, and each subsequent rank increases that multiplier by a factor of four.
Hyperdrives are rated in the same way, with their rating corresponding to the highest class of path they can safely traverse. Travel through paths rated for higher tiers is extremely dangerous—a pilot must succeed on a Daunting (dddd) Astrography check to travel a hyper path with a rating one higher than their ship’s hyperdrive, upgrading the difficulty twice for each subsequent rating. Successfully navigating such a route will inflict half the ship’s System Strain and Hull Trauma thresholds, while failure will destroy the ship and kill everyone on board.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 7
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 43,000 (R)/9
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Twin light lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1).
Heavy plasma missile launcher (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 10; Crit 5; Range [Short]; Breach 1, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 3).
Stealth Coating
Enemy ships must succeed at an Average (dd) Computers check to detect this ship with passive sensors at Medium range or beyond, increasing the difficulty once for each range band beyond Medium. Increase the difficulty of active sensor scans to detect this ship once per range band beyond Short.
Maarosh-class Interceptor
The Maarosh is an interceptor of post-war Drensharr make. Heavily armed and lightly armored, it is designed to kill its enemies quickly before they can fire back. It is mostly found in system patrols and smaller, less well-known mercenary groups.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: 0
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 4
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 33,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Chin-mounted twin heavy lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Shailu-class Fighter
The Shailu fighter is a Peshtau design intended for general space combat. It is competent in most functions, without any particular specialization, and is highly modular. For these reasons, it is often found in mercenary companies and militaries seeking to minimize their expenses.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 12
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 35,500 (R)/8
Hard Points: 3
Weapons: 4 linked heavy lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 3).
Sshashkharro-class Gunboat
The Sshashkharro gunboat’s broad, blocky design belies its agility. Dotted with maneuvering vanes and microthrusters, a master pilot can make the bulky ship dance. Designed in the Adrrashka Imperium shipyards during the Final War, it was so successful that it is now one of the most commonly salvaged Final War-era ships, with several new versions in development.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot, 1 navigator, 2 gunners
Passengers: 8
Consumables: 1 T-month
Encumbrance Capacity: 20
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 55,000/6
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Port and starboard heavy laser turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1).
Light plasma cannon (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 2; Range [Short]; Burn 1, Slow-Firing 1).
Twin fusion missile launchers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 5; Range [Short]; Guided 2, Limited Ammo 3, Linked 1)
Starhawk-class Interceptor
The Starhawk is an older interceptor model of Terran make, introduced around the middle of the Final War. It is most often found in the less wealthy system’s militaries or in smaller mercenary companies.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 5
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 30,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Fixed light twin rotary mass drivers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 4; Crit 4; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Linked 1, Tracking 2).
KL9 Tazzash Kho-class Heavy Fighter
One of the newest Kezh’vatt designs on the market, the Tazzash Kho is a heavily armed multipurpose fighter. It is found in many of the wealthier systems’ navies and is a hot black market commodity.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 6
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 48,200 (R)/6
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 3 linked heavy lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 2).
Heavy plasma repeater (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
K-V7 Tzaa’khorot-class Interceptor
The Kezh’vatt Tzaa’khorot interceptor embodies the natural Kezh’vatt philosophy of communal defense. Durable for an intereceptor, it excels in group combat, due to its built-in tactical data-sharing system. Detailed tactical information is streamed between all allied Tzaa’khorotsh within Short range. Usually found in system militias or mercenary groups, Tzaa’khorotsh are best used in groups of 4, with trained pilots able to make use of the increased tactical data.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: 0
Consumables: 1 week
Encumbrance Capacity: 7
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 37,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 3 fire-linked light plasma repeaters (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1)
Shared Tac-Stream
When flying in a group, add b to Gunnery checks for each allied Tzaa’khorot within Short range (up to a maximum of bbb).
ZS-27 Zzrasshop-Vai-class Bomber
The Zzrasshop-Vai is an old but reliable Kezh’vatt bomber design. Earlier models date back to the last few decades of the Final War. Durable and heavily armed, it remains a popular choice for mercenary companies and frontier planet military forces.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 8
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 44,200 (R)/5
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Twin light lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Triple heavy plasma missile launcher (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 10; Crit 5; Range [Medium]; Breach 1, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 3)
Brelarif-class Survey Ship
The Brelarif is a long-range survey ship of Virrak design. Able to survive on its own in the uncaring vastness of space for a year, it is a favorite of explorers.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 T-year
Encumbrance Capacity: 12
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Extreme
Price/Rarity: 29,600/7
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Light twin laser turret (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Standard Military Pinnace
There are a multitude of military pinnace models—small ships designed to ferry passengers to and from
starships. These hundreds of models differ only slightly, so they have been lumped together into a single stat block.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot
Passengers: 8
Consumables: 1 T-week
Encumbrance Capacity: 40
Hyperdrive: None.
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 8,650 (R)/2
Hard Points: 0
Weapons: Light mass driver (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 4; Range [Close])
Ebrauth-class Military Courier
The Ebrauth armored courier was designed by a Peshtau shipyard twelve T-years ago. With heavier armor and better shields than most civilian courier ships, it is more durable but less maneuverable.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot, 1 navigator, 1 engineer
Passengers: 4
Consumables: 3 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 20
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 29,050 (R)/7
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Anti-fighter laser turret (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
Kedrash-class Military Shuttle
Designed by one of the Drensharr nations near the end of the war, the Kedrash is a durable military shuttle/dropship, designed for ferrying several squads at a time, or a large amount of materiel. Due to its reliability, it still sees a lot of use in the Orion Sector, both among mercenary companies and military forces.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot/gunner, 1 comms operator, 1 navigator, 1 engineer
Passengers: 25
Consumables: 3 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 300 (w/o passengers)/50 (w/ full passenger load)
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 39,100 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Twin heavy lasers (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1).
Ventral heavy pulse repeater turret (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1).
Quicksilver-class Courier
Small and speedy, the *Quicksilver* is a state-of-the-art courier ship, modeled off of an old Terran Union design
from before the Final War and upgraded with modern technologies to remain competitive.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot, 1 navigator
Passengers: 4
Consumables: 1 T-month
Encumbrance Capacity: 20
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 20,000/6
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: None.
Zephyr-class Shuttle
The Zephyr shuttle is a mainstay of many planets’ mercantile navies. Its design incorporates elements of traditional Sseshkar and Peshtau designs and is built around ferrying passengers/cargo from orbit to a planet, or providing long-range passage for small volumes of cargo/passengers.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 copilot, 1 navigator, 1 engineer
Passengers: 16
Consumables: 2 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 240 (w/o passengers)/80 (w/ full passenger load)
Hyperdrive: Whetū 1
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 16,800/4
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: None.
Freighters and Transports
With the ever-present risk of piracy, armed freighters and transports are usually more available to civilians than starfighters. These ships generally have just enough weaponry to scare off most pirates without
posing a serious threat to an actual warship—assuming, of course, that the owner is concerned about obeying the weapons laws.
Apsonsi Luxury Liner
Swift and opulent, the Apsonsi is a newer Terran design, favoring luxury over passenger capacity. Its name comes from Thai folklore, chosen by the designers as a nod to their heritage. Moderately armed for protection, it is commonly used by companies that specialize in VIP transport.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 8 bridge crew, 15 crew
Passengers: 40
Consumables: 3 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 320
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 47,600/7
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Port and starboard heavy laser turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1).
Fusion missile launcher (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 5; Range [Short]; Guided 2, Limited Ammo 3).
QSA-K11 Bahamut Heavy Freighter
The QSA (Qareen Freighter, قرين سفينة الشحن/Qareen Safinat Alshahn in Arabic) line of the Qareen shipyards is a well-respected freighter line from one of the few shipyard companies to survive the Final War. The QSA-K11, or Bahamut-class, is their most recent creation. With its modular design, large cargo bays, heavy tractor beams, and reputation for reliability, the Bahamut is a favorite of high-volume traders and haulers.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 8 bridge crew, 6–11 crew
Passengers: 10
Consumables: 3 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 2,000
Hyperdrive: Whetū 1
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 491,400/5
Hard Points: 3
Weapons: 2 port and 2 starboard anti-fighter laser turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
3 ventral light tractor beams (Fire Arc Bottom; Gunnery; Damage --; Crit --; Range [Close]; Tractor 4).
Evrashi Bulk Passenger Liner
With its minimal armament, slow hyperdrive, and utilitarian design, no-one could accuse the Peshtau-designed Evrashi liner of luxury. However, its relatively low cost, high capacity, and ease of maintenance make it a popular choice for bulk passenger companies and independent contractors.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 7 bridge crew, 24 crew
Passengers: 2,500
Consumables: 1 T-year
Encumbrance Capacity: 1,600
Hyperdrive: Whetū 1
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 505,000/3
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: Port and starboard light laser turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1).
Grannosh-class Bulk Freighter
Slow and lumbering, the Drensharr-designed Grannosh bulk freighter is inexpensive and durable, making it popular with many wholesale dealers and large corporations.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 4 bridge crew, 10 crew
Passengers: 10
Consumables: 1 T-year
Encumbrance Capacity: 8,000
Hyperdrive: Whetū 1
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 432,200/3
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: None.
Idrazzakh Heavy Armored Transport
The Kezh’vatt Idrazzakh-class transport is another of the older designs to survive the Final War. Currently in its twenty-seventh iteration, the original design dates back to the end of the First Galactic War. Designed for troop transport in convoys, it is sluggish but durable.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 8 bridge crew, 36 crew
Passengers: 120
Consumables: 1 T-year
Encumbrance Capacity: 1200
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 573,600 (R)/6
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 2 dorsal port, 2 ventral port, 2 dorsal starboard, and 2 ventral starboard heavy rotary mass drivers (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard, Top or Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 4; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Tracking 1).
4 ventral heavy tractor beams (Fire Arc Bottom; Gunnery; Damage --; Crit --; Range [Short]; Tractor 6).
Point Defense
Add bb to attacks made with launcher weaponry (missiles, etc.) against this vehicle. This includes secondary attacks from the Guided quality.
Otonjorō Medium Freighter
Named after a figure from Japanese folklore, the Otonjorō freighter is one of the most recent productions of the Hirakawa-Garraush shipyards. While it draws heavily from traditional Terran designs, it also includes some elements of Drensharr design philosophy. Large and bulky, it is more heavily armored than it appears, making it a popular freighter in the more dangerous parts of the sector.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 1 pilot, 4 bridge crew, 3 engineers, 11 crew
Passengers: 12
Consumables: 3 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 100
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 132,500/5
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: Port and starboard twin light mass driver turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 1).
Rear-mounted fusion missile launcher (Fire Arc Rear; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 5; Range [Medium]; Guided 2, Limited Ammo 3).
Shurag Armored Transport
Designed as a collaboration between several small Drensharr nations, the Shurag is designed for speed over durability or capacity, focused on swiftly delivering small but well-trained groups of soldiers to battlefields.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 4 bridge crew, 10 crew
Passengers: 40
Consumables: 18 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 480
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 90,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 2 port and 2 starboard light plasma repeater turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
1 dorsal and 1 ventral heavy rotary mass driver turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Top or Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 4; Range [Short]; Auto-Fire, Tracking 1).
Sh’harresk-class Freighter/Transport
The original Sh’harresk combination freighter/transport was designed by the Third Halah’ssat Imperium to serve in emergency colonization fleets near the end of the Final War. Its large cargo bays are highly modular and can be quickly reconfigured to accommodate passengers. Most of the originals were scrapped for materials in the colonization process, but the designs were recently adapted to modern technology and the second-generation Sh’harresk transports have quickly become one of the more popular freighter models.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 6 bridge crew, 9–15 crew
Passengers: 320 (w/o cargo)/20 (full cargo)
Consumables: 2 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 3,000
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 102,500/5
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 8 light tri-laser turrets (Fire Arc All [2/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 2).
Ventral heavy tractor beam (Fire Arc Bottom; Gunnery; Damage --; Crit --; Range [Short]; Tractor 6).
Sralloth Light Freighter
Swift and sleek, the Sralloth is a popular Lluashi light freighter design. Designed with speed in mind, it is fragile but highly modular. Few Sralloth-class ships are ever kept in their original factory condition.
Control Skill: Piloting
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 co-pilot/gunner
Passengers: 3
Consumables: 2 T-months
Encumbrance Capacity: 40
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 29,450/4
Hard Points: 3
Weapons: Light rotary mass driver turret (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 4; Crit 4; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Tracking 1).
Utzokep’Rannek Passenger Liner
The Utzaukor line is a series of high-capacity passenger liners designed in the Ril’kavezh Union. The most recent version, the Utzokep’Rannek, was first released thirty-three T-years ago, and has been a very well-received model, with more than eight hundred million in service around the Sector.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 1 captain, 10 bridge crew, 75 crew, 60 staff
Passengers: 1,000
Consumables: 1 T-year
Encumbrance Capacity: 3,500 (3,000 in luggage storage)
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Short
Price/Rarity: 603,200/4
Hard Points: 3
Weapons: 6 anti-fighter laser turrets (Fire Arc All [2/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
Warships
Generally speaking, a warship is any warship longer than 150 metres and weighing at least 25 kt (25,000 tonnes). Heavily armed, they are rarely found outside system militaries and large mercenary companies.
Draashum Stealth Corvette
Specialized for vicious close-quarters combat, the Drensharr Draashum corvette is equipped with a stealth field that allows it to slip past most passive and active sensors, at the cost of armor and shielding.
Draashum commanders will usually try to slip into close range of a target while under the stealth field, before unleashing a full salvo with their plasma weapons and speeding away to hide again.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 30–75 officers and enlisted
Warship Classification
About 17 T-years after the First Galactic War, the Hirakawa-Shadruum-Paanosh (HSP) Classification System became the de facto standard for warship categories, consolidating the confusing mixture of existing systems, with battlecruisers and up constituting “capital ships.” From smallest to largest, these classifications are:
| Category | Length* | Tonnage | Silh | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corvette | 150–180m | 25–45 kt | 5 | High-speed fire support, raiding. |
| Frigate | 150–240m | 60–115 kt | 5 | Light scouting/patrols, long-range or point-defense support. |
| Destroyer | 270–360 m | 140–350 kt | 5–6 | Point-defense, patrols, commerce raiding/protection, pickets. |
| Cruiser | 400–550 m | 475–1,250 kt | 6 | Point-defense, patrols & other long-term independent missions. |
| Battlecruiser | 600–800 m | 1.6–3.1 Mt | 6–7 | Heavy raiding, battlefield support, small fleet action. |
| Dreadnought | 900–1,200 m | 5.4–13 Mt | 7–8 | Heavy combat, large fleet action, blockades, orbital support. |
*Assumes a width and height each of 20% the length.
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 year
Hangar Capacity: None
Encumbrance Capacity: 600
Hyperdrive: Whetū 2
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 512,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 2 port and 2 starboard light plasma breacher turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Breach 2, Slow-Firing 1).
2 port and 2 starboard heavy tri-laser turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 2).
2 dorsal and 2 ventral light rotary mass driver turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Top or Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 4; Crit 4; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Tracking 2).
Stealth Field
As an action, you can engage or disengage the stealth field. While it is active, your maximum speed is halved (if you were traveling above your original max speed, you immediately drop to the current max speed, taking 3 times the difference as System Strain).
While active, the stealth field masks your emissions and greatly reduces your lidar and radar return. A successful active sensor scan can detect your general direction, but detecting your exact position requires a Difficult (ddd) active sensor scan and passive sensors cannot detect you. Upgrade the difficulty of attacks made against you once per range band beyond Close.
If you fire weapons while the field is engaged, you lose the benefits of the field until the beginning of your next turn. The field can be disengaged as a maneuver for the cost of 3 System Strain.
Edrallot Corvette
One of the oldest Peshtau designs surviving from the Final War, the Edrallot remains a popular design in smaller system navies. While not as fast or durable as more modern corvettes, the highly modular design of its internal systems simplifies repair and maintenance.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 20–80 officers and enlisted
Passengers: 20
Consumables: 1 year
Hangar Capacity: 3 combined Silhouette.
Encumbrance Capacity: 750
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Medium
Price/Rarity: 495,000 (R)/4
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 3 port and 3 starboard light plasma repeater turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Vicious 1).
Ventral and dorsal light dual plasma cannon turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Top or Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 2; Range [Short]; Burn 1, Slow-Firing 1).
Port and starboard light tractor beams (Fire Arc Port or Starboard; Damage --; Crit --; Range [Close]; Tractor 4).
Modular Components
When repairing this ship, reduce the difficulty of your check once.
Obayifo Corvette
Named for a mythical creature from Ashanti tradition, the Obayifo is a swift, heavily armed corvette designed to provide hard-hitting support for larger vessels.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 40–100 officers and enlisted
Passengers: 12
Consumables: 1 year
Hangar Capacity: 6 combined Silhouette.
Encumbrance Capacity: 800
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 448,000 (R)/5
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 3 port and 3 starboard heavy tri-laser turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 3; Range [Short]; Accurate 1, Linked 2).
Dorsal and ventral light proton beam turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Port, Starboard, Top or Bottom; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 3; Range [Medium]; Breach 1, Vicious 2).
Ventral light tractor beam (Fire Arc Bottom; Gunnery; Damage --; Crit --; Range [Close]; Tractor 4).
Felarrut-class Strike Frigate
The Lluashi Felarrut design is optimized for striking from long range. It uses the same stealth coating as the Keshau stealth fighter, allowing it to stay on the edges of combat and snipe away at enemies.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 75–125 officers and enlisted
Passengers: None
Consumables: 1 year
Hangar Capacity: None
Encumbrance Capacity: 800
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Extreme
Price/Rarity: 515,500 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 2 heavy proton beam turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 10; Crit 3; Range [Long]; Breach 2, Vicious 2).
Spinal-mounted heavy rail cannon (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 12; Crit 4; Range [Extreme]; Breach 4, Slow-Firing 2).
4 light plasma repeater turrets (Fire Arc All; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
Stealth Coating
Enemy ships must succeed at an Average (dd) Computers check to detect this ship with passive sensors at Medium range or beyond. For every range band beyond Medium, increase the difficulty once for this check and active sensor scan checks.
Hezh’Hrralak Frigate
Like most Kezh’vatt designs, the Hezh’Hrralak frigate is long and slender, with short wing-like extensions. Originally designed near the end of the Final War, it is one of several designs that have re-entered mass production after the original blueprints were found. Excelling in long-range support and point-defense screening, it is often paired with corvettes or destroyers to offset its poor maneuverability and speed.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 60–150 officers and enlisted
Passengers: 10
Consumables: 1 year
Hangar Capacity: 3x craft up to Silhouette 3 on external struts.
Encumbrance Capacity: 1,000
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 456,500 (R)/6
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 1 forward, 1 port, 1 starboard light rail cannon (Fire Arc Forward, Port, Starboard or Forward, Port or Forward, Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 9; Crit 4; Range [Long]; Breach 3, Slow-Firing 2).
8 anti-fighter lasers (Fire Arc All [4/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
Point Defense
Add bb to attacks made with launcher weaponry (missiles, etc.) against this vehicle. This includes secondary attacks from the Guided quality.
Veldrok Support Frigate
Designed for long-range engagements and battlefield support, the Virrak-designed Veldrok support frigate is more lightly armed than other contemporary frigates, but carries a squadron of eight support drones that can repair and resupply nearby ships. It also contains reinforced medical bays for the triage and treatment of battlefield injuries.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 80–200
Passengers: 40
Consumables: 2 T-years
Hangar Capacity: 8 support drones.
Encumbrance Capacity: 2,000
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 695,800 (R)/6
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 2 twin wide-bore mass driver turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 4; Range [Medium]; Linked 1).
Twin positronic torpedo launcher (Fire Arc Forward; Gunnery; Damage 13; Crit 5; Range [Long]; Blast 8, Breach 2, Limited Ammo 4, Slow-Firing 2).
6 anti-fighter laser turrets (Fire Arc All [2/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
Support Drones
As a maneuver, heal a total of 8 Hull Trauma and/or System Strain spread across ships within Short range. Each ship healed in this way cannot regain more than its Silhouette in total Hull Trauma and System Strain healed.
Aicha Kandicha Destroyer
Named for a Moroccan mythical creature, the Aicha Kandicha (EYE-sha kun-DEE-sha) was designed near
the end of the Final War. Fast and agile, it is especially well-suited for pickets, commerce protection/raiding, and deep reconnaissance.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 100–250
Passengers: None
Consumables: 18 T-months
Hangar Capacity: 12 combined Silhouette.
Encumbrance Capacity: 2,000
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 311,500 (R)/7
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: 8 anti-fighter laser turrets (Fire Arc All [4/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
4 light proton beam turrets (Fire Arc ALl [2/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 3; Range [Medium]; Breach 1, Vicious 2).
Fore and aft light twin capital missile launchers (Fire Arc Forward or Aft; Gunnery; Damage 9; Crit 5; Range [Medium]; Breach 2, Guided 3, Slow-Firing 3).
GR-7 Silent Hunter-class Destroyer
One of the newest warship designs, the Silent Hunter destroyer was a joint venture between the Peshtau-run Gedralleth Shipyards and the Lluashi-owned Rhalloth Stardocks. In addition to its weaponry, it contains a proprietary decoy system to confuse and disrupt enemy targeting systems.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 100–200
Passengers: 20
Consumables: 18 T-months
Hangar Capacity: 10 combined Silhouette.
Encumbrance Capacity: 1,800
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: 1,010,000 (R)/7
Hard Points: 1
Weapons: 12 anti-fighter laser turrets (Fire Arc All [4/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 5; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Tracking 2).
3 starboard and 3 port broadside light plasma cannon turrets (Fire Arc Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard; Gunnery; Damage 8; Crit 2; Range [Short]; Burn 1, Slow-Firing 1).
6 heavy plasma repeaters (Fire Arc All [2/arc]; Gunnery; Damage 6; Crit 2; Range [Close]; Auto-Fire, Vicious 1).
2 ventral heavy tractor beams (Fire Arc Bottom; Gunnery; Damage --; Crit --; Range [Short]; Tractor 6).
Decoys
Spend 2 System Strain as a maneuver to activate the decoy system. While the system is active, enemies upgrade the difficulty of all attacks once per range band beyond Close. While the system is active, you cannot make opposed Computers checks to avoid detection (see Sensor Range above).
TFS Uutsraahaash-class Destroyer
Designed and produced by the Sseshkar-owned shipyards of Tsaalosshah Fleet Systems (TFS), the Uutsraahaash destroyer is particularly common in the Sh’shaaruk Dominion and the surrounding independent systems.
Control Skill: Operating
Crew: 160–240
Passengers: 25
Consumables: 2 T-years
Hangar Capacity: 8
Encumbrance Capacity: 1,500
Hyperdrive: Whetū 3
Sensor Range: Long
Price/Rarity: # (R)/#
Hard Points: 2
Weapons: #
Deshrauung-class Light Cruiser
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Hākuturi Light Cruiser
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Kongamato Battlecruiser
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Building & Upgrading Vehicles
When building a vehicle, you can either use one of the templates in Vehicle Templates or start from scratch. When starting from scratch, use the tables in the Genesys Expanded Player’s Guide (pp58–62) and add the cost of any weapons to the final cost. Additional costs are summarized in Table 6-1: Vehicle Weaponry and Table 6-2: Vehicle System Upgrades.
When you use a template, each weapon you install takes up one of its hard points, unless otherwise specified by the weapon’s qualities (e.g. Spinal Mount). This same rule applies for adding weaponry to off-the-shelf vehicles.
Vehicle Weapons
Lasers
Shipboard lasers are scaled-up versions of the weapons-grade lasers found in handheld weapons. They are usually in the UV to soft X-ray spectrum, instead of the visible spectrum, since shipboard reactors are better able to provide the power needed for the higher-energy wavelengths.
Tri-Lasers are larger weapons, composed of three laser cannons arranged in a triangular shape, much like a rotary cannon might be. These are most often used in turrets, and cannot be mounted on smaller fighters.
X-ray lasers, the largest and most powerful of the laser weapons, can only be mounted on capital ships (Silhouette 5+) and are best suited for fighting other ships of roughly the same size, due to their slow tracking.
Plasma Cannon
Due to technological limitations, vehicular plasma cannon have a shorter range than most other vehicular weapons. They are most often found on ground vehicles, destroyers, close-range bombers, and any other vehicle that can afford to get close to its target.
One of the rarer models of plasma cannon is the plasma breacher. Its containment field is arranged so that the plasma is released in a forward burst, rather than indiscriminately, making it quite effective against heavy armor. Most planets lack the necessary industrial and technological base to manufacture them, so the majority of breachers in use are scavenged from wrecks of the Final War.
Proton Beam
The proton beam is one of the most powerful weapons commonly available in the Orion Sector. Firing a pulsed stream of tightly packed protons at relativistic speeds,
the proton beam excels in ship-to-ship combat—the protons release their energy explosively on impact, punching through weakly armored ships to wreak havoc on the systems within.
Its energy requirements are high enough that only vehicles are capable of mounting the weapon, and it is almost exclusively mounted on larger starships—few land vehicles need this sort of firepower, and the beam assembly is much too large to be feasibly mounted on a fighter.
Proton Lance
The logical progression of the proton beam, the proton lance is a powerful, if unwieldy, weapon. Taking most of the length of any ship it is mounted in, it is capable of firing on enemies at extreme ranges, and can completely obliterate smaller ships, if it can manage to hit them. They are exceedingly rare, however—the technology to create them, and often even to analyze them, was lost in the Final War, and no records have yet been found about their manufacture.
Mass Drivers
Much like personal pulse weaponry, mass drivers use magnetic fields to propel metal projectiles at high speeds. Inexpensive and effective, they form the backbone of many smaller ships’ armament—even for honest merchants, the spaceways are dangerous enough that only a fool goes about completely unarmed.
The rotary variant of mass drivers are especially popular as anti-fighter defenses, serving as a cheaper alternative to the Anti-Fighter Laser.
Rail Cannon
Rail cannon are large artillery weapons that use the same core principles of a mass driver. They use magnetic fields to accelerate large projectiles—generally 200–1,000 kg in mass—to extremely high speeds. Most rail cannon are scavenged from wrecks of the Final War, and can reach projectile velocities of up to 0.3c, resulting in multi-megaton yield impact energy.
Fusion Missile
Unlike the fusion warheads of the early- to mid-21st century, the fusion warheads available in the time of Phoenix Dust are clean-burning—without a fission starter, they produce no nuclear fallout and minimal ionizing radiation. As such, they are the most commonly used missiles for vehicular combat, though they are still more difficult to acquire than more precise weapons.
Table 6-2: Vehicle Weapons
| Name | Dmg | Crit | Range | Price | Rar | Silh | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Weapons | |||||||
| Anti-Fighter Laser | 5 | 2 | Close | 5,000 | 4 | 3-10 | Tracking 2 |
| Antipersonnel Plasma Repeater | 12 | 2 | Medium | (R) 2,250 | 6 | 2-5 | Auto-Fire, Burn 1, Blast 4, Personal Scale |
| Light Laser | 5 | 3 | Short | 3,000 | 3 | 2-10 | Accurate 1 |
| Heavy Laser | 6 | 3 | Short | 5,500 | 3 | 2-10 | Accurate 1 |
| Light Twin Laser | 5 | 3 | Short | 5,000 | 4 | 2-10 | Accurate 1, Linked 1 |
| Heavy Twin Laser | 6 | 3 | Short | 7,500 | 4 | 3-10 | Accurate 1, Linked 1 |
| Light Tri-Laser | 5 | 3 | Short | 7,000 | 4 | 3-10 | Accurate 1, Linked 2 |
| Heavy Tri-Laser | 6 | 3 | Short | 9,500 | 4 | 3-10 | Accurate 1, Linked 2 |
| X-Ray Laser | 8 | 3 | Medium | (R) 10,250 | 6 | 5-10 | Accurate 1, Breach 3, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Light Plasma Breacher | 8 | 2 | Close | (R) 9,250 | 6 | 3-10 | Breach 2, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Heavy Plasma Breacher | 12 | 2 | Close | (R) 14,250 | 7 | 4-10 | Breach 2, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Light Plasma Repeater | 5 | 2 | Close | (R) 10,500 | 6 | 2-6 | Auto-Fire, Vicious 1 |
| Heavy Plasma Repeater | 6 | 2 | Close | (R) 12,000 | 6 | 3-7 | Auto-Fire, Vicious 1 |
| Light Plasma Cannon | 8 | 2 | Short | (R) 9,250 | 5 | 3-10 | Burn 1, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Heavy Plasma Cannon | 12 | 2 | Short | (R) 16,250 | 5 | 3-10 | Burn 2, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Light Dual Plasma Cannon | 8 | 2 | Short | (R) 11,250 | 5 | 3-10 | Burn 1, Linked 1, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Heavy Dual Plasma Cannon | 12 | 2 | Short | (R) 18,250 | 5 | 3-10 | Burn 2, Linked 1, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Light Proton Beam | 8 | 3 | Medium | (R) 10,500 | 6 | 5-10 | Breach 1, Vicious 2 |
| Heavy Proton Beam | 10 | 3 | Long | (R) 17,500 | 6 | 5-10 | Breach 2, Vicious 2 |
| Light Twin Proton Beam | 8 | 3 | Medium | (R) 12,500 | 6 | 5-10 | Breach 1, Linked 1, Vicious 2 |
| Heavy Twin Proton Beam | 10 | 3 | Long | (R) 19,500 | 6 | 5-10 | Breach 2, Linked 1, Vicious 2 |
| Proton Lance | 18 | 4 | Extreme | (R) 60,000 | 10 | 6-10 | Breach 6, Slow-Firing, Spinal Mount 6 |
| Kinetic Weapons | |||||||
| Light Mass Driver | 5 | 4 | Close | 1,500 | 2 | 2-10 | |
| Heavy Mass Driver | 6 | 4 | Short | 3,000 | 2 | 2-10 | |
| Wide-Bore Mass Driver | 8 | 4 | Medium | 6,500 | 4 | 5-10 | |
| Light Rotary Mass Driver | 4 | 4 | Close | 4,000 | 2 | 2-10 | Auto-Fire, Tracking 2 |
| Heavy Rotary Mass Driver | 5 | 4 | Short | 5,000 | 2 | 2-10 | Auto-Fire, Tracking 1 |
| Heavy Pulse Repeater | 12 | 3 | Short | 1,900 | 7 | 2-6 | Auto-Fire, Personal Scale, Pierce 1, Vicious 1 |
| Light Rail Cannon | 9 | 4 | Long | (R) 10,000 | 8 | 5-10 | Breach 3, Slow-Firing 2 |
| Heavy Rail Cannon | 12 | 4 | Extreme | (R) 19,000 | 9 | 5-10 | Breach 4, Slow-Firing 2 |
| Missile Weapons | |||||||
| Concussive Particle (CP) Torpedo Launcher | 10 | 4 | Medium | (R) 20,500 | 7 | 3-10 | Blast 8, Guided 2, Limited Ammo 3, Slow-Firing 1 |
| Fusion Missile Launcher | 8 | 5 | Medium | 8,500 | 6 | 2-10 | Guided 2, Limited Ammo 3 |
| Heavy Plasma Missile Launcher | 10 | 5 | Medium | (R) 13,000 | 7 | 2-10 | Breach 1, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 3 |
| Light Capital Missile Launcher | 9 | 5 | Medium | (R) 8,750 | 6 | 5-10 | Breach 2, Guided 3, Slow-Firing 3 |
| Heavy Capital Missile Launcher | 11 | 5 | Long | (R) 16,750 | 7 | 7-10 | Breach 3, Guided 3, Slow-Firing 3 |
| Kinetic Missile Launcher | 10 | 4 | Medium | (R) 14,250 | 7 | 3-10 | Breach 2, Guided 1, Limited Ammo 4 |
| Positron Torpedo Launcher | 13 | 5 | Long | (R) 31,250 | 8 | 5-10 | Blast 8, Breach 2, Limited Ammo 4, Slow-Firing 2 |
| Other Weapons | |||||||
| Light Tractor Beam | -- | -- | Close | 4,500 | 4 | 4-10 | Tractor 4 |
| Heavy Tractor Beam | -- | -- | Short | 7,000 | 5 | 5-10 | Tractor 6 |
Heavy Plasma Missile
A heavier version of the personal plasma missile, this weapon is the second most common vehicular missile, incorporating shielding to protect against space dust and a more advanced propulsion system to allow enough burn time to traverse the larger interstellar distances. It is much more tightly regulated than fusion missiles, however, due in part to its excellent anti-armor capabilities.
Kinetic Penetrator
Little more than a lump of dense material hooked up to a missile engine, the kinetic penetrator eschews explosives in favor of kinetic energy, accelerating to relativistic speeds before impact. While better at penetrating armor, the high speeds required mean that its guidance systems are not as effective at correcting a near-miss.
Positron Torpedo
Completely unguided, the positron torpedo is nonetheless one of the most formidable ship-to-ship weapons. With a payload of antimatter, even a near-miss can inflict damage due to the high-energy radiation emitted by the blast.
Vehicle Ammunition
Ammunition for vehicular missile weapons is handled in the same way as personal weapons, except most vehicle ammunition has much higher encumbrance values. Consult Table 6-2: Vehicle Ammunition for price, rarity, and encumbrance.
Note that the encumbrance does NOT apply to ammunition already in the internal magazines of the launchers, it only applies to any extra ammunition stored in a vehicle’s cargo area.
Table 6-2: Vehicle Ammunition
| Ammunition | Enc | Price | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Missile | 5 | 265 | 5 |
| Heavy Plasma Missile | 8 | (R) 750 | 7 |
| Kinetic Penetrator | 7 | (R) 500 | 7 |
| Positron Torpedo | 20 | (R) 2,500 | 8 |
Vehicle System Upgrades
In addition to weapons, you can purchase different systems and upgrades for your vehicle. These upgrades improve the vehicle’s performance or, in some cases, add new capabilities. They are summarized in Table 6-3: Vehicle System Upgrades.
Table 6-3: Vehicle System Upgrades
| Attachment | Price | Rarity | HP | Silh | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Systems | |||||||
| Autopilot, Simple | 3,000 | 5 | 0 | 3-10 | |||
| Autopilot, Standard | 3,500 | 5 | 0 | 3-10 | |||
| Autopilot, Advanced | 4,000 | 6 | 0 | 3-10 | |||
| Integrated AI, Simple | 14,000 | 8 | 2 | 4-10 | |||
| Integrated AI, Standard | (R) 17,500 | 8 | 2 | 4-10 | |||
| Integrated AI, Advanced | (R) 21,000 | 9 | 2 | 5-10 | |||
| Navigation AI, Simple | 4,000 | 5 | 0 | 3-10 | |||
| Navigation AI, Standard | 5,000 | 5 | 0 | 3-10 | |||
| Navigation AI, Advanced | 6,000 | 6 | 0 | 3-10 | |||
| Pilot AI, Simple | 8,500 | 6 | 1 | 3-10 | |||
| Pilot AI, Standard | 10,000 | 6 | 1 | 3-10 | |||
| Pilot AI, Advanced | (R) 11,500 | 7 | 1 | 3-10 | |||
| Combat Systems | |||||||
| Advanced Targeting Systems | 2,500 | 4 | 1 | 3-10 | |||
| Armor Plating | Silh × 500 | 3 | 1 | 2-10 | |||
| Electronic Countermeasures | 3,500 | 5 | 1 | 3-10 | |||
| Hardened Systems | 2,500 | 5 | 1 | 1-10 | |||
| Reinforced Hull | 1,500 | 4 | 1 | 2-10 | |||
| Reinforced Shielding | 4,000 | 6 | 1 | 4-10 | |||
| Tuned Weapon Systems | Silh × 750 | 6 | 1 | 3-10 | |||
| Flight Systems | |||||||
| Engine Booster | 5,000 | 6 | 1 | 2-5 | |||
| High-Output Engine | 3,000 | 5 | 1 | 2-10 | |||
| Improved Hyper-Shielding | 4,000 | 6 | 1 | 4-10 | |||
| Precision Maneuvering Array | Silh × 1,000 | 6 | 1 | 2-10 | |||
| Internal Systems | |||||||
| Brig System | Silh × 750 | 7 | 3 | 3-10 | |||
| Security System | Silh × 250 | 4 | 0 | 1-10 | |||
| Smuggling Compartments | (R) 800 | 1 | 1 | 4-10 | |||
Advanced Targeting Systems
The sensors, targeting computers, and other such systems of Phoenix Dust are far more advanced than modern technology, but there is always room for improvement. Those who can afford to do so often upgrade their targeting systems, whether by improving the sensors, upgrading the software packages, or even installing an entire new array.
Modifiers: Upgrade the ability of Gunnery checks once when firing mounted weapons.
Hard Points Required: 1
Silhouette Range: 3-10
Price/Rarity: 2,500/4
Armor Plating
Survivability is key in the many lawless regions of the Orion Sector. As such, one of the most common upgrades among vehicles is improved armor plating—whether it takes the form of higher quality materials or additional layers of plating.
Modifiers: Increase Armor by 1 and reduce Handling by 1.
Hard Points Required: 1
Silhouette Range: 2-10
Price/Rarity: Silhouette × 500/3
Autopilot, Simple
An autopilot is a limited AI capable of flying and maneuvering a vehicle. It can perform Driving, Operating, or Piloting checks (depending on the type of vehicle) and will follow the orders of its owner to the best of its ability. The simplest models allow only the most basic of maneuvers.
Modifiers: The vehicle can drive/fly/operate itself as if piloted by a pilot with 2 ranks in Driving, Operating, or Piloting (as determined by the type of vehicle) and 0 ranks in the associated Characteristic (dd).
Hard Points Required: 0
Silhouette Range: 3-10
Price/Rarity: 3,000/5
Autopilot, Standard
More advanced autopilots allow for more complex maneuvers.
Modifiers: The vehicle can drive/fly/operate itself as if piloted by a pilot with 3 ranks in Driving, Operating, or Piloting (as determined by the type of vehicle) and 0 ranks in the associated Characteristic (ddd).
Hard Points Required: 0
Silhouette Range: 3-10
Price/Rarity: 3,500/5
Autopilot, Advanced
The most advanced autopilots on the market, capable of highly complicated maneuvers.
Modifiers: The vehicle can drive/fly/operate itself as if piloted by a pilot with 4 ranks in Driving, Operating, or Piloting (as determined by the type of vehicle) and 0 ranks in the associated Characteristic (dddd).
Hard Points Required: 0
Silhouette Range: 3-10
Price/Rarity: 4,000/6
Brig System
The brig system upgrade is commonly used by slavers and bounty hunters. It consists of a hardened security system, a set of cells, and sometimes limited access points for larger ships, allowing containment of prisoners/etc.
Modifiers: Provides a full incarceration/security suite for several prisoners, based on Silhouette:
| Silhouette | Max Prisoners |
|---|---|
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 15 |
| 8+ | 40 |
Hard Points Required: 3
Silhouette Range: 3-10
Price/Rarity: Silh × 750/7
Electronic Countermeasures
An electric countermeasure suite incorporates multiple systems to spoof electronic guidance systems: broad- and narrow-band jammers, stealth systems, and even decoy drones in some larger ships, increasing survivability against guided weapon attacks. The jammers can also be boosted temporarily to provide general protection against all targeting methods.
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Engine Booster
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Hardened Systems
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High-Output Engine
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Improved Hyper-Shielding
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Integrated AI
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Pilot AI
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Precision Maneuvering Array
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Reinforced Hull
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Reinforced Shielding
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Security System
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Smuggling Compartments
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Tuned Weapon Systems
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