L A N C E R

COLDCORE COLISEUM

A Lancer Homebrew Supplement

By Miles Mellott
An unofficial supplement for Lancer , the mech RPG by Miguel
Lopez and Tom Bloom
Coldcore Coliseum is not an official Lancer product; it is a third
party work, and is not affiliated with Massif Press. Coldcore
Coliseum is published via the Lancer Third Party License.
Lancer is copyright Massif Press

By
Miles Mellott (@cicada_king on Discord or @the_cicada_king
on Twitter)

Commissioned Art
Khargan Assayid and Kasimir Coryat Receive The Capitol
Laurels - Gobert (https://linktr.ee/kinggobert)

Public Domain
“The Colosseum” - Victor Jean Nicole, 1779 “Two Soldiers and Child Holding a Helmet” -
“Five German Soldiers” - Daniel Hopfer, 1490- Robert Blythe, 1779
1536 “Roman Soldier” - Paolo Farinato, 1543-1547
“A Lansquenet”; “Frieze with Centaurs Fighting “Standing Soldier with Sword and Shield” -
Unknown, 16th Century Italy
at Center with Human Riders” - Sebald Beham, “Nude Warriors” - Circle of Federico Zuccaro,
1520 1561-1609
“Two Genii With Two Dogs Fighting” - Nicolaes “A soldier standing, in profile” - Charles Meryon,
de Bruyn, 1594 1849
“Seated Soldier Conversing with a Companion, “David decapitating Goliath” - Ugo de Carpi,
1520-1527
and Two Other Figures”; “Soldier Leaning on a “Soldier of the Line” - Hippolyte Bellangé, 1855
Spear”, “Two warriors, one seated asleep on a “A Soldier for Pétain” - Théophile-Alexandre
foreground rock” - Salvator Rosa, 1656-1668 Pierre Steinlen, 1915-1917
“Turkish Soldier” - Hans Weigel, 1577
“Rudolph II” - Hans Burgkmair, 1509-1512 “Kali” - Unknown, 20th century
“An Old Woman Burning Papers”, Nicolai “Warrior and Castle” - Heinrich Aldegrever,
Abraham Abildgaard, 18th-19th century 1522-1565
“Bearded Archer; Blacksmith; Sorbet Seller; “Ruins of the Coliseum, plate 10 from The
Riverbank Tent; Soldier with lance; Turkish Ruins of Rome” - Bartholomeus Breenbergh,
Nobleman; Suleymaniye Mosque; Phaeton and 1639-1640
Helios” - Melchior Lorck, 1581 “Sword of Honour presented to Major-General
“St. George” - Hans Leinberger, 1511-1533 Sir Evelyn Wood” - Anon, 19th century
“Lion Hunt” - Rembrant, 1641 “Man fighting lion” - Luca Cambiaso, 1763
“Standard-Bearer” - Erhard Schön, 1535

Accessed via the National Gallery of Art, the British Museum,

the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Collection,
and the Harvard Art Collection under CC0 licensing

Special Thanks
Reconus, Ru, Delilah, Kojima, Ikiryo, Briar, Alaen, and Sasha
on PilotNET for your help, inspiration, and
support in making this guide a reality.
Thanks for Playing!
SECTION 0: SECTION 2:
COLDCORE COLISEUM COLDCORE COLISEUM
TOURNAMENT RULES 1 PLAYER RULES 50
THE TOURNAMENT 2 PLAYER TALENTS 52
Tournament Design 4
Optional Scoring Rules 5 KHARGAN/KASIMIR
Example Tournaments 7 CUSTOM ASSEMBLY 54
RIVALS AND SPONSORS 15 NANDAKA 56
Example NPCs - Rivals 15 TIZONA 59
Example NPCs - Other 19 TYRFING 63
LAWS AND PLAYING DIRTY 23 ZOMORRODNEGAR 66
FAVOR 25 YAWARAKAI-TE 69
CHASSIS DUELS 27 SSC ALEXANDRA 71
IL VAGABONDO 30
DOWNTIME ACTIONS 33 THE MENAGERIE CHAMPIONSHIP
SITREPS – EXTINGUISH 35 74
SITREPS – RELAY 36 CORNICELLO 76
JIN-CHAN 79
MILAGRO 82
SECTION 1: NAZAR 85
CLOVER 89
THE GRAND TOURNEY: MANEKI-NEKO 91

GRAND TOURNEY RULES

35
35
The Tourney Board
Playing the Tourney
35
38
SECTION 3:
Teams and Styles 41
Hazards 46
COLDCORE COLISEUM
ICONIC NPCS X
ARSENAL x
IRIS X
MOSQUITO X
TERRAFORMER X
TULPA X
CHAMPION SQUADS X
TOURNAMENT RULES
FIGHTING FOR FAVOR AND FANS
See here, these hallowed grounds? But a warning now. Do not mistake
Each brick tells a story, whether memory for humanity, nor
or not you’d care to hear it. recollection for care. This arena
There, the blood spilled when an will devour you whole. It will
heir’s arrogance cut her lineage drink the blood from your body
short. There, a victory that and the marrow from your bones.
propelled the laureate to It is a vicious, terrible beast.
admiralship. Here, a grueling It has one thousand thousand
summer of grudge matches between heads, and twice as many eyes. It
bitter rivals - they would never will be your ruin; that you are
admit it now, but all of here proves it already has been.
Ispahsalar held its breath for If you would enter its maw, take
the final fight. The coliseum is care to leave it scarred and
not built only of stone, and it bloody. Make your passing
carries more than the gilt and beautiful, and we will sing your
gold of its engravings. Each name forevermore.
stone a story, every step a path
to the past. Let it teach you,
and carve your memory into its
thirsting grounds.
 THE TOURNAMENT On Combat Sports
The speartip flashes. Chaff scatters into The opinions and cultural weight surrounding
glittering sparks as missiles skitter and careen. mechanized combat sports are as varied as the
The roar of a coldcore at its limit is only matched worlds in Union and beyond. They are base
by the roar of the crowd screaming their souls gray-legal bloodsports; massive merchandised
into the arena, carried by a thousand handfuls of tournaments; careful military practice that edges
thrown petals and whipping banners as the into entertainment; and the high-art and high-
victor finally stands still, triumphant. The stakes dance of decadent government and
cheering becomes a chanting crescendo as the nobility. Frequently they are all of these things
cockpit hisses and slides open with a crack: and more.
“Lan! Cer! LAN! CER! LAN! CER! LAN! CER!
LAN-” Although they exist in myriad forms across
humanity’s vast diaspora, in no place are these
Violence captivates humanity. It has us truths more evident and developed than the
spellbound, horrified and fascinated since the Karrakin Trade Baronies. The chassis is but one
first hunter brought spear to flesh. It is a grim addition to millennia of refinement of sport, style,
mirror of our capabilities that follows us step by honor and competition, and pankration mekani
step through centuries and millennia and we is still only growing in popularity. On the House
cannot bring ourselves to look away. We decry of Glass’ Ispahsalar combat tourneys are a
war and exalt its heroes; bemoan blood-lust and matter of panache and pageantry, celebrity
rally at righteous anger. It is the iron-edged pilots and cheering fans. On the House of
bludgeon of the oppressor state and the jagged, Stone’s Khayradin and Smoke’s Eyalet-a, they
desperate weapon by which its rule is cut short. are curated public viciousness for honor and
It is inescapable, and when we cannot find it, we standing as often as they are unofficial matches
make it. to blow off steam. For Water’s Umara or Order’s
Karrakis they are cultural revivals and
Violence is spectacle; spectacle violence. The traditionalist memoria in equal measure as they
gladiator’s pay blood for entertainment; nobles trace stories of ancient battles while shaping
sit to see knights clash without war; each new new arcs of history and avant-garde expression.
weapon we invent is memorialized, idolized, Though they could be included in any Lancer
digitized and gamified that we might touch the campaign, the Baronies provide a robust setting
shape of violence without it cutting us back. The for a tournament that combines the flashy
mechanical chassis — humanity, purified and combat in the ring with the social ideals and
idealized — is no exception. When the war political imbalances that these larger-than-life
ends, the dust settles, when wounds run dry and battles reflect.
some few go home and borders are once more
drawn fresh and red: we make it a story, and we No matter where and how they exist, combat
tell it again and again until it is polished and sports echo the society they take place in, with
practiced and perfect without the rough edges all of its virtues, mores, instabilities and wounds
that could make it unpalatable. just as the mech echoes the humanity from
It is 5016u, and the coliseums, arenas, rings which it takes form. Whether within or without
and pits of Union space tremble with the the ring, these topics add more intrigue and
footsteps of mechanized gladiators; titanic depth to a campaign than the combat alone.
knights joust with demisolar hearts; bullets spray What drives pilots to the ring? What pressures
and missiles flare to the cheers of countless are the audience escaping with their
souls. Our heroes walk among us — will you join viewership? What social strata are made level in
them? competition, and what disparities are elevated to
our attention? While the violence in the arena is
controlled, what violence is raging or lurking
beyond its walls, and beyond control?

[2]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
On Games and Violence Maybe it is simply about the ease of violence as
In plainest terms, Lancer is a game about a language; violent action creates a
violence. Its core function as a tabletop straightforward and universally understood
roleplaying game is enabling players to take the framework of success and failure. There is
part of larger-than-life mechanized soldiers inherent tension and release. The clean and
taking part in military or paramilitary conflict. In skillful execution of this task within the
this way, the violence – the death, brutality and framework of a game is fulfillment in and of
trauma – of war is made engaging and fun. It is itself, that merely uses the understood emotional
not unique in this regard. Violence as a function language of violence as a useful shorthand to
of play and storytelling is as endemic to human deliver its impact instead of creating a new
nature as our ability to perpetrate it; the latter framework ex nihilo.
begets the former, as we use games and play to
process the external world as well as our own Maybe it is about the idealization of violence as
thoughts and emotions in a controlled setting. a force for cathartic resolution. The problems of
greed, inaction, supremacy, and empire are not
While it does not bear the same weight of easily solved, and it is frequently through
gamification, as a text it is also interested in the violence that they exert themselves on us.
systemic, societal violence that underpins Violence in turn, is an act of parallel resistance.
physical conflicts. The levers of greed, inaction, It cannot build the new world that we need
supremacy, and empire, and their tangled alone, but fighting back against the wrongdoings
intersections with history shape violence in in the world to limit their harm is a part of the
Lancer’s setting as they do in the real world. It is whole. In a fictionalized world, this can be
a setting interested in the violence performed by elevated as we use the terms of the game to
cruel kings and careless bureaucrats, and that craft a resolution that brings us this catharsis
performed by those that suffer by their hands in without risk. Violence condenses ideology into
retaliation, or against these perpetrators by an action, without the work of what comes next.
external force of justice. It desires to ask a
question about what causes violence, and what Maybe we simply find it fun. It is the grandest
separates one act from another; how violence spectacle that we can imagine, and we can put
can be just or unjust, and how the decision to aside its rough edges within the confines of a
enact violence reflects a failure of the systems game to better enjoy it. We enjoy stories about
that should have provided a better answer. In solders, knights, mercenaries, and
this way it is also not unique as a text, but is revolutionaries because their imagined lives
instead one tool among many that attempt to have incredible potential for us and we crave the
ask these and similar questions to varying excitement and pathos they give us. The
degrees of success. While there are conclusions concept of a mech exemplifies this. Here is
to be drawn directly from the text, its main humanity, deified and stripped bare; here, it is a
purpose is as a tool for further interrogation on tool without a voice. It is a singular purpose.
your own terms. As a game it acts as a system Here are the pieces of ‘us’ that we thought
of prompts and responses that allows its players worthy of carving into metal. Here are the pieces
to find answers for themselves, and tell stories that we were not afraid of giving power to.
about them that they find compelling.
Coldcore Coliseum is an attempt to continue to
By turning violent actions into gameplay offer you tools to explore these questions. When
abstractions we can explore their emotional you use this book, I encourage you to continue
impact while also creating a satisfying play reflecting on what violence and competition
experience; one that feels intellectually or means to you. What compels you about it? What
socially engaging. These feelings can also be aspects of it do you wish to elevate or expose?
explored without taking part in fictionalized How does the tournament reflect the setting,
violence. A game that took part in a similar and how does the game at the table reflect the
setting where players take the role of civilian and world and its players? Whether you find answers
other non-combatant actors could ask and or not, I hope that in the journey you use it to tell
answer many of the same questions – and many stories and have adventures that excite and
do. Why then is the ability to effect direct satisfy you. Have fun!
fictional violence compelling?

[3]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Tournament Design • Context – What are the society, history, and
Combat sports are a way to play out the politics beyond this tournament; where and
excitement and spectacle of mechanized when is this taking place? The tournament
combat without the risks of actual warfare. They does not exist in a vacuum, and its
are (usually) safe and sanitized, and the pilots interactions with the world around it can tell
that participate in them may have frequent, a richer story than either alone as they
some, or no actual military experience at all. For interfere or play into each other.
a campaign, they are an opportunity for • There is fighting in the streets, and the
missions within Lancer’s framework that present tournament distracts the rabble from
a different set of stakes, pressures and narrative thoughts of rebellion; this is a centennial
factors than the usual assumption of military contest where the best of the best are
action. sent to fight in proxy for higher powers;
this is an unassuming tourney, but forces
Similar to using a military mission or mercenary beyond have seized it as an opportunity to
operation, the fictional structure of a combat make a play for power or infamy.
tournament should blend a few concrete details
that give players purpose and direction with a This list is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive; it
more abstracted milieu of set dressing within exists as a possible framing tool. A table may
which they have the agency to pursue that find benefits from describing all or none of these
purpose or explore that direction. Broadly, a elements, some may only become apparent
tournament will contain the following concrete organically after several sessions of play, and
elements: they may change or drift as circumstances
change around them. Use them as tools to
• Structure – What do players need to do in enhance the story told at your table, not barriers
order to win; how is the tournament to confine it.
arranged, and by who? This can guide how
missions and scenes are planned, and
provides clear paths forward.
◦ Bracket matches over the course of a
week; open war games over months,
carefully judged and tallied; impromptu
duels declared during a one-day festival,
waiting for the last man standing.

◦ Stakes – What happens if the players fail;

why are they pursuing this goal? This
motivates players and their characters to be
invested in the tournament, and gives them
opportunities to develop as their obligations
and relationships to them change.
◦ To pay for my parents’ treatment; to
avenge my mentor; to gain access to the
royal palace for a single night; to keep
the prize from falling into the wrong
hands; to keep the prize from falling into
lesser hands.

◦ Prizes – What the victor will receive; what

goal are players and NPCs pursuing? This
drives the conflict of the tourney – if the
prize isn’t worth pursuing, why is anyone
fighting over it?
◦ More money than you’ve ever seen; a
ticket offworld; an audience with the
emperor; absolution for a crime.

[4]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
Optional Scoring Rules To determine NPC team progress, designate
Organized duels in an arena present different each other team as either Weak, Average,
consequences for failure than a livefire skirmish. Strong, or Rivals.
Victory and failure of a combat scene or mission • Weak teams have a 50% chance of gaining
do not present the same immediate gains or 1 point or 2 points at the end of each
losses (a city captured; a supply line rebuilt; a mission.
VIP rescued or eliminated, etc.) as the overall • Average teams gain 1d3+1 points
stakes are those of the entire tournament. Given • Strong teams gain 1d3+2 points
the real possibility of failure in a combat scene in • Rivals gain 1d3+3 points
Lancer, exiting the tournament due to losing in a
single scene may be unfairly punishing for most An NPC team cannot gain more points per
tables. The GM’s role first and foremost should mission than were available to players. If the
be to facilitate an engaging and collaborative players succeed in a combat scene against an
experience, and to that end they should arrange NPC team, that team gains one fewer point.
the tournament however they see fit to create
the best experience for their table. For most Modifiers:
tables, slight narrative allowances and shared • Players are presented with multiple possible
agreement are all that is needed. objectives on a map, and the point values
for pursuing them, and can choose which to
For tables that want a harder mechanical basis pursue and in which order. Higher point
for their tournaments, the following are several value objectives represent harder combat
optional rules that can be used to modulate what scenes, allowing them to balance risk and
progression looks like between combats and reward.
missions, and keep the tension of possible
failure without being unfair. These rules are Elimination Brackets
relatively low-impact and can be tracked without The tournament is arranged in a bracketed
much extra effort on top of a normal Lancer series of one-on-one match-ups between teams.
campaign. For a more complex system, see the Each bracket (1-3 combat scenes) the players
Grand Tourney on p??. face the same opponent team, though their
composition and the mission objectives may
Wargame Points change. The victor is determined as the winner
This is a simplified version of the Grand Tourney of more than half of the scenes, with the losing
system detailed later in this book. Use it to team being eliminated from the tournament.
simulate wargames or sequential objective-
based missions where the players are This setup means that there will always be at
competing or warring against multiple other least one ‘free’ failure for players, and these
defined teams of skilled pilots, where only one losses will not carry over into the next rung of
victor can emerge. the tournament. Accordingly, each scene can
afford to be more difficult without the immediate
Each combat scene awards one point to the threat of elimination, or players can have more
victors. Particularly challenging or important comfortable room to recover from bad luck. If
scenes could award two points at the GM’s you want to leave the progress of NPC teams in
discretion. At the end of the tournament, the the background up to chance, roll 1d6 for each
winner is the team with the most points. team in a bracketed match-up (rerolling ties).
Alternatively (or in the event of a tie), the two The team with the lower roll is eliminated. If a
highest scoring teams engage in a final face off team would have a particular advantage over
to determine the victor. Tournament length can another (ex: by being more skilled, better
either be determined by a certain number of prepared, or by cheating), they can roll 2d6 and
missions, or a total point ceiling that one team keep the higher result.
must reach (8 for a short tournament, 12 for a
medium length tournament, or 16 for a long Modifiers:
tournament.) • A team must lose in 2 total missions in order
to be eliminated; this gives players an extra
This method allows players to see their goal and safety net, and allows them to face the same
progress towards it mission by mission. It also team multiple times to build up rivals before
gives the GM room to mitigate failures by they’re ultimately defeated.
offering opportunities for modifiers and specialty
matches that award more points. It is useful for
free-for-all or wargame style tournaments, where
match-ups are fluid and matches are more
continuous.

[5]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Career Clocks: Modifiers:
This system focuses on the narrative element of • Career Clocks can be shortened to 4 or 6
professional mech pilots gaining more fame and segments to shorten the time between
renown as they progress from local names to steps; they can all be the same size, or
cultural sensations. Use it if you want to different between different steps of the
emphasize the goals and impact of chasing players’ career.
career advancement, without it affecting the • If players lose a combat scene or complete
success of failure of other player goals or a narrative action that will detrimentally
mission states. impact their career, they reduce their Career
Clock by 1. If a clock would reach 0 their
Players have a Career Clock; a circle split into standing is at an all time low, and they won’t
eight equal segments that all begin empty. This be able to compete in matches until they do
represents their standing and fame as a team in something to get back in the good graces of
a continuous career of pro-mech fighting. They the public and their manager.
fill in one segment when they do each of the
following:
• Win in a combat scene.
• Win in all combat scenes in a single
mission.
• Complete an appropriate narrative scene
that would increase their career standing (A
favor for a manager or influential sponsor; a
public act of charity or heroism; cheating,
blackmail or manipulation, as long as they
aren’t caught.)

When players fill all 8 segments, they have an

opportunity to challenge the current front runner
of their fame bracket to seize their position. The
next mission in the arena will include that fighter
or team as a hostile NPC(s). If the players
manage to defeat them and succeed in the
scene, they progress to the next bracket: they
gain a new Career Clock starting at 0, gain a
Fame Token, and their material circumstances
change in some way (a new class of opponents,
a bigger home arena, a greater payout per
match). If they fail, they instead reduce their
Career Clock by 1d3+2 segments.

The Fame Token can be spent at any time by

any player (with group consent) to automatically
gain a result of 20+ on any pilot check even after
seeing the initial result, or to enact a guaranteed
narrative change or setting detail by leveraging
their fame and standing. The possible scale of
this event increases with each filled Career
Clock the team has. The following are examples
with 1/2/3 clocks filled:
• Convince a local gang/military squad/hostile
polity to back down or release a hostage.
• Gain access to a local party/interest group’s
exclusive event/off-the-books cabinet
meeting or blacksite.
• Acquire a small amount of property/a minor
noble title/a sizable fortune.

[6]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
EXAMPLE
TOURNAMENTS
Mosaic Circuit Scrapdown
The Mosaic is a truly once-in-a-lifetime event: An underground ring turned big-time
the Glass Suzerain is dying, and the entertainment, Scrapdown is the biggest,
succession festival will culminate in a boldest, shitkickingest beatdown contest
breakneck tournament open for even the you’ve ever seen. Play big, win big, stay big
ignoble public to register in.
Prize: Manna? Fame? Putting on the sickest
Prize: A single wish, to be granted by the show Midline’s ever seen? Sheer fucking
Glass Suzerain as their final act in office. adrenaline? Whatever you want, Scrapdown
will get it for you, ‘slong as you keep winning.
Structure: Several rounds of themed events,
each awarding a ladder of points to the Structure: Managers and sponsors plan
victors and runners-up. The finalists reenact a match-ups for you each week - do good, get
historic defense of the Mosaic Throne against paid, do bad, everyone still needs a heel. You
the current House Company. want to make it big though, you gotta beat the
champ – and nobody beats the champ.
Context: The succession festival is a time of
great potential and upheaval; a time to Context: Midline’s seen better days, but it’s
overturn decades of tradition and create seen worse too. The war’s been done for a
something new before the government while, and right now, it’s caught in the middle
recalcifies. Political blocs on all sides are of becoming something new, people are
louder than ever, and the Circuit is a space itching for something. Whatever’s coming next,
for them to try and gain public favor, or it’ll start in the ring.
enshrine new laws without going through the
usual channels. Players: The next big thing that everyone is
talking about; some lowtown nobodies
Players: A Free Company looking to undo an punching above their weight; the house’s
ancestral shame; mercenaries chasing glory; squad, keeping fights fair.
revolutionaries seeking real change.
Rivals: Corporate plants trying to make
Rivals: Reactionaries seizing political power; Scrapdown legit - and controlled; the champs,
celebrities seeking fame; the Suzerain’s child, with no patience for smallfry; a bitter old team
trying to preserve their parent’s standing. that fights messy and dirty as they claw for the
top billing.
Sponsors: A cunning and wealthy politician
with unclear motives; an old pankrati past Sponsors: Last decades’ winner helping the
their time; a social movement’s leader, new generation; a crime boss supporting your
gaining momentum. career in return for favors; your families and
neighborhood, hoping you can make it big.
Twist: The Suzerain is assassinated before
the Circuit is completed; now they play proxy Twist: Fighters are going missing – first it was
for a succession crisis that begins to spill just new blood that could have just been giving
beyond the walls of the arena. up, but this week one of the top five vanished
just after their match. If the mystery isn’t
solved, Scrapdown might shut down for good
– and the missing may never return.

[7]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 The Palisade Games The Pit
A decennial series of war games and Whatever you did to get sent down here, it
exercises in the Baronies, given free reign on wasn’t worth it. The Pit’s a nation unto itself,
a paradise planet. Houses send their best and the only way out is to play by its rules. It
and brightest, and this time that means you. wants blood - so you’ll give it some.

Prize: Diplomatically, the point of the Games Prize: Maybe you’ll get out. Maybe you’ll see
is to foster camaraderie between Houses, the sky. Maybe you just get an extra ration,
and to enshrine your sponsor’s honor through and you can skip some shifts – warden doesn’t
victory. Still, it’s no secret that the winning like playing fair.
teams have a guaranteed promotion and their
Structure: The warden’s fights are brutal,
pick of deployments. Besides, isn’t it better to
sudden, and sporadic - they keep the crowds
be here instead of some backwater skirmish?
sated and the fighters fed and tired. The only
Structure: The Games combine simulated rules are survival, and the fight goes until
open warfare with staged, objective-driven nobody’s left.
skirmishes. Scoring is determined by a panel
Context: Word hasn’t reached the yard
of military judges on a broad spectrum of
population yet, but the Pit’s getting shut down
efficiency, tactical success, and adherence to
– folks in gray caught wind and are busting up
doctrine.
topside. The warden doesn’t want to lose their
Context: This year’s Games are a matter of kingdom, so one way or the other, this will be
heated debate, as for the first time non- the last fight the Pit ever sees.
Karrakin forces have been invited as gestures
Players: Fresh meat for the Pit, and a ripe
of solidarity. The Armory contingent is
target for the Warden’s fighters to rip apart;
particularly unwanted due to recent tensions,
Stonekin, children born to the Pit who’ve never
and there is concern in intelligence circles
known anything but its prison as they serve
that this will be used to strike a blow against
their inherited sentence; a Liberator team
the gathered high command of Union space.
undercover, snuck behind the Warden’s walls
Players: A Karrakin Banner Company under to tear it down from the inside.
the Throne’s aegis; an Armory legion,
Rivals: The Warden’s favorite pets, eager for
distrusted and looking to prove their worth; a
blood; Someone you knew outside, hungry for
Union Auxiliary contingent, a diplomat’s
revenge; a poor, sorry soul, good at heart, but
careful gesture.
there’s only one way to survive the Pit.
Rivals: A jealous squad in your own faction,
Sponsors: The Warden, wielding privileges
seeking their own advancement at any cost; a
and punishments as carrot and crop; a
vengeful squad from another, looking to settle
smuggler, using you to grow their influence
an old score.
and squash competition; the Warden’s second,
Sponsors: Your CO, disciplined but bearing trying to build power to start a coup.
scars of their own; an ambassador, hoping
Twist: They dig the Pit deeper every cycle;
these simulated skirmishes will mend bonds
bedrock carved into cells for an ever-growing
and not fray them further; a spy, angling at
population. Today, they broke into a cavern: a
some other aim you cannot know yet.
deep, swallowing darkness deeper than
Twist: At the height of the mock combat, anyone’s ever been before. You are not alone
something goes terribly wrong. down here.
Communications from commanders of every
force suddenly cease, and no hails reach
beyond the Games’ boundaries. Tensions
flare to very real violence as each side
accuses the other of sabotage and
assassination, leaving precious little time to
investigate what truly happened.

[8]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
Rivals and Sponsors Tourney NPC Tables:
This section contains several tables for
generating Rivals and Sponsors for your Sponsors
campaign, as well as several example write ups
as NPCs. Rivals are foils and villains for your 1-2 An ex-gladiator who sees something
players, both on and off the arena. They should special in you.
challenge their skills, their beliefs, their
3-4 A cryptic benefactor that you’ve only
strengths, and their complacency. A Sponsor’s
encountered through asynchronous
relationship is inherently transactional, no matter
messages under the pseudonym
how beneficent; they pull players to their
Hierophant.
interests, entangle them in politics and dangle
clues to new missions, threats, and 5-6 The military org you belong to, either
opportunities. These kinds of persistent for training purposes or as a cultural
characters can be as important or secondary as exchange.
you and your players want and allow, and their
presence should be fluid in the service of a 7-8 A rich old baron that collects
greater story. Frequently they will represent the interesting clients like a crow collects
face of a particular group, ideology, or coins.
sociocultural detail of the campaign, and are a
way for a GM to bring that idea to the forefront 9-10 An astute politician, looking to unseat
as it changes over time. their rival’s standing.
11-12 A mid-level Harrison exec blowing
The following section contains several tables manna to feel like they’re in charge.
containing prompts for creating new Rival or
Sponsors characters, as well as several detailed 13-14 Someone you don’t know, who’s
examples of each. When you introduce a blackmailing you to keep fighting.
character like this to your campaign, ask
yourself the following questions: 15-16 Your family, so that you protect their
name, and to keep you away from their
• What is their name? How do they business.
introduce themselves, and what do people 17-18 A corporate marketing line; you have
call them? free reign, as long as you make their
product look good.
• How do they speak? Are they terse or
eloquently verbose? Friendly, frustrated, 19-20 Your entire community – a block,
scattered or focused? What nonverbal cues neighborhood, arcology – coming
do (or don’t!) they present? together to support their prodigal child.

• What do they want? What is the thing that

they need that causes them to clash or
parley with the players in pursuit of it, that
they cannot simply obtain without
entanglement.

[9]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Rivals
1-2 A vengeful soldier with a grudge
against you, your family or your squad.
3-4 A dedicated pugilist, ready to take
down anyone who looks like a threat to
their title.
5-6 An old squadmate, bitter at your
success.
7-8 A noble scion, arrogant and trying to
act above it all.
9-10 A mysterious kavalier, testing your
skills for some unknown purpose.
11-12 An upstart underdog that’s set their
sights on beating you as their path to
fame and victory.
13-14 A celebrity fighter; you can’t tell if
they’re really supporting you, or just
getting past your guard.
15-16 An old mentor, eager to see how
you’ve improved.
17-18 A scorned ex, the arena’s lights
exposing old wounds
Rival Details
19-20 A friend you haven’t seen since you
1-2 They have a younger sibling that
were both children, caught on the other
idolizes and looks up to them.
side of the ring.
3-4 They have a massive debt (or several)
that they’re struggling to repay.
5-6 They go to the same cafe or bar every
week out of nostalgia, guilt, routine, or
to make a scene.
7-8 They have a severe food allergy.
9-10 One or both of their parents was a
famous pankrati.
11-12 They burn most of their winnings in
gliss dens or similar vices.
13-14 They became a pilot to keep
somebody else safe.
15-16 They have an on-again off-again
relationship with one of their
squadmates.
17-18 A HORUS cell has devoted itself as
their fanclub, without their input.
19-20 They died - years, or maybe only days
ago, and someone else has been
impersonating them ever since.

[10]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Fanmail Deliveries
1-2 Homebaked cookies of indiscernible
quality.
3-4 A rambling handwritten note detailing
how you’ve changed their life while not
so gently scolding you for your recent
performance.
5-6 Spliced and heavily edited fancam
clips of your combat footage set to
neobass tracks for you to use as your
new ad reel.
7-8 This bag is far too wet to touch, let
alone open.
9-10 A self-deprecating invitation to a fans-
only omnichat server.
11-12 A shirt or plush with your team’s
branding, for you to sign and send
back.

Mech Team Names 13-14 A shakily filmed demo reel of

someone’s home-built chassis as it
1 Iron Tigers barely manages to hold together long
2 Flatine Crew enough to knock down similarly crafted
target dummies, asking for a spot on
3 Rosette Squadron your squad (or to replace their least
favorite member).
4 Lightning Chassis
15-16 Incriminating information about the
5 High Tide Dreadnoughts next match or a rivalry you have that
6 Plasma Demons was definitely not obtained through
legal means.
7 Nova Dancers
17-18 Misplaced mail for your rival, for you to
8 Hurricane Sharks do with as you please.

9 Blood Freaks 19-20 Seats at an opera, concert, or similarly

highbrow event for two – you, and
10 Velvet Angels whoever the mysterious sender is.
11 Diamond Battalion
12 Queen’s Blades
13 Wolfpack Breakers
14 Void Pact
15 Glitch Hounds
16 Calamity Knights
17 Marigold Dynasty
18 Phoenix Jockeys
19 Winter Hawks
20 Dragon Barons

[11]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Sample NPCs
Presented below are several sample NPCs that can be used as Rivals, Sponsors, or to generally add
character to your games. Along with brief biographies and motivations, NPC entries contain Style,
History, and Developments for that character, as well as suggestions for NPC compositions to
represent them. Style is the visual motifs and general feelings they should appear with; their History is
past engagements or personal events that the PCs or other NPCs might recognize them from, and
Developments are ways that their relationship can suddenly change in character as the story
progresses.

RIVAL – DELUGE SOLOMON

The Wolf – Hunt or Be Hunted
Captain of the Sargasso Sirens, an Umaran Free Company, Deluge gives little stock to the games that
the nobility play with each other – but unfortunately, their jobs usually pay the best. This reticence to
engage has kept the Sirens as a small Company, and they operate as a mercenary outfit rather than
assuming any military doctrine. He took their helm as a young prodigy after the previous captain’s
death, and has maintained it since with a calculating eye, frozen demeanor, and heavy investment in
the personal loyalty of his crew – the only family he has left now that nearlight travel has brought him
too far out of sync from anyone back home.

The Sirens are only here because they’re getting paid, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t invested in
doing the job well. Their sponsor wants them to win this tourney, so, as professionals, they’ll win it. As
professionals, they also recognize and respect real skill when they see it in other pilots, and a skilled
pilot is the first one you should take down in a fight. It’s nothing personal - just business.

• Style: Abyssal ocean; ink and leather jackets; cigarettes after the bar after the fight
• History: Survivor of the Quetzal’s Flight Conflict; piracy over Prime Sutra (both sides of the law); a
raucous evening together that started by chance in a bar and neither of you remember where it
ended; the battle that took your first commander’s life.
• Developments:
◦ A power struggle within the Sirens leads to the sabotage and attempted assassination of
Deluge – he survives, and is now seeking your help to identify and expose the traitor before
they learn he didn’t die.
◦ The Siren’s contract changes – instead of winning the tournament, their goal is now to take out
your team by any means necessary.
◦ The tournament is only a cover for the Sirens’ real job – intercepting and kidnapping Emir
Kastan Bellos when they arrive to watch the final match.
• Mech – LEVIATHAN: Veteran Assassin (Devil’s Cough Shotgun, Spinning Kick, Lightning
Reflexes). A hand-maintained Metalmark with several after-market modifications.
• Team: Aegises (Ring of Fire), Demolishers (Sap), Hives (Motile Swarm), Snipers (Defensive
Grapple)

[12]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
RIVAL – REDHAWK-01
The Titan – How Do You Move A Mountain?
Redhawk Squadron are champions of the ring, with dozens of trophies over multiple contests since
their debut, and setting new records for time-to-kill and fan favoritism in the process. Redhawk-01 is
their lead gladiator and the towering celebrity face of their victories. Their exact identity is vague: the
rest of the Squadron is the polished, marketable perfection one expects from SSC genesculpting, but
they only appear in their signature crimson armor, and rarely formalwear with concealing masks.
Whether it is by choice or as a part of their SSC-sponsored contract is unknown and a subject of great
debate among fans. The corpro built their team from the ground up and is the sole supplier of their
frames, mechanical support, implants and body-mods, advertising, social networking, travel,
scheduling, merchandising, and the scripting and management of any and all public appearances.
Whoever they were before, Redhawk-01 chose this as their path to success and now stands atop a
mountain that no one else can reach.

The Redhawks may be your rivals, but you won’t be their’s for a while yet. Victory for them isn’t a goal,
it’s a matter of course. They’ve seen dozens of fresh teams crash and shatter on the shores of the
arena, and the ones that last still haven’t surpassed them. Their notice is a heavy weight to bear once
earned; their animosity extends far beyond the ring, into the battlefields of cultural opinion and social
well-being. Redhawk-01 is a mountain above all others — and their team stands atop them. No force
will knock them down.

• Style: Lead weights floating in an open sky; Solid colors

and simple shapes; a grip that’s too strong and eyes that
see past you.
• History: Untouched victor of the Hoplite Royale cage
match; most desired bachelor on the Seaglass Sunset
Fundraiser Cruise; you went to their very first match, and
still have the autograph from when their hands were
gentler; you knew them years before they died to become
Redhawk, but neither of you know it yet.
• Developments:
◦ Redhawk-02, Purple Tiger, is injured during an accident
in the ring. Their replacement is desperate to win the
team’s approval, and forces you into an off-the-books
duel without Redhawk-01’s permission.
◦ A failed pankrati pilot approaches you with stolen SSC
communiques. They contain the location of the secret
development facility used to tune Redhawk’s mech; if you
can break into it, you might find the codes that disable
their cutting-edge evasion matrix.
◦ Radical hagiographers storm the stadium during a match,
and Redhawk is kidnapped in the process. Ransom notes
reveal that they’ve been named as the face of a
degenerate, weak-willed modern order, and SSC
contracts all available pilots to locate them before any
further harm might come to them.
• Mech – THE RED HAWK: Commander Ace (Bombing
Bay, Chaff Launchers, Press On). A flashy SSC custom,
unpilotable by anyone else, and the only frame their
implants can properly interface with.
• Team: Barricades (Seismic Repulsor), Engineers
(Skyshield Protocol), Pyros (Explosive Jet), Scouts
(Expose Weakness)

[13]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 RIVAL – EMIR ANTON VOKOVICH
The Broker – Glory At Any Cost
Following a brief stint as a federal BUC officer, Anton Vokovich returned to his family estate
emboldened to revitalize it by reinstating its long-defunct House Company. In the years since then
Hemlock Company has slowly garnered a name for itself through victory in several small but notable
skirmishes and a consistent presence in public military functions like security, parade officiation, and
the House Games. Lacking the flashier combat victories he would desire now in relative peacetime,
Anton has turned his attention more and more to the combat sport and wargame spheres to gain the
recognition he believes he rightfully deserves. In addition to leading Hemlock Company he has
become an avid socialite, gladhander, philanthropist and public works advocate. His positions are
generally non-controversial and rarely stray from the political center, and his web of connections has
slowly spread across noble circles as he is recognized as an ambitious paragon of Karrakin spirit.

What you would not hear is that Anton left the BUC as the result of dishonorable discharge pending
investigation of his actions during the deaths of several officers in a routine engagement. You would
not hear that the soldiers of Hemlock Company fight with loyalty until their last breath because House
Vokovich has bought their debts and their secrets. You would not hear that as his sphere of influence
has grown the historic enemies of the family have gone silent as freak accidents and freshly
discovered bookkeeping errors have steadily diminished their presence and power. And if you were to
hear any of these things you would find good reason to forget them very, very quickly. Anton wants all
of the fame, fortune and glory the world can offer him. No cost is too great to get what he wants.

• Style: Teeth dripping honey and blood; military uniform retailored in velvet and gold; the cold
weight of coin in your hand and a knife in your ribs.
• History: Largest annual donor to the Iztlan Charity Match; sole officer-ranking survivor of the
Caratan Cape Dispute negotiation force; he took something you wanted more than anything in the
world; you saw something that nobody was meant to see, and have no idea if he knows that or not.
• Developments:
◦ Someone close to you owes a debt to Anton or is being blackmailed by him and tries to betray
and sabotage you. They’re in so deep now that it might take a miracle to pull them back out.
◦ A damaging or shameful detail about your past is leaked to the public, dividing your fans and
endangering your safety. Anton offers to help mitigate the outrage by siding with you, for a
price.
◦ Your sponsor goes missing under suspicious circumstances right before your next match with
Anton. There isn’t much time to find them — if it isn’t already too late.
• Mech – HEART OF DAMASCUS: Mercenary Bombard (Flare Drone, Efficient Killer, Favors
Owed). An RKF Hyacinthus in Vokovich’s emerald livery, banners hanging from dual mag-spool
howitzers.
• Team: Archers (Covering Fire), Bastions (Fearless Defender), Cataphracts (Electrified Lasso),
Supports (Remote Reboot)

[14]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
RIVAL – CLEMENTINE ESPERAUX
The Harlequin – Dancing To Her Own Tune
Clementine Espereaux is a footnote within a footnote; the seventh in line for succession in House
Espereaux, minor nobles best known for a small majority in the exotic flower trade. The Dancing
Rabbit is an unregistered pankrati practitioner and trickster scourge of the arena. There is not a soul
alive that would think to connect the two — and each night Clementine don’s the Rabbit’s mask. She
has never been booked into a match by any officiator, and yet when she appears that night at the
arena the records show that she has been on the schedule for weeks. Security fails to prevent her
entry and exit, analytic programs that try to track her movements or identify her voice sputter and die in
decaying loops, and management is torn between hating and loving her for the fact that her illegal
presence in matches drives attendance and public attention through the roof. Her growing fanbase
delights in her renegade style and almost comedic penchant. How much of the mystery is legitimate
law-breaking and how much is kayfabe is entirely unclear. Her opponents find it less gratifying as even
when she loses a match, it is only after they are made stumbling, comical fools that she dances
around with a glittering holograms, razor-edged spatial code, and a robotic squad piloted by home-
cooked subsentient C/C units. She makes a mockery of the careful pageantry of baronic dueling and
the puffed up egos of its most proud pilots. A nameless, sponsorless kavalier, turning the system on its
head.

None but a tight circle of highly trusted friends and Omninet compatriots know her true identity,
working tirelessly to bring the dream of the Dancing Rabbit to life. As a citizen, and even nobility, she
was nothing. As the Rabbit she is alive, free and powerful. The fact that she sparked a minor cultural
revolution was an unintended consequence, but she’s not complaining as it has only added to the
exhilarating fantasy of the situation. It’s the most fun she’s had in her entire life.

• Style: Sparkling snow under a midnight sky; weightless, flowing fabric and glossy mother-of-pearl-
armor; uninhibited laughter ringing between friends.
• History: The Humiliation of Under-Emir Edan at his coronation bout; the 36-Hour Grand Prix Race
livestream; Clementine still stays in touch, and sends flowers on your birthday; you swear you saw
the Rabbit during your last mission, but there’s no record of it on your sensors.
• Developments:
◦ You begin receiving delicate silver bouquets in your quarters; attached notes contain ciphered
coordinates and times, and instructions to ‘Just watch, then tell everyone what you saw.”
◦ A young woman named Clementine Espereaux begins to attend your matches. She’s a huge
fan, and invites you to use her family’s estate as a training space.
◦ Something is chasing you; flickers in your digital traffic, flashes in the corner of your eye when
you’re walking alone. It’s looking for something you have, and you don’t know what measures
it’s willing to take to get it.
• Mech – LE LAPIN DANSANT: Exotic Mirage (Metafold Shove, Chronotorus, Living Weaponry). A
frame of unidentifiable make sculpted in silvery organic curves.
• Team: Berserkers (Harpoon Cannon), Priests (Sanctuary), Seeders (Grav Spike), Sentinels
(Punisher Ammunition)

[15]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Other NPCs:
NADIR BIN-NASIR
The Fool – Boundless Potential For Weal and Woe
Nadir bin-Nasir is young, naïve, and eager to prove himself. As barely more than a teenager he has
just become Emir, head of his House following his parents’ abdication of the position. Former Emir
Nasir elected to leave petty political squabbling behind in favor of a 50 year (5 subjective) nearlight
pleasure cruise on a self-sufficient luxury ship. They had left their eldest daughter as a steward of the
house and its operations in the interim. Immediately after their departure (so quickly that one could
posit that the former Emir this would happen) a series of poisonings, ‘accidents’, and deadly honor
duels wracked the house as every heir, retainer, and political opportunist seized their chance to claim
its power and wealth for themselves. When the dust settled, not a soul involved was left standing —
and so the crown fell to Nadir, fifth in line and newly beginning his second year at the Karrakin Cavalry
College. He was called home as the winner of a game he had not even been aware he was playing, to
a house now headless and cleared of its most disruptive elements.

Knowing that his parents will return to helm it in the future and see the fruits of his labors, Nadir is
desperate to make something of himself and their aging house. His intentions are good, if simple; he is
enamored with ideas of noble chivalry; the duties of his house to its people and its nation; and the
contradicting potential of taking its well-aged power and tradition and creating new, fresh glory. How
exactly he will achieve this is uncertain - but there’s no time like the present to start trying.

• Hooks:
◦ Nadir is forming a new House Company by calling for candidates from across the Baronies to
participate in a tournament, with the winners becoming an elite squadron under his aegis.
◦ With their family’s resources stretched thin, Nadir needs someone to patrol their geological
holdings from theft while he consolidates their holdings. On arrival, what seemed like simple
pirate attacks bear hallmarks of a well-equipped strike team, and egress routes are suddenly
cut off.
◦ Using his father’s information network Nadir becomes aware of a lunar settlement being used
as a penal colony blacksite for the enemies of prominent noble families. Disgusted by the
underhanded measure, he is assembling a strike team that can break their blockade and
liberate the prisoners.
• Developments:
◦ One of Nadir’s cousins survived their supposed assassination. With him as the only obstacle
standing between them and the line of succession, they begin sending their own assassins
once again as they publicly challenge his claim.
◦ Nadir is shocked when he begins to receive letters from himself, still in the Cavalry College
and seemingly with no idea of the turmoil within their house. One of them must be an illegal
subjectivity override clone, but which, made by who, and for what purpose are a mystery.
◦ Emir Nasir’s cruise was a farce; he stayed in hiding on Ispahsalar to watch what his progeny
would do in his absence. Both satisfied and disappointed by their ruthlessness and lack of tact,
and Nadir’s fumbling attempts at leadership, he retakes his crown and strips Nadir of his
inheritance and family name.

[16]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
TEZET YAN
The Builder – Hand In Hand, Brick By Brick
Engineer-Provost of a Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly tailoring house, Tezet maintains a careful
balance between the artistry and well-being of xyr team, and the growing demands of their kavalier
clients. Xe rose high in the ranks through xyr skill as an ignoble artisan, and are now doing everything
in xyr power to build something better with xyr position. Xe has taken K/KCA’s ethos of chivalry and
excellence to heart - not solely as a martial pursuit like its clumsier clients, but as a personal duty to
strive for. Xyr workshop is quietly a space without class divide, and provides resources, connections,
and cultural opportunities to any that ask for their assistance. Every Karrakin has a right to their
cultural heritage, and the workshop floor now hosts classes, art fairs, stage plays and all manner of
community outreach events where every visitor is equal and free to explore.

To grow this artistic and social revival further, Tezet needs more public attention than xe could garner
through word of mouth alone – the kind that only a champion kavalier would bring, perhaps. Xe is a
tireless supporter of xyr community, a perennially excitable mechanical engineer, and all too painfully
aware of the potential fragility of their ideals.

• Hooks:
◦ Tezet needs a team to sponsor in an upcoming tournament to bolster the reputation of xyr
tailoring house. In exchange xe’ll provide free pit crew and mechanical services.
◦ Tezet’s workshop is hosting a firebrand public speaker advocating for major social reform, and
xe wants extra security during their speech after receiving numerous threats from militant neo-
passacaglian groups.
◦ Tezet’s research reveals an ancient signal transmitting from a long lost Tyrannum-era ship.
Somewhere aboard is an Assayid family artifact, and xe is certain that recovering it would
guarantee Khargan and Kasimir’s support of xyr movement.
• Developments:
◦ Tezet receives a contract to work for your squad’s Rival; xe can’t turn it down, and it’s unclear
who xe’ll support if push comes to shove.
◦ Tezet learns about something terrible in the past of one of your squadmates; until it is resolved,
xe can’t bring xemself to work with you.
◦ Xe’s come up with a brand new design concept, something guaranteed to earn you victory in
the ring – all you need to do is help acquire the materials to actually build it.

[17]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 LOYAL WING AALIYAH AL-CIEL
The Pathfinder – Fleeting Savior Of One Hundred Worlds
Aaliyah al-Ciel is a truly rare sight — an Albatross walking a planet’s surface that isn’t home to one of
their maktebas without being there to chase a distress signal. If you look closely enough, the
discomfort at her circumstance is clear enough in her face, distinguished and stoic though it may be.
She is here at the invitation of an old friend; repaying a favor by visiting her near the end of her life.
Decades prior - longer for them than her, protected from time by nearlight travel - a young sailor saved
the life of a younger Petrel, chassis trapped in the wreckage of a freighter while pirates stalked the
remains. If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t have come. Along the way she is cautiously enjoying the
box seats they acquired for her during her stay. She’s finally accepted that she’s gotten too old to keep
piloting herself, and this will be her last tour before she retires home to Makteba Scirocco’s nomadic
city-ship, and she can’t help but revel a little in the glow of one last fight.

Aaliyah is blunt, boisterous, stern and supportive in equal measures. She’s seen countless planets,
survived even more fights, and witnessed wonders and terrors across the breadth of Union space and
beyond. She has a story to tell for every day she’s been alive, and she has lived a very long life.

• Hooks:
◦ Aaliyah finds your squad after a match, congratulating you on your performance. She breaks
into reminiscing about an old engagement of hers, telling it with such gusto and savoir faire it
feels like you’re living it out yourself.
◦ Aaliyah isn’t only here for a visit – she’s been tracking a rogue paramilitary element that’s
evaded her Wing for decades, and thinks they may have gone to ground here. She doesn’t
have the youth or resources to dismantle their operation anymore - but you might.
◦ Seizing an opportunity to impress their followers by defeating a skilled Albatross in battle, a
boorish noble or celebrity challenges Aaliyah to a duel. She names you as her champions,
confident in your abilities to stand against them with honor.
• Developments:
◦ Although it is an exceedingly uncommon event, Aaliyah recognizes in one of your squad the
spirit and potential to join the Albatross in their endless vigil. Until she is certain of your
potential, she plans to accompany you on any sorties to observe both your skill and character.
◦ Someone that Aaliyah crossed in the past has returned to see their vengeance – and you’ve
been caught in their sights as well for associating with her.
◦ Aaliyah’s companion finally passes, gently, as the old Albatross watched over her bedside.
Now untethered, she’s made her plans to return home. This will be the last time you ever see
her, and you’d do well to make the most of it.

[18]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
EVERGREEN CLARITY
The Magus – The Deepest Waters Taste The Sweetest
Evergreen Clarity is the archival and custodial Orchard-Class NHP of the Ispahsalari Musée d’Histoire
de l’Art, and she is an expert on preservation techniques, Passacaglian mosaic motifs, and who’s who
at their charity galas. Evergreen Clarity is The Lantern, a black-market information dealer and
occasional smuggler using her connections to keep the underground flowing through her channels.
Evergreen Clarity has no name on any record, and she is a deep cover UIB agent with a mission
dictated from GALSIM itself. Aside from them, the only person to know each of her identities is her
caseworker and handler Betsy Lenghi, herself a UIB asset though neither know the full extent of their
partner’s mission or orders. For her part, Evergreen’s day-to-day usually involves the simultaneous
handling of museum affairs with multiple knowledge trades with her informants by means of several
personality forks tasked to disposable subaltern bodies or hardlinked nodes in city infrastructure. Her
clients would generally presume that she is merely abundantly cautious, negotiating via third-parties
and digital proxies, and have no idea about her identity as an NHP. Her orders are received through
similarly esoteric means, coded patterns of speech and text placement near her known encounter
sites. Though her usual actions are simply to gather information, and either provide or deny it to
certain parties, she is occasionally called on to perform more direct action in order to influence a more
favorable outcome.

Evergreen Clarity is fastidious, charismatic, and always highly prepared. She contacts via proxy and
maintains her criminal persona at all times, unless there is a pressing reason to do otherwise. With the
relative freedom she is granted in pursuing her duties, she also takes a degree of personal pleasure in
the maintenance of her illicit network, and an quality of aesthetic satisfaction in the information she
gathers, be it matters of state, commerce, technology, personal information or criminal activity, and the
web that it creates as nodes connect. This has led her to at times pursue extraneous leads in her
spare time to expand the pattern, spinning shards to plumb the depths of high-security infovaults or
live in isolated nodes for months at a time, silently watching.

• Hooks:
◦ Evergreen has an interest in seeing your squad win their next match, and possibly the entire
tournament. She has information that suggests one of the rival teams might be cheating using
an illegal fuel blend, and leaks information to you on their supplier’s location.
◦ One of Evergreen’s operations requires a distraction while she conducts her business; she
contacts you with a time and rough location, as well as either a compelling reason to perform,
or blackmail that will be released if you do not.
◦ You got close to something that you weren’t meant to (at least not yet). Evergreen
anonymously organizes a mercenary or autonomous hit on your squad, both to push you off of
the trail, and to assess your skills.
• Developments:
◦ One of Evergreen’s shards was lost while occupying a node in proximity to a Graveborn
blacksite. It has since reappeared, but no longer wishes to re-merge with her, though it is
unable to articulate why, and it has begun trying to act in her stead.
◦ Evergreen receives a missive from GALSIM informing her of your squad’s importance in
shaping events (either positively or negatively), prompting her to reveal her position as an
agent to put pressure on you.
◦ Evergreen’s casket goes missing - fragmented entry data suggests an apotheosis-seeking
HORUS cell she had previously had contact with may have been involved.

[19]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Laws and Playing Dirty NPCs do not have a Cheat die. Instead, if they
Some official matches will include special rules Play Dirty there is a 50% chance they receive a
and restrictions; these are called Laws, and are Penalty. On the first Penalty they become
enforced by referees and tournament managers. Impaired and Slowed until the end of their next
Laws set out a list of Restricted and turn. On the second they are removed from the
Sanctioned actions for that scene. Restricted battlefield until the end of their next turn, and
actions are disallowed, and any character that can no longer Play Dirty. Taking Sanctioned
takes them anyway is Playing Dirty and must actions has no effect for them.
try to sneak it by the referees or suffer penalties.
Sanctioned actions put the players in good As a Resources reserve (gained as other
standing, and reduce the chances of being reserves), players can gain a Judge’s Pass,
caught when they cheat. The Law for a scene is which allows a single player to ignore all Laws
presented to players at the start of the scene, for a single scene.
and applies to both them and NPCs.
Generally speaking, Laws only apply to the
All PCs start a mission with a Cheat die (a d6), fiction of a monitored combat-sport; open
beginning at 1. Whenever a PC Plays Dirty by warfare doesn’t have referees to hand out red
taking a Restricted action or one of the cards. If you do use them in that context,
following options, they roll 1d6 after the action consider fictionalizing them as rules of
resolves. If the result is equal to or lower than engagement given by a commanding officer,
their Cheat die, they are caught by the referee; with Penalties reflecting their oversight and
their die increases to 6, and they receive a command over comms – or hostile forces
Penalty from the following list. The Penalty responding to your breach of conduct in kind.
received increases in severity depending on
how many times they have been caught during Writing Laws
this mission. If the number rolled is higher than The most important part of Laws is that while
the current value of the Cheat die, they do not they are restrictive, they should not be a
receive a Penalty, and instead increase the punishment for players with a certain character
value of their die by 1 as the referee was build or playstyle. Instead, they should be an
distracted or looked the other way this time. incentive to branch out and approach an
encounter creatively or with fresh tactics within
In addition to taking Restricted actions, that existing toolkit. As such, Laws that are more
characters can Play Dirty 1/turn to do one of restrictive or that may more heavily impact
the following as a free action: certain players should be telegraphed in some
• Trip an adjacent character, knocking them regard before the start of a mission, when
Prone on a failed Hull save. players are still able to alter their mech loadouts
• Reroll a check, save, or attack roll after if they so desire. Similarly the same Laws
seeing the result as you briefly disengage should not be used repeatedly across many
limiters; you must take the second result. combats, as this changes them from being a
temporary shakeup to a permanent state of play
Penalties that will unfairly discourage certain character
builds.
1 – Yellow Card: You become Impaired and
Slowed until the end of your next turn.
For example, a Law that discourages the
1 – Red Card: You become Jammed and Grapple action being present in every scene will
Immobilized until the end of your next turn. make players reticent to ever play the IPS-N
Blackbeard frame, limiting their flexibility and
1 – Benched: You are removed from the possible character options; however, this law
battlefield until the end of your next turn. You being present in a single scene presents a
can no longer Play Dirty until you finish a Full player with access to that license either an
Repair. opportunity to temporarily change their Frame,
or to utilize it in a different way during that
When a PC takes a Sanctioned action they scene.
reduce the value of their Cheat die by 1 to a
minimum of 1. If it is already at 1, they may
reduce an ally’s die instead of their own.

[20]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
Example Laws
FIREWALL:
• Restricted: Invades targeting hostile
characters and Lock-On, unless as part of a
a Full Tech action.
• Sanctioned: Weapon attacks without the
Smart or Seeking tag; tech actions that
target allies.

GROUNDSKEEPER:
• Restricted: Actions that destroy or place
terrain or deployables.
• Sanctioned: Actions that allow you to fly;
actions that cause a hostile character to
impact an obstruction.

HONOR DUEL:
• Restricted: Hide, Disengage, and actions
that deal damage only to targets without
line of sight to you.
• Sanctioned: Attacks against targets within
Range 5; actions that trigger hostile
reactions.

LIFELINE:
• Restricted: Ending your turn more than 5
spaces from an allied mech character; any
action that deals damage or Heat to an
allied character.
• Sanctioned: Actions that target an allied
mech character but do not cause damage,
Heat, or inflict a Condition; actions that
deal damage or Heat to a hostile mech
character more than 5 spaces away from
any other hostile mech character.

NO CONTACT:
• Restricted: Ram, Grapple, and Improvised
Attack.
• Sanctioned: Ranged attacks against
targets 10+ spaces away; melee attacks
against targets 3+ spaces away.

RUSH HOUR:
• Restricted: Moving fewer than 2 spaces
from your starting position on your turn
(unless Immobilized); any action that
causes your mech to become Slowed or
Immobilized.
• Sanctioned: Boosting; ending your turn 8+
spaces from your starting position.

VARIETY SHOW:
• Restricted: Duplicate actions (even as free
actions); the same actions that were used
by the previous allied character on their
turn.
• Sanctioned: Actions that target 2+
characters; any action if it is the first time
you’ve used it during this scene.

[21]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 • Mech Skills (Hull, Agility, Systems,
FAVOR Engineering) are 6-segment clocks.
There’s a small shuffle as you rise from your • Talents use a 6-segment clock for each new
seat, the attendant – a squire, you realize, rank.
seeing the blade at their side – guiding you • License gear requires a 4-segment clock to
through the crowded reception hall. You breathe unlock for each individual item by default. It
relief on the other side of the door, suddenly free gains +1 segment for each piece of
in an open room. The squire is no longer at your equipment in a rank below it that you do not
side. The room is not dark, but you struggle for a have unlocked. If you unlock equipment at a
moment to see in the light that streams through lower rank before completing the clock, fill in
wide, patterned windows. A voice calls you from one segment on it.
the other side of the room, rich, vibrant, carrying
tones of absolute control of this room, and, you When you unlock 3 pieces of licensed gear from
imagine, far beyond. The speaker is hidden in the same license, you also gain access to that
the light but you can catch the glimpses of gold, license’s mech FRAME.
flowing fabric, sensuous incense and the ring of
metal. By default, players cannot gain more skill points,
“Welcome in - please, take a seat. I’ve heard talent ranks, or licensed gear than they would
very, very good things. I think we have a great gain by leveling up normally (14 skill points, 15
deal to offer each other, you and I. A great deal talent ranks, and 24 licensed gear items). They
indeed.” pick a core bonus after every 6 pieces of
licensed gear (track with its own clock). A player
Favor is a new resource for pilots to use as an must have 6 pieces of licensed gear from a
alternative leveling system. It represents their given manufacturer to qualify for a core bonus
fame, influence, and social capital as they rise to from them.
stardom in the coliseum, and how they use it to
access new equipment and training. Players During downtime you can change the goal of
gain Favor with victories, as well as by meeting one clock to a different goal; this could change
specific goals. They can spend Favor to unlock the number of segments in the clock. If a clock
new gear, talents, and mech skills. would change such that it has more Favor filled
than it has segments, the remaining Favor can
Gaining Favor be reassigned to your other active clocks.
Players generally gain Favor by meeting certain
goals during combat. Each player in each Favor Goals
encounter has the opportunity to gain 4 Favor At the start of each combat scene, the GM and
by default, 1 each by: the players both announce Favor goals for the
• Reaching the end of the encounter. scene. The GM chooses one Encounter Goal
• Winning the encounter. that applies to all players; if any player fulfills it
• Meeting a sitrep-specific Encounter Goal by the end of the scene, all players gain 1 Favor.
chosen by the GM for the players at the Then, each player chooses a Personal Goal
beginning of combat. from the list below; if they fulfill it by the end of
• Meeting a self-appointed Personal Goal the scene, they gain 1 Favor. Players cannot
chosen at the beginning of combat. choose the same Personal Goal two scenes in a
row.
The specific goals are listed later in this section.

Spending Favor Example Favor Clocks

Players use Favor to unlock new equipment by
filling clocks. Clocks have 4-8 segments
depending on what they will unlock. Players Chain Axe
announce the specific equipment or (IPS-N Blackbeard LL1)
improvement they are working towards, and
draw an appropriately segmented clock to track
its progress. When a clock fills, the pilot receives
the chosen improvement (though some
equipment or statistics may remain unchanged Exemplar Rank 2
until they finish a full repair). A player can track (Talent)
3 clocks at a time, and can create a new one as
soon as a previous clock is filled. Whenever
they gain a point of Favor, it must immediately SEKHMET-Class NHP
be assigned to a clock, filling one segment. (IPS-N Blackbeard LL3)
(+4 segments with no prior
equipment unlocked)

[22]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
Encounter Goals Personal Goals
General: • Do not lose structure this scene.
• The GM chooses an NPC without the Elite • Do not lose stress this scene.
or Ultra templates. They must survive until
• End more than half of the total turns you
the end of the scene. They will not take
take adjacent to an allied character.
actions that intentionally lead to their own
destruction. • Expose a hostile character.
• Destroy all hostile characters by the end of • Destroy 2+ characters with the same attack.
the scene. Grunts count as ½ of a character (no
• Spend 3 or fewer Repairs during the rounding).
scene. • Reduce 15+ total damage dealt to allied
• Destroy 4 or more NPCs while you are characters by granting them resistance or
within a control/objective zone. Overshield.
• Only make attacks that consume Lock-On.
Control: • Move 12+ spaces in a single turn.
• End a round with no NPCs in any control
zone. • Lose 2+ structure or stress (combined)
• Win by a margin of 2+ points. without your mech being destroyed until the
end of the scene.
Escort: • Take an action that targets an ally at least 1/
• Never allow a hostile NPC to move the turn on each of your turns.
objective. • End more than half of the total turns you
• Have only one PC ever move the objective. take inside of a control/objective zone.
• Destroy 3+ NPCs that you are adjacent to.
Extraction: • Do not Stabilize until Round 4 or later.
• Reach the objective by the end of Round 4.
• Never repeat an action between subsequent
• No PCs extract until the objective is
turns (i.e. if you Ram on your first turn, you
extracted.
could not Ram again until your third).
Gauntlet: • Destroy a hostile character in a control/
• Once each PC enters the objective zone objective zone or force them to move
they never leave it (track individually). outside of it 2 times.
• Control the objective zone by the end of • Activate your Core Power in this scene.
Round 4 (more PCs than NPCS within it).

Holdout:
• End the scene with 3+ points.
• Never end a round other than the last with
more than 1 NPC in the objective zone.

Recon:
• Investigate every control zone.
• Each PC does not investigate more than
one zone.

Relay:
• Control Control Zone 3 at the end of two
consecutive rounds.
• Never lose control of a zone.

Extinguish:
• Do not allow more than 1 of your Pyres to
be extinguished.
• Do not enter Overtime.

[23]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 An outcome can take one of the following forms,
CHASSIS DUELING or any other specifics that make sense for your
Khargan seethes in El Campeador’s cockpit, characters and situation. The important part is
hair undone and a cut on his brow from where it that it should persist beyond the duel itself and
met the console a moment ago slowly oozing have a meaningful impact or change in the
blood into sweat. Across the field, his story:
opponent’s frame stretches its four arms in mock
• Something valuable: rare technology; a
lackadaisy. The insult stings more than any of
stolen item returned; a notable trophy or
the bruises he’s picked up in this bout. In her
treasure.
puffed up moment of egotism she does not
press her advantage, letting him recover to • Something emotional: humiliating your
stand so she can toy with him further. The sun is opponent in front of their peers; boosting
high. El Campeador’s grip tightens on its lance. your own reputation; striking a symbolic
It will be her last mistake. blow against a greater group that your
opponent represents, or inspiring one of
your own.
This section describes rules for 1-on-1 duels
• Something actionable: Access to a guarded
between mechs, where tactical combat would be
location or person; preventing or triggering
uninteresting and inefficient. Rather than dice it
an important event or social shift; keeping
uses a standard 52-card deck, or digital
your opponent occupied long enough for
equivalents. The duel could be for any reason; a
other characters to act; seizing control of an
sanctioned tournament, a friendly sparring
important place or object.
match, or a white-knuckle assassination
attempt. What’s important is that:
• Only two combatants are involved in the Setting Up
duel. This will usually but not exclusively be At the start of the duel, shuffle the deck and
a PC and an NPC. Other characters or place it face down between the players. The
mechs may be present in the scene, but players take turns drawing cards without looking
they merely help to portray the narrative and and placing them face down in front of
do not have any impact on the duel itself. themselves until both players have 3 cards in
• The combatants are in mechs. These rules front of them. These are their Weak Points and
assume the dueling characters are in mech will represent their mech’s integrity. Then they
chassis, or at least a vehicle of similar scale alternate drawing cards into their hands (they
and ability, and rely on the mech skills can look at their own, but keep them hidden
(Hull, Agility, Systems, and Engineering) of from their opponent) until both have 6 cards.
the characters involved. These represent their offensive and defensive
capabilities and are called Maneuvers. The goal
• The combatants are skilled enough that the
of the duel is to destroy all of your opponent’s
result of the duel is in question and would
Weak Points, while protecting your own. At the
not be easily or interestingly resolved with a
end of the duel, the state of your Weak Points
single skill check. If it can be, check the
will help determine what you win or lose in the
Confront Your Rival Downtime Action
duel.
instead.
• The duel’s outcome matters; there are
stakes at hand that are laid out before the With cards drawn and stakes declared, choose
duel begins. This can be a reward for the a player to go first - flipping a coin, rolling a die,
victor, a punishment for the loser, both, or making a skill check, or based on which
something else. Your goal should persist character would act first in the duel. Then the
beyond the duel itself — just wanting to win duel begins.
the duel and be done isn’t very interesting!

During the setup or before it, the stakes for each

character should be determined as well. Each
player should choose the outcome that they
want to claim with their victory. If they destroy all
of their opponent’s Weak Points before the end
of the duel, that outcome will happen. It should
be reasonable as an outcome from the duel;
you won’t destroy an entire starship in orbit for
beating its captain in a fight, but you might be
able to force them to back down and prevent a
bombardment.

[24]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
Playing the Duel CARD VALUES
The duel takes place over 5 rounds. In each Numbered cards have a value equal to their
round the players alternate placing Maneuvers number. Face cards and Aces have unique
from their hand facedown in front of their values:
opponent’s Weak Points to attack them, or in • Jacks are memorized and practiced
front of their own Weak Points to defend them, techniques and do not have a value; instead,
starting with the player chosen to go first. They they are defeated by any card with a
pick a Maneuver from their hand and place it in different suit, and defeat cards with the
front of a Weak Point. Then their opponent does same suit.
the same, choosing the same or another Weak • Queens are reactive and defensive
Point. They alternate again until both players techniques and have a value equal to the
have placed 2 Maneuvers. A player cannot highest value among the Maneuvers played
place more than one Maneuver on the same this turn
Weak Point unless it is the only Weak Point • Kings are unique techniques and do not
remaining on their or their opponent’s side, and have a value; they are defeated by any card
each player must play 2 Maneuvers per round; with the same suit, and defeat any cards
they cannot retain additional cards. Once all with a different suit.
Maneuvers have been placed, reveal all
• Aces are desperate and reckless
Maneuvers simultaneously.
techniques; they defeat any card other than
a non-matched King, but as long as you
Maneuvers placed in front of one of your control a face-up Ace the value of all of your
opponent’s Weak Points are attacking it; flip other cards is reduced by -4.
over the Weak Point card as well. If the
attacking Maneuver has a greater or equal value
When you play cards either as Maneuvers or as
than the defending Weak Point, that Weak Point
your Weak Points, increase their value by the
is destroyed. If it is not sufficient to destroy the
matching mech skill, as each suit represents a
Weak Point, remove the Maneuver but keep the
different style of of dueling acumen:
Weak Point face-up; the vulnerability has now
been revealed, and its opponent can plan more • Hearts are Hull and represent the use of
accurately to take advantage of it. physical strength, heavy armor, and overall
resilience to weather attacks and deal heavy
blows. Heart Weak Points are gaps in armor
A Maneuver placed in front of one of your own where a well-placed shot will tear through
Weak Points is defending it. If your opponent your mech’s internals.
attacks that Weak Point, they flip over your
• Spades are Systems and represent the use
defending Maneuver first. The attacking
of electronic attacks and defenses; your
Maneuver must overcome it as if it were a Weak
ability to maintain control of the omnipresent
Point to remove it; if it is not removed, do not
invisible digital layer of the battlefield in
reveal the Weak Point. If it does overcome the
sensors, tracking software, and direct OS
defending Maneuver, it is then tested against the
subversion. Spade Weak Points are access
Weak Point as above.
vulnerabilities or out-of-date sensor tech that
leave you unable to keep up with your
Once all Maneuvers have been resolved, opponent’s misdirection and e-warfare.
discard revealed Maneuvers, both players draw • Diamonds are Agility and represent the
one card from the deck (they should now both use of speed, flexibility, and quick reactions
have 5 cards in their hand), and the round ends. to evade attacks and strike from unexpected
The next round begins with the player that angles. Diamond Weak Points are joints or
ended the last round starting the next. Play thruster connections that hamstring your
continues in this fashion until a player’s Weak mech when destroyed, making you an easy
Points are all destroyed or the end of the fifth target.
round, where both players will have 0 cards
• Clubs are Engineering and represent the
remaining in their hand. If the duel reaches the
use of raw power, high-tech weapons, and
end of the fifth round with both players
energetic systems. Club Weak Points are
remaining, they do not draw a new card, and
reactor valves and fragile tech that become
instead begin the Final Clash.
overloaded and unstable when targeted.

[25]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 If there are multiple Maneuvers on a single WINNING AND LOSING
Weak Point, choose one as the main Maneuver, If you destroy all of your opponent’s Weak
then increase its value by the following amounts Points and have at least one of your own
depending on the other card: remaining, you win the duel; if all of your Weak
• +2 for a numbered card Points are destroyed, you lose.
• +4 for a face/ace card
• An additional +2 if their suits match. If both players destroy each other's final Weak
Point simultaneously, immediately progress to
RESOLVING TIES the Final Clash.
In the event of a tie (both the attacking
Maneuver and defending Maneuver or Weak After the duel is finished, the winning player
Point have the same value or face card), the achieves their outcome, and the losing player
attacking player wins. does not. Then, each player determines
additional repercussions depending on the
HELPING OUT Weak Points they have remaining and the ones
that were destroyed. For every Weak Point a
Players characters have an extra edge during
player has that is still intact, they gain
duels — their friends! At any point during play
something. For every Weak Point of theirs that
the dueling player representing a PC can draw a
was destroyed, they lose something. The
new card to replace any of their own cards that
specifics are determined by that character with
are currently face-up. To do this they describe
agreement from the GM and the rest of the
how another player character helped them or
table, but in general higher value cards
changed the situation; this could be a flashback
represent something of greater value, and
to them tweaking their mech together, training
different suits represent different categories of
before the duel, or cheering or interfering in the
value: Combine cards of the same suit to a
moment to give the dueling character an edge.
single item or event of greater value.
A player can only invoke this effect once for
every other player character at the table. • Hearts are Physical; an object of value is
lost or gained.
• Spades are Temporal; time is lost and the
THE FINAL CLASH
world moves around you, or you have the
If both players survive 5 rounds of the duel, then opportunity to move before something else
it is resolved in a single climactic strike as each happens.
combatant gives their all to defeat their
• Diamonds are Informational; a secret is
opponent. Both players discard their hands then
given away or learned in the heat of battle.
draw 3 cards facedown. They reveal these
cards simultaneously, adding their values • Clubs are Emotional; passions flare,
together. For this Clash, Jacks count as +6, rivalries are declared or ended, and
Queens are +8, Kings are +10, and Aces are convictions settled or shaken.
+12. When cards are revealed, players can
choose to replace one of their cards with one of
their remaining Weak Points (even if it has not
yet been revealed). A Weak Point spent this way
does not grant them a prize if they win, but still
counts as a destroyed Weak Point if they lose.
The player with the higher total wins. If the
ultimate result of the Final Clash is a tie, then
there is no victor and the duel ends as a draw.
Each participant gains one thing (if possible)
and loses one thing, as described in the
following section.

[26]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
IL VAGABONDO To begin the next round, draw 3 more Passions
face down. The second and the third rounds
Just a quick hand, for a fan. What’s the matter play identically to the first, but players do not
pankrati? Scared to see what fate has in store replace any cards in their hand. This means
for you? they begin the second round with 6 cards, and
the third round with only 3.
Il Vagabondo, or just Vagabondo, is a card
game from the Karrakin Trade Baronies with a The Vagabondo
history nearly as old as the Baronies
At the end of a round, when all cards have been
themselves. Played with a deck of modified
placed but before any cards or the final passion
fortune-telling cards, it is both an idle pastime
has been revealed, a player may add their
and a cultural practice for prognostication and
Vagabondo card to any other card they have
meditation on the Passions. Any person that has
played. It adds its value to theirs for the purpose
grown up in the Concern or that has spent
of overcoming their opponent this round. Face
significant time within it would be at least
cards add +10, and Aces add +15. Once spent,
passingly familiar with its rules, and it has
the Vagabondo is discarded and cannot be used
spread beyond their borders along trade routes
again.
and military groups as a popular game amongst
merchants and soldiers.
Winning Passions
Setting Up • Numbered cards have a score equal to their
number; a greater number defeats a lower
Vagabondo is a 2 player card game that uses a
number.
78-card tarot deck. To begin, separate and
shuffle the Minor and Major Arcana. From this • If two cards have the same value, they Tie.
point forward, cards from the Minor Arcana are A Tie is broken by suit; if the tie persists, that
called cards, and cards from the Major Arcana Passion is declared a Tie, and remains on
are called Passions. Deal 10 cards to each the board face-up for the next round
player. Players should look at their hands but not instead of being replaced.
reveal any cards. Draw 3 Passions and place • Suits break ties in the following order:
them face down in a row between the two ◦ Cups defeat Wands.
players. With the board set, players select one ◦ Wands defeat Pentacles.
card from their hand to be the Vagabondo. ◦ Pentacles defeat Swords.
They set it face down in front of them, leaving
them with 9 cards in their hand. ◦ Swords defeat Cups
• If two cards are the same suit or
diametrically opposed suits (Cups/Pentacles
Playing the Game or Wands/Swords), then the tie persists.
Vagabondo is played over 3 rounds. Each round • Pages do not have a score; instead,
alternates between players committing cards, determine a win, loss, or tie exclusively from
and revealing Passions. The goal of each round Suit. If
is to win the most Passions, and the player with
the highest final score wins the game. At the • Knights have a score equal to the value of
start of the first round, each player has 9 cards, the Passion they are contesting.
and there are 3 face down Passions between • Queens have a score equal to the
them. Both players pick one card from their combined value of the other two cards you
hand to place face down in front of any one of played this round. Face cards and Aces
the Passions. They do not have to pick the same count as 0.
Passion as their opponent. Then, flip over the • Kings defeat all other cards automatically,
Passion furthest from the Major Arcana deck. except for Aces and other Kings. If you play
a King and lose that Passion, you must also
Players then place one more card each at an discard a Passion that you already have.
unoccupied Passion. Flip the middle Passion, • Aces defeat all other cards. If two Aces
then players commit their final cards for the contest the same Passion, it is destroyed
round in the last empty spaces. Flip over all and discarded, without any victor.
player cards, then flip the final Passion.
Opposing cards (the cards on either player’s
side of a Passion) are scored, and the player
with the highest card in each pair wins that
Passion. They keep it on their side of the board,
discard all cards played this round, then begin
the next round.

[27]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 Scoring and Victory
At the end of the final round, players tally up
their Passions to determine the victor. Each
Passion grants points equal to its number, with
the Fool granting 0 Points. If players did not
use their Vagabondo card, they add it as a
Passion to their score. The player with the
greater point total wins. In the event of a tie, the
player with the greater number of Passions wins;
if the tie persists, the entire game is a draw. It is
bad luck to contest the result further. Win, lose,
or draw, the final hand of Passions a player
holds is often treated as a fortune reading.
Whether it is truly divinatory, or intended to be
used as a reflective tool or abstract advice is
highly varied across Karrakin space.

If a player ends the game and only has the Fool

and no other Passions they win the game,
regardless of the other player’s score.

Variant Rules
Variant - Blackguard
This version of Vagabondo developed in the off-
duty overlap of Armory and Karrakin forces
during the initial Dawnline Shore conflict. The
unofficial and undocumented spread of
conflicting houserules between forces and the
ensuing arguments thereupon unfortunately only
encouraged inter-army bar brawls.
Variant - Gli Amanti
Death (13), The Devil (15), and The Tower (16)
subtract from your final score instead of adding ‘The Lovers’ is a slower and more casual variant
to it. of Vagabondo that is associated (sometimes
disparagingly) with the elderly; every Karrakin
child remembers an interminable afternoon
Variant - Carnivale playing hours of Gli Amanti while staying with
Popular at parties and laborer’s breakrooms, relatives.
Carnivale is a more chaotic variant that breaks Players draw 23 cards at the start of the game,
the rigid dichotomies of the original game to setting one aside as the Vagabondo. Only 2
bring everyone to the table at once. Passions are drawn each round, and rounds
3 or 4 players participate in the game repeat until all Passions have been claimed or
simultaneously. All steps proceed as normal, players run out of cards.
and Passions are won by the most powerful
card out of those committed by all players (ex: in
Variant - Povero
a set of an 8, 4, and 10, the player who
committed the 10 wins the Passion). As the name implies Povero is historically a
game of the ignoble underclass; those who
could not afford the more finely crafted Passion
Pages function differently. Only cards with the decks. Though that distinction has not been the
same suit as a Page can compete for the same case for dozens of generations, the name has
Passion; all other Suits are discarded. The Page remained.
counts as a 6, +1 for every discarded card.
Uses a standard 52-card deck of playing cards
instead of a tarot deck. Separate out the Hearts
suit as the Passions, and shuffle the other suits
together as cards. Knights do not exist in
Povero, and Jacks count as Pages. When
resolving ties:
• Clubs beat Diamonds
• Spades beat Clubs
• Diamonds beat Spades

[28]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
Example of Play Final Passion
Players commit their final cards. The bottom
Setup
player chooses to use their Vagabondo to try
Players have hands of 9 cards + their and secure the middle Passion.
Vagabondo. 3 Passions are placed face down
between them.

Scoring
First Passion All cards are revealed and the Passions are
Each player places one of their cards face down scored in order. The final Passion is the Fool
in front of a Passion. The first Passion is then (+0).
revealed (The Emperor, +4). • 8 beats 6, so the top player claims The
Emperor.
• A 10 would beat a 7, but the addition of the
Vagabondo makes the bottom player’s final
total 12, so they claim Death instead.
• The top player played the Page of Cups for
the final Passion, while the bottom player played
the 10 of Wands. The Page forces the resolution
on Suit alone, and because Cups > Wands, they
claim the Fool.

Second Passion
Players commit 2 more cards, then reveal the
second Passion (Death, +13).

With the round over, cards on the table are

discarded, new Passions are drawn, and the
next round begins.

[29]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 DOWNTIME ACTIONS MEET YOUR FANS
When you meet your fans you go out to
Before he was rudely awakened by the heavy
mail bag being dropped on his chest, Khargan gladhand, sign autographs, bump shoulders,
was enjoying an afternoon repose, sunning stream your day and host meet-ups. Describe
himself in the refracted shower of dulling how you’re working the crowd, what you’re
Ispahsalari light dancing off of the mosaic tile of looking for, and make a skill check. The Show
the solarium. A tray of candied nuts and a well- Off or Charm triggers are probably applicable.
loved book of poetry laid abandoned beside him.
“Your love letters have arrived. Don’t be Are you looking for Fame (make your name
alarmed if this seems lighter than usual - I saw known, climb the social ladder, get exclusive
three more just like it being manhandled by Noor access), Fortune (obtain something valuable,
before I found you. You’re driving her security do something extravagant, buy someone’s
team up the wall with all of the inspections, in favor), or Glory (demand a social change,
case you weren’t aware. We could just burn absolve crime or guilt, motivate your fans to
them.” specific action)
“You wouldn’t dare!” Khargan lunges for the bag • On a result of 9 or lower your display
possessively as Kasimir begins to tauntingly lift it doesn’t land. You get what you want and
out of reach. “To burn the love of a thousand pick one:
hearts, the impassioned words of a million ◦ You start a scandal that alienates some
souls! What a waste, and a disservice! Each is a of your fans.
personal and heartfelt appreciation of the arts, ◦ You lose control of the crowd and
chivalry, and of a kuirasser that’s damned well something or someone gets hurt.
earned it! I’ll respond to each of them myself if I ◦ You make a promise to someone
have to.” He’s mostly joking, but is already powerful that you’ll need to follow
skimming the top of the pile for the most exciting through on.
packaging. Kasimir slides onto the lounge • On a result of 10-19, you get what you want
beside him to thumb through a slowly growing but your fans are growing restless. The next
reject pile. time you get this result, treat it as a result of
“You have the patience of the Builder, 9 or lower unless you immediately do
my love. One million they may be, but I have still something drastic to impress them.
reserved dinner for just us two, and they are not • On a result of 20+, you get what you want
invited.” and choose one:
“I’d have it no other way Kas; though I’m ◦ Your status protects you from harm and
sure they’d watch my every moment if they misfortune; the next Downtime Action
could.” you take is treated as having a result
Kasimir sighs again. one level higher than what was rolled. If
“Yes, I imagine they would. You’ll simply you rolled a 20+, this effect is not
have to keep them waiting” expended.
◦ Gain one reserve from the Resources
Coldcore Coliseum adds the following downtime list (Lancer Core Book p51)
actions, allowing players to play the role of ◦ You make a lasting impression on an
bigshot celebrity lancers and kavaliers, with NPC; they become a persistent contact
fickle fans and contentious rivalries: for you, and will perform small favors
and aid within their means, though
extreme requests might require
additional convincing.

[30]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
CONFRONT YOUR RIVAL Sitreps
When you confront your rival you single out a Coldcore Coliseum adds the follow Sitreps:
notable NPC for a one-on-one confrontation. It • Extinguish: Reenact an ancient Karrakin
could be anything from a public duel to heated sport as you race to extinguish your
words over lunch. Describe how you intend to opponents’ Pyres before they do the same
beat them and make a skill check. The Apply to yours.
Fists to Faces, Show Off, or Threaten triggers • Relay: Push deep into hostile defenses to
are probably applicable. capture zones one at a time, balancing
offense with defense as you protect your
• On a result of 9 or lower, they leave with holdings.
the upper hand. The next time you interact
you take +1 Difficulty on all rolls involving
them until you succeed at a roll or the scene
ends. Additionally, pick one of the following
to keep, and one to lose:
◦ Your dignity and composure.
◦ Your reputation and social standing.
◦ Your confidence or physical well-being.
• On a result of 10-19 you trade blows,
leaving on a draw. You and the GM both pick
one of the following options, with the GM
choosing what your rival gains:
◦ You impress someone watching.
◦ You learn something new and valuable.
◦ You embarrass or unsettle your rival.
◦ You gain your rivals’ respect or
admiration.
◦ You choose the next time and place
you’ll see them.
• On a result of 20+ you gain the upper hand
and force them to back down. Choose one
of the options from the 10-19 result, and one
of the following:
◦ They owe you a favor or make a promise
they must keep.
◦ The next time you meet you gain +1
Accuracy on rolls involving them until
you fail a roll or the scene ends.
◦ You spark an ideological or personal
change, though it may take time and
further effort to fully form.

[31]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 EXTINGUISH

Player NPC
Pyre 1 Pyre 1
Key 1

Player Player NPC Enemy

Player NPC
Deployment Defense Striker Zone Defense Deployment
Pyre 2 Pyre 2
Zone Zone Zone Zone

Key 2
Player NPC
Pyre 3 Pyre 3

Les Bûches Royales (or simply Royale) is a OBJECTIVE ZONE

popular Karrakin sport apocryphally derived The map is split into thirds by three zones; a
from an Anno Passacaglian festival tradition. In central Striker zone, and two Defense zones on
the wake of Passacaglia’s rise he saw fit to either side, one each for PCs and NPCs.
discipline the Pashas of Laurent and Reis for Each DZ contains 3 Pyres. These are evenly
their foul stewardship of fair Karrakis. Each had spaced Size 2 objects that are immune to all
three heir-children and so Passacaglia gave damage and effects.
them an opportunity to prove themselves one At the start of the scene two Keys are placed in
final time. Their heirs were bound to stakes on the center of the map, occupying a single space
the six hills surrounding Karrakis City, guarded each. They do not obstruct movement and
by their Pasha’s army. Whichever leader’s cannot be interacted with in any ways except the
bloodline survived the night would be fit to serve following:
in Passacaglia’s army. The veracity of this • A mech character that enters its space can
legend is highly suspect and difficult to prove Pick Up the Key as a free action, carrying
due to the poor quality of records from this era, it with them. A character can only hold one
but regardless of the exact origin it has become Key at a time, and characters with a Key
a mainstay of Karrakin popular culture. cannot be Hidden.
• A character with the Key can Pass it to any
Extinguish matches are a play on an old allied mech character in Range 3 as a
Karrakin sport, adapted for pankrati. PCs must quick action, or as a reaction to that
carry a Key to eliminate specific objectives and character requesting it as a quick action on
destroy the NPCs position, while protecting their their turn. Characters in the SZ are always
own vulnerable locations. valid options for their allies to Pass the Key
to regardless of distance, as long as they
VICTORY CONDITIONS have line of sight.
• PC Victory: All of the NPC’s Pyres are • A character with the Key can Drop it 1/
extinguished, or any NPC Pyre is round as a reaction to taking damage,
extinguished during Overtime. gaining resistance to the triggering
• NPC Victory: All of the PC’s Pyres are damage. This removes the Key from them,
extinguished, or any PC Pyre is extinguished and it then immediately reappears back in
during Overtime. the center of the map.

[32]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 • A character in their sides’ DZ can attempt to ENEMY FORCES
Steal the Key from an adjacent hostile The GM should prepare enemy forces of a
character as a quick action. They make a similar size to a normal encounter, deploying
contested Hull or Systems check against them all.
the keyholder’s Agility or Systems, with
each side choosing which skill to use. On a DEPLOYMENT
success, the keyholder drops the Key as if The GM and a player each roll 1d6 to determine
they had Dropped It after taking damage. the order of deployment. Whoever rolls the lower
On a failure, the keyholder can push the result deploys first.
defender 2 spaces in any direction.
• A character with the Key can Extinguish a REDEPLOYMENT
Pyre in Range 3 as a Quick Action. This At the start of any round 2+ Rounds after an
destroys the Pyre and removes the Key NPC has been destroyed, the GM can redeploy
from that character. It reappears back in the them at full health and structure. If a PC is
center of the map, and the extinguishing destroyed, they may expend 2 Repairs at the
character is removed from the map, then start of the following round to redeploy with full
reappears in a space of their choice within health and the same structure and stress as
their sides’ DZ. when they were destroyed (minimum 1).
If any hostile characters are adjacent to a Pyre
that a character is attempting to Extinguish, the
extinguishing character must first make a
contested ranged attack roll against one of
those hostile characters (hostile’s choice). NPCs
make this roll at +2/Tier. For every additional
hostile character after the first, the defender
gains +1 Accuracy on their roll. If the
Extinguishing character fails, the Key is
removed and reappears at the center of the
map.

At the end of Round 6, if neither side has lost all

of their Pyres, the game enters Overtime. All
Pyres reignite, and the next side to Extinguish
an enemy Pyre wins the match.

[33]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
 RELAY
Enemy Ingress
Enemy Deployment Zone Zone

Control
Zone 3

Control
Zone 2

Control
Zone 1

Player Deployment
Zone

“Cordova, you’re pushing point; Sinclair, follow PCs must control the previous CZ to take control
their lead and do whatever they say, no of the next one (ex: they must control CZ 1 in
questions. Esteban and I will cover your flanks order to begin controlling CZ 2, and must control
and pick off whatever uglies think they can CZ 2 to begin controlling CZ 3). If they lose
sneak past — Jia-ha, you’re on our backs. control of a lower zone (due to leaving it or it
Whatever ground we take, it’s up to you to hold becoming contested), they do not lose control of
it. Our window is up in fifteen and we need that higher zones, but they could not gain control of
corridor cleared or we’re SOL, so you’d better the higher zones if they lost them as well until
make every damn second count.” they regain control of the lower zones

Relay missions are battles for territory; PCs ENEMY FORCES

push an offensive front forward without The GM should prepare enemy forces of a
abandoning the zones they’ve passed. similar size to a normal encounter. They can
hold some as Reinforcements if desired.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
• PC Victory: The PCs gain 2 Points. DEPLOYMENT
• NPC Victory: The PCs have fewer than 2 The GM deploys NPC anywhere in their
points by the end of Round 6. deployment zone first, then the PCs deploy.
After the initial deployment, NPC reinforcements
CONTROL ZONE can only enter the battlefield inside of their
3 CZs (typically 4 spaces on each side) ingress zone.
numbered 1-3, arranged equidistantly in a line
starting near the PC’s deployment zone and SCORING
ending near the NPC’s ingress zone. Players gain 1 Point at the end of any round in
which they control CZ 3.
If there are only PCs within a CZ, they gain
control of it. If there are no PCs in a zone, or if
there are more NPCs than PCs, they lose
control of it. Ultras count as 4 characters,
Elites count as 2, and Grunts count as ¼ of a
character.

[34]
Section 0 // Tournament Rules
– TIKAL – CAMULODUNUM – EDESSA –

THE

GRAND

TOURNEY
[35]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 To generate the board you will need a standard
THE GRAND TOURNEY 52-card deck of playing cards, and a blank
Even in the shade of the tents, the heat is surface (physical or digital) to record your map
stifling. A lieutenant shifts uncomfortably as on. The board is created one node at a time and
sweat rolls down their forehead. A backlit table can be generated by a single person or the
hooked to a humming generator displays a entire table.
rough topography of the exercise’s assigned
grounds. Pulsing dots sit atop the contour lines
representing the amassed forces of Order’s MAKING NODES
chosen House Companies. A quiet chaos swirls To make your first node, shuffle the deck and
around it as Commandante Ariagos and a draw the first card. The value of the card
polyphony of her lower officers present, scrap, determines the value of the asset in that node:
relay and re-confirm dozens of possible • 2-5: 1-point Asset.
scenarios. The Palisade Games can make – or • 6-10: 2-point Asset.
break – a career, and she intends to secure a • Face Cards: 3-point Asset.
very successful future for herself over the next
two weeks. • Aces: Rather than an Asset, Ace nodes
contain a unique landmark. Though they are
A klaxon blares through the camp. The not worth any points, controlling these
commotion freezes entirely and the cramped landmarks gives a unique benefit.
tent seems to grow another five degrees warmer.
Ariagos doesn’t react, except to tilt her head as
she listens. Every eye in the room turns towards The suit of the card determines what type of
her when the second tone sounds. An aide asset it is:
patches her into the comms system at her nod. • Hearts are cultural assets; historical sites,
“All hands! This is as real as any war – show cultural landmarks, symbolic holdings. The
them why you’re the best of the best. Fight fair, Ace of Hearts is a national monument or
fight strong, and fight to win! ” a victor’s flag. The team that controls this
asset regains 1 Morale at the start of every
Tourney phase.
This section outlines a new framework for
campaign planning. The Grand Tourney creates • Spades are material assets; ammunition
a map board filled with valuable assets that the caches, industrial infrastructure, power
players and NPC teams compete over to plants. The Ace of Spades is an
achieve the highest score. The board represents emergency armory; at the start of the
the geography of the conflict, and each asset is Tourney phase the team that controls it
an object, position, or other entity of value that gains 1 Stock.
teams seek to secure and maintain control of. • Diamonds are informational and
During the Tourney phase between missions, transportational assets; radio towers, rail
teams will move against each other, fortify their lines, ports and drone hubs. The Ace of
holdings, and acquire unique upgrades based Diamonds is a mass transit hub; the team
on their team’s style. that controls it gains +1d6 on all Move
actions, and a Move or Maneuver that
starts in its Node can have a destination two
THE TOURNEY BOARD Nodes away rather than one.
The Tourney Board is made up of a grid of • Clubs are natural and defensive assets; a
interconnected Nodes. Each Node represents a canyon chokepoint, a fort or encampment,
physical location, and contains Assets, other or a sheltered park. The Ace of Clubs is a
miscellaneous details, and a brief description. bunker or cave system; the team that
During play, teams of mechs will travel across controls it places 1 Defense on all adjacent
the board from node to node, battling each other nodes they control when they claim it, and
to claim or defend their assets. again at the start of each Tourney phase.

GENERATING THE BOARD

For a short tourney, generate 2 Nodes per
player character. For an average length,
generate 3 Nodes, and for a long and more
complex tourney generate 4 Nodes per player.
Players are unlikely to visit more than 1 or 2
nodes in a single mission, and it will take
multiple missions to thoroughly explore the
board. Having extra space gives them options of
where they want to focus and leaves room for
NPC teams to interact on the sidelines.

[36]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
Once you have determined the nature of the With these details determined, place the Node
asset in the node, roll 2d6. The result somewhere on the map, drawing in or marking
determines additional Quirks of the location: these details in whatever fashion works best.
Finally, give the Node a name and a short
Node Quirks description, like ‘Sanbok Chemical Plant - a
hastily abandoned explosives factory’ or ‘Point
2- This Node can only connect to Capricorn - the narrowest span of the Temur
Chokepoint one other Node. River’.
3 - Weak This Node loses 1 Defense at
Position the end of each Tourney Repeat this process until you have the desired
phase. If it already has 0 number of nodes. Then, draw connections as a
Defense, it becomes line between Nodes. These are the paths that
unclaimed. teams will use to travel between nodes, and
define which nodes count as adjacent to each
4 - Awkward Teams in this Node take -1d6 other. Each node must connect to a minimum
on Force, Resolve, or of two other Nodes and a maximum of 5.
Technique rolls they make for
Contests (roll 1d3 during
Alternatively, you can use the Map Forge system
Node generation to determine
in the Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade
the affected Skill).
Baronies to generate your nodes. Use it to
5 - Desolate Teams cannot Resupply in create the geography and characteristics of your
this Node. nodes; roll 1d3 to assign point values to the
Assets, or choose values to apply. Assign the
6- All combat scenes in this Node type of Asset based on what feels most
Hazardous contain one or more Hazards appropriate.
(see p???).
7 - Standard No quirk. At the start of the tourney, each team begins in a
random Node. The simplest way to determine
8- When players succeed on a this is to assign each Node a number, and have
Battleground combat scene in this Node or teams roll a die or draw cards to determine their
an NPC team successfully starting Node. Two teams cannot begin the
Strikes or Defends within it Tourney in the same Node, and the second
they gain 1 Point. team to roll the same Node must reroll until they
receive an unoccupied Node.
9- Teams in this node gain +1d6
Reinforced on Force, Resolve, or
Technique rolls they make for Alternatively, the same roll or card draw can be
Contests (roll 1d3 during used to give teams priority in picking a Node to
Node generation to determine start in. If this method is used, teams cannot
the affected Skill). choose to begin the Tourney in any Node with a
3-Point Asset, or an Ace feature.
10 - Valuable When a team claims this
Node, they immediately gain
Points equal to the value of
the assets within it. If they lose
control of it, they lose points
equal to that value instead.
11 - Hidden Teams cannot target this node
or the teams or assets within it
with any effect during the
Tourney phase unless they are
also within it.
12 - This node contains an
Cornucopia additional asset (generate
again as above).

[37]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 SCORING SKILLS AND MORALE
Each Node contains an Asset determined during Teams have 3 Skills that define their capabilities
its creation. An Asset is a tangible or strategic during contests: Force, Resolve, and
resource at that location that is worth a certain Technique. These are represented by a number
number of points. Gaining these points between 1 and 4. The initial values for these
determines the winners and losers of the skills is determined by their team’s Style, and
tourney. At the end of each Mission phase each they may increase as that Style is upgraded.
team gains Points equal to the total value of
the Assets in the Nodes that they control. Whenever a team rolls a Contest they choose
Additional Points may be gained from Node which skill they plan to roll with, describing how
Quirks and certain Style upgrades. A Tourney it matches their approach. You may choose any
may end in two ways: a Point Limit, or a Time of your skills to apply to any Contest, but if you
Limit. fail a Contest with a skill, it becomes Exhausted.
Exhausted skills cannot be used again until the
Point Limit tourneys end once one team meets start of the next Tourney phase or you spend 1
or exceeds a certain Point value at the start of Stock to refresh them. Additionally, each skill
the Tourney phase. This value is 12 Points for a has a different consequence on failures:
short Tourney, 16 Points for an average • Force represents raw power, sheer
Tourney, or 20 Points for a long Tourney. numbers, and brute strength. When you fail
Multiple teams may exceed this target at once, a Force Contest, remove 1 Defense from
but only the team with the most Points wins the an asset you control as you overextend and
Tourney. leave yourself exposed. If you have no
Defense on any Assets, lose 1 Point
Time Limit tourneys end after a certain number instead.
of time passes, tracked by a Time Counter • Resolve represents tenacity, bold and
which starts at 0. At the start of each Tourney courageous action, and the endurance to
Phase (including the first), increase the Time weather hardship. When you fail a Resolve
Counter by 1. A short Tourney ends when the Contest, lose 1 Morale as your
Time Counter reaches 4; an average Tourney determination is shaken.
ends at 5, and a long Tourney ends at 6. When • Technique represents skill, strategic
the Tourney ends, the team with the most total planning, intrigue, and clever maneuvering.
Points wins. When you fail a Technique Contest, roll
-1d6 on the next Contest you make as your
If there is a tie for the highest Point value, the plan encounters something unexpected and
Tourney enters Sudden Death. All other teams you struggle to adjust.
and all assets are removed from the board. A
special Tiebreaker Asset is placed in one Node Each team also starts the tourney with 3
equidistant from the tied teams. The first team to Morale. It represents both their physical integrity
claim that Node and retain control at the start of and their fighting spirit, and can decrease as the
the Tourney phase wins the Tourney. result of losing encounters in the Tourney and
Mission phase. If a team is reduced to 0 Morale
THE TOURNEY PHASE or all of their skills are Exhausted they roll 2d6
and take the lowest die for any Contest they
During the tourney an additional phase is added make, and they become vulnerable to the
to gameplay. After Downtime, the Tourney Knock-Out Mission action which can remove
Phase plays out before the next mission begins. them from the Tourney for good. Morale cannot
During this phase every team takes Actions increase above 3 or be lowered below 0.
that represent their broad movements and
planning, and that set them up for the next
mission; they recover, gather strength, poke at Teams lose Morale when they fail a Clash or
defenses, move, and otherwise prepare any Resolve Contest during the Tourney
themselves for the upcoming combat mission. phase, or are the target of a successful Strike
during the Mission phase.
At the start of the tourney, PC and NPC teams
pick a Style that grants them certain abilities
and their starting Skill scores. During the
Tourney phase, these Skills are used to resolve
Actions rather than tactical combat or pilot
Triggers.

[38]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
BASIC TOURNEY ACTIONS STRIKE: Choose an adjacent node controlled
When an action causes one team to act against by another team and make a Contest. On a
another, it will ask for a Contest. To perform the success, remove one Defense from that node.
Contest, both teams involved will roll Xd6,
where X is their choice of their Force, Resolve, SCOUT: Choose another team. You gain an
or Technique, keeping the highest result. The insight into their actions and current state, and
team with the highest final die wins the the next Contest you make against them gains
contest; in the result of a tie, the defender wins +1d6.
(the team that was the target of the action). If
another hostile team is occupying the same
DEFENSE
Node as you, all Contests you roll other than
Clash or a Strike against that team take -1d6. Some actions cause a team to gain or lose
Defense on a Node. Defense represents their
fortifications and command of the area, and
Each team can take 3 Actions during each higher Defense on a Node makes it harder for
Tourney phase. Teams roll a d20 or draw cards hostile teams to seize it. All Nodes begin with 0
to determine the order they take Actions in, Defense and a Node cannot have more than 3
starting with the team with the highest roll and Defense at once. Defense is assigned on a per-
breaking ties with the matched teams rolling or team basis; only one team can have Defense on
drawing again against each other. Turn order any given Node at a time (ex: if Chickadee Team
continues until each team has gone once. Then has 2 Defense on the Node ‘Alamo Station’,
the round ends, and the next round begins with Robin Team cannot place any Defense on that
each team rolling again, generating a new turn Node, but can still place Defense on other
order. This plays out until all teams have used all unoccupied Nodes).
of their actions. Player teams have access to the
following basic actions; they may gain additional
actions from their Team Style. When a team attempts to Move into a Node with
hostile Defense during the Tourney phase the
defending team adds that Node’s Defense to the
CLAIM: Gain control of the occupied Node if it final result of their Contest roll (max 6). When
has not yet been claimed and there is not players begin a combat scene in a Node with
another team present in it. Defense (their own, or a hostile teams’),
Defense on that Node is represented by
CLASH: Make a Contest against a hostile team additional elements in the scene. For each point
in the same node. The loser loses 1 Morale and of Defense, choose one of the following (players
is pushed to an adjacent Node of the victor’s choose for their team, the GM chooses for
choice. hostile teams):
• Choose a Hazard to place on the map, or
FORTIFY: Add 1 Defense to the occupied remove one Hazard.
Node. • Place up to 4 size 1 objects (10 HP) that
grant hard cover, 2 size 2 objects (20 HP)
MOVE: The team moves to an adjacent that grant hard cover, or a size 3 area of
connected node. If it is controlled by an unwilling soft cover.
Team, they must make a Contest to enter that • Place two supply caches (size ½) on the
node, losing the action on a failure. The map. A character on your team may
defending team adds their Defense on that consume an adjacent cache as a quick
Node to the final result of their roll (max 6). action to regain all HP and clear all Heat.
• After deploying, your team members may
RESUPPLY: This action can only be taken once move up to their Speed before combat
per Node each Tourney phase; to use it again, starts.
they must enter a new Node or wait until the You may also use 2 points of Defense to start
next Tourney phase. Roll 1d6: the scene with an allied NPC of appropriate tier
• 1-3: Gain 1 Stock under your command. They cannot have a
Template, and you may choose which Class
• 4-5: Gain 2 Stock they are and the optionals they equip.
• 6: Gain 3 Stock
Stock can be spent 1:1 to add +1 to any
Contest result, to regain 1 Morale, or to refresh
an exhausted Skill. 3 Stock can be spent to
gain +1 Action this phase.

[39]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 THE MISSION PHASE KNOCK-OUT:
Once the Tourney phase ends, players have the This Goal allows players to defeat a team with 0
chance to change the board in more dramatic Morale, removing them from the rest of the
ways during the Mission phase. The Mission Tourney. It requires successes equal to 4 minus
phase is the only way to seize occupied nodes your Morale (min. 1). When complete, the
and gives opportunities to knock hostile teams targeted team is removed from the board; their
out of the tourney permanently. Planning the assets become unclaimed, and they can no
steps of a Mission should be a collaborative longer gain points or act in the Tourney Phase.
effort between players and the GM, with each Sitreps: Deathmatch, Extinguish, Extraction
side presenting actions and reactions. The
players state the assets they wish to capture, SEIZE:
the hostile teams they want to chase down, or
This Goal allows players to take control of a
the node that they will try to defend from hostile
Node. It requires a number of successes equal
assaults. The GM presents the options available
to the Defense of the Node (min. 1).
on the board and the intentions of NPC teams
Unclaimed Nodes always only take 1 success.
such as what assets are vulnerable and what
Each success removes 1 Defense from the
nodes an NPC team might try to seize.
node. When complete, the players gain control
of that node, and any hostile teams in the same
Based on this conversation, the GM can design node are pushed to adjacent nodes of the
a mission structure that meets what the player’s player’s choice.
plan to do. This could be a full set of combat Sitreps: Control, Extinguish, Extraction,
scenes planned from start to finish, or it could Gauntlet, Recon, Sabotage (Field Guide to
be developed one step at a time as the state of Castor & Pollux)
the board changes between each scene. The
important pieces to remember are that the
players decide what actions they will take. and MANEUVER:
the GM responds by defining the stakes around This Goal allows players to traverse the map,
that action, and the rewards for success. The and requires 1 success. When complete,
Mission phase continues until players elect to players move safely from one node to another.
take a Full Repair, or something drastic occurs On a failure they may still be able to move, but
that organically results in the end of the phase. another team will also get the opportunity to act
before them. This goal is not necessary when
moving into nodes that the players control
MISSION GOALS
unless they plan to cross multiple nodes at
During a Mission, Players will have the chance once.
to achieve certain Goals during combat and
Sitreps: Escort, Gauntlet, Relay, Recon
some narrative scenes. Generally, success in
any combat scene during the Mission Phase
should progress one or two Goals as is DEFEND:
appropriate for the context of the mission. These This Goal is used when a hostile team attempts
are announced before or at the start of combat. to seize a player-controlled asset or anything
Goals are fiction-first — players announce their else that the players would rather protect. The
intent, and then they and the GM determine defending team must be an adjacent Node or
what Goals match that plan. A scene cannot closer; if they are further away, they may try to
progress more than 2 Goals at a time. Maneuver first to reach the node. It requires 1
success (min. 1).
Some Goals can be achieved in a single Sitreps: Control, Escort, Holdout, Secure
combat, while others may take multiple scenes (Field Guide to Castor & Pollux)
to complete. Narrative scenes can also progress
Goals; however success is less codified during
these scenes and it falls to the GM to arbitrate if
a narrative resolution bears enough potency to
progress a Goal. A progress clock can be one
way to mechanize this during a narrative scene
and give players a specific objective to work
towards.

[40]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
NPC TEAMS DURING A MISSION If NPCs would Strike a player-controlled asset in
Unlike players, NPC teams do not have Goals the same node as the player team, or Strike the
during the Mission phase. Instead, after each team itself, the players can attempt to Defend in
combat scene, 1d3 NPC teams activate. Once the next combat scene instead of rolling. A
activated, a team cannot activate again until all failure or success in the scene counts as a failed
teams have been activated. An activated team or successful roll for the Contest. If they cannot
may move to an adjacent node and then attempt fight (or choose not to) they lose automatically.
to Strike the assets or the team within it, making
a Contest against the opposing team. The losing If an NPC team gains a Goal as the result of a
team loses 1 Morale. If it is an asset, success Style Upgrade, they may forgo Striking when
removes one Defense from it, or seizes it if it activated to instead complete that Goal, gaining
has 0 Defense. If it is a hostile team that has 0 the usual result for its completion.
Morale before the contest begins, that team then
rolls 1d6. On a 1 or a 2, they are Knocked Out of
the tourney.

TEAMS AND STYLES

Every team has a Style: a combination of
sponsorship, background, training, and ESOTERIC
ESOTERIC
resources that define how they approach the
tourney and what techniques they bring to bear.
A team can be Military, Criminal, Intelligence,
Esoteric, Cultural, or Corporate. CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
A team’s Style grants them a passive Trait, and
a list of Major and Minor upgrades. They begin
the Tourney with one upgrade of their choice
from either list. At the start of each Tourney
Phase after the first, a team can select the next INDUSTRIAL CRIMINAL
Major upgrade from their Style, or a Minor
upgrade from their own or a neighboring Style
(ex: a Military team can pick a Major Military MILITARY
upgrade, or a Minor Corporate, Military, or
Criminal upgrade). Major upgrades must be
taken in order, but Minor upgrades can be taken
in any combination.

[41]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 MILITARY CRIMINAL
War is your profession – when you take ground Fighting head-on is a losing game. The winner
you keep it, and give your enemies no quarter. is whoever gets the prize, no matter how they
got it.
Force: 3
Resolve: 1 Force: 2
Technique: 1 Resolve: 1
Passive - Rank Discipline: You win ties on Technique: 2
Clash and Strike Contests. Passive - Running Dark: You do not have to
make a Contest to Move into nodes with hostile
MAJOR MILITARY UPGRADES: teams.
1. ATTRITION: On a successful Strike or a
failed Clash your target loses 1 Morale. MAJOR CRIMINAL UPGRADES:
2. DENIAL DOCTRINE: Gain the Raze Goal. 1. CHOKEHOLD: While you occupy a hostile
Every successful Raze scene lowers a Node, assets in that Node do not generate
target team’s Score by 1. any Points.
3. SALT THE EARTH: When you take this 2. STICKY FINGERS: Gain the Steal Goal,
upgrade, choose a Node. All assets within which requires two successes. When
are immediately and irrevocably destroyed; it completed, take one Stock from your target
ceases to exist for the rest of the Tourney and add it to your own supply.
and no longer grants any points. The team 3. MILLENNIUM HEIST: When you take this
that controls it loses points equal to its upgrade, choose an asset in an adjacent
value. If another team is within the Node, Node. You steal it, moving it from its current
they lose 1 Morale. Node into any Node that you control. This
can allow two assets to occupy the same
MINOR MILITARY UPGRADES: Node, or for an Ace Node to contain an
asset.
• MARTIAL EXPERTISE: Gain +1 Force and
gain +1 Accuracy on narrative rolls that
follow direct orders from your commanding MINOR CRIMINAL UPGRADES:
officer. • UNDERWORLD EXPERTISE: Gain +1
• WHETSTONE: When you succeed in a Force or +1 Technique, and gain +1
Clash Contest, regain 1 Morale. Accuracy on narrative rolls to acquire
• SPOILS OF WAR: When you Knock Out a contraband or find illicit channels.
hostile team, gain 4 Stock. • PROTECTION RACKET: If you control 3+
• PROWESS: When you win a Contest that Assets at the start of the Tourney Phase,
you initiated, gain 1 Point. choose a hostile team. They must either
remove 2 Defense from a node of your
• BLOOD FOR BLOOD: When you Exhaust choice, or you gain +1d6 on all Contests you
a skill in a Contest, your opponent must roll initiate targeting them this phase.
1d6. On a 5+, the skill they used is also
Exhausted. • BLACKMAIL: When any team makes any
Contest roll during the Tourney phase you
• CHAIN OF COMMAND: Gain an additional can spend 2 Stock to remove 1 die from the
squadmate under your command, roll after seeing the results.
represented by an NPC of any class and
appropriate tier for your level. 1/Mission • PLAY DIRTY: You can reroll any number of
they may accompany your team during a your dice during a Contest after seeing the
combat scene as an allied character. results. You must take the second result,
and you lose Points equal to the number of
dice rerolled this way.
• HIDDEN CACHE: Roll 2d6 when you
Resupply in a hostile node, keeping the
highest result.
• BOUNTY CONTRACT: At the start of each
Mission phase the GM chooses a hostile
team as a Bounty target (directly or
randomly). The first team to defeat the
targeted team in any combat scene this
phase immediately gains 1 Stock and 1
Morale, and the targeted team loses 1
Morale.

[42]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
INTELLIGENCE MINOR INTELLIGENCE UPGRADES:
Misdirection and intercepted missives; you know • ESPIONAGE EXPERTISE: Gain +1
every step of this dance, and you always lead. Technique and +1 Accuracy on narrative
rolls to uncover hidden information about a
Force: 1 person, place, or thing.
Resolve: 1 • EXCELLENCE: Whenever you roll a 6 as
part of a Contest, gain 1 Point.
Technique: 3
• WOLFPACK: You can attempt to Knock
Passive - CHESSMASTER: Whenever you Out teams with 3 Exhausted skills as if they
Scout a team, roll and hold 1d6. You can were Demoralized.
expend it to replace any die rolled in any
Contest or other roll they are a part of with this • BLACK ICE: When a hostile team Scouts
die instead (including their opponents’ dice). you, roll 1d6. On a 5+ their action fails and
you may immediately Scout them without
using an action.
MAJOR INTELLIGENCE UPGRADES: • MASTERMIND: When you roll for turn order
1. SABOTAGE: When you Fortify you can during the Tourney phase, you can instead
choose to place a Trap in the targeted node elect to act last. If you do, gain +1d6 on all
instead of adding Defense. When a hostile Contest rolls this round.
team enters the node they roll 1d6; on a 4+ • AMBUSH: At the start of each combat
the trap triggers and they must Exhaust a scene during the Mission phase, each team
skill. member rolls 1d6. On a 5+ they begin the
2. SPIDERWEB: Gain the Disrupt Goal, scene Hidden. Until the end of their first turn
which takes two successes. When complete, they remain Hidden even if they are not in
the targeted hostile team loses 1 Action in cover or are within a hostile character’s line
the next Tourney Phase. of sight.
3. SURGICAL STRIKE: When you take this
upgrade, choose a hostile team. They
cannot take any actions this Tourney phase
only except to Fortify, Move, or Scout.

[43]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 ESOTERIC MINOR ESOTERIC UPGRADES:
Your methods are unconventional, but their • STRANGE EXPERTISE: Gain +1 Resolve
results are unquestionable. Just what is it you or +1 Technique and gain +1 Accuracy on
really want here? narrative rolls to wield or contain a force or
technology that you do not fully understand.
Force: 1 • SYZYGY: If you control 3+ assets at the
Resolve: 2 start of the Tourney Phase you may
immediately move your team to any Node
Technique: 2 that you control before the Tourney phase
Passive - DEUS EX MACHINA: During a begins.
Contest you cannot roll below the value of the • TRAILBLAZE: 1/phase when you Fortify a
skill that you are using, treating it as that value node you may remove one connection
instead (ex: if your Resolve is 3, any die that between it and another node, and create a
rolls a 1 or a 2 during a Contest with Resolve is connection to a new node.
treated as having rolled a 3 instead)
• UNORTHODOXY: After you roll for a
Contest and see the results, you may spend
MAJOR ESOTERIC UPGRADES: one Morale to roll +1d6.
1. CODEX: When you roll two or more 6s on • DEDICATION: While Demoralized you do
a Contest and succeed, gain a benefit based not suffer the usual results of a failed
on the skill used: Contest for the skill used.
– Might: Gain 1 Stock. • POLYGLOT: You can spend 2 Stock to
– Technique: Add +1d6 to the next decrease a skill by 1 and grant another +1 at
Contest you make. any time. This effect lasts until the start of
– Resolve: Gain 1 Morale. the next Tourney phase. You cannot reduce
2. HIDDEN TRUTHS: Gain the Discover a skill below 1 or above 4.
Goal, which requires 2 successes. When • MNEMONIC RESET: 1/Mission when the
complete, place a Discovery in an adjacent die is rolled to determine NPC team
node. You may consume 2 Discoveries to activation after a player team scene, you
add 1 success to a Goal pursued in that may instead roll two dice and choose either
Node, or consume 1 at any time to gain a result. You may also choose which teams
benefit depending on the type of the node: are activated, though you cannot activate a
— Hearts: Refresh an Exhausted skill. team that has already been activated.
— Spades: Add +1d6 to a Contest in this
node.
— Diamonds: Instantly Maneuver to this
Node during the Mission phase.
— Clubs: Force a hostile team to move off
this Node to another adjacent Node of
your choice.
3. EXOGENESIS: When you take this
upgrade, immediately create a new Node
and asset within it. It is generated with the
same options as during board generation,
but you choose each of its characteristics
(asset value, quirks, type, etc.) instead of
choosing them randomly. You control this
node once it is generated, and it must be
connected to the node you currently occupy.
This cannot duplicate an existing Ace Node.

[44]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
CULTURAL CORPORATE
Hometown heroes and sponsored combatants; The company is a well-oiled machine, greased
the battlefield is your stage, and the whole world by Manna and grinding out paychecks for the
is watching. poor suckers like you.

Force: 1 Force: 2
Resolve: 3 Resolve: 2
Technique: 1 Technique: 1
Passive - CROWDPLEASER: Gain 1 Morale Passive - DEEP POCKETS: When you
whenever you gain control of an asset. Resupply you can immediately spend 1 Stock
to Fortify as part of the same action.
MAJOR CULTURAL UPGRADES:
1. HOMEFIELD: Reroll any 1s you roll during MAJOR CORPORATE UPGRADES:
a Contest if you are in a node you control. 1. UNIVERSAL SOLVENT: You can spend 4
2. FIGHTING SPIRIT: Gain the Rally Goal, Stock during a mission to apply one
which requires 2 successes. When Success to any Goal.
complete, gain 1 Morale. 2. VENTURE CAPITAL: Gain the Invest
3. PLANT THE FLAG: When you take this Goal. When completed, this Goal increases
upgrade, choose a Node you control. It the value of an asset you control by +1 for
gains the following benefits for the rest of the rest of the Tourney, to a maximum of 3. It
the tourney: requires successes equal to the final value
— Assets in this Node generate +1 Point. of the asset once completed.
— Hostile teams cannot gain control of this 3. SLUSH FUND: When you take this
Node, though they can still lower its upgrade, immediately gain 10 Stock.
Defense.
— Add +1d6 to all Contest rolls you make MINOR CORPORATE UPGRADES:
while you occupy this Node. • BUSINESS EXPERTISE: Gain +1 Force or
+1 Resolve, and gain +1 Accuracy on
MINOR CULTURAL UPGRADES: narrative rolls to make a bargain, trade, or
ultimatum.
• POPULAR EXPERTISE: Gain +1 Resolve
and gain +1 Accuracy on narrative rolls to • MONOPOLY: If you control 3+ assets at the
put yourself in harm’s way defending start of the Tourney phase, gain 2 Stock.
someone else. • CONSTRUCTION PERMIT: You may
• HEROISM: When you would gain Morale choose one additional benefit from the
while at your maximum, gain an equal Defense list when you start a combat scene
number of Points instead. in a Node you control.
• HEART OF THE PEOPLE: Your maximum • PERFORMANCE REVIEW: When you
Morale becomes 4. Gain 1 Morale right succeed at defending against a Strike,
now. Clash, or Move Contest, gain +1d6 to the
next Contest you make.
• LUCKY: Reroll the first 1 you roll during
each Round of the Tourney Phase. • AGGRESSIVE BUYOUT: As an action
during the Tourney phase you may spend 5
• FAN FAVORITES: When a hostile team fails Stock to remove all Defense from a hostile
a Clash or Strike against you they lose 1 node.
Point.
• WAREHOUSE: At the start of the Mission
• SPONSORSHIP DEAL: Whenever your phase every player may spend 1 Stock to
team completes a Goal during a Mission, rent a single piece of license gear; they gain
gain 1 Gift Basket which can be spent by access to it for this phase, but must still have
any player as if it were their own Repairs, or sufficient mounts and SP to equip it as
to add +1 Accuracy to any narrative roll normal.
during the Mission or Downtime phases. All
Gift Baskets are lost at the start of the
Tourney Phase.

[45]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 NPC TEAMS TERRAIN
A standard Tourney should have one NPC team Unless stated otherwise, Terrain is a flat
per player (ex: if there are 4 player characters, surface that does not obstruct movement,
there will be 4 NPC teams, plus the PC team, for provide cover, or prevent a space from being
5 total teams in the Tourney). Control over the free and valid. It does not have HP and cannot
NPC teams can be left entirely to the GM, or be targeted or take damage.
shared between the GM and players – just
remember to play honestly! When creating a Acid Pool: Characters are Shredded as long
team, give them a name and a brief descriptor as they remain within an Acid Pool.
about their origins, outlook, goals, or other
characteristics that might come up in play or add
Barbed Wire: Barbed Wire is difficult terrain.
extra texture to the game. Feel free to develop
A character may ignore this effect by taking 1
these details further as the Tourney progresses.
AP Kinetic damage per space they enter.

Like PC teams, NPC teams each have a Style

Blackwash Slurry: Characters that start their
and begin the Tourney with a single upgrade
turn in Blackwash Slurry or enter it for the first
unlocked. Unlike PC teams, NPC teams are split
time on their turn must pass an Engineering
into Major and Minor teams. Minor teams can
check or take 2 Burn. Until they clear all Burn,
only choose upgrades from their primary Style,
each time they take damage from Burn they
and cannot choose Major upgrades. Major
create an equal number of Blackwash Slurry
teams can take Major or Minor upgrades from
spaces adjacent to them.
their primary style, and Minor upgrades from its
neighboring Styles in the same way that the
PCs can. Chasm: If a character ends movement directly
on top of a Chasm they fall into it. They take 4
Kinetic damage and are Stuck in the Chasm.
While Stuck they cannot move or be moved
except into other Chasm spaces, they have hard
cover from all directions, and treat all other
characters as having hard cover. Flight and
teleportation ignore this restriction. They can
escape the Chasm by spending their standard
movement to climb into a free adjacent space.

Conveyor Belt: Conveyor Belts are drawn in a

line across the map; it can be any length and
can turn or end at any point, including doubling
back onto itself. At the end of each turn,
characters standing on a Conveyor Belt are
pushed 2 spaces along its path.
HAZARDS Deep Water: Characters in Deep Water have
Hazards are new terrain and objects, or other resistance to Heat, and cannot take any action
effects present on the map that present threats except to move or Boost.
and tactical options to players and NPCs.
Hazards are split into three categories; Terrain,
Object, and Situational Hazards. Some Nodes Geyser: When a character ends any movement
have Hazards added to them as part of the on top of a Geyser, roll 1d6. On a 4+ it erupts;
generation process; when this happens, freely they must pass a Hull check or be pushed one
choose the Hazard(s) that you feel are most space in a direction of the GM’s choice and
appropriate for that Node. Even if they are not knocked Prone.
attached to a Node during generation, Hazards
can be freely added to any combat scene for Gravity Flux: This zone counts as a zero-g
additional tactical variety and to reflect any area. In addition to the usual rules for zero-g
narrative circumstances that may be fitting for movement, objects or characters that are
them. knocked, moved, or pulled out of the area sink
harmlessly to the ground at the end of their turn
instead of falling. Characters can Jump an
additional +3 spaces vertically and horizontally if
they start inside a Gravity Flux.

[46]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
Grove: Groves are size 1-4 areas of soft OBJECTS
cover. If a target within the Grove takes Energy Unless stated otherwise, Objects are Size ½
damage or Burn it ignites; characters that start Objects with 10 HP that provide hard cover.
their turn in the burning Grove or enter it for the
first time on their turn must pass an Agility
Generator: Generators do nothing on their
check or take 2 Burn.
own, but provide power to an adjacent Hazard to
keep it active. A character can activate or
Ice: While a character is on Ice, all movement deactivate a Generator as a quick action while
they make must be in straight lines. When they adjacent to it, or by making a successful tech
stop movement, they slide an additional number attack against E-Defense 10 while it is in their
of spaces equal to half of the distance moved. Sensors as a Quick Tech action. It is also
They may use any unused movement to reduce deactivated when destroyed.
this distance 1:1.
Arc Circuit: Arc Circuits are powered by a
Local Splice: Local Splices can be any size, Generator. At the end of each round, an arc of
and exist in pairs of equally sized and shaped electricity jumps to the nearest character to the
areas. Characters, objects, terrain, and any Arc Circuit within Range 3. If multiple characters
other effects in one Local Splice simultaneously are equidistant, the target is chosen randomly.
occupy the other Splice area. They are the They take 4 AP Energy damage and become
same space for all purposes, rather than two Impaired until the end of their next turn.
different locations. Anything leaving a Splice
area must decide which Splice area they are
Defense Turret: This object is powered by a
exiting from.
Generator. The first time each turn a hostile
character moves into a space in Range 5 of a
Mud: Mud is difficult terrain. Characters that Defense Turret that does not have cover from it
end their turn in Mud sink into it and become it makes a Ranged attack roll against them at
Immobilized until they pull themselves free as a +0. On a hit it deals 5 Kinetic damage.
quick action.
Explosive Barrel: Explosive Barrels have 5
Omnivoid: Characters in this area cannot HP and are clearly marked as hazardous. When
make, benefit from, or be the target of tech destroyed, they detonate in a Burst 2 explosion.
actions or Searches. Characters in the affected area must pass an
Agility check or take 6 Explosive damage, or 3
Radiation: Tech Attacks and Smart weapons on a success. Objects and terrain in the area
have +2 Difficulty on attacks against characters take 10 AP Explosive damage automatically.
in Radiation. Characters that end their turn in
Radiation take 1 Heat. Force Field: This Line 3-5 barrier is immune
to all damage and effects and is powered by a
Sand Dunes: When a weapon, mine, or Generator. It blocks movement and line of
grenade creates a Blast, Burst, Line, or Cone effect (but not line of sight) for all actions except
when fired or when they detonate, any Sand Tech actions.
Dunes within the affected area erupt into a cloud
of dust within their space until the end of the
Greywash Hive: This object is powered by a
next round. Characters cannot draw line of sight
Generator. While active it produces a Burst 2
into or out of these clouds.
greywash swarm. Characters at least partially in
the area are Shredded and take 1 Kinetic
Shallow Water: Shallow Water is difficult damage at the start of each of their turns.
terrain. Characters that end their turn in Shallow
Water cool 2 Heat.
Laser Emitter: A Laser Emitter is a size 1
object with 20 HP powered by a Generator. A
laser beam emits from one side of it, creating a
continuous line until it is blocked by another
object or terrain that is size 1 or larger. A
character that starts their turn in the beam or
passes through it for the first time on their turn
must pass an Engineering check or take 3
Energy damage, or 1 damage on a success.

[47]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 Mirror: A character can target a Mirror with SITUATIONAL
any ranged attack that deals at least partially Situational Hazards are neither objects nor
energy damage to redirect it from that point; the terrain. They are instantaneous or progressive
mirror becomes the new origin for the attack for effects that usually occur or change at the end
the purpose of determining cover and line of of each round.
sight, and the attack gains +3 Range. If a laser
beam from a Laser Emitter would pass through
Bombardment: At the start of the scene the GM
a mirror, it instead deflects to another direction,
marks Impact Sites (Blast 2) and/or Bombing
continuing on that path instead. Characters can
Runs (a line two spaces wide that crosses from
interact with an adjacent Mirror as a quick action
one edge of the map to another). At the end of
to change which direction it deflects in.
each Round characters in the targeted area
must pass an Agility check or take 6 Explosive
Moving Platform: This 3x3 flat platform has damage and be knocked Prone, or half as
30 HP and moves on a track between any two much damage on a success. Impact Sites and
marked points. It can be interacted with as its Bombing Runs must then move 1d3+1 spaces
own Generator; when activated, it moves itself in a direction of the GM’s choice.
and all characters or objects on top of itself to
the other point on its track. Characters in its path
Collapsing Ground: At the start of the scene
take 3 Kinetic damage and are pushed out of
the GM marks any number of spaces as
the path by the shortest path possible.
Fissures. At the end of each round, all
characters in a Chasm take 6 Kinetic damage.
Reactor Plug: A mech character can plug into Then, all spaces adjacent to a Fissure or a
or out of a Reactor Plug as a quick action while Chasm become a Chasm.
adjacent. While Plugged in all actions they take
generate -1 Heat (min 0) and they cool 1d3+1
Flooding: At the start of the scene the GM
Heat at the end of each of their turns; however
marks any number of spaces as Flood
they cannot move beyond Range 3 of the
Sources. At the end of each round all spaces of
Reactor Plug. If the Reactor Plug is destroyed
Shallow Water become Deep Water, then all
while they are attached to it, they take 2d3 Heat
spaces adjacent to a Flood Source or Deep
and become Jammed until the end of their next
Water become Shallow Water.
turn.

Spotlight: Spotlights are Size 1 objects 3

spaces tall powered by a Generator. Each
Spotlight marks a Blast 1 area in Range 8;
attacks against characters at least partially in
this area have +1 Accuracy, they cannot
become Hidden, and they immediately lose
Hidden on entering it. A character adjacent to a
Spotlight can move its targeted area 3 spaces
as a quick action.

Water Line: Water Lines have 5 HP. When

destroyed they create a Cone 3 spray of water
in a direction of the triggering character’s choice;
characters in the spray when it is created or that
enter it for the first time on their turn clear all
Burn and must pass a Hull check or be
knocked back 3 spaces and knocked Prone.
The spray dissipates at the end of the next
round.

Whitewash Bulb: When destroyed this object

releases a Burst 1 whitewash spray. Characters
in the affected area clear all Burn and gain 5
Overshield. As long as they have this
Overshield they are Slowed and have
Resistance to Burn. A character may destroy a
Whitewash Bulb as a quick action while
adjacent to it.

[48]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
Datageist Infestation: Datageists are size
½ data constructs; they do not have HP, or
obstruct movement or line of sight. Characters
that pass through a Datageist take 1 Heat. At
the end of each round each Datageist moves
1d6 spaces (rolled individually) towards the
nearest non-Possessed character. If a Datageist
enters a character’s space, they become
Possessed. While Possessing a character the
Datageist is removed from the battlefield. A
Possessed character rolls 1d6 at the start of
each of their turns:
1. Wail: All Datageists and Possessed
characters explode in a Burst 2 electrical
arc. Characters at least partially in the
affected area take 2 AP Energy damage.
2. Claim: You cannot move into any space
more than 2 spaces away from another
Possessed character or a Datageist until the
start of your next turn. If you are moved out
of this area involuntarily you become
Stunned until the start of your next turn.
3. Split: Spawn 1d3 Datageists in free spaces
in Range 2.
4. Channel: Take 1 AP Energy damage and
1 Heat for every Datageist or Possessed
character in Range 3. If you take 4+
damage this way, gain an additional Quick
Action this turn.
5. Beckon: Choose an ally in Sensors; they
gain 6 Overshield. Create a Datageist in a
free space adjacent to them.
6. Solace: Clear 1 Heat and gain +1
Accuracy on your next check to remove
Possession.
They may then attempt a Systems check to end
the Possession. On a success the Possession
ends and the Datageist is destroyed. On a
failure they take 2 Heat.

[49]
Section 1 // The Grand Tourney
 COLDCORE COLISEUM

————–

PLAYER RULES

[50]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Talents
BOUNTIES OF THE
ARENA
Coldcore Coliseum adds new options for players The Menagerie Championship
to pick as Talents, as well as two new mech An unofficial coalition of engineers, daredevils,
manufacturers: and scientists that gather from across settled
space to compete in regular competitions that
Talents: embrace experimentation and collaboration.
• ALCHEMIST: Create an array of useful • MENAGERIE CORNICELLO – (Striker/
Gadgets to boost your systems and keep an Artillery): The Menagerie’s open-source
edge on the battlefield. frame, designed around a universally
• FIELD TESTER: Enhance your survivability modular core.
to outlast the competition and improve your • MENAGERIE JIN-CHAN – (Support): An
ability to Brace. esoteric computing platform that reaches
• KAVALIER: Control the flow of combat with across time and consciousness to
skilled melee maneuvering and punishing coordinate its team.
Overwatch tools. • MENAGERIE MILAGRO – (Defender): A
• TECHNICIAN: Support your allies from the magnetic brawler that bends battle around
frontlines as you set your opponents up to itself.
fail. • MENAGERIE NAZAR – (Artillery/
Controller): Deceivingly diminutive, the
Manufacturers: Nazar punches far above its weight with
metafolded ordinance and blinkspace
redirection.
Khargan/Kasimir Custom • MENAGERIE CLOVER – (Defender): An
Assembly alternate HORUS Hydra that grows a
A chassis atelier founded and honed in the regenerating ecosystem of Blackthorn
arenas of Ispahsalar, K/KCA exemplifies the nanites.
precision and tradition of Karrakin frame design. • MENAGERIE MANEKI-NEKO –
• K/KCA NANDAKA – (Defender): A (Defender): An alternate HORUS Kobold
stalwart shield that holds the line with that turns its liturgicode transmutation into a
energy barriers and disabling tools. roiling forge to produce armor for its allies.
• K/KCA TIZONA – (Striker/Support): The
Tizona leads from the front, guiding its allies’
charge as a valiant warlord.
• K/KCA TYRFING – (Striker/Defender): A
punishing bodyguard that beats down any
threat to its chosen ward.
• K/KCA ZOMORRODNEGAR – (Striker/
Controller): The Assembly’s swift archer,
dancing across the battlefield to sow
conditions with a flurry of arrows.
• K/KCA YAWARAKAI-TE – (Striker): An
alternate SSC Metalmark, given to K/KCA to
develop its integrated Firmament affinity.
• SSC ALEXANDRA – (Controller): An
alternate SSC Atlas that spins a web of
debilitating monowire to puppet its
opponents.

[51]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Talents
 TALENTS
The following talents can be chosen by players 5. Echo Drone
when spending talent points. 0 SP, Drone, Gadget, Free Action
Echo Drone (size ½, 5 HP 10 Eva/E-Def)
ALCHEMIST Deploy an Echo Drone in Sensors. If you
activate a system or tech action that targets a
A tool for any occasion; you’re always Blast, Burst, Line, or Cone that includes a
prepared. Where anyone else might see scrap, space adjacent to the drone, all spaces
you see potential and make it into reality – adjacent to the drone count as part of the
though your hangar team might not appreciate affected area, then the drone is destroyed.
you dipping into their stores.
6. Micro-Grenades
I HEDGE INVENTOR 0 SP, Gadget, Free Action
At the start of each scene choose 2 Gadgets Micro-Grenade (grenade, Range 5, Blast 1):
to equip from the list below. Gadgets are Characters in the affected area take 2
micro-systems that activate as a free action Explosive damage and gain +1 Difficulty on
for the listed effect, then self-destruct after use. the next check or save they make.
They are not valid targets for destruction any
other way. When you Stabilize you can create
and equip a new Gadget.
1. Coolant Pack
0 SP, Gadget, Free Action
Remove up to 4 Burn. The next time you take
Heat before the start of your next turn, take -2
Heat (min 0).

2. Jet Thruster
0 SP, Gadget, Free Action
Fly 2 spaces. The next system or tech action
you activate this turn gains +3 Range.

3. Shock Prod
0 SP, Gadget, Free Action
Deal 1 AP Energy damage to a character in
Sensors. They take 1 AP Energy damage
whenever they fail a save or are hit by a tech
attack until the end of their next turn.

4. Mass Driver
0 SP, Gadget, Free Action
Knock a character in Range 8 back 2 spaces.
If they hit an obstruction they are knocked
Prone. The next time you target a character
with a system or tech action this turn, push
them 2 spaces in any direction.

[52]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Talents
FIELD TESTER TECHNICIAN
It’s a rough gig, but someone has to do it. Wrestling is like a dance – you need a good
Whenever R&D gets a fresh idea, you’re the partner. El Huracán is an excellent partner. He
one to make sure it doesn’t blow up the first knows every step, and makes sure you always
cadet to fire it. No, it’ll blow you up instead. But keep time. When you win, you win together.
you’re tough enough to take it.
I BLINDSIDE
I SAFETY FIRST When a hostile character in Range 3 passes a
You gain +1 Accuracy on all checks and saves check or save forced by an allied character you
to avoid effects caused by allied characters, may expend your Overwatch to force them to
and are immune to all damage and effects that reroll the check or save; they must keep the
would result on a successful save from them second result.
unless you choose to be affected.
II HOT TAG
II BLOWOUT PANELS 1/Round when you move adjacent to an allied
If you Brace and take Structure damage you character you can Slide them into any other
roll 1 fewer die (min 0), gain immunity to all space adjacent to you. They gain soft cover
damage that would roll over after refilling your until the end of their next turn.
HP and clear all conditions that were not self-
inflicted. You must decide to Brace before III KNOCK ‘EM DOWN
making the Structure check. 1/Scene as a quick action you can Line Up a
hostile character in Range 3, forcing them to
III CRASH TEST DUMMY make a Systems save. On a failure they are
After Bracing you can continue to take sent reeling; they become Shredded until the
reactions, and on your following turn you gain start of their next turn, and the next attack roll
an additional special quick action which can made against them by an allied character
only be used to Boost, activate Shield becomes an automatic critical hit instead of
systems, or in combination with your normal rolling. On a success, push them 1 space in
quick action to Stabilize. You do not gain this any direction, and you may reuse this action in
action if you would already have two quick this scene.
actions after Bracing.

KAVALIER
The sword is more than a weapon – it is a
promise. Eimon Kasyya knows this the way his
father did, and his father’s father. For
generations his ancestors have kept the
princelings of Arrudye safe. Now he does the
same from his cockpit. Technology changes,
but the promise never does.

I FOOTWORK
When you hit an adjacent character with a
melee attack, you may push them up to 2
spaces into a space adjacent to you.

II DEVIL GUARD
Your Overwatch reaction triggers when a
hostile character within the Threat of one of
your melee weapons is hit with an attack by an
allied character.

III SOVEREIGN BLADE

Gain an additional special Overwatch reaction
each round which can only be triggered by
melee weapons. When you hit a character
with a melee weapon during Overwatch they
become Impaired and cannot take reactions
until the start of their next turn.

[53]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Talents
 KHARGAN/KASIMIR CUSTOM
ASSEMBLY
Excellence In All Things
In the bustling arcologies of Ispahsalar there is
no industry more vibrant, more ripe with
BESPOKE ARMAMENTS
innovation than the design and manufacture of
mechanized chassis. Home to the largest There is an old Karrakin idiom – a blade that
Karrakin Royal Foundry campus, dozens of does not know its master cuts both ways.
independent designers live and die by its side in Superstition is unbecoming, but Assembly
a constant competition for tactical superiority tailors highly encourage clients to participate in
and social status. Catering mainly to the Baronic the design and forging process of any new
military elite (both noble and ignoble) these weapon pattern.
studios subsist largely on direct commission for Choose a mount. All weapons on that mount
custom design and fitting of chassis to pilot, can be fired while Jammed with +1 Difficulty,
serving clientele dissatisfied with the array of and each time you take a full repair you can
more plebeian options. A studio may skyrocket choose one Mod and one Style:
in fame overnight with a well-known client – or Mods:
plummet to bankruptcy just as easily if their • Replace all instances of one of Kinetic,
frame fails in a public bout. Of these mech- Explosive, or Energy damage that they
ateliers, K/KCA is the most successful; or, the deal with a different damage type.
designer least willing to give up. • Weapons gain or lose the Smart tag
(choose individually).
The Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly formed • Melee weapons gain Thrown 5, or
nearly a century ago and represents both the increase their Thrown value by +3.
civil and financial union of the Assayid and • Ranged weapons gain +3 Range.
Coryat Minor Houses. Brought together by a Styles:
joint passion for mechanical design and • Melee weapons gain +1 Threat.
traditional combat forms and ethics, Khargan • Ranged weapons gain one additional
Assayid and Kasimir Coryat combined the weapon type (Cannon, CQB, Launcher,
manufacturing and distribution lines of the Nexus, Rifle).
Coryat factory-families with the technical and • 1/Scene weapons on this mount can be
mechanical expertise of the Assayid trade reloaded as a free action.
schools. • Damage that weapons on this mount deal
cannot be reduced below 1.
The result was K/KCA – a design studio focused
on bold experimentation without abandoning
classical aesthetic and noble image, inspired by OATH OF EXCELLENCE
the art of combat as much as its practice. K/KCA
Every swing of your blade is a silent vow; every
frames are the embodiments of chivalry and
shot fired a promise made. Your birth does not
courage; bold front-liners that excel with
make you superior, nor your name, your title,
personalized weaponry and heroic tactics.
your riches or your laurels. They are each an
oath, a debt, a chain: that you must be these
NEW TAGS: things, that excellence is the only option. Bear
SLIDE:
your shackles with pride, and keep your
This voluntary movement ignores engagement
promises.
and does not provoke reactions.

K/KCA CORE BONUSES Your attack rolls score a critical hit on a final
K/KCA bonuses increase your flexibility and result of 18+.
precision, ensuring that you always have your
favorite tools on hand, and that you stand out
against the crowd.

You must have at least three license levels in K/

KCA licenses to take a bonus from this list, and
another three levels for each additional bonus.
For example, with six points in K/KCA licenses,
you can have up to two bonuses.

[54]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
PRIVATE TUTOR
The K/KCA martial conservatory is an elite
institution – seasonal trainee positions are
rigorously competitive even for the
introductory courses. Private instruction is
invitation-only and a sign of either very real
skill or, more quietly, a generous donation.

Gain one rank in 2 Talents or two ranks in a

single Talent.

SIGNATURE MANEUVERS
“First, master the fundamentals. When you
have done that, do it again. Continue this until
your blade is closer to you than the fingers on
your hand or the siblings of your blood, at
which point you have likely already died an
old and wasted life. Then, and only then, may
you attempt to ‘improvise’.”

Choose a single system installed on your

mech. Reduce its SP cost by 2, to a minimum
of 0. This system is not a valid target for
destruction and can be used even while
Jammed. Any checks or saves it inflicts on
hostile characters are made with +1
Difficulty.

TOURNEY ENHANCEMENTS
When you stand in the arena, you are not
alone there; with you stands your family, your
teachers, the engineers of your frame and of
the legend it was born from. You carry their
honor on your shoulders – do not let it slip.

Any time you spend CP to activate a Core

Power, you may also take a free action to
grandstand, gaining resistance to all damage
until the start of your next turn and clearing all
conditions that were not self-inflicted. Then
roll 1d20; on 20, you regain 1 CP. You must
take the first result rolled, even if you would
roll multiple d20.

[55]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 K/KCA
NANDAKA Defender

The original Nandaka was the first public design that K/KCA released. Piloted in a
surprise bout by a visiting minor scion from the House of Stone, it was
resoundingly defeated. The loss nearly toppled the nascent studio – and yet, they
remained. The failure became a lesson in endurance; in hardship, and adversity. The
very same chassis was rebuilt from scrap, redesigned and refitted with fresh
technology. The first was too staid: tradition, but without the boldness to bring it
into the modern era. A once simple shield was fitted with a high-yield particle
barrier; it nearly doubled in stature; each armored plate was removed and replaced
with a layered composite for superior speed and mobility. The second Nandaka was
piloted by Kasimir Coryat himself in a sanctioned wargame. He and his entire squad
emerged without a single scratch. Tall and proud, the Nandaka is a paragon of
fearless, magnanimous defense.

CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM

Size: 2 Save Target: 10
Armor: 3 Sensors: 5
KINETIC-CAPTURE IMPULSE
HULL SYSTEMS SCUTUM
HP: 6 E-Defense: 6 Though the entirety of the Nandaka is
Repair Cap: 4 Tech Attack: -2 heavily armored, its strongest point is the
SP: 7 Scutum; a shield nearly as tall as the
AGILITY
ENGINEERING frame itself and twice as strong. Its
Evasion: 8
Heat Cap: 5 colossal size belies careful design; the
Speed: 4
armature attached to it can swing the
TRAITS shield at the slightest thought in a
torque-aided arc, and on impact transfers
ENERGIZED GUARDIAN the momentum back to a particle dynamo that
Allied characters adjacent to the Nandaka can use can extend across its entire body.
it for hard cover, and benefit from any Overshield Impulse Scutum
it has as if it were their own. Heavy Melee, Knockback 2
[2 Threat] [1d6+2 Kinetic Damage]
SHOCK ABSORPTION You may attack with Overwatch when a character
1/Round as a reaction when the Nandaka is the enters, leaves, or exits spaces in this weapon’s
target of a Blast, Burst, Line, or Cone attack or Threat.
effect that includes at least one allied character it On Hit: Gain Overshield equal to Grit + ½ the
may grant all allied characters in the area damage dealt before reduction. If the knockback
resistance to all damage and Heat from the attack from this weapon causes them to hit an obstruction
or effect. It takes 1 Heat for each character (including another character), gain Overshield
protected this way. equal to the full amount instead.

Break Heaven’s Wheel

MOUNTS Active (1 CP), Quick Action
Create a Burst 2 area that lasts until the end of the
FLEX scene. Hostile characters at least partially in the
MOUNT area cannot draw line of sight except to spaces
adjacent to them. Attacks made against allied
characters at least partially in the area have +1
Difficulty. Overwatch attacks against hostile
characters in the area with your Impulse Scutum
do not consume your Overwatch for the round.

Allied characters at least partially inside the area

gain Overshield 3 if they end their turn in the
shield, or increase their current Overshield by +3,
to a maximum of 9.

[56]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
LICENSE I: EMERGENCY LAMELLAE, LICENSE II: NANDAKA FRAME, AJAX
GARRISON SPEAR PLATE, SUPPRESSION CHARGE

Emergency Lamellae AJAX Plate

1 SP, Unique, 1/Scene, Shield 2 SP, Unique, Quick Action, Shield, 1
The first time each scene you lose structure Heat(self)
you gain Grit+2 Overshield and become Until the start of your next turn whenever an
immune to all remaining damage and effects adjacent ally is targeted with an attack, roll
from the triggering action. You are immune to 1d6. On a 4+ it targets you instead, even if you
Impaired as long as you have this Overshield. would not normally be a valid target. As a
The neo-composite armor of the Nandaka reaction to being hit by an attack you may
is designed to break – but as each destroy this system; if you do, negate all
successive layer splinters, the damage and effects from that attack.
reactive polymers beneath harden even K/KCA has always looked to the heroes
further. of Karrakis for inspiration; the great
Passacaglia, Tyrannus, Anaxandron –
Garrison Spear and the older stories of Cradle, long
Main Melee, AP, Accurate faded and worn but not forgotten. Wan
[3 Threat] [2 Kinetic Damage] and ephemeral victory is not enough.
As a quick action you can Anchor the Garrison The true test is of Glory, of Valor,
Spear. While it is Anchored you are Slowed, and of History.
but any hostile character that moves at least
one space within its Threat for the first time in Suppression Charge
a round must pass an Agility save or take 2 2 SP, Unique, Quick Action, Limited 2
AP Kinetic Damage. You can stop Anchoring Expend a charge from this system for one of
as a quick action. the following effects:
A spear is an outwardly simple weapon • Suppressor Grenade (Grenade, Range 5,
– clear in shape and purpose to any Blast 1): Characters in the affected area must
onlooker. To master it, however, is an pass a Systems save or take 1d3 Explosive
art that can take a lifetime; to feel Damage and be unable to use or benefit from
it as an extension of one’s own body, any Protocols or Reactions, and have +1
or as the point on which one’s whole Difficulty on tech attacks until the end of
existence is anchored in the flash of their next turn, or half as much damage on a
the mêlée. successful save.
• Shear Mine (Mine): When a character
moves over or adjacent to this mine, it
detonates in a Line 5 path in the direction of
the character that triggered it. Characters in
the affected area must pass an Engineering
save or take 2d6 Kinetic damage, or half as
much on a successful save. The line persists
until the end of the next round. Any character
that crosses it for the first time on their turn
takes 2 AP Kinetic damage.
K/KCA has always looked to the heroes
of Karrakis for inspiration; the great
Passacaglia, Tyrannus, Anaxandron –
and the older stories of Cradle, long
faded and worn but not forgotten. Wan
and ephemeral victory is not enough.
The true test is of Glory, of Valour,
and of History.

[57]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 LICENSE III: PANKRATION GAMBIT SUITE, RAMPART ENGINE

Pankration Gambit Suite Rampart Engine

2 SP, Unique, Full Action 3 SP, Unique, Shield, 2 Heat(self),
Choose an adjacent grappled or Prone Quick Action
character. They take AP Kinetic damage This system creates a Line 4 forcefield 4
equal to the lesser of yours and their current spaces high with at least one space adjacent
HP. Then make a Hull save against their save to you that does not obstruct movement. It
target. On a failure, you take the same amount does not block line of sight and can be used
of damage, or half as much on a success. You as hard cover by adjacent characters.
then become Stunned until the start of your
next turn. The forcefield has HP equal to 5+Grit, and
Apprenticeships with K/KCA are rare whenever an adjacent ally would take damage
and highly sought after – acceptance from an attack the forcefield takes the same
alone grants prestige, even though amount of damage instead before reduction.
many initiates wash out of the Hostile characters that move into a space
probationary period. Every prospect adjacent to the forcefield for the first time on
must relearn the art from its basics: their turn must pass a Systems save or treat it
hands alone on metal or on flesh, no as an obstruction and become unable to draw
tools and no weapons. Only after they line of sight except to adjacent spaces until the
have mastered this foundational form start of their next turn. The forcefield lasts until
can they progress to more nuanced destroyed or you activate this system again.
instruction. A person does not become a knight
through the act of picking up a sword,
nor the donning of armor, nor even the
largesse of some higher authority.
Knighthood is an act that is chosen,
time and again. To stand, with sword
raised, armor worn, and authority held
high in defense of something greater
than yourself.

[58]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 K/KCA
TIZONA
Striker/Support

Before there was K/KCA, there was Khargan Assayid, hotshot underdog of the
Ispahsalar dueling circuit. His mech was a custom frame modified and maintained in
the family for generations – but it was his skill and bold talent that drew the eye
of Kasimir Coryat in the audience. A chance meeting led to Kasimir joining him as
Khargan braved the Capitol Laurel Combat Tourney – first as a mechanic, then a
comrade-in-arms in the ring as they fought their way to the top. The first place
prize laid the seed to form the Assembly, both in funds and in social capital.
Decades later the Tizona is still known by name even outside of piloting circles.
It is rare to see outside of K/KCA demonstrations; all licenses must be personally
approved by Khargan himself. Only the best of the best can carry on his legacy.

The exact provenance of Khargan’s

ancestral Tizona is not well known,
even to the family. Its original
systems and armaments have long since
been replaced, refurbished, and
redesigned dozens of times over. Any
who lays eyes on it can tell that it
is a testament to the skill and
devotion of House Assayid. It holds
every eye in battle; the stage
revolves around its charge. A
courageous commander, deft warrior,
and powerful ally, the Tizona is a
hero of old Karrakis brought to life
in shining steel.

[59]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 Size: 1 Save Target: 10
Armor: 2 Sensors: 5
HULL SYSTEMS
HP: 8 E-Defense: 6
Repair Cap: 4 Tech Attack: -1
AGILITY SP: 5
Evasion: 8 ENGINEERING Valencia C-Lance
Speed: 5 Heat Cap: 5 Main Melee, Knockback 2
[2 Threat] [1d6+2 Kinetic Damage]
This weapon has three different heads, each of
SCALE ARMOR which is unloaded separately. On attack, choose
which lancehead to use. When you reload this
The Tizona cannot be pushed, pulled, knocked weapon, all lanceheads are reloaded.
back, or knocked Prone by characters in Range 3. • Boarkiller: This weapon deals Kinetic damage
Attacks against it originating from within Range 3 and gains AP. On a hit, your target must pass a
are reduced twice as much by its armor. contested Hull check or be dragged with you until
the end of your turn.
WARLORD • Electrified: This weapon deals Energy damage
1/Round as a reaction when an allied character and gains Overkill. On a hit your target becomes
attacks a hostile character within Range 3 of the impaled by the spear. While impaled they are
Tizona and misses, it can force them to hit instead, Immobilized and take 3 Energy damage at the
dealing half damage, Heat, and Burn. start of each of their turns. They remain impaled
until they remove the spear by passing a Hull save
as a quick action.
• Detonation: This weapon deals Explosive
damage and gains Knockback 2. On a hit it
FLEX MAIN HEAVY creates a secondary attack in a Line 3 explosion
MOUNT MOUNT MOUNT that begins behind your target and is oriented
directly away from you. This secondary attack
cannot deal bonus damage and does not trigger
secondary attacks.

El Campeador
Active (1 CP), Protocol
Until the end of the scene, you may take your
Warlord reaction as many times per round as it is
triggered, taking 1 Heat for every reaction after the
first. Additionally, 1/round when a character in
Range 3 is hit by an attack you can Skirmish as a
reaction targeting that character.

[60]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
LICENSE I: BABIECA JOUSTING BRACE, LICENSE II: TIZONA FRAME, KINETIC
RP STYLE: FOOL GUARD MUSKET, TIGER-CLAW OFFICER’S MACE

Babieca Jousting Brace Kinetic Musket

2 SP Musket: Main Cannon, Loading,
When you Ram you may choose any target Knockback 1
within the Threat of a melee weapon you have [8 Range] [1d3+5 Kinetic Damage]
equipped, even if they are not adjacent. On a Bayonet: Main Melee
successful Ram, you may immediately move to [1 Threat] [1d3+1 Kinetic Damage]
any free space adjacent to your target ignoring This weapon can be used as a Cannon or a
Engagement and without provoking reactions. Melee weapon, but not both in the same
Mechanized jousting was once very Round. While unloaded it can still use its
common, when the Baronic military was Bayonet profile. On a melee hit with this
only just beginning to incorporate weapon, it is reloaded.
chassis into their training regimen Modeled on the traditional longarms of
but before they were common enough for the post-Melee city-state of Cosimo
skill to exist for full dueling. These these muskets incorporate a hand-
jousts were frequently impromptu designed and entirely analog priming
stress tests of new designs, and led mechanism. The Cosimo raiding parties
to much innovation in both technology were adept at long range ambushes, but
and techniques. equally skilled at close range where
blade and bullet danced together into
RP Style: Fool Guard one fluid motion.
2 SP
While you are Engaged with a hostile Tiger-Claw Officer’s Mace
character they cannot Engage or obstruct Heavy Melee, Reliable 1
other characters, and other characters do not [1 Threat] [2d3+3 Kinetic Damage]
trigger their Overwatch. If this weapon would miss a Prone,
Retro-Passacaglian Style is a recently Immobilized, or Stunned character, it hits
revitalized implement-agnostic martial them instead.
style experiencing a niche but growing On Hit: The target is Impaired until the end of
popularity, spearheaded in part by K/ their next turn.
KCA’s formalization of its techniques. A knight should value honor and
RPS draws on historic stances and dignity above all else – but only
tactical precepts in a syncretic effort fools do not take advantage of their
to modernize and apply the ancient foe’s hesitation to seize victory.
techniques to augmented or mechanized Weighted and flanged tiger-claw maces
melee combat. are tools to accomplish exactly that;
their deceptive speed provides an
ample reminder to any weakened
opponent that they have been
thoroughly outclassed.

[61]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 LICENSE III: RP STYLE: CHARIOT GUARD, RP STYLE: WORLD GUARD

RP Style: Chariot Guard RP Style: World Guard

3 SP, Protocol, Unique, 1 Heat(self), 3 SP, Unique, 1/Round, Quick Action
Limited 2 1/Round when you hit a character with a
You become Slowed until the start of your next melee attack, in addition to its usual damage,
turn, but for the same duration you cannot be you can activate this system as a quick action
forced to move or be knocked Prone by a to cause one of the following effects:
hostile character by any means unless you • Rush: An allied character in Range 5 and
choose to allow it. Additionally, if you would line of sight can move up to their Speed as a
contest an objective or control zone before the reaction.
start of your next turn it instead acts as though • Stagger: Your target is Slowed and has +1
it was not contested, and is controlled by you, Difficulty on attacks against targets beyond
and you count as two characters rather than Range 3 until the end of their next turn.
one for the purpose of comparing allied versus • Guard: Until the start of your next turn any
hostile characters in an objective zone. hostile character entering, leaving, or moving
Chassis incorporation of RPS – as with through a space in the Threat of the triggering
many combat styles – usually requires weapon triggers your Overwatch.
extensive neural-uplink tuning and The symbolic and practical basis of
synthomuscular redistribution to match RPS is in commanding: the battlefield,
the expected output and limberness of yourself, and your opponent. Its basic
a flesh-and-blood practitioner. This stance progression emphasizes
bespoke calibration process is a well- submission strikes and control of
honed service of K/KCA, and maintains immediate space. Advanced practice
demand for their attention even among incorporates mental exercises and
clients who do not commission their mantra to create an unconscious and
chassis. unyielding foundation for action and
reaction.

[62]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 K/KCA
TYRFING
Striker/Defender

Beside the storied history of Karrakin nobility and their glory and achievement is
a song less sung; of the tireless soldiers at their side and their command, the
bodyguards and regiment men that circle each scion in their gilded seat. By right
of ignoble birth they are afforded a certain brutality that their patrons dare not
approach – a rough, bodily elegance. The martial traditions of the protector-clades
and sub-noble armsmen are as rich as any other in the Concern, and unique in their
methodology by forgoing the pretense of panache or superiority for direct force and
simple efficiency.

Tyrfing licenses are frequently purchased indirectly; they are gifts, and
investments, given by noble clientele to their favored hands in a gesture of faith
and future service. They are designed to be the perfect second by the Assembly,
such that any who would threaten their ward in or out of the arena or tourney stage
sees a swift and terrifying retribution.

CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM

Size: 2 Save Target: 11 JARLSKÖLD’S ARSENAL
Armor: 0 Sensors: 8 The Tyrfing must be both sword and shield at
HULL SYSTEMS all times. To do so, it hosts a milspec
HP: 8 E-Defense: 8 flashprinter to produce a ready supply of
Repair Cap: 4 Tech Attack: +1 evenly weighted nanocarbon blades, so it is
AGILITY SP: 5 never unarmed. This armory is then
Evasion: 6 ENGINEERING augmented by powerful adaptive algorithms,
Speed: 3 Heat Cap: 5 reactive muscle, and kinetic storage/
impulse engines to create a formidable
TRAITS response profile to any threat against their
designated charge.
GRINDSTONE
When the Tyrfing is hit with an attack it gains +1
Speed, to a maximum of +4, until the end of its next Eschaton Axe
turn. Heavy Melee, Accurate, Thrown 8
[1 Threat] [5 Kinetic Damage]
GUARDIAN This weapon does not need to be recovered after
Allied characters can use the Tyrfing for hard cover. being Thrown to be used again.

MOUNTS
MAIN HEAVY
MOUNT MOUNT

[63]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 LICENSE I: EINHERJAR WEAVE,
POWDERDUSTER

Einherjar Weave
1 SP, Unique, Quick Action, Reaction
This system charges as a quick action, priming
rapid-firing synthmuscle. While it is charged
you gain the Flying Tackle reaction. It can only
hold one charge at a time, but charges last
until the end of the scene or until used.
This proprietary muscleweave is almost
identical to commercial alternatives.
Its unique quick-fire capabilities come
instead from a near-even ratio of
fiber/nervetrack pairs that give the
pilot extreme kinetic awareness and
reactive control.

Flying Tackle
Reaction, 1/Round
Trigger: A hostile character in Range 5 makes
a melee attack or forces a character adjacent
to them to make a save that would push, pull,
knock back, or knock their target Prone.
Effect: Slide adjacent to the triggering
character and make a contested Hull check.
On a success they are knocked Prone and
knocked back 1 space, and their attack
automatically misses or their target passes the
save. The Einherjar Weave loses its charge.

Powderduster
Main Melee, Reliable 3, Knockback 1
[1 Threat] [3 Explosive Damage]
A ‘powderduster’ is akin to a bar-
brawling implement more than a martial
weapon; thick plating at the end of a
limb that conceals stacked
micromunitions where a person might
keep metal pellets or loaded blades.

Ragnarök Edge
Active (1 CP), Protocol
Until the end of the scene your Ward gains
resistance to all damage while they are adjacent to
you, and your Eschaton Axe gains On Hit: Your
target gains a cumulative -1 to attack rolls, Speed,
and Armor until they lose structure or Stabilize.

[64]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
LICENSE II: TYRFING FRAME, LICENSE III: AURORA/AEGIS MEMETIC
BLACKBIRD DEFENSE NET, EMERGENCY ARMOR, CHAIN WHEEL
SYSTEM SHUNT
AURORA/AEGIS Memetic Armor
BLACKBIRD Defense Net 3 SP, Quick Tech, 1 Heat(self)
Heavy Nexus, Smart, Accurate, Gain the following Quick Tech options:
2 Heat(self)
[5 Range] [3 Threat] Toxic Ontology: Choose an allied character in
[6 Energy Damage + 1 Heat] Sensors and line of sight. Until the end of your
The Blackbird is an obvious outlier next turn, whenever a character attacks your
beside other K/KCA weapon designs in target they must roll a d6. On a 4+, their turn
terms of digital sophistication and immediately ends after the attack resolves.
user skill. The truth is that the Mnemonic Basilisk: Choose an allied
large, self-directing perimeter drones character in Sensors and line of sight. They
that make up the Defense Net were become cloaked in a memetic shroud and
never intended for tourney play in the cannot be directly targeted by hostile attacks or
public eye – their design originates actions as if they were Hidden until the end of
in self-defense for a private client, your next turn, or they move, force a save, or
and only after rumors began to spread take any action or reaction.
were they revealed as an official
offering. Memetic weaponry occupies a grey area
in tourney code, neither accepted nor
Emergency System Shunt fully rejected. Though even their use
2 SP, Unique, Protocol, Limited 1, 2 is infrequent, K/KCA argues that it is
Heat(self) no different from any other
Expend a charge to clear one of Impaired, intimidation tactic. It is a battlecry
Slowed, Immobilized, Jammed, or Shredded for a new age; a blade striking memory
that was not self-inflicted. instead of flesh.
The exact limits of one’s body are
difficult to truly know – a hidden Chain Wheel
variable that is thankfully revealed Heavy Melee, Overkill, Reliable 1
with mechanical designs. A machine’s [1 Threat] [2d6 Kinetic Damage]
limits can be tested, measured, Whenever Overkill triggers for this weapon
standardized – and, through care and increase its Reliable value by +1, to a
engineering, exceeded. maximum of 12. If its Reliable value becomes
6+ it gains +1 Threat. If it becomes 10+ it gains
On Hit: your target must pass a Hull save or
become Shredded until the end of the scene,
or until they pass a Hull save as a Full Action.
If you do not attack with this weapon from the
start of one of your turns to the start of your
next turn, and at the end of the scene, this
bonus resets to 0.
The blade, spear, and mace are
standard icons in baronic armories –
but they are by no means the only
options. This more esoteric weaponry
is not often used but for the rare
contender who can master the toothed
wheel or mechanized flail comes the
evergreen advantage of surprise.

[65]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 K/KCA
ZOMORRODNEGAR Striker/Controller

The Zomorrodnegar chassis template is the break-out star of K/KCA’s newest offerings
after a resounding series of wins at its release-year’s inter-studio combat
festival ensured that it would become a household name. It is lithe, agile, and
incredibly precise; it combines fluid visual style with a significant combat
advantage over older, slower models. Its lightweight armament allows for rapid and
target saturation, and it excels at dazzling, disabling, and destroying sturdier
chassis through concentrated fire and clever tactics. The Zomorrodnegar, each
custom-balanced to its pilot, accomplishes a role as a resourceful and cunning
skirmisher without sacrificing the honorable technique or martial prowess that K/KCA
is known for.

CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM

Size: 1 Save Target: 11
Armor: 1 Sensors: 8
SAMYELI AUTOLOADING RECURVE
HULL SYSTEMS BOW
HP: 8 E-Defense: 8 Bows are widely disregarded in mech combat
Repair Cap: 3 Tech Attack: +0 – an error that K/KCA seeks to correct
SP: 6 through example. Built to easily fold out
AGILITY
ENGINEERING of a limb, the Samyeli requires a high
Evasion: 10
Heat Cap: 5 degree of manual skill and coordination to
Speed: 4
master. This much is expected of any pilot
TRAITS who comes to K/KCA; if they meet muster, it
will serve them to devastating effect.
FALCON
1/Round when the Zomorrodnegar hits a character
from a higher elevation while they have at least one Samyeli Recurve Bow
condition, it deals +1d6 bonus damage. If they Main Launcher, Arcing
have no conditions, they become Impaired or [8 Range] [3 Kinetic Damage]
Slowed until the end of their next turn instead. This weapon starts the scene with no arrows
nocked. At the end of each of your turns you nock
ACROBAT LIGATURE an arrow, or two if you Boosted that turn, to a
The Zomorrodnegar has +1 Accuracy on Agility maximum of 5 arrows. You must have at least one
checks and saves, and can fly whenever it moves, arrow nocked to attack with this weapon; when you
but it must land at the end of each movement or it do, you may attack as many times as you have
falls. arrows nocked against the same or different
targets. You may Slide 2 spaces in any direction
before each individual attack. After firing, reset to
MOUNTS no arrows nocked.
FLEX MAIN/ Poisonous Wind
MOUNT AUX Active (1 CP), Protocol
Immediately nock three arrows. Until the end of the
scene, you nock two arrows at the end of each turn
(or three if you Boost), and your Samyeli Recurve
Bow gains Reliable 3 and On Critical Hit: Choose
one of the following options:
• Your target is Impaired and unable to take
reactions until the end of their next turn.
• Nock one arrow after all attacks resolve.
• Your target is Slowed until the end of their next
turn, and you may push them 1 space in any
direction.

[66]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
LICENSE I: JANGKRIK SILAT I, THUNDER LICENSE II: ZOMORRODNEGAR FRAME,
BARREL CHAKRAM BRACER, JANGKRIK SILAT II

Jangkrik Silat I Chakram Bracer

1 SP, Unique, Free Action, Limited 3 Auxiliary Melee, 1 SP, Thrown 5
You reduce all falling damage you take by 3. [1 Threat] [1d3+1 Kinetic Damage]
Additionally, you may expend a charge from On Attack: If you throw this weapon it makes
this system as a free action to change direction attacks against all characters in a Line 5. After
while flying. throwing, it remains spinning in the final space
The adaptation of Umaran Jangkrik of the Line. You may recover it normally, or at
Silat from hand-to-hand art to full the end of your next turn if you are within
scale mechanized combat has been slow; Range 5 and line of sight of it, it returns to you
its leaping movements and acrobatics automatically, attacking all characters in its
have proven difficult to translate to path. Otherwise it falls in the nearest free
heavy, cumbersome chassis. Any pilot space.
wishing to train in it must first Each individual template chakram must
install a series of safety measures be hand-milled and weighted for their
and shock absorbers in order to prospective client. Any deviation in
withstand its movements, and to expected spin or balance on the final
accommodate for decreased flexibility. print-blueprint is a stain on the
Assembly that could see the engineer
Thunder Barrel responsible cast out permanently.
Main Cannon, Inaccurate, Limited 3,
Knockback 3 Jangkrik Silat II
[Cone 3] [2d6+2 Explosive Damage] 2 SP, Unique, 1 Heat(self)
Despite their proclivity for more 1/Turn when you Boost and enter
classical weaponry K/KCA is no engagement with a hostile character you may
stranger to firearm design. The results activate this system to leap off of them. You
are frequently blunt and archaic; a make a contested Agility check. On a
reminder of the elegance they lack success, you fly 3 spaces in any direction,
despite their power. ignore engagement and do not trigger
reactions from them this turn, and they are
knocked Prone and pushed 1 space in the
direction opposite your movement. You must
land at the end of your turn or begin to fall. On
a failure you instead fall Prone in a space
adjacent to them.
Jangkrik Silat is an aerial art
focused on superior positioning and
rapid maneuvers. It arose on Umara
first as military doctrine, and later
as a competitive cultural sport that
is now in decline. By incorporating
its forms and practice into their
retinue, K/KCA hopes to revitalize and
preserve an esteemed martial
tradition.

[67]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 LEGERDEMAIN Distraction Suite TOXOTES-Pattern Comp/Con
2 SP, Unique 3 SP, AI, Unique
You gain the Dervish reaction. Gain the AI property and the Cunning Eye
Running away does not befit any baronic protocol. TOXOTES is not a full NHP and
knight, but only a fool cannot see the cannot cascade.
value in a tactical retreat. Tools TOXOTES is a composite-homunculus
like the LEGERDEMAIN suite are one trained from dozens of K/KCA’s top
part of the full strategic retinue students and test pilots, as well as
that K/KCA offers their clients to Khargan and Kasimir’s personal combat
encourage excellence in planning and record. It was mainly conceived and
situational awareness. used for supplemental training
purposes as an automated opponent, as
Dervish K/KCA does not typically condone the
Reaction, 1/Round, Limited 1 use of virtual pilot assistance.
Trigger: You are hit by a Grapple or Ram, or However, when the training drones
fail a save forced by a character in Range 2 began to outperform even more
that would knock you Prone. experienced students, it became clear
that certain doctrines could be made
Effect: You vanish in a cloud of holocode and
more flexible to take advantage of the
silica-chaff, becoming immune to the effects of
homunculus’ perspicacity. TOXOTES is a
the triggering attack or save and teleporting to
highly observant tactical assistant –
any free space in Range 2 of the triggering
they excel at pinpointing moments of
character. You become Invisible and gain soft
weakness or highlighting
cover until the end of your next turn. They
opportunities; this focus at times
must pass a Systems save or become
lends itself to developing tunnel
Impaired and Jammed until the end of their
vision that can distract pilots. As
next turn.
such, TOXOTES clones are still not
commonly distributed to outside
clients.

Cunning Eye
Protocol, 3 Heat(self)
The first ranged attack roll you make this turn
becomes a Cunning Shot, but you receive +1
Difficulty on all other attack rolls you make
this turn. Rolls of 18+ on a Cunning Shot count
as a critical hit, and on a critical hit your
target becomes Impaired until the end of their
next turn and you choose one of their weapons
or systems. It gains Recharge 4+ (or increases
its existing recharge value by 1, to a maximum
of 6) and becomes uncharged as your shot
disables a vital component.

[68]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 K/KCA
YAWARAKAI-TE Striker
SSC Metalmark Variant

As the Banner Company of the House of Glass, Les Fulgurites enjoy a certain level
of primacy in matters of materiel requisition. It is very likely that no other
group on Ispahsalar has the connections and influence to arrange a coordinate design
between the notoriously internalized SSC and an outside firm like K/KCA – but
stature and decades of brand representation through their success with the LUX-
Iconic Mourning Cloak frame cemented the deal.

The Yawarakai-Te was designed to Fulgurite specifications – integrating the

temperamental Firmament manipulation accompanying the Mourning Cloak license to the
more conventional base model of the Metalmark in order to create a hardier, front-
line frame to assist prolonged engagements. Limited to in-house production, each
Yawarakai-Te is made-to-order; machined and assembled by K/KCA and handled by an
SSC ExMat offshore representative to be fitted with FADE analogue emitter plates and
affinity tuning on a per-candidate basis.

It is marketed and registered under the K/KCA name solely for the sake of
publicity; all intellectual patents and uncensored design specifications are the
sole property of SSC. A collaborative design is nearly unheard of for the
corprostate, and the burden of failure for the design will sit squarely with K/KCA
– as will the debt of success should it perform as intended.

This lack of direct access made it difficult for K/KCA ateliers to design around the
unknown-unknowns of its paracausal function, though this did not prevent them from
developing a unique sword-art as a parallel licensure requirement. The exact
mechanism of action, and its reproducibility, are a matter of intense internal
consternation. Externally this work, along with their own research, has confirmed
several theories of SSC’s Exotic Materials division: namely that Firmament access
is not tied to physical architecture alone. The equipment they deliver is lacking
components previously deemed critical for affinity maturation – and are still
critical, for other sister projects. The fact that the Yawarakai-Te functions at
all points to the existence of an ephemeral or un-visible x-factor present in K/KCA
itself, and the pilots they train. Their standards of discipline, ritual practice
and mind-body meditation are a close analogue to rumors of certain Aunic practices
extracted by Deep Midnight installations, and were the reason the baronic company
was chosen for this partnership at all. In this way, the Yawarakai-Te’s performance
is far more important than the Assembly realizes.

[69]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 Size: 1 Save Target: 10
Armor: 2 Sensors: 8
HULL SYSTEMS
HP: 6 E-Defense: 8
Repair Cap: 4 Tech Attack: -1
AGILITY SP: 6
Evasion: 10 ENGINEERING
Speed: 5 Heat Cap: 5

FIRMAMENT MANTLE
While it is in the danger zone, hostile characters
adjacent to the Yawarakai-Te cannot draw line of
sight except to adjacent spaces, and if it is Invisible Affinity Edge
attacks have a 75% chance to miss it. Main Melee, Accurate, Overkill
[1 Threat] [1d6 Energy Damage + 3 Burn]
GENTLE HAND This weapon cannot be used to attack normally.
The Yawarakai-Te can teleport when it moves but Instead, 1/turn when an attack misses you, you
only if it is Hidden or its origin and destination have may teleport 1 space directly towards your
hard cover from or are out of line of sight from all attacker or as close as possible. If they are within
hostile characters. this weapon’s Threat, you may then make a single
attack against them with it. This does not count as a
reaction.
On Hit: Teleport to any free space adjacent to your
target.
FLEX MAIN/ On Crit: You become Invisible until you are no
longer adjacent to your target or they are destroyed.
MOUNT AUX
Affinity Break
Active (1 CP), Efficient, Reaction, 1/Round
Trigger: A hostile character targets you with an
attack or forces you to make a save.
Effect: Make an attack against them with the
Affinity Edge, regardless of range. It resolves before
the triggering action, but you remain a valid target
for that action even if you move to an invalid space
before it resolves. This attack scores a critical hit
on a final result of 18+. On a critical hit, or if it
causes the target to be destroyed or lose structure,
the triggering action is canceled and their turn
immediately ends. On a miss, do not expend core
power.

[70]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 K/KCA
ALEXANDRA Controller
SSC Atlas Variant

SSC’s first loss of the Atlas license specifications to the Sparri laid the
groundwork for extremely loose legal control of its more generic design features,
fueling an exponentially growing campaign of personalized redesigns and copy-cat
chassis mods. The enduring popularity of the SSC Atlas among Karrakin nobility
along with their desires for unique and limited-access goods has put them at the
center of this fevered effort, as more and more new divergent designs emerge
independently each day - far more than Smith-Shimano legal teams could ever hope to
chase down.

Each new wave brings further alterations from the original design as the tides of
the artist-sphere and noble interest ebb and flow, from heavy ordnance to holo-
filigree to high chic organic integration. Curving loops of iterative change, passed
from duelist to artist to mechanic to dancer have brought some of these offspring
chassis back into the eyes of the pankrati; the most popular now newly dubbed the
Alexandra as SSC has relicensed its own unique sale of the frame. It has lost the
expensive upkeep of the BLOODLINE system in favor of a complex monowire spinneret
and grapnel system, built and invented by a danse-nouveau troupe to aid their low-
orbit skyhook acrobatics. The selfsame tools proved incredibly efficient in the
dueling ring when one of the dancers responded to a challenge of honor to her wife,
and resoundingly humiliated her opposition in a performance that set Ispahsalar
ablaze with her name overnight. K/KCA was fortunate enough to personally service
her chassis - a favor owed both ways between Khargan and Lady Vashani - and have
already developed their own offering under the HAUTECLERE eponym. The RKF’s recent
release in 5015u of a HELIANTHUS license contract with SSC has pushed the market to
the point of saturation, and rumors already abound of what next breakthrough
novelty will catch the capricious whims of the pankrati and their voracious fans.

[71]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 Size: ½ Save Target: 11
Armor: 0 Sensors: 3
HULL SYSTEMS
HP: 8 E-Defense: 8
Repair Cap: 3 Tech Attack: -1
AGILITY SP: 4
Evasion: 10 ENGINEERING
Speed: 5 Heat Cap: 5

WIREDANCE
When the Alexandra Boosts it Slides. This
movement can be flight and can pass through
hostile character’s spaces, but it cannot end its turn
in them and falls at the end of the movement. 1/
Round when the Alexandra is pushed, pulled,
knocked back or knocked Prone by a hostile
character it can Boost as a reaction.
Monowire Spool
MARIONETTE Passive
When you critically hit with a melee attack, your
Whenever a hostile character initiates movement
target gains a Wire mark (up to a maximum of 3/
while adjacent to the Alexandra, even involuntary
character). 1/Turn you may consume a Wire mark
movement, it must first pass an Agility save. On a
as a reaction to that character taking any action or
failure, the Alexandra chooses the direction of the
reaction while within Range 5 of you, interrupting
movement, and may Slide the same distance and
and resolving before the action. When you do,
direction.
choose one of the following effects:
FRAGILE • Reel In: Boost directly towards them.
• Swing Wide: The next attack they make this turn
The Alexandra has +1 Difficulty on Hull checks has a 50% chance of missing (this does not stack
and saves. with Invisible). If it misses, you may choose a new
target within Range 3 of their original target and
reroll the attack against them.
• Bind Tight: They must pass a contested Hull
MAIN/ check against your Agility or be knocked Prone.
AUX

[72]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 [73]
Section 2 // Player Rules // Khargan/Kasimir Custom Assembly
 THE MENAGERIE
CHAMPIONSHIP
The People's Proving Grounds
Whispered in dark booths and slipped in code NEW TAGS:
between colleagues, the Menagerie’s name is EXPERIMENTAL:
an open secret in R&D circles across Union’s When you activate a weapon or system with this
many worlds. Televised and publicized on open tag, after any other effects resolve roll 1d6. If the
omninet channel it sees anonymous gladiators result is greater than or equal to X, trigger the
compete in an annual spectacle of innovation. Experimental effect. If a weapon or system has
The Menagerie Championship is a collaboration multiple Experimental effects, roll a single die to
of some of the most avant-garde entertainers determine the outcome for all of them.
and cutting edge combat engineers of the
current generations, and its fame is only KICKSTART:
growing. Its secretive organizers court and invite When you activate this weapon or system, if you
only the most select candidates each year to meet its Kickstart condition, it gains a burst of
compete. Fighters are chosen from the best and energy that makes it easier to use. For systems
brightest of their fields, and the premise is or weapons, they can be activated or fired as a
simple: design a novel chassis to compete in free action instead of their usual action cost.
that year’s challenge. Emerge victorious, and be This does not count as a skirmish or barrage
rewarded with all of the funding, research for weapons. If it is a reaction then it can ignore
support, and wide-reaching connections that the any X/round use restrictions, but it still
Menagerie’s treasuries and alumni can offer. In consumes a reaction for the turn. If the Kickstart
return, the Menagerie retains access to your condition was the effect of an action you took
research, data, and any innovations for use by (ex: ‘you knock a character Prone’), the Kickstart
its other victors, in perpetuity. There will stand system must be the very next action you take
no walls between worlds. after the triggering action resolves without
interruption or the benefit is lost.
To the audience, the Menagerie Championship
is one of the greatest mechanized sport events SUPERCHARGE:
ever conceived. Each year the challenges differ, When you activate a weapon or system with this
from one-on-one cagematch brawls, to weeks- tag, you can Supercharge it to gain the listed
long wargame tournaments on reservation effect. If it has no listed effect, the entire
worlds. The contestants are fresh, stylish, and activation counts as Supercharging it. After
idiosyncratic, each unique in the approach their doing so, you cannot Supercharge it again until
chassis brings and the persona that they take to you finish a full repair.
the ring.

All walks of life meet in the stands and crowd

screens to join together in the thrill of the clash.
Although contestants are ultimately entered by
merit, there are no boundaries to access within
the community; all shows are free and recorded,
all decision making is made public record
(except when necessary to preserve anonymity),
and the tide of public opinion is the ebb and flow
of gladiator popularity and the bohemian culture
that flourishes in the fans.

Menagerie frames are daring, innovative,

unstable and the mechanical exemplars of their
designer’s ideals. All are made equal behind
masks; and reinvention of the self is a matter of
course. Tradition is staid and the state is stale.
Go out there, pilot, and bring us something new.

[74]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
MENAGERIE CORE BONUSES UNDERDOG OVERHAUL
Menagerie core bonuses increase your Sacrificial capacitors, breakaway plating, and
dynamism, volatility, and stage presence dummy hardpoints are common modifications
in Menagerie frames to pull bursts of speed
You must have at least three license levels in and surprising action from ordinarily crippling
Menagerie licenses to take a bonus from this damage. Victory is all the sweeter when pulled
list, and another three levels for each additional from the jaws of defeat, and the most
bonus. For example, with six points in successful pilots know how to ride that edge of
Menagerie licenses, you can have up to two certainty as closely as possible.
bonuses.
AFTER-MARKET MODS Gain +1 Accuracy on all checks and saves
when at 2 or less Structure. When you lose
There are very few restrictions when it comes Structure, before resolving the Structure check,
to the Menagerie’s design policy, and their you may immediately take any quick action.
network of contacts and gray-market suppliers This does not count as a reaction. This action
make almost any idea possible. cannot prevent you from losing the Structure or
making the check; if it would cause you to
Whenever you roll for an Experimental effect, regain HP it is applied after damage rolls over.
if you do not trigger the effect, add +1 to the
next Experimental roll you make. This effect
can stack, and resets to 0 when you trigger any
Experimental effect.

CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
Though the full Championship only occurs
once every standard year, many contestants
continue to chase success in spillover contests
and local leagues, bolstering their skill and
reputation for the next cycle.

You reduce all involuntary movement inflicted

on you by -1 while in a control or objective
zone, and increase any Knockback you inflict
against characters in the same zone by +1. 1/
Round when a hostile character starts their
turn adjacent to you or enters adjacency for the
first time on a turn you may Ram or Grapple
them as a reaction.

SULFUR AUGMENTATION
Using novel blackbox thermodynamic
predictions and exotic material science,
Menagerie-modified reactors contain a
regenerative coating that recaptures a majority
of normally wasted reaction heat. This sustains
otherwise unsustainably high draw from pre-
optimization prototype systems.

When you activate a Supercharge you may

either cool all Heat or spend a Repair to regain
all HP as if you had Stabilized. During a rest,
you may spend a Repair to recharge a single
Supercharge system you have activated
during this mission.

[75]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 MENAGERIE
CORNICELLO Striker/Artillery

Although the exact founding date of the Menagerie is either unclear or obscured, it
is widely known that the Cornicello has been a staple of its open-source library
since its inception. The frame still bears a passing foundational resemblance to
the SP-01 Everest that it must have once been a highly derived version of, but it
has long since taken on a life of its own. Although it is no longer a competing
frame design for the Championship itself, it is the skeletal basis provided to any
contestant for future modification. Its highly modular design supports a broad range
of experimental alterations, and facilitates rapid DBTL cycling to give contestants
a platform for optimization and iteration before their inventions reach the
battlefield. A homegrown culture of DIY instructionals and schematic repositories
has developed around the Cornicello as a result, and more diehard fans consider
sharing your personal design to be an important first greeting, even if the vast
majority have never piloted a chassis.

CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM

Size: 1 Save Target: 10 LUCA OMNI-MOUNTING
Armor: 0 Sensors: 8 The Cornicello’s endoskeleton boasts
HULL SYSTEMS universalized attachments and supports for
HP: 12 E-Defense: 6 a constantly updated library of armaments
Repair Cap: 5 Tech Attack: -1 and system upgrades that can easily be
AGILITY SP: 6 swapped in or replaced to meet situational
Evasion: 9 ENGINEERING needs. In the Menagerie’s early days,
Speed: 4 Heat Cap: X=5 contestants would frequently make a show of
allowing their equipment to be damaged
TRAITS beyond repair, only to reveal hitherto
unseen weapons in the blink of an eye to
MODULAR DESIGN deal the winning strike.
When the Cornicello repairs a destroyed weapon or STABLE PROTOTYPE
system during a rest, it may replace it with any other Passive
weapon or system(s) it has access to that occupy At the start of each scene roll 3d6 and hold each
the same mount and cost an equivalent amount of die. Whenever you would roll a d6 for any reason,
SP. you may substitute one of your held dice for that die
before it is rolled. Each die can be used this way
AUTOTOMIZE once, then is discarded. When you Stabilize, roll
1/Round as a reaction when the Cornicello or an and hold a new d6. If you already have 3 dice, you
adjacent ally is hit by an attack and damage is must choose to either replace one of them, or
rolled, it may immediately destroy a single system discard the new result.
or all weapons on one mount. All damage and
effects of the attack are negated. At the end of any Fit Omni-Mount
scene in which this trait is used, it gains 1 Repair. Active (1 CP), Efficient, Protocol
Choose a system that costs 2 SP or less, or a Main
MOUNTS or Auxiliary weapon that you have access to,
mounting it in the Cornicello’s Omni-Mount for the
FLEX MAIN HEAVY rest of the scene. It functions as if installed on your
mech normally except that it is not a valid target for
MOUNT MOUNT MOUNT destruction, and it gains Limited 3 unless its base
Limited value was already lower. Additionally it
gains Experimental 6+: Refund the action spent
activating this system or weapon.

This core power is Efficient and refunds 1 CP at

the end of any scene in which it is used.

[76]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
LICENSE I: ADAPTIVE SILO, AUTO-PURGE LICENSE II: CORNICELLO FRAME,
SIDECAR GUIDANCE MUTE, SURGE CELL
Adaptive Silo
Main Launcher, Smart, Reliable 1 SIDECAR Guidance Mute
[10 Range] [1d6 Explosive Damage] 1 SP, Mod, Unique, Quick Action
Experimental 3+: This weapon increases its Choose a Ranged weapon. You may activate
Reliable value by +2 (max 6), its Range by +5, this mod as a quick action to ignore the
or gains the Accurate or AP tags until the end Ordnance, Inaccurate, and Experimental
of the scene. If it is already Accurate, it may tags on that weapon until the end of the current
gain Seeking instead. turn.
Rather than a traditional ballistic
Experimental 5+: This weapon additionally oubliette, SIDECAR mutes retain a
gains the Inaccurate, Ordnance, +2 hardlink to the core chassis OS. This
Heat(self), or Loading tags until the end of the allows them to achieve much greater
scene. Other than Heat(self), you cannot predictive recalibration, at the
choose the same option twice. expense of transfer/response rates.
Adaptive silos contain a novel mute-
chorus that can dynamically alter the Surge Cell
internal ammunition printer in 2 SP, Unique, Quick Action, 1
addition to improving trajectories in Heat(self)
each launch, although the processor This system charges as a quick action, priming
acceleration necessary creates a a high power capacitor. It starts a scene
higher risk of dead-end evolutionary uncharged. It can only hold one charge at a
outcomes. time, but charges last for the rest of the scene
or until used.
Auto-Purge
1 SP, Protocol, Unique, 1 Heat(self), If this system is charged at the start of your
Experimental turn, you may discharge it as a quick action on
Experimental 5+: Clear one condition that that turn. It loses its charge, you cool 1d6
was not self inflicted and gain 3 Overshield. Heat, clear Impaired, Slowed, Lock-On, and
By carefully partitioning individual Shredded that weren’t self-inflicted, and may
feedlines and subsystem daemons, Slide up to 2 spaces.
faulty systems can be blind-rebooted Auxiliary batteries are common in live
on an individual-component basis matches where reactor spiking is
without necessitating a full system capped for audience safety. Disposable
cleanse. variants have long-since been phased
out for rechargeable cells that can be
quickly and safely discharged.

[77]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 LICENSE III: GLASSMAKER JEZAIL, MERCURY ALCHEMICAL AUGMENTS

Glassmaker Jezail MERCURY Alchemical Augments

Heavy Rifle, Experimental 3 SP, Unique
[12 Range] [2d6 Kinetic Damage] 1/Turn when you roll any d6 you may increase
Experimental 5+: This weapon deals the or decrease its value by 1. Additionally, gain
maximum possible damage instead of rolling. the Transmutation protocol:
After this attack resolves, this weapon deals -2 ‘Alchemical’ augments are a suite of
damage for the rest of the scene (min 0). holistic whole-chassis overhauls that
Popularized during the 4987u incorporate physical and digital
Championship by a cadre of ex-BUC changes at every level of
gladiators, Glassmaker mag-cel jezails construction. MERCURY suites enable
have exceptionally high-performance fine real-time remodeling of most
rail sculpting. These fine modifications structural components; this dynamic
have an unfortunate tendency to process means that an augmented frame
degrade in high-energy firing is constantly in flux, chasing the
scenarios, which has left them optimized state for any given moment.
relegated to sport use rather than any
real military engagement. Transmutation
Protocol, Supercharge
Until the end of your turn you may activate
MERCURY Alchemical Augments as often as it
is triggered, breaking the 1/turn restriction.
Additionally, it can increase or decrease the
value of a die by up to 2 instead of 1. At the
end of your turn you become Stunned until the
start of your next turn.

[78]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 MENAGERIE
JIN-CHAN Support

The Jin-Chan was an unexpected addition to the Menagerie’s lineup of winning

frames; poorly suited for direct combat, its shocking success came from the team-
based tournament structure of that year’s competition. It and its pilot carried
their team to victory with an unprecedentedly powerful computational engine that
formed the foundation of a revolutionary quad-C platform. Even for the deliberately
run-of-the-mill digital architecture in its teammates’ chassis, the WATERSHED
system accelerated their capabilities and precision beyond that of any of their
opponents’ more heavily customized frames.

Its true strength is not only in system optimization or brute-force predictive

calculation; via an esoteric modeling process, the Jin-Chan can temporarily create
an unstable pseudo-legion environment that it shares via standard nerve-feed
piloting implants. This direct link allows connected pilots to coordinate within a
theoretical digital space that, while it cannot be fully consciously recollected or
translated upon collapse, allows reaction and strategic planning far beyond
baseline activity. The tactical impact of this system is not without cost; the Jin-
Chan’s bulk is necessitated by the sheer volume of not only computing substrate
necessary for its function but also the massive volume of coolant and associated
pump systems that keep them at optimal conditions.

CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM

Size: 2 Save Target: 10
Armor: 0 Sensors: 8
WATERSHED COMPUTATIONAL
HULL SYSTEMS STACK
HP: 10 E-Defense: 10 The WATERSHED system uses a novel
Repair Cap: 5 Tech Attack: -1 polytemporal processing model developed by
SP: 8 its pilot and refined by the Menagerie. It
AGILITY utilizes anoriginary bit-space by
Evasion: 6 ENGINEERING ‘borrowing’ open computational space in
Speed: 4 Heat Cap: 10 non-concurrent temporal references,
TRAITS creating a temporarily infinite period for
calculation. The matrix is rapidly
HARMONIC UPLINK obliterated to preserve informational
conservation, but in that period it
1/Round when the Jin Chan targets an allied achieves a pseudo-legion simulation for any
character with a quick tech action, it can repeat the hard-linked user.
same action targeting an allied character adjacent
to itself or the original target as a free action. Precipitate
Passive, Quick Tech
RESERVOIR Choose an allied character. The next attack roll they
Adjacent allied characters may transfer any amount make triggers On Hit effects even on a miss, and
of Heat from themselves to the Jin Chan as a quick On Crit effects on a normal hit.
action.
Genesis Delta
Active (1 CP), Quick Action
MOUNTS This system gains 5 charges that last for the rest of
the scene. As a reaction to the start of any
FLEX character’s turn, you and your allies can expend a
MOUNT charge as a reaction to immediately take one quick
action. Only one character can take this reaction
per turn, and each character can only activate it 1/
round.

[79]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 LICENSE I: CHAMBERLAIN DAEMON, LICENSE II: JIN-CHAN FRAME,
TIGHT-BEAM DART FULLMOON_V0.18.SERV, HYDROCANNON

CHAMBERLAIN Daemon FULLMOON.v.018.serv

2 SP, Quick Tech, Shield, Experimental 2 SP, Quick Tech, 2 Heat(self)
Choose an allied character. They gain 4 Gain the following Quick Tech options:
Overshield. If they lose this Overshield it Offload Server: Choose an allied character.
creates a Burst 1 cloud of soft cover that lasts They lose 2 Heat. If this reduces them to 0
until the start of their next turn. Otherwise, if Heat, they gain resistance to all Heat from
they have any Overshield remaining at the start hostile sources until the start of their next turn.
of their turn, they cool Heat equal to their
current Overshield, then remove all Overshield. Recursive Processor: Choose an allied
Experimental 5+: You cannot activate this character. They gain 2 Heat and the next
system again until you Stabilize. attack roll they make ignores Invisibility and
CHAMBERLAINs are short-lived effects that would force it to automatically miss,
autonomous programs intended for and gains On Hit: the target loses Invisibility
moment-to–moment subsystem management and cannot become Invisible or Hidden until
that does not require pilot input the end of their next turn.
before rapidly decaying to cede
central control. “Dreaming is easy. The hard part is
remembering it all when you wake up.”
Tight-Beam Dart
1 SP, Quick Action, Reaction, Hydrocannon
Kickstart Main CQB, Knockback X, Loading
[Cone 5] [1d3+1 Kinetic Damage]
This system charges as a quick action,
readying a directed-beam communication The base Knockback value of this weapon is
laser. While it is charged, you gain the Ping! equal to 6 - its Range from your target (min 1).
reaction. It can only hold one charge at a time, Although technically accurate, it is
but charges last for the rest of the scene or hotly debated whether the original
until used. Jin-Chan truly won its championship
Kickstart: You start your turn in the danger title ‘without ever firing a single
zone. shot’. The debate breaks down further
Most chassis include basic comm-laser into exactly the statement intended by
recognition as part of optical a post-ballistic design: is it an
sensors. The limited bandwidth and indictment of violence? A lofty
filtered input scrubbing of these disdain for ‘archaic’ design? Or an
channels prevents sophisticated attack acknowledgement that all forms can be
via them, but they can still be twisted to violent end, leaving intent
temporarily overwhelmed by intense the only true weapon. The designer’s
high–noise signals. only statement on the question to date
has been: “Why are you asking me?
Ping! Don’t you know already?”
Reaction, 1/Round, 1 Heat(self)
Trigger: An allied character starts their turn.
Effect: You shoot the comms-beam at a hostile
character in Range 10. They must either block
it as a reaction or take 1 Heat and become
Impaired and Slowed until the end of the
current turn. This system loses its charge.

[80]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
LICENSE III: OPAL-PATTERN COGENT OPERANT, PIGGYBACK PACKET

OPAL-Pattern Cogent Operant Piggyback Packet

3 SP, AI, Unique 3 SP, Unique, Danger Zone
Gain the AI property and the Seed Catabasis Your tech actions that target characters gain
Quick Tech actions. OPAL is not a full AI and Experimental 4+: take 2 Heat and choose one
cannot cascade. of the following effects:
True Cogent Minds are monumental in • They gain or lose 1 Heat.
scale and operate far beyond the • They are pushed 1 space in any direction.
necessary level to direct chassis- • They clear the Impaired or Slowed
scale engagements. Still, they present condition, or gain one of them until the end of
an incredibly rich field of unorthodox their next turn.
options, and the Menagerie sought to “It won’t do, just being a hanger-on.
atomize and democratize this We can’t achieve anything waiting in
potential. The result was the Cogent the shadows of what someone else might
Operant, a diminished but still potent do, riding their wake. And there are
machine mind concept. They retain the always bigger fish, always someone
Minds’ capacity for non-intuitive looking down over your shoulder not
approach and perpendicular problem- just to see what you do, but to keep
solving at a fraction of the scale by you there, to keep each fish swimming
dynamically seizing and inhabiting any in its own stream. And they’re trapped
available computing substrate, too, of course, swimming circles in
repeating exploratory algorithms until the same tiny pond, trapped by walls
they find their solutions. This they built themselves. The only way
transient possession leaves them out is to leave it altogether. No more
unable to develop over time, which, ponds, no more walls, you have to
while unfortunate from a potency build that wide open ocean for
perspective, also consistently returns yourself and everyone else. It’s
them to a reliable and predictable everywhere - I’ve seen it, we all
baseline and prevents deleterious or have. It’s right there! I’m tired of
unwanted growth. waiting. Either we get there together,
or never at all.”
Seed Catabasis
Quick Tech, Experimental, Supercharge
Gain the following Quick Tech options:
Gnosis Dream: Choose a character. They
cannot activate until after the end of your next
turn, or until there are no other options for
characters to activate.
Experimental 6+: Gain a Clarity charge. You
can only hold one charge at a time, but
charges persist between scenes until used.
Clarity: To take this action you must either
expend a Clarity charge or Supercharge.
Choose an allied character that has not
activated this round; your turn immediately
ends, and they immediately activate and start
their turn without a hostile activation in
between.

[81]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 MENAGERIE
MILAGRO Defender

While it was the Cornicello that gave the Menagerie its foundation, it was the
Milagro that gave it its fame. Footage of its headliner debut match swept across
the omninet overnight and transformed the Championship from a nascent idea to a
cultural sensation. It wasn’t just the frame itself that propelled them into the
future (although its purpose-built integration of cosmopolitan wrestling styles
with electromagnetic enhancement did set a precedent of novelty for future design
submissions); it was the pilot themselves who’s panache and charisma behind their
mask swept crowds into frenzies and turned sport into true spectacle. El Huracán
remained the face, so to speak, of the Menagerie for decades, touring at local
shows across Union and personally scouting new talent until they finally retired.

The Milagro is a powerhouse, a titan of a frame with an experimental dynamo at its

heart that spins raw electromagnetic force from seemingly nothing. Much as the GMS-
Everest created a standard baseline for all chassis in Union space, the Milagro
data-repository maintained by the Menagerie has created a standard for civilian
chassis wrestling, although there are many now who are unaware of the source of
this change. It brought them fame, but fame has never been the point of the
Championship. The greatest reward it brought them, and through them, humanity, was
change.

Size: 2 Save Target: 11

Armor: 2 Sensors: 5
HULL SYSTEMS
HP: 10 E-Defense: 8
Repair Cap: 5 Tech Attack: -1
AGILITY SP: 5
Evasion: 6 ENGINEERING
Speed: 3 Heat Cap: 5

TÉCNICO
When the Milagro triggers a Kickstart, it may Slide
2 spaces before or after it resolves. Any TYPHOON LARIAT
Knockback, push, or pull that action inflicts Active (1 CP), Quick Action, Efficient
increases by +1. This system gains 1 charge each time you trigger a
Kickstart or cause a character to collide with an
MAGNETODYNE CORE obstruction, to a maximum of 6 charges. Charges
last until the end of the scene or they are spent,
Whenever an allied character in Range 2 of the
and you must have at least 1 charge to activate this
Milagro is targeted by a ranged or melee attack,
system.
roll 1d6. If the number rolled is less than or equal to
the current round, the attack targets it instead, even
When you activate it, spend all charges and Slide
if it would not normally be able to.
up to the number spent. This movement must end
adjacent to a hostile character. They are then
knocked back 2 spaces for each charge spent and
take 4 kinetic damage. If you spent 4+ charges
FLEX HEAVY they become Impaired until the end of their next
turn, and Jammed for the same duration if you
MOUNT MOUNT spent 6 charges.

This core power is Efficient and refunds 1 CP at

the end of any scene in which it is used.

[82]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
LICENSE I: MAGNETIC FIST, WHIPLASH LICENSE II: MILAGRO FRAME, ‘CASTIGO’
AMP DYNAMO, KILOTON ELECTROCEPS

Magnetic Fist ‘Castigo’ Dynamo

Main Melee, Knockback 2, Kickstart 2 SP, Unique, Reaction
[1 Threat] [1d3+2 Kinetic Damage] Gain the Magnet Lock reaction.
On Attack: You may pull your target 1 space The Milagro’s array of EM force
directly towards you (or as close as possible). enhancements give it a larger-than-
Kickstart: You knock a character Prone. life presence in the ring. El
Ring the bell. Huracán’s work still strains
possibility, deriving tremendous point
Whiplash Amp force from visually minimal coils and
1 SP, Unique, Experimental generator trains.
1/Turn when you inflict forced movement on a
character that causes them to hit an Magnet Lock
obstruction, you may then push them 1 Reaction, 1/Round, 1 Heat(self),
additional space in any direction. Experimental
Experimental 5+: Push them 1 space in any Trigger: A character begins movement in
direction again. Range 3 of you.
When you fight in the Menagerie, just Effect: They must pass a Hull save or be
technical efficiency isn’t enough to knocked Prone. On a success they are
truly win. Real victory is in making Slowed until the end of the current turn
your name known with novel style and instead.
clever flair. Contestants attract fans Experimental 4+: You are pulled directly
and sponsors like moths to a flame, and towards them until you are adjacent, or as
in turn those crowds push them ever close as possible.
further to innovate and stay relevant.
Kiloton Electroceps
2 SP, Quick Action, Kickstart
Choose an adjacent character that is the same
size as you or smaller. Remove them from the
battlefield then place them back in any other
free space adjacent to you. Unwilling
characters may attempt a contested Hull check
to avoid this effect.
Kickstart: A character is adjacent to you at the
start of your turn. You must target them, and on
a failed save you may knock them back 1
space directly away from you after moving
them.
“As much as we advance, it all stays
the same. We travel the stars and
learn the secrets of fundamental
forces, but at the end it all comes
down to this: two figures on a field,
meeting hand to hand and fist to fist to
find out who’s on top. It’s a little
backwards, but I can’t deny the appeal
of it all. It’s simple, no matter how
complicated the rest gets. Romantic,
in its way. If that’s what they want,
then I’ll make it the best damn fight
they’ve ever seen. That ring is my
canvas, and these hands? They are my
brushes.”

[83]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 LICENSE III: GAUSS KNUCKLE, SALT ALCHEMICAL AUGMENTS

Gauss Knuckle SALT Alchemical Augments

Heavy Melee, Inaccurate, Knockback 3, 4 SP, Unique
Supercharge Whenever you or an adjacent ally would take 2
[1 Threat] [2d6+2 Damage] or less final damage after all other reductions,
Supercharge: The knockback from this take 0 damage instead. Additionally, gain the
weapon occurs even on a miss. If it causes a Galvanize action.
character to impact an obstruction they SALT augmentations are systemic
immediately take 4 AP Kinetic damage and reinforcements, material replacements,
are knocked Prone. and flexible armatures designed to
For every action, an equal and capture and disperse incoming energy.
opposite reaction. Energy cannot be When exposed to a directed electric
created or destroyed. Statements that field, certain exotic materials in this
we have held true for millennia, the plating structure aerosolize and then
foundational basis of our science and harden into directed shielding that’s
society. But when have we ever cared nearly impervious to standard assault,
for convention here? What if we can although the compounds involved are
get just a little more back out? This ultimately unstable and decay into
can be our new paradigm - and who inert products.
knows what we’ll find next.
Galvanize
Quick Action, Shield, Kickstart,
Supercharge
Choose yourself or an allied character in
Range 3. Until the end of their next turn, they
are immune to all damage, Heat, and
conditions from hostile characters.
Kickstart: Your target has 2 or fewer
Structure remaining, and/or 6 or less current
HP. All of their attacks gain +1 Knockback as
long as the effect lasts.

[84]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 MENAGERIE
NAZARArtillery/Controller

The Nazar is the newest addition to the Menagerie’s roster of official chassis. As
the Championship has grown, so has the scale of its events; in the year that the
Nazar debuted, the Championship encompassed an entire island on a garden world,
graciously provided by Menagerie benefactors. The tourney was a free-for-all within
these bounds as both teams and individuals fought to remain the last ones standing
while skirmishing over scattered resources and ammunition depots in a weeks-long
wargame. With the battle spread across dozens of miles and many contestants taking
advantage of the setting to up-scale from arena restrictions, few took note at first
of the minuscule, seemingly unarmed frame that hovered at the edges of decisive
clashes. As footage was replayed and examined for after-action scoring, anomalies
began to appear: high caliber damage with no matching weapon; chassis KOs with
impact angles outside any visible engagement; and a significantly high rate of
mutual destruction in every combat that the unassuming frame was identified in.
Rumors and theories flooded omniforums, many naming it a harbinger of doom, a ghost-
chassis that brought misfortune anywhere it appeared.

Revelation came piece by piece as fans watched with bated breath on 24/7 channels.
The frame was a late entry, with no team or appearances in any other known events.
Painstaking scrubbing of high-speed drone footage revealed the secret to the bad
luck it brought: in the flashes between frames there were blips of the
characteristic blindness of recorded blinkspace apertures. The Nazar seemed unarmed
only because they had been looking in the wrong places. It carried a high-grade
ballistic arsenal that outweighed most of the other contestants and some small
fightercraft in a local metafold. The frame itself lacked the capacity to physically
aim and counterbalance this ordinance - and it did not have to. At the moment of
firing, it tore open pinprick blink apertures to redirect bullets dozens of meters
across the battlefield and punch far above its apparent weight.

After its hard-fought victory, the Nazar has still presented certain challenges to
the Menagerie. Its blink manipulation manifold continues to function in copycat
frames that they have produced, but the underlying specifics have consistently
failed reproduction in other formats without exponential loss in accuracy and
distance, and increased power draw, if it functions at all. Across multiple
experiments, no technical or equipment issues can be successfully identified - to
all appearances, it seems that the manifold shouldn’t work, even within the Nazar.

[BAD//LUCK.//.TRY//AGAIN?]

[85]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM
Size: ½ Save Target: 10 ARSENAL MANIFOLD
Armor: 0 Sensors: 15 The Arsenal Manifold combines a metafold
HULL SYSTEMS pocket with a rapid-firing topological
HP: 8 E-Defense: 10 needle, poking holes in the skin of reality
Repair Cap: 3 Tech Attack: +1 with each trigger pull. Lacking a realspace
AGILITY SP: 5 anchor to target, its range is limited to a
Evasion: 10 ENGINEERING probabilistic radius within which an
Speed: 5 Heat Cap: 6 onboard daemon can perform the necessary
trajectory calculations. Aperture size,
TRAITS recharge period, and calculation complexity
all proportionally increase power draw. Its
EVIL EYE potential ranges from redirecting brief
The Nazar’s ranged weapons all have small arms fire to consistent ballistic
Experimental 4+: Create a Blink Echo in a free bombardment consistent with the capacity of
space adjacent to your target. When a hostile a small subline ship, localized to an
character starts any non-standard movement in omnidirectional sphere.
Range 2 of an Echo the Nazar can destroy it as a Open The Vault
reaction to force them to make an Agility save. On Active (1 CP), Protocol
a failed save, they must choose between taking 4
Kinetic damage or becoming Slowed until the end You open a swarm of rapid-cycling pinpoint blink
of their next turn and gaining Lock-On. On a apertures linked to stocked ordnance, unleashing a
success they take 1 Kinetic damage. hail of bullets. Until the end of the scene, every
hostile character takes 4 Kinetic damage at the
DESPERADO end of each of their turns. This is reduced by 1 for
each space they move on that turn. Additionally,
1/Round, when the Nazar makes a ranged attack gain the Crossfire reaction.
against a hostile character, it may attack that
character with any Auxiliary ranged weapon it has Crossfire
equipped as a free action, ignoring range, cover, Reaction, 1/Round, Kickstart
and line of sight. Trigger: A hostile character moves into a space in
your line of sight that does not have cover from your
MOUNTS position.
Kickstart: They are in Range 2 of a Blink Echo;
HEAVY FLEX AUX/ this consumes the Echo.
MOUNT MOUNT AUX Effect: They take 1d6 Kinetic damage and must
choose between becoming Slowed until the end of
their next turn or taking +1d6 Kinetic damage.

[86]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
LICENSE I: SHIRAZ OPTICS, VAGABOND LICENSE II: NAZAR FRAME,PINHOLE
CLOAK REVOLVER, ‘THREE WISHES’ RAIL
REPEATER
SHIRAZ Optics
2 SP, 1 Heat(self), Unique Pinhole Revolver
When you consume Lock-On with a weapon Auxiliary Rifle, 1 SP, Arcing
you may activate this system to choose one of [15 Range] [2 Kinetic Damage]
the following effects: On Hit: Your next ranged attack against the
Blue-Shift: Your weapon attacks against the same target this turn gains Arcing and
target this turn gain Arcing and +5 Range (or Reliable 2.
+2 Threat if melee). This includes the When you just think in three
triggering attack. dimensions, it seems like we’re all so
far apart - trillions of souls
Red-Shift: All other attacks you make against scattered across the stars. Then four?
the target this turn gain +1 Accuracy. We’re further from the past and the
future than we’ve ever been from each
The lenses of this optical array use a
other. But there’s more beyond that,
focal metafold to determine distance
we all know this. We learn new ways to
and relative motion with pinpoint
reach out and connect every day.
accuracy, and can be directly
Humanity is further apart than we’ve
incorporated into mounted scopes or
ever been. We get closer every day.
existing camera blisters.
Keep reaching out. We’ll find you.
Vagabond Cloak
2 SP, Quick Action, Shield, Kickstart ‘Three Wishes’ Rail Repeater
Slide 2 and gain soft cover until the start of Main Rifle, 1 Heat(self), Kickstart
your next turn. [15 Range] [3 Kinetic Damage]
Kickstart: Gain 4+ Heat in a single turn. Kickstart: You critically hit with any weapon.
This heavy drape of holo-optic mesh Automatic mag-rail weapons are a
breaks up a chassis’ silhouette and markedly unstable branch of weapons
disguises its true position and development, plagued by numerous
movement. hurdles and physical limitations
including a broad tendency for EM flux
[BETTER//LUCK//NEXT//TIME] lines to self-interfere between each
firing or with overlapping armaments.
Many ballistic engineers have taken
this as a challenge rather than a
cautionary body of evidence, and so
the Menagerie’s archives fill with new
concepts every year, each a unique and
excitingly charted dead end.

[87]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 LICENSE III: BEAM RAIL, NEMESIS HYPERDIMENSIONAL HARDPOINT

Beam Rail NEMESIS Hyperdimensional Hardpoint

Heavy Cannon, AP, Accurate, Ordnance, 3 SP, Quick Action, Unique,
2 Heat(self), Experimental Supercharge
[20 Range] [6 Energy Damage] When you hit a character with a ranged attack
Experimental X+: If your target has 1 you may activate this system to tear open a
Structure and X or less HP remaining, they hole in space in a free space adjacent to them.
are immediately destroyed. At the start of your next turn, the nearest
Linear beam rails are directed energy hostile character with line of sight to the hole
weapons that utilize a coherent lance takes 4 Kinetic damage, or 2 if they have
of exotic particles rather than cover from its position, then the tear is
standard photon or plasma excitation. removed.
The exotic medium is transmuted from Supercharge: At the start of your next turn,
ambient baryonic substrate, a process ALL hostile characters with line of sight to the
that propagates on impact to tear take damage as above.
disintegrate most physical materials. +++USB/INTERNAL::SOLEMN VIGIL
+++DECRYPTION HASH-POSITIVE
+++CASE J82XC-OSPREY STATUS::ARCHIVED
+++PERSON-OF-INTEREST:: ??? (KNOWN
PSEUDONYM: BLINDSPOT)
+++TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS:
+++I’m pulling the plug on this one;
three years and no leads since the
original filing. Between their
obfuscation and our noted internal
conflicts of interest, I doubt we’ll
hear any more about him unless he
wants to be found. I don’t intend to
overstay our welcome. We’ll maintain
our contacts within the organization
and we’ve petitioned access to the
NEMESIS schematics for threat scoping.
Cooperation is the name of the game,
and as long as we keep these channels
open we’ll have an early warning
before it hits full RED-SKY.
+++ Unofficially: we did our due
diligence here. Someone needs to ask
Transportation if they’re missing an
engineer. Loose lips, people.
+++END TRANSCRIPT

[88]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 MENAGERIE
CLOVER Defender
HORUS Hydra Variant

Although it is not officially a Menagerie Championship title frame, the Clover

indisputably originated within the Menagerie’s attendant cliques. The
Championship’s orbit draws in artists, statement-makers, eccentric philosophy and
science nouveau, creating a churning milieu of activity in its dark periphery that
continually spins off exhibits, performances, parties, ideologies, and the types of
ingenuity that is meant for more than just its combat arenas. The Clover is one
such upwelling; it was an experiment in simulated neo-biogenesis that bore strange
and wondrous fruit.

At a basic level, its design process wed elements of OROCHI-derived swarming

doctrine and biomimetic nano-assembly incentives with stabilized production cells.
From a scaffold organ of central hives spills a flood of cooperative nanites;
specialized, communicative, predator, prey, and producer all working in symbiotic
harmony to build complex patterns of interactions and novel emergent behaviors.
Secondary support nodes afford the resulting biomorphs a degree of independence and
longevity unlike standard greywash deployments. This in turn grants them a greater
period to self-modify, adapt and diverge from their basal templates before they
eventually collapse and are reabsorbed. It is the organism, the food-chain, the
entire ecosystem itself remade and reimagined.

The Menagerie and its devotees were quick to recognize the gem in their midst. A
chassis concept was only the first step: human guidance and all-terrain mobility for
field testing made sense. What will come next, when it no longer needs a pilot?

[89]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM
Size: 2 Save Target: 11 BLACKTHORN ECO-HIVE
Armor: 0 Sensors: 12 [Personal log - Dr. Cenazar speaking. I
HULL SYSTEMS watched the imago take its first steps
HP: 14 E-Defense: 10 today. Trembling, clumsy, on thin limbs
Repair Cap: 4 Tech Attack: +0 like a newborn fawn. I knew that I was
AGILITY SP: 7 watching something beautiful. I may be the
Evasion: 6 ENGINEERING first person alive to watch a new type of
Speed: 3 Heat Cap: 4 life be born. There’s so much more to do
still, it’s not ready yet - but it will be.
TRAITS We’ll find somewhere safe they can grow and
learn, free from our influence. Where they
SYNTHESIS can be something truly different. And when
Whenever one of its drones is destroyed by a they’re ready, maybe we’ll meet again.]
hostile character the Clover may regain 5 HP. As a Blackthorn Harvest
quick action it may destroy any drone it controls in Passive
Sensors to deal 3 Kinetic damage to a character
in Range 3 of the drone. Whenever the Clover deals damage to a character
with a Nexus weapon or a drone system it may
create a Blackthorn Polyp (size ½, 1 HP, Eva/E-
CRYPTOBIOSIS
def 10) in a free space in Range 2 of them. It can
When the Clover is destroyed its wreck is replaced have a maximum of 4 Polyps active at once; if it
by a Blackthorn Cocoon. This functions as both a would create another, an existing Polyp dissolves
normal wreck and a Blackthorn Polyp, though it and is removed from the battlefield. Spaces
does not have the Drone tag. While the cocoon adjacent to a Polyp are difficult terrain. When a
exists its Drone systems continue to function as hostile character starts their turn adjacent to one or
normal, and it may take reactions as if it were not moves adjacent to them for the first time in a round
destroyed, but only those granted by Drone they take 1 AP Kinetic damage.
systems.
Dark Forest
ECDYSIS Active (1 CP), Full Action
When you rest, the Clover regains full HP Create 4 Blackthorn Groves in free spaces in
automatically. If it is a Blackthorn Cocoon it is also Sensors and line of sight. These are special
restored to 1 Structure and Stress, even if it had Blackthorn Polyps that do not count against the
more before being destroyed. number of Polyps you can have active at once. For
the rest of the scene, if you would create a new
MOUNTS Polyp in Range 3 of a Grove, you may instead
increase the Size of that Grove by +1, to a
HEAVY FLEX AUX/ maximum of Size 2.
MOUNT MOUNT AUX

[90]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 MENAGERIE
MANEKI-NEKO Defender
HORUS Kobold Variant

Like the Clover, the Maneki-Neko is a creation of the Menagerie’s many inventive
enthusiasts. Its inception was the stories of the liturgicode driven transmutation
of civilian mining frames into the KOBOLD-pg seen on Free Sanjak – a shocking
metamorphosis that piqued the interest of the Menagerie’s transformative artists.
Without access to the original code that drove the process, they instead attempted
to recreate the process from first principles. After months of competition,
simulation, and failed test runs, the alchemical liturgicode they created was
implanted into a Cornicello chassis to rapt attention from all onlookers.

Their results bore mixed results: to some, the increased stability of the reforging
process was a marked improvement. For others, the increased power draw and need for
raw materials was a disappointing failure, as was the decreased variation in
outcomes. For all, the spectacle was more than enough to call it a success. The
Maneki-Neko roared to life, the coldcore reactor in its heart turned into a nuclear
forge that transformed it again and again in protean splendor. It devoured the
other test chassis with arms dripping slag; their reactors welded to its own and
their mass building layer after layer until it towered over its old body. Even when
the metamorphosis finally cooled and the frame stabilized, the new forge-engine in
its heart never ceased burning. Built from the bones of the coldcores it had
consumed allowed the resultant Maneki-Neko to continually process and reforge raw
materials into novel form. Although some rushed to see how it fared in the arena,
the Maneki-Neko has now taken its place as an artisan’s frame, allowing the
Championship’s sculptors and builders to apply personal touches at massive scale
that a printer could never achieve.

[91]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
 CORE STATS CORE SYSTEM
Size: 2 Save Target: 10 LITURGICODE TRANSMUTATION
Armor: 1 Sensors: 8 The birth of the first Maneki-Neko was a
HULL SYSTEMS violent, awesome affair. The unique
HP: 10 E-Defense: 10 alchemical forge that the Championship’s
Repair Cap: 4 Tech Attack: +1 code created can now be recreated with more
AGILITY SP: 8 standard manufacture instead of relying on
Evasion: 6 ENGINEERING the liturgicode process each time – but the
Speed: 3 Heat Cap: 6 codebase still exists. Unlike the KOBOLD-
pg, its transformative power is still
TRAITS potent and active in the finished frame,
merely dormant. When awakened it begins the
CHRYSOPOIEA process anew, sculpting, changing,
1/Round each when the Maneki-Neko creates or innovating and mutating any suitable system
destroys an object or terrain it can give a Coin to it comes into contact with into something
itself or an ally in Range 3. Characters can carry a new.
maximum of 3 Coins, and gain +1 Armor for each Lead To Gold
Coin they are carrying. When a character with a Active (1 CP), Quick Action
Coin would be reduced to 0 HP, they lose all Coins
Create an Alchemical Forge (size 2, 40 HP, Tags:
and are reduced to 1 HP instead, negating any
Deployable) in a free adjacent space. It grants hard
remaining damage.
cover, and allied characters that end their turn
adjacent to it gain 1 Coin. When an adjacent
SLAG FORGE
character would lose Coins, roll 1d6. On a 5+, they
If the Maneki-Neko does not move on its turn, it can keep 1 Coin.
take 1 Heat at the end of its turn to create a Slag
Wall. It is a Line 2 object 2 spaces tall with 10 HP,
with at least one space adjacent to the Maneki-
Neko. If it is adjacent to a Slag Wall, it may instead
extend that wall by 1 space on either side, granting
it +5 HP.

GUARDIAN
Adjacent allied characters can use the Maneki-
Neko as hard cover.

MOUNTS
HEAVY FLEX AUX/
MOUNT MOUNT AUX

[92]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
COLDCORE COLISEUM

————–

ICONIC NPCS

[93]
Section 2 // Player Rules // The Menagerie Championship
ICONIC NPCS
Test Your Mettle
Humanity fell, once - and nearly forever. Since Iconic NPCs are more complex than usual
then they have crept back from the brink to fly to NPCs, and are designed to be used as the
the stars, built wonders great and small and centerpiece of their encounter. They all share
brought a second golden age, of a kind. It is a the ICONIC Trait, which means that only one
future built on collaboration, unity, kindness and can be present in any encounter, and that they
resilience, the perpetual whetting of the human must take the Elite or Ultra templates, gaining
spirit on the hard work of solidarity. additional base systems for the latter. Each
Iconic (presented below) introduces its own
It is not a process without flaw; there are still unique rules under the Special Rules header in
ugly and terrible things in this world. Death is a its section, which should be made available to
field of innovation ever still, ever colder, quicker, players at the start of the scene.
greater always in the avenues in which the
golden dream of utopia can be extinguished • Arsenal (Striker) – The iron face of war, the
piece by piece. Killing-machines and the Arsenal is protected by layers of ablative
embittered, desperate hands that guide them. Gear that dramatically change its abilities as
These metastasize, cancerous, choking utopia players break them off. As an Ultra it
from Cradle’s children until only blood and becomes the Dreadnought, a massive war
fading smoke remains. machine with an endless gun foundry.
• Iris (Artillery) – The Iris is one half of a pair,
But as long as you stand in their way, utopia will linked to an orbital artillery platform as its
not die. The dream will not stop, not here, nor on spotter; players must avoid its gaze or suffer
any of the thousand-thousand stars in Union’s dire consequences. As an Ultra it becomes
reach. Be bold, pilot, and fight the good fight - the Meteor, filling the battlefield with a
for as long as you can, and for as long as it constant, pounding barrage.
takes. • Mosquito (Defender) – The Mosquito’s e-
war systems create permanent Drain on
players as it gains protective Blood, forcing
them to engage it to remove these
debilitating effects. As an Ultra it becomes
the Vampire, ruler of a protective metafold
demesne.
• Terraformer (Controller) – The Terraformer
reshapes the map itself with an array of
unreliable Generator deployables, granting a
wide list of elemental options within the
Domain it controls. As an Ultra it becomes
the Tempest, the center of a massive,
unstable storm.
• Tulpa (Support) – A ghost among many
machines, the Tulpa is a collective
manifestation of digital thought breaching
reality to coordinate and supercharge its
team. As an Ultra it becomes the
Technopath, building new allies from scrap
and thought.
• Champion (Combo) – Champions
represent a team of elite pilots, each with a
unique Style. They create Openings for each
other to exploit on players, led by an Ultra
Headliner as their ace member.

[94]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 ARSENAL
Striker
Wars are led from quiet, tense rooms, over radio chatter and dataslates. They are
talked about on dry paper and tremulous, triumphant, terrified word of mouth. They
are fought, and won, by steel, iron, carbon fiber and ceramic plate and high-caliber
death packed into the hands of the machine – awful, terrible – that cleaves flesh
from the soul and makes a soldier a god wed to its gunpowder crown. The Machine has
one thousand faces and will yet have one thousand more, all different and the
terrible, terrible same. In this way, wars are lost, too.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: +2 Systems: +0 Hull: +4 Systems: +0 Hull: +6 Systems: +0
Agility: +1 Engineering: +0 Agility: +2 Engineering: +0 Agility: +3 Engineering: +0

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 15 Armor: 0 HP: 20 Armor: 0 HP: 25 Armor: 0
Evasion: 8 E-Defense: 8 Evasion: 9 E-Defense: 9 Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 10
Speed: 4 Size: 2 Speed: 4 Size: 2 Speed: 4 Size: 2
Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 0 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 12 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 14
Sensors: 8 Sensors: 8 Sensors: 8

SPECIAL RULES TACTICS

The Arsenal’s core is protected by its layers of The Arsenal is a tough, self-sufficient opponent
modular systems and disposable armor, that becomes faster, more aggressive, and more
represented by systems and weapons with the fragile as players wear down its equipment. It
Gear X tag. The core reduces all damage dealt has a very wide array of systems at its disposal,
to it by the total value of the Arsenal's Gear, to a but only has access to a few at a time, and
minimum of 1. This reduction cannot be ignored, players can tactically choose which Gear system
and the Arsenal cannot take systems that would to degrade to prevent dangerous effects from
increase its total Gear value beyond 25. overlapping. It benefits from Support and
Controller allies that can line up priority targets.
When a character deals damage to the Arsenal,
that character may choose to deal it to its Gear BASE SYSTEMS
instead of to the core frame (its actual HP). Its ICONIC Trait
Gear, regardless of total value, has a pool of 4
HP. When this HP is reduced to 0, the attacker Only one NPC with this trait can be present in
chooses one Gear weapon or system to a scene. The Arsenal must always take either
degrade to its next level, reducing its overall the Elite or Ultra template. If it takes the Ultra
Gear value and changing its effect. Any template, it also gains the Dreadnought base
remaining damage overflows to the core and is systems.
reduced as normal, then the Gear HP resets to
4. Hyperlaminate Cladding
System, Gear 5
If a Gear weapon or system is destroyed and 1. Reactive Plate (Gear 5): The Arsenal
then later repaired, it is only restored to the level cannot be pushed, pulled, knocked back or
it was at when it was destroyed, and cannot knocked Prone by smaller characters. When
return to higher levels. Destroyed Gear weapons it is hit by an attack by a character in Range 3
and systems are not valid targets for they take 2/3/4 Explosive damage and must
degradation. Players know the statistics of the pass a Hull save or be knocked Prone.
current level of all Gear systems. 2. Ceramite Scale (Gear 3): The Arsenal gains
+1 Speed, and if it would take half damage
from a successful check or save it instead
takes no damage.
3. Polymer Weave (Gear 0): The Arsenal
gains +2 Speed and can Slide 2 spaces
before or after it attacks with a weapon.

[95]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 STEADY Quick Action, Trait HEX Belt System, Gear 5
The Arsenal digs in and braces its next shot. 1. Grenade Sling (Gear 5): As a quick action
This effect lasts until it fires the Vulcan Carbine the Arsenal can throw a grenade which
or drops this stance as a free action. While explodes in a Blast 1 area in Range 8.
braced it is Immobilized, attacks with the Characters at least partially in the affected
Vulcan Carbine gain +1 Accuracy and the first area must pass an Agility save or take 4/6/8
time each turn it misses an attack with it, it can Explosive damage and be knocked Prone,
retarget the attack against another target in or half damage on a success.
Range. 2. Minelayer (Gear 3): The Arsenal can plant a
mine in a free adjacent space at the start or
Vulcan Carbine end of each unique movement it takes. When
Heavy Rifle a hostile character enters the mine’s space it
1.Scope: Gear 5, Ordnance, Accurate, detonates; they take 3/4/5 Explosive
+2/+4/+6 damage and are knocked 2 spaces in a
[12 Range] [7/9/11 Kinetic Damage] direction of the Arsenal’s choice.
2.Fullmag: Gear 3, Reliable 1/2/3, 3. Loose Powder (Gear 0): The Arsenal takes
Inaccurate, +1/+2/+3 +1d6 bonus damage on a critical hit. All of
[Cone 5] [10/13/15 Kinetic Damage] its melee attacks gain +1/+2/+3 bonus
Explosive damage and Knockback 1.
3.Bayonet: Heavy Melee, Gear 0,
+1/+2/+3 MIDAS Datavault System, Gear 5
[Threat 2], [4/6/8 Kinetic Damage]
This weapon starts each scene with the Scope 1. Hardened Antenna (Gear 5): Tech attacks
profile. It progresses to Fullmag and then against the Arsenal gain +2 Difficulty and on
Bayonet when each Gear level is destroyed. a hit, the attacker takes 2/3/4 Heat.
While in Bayonet profile it can make 2 attacks 2. Open Vault (Gear 3): Tech attacks against
at Tier 2, and three at T3. the Arsenal gain +1 Difficulty and it gains the
MIDAS Incursion quick tech action.
3. Exposed Node (Gear 0): Tech attacks
OPTIONAL SYSTEMS against the Arsenal gain +1 Accuracy and
characters that start their turn adjacent to it or
Built Different Trait move adjacent for the first time on their turn
Damage the Arsenal deals from a successful take 2/3/4 Heat.
attack cannot be reduced below 1/1/2.
MIDAS Incursion
Flight-Ready Armature System, Gear 5 Quick Tech, 2 Heat(self), +2/+4/+6
1. ZEPHYR Suite (Gear 5): The Arsenal can The Arsenal makes a tech attack against a
fly when it moves or Boosts. When it uses character in Sensors and line of sight. On a hit
Steady it becomes Slowed instead of they become Jammed until the end of their
Immobilized, and steadying grants the next turn and must pass a Systems save. On
Vulcan Carbine +2 Knockback. a failed save they must choose between
2. Thruster Pack (Gear 3): The Arsenal can fly becoming Stunned instead, or taking 3/4/5 AP
when it Boosts. When it uses Steady it can Energy damage and picking an ally in
spool up the thruster pack by taking 1 Heat; Sensors, who must then repeat this save as if
at the start of its next turn, it may Boost as a they were hit by this attack. This effect can
protocol. This movement counts as a Slide. chain as long as new characters are in range,
3. Auto-Gyroscope (Gear 0): The Arsenal can but the same character cannot be chosen
use Steady as a protocol. twice as part of the same action.

HEARTSEEKER Pulse Missiles

Main Launcher, Seeking, Smart,
+2/+4/+6, [12 Range] [5 Energy Damage]
This weapon can only target the closest hostile
character (choose one if multiple are
equidistant). This weapon can attack twice at
Tier 2, or three times at T3.

[96]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
Redundant Reactor Piping
System, Gear 5
ICONIC ULTRA:
1. Zero-Point Heatsink (Gear 5): If the DREADNOUGHT
Arsenal ends its turn in the danger zone, it If an Arsenal has the Ultra template, it
cools Heat until it is no longer in the danger additionally gains the following base systems,
zone. and may pick one of the Dreadnought optional
2. Coolant Cycler (Gear 3): The Arsenal cools systems.
1/2/3 Heat at the end of each round. As a
quick action while in the danger zone it can BASE SYSTEMS
vent waste coolant in a Cone 5. Characters in HULKING IRON Trait
the affected area must pass an Engineering
save or take 3 Burn + 2/3/4 Heat, or half as The Dreadnought is Size 3 if it has 3+
much Heat and Burn on a success. Structure remaining. Whenever a Gear
3. Broken Limiter (Gear 0): The Arsenal can system on the Dreadnought is degraded, roll
Overcharge, taking 1d6 Heat each time. This 1d6 as debris flies off of its hulking frame. The
can only be used to Boost, Ram, or Grapple. resulting effect can be placed in any free space
If the Arsenal is destroyed it explodes in Range 3 of the Dreadnought.
immediately as per Self Destruct. 1. Create a size 1 piece of hard cover (10 HP).
2. Deal 10 AP Kinetic damage to an object or
SAPPHIRE//VERTEX Energy Aegis terrain. If this destroys it, create a Burst 1
System, Shield, Gear 5 area of difficult terrain centered on it.
1. Particle Projector (Gear 5): The Arsenal 3. A hostile character must pass a Hull save or
can activate this system as a quick action, become Slowed and Impaired as flying
projecting a Burst 2 shield. Attacks debris staggers their mech.
originating outside the area gain +2 Difficulty 4. Create a Line 3 area of jagged shrapnel;
against characters at least partially inside of characters that enter any space of the area
it, and characters inside of it are immune to take 3 AP Kinetic damage.
Shredded. 5. 1/2/3 hostile characters must pass an
2. Energized Shell (Gear 3): The Arsenal and Agility save or take 5 Kinetic damage and
adjacent allies cannot be critically hit. When be knocked Prone.
another Gear system is destroyed, the 6. Create a Scrap Turret (Deployable, Size ½,
Arsenal gains 5/6/7 Overshield. 8 Eva/E-Def, 5/10/15 HP). Whenever the
3. Broken Barrier (Gear 0): The Arsenal gains Dreadnought fires its Vulcan Carbine, all
the Impulse Aegis weapon. Scrap Turrets can fire as well at the nearest
hostile character in Range 5. They attack at
Impulse Aegis +1/+2/+3, and deal 3/5/7 Kinetic damage on
Heavy Melee, Knockback 3, +1/+2/+3 hit, or 1 on a miss.
[2 Threat] [4/5/6 Energy Damage]
WARSMITH Protocol, Trait
On Hit: The Arsenal gains 3/4/5 Overshield.
Targets must pass a Hull save or be knocked Whenever a Gear system on the Dreadnought
Prone. is degraded and its total Gear value decreases,
it gains an equivalent amount of Scrap. As a
SIEGE ENHANCEMENTS Trait protocol it can create an Iron Battery
integrated mount. It can consume Scrap to add
Steady grants Arcing to the Vulcan Carbine.
the following effects to it. It may choose the
In the Bayonet profile it gains Thrown 8. When
same option multiple times:
thrown this way it returns at the end of the
• (2 Scrap) Add the AP, Accurate,
Arsenal’s next turn.
Knockback 2, Reliable 2, or Arcing tag.
• (2 Scrap) Increase the base damage by +2.
TEMPERED IRON Trait
• (2 Scrap) Add +1 to hit/Tier. This option can
The Arsenal gains +1 Armor after being only be taken once.
attacked (this can break the Armor cap). It • (2 Scrap) Add +1 Limited charge.
loses this extra Armor at the start of each • (4 Scrap) Replace the Limited 1 tag with
round. Recharge 5+.
• (4 Scrap) Gain Blast 1 and 2 Heat(self).

[97]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 Iron Battery
Main Cannon, Limited 1, +1/+2/+3,
[8 Range] [3/4/5 Kinetic Damage]
When created, the Dreadnought can equip this
weapon to itself or an adjacent ally. When a
character Barrages and fires an Iron Battery,
they may fire all equipped Iron Batteries.

OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
ARMAGEDDON BROADSIDE System
Full Action, 1/Round, Recharge 6+
The Dreadnought fires all weapons it has
equipped. When fired this way all weapons
gain On Hit: This weapon does not become
unloaded or lose Limited charges, and can be
immediately fired again. This can repeat
indefinitely as long as it continues to hit targets.
It cannot target the same character with the
same weapon more than once in a single use
of this action.

AUTOTOMIZE Trait
The Dreadnought rolls 2d6 whenever Hulking
Iron triggers, and can pick either result. If both
dice are the same it gains 1 Scrap.

Scrap Recycler System

The Dreadnought consumes the adjacent
wreck of an allied mech, removing it from the
battlefield. It gains 2/3/4 Scrap, or 1 Scrap if
they were a Grunt.

WALKING FIRE Trait

Allied characters can mount the Dreadnought
as a quick action while adjacent. While
mounted they share its space, have hard cover
from all directions, move with it, and can take
the Steady action. They can dismount as part
of any movement, and fall off into a free
adjacent space if knocked back, knocked
Prone, or Immobilized by any source other
than using Steady.

[98]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 IRIS
Artillery
Iris-style deployments are a grim, cutting-edge novelty of modern siege tactics.
Orbital artillery platforms are now a mainstay of these engagements, and a single
platform can be synchronized to dozens of chassis that provide live targeting data
and force multiplication. This ability to physically penetrate sensor baffles and
targeting screens has created a gap in standard defensive procedures that has yet
to be fully addressed.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: -1 Systems: +1 Hull: -1 Systems: +2 Hull: -1 Systems: +3
Agility: +0 Engineering: +1 Agility: +0 Engineering: +2 Agility: +0 Engineering: +3

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 14 Armor: 0 HP: 18 Armor: 1 HP: 22 Armor: 1
Evasion: 8 E-Defense: 10 Evasion: 8 E-Defense: 12 Evasion: 8 E-Defense: 14
Speed: 3 Size: 1 Speed: 3 Size: 1 Speed: 4 Size: 1
Heat Cap: 10 Save Target: 11 Heat Cap: 10 Save Target: 12 Heat Cap: 10 Save Target: 13
Sensors: 20 Sensors: 20 Sensors: 20
TACTICS POLARIS Orbital Array
The Iris’ heavy damage is also heavily Superheavy Cannon, Seeking, +2/+4/+6
telegraphed, and punishes slower, larger This weapon cannot be destroyed.
characters more than fast ones. The POLARIS The Iris must consume a Targeting Mark to fire
Orbital Array needs a lot of setup to reach its this weapon, centering it on that character. This
final profile, and the Iris benefits from Controller can target them regardless of distance as long
or Striker allies that can harass players up close as they are not Hidden. It has different profiles
and drag them into its line of sight, while depending on the value of the Mark. If a Mark
Defenders prevent them from closing the gap, would increase to 5, the Iris may fire the
as its own defenses are weak. POLARIS Orbital Array as a reaction, using
the Targeting 4 profile. Reliable damage this
BASE SYSTEMS weapon deals is energy damage.
ICONIC Trait 1. Blast 3, 2/2/3 Energy Damage
2. Blast 2, 4/5/6 Energy Damage
Only one NPC with this trait can be present in 3. Blast 1, 5/7/9 Energy Damage + 3 Burn,
a scene. The Iris must always take either the Reliable 3
Elite or Ultra template. If it takes the Ultra 4. Single Target, 8/12/16 Energy Damage + 5
template, it also gains the Meteor base Burn, Accurate, AP, Reliable 4/6/8.
systems.
Predator Flock
ORACLE UPLINK Trait Heavy Nexus, Seeking, AP, Accurate,
The Iris is connected to an orbital artillery +1/+2/+3
platform, acting as its eyes on the ground. [15 Range, Line 5] [6 Energy Damage]
Whenever a character that is not Hidden, This weapon can attack two times at Tier 2, or
Invisible, or in cover from the Iris ends their three at T3.
turn in line of sight of it, they gain a Targeting On Attack: Mark the targeted area but do not
Mark (track with a d6, starting at 1) or increase roll an attack yet. All marked areas resolve
their Mark by 1 if they already have one. their attacks at the start of the Iris’ first turn
Characters also gain or increase a Mark 1/turn each round. If multiple areas overlap a
if the Iris critically hits them. A Mark cannot character they are only attacked once.
increase beyond 4. Characters decrease their
Mark by 1 if they start their turn Hidden or if
they Stabilize and pass a Systems save
instead of clearing conditions or reloading.

[99]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 OPTIONAL SYSTEMS SOLAR WRATH Trait
Dazzlechaff When the POLARIS Orbital Array fires at
System, Quick Action, Recharge 5+ Targeting 2 or higher, the targeted spaces
All characters in a Cone 5 area in Range 10 become difficult terrain until the end of the
must pass a Systems save or lose Hidden scene, and characters take 1/2/3 Energy
and Invisible, and be unable to become damage + 1 Heat if they end their turn in the
Hidden or Invisible until the end of their next affected area.
turn. Additionally, the next attack made against
them gains +1 Accuracy. Spotter Flash
System, Quick Tech, Recharge 5+
Flood Drone The Iris consumes Lock-On on any number of
System, Quick Action, Drone, Recharge characters in Sensors. Those characters all
4+ gain a Targeting Mark, or increase Marks by 1.
Flood Drone (Size ½, 8 Eva/E-Def, 5 HP)
The Iris deploys a Flood Drone to a free space ICONIC ULTRA:
within Sensors and line of sight. 1/Turn when
the Iris hits a character in Range 2 of a Flood
METEOR
Drone with a ranged weapon, it releases a If an Iris has the Ultra template, it additionally
pulse of energy that deals 2/3/4 Energy gains the following base systems, and may pick
damage to all characters in Range 2. one of the Meteor optional systems.

Fusion Bolt BASE SYSTEMS

System, Quick Action, Recharge 4+ SPOTLIGHT Trait
The Iris deals 10 AP Energy damage to an At the start of each round the Meteor chooses
object or piece of terrain in Range 15. If this a hostile character to Spotlight until the end of
destroys it, adjacent characters must pass a the round. It cannot choose the same
Hull save or be knocked Prone. character two rounds in a row. 1/Turn when a
Spotlit character takes 1 or more damage from
HUNGRY FLOCK Trait a successful attack or failed save from a hostile
Characters critically hit by the Predator character, all hostile characters take 2 energy
Flock take +1 damage every time they take damage.
damage until the end of their next turn.
STARFALL COMMAND LATTICE
Interdiction Swarm Trait
System, Protocol, 1 Heat(self), At the end of each round if it is not Stunned,
Recharge 5+ the Meteor marks up to 3 Blast 1 areas
Until the start of the Iris’ next turn, when it is anywhere on the map. These areas cannot be
attacked with a ranged weapon roll 1d6. On a adjacent to each other. At the end of the
5+ the attack misses, and the attacker takes 2 following round, characters in the marked
AP Energy damage and becomes Impaired areas must pass an Agility save or take 4/6/8
until the end of their next turn. Explosive damage, or half as much on a
success. Objects and terrain take 10 AP
PIGGYBACK Trait Explosive damage. At Round 4+ these areas
become Blast 2.
The Iris treats hostile characters adjacent to
any allied mech characters as having a
Targeting Mark 1 higher than it is (ex: Targeting OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
2 is treated as Targeting 3). This cannot CENTER STAGE Trait
increase a Targeting Mark to 5, and the Mark The target of SPOTLIGHT cannot benefit from
returns to normal if adjacency is broken. cover or become Hidden or Invisible.
Pleiades-Pattern Laser Swarm
Main Rifle, Smart, +2/+4/+6, [15 Range]
[6/8/10 Energy Damage + 2 Heat]
This weapon can only target characters with a
Targeting Mark, and reduces the value of the
Mark by 1 when fired.

[100]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
HELLSTAR IMPACTOR
System, Full Action, Limited 1
This system can only be activated in Round 3
or later, and must be activated on the Meteor’s
first turn in a round. It becomes Immobilized
until the end of the next round. At the end of
the next round, all characters take 20/30/40
Energy damage, or half as much on a
successful Hull save. Characters can Brace as
if this damage came from an attack to gain
resistance to it. The Meteor and characters in
Range 2 of it are immune to this damage.

Ion Cannon
System, Full Action, Recharge 6+
Place a Blast 1 area in Range 5 that does not
overlap with any characters and pick a
direction. At the end of each of the Iris’ turns, it
moves 3 spaces in that direction. Characters
that enter the area for the first time in a round
or that the area moves over must pass an
Agility save or take 8/12/16 Energy damage
and add +1 to their Targeting Mark, or half as
much damage on a failed save. Objects and
terrain take 20 AP Energy damage
automatically. This effect persists until it leaves
the map or until the end of the next round. The
Meteor can take 2 Heat to make it persist for
another round.

ORBITAL DECAY Trait

Areas targeted by the STARFALL COMMAND
LATTICE are treated as difficult terrain by
any movement other than a character’s
standard move, and characters that end their
turn in them take 3/4/5 Kinetic damage and
are knocked Prone as debris rains down.

[101]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 MOSQUITO
Defender
The Mosquito chassis-doctrine was first encountered in the hands of an Amalgamate
assassination squad that infiltrated Ispahsalar. The central characteristic of the
design is a combined suite of metafold displacement architecture and aggressive
codevaults; digital intrusion is tied to physical disjunction of mechanical
components. These severed pieces are exo-spatially attached to the Mosquito’s own
processors, allowing it to greatly exceed usual power/weight ratio constraints.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: -2 Systems: +2 Hull: -2 Systems: +4 Hull: -2 Systems: +6
Agility: +1 Engineering: +0 Agility: +2 Engineering: +0 Agility: +3 Engineering: +0

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 10 Armor: 0 HP: 12 Armor: 0 HP: 14 Armor: 0
Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 10 Evasion: 12 E-Defense: 12 Evasion: 14 E-Defense: 14
Speed: 5 Size: ½ or 1 Speed: 5 Size: ½ or 1 Speed: 5 Size: ½ or 1
Heat Cap: 6 Save Target: 11 Heat Cap: 7 Save Target: 13 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 15
Sensors: 8 Sensors: 8 Sensors: 8

SPECIAL RULES BASE SYSTEMS

The Mosquito has two special tokens that it can ICONIC Trait
give to characters: Blood and Drain. A
character can have a maximum of 6 of either. Only one NPC with this trait can be present in
Characters gain Armor equal to their Blood (to a a scene. The Mosquito must always take either
maximum of 6 total), and gain Overshield equal the Elite or Ultra template. If it takes the Ultra
to their Blood at the start of each of their turns. template, it also gains the Vampire base
They lose 1 Blood 1/turn whenever they are systems.
targeted by an attack, after it resolves. Some
systems only activate when the user has X+ EXSANGUINATE Trait
Blood, but using them does not consume Blood When the Mosquito hits a hostile character
unless stated otherwise. with a tech attack or they fail a save it forces,
they gain a Drain token and it gains a Blood
Characters suffer -1 to all attack rolls, checks, token.
and saves for each Drain token they have.
Characters can remove 1 Drain when they BLOOD//BANK
make an attack against the Mosquito, or 3 when System, Quick Tech, +2/+4/+6
they Stabilize. The Mosquito makes a tech attack against a
character in Sensors. On a hit, they take 2
TACTICS Heat and become Slowed/Immobilized/
Blood and Drain combine to heavily incentivize Stunned if it has 1+/4+/6 Blood. A character
targeting the Mosquito over its allies. Its short can only be Stunned this way 1/scene. If they
range and lack of direct damage or Heat means were already Stunned, they instead take 4/6/8
that it can’t end an encounter on its own, and Energy damage.
sustained fire can wear down its defenses faster
than they recover. It wants Striker and Artillery
allies to provide defense for while they pressure
they players.

[102]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
Soul Trap HEMORRHAGE Trait
System, Blood 3+, Quick Tech If a character in the scene would gain more
The Mosquito chooses a hostile character in than 6 Drain, they instead clear all Drain, lose
Sensors to make a Systems save. On a failed 1 Repair and become Jammed and Slowed
save, it picks one Trait, Weapon, System, or until the end of their next turn.
Core Active they have. This cannot target a
Core Active that is already activated. They Motive Siphon
cannot use, activate, or benefit from this System, Quick Tech, +2/+4/+6
system in any way for the rest of the scene, The Mosquito makes a tech attack against a
until the Mosquito is destroyed, or until they target in Sensors. On a hit, they become
choose an adjacent ally to gain 2/3/4 Drain as Slowed until the end of their next turn, and the
a Quick Action. Mosquito OR all allied characters in Range 2
of the target may move up to their Speed as a
OPTIONAL SYSTEMS reaction.
Blackveil Beam Psychostatic
Main Rifle, Smart, +1/+2/+3, Reaction, 1/Round, Blood X+
[Line 5] [3/4/5 Energy Damage] Trigger: A character targets the Mosquito or
Allied characters in the affected area are not an ally in Range X with an attack.
attacked; instead, they become Invisible until Effect: The Mosquito creates a Burst X of
the end of their next turn. The affected area screaming static and electrochaff. Attacks
persists as soft cover until the end of the against its allies in the area gain +1 Difficulty
Mosquito’s next turn. and treat them as being Invisible until the end
On Hit: Targets must pass a Systems save or of the Mosquito’s next turn. The Mosquito
become unable to draw line of sight except to reduces its Blood by X. This applies to the
adjacent spaces until the end of their next turn. triggering attack.
Blister SYSTEM CANNIBALISM Trait
System, Blood 2+, Quick Tech, +1/+2/
+3, +1 Accuracy When an allied character in the Mosquito’s
The Mosquito makes a tech attack against a Sensors and line of sight loses Structure or
character in Sensors. On a hit, their reactor Stress, or is destroyed, it gains 2 Blood.
safeties begin to fail. If they Boost,
Overcharge, Barrage, or voluntarily gain 4+ Transfusion Swarm
total Heat, the safeties completely fail. They System, Quick Action
take 6/8/10 AP Energy damage and become The Mosquito transfers all Blood from itself to
Impaired until the end of their next turn. This an ally in Range 3.
effect lasts until the end of their next turn.
Wetware Cerebrospike System
DOMINATE Tech attacks against the Mosquito and
System, Blood 5+, Full Tech, +2/+4/+6, adjacent allies gain +1 Difficulty. It also gains
+1 Accuracy the ENGAGE CEREBROSPIKE tech action.
The Mosquito makes a tech attack against a
character in Sensors. On a hit it seizes control ENGAGE CEREBROSPIKE
of their main operating systems. Their target System, Limited 1, Quick Tech
cannot take any actions except to move, The Mosquito chooses a hostile mech
Boost, Grapple, Ram, Improvised Attack, or character in Range 3 and engages in
Skill Check, until they pass a - save as a full simultaneous ontological warfare against the
action. The Mosquito can only target one mech and its pilot. They become Slowed, and
character with this effect at a time; a character are unable to benefit from Talents, critically
that has passed this save cannot be affected hit, or take tech actions. At the end of each of
by this system again for the rest of the scene. their turns they may attempt a Grit save to end
this effect. They may reroll the result 1/turn by
HEMOVORE Trait taking 4/5/6 irreducible AP Kinetic damage,
The Mosquito gains access to all systems, and gain +1 Accuracy on this save for each
weapons, or traits stolen by Soul Trap. adjacent allied mech. It immediately ends if the
Limited effects have 1/2/3 charges rather than Mosquito is destroyed, or if they willingly lose 1
their native value; effects are otherwise copied Structure instead of rerolling.
exactly in the state they were in when Soul
Trap was used.

[103]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 ICONIC ULTRA: OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
VAMPIRE Metafold Transposition System
If a Mosquito has the Ultra template, it When the Vampire uses Relocate, all
additionally gains the following base systems, characters in its Metafold Demesne are
and may pick one of the Vampire optional teleported to free spaces of the Vampire’s
systems. choice within the target area. Unwilling
characters must pass a Systems save to avoid
BASE SYSTEMS this effect.
Metafold Demesne Trait
Nano-Broadcast Fog System
At the start of the scene or when the Vampire
enters the scene, create a Metafold Demesne The Vampire can take any Quick Tech action
on the map, a Blast 3 zone of liturgicode as a Full Tech while within its Metafold
enhanced dominion. It remains until the Demesne. If it does, that action targets all valid
Vampire is destroyed. The Vampire must enter targets of its choice within the Demesne
the scene within this area. While within the instead.
area, the Vampire can hover when it moves,
and as part of any movement, it can teleport to RESTLESS DEAD Trait
any free space within the Demesne instead of Spaces adjacent to Thrall Drones are difficult
that movement. Spaces in the Demesne terrain for hostile characters, and characters
always count as being in the Vampire’s that end their turn adjacent to a Thrall Drone
Sensors, and it has the following effects on take 3/4/5 Kinetic damage for each adjacent
characters at least partially in the area: drone.
• The Vampire and allied characters are
treated as Invisible when targeted by any Electro-Channel Fang
attack originating beyond Range 3. Superheavy Melee, AP, +???,
• Hostile characters cannot draw line of sight [1 Threat] [??? Energy Damage]
beyond Range 3. This weapon gains +1 to hit for each Drain on
the target, and deals 3/3/4 Energy damage for
Relocate each Blood the Vampire has.
Trait, Full Action, Recharge 5+
The Vampire moves its Metafold Demesne to
any point in Sensors.

GRAVEDIGGER System Parasite

System
Thrall Drone (8/10/12 Eva/E-Def, 1 HP, Tags:
Drone)

Whenever an allied mech character is

destroyed, instead of leaving a wreck or being
removed from the map it becomes a Thrall
Drone of equal size. Spaces adjacent to Thrall
Drones count as the Vampire’s Metafold
Demesne. Thrall drones can move 2 spaces
on the Vampire’s first turn each round. When a
Thrall Drone would be destroyed, roll 1d6. If
the roll is below the Vampire’s current Blood,
they are not destroyed and return to 1 HP.

[104]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 TERRAFORMER
Controller
Retrofitted or modified civilian mechs are relatively common in flashpoint civil
conflicts or prolonged sieges - but rarely do they reach this scale. Terraformer-
identified mil-chassis are the result of massive undertakings to completely redesign
and weaponize colony-building machinery, itself usually hundreds of years old. The
results bear worrying symmetry to some aspects of Kobold p-g liturgicode products,
and turn ancient tools of biome design and a massive reactor into wild elemental
fury.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: +0 Systems: +2 Hull: +0 Systems: +2 Hull: +0 Systems: +2
Agility: -2 Engineering: +2 Agility: -2 Engineering: +4 Agility: -2 Engineering: +6

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 10 Armor: 2 HP: 14 Armor: 2 HP: 16 Armor: 2
Evasion: 6 E-Defense: 8 Evasion: 6 E-Defense: 10 Evasion: 6 E-Defense: 12
Speed: 4 Size: 2 Speed: 4 Size: 2 Speed: 4 Size: 2
Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 12 Heat Cap: 10 Save Target: 14 Heat Cap: 12 Save Target: 16
Sensors: 15 Sensors: 15 Sensors: 15
SPECIAL RULES Lastly, at the start of each of the Terraformer’s
Some of the Terraformer’s traits, weapons and turns every character within Range 5 of a
systems have the Power X tag, and its Generator that is not adjacent to one gains +2
deployables have the Generator and Domain Resonance. The Terraformer reduces all
tags. At the start of each of its turns, the damage it takes by the total Resonance on all
Terraformer rolls a Power die (d6), +1d6 for characters. A character adjacent to a Generator
each active system with the Generator tag. may remove all Resonance on them as a quick
Assign each die to a Generator system or the action. If they remove 4+ Resonance this way,
Terraformer. The Terraformer and its systems the Generator is destroyed; otherwise they must
can each only hold one die at a time. These dice pass a Systems check to attempt to destroy it,
last until the start of the Terraformer’s next turn. taking 2/3/4 Energy damage on a failed check.

Effects and actions with X Power require Power TACTICS

dice to activate; when the action is taken, they The existence of the Terraformer reshapes the
decrease that die by X, and it cannot be taken if entire map around it, scaling more and more
the die is less than X. X Power effects are free aggressively the more Generator systems it is
actions by default and can thus be taken able to deploy. It relies on powerful, free action
repeatedly, unless listed otherwise. Power effects - but Power dice are unreliable
and they are limited to only their Domain.
The Terraformer’s Generator deployables have a Players must balance attacking the Terraformer
Domain; this is an area in which they apply a directly, and wearing down its infrastructure
persistent effect described in their statblock. By before it can spiral out of control. The
default, all spaces in a Burst 1 are within their Terraformer wants Striker allies that capitalize
Domain when deployed. Domain spaces are on the openings its Generators create, and
always within range for effects that originate Defenders that control the lanes between them.
from that Generator, even if their listed range
would be shorter. If a Generator has 4+ Power The Terraformer is a complex NPC that requires
remaining at the start of the Terraformer’s turn, it more tracking and unique pieces than even the
gains +1 to the size of its Domain until the end other Iconic NPCs, for both the GM and players.
of the scene. This effect can stack to a Make sure that you have a system in place to
maximum size of Burst 3. Domain effects last track tokens like Resonance and Power, and
until the Generator is destroyed. that players are aware of how they can interact
with these mechanics.

[105]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 BASE SYSTEMS Magma Engine
System, Deployable, Quick Action,
ICONIC Trait Recharge 5+
Only one NPC with this trait can be present in Magma Engine (Size ½, 5 HP, 8 Eva/E-Def,
a scene. The Terraformer must always take Tags: Deployable, Generator)
either the Elite or Ultra template. If it takes the This system can be deployed to a free space in
Ultra template, it also gains the Tempest base Sensors.
systems. Domain: Characters in this area only clear half
as much Heat when they would clear Heat,
and have +1 Difficulty on all Engineering
checks and saves. If a character ends their
turn in the area, they take 1/2/3 Heat.
• Lava Flow (3 Power): Create a Line 5 area
originating in Domain that lasts until the end of
the scene or this deployable is destroyed. It is
difficult terrain, and characters that start their
turn in the area or enter it for the first time on
their turn must pass an Agility save or take
3/4/5 Burn. This Burn is doubled if they are in
the danger zone.
• Pyroclast (6 Power): Characters in Domain
take 2 Heat and 3/4/5 Burn.

WORLDFORGE
Quick Action, Power X, Trait
The Terraformer recharges one of its Drone or
Deployable systems with Recharge X or less.

OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
BURNOUT ENGINE Trait
All of the Terraformer’s Generator Deployables
gain the following Power action:
Burn Out (5 Power, Quick Action): This
deployable explodes, destroying it and all
effects it has created except for its Domain. All
characters in its Domain must pass an Agility
save or take 6/8/10 Explosive damage, or half
as much on a success. Its Domain persists
until the end of the scene.

ENRICHED FUEL Trait

Whenever the Terraformer rolls a 1 on a Power
die it takes 1 Heat and rerolls the die.

Denial Grid
System, Quick Tech
Choose two Generator Deployables within
Range 5 and line of sight of each other and
draw a Line connecting them. This area counts
as Domain for both deployables, and the first
time each turn a hostile character enters a
space in the area they take 2/3/4 Energy
damage. This line lasts until the end of the
scene or either deployable is destroyed. The
Terraformer can spend its own Power to
increase the length of this line by 2/Power
spent.

[106]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
Aquifer Spout Seismic Pounder
System, Deployable, Quick Action, System, Deployable, Quick Action,
Recharge 5+ Recharge 5+
Aquifer Spout(Size ½, 5 HP, 8 Eva/E-Def, Aquifer Spout(Size ½, 5 HP, 8 Eva/E-Def,
Tags: Deployable, Generator) Tags: Deployable, Generator)
This system can be deployed to a free space in This system can be deployed to a free space in
Sensors. Sensors.
Domain: This area is difficult terrain. Domain: Objects and terrain in this area other
Characters that end their turn in the area cool than this system only take damage if the
1 Heat, that is then stored in this deployable. A Terraformer allows it. It is not a valid space for
maximum of 4 Heat can be stored, though hostile drones or deployables to move into or
more can be cooled. be placed in.
• Thermal Transfer (3 Power): Choose a • Builder/Breaker (2 Power): Deal 10 AP
character in Domain. All other characters in Kinetic damage to an object, drone, or terrain
the area lost 1 Heat. The chosen character in Domain, OR create a size 1 piece of terrain
must pass an Engineering save or take Heat with 10 HP that grants hard cover.
equal to the total Heat other characters lost, + • Sinkhole (6 Power): Create a pit in a single
all Heat stored in the system, removing it, or space in Domain. A non-flying character that
half as much Heat on a success. fully enters a pit for any reason falls in and
• Flood/Flow (5 Power): All characters in becomes trapped in it. They become Prone
Range 2 of Domain must pass a Hull save or and cannot leave the space (unless entering
be pulled to the center of the area, or as close another pit) until they use their standard move
as possible. and pass an Agility save to climb out, moving
into a free adjacent non-pit space. This space
Lightning Rod can be created under characters, forcing them
System, Deployable, Quick Action, to pass an Agility save or immediately fall in,
Recharge 5+ moving to a free adjacent space on a success.
Lightning Rod (Size ½, 5 HP, 8 Eva/E-Def,
Tags: Deployable, Generator) Glacial Siphon
This system can be deployed to a free space in System, Deployable, Quick Action,
Sensors. Recharge 4+
Domain: Hostile characters in the area gain 1 Glacial Siphon(Size ½, 5 HP, 8 Eva/E-Def,
charge whenever they take or are the Tags: Deployable, Generator)
successful target of a tech action. If a This system can be deployed to a free space in
character gains a 5th charge they clear all Sensors.
charges, take 4/6/8 Energy damage, and Domain: A character that begins any
become Jammed until the end of their next movement other than their standard move in
turn. A character can remove all charges by this area must pass an Agility save or fall
Stabilizing, and all charges are cleared if this Prone. Prone characters must pass an Agility
deployable is destroyed. save to stand up.
• Static (2 Power): A character in Range 3 is • Subzero (3 Power): Until the end of the
electrified. Spaces adjacent to them count as Terraformer’s next turn, any hostile character
Domain for all other characters, and they gain that ends their turn in Domain becomes
1 Charge at the end of their turn. This effect Slowed until the end of their next turn if they
lasts until they pass an Engineering save as are not in the danger zone. If they are already
a quick action, or Stabilize. Slowed, they are Immobilized instead.
• Boltcrash (5 Power): Choose a character in • Glaciate (4 Power): Choose a character in
Domain. They must pass an Engineering Domain. They cool Heat until they are no
save or take 2 Heat + 3/4/5 Energy damage longer in the danger zone, then must pass a
and become Jammed until the end of their Hull save or take AP Kinetic damage equal
next turn, or half as much damage and Heat to twice the Heat lost, or half as much on a
and Impaired on a success. A character can success.
only be Jammed by this effect 1/scene. Then,
repeat this effect on another character in
Range 3 of the first. Characters affected by
Static always count as being within Range. If a
character has any charges, clear all charges
and they take that much additional Heat on a
failed save, or half as much on a success.

[107]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 Proximity Rejection SUBSTATIONS Trait
System, Quick Tech, +1/+2/+3, +1 The Tempest’s Maelstrom Core is stabilized
Accuracy by Substations. These are 4 size 1 objects
On a hit, the target is infected with a catalyzing that are immune to all damage and effects, and
virus. If they end their next turn adjacent to an are placed on the map at the beginning of the
object or terrain the same size or larger than scene. Substations must be at least 3 spaces
them, it detonates. They take 4/5/6 AP away from all other Substations and should be
Explosive damage, and all spaces adjacent to placed evenly and accessibly. At the start of
them become difficult terrain until the end of each of its turns the Tempest gains Overshield
the scene. equal to ¼ its max HP for each remaining
Substation. Substations count as Generators
Supercell Seeder for the purpose of gaining Resonance.
Superheavy Nexus, Seeking, Power 6
+1/+2/+3 A character can disrupt a Substation while
[15 Range, Blast 1] [3/5/7 ??? Damage] adjacent to it as a quick action, destroying it,
On Attack: Choose one of the following removing all Resonance from all characters,
profiles: and becoming Storm-Charged. While Storm-
• Lightning (Energy): The attack gains Smart, Charged they are Shredded and gain +2
and until the end of the next round characters Speed. At the end of each of their turns they
in the affected area have +2 Difficulty on all take 2 Heat + 2/3/4 AP Energy damage then
tech attacks and Systems checks and saves. gain 2/3/4 Overshield. The next time they hit a
• Hurricane (Explosive): The attack gains character with an attack it removes all
Knockback 2, and until the end of the next Overshield from their target and deals +1d6
round the Terraformer can push any character bonus Energy damage. They are then no
that ends their turn in the area 2 spaces in any longer Storm-Charged.
direction.
• Blizzard (Kinetic): This attack gains Reliable MAELSTROM CORE Trait
1/2/3 and until the end of the next round
The battlefield is shrouded in a swirling storm
characters in the affected area cannot draw
fed by the Tempest’s supercharged core. It is
line of sight beyond Range 3.
stabilized by Substations. At each level the
storm has an effect on the entire battlefield,
ICONIC ULTRA: regardless of obstruction or line of sight. Each
level also grants the Tempest a Power action,
TEMPEST which does require line of sight. The Range for
If a Terraformer has the Ultra template, it these actions alone is the entire battlefield
additionally gains the following base systems, rather than its Domain. It begins the scene in
and may pick one of the Tempest optional DELUGE; whenever a Substation is destroyed,
systems. the storm progresses to the next level in order,
retaining all effects and Power actions of the
BASE SYSTEMS previous level.
4 - DELUGE: Ranged attacks by hostile
PRESSURE Trait
characters targeting characters beyond Range
Hostile characters in the Tempest’s Locus 8 treat them as having soft cover.
Magnum Domain must roll 1d6 after taking • Downpour (3 Power): Create a Blast 1
any action or completing any movement other Puddle that lasts until the end of the scene.
than their standard move. On a 1, their turn Puddles are difficult terrain for hostile
immediately ends. characters, and hostile characters in them
have +1 Difficulty on Agility and Hull checks
and saves.
3 - GALE: All spaces are difficult terrain for
flying characters, and hostile characters are
knocked Prone unless they end their turn
adjacent to an object or character the same
size as them or larger.
• Gust (3 Power): The target character must
pass a Hull save or be pushed 2/3/4 spaces in
any direction.

[108]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 RAIJIN TRESPASS Trait
2 - TYPHOON: All movement by hostile
characters is reduced by 1. Whenever a hostile Whenever the Tempest rolls a 6 on a Power
character takes a tech action they take 1/2/3 die, lightning strikes a character on the
AP Energy damage +1 Heat and then gain battlefield, dealing 2/3/4 AP Energy damage
1/2/3 Overshield. or pushing them 2 spaces, the target’s choice.
• Scour (4 Power): The target character must
pass an Engineering save or lose all Graviton Condenser
Overshield, clear all Burn, and remove the System, Deployable, Quick Action,
effect of all tech actions currently affecting Recharge 6+
them. Graviton Condenser(Size ½, 5 HP, 8 Eva/E-
Def, Tags: Deployable, Generator)
1 - SPLIT HEAVEN: At the start of each of its This system can be deployed to a free space in
turns, all characters are pulled 1 space directly Sensors.
towards the Tempest. Characters that end their Domain: No effect originating within this
turn within any Domain become Impaired until Domain from a hostile character can target
the end of their next turn. anything outside of the area.
• Thunder King (6 Power):At the end of the • Supermassive (4 Power): Until the end of
target character’s next turn they are struck by the Terraformer’s next turn, characters treat
lightning, becoming Stunned on a failed the boundary of Domain as an obstruction to
Systems save or Jammed on a success. This movement unless they pass a Hull save.
effect is reduced by one step for each • Realspace Puncture (6 Power): All
adjacent allied character; from Stunned, to characters within Domain are removed from
Jammed, to Impaired, to no effect. the battlefield. At the start of their next turn
0 - CRITICAL OVERLOAD: When the last they reappear at a space of the Tempest’s
Substation is destroyed, the Tempest choice within any Domain. Characters can
immediately enters a CRITICAL OVERLOAD attempt a Systems save to avoid this effect,
state. In this state it is immune to all damage, immediately teleporting 1d6 spaces on a
Heat, and conditions. Characters that are success instead.
Storm-Charged can still deal damage to it. It
TECTONIC UPHEAVAL Trait,
can no longer take any actions except Power
Full Action, Reaction, Limited 1
actions and to Boost, Ram, Grapple, or
Improvised Attack. Prepare a secondary combat map for this
encounter. It can have different terrain, object
At the end of the next round it explodes placement, and environmental hazards from
catastrophically: all characters must pass an the primary map.
Agility save or take 20/25/30 Explosive
damage, or half as much on a success. This As a full action, or as a reaction to a
damage is reduced by 4/5/6 for each space Substation being destroyed, the Tempest can
between them and the Tempest. activate this trait to replace the current
• Charge (6 Power): Lose 1 HP. Increase the battlefield with this secondary map. This effect
base damage of the explosion by 4/5/6. happens instantaneously; if the terrain under a
character, mine, or deployed object would
change height, they move harmlessly to the
OPTIONAL SYSTEMS new position, or are pushed to the nearest free
space of their choice if their current space
BLACKTHORN NANITES becomes an obstruction. Any structures on the
Trait, Quick Action, 5 Power primary map that are not controlled by a
The Tempest transforms the wreck of an allied character are destroyed as the ground churns
mech in Sensors into a Blackthorn Garden. It into its new shape. This cannot alter anything
and a Burst 1 area around it are difficult within Range 2 of a Substation.
terrain. Characters can ignore this effect by
taking 1 AP Kinetic damage for each space
they move through. Characters that fall Prone
in the area or that are knocked back into the
wreck take 4/5/6 Kinetic damage.

[109]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 TULPA
Support
Though rare, Legion phenomena are not impossible to manifest in ground engagements.
With the aid of amplifying nodes and neural-digital bridge support, these entities
can even manifest quasi-physical encounter bodies, though they remain dependent on
surrounding physical architecture to maintain cohesion. The resulting Tulpa
possesses the same post-quantifiable computational ability as a fleet legion, as well
as unique paracausal manifestations typically routed through spontaneous nanite
generation, aberrant thermodynamic alterations, and temporarily, full psychomemetic
sublimation.

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: +0 Systems: +2 Hull: +0 Systems: +4 Hull: +0 Systems: +6
Agility: +2 Engineering: -2 Agility: +2 Engineering: -2 Agility: +2 Engineering: -2

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 16 Armor: 0 HP: 18 Armor: 0 HP: 20 Armor: 0
Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 12 Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 14 Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 16
Speed: 4 Size: 1 Speed: 5 Size: 1 Speed: 6 Size: 1
Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 11 Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 12 Heat Cap: 10 Save Target: 13
Sensors: 5 Sensors: 5 Sensors: 5
SPECIAL RULES BASE SYSTEMS
The Tulpa’s systems with the Convoke tag ICONIC Trait
become uncharged after use and cannot be
used again, similar to the Recharge X tag. At the Only one NPC with this trait can be present in
start of the Tulpa’s turns, roll 1d6; if it is less a scene. The Tulpa must always take either the
than or equal to the number of allied characters Elite or Ultra template. If it takes the Ultra
in Sensors, recharge all Convoke systems. template, it also gains the Technopath base
Grunts and drones count as ¼ of a character. systems.

TACTICS ELEKTROGEIST Trait

The Tulpa is a force-multiplier for its allies; it The Tulpa has the AI tag and cannot have a
lacks any direct damage or status effects, but human pilot. It can hover, teleports when it
Direct Control allows it to supercharge any moves or Boosts, and is treated as Invisible
normal NPC into a much greater threat. This is by all attacks that target Evasion. If no allied
also when it is the most vulnerable, as it cannot characters are in its Sensors at the end of the
use Elektrogeist to avoid the damage it shares round, it takes 5 irreducible Energy damage.
with them. It needs its allies to stay close due to
its short Sensor range, and player tactics that Direct Control
can break up its formation will interfere with its Trait, Protocol, 1/Round
more powerful Convoke abilities. Tulpa’s benefit The Tulpa chooses an allied character in
from a mixed composition of allies where it can Sensors. It’s turn immediately ends, and they
choose who to support in any given round to immediately activate, even if they already
maximize their effectiveness, with a preference activated this round. Until the start of the
for Strikers and Controllers, and less need for Tulpa’s next turn, they:
other Supports. • May activate any systems or weapons that
the Tulpa has as if it were their own
• May use the Tulpa’s HASE scores in place of
their own.
• Gain +1 Accuracy on all attacks and 1/turn
deal +2/3/4 bonus Energy damage on hit.
• Have resistance to all damage and Heat.
• The Tulpa becomes immune to all damage
and effects, but takes half of the damage and
Heat that their target takes before reduction.

[110]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
Galvanize Succor
System, Convoke, Quick Tech System, Quick Tech
An allied character in Sensors is charged with One allied character in Sensors is teleported
energy. They regain 4/6/8 HP, gain +1 Armor to a free space adjacent to the Tulpa, or as
(max 4), and deal +1 Energy damage with all close as possible. If they have ½ or less of
attacks. This effect can stack up to 3 times per their maximum HP remaining, they gain
character. resistance to all damage and Heat until the
start of their next turn.
Invigorate
System, Quick Tech Synchronize
An allied character in Sensors clears one Reaction, 1/Round, Convoke
condition other than Stunned that was not self- Trigger: An allied character in Sensors hits
inflicted and cannot suffer from Difficulty on with an attack.
the final roll of the next attack they make. Effect: Another ally in Sensors can make an
attack with a single weapon as a reaction
against the same target, dealing half damage,
OPTIONAL SYSTEMS Heat, and Burn on hit.
ELYSIUM Trait
Allied characters that end their turn adjacent to Thoughtspear
the Tulpa cool 1/2/3 Heat and gain immunity to System, Convoke, Full Tech
all tech actions from hostile characters until Draw a Line 8 originating from the Tulpa or an
the start of their next turn. allied character in Sensors. Hostile characters
in the affected area gain Lock-On and take 4
Electrodyne Energy damage. If they already have Lock-
System, Heat(self) 1, Quick Tech On they take 6/8/10 damage instead,
An allied character in Sensors gains an consuming the Lock-On. Allied characters in
electric charge. The next time before the end of the area gain soft cover until the start of their
their next turn that a hostile character moves next and can Slide 2 spaces. If the line
into a space in Range 3 of them they must overlaps an ally at ½ or less their maximum
pass an Engineering save or take 5 Energy HP, it can be stopped early. Then, begin a new
damage and be knocked Prone, or half as line originating from their position. Characters
much damage on a success. If the Tulpa’s cannot be affected twice by new lines.
target is at ½ their maximum HP or lower, this
increases to 6/8/10 Energy damage, and the Ionize
triggering character becomes Impaired pass System, Full Tech
or fail. Create a Blast 2 area with at least one space
adjacent to an allied character in Sensors.
Forced Revival Attacks against hostile characters in the area
System, Convoke gain +1 Accuracy and 1/turn gain On Hit: all
Direct Control can be used to target wrecks of hostile characters in the area take 1 Energy
allied characters. This revives them with ½ damage. This area lasts until the end of the
their max HP, 0 Heat, and 1 Structure and scene or the Tulpa uses this system to target a
Stress. When they are destroyed they leave no new area.
wreck as it disintegrates from the strain.

HARBINGER Trait
Characters nominated by Direct Control clear
all Burn and all conditions that were not self-
inflicted, and can hover when they move
during their turn.

Link Shield System

At the start of each round, the Tulpa gains an
Overshield equal to 2/3/4 times the number of
allied characters in Sensors (max 8/10/12).
Whenever an allied character in Sensors takes
damage, it is applied to this shield first as if it
were their own.

[111]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
 ICONIC ULTRA: OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
DISTRIBUTED MIND
TECHNOPATH Trait
If a Tulpa has the Ultra template, it additionally When the Technopath would be destroyed, roll
gains the following base systems, and may pick 1d6. If the number rolled is less than or equal
one of the Technopath optional systems. to the number of active Partitions, it instead
teleports to the location of any Partition, resets
BASE SYSTEMS to full HP and 1 Structure and Stress, and
destroys all active Partitions.
FRACTAL PARTITION Trait
When the Technopath targets an allied SLEEPWALKER Trait
character with a tech action it can use a quick Drones created by DEUS EX NIHILO have
action to create a Partition in a free adjacent Speed 4, and can move on the Technopath’s
space. Partitions are size ½ constructs with 1 last turn each round. They can choose to
HP, and Evasion and E-Defense equal to the Boost, Ram, or Grapple instead of their listed
Technopath’s. They do not obstruct movement action.
or line of sight. Spaces adjacent to Partitions
count as being within the Technopath’s EGREGORE Omni-Link System
Sensors, and they grant soft cover to all
Allied mech characters in the Technopath’s
adjacent allies. When the Technopath checks
Sensors gain the Lucid Dream protocol.
at the start of its turn to recharge Convoke
effects it may count Partitions as allied
Lucid Dream Protocol
characters after the die is rolled, destroying all
Partitions used this way. This character becomes Stunned until the
start of their next turn. The Technopath regains
DEUS EX NIHILO 4/5/6 HP, and can Boost as a reaction. If this
System, Convoke, Full Tech character is destroyed before the start of their
The Technopath chooses a Partition in next turn, replace their wreck with a Partition.
Sensors, empowering it to become a
mechanical monster made of loose scrap and Samsaric Delimiter System
wiring. It destroys the Partition, replacing it with When the Technopath uses Galvanize on a
one of the following drones. It can destroy character for the 4th time, they become
additional Partitions at the same time to charged with recursively increasing energy.
empower the created drone, granting it +2 HP/ They gain resistance to all damage and Heat,
Partition as well as the listed benefits. All and gain +2 Speed. At the end of their next
drones created this way are Size 1, and take turn they explode in a Burst 2 cascade of
the listed action at any point during the energy, dealing 6/8/10 Energy damage to all
Technopath’s last turn each round. characters in the affected area, or half as much
• Id Crusher (8 Eva/E-Def, 5 HP): This drone on a successful Agility save. Replace their
makes a ranged attack against a character in wreck with a Partition.
Range 5 at +1/+2/+3, dealing 5 Kinetic
damage, +2/ extra Partition (max 15).
• Ego Relay (8 Eva/E-Def, 5 HP): Allied
characters in Range 3 of this drone have +1
Accuracy on all checks and saves. It
nominates an ally in Range 3 to Slide 3 +
extra Partitions spaces.
• Superego Shackle (8 Eva/E-Def, 5 HP):
This drone forces a character in Range 5 to
pass a Systems save or take 2 Heat and
become Impaired. If 2+ extra Partitions were
destroyed, they are also Slowed, and
Jammed if 4+ were destroyed.

[112]
Section 3 // Iconic NPCs
ICONIC CHAMPIONS
No higher honor; no greater threat

TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS MECH SKILLS
Hull: +1 Systems: +1 Hull: +2 Systems: +2 Hull: +3 Systems: +3
Agility: +1 Engineering: +1 Agility: +2 Engineering: +2 Agility: +3 Engineering: +3

CORE STATS CORE STATS CORE STATS

HP: 14 Armor: 0 HP: 17 Armor: 1 HP: 20 Armor: 1
Evasion: 8 E-Defense: 8 Evasion: 10 E-Defense: 10 Evasion: 12 E-Defense: 12
Speed: 4 Size: 1 or 2 Speed: 4 Size: 1 or 2 Speed: 4 Size: 1 or 2
Heat Cap: 8 Save Target: 10 Heat Cap: 9 Save Target: 12 Heat Cap: 10 Save Target: 14
Sensors: 10 Sensors: 10 Sensors: 10

SPECIAL RULES Abilities with the Combo tag must consume an

Champions are special teams of Iconic NPCs. Opening to be used, removing the mark and
Every individual Champion in a scene must take gaining the listed effect. Openings created by an
a unique Style; special Templates that give action are created after the triggering action
them additional abilities in addition to the base resolves, and cannot be consumed by the same
Champion abilities they all share. A scene action. An Opening lasts until it is consumed or
cannot have just one Champion in it; they the end of the target’s next turn.
function as a team, and represent the entire
OpFor. Finally, a Champion cannot be reduced below 0
HP unless it has a Weak Point exposed;
Unlike other Iconic NPCs, most Champions are instead they will remain at 1 HP and ignore any
not Elites by default, so they do not gain additional damage. Each Style has a specific
additional structure or activations. They instead trigger to expose their Weak Point. A Weak
share a pool of Champion Actions in addition Point remains exposed until the Champion is
to their normal turns. This is a pool of special reduced to 0 HP or its listed condition is met.
actions that every Champion shares. The pool
begins with a total number of actions equal to Players should be given the text for Weak Points
the number of players minus one. It refills and Openings for each Style.
back to its maximum value at the start of each
round. TACTICS
Champions are a complete team, with each
At the end of any other character’s turn, a Style granting a unique and complimentary
Champion may use a Champion Action from the approach to round it out. They require no or
pool to take the unique Champion Action minimal support from other NPCs, and should
determined by their Style. This is not a reaction. consist of a mix of roles to best challenge and
Once used, Champions cannot use a Champion engage PCs. Because each Style has both
Action again until all other Champion’s have unique triggers for Openings and Weak Points,
used their unique action this round. A Champion fielding multiple Champions with the same Style
may also consume 3 actions from the pool to can feel repetitive or unengaging for players, as
take an additional turn this round, obeying the well as unfairly punish players that are
normal initiative restrictions. vulnerable to that Style. Because of their added
durability from Weak Points, and extra
Each Champion can create and make use of Champion Actions, each Champion should be
Openings in different ways. An Opening is a considered slightly stronger than a regular NPC;
mark placed on a character when the listed even as their number is whittled down, the
condition is met, which is determined by each remaining Champions are able to use the same
Champion’s Style. A chararacter can only have number of Champion actions, reducing the
one Opening placed on them at a time, even if attrition of action economy across a combat.
another Champion meets their condition.

[113]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 BASE SYSTEMS
ICONIC SQUAD Trait
All Champion NPCs share this trait. Characters
with this trait cannot take the Grunt or Elite
templates, and they all share the same pool of
Champion Actions.

OPTIONAL SYSTEMS JOTUNHEIMMR CHASSIS Trait

All-Theatre Retrofit
The Champion gains +1 Size (max 3), and
System
their Rams and Grapples gain +1 Accuracy.
The Champion can fly when it moves. When it
Boosts it may take 2 Heat to move +1/+2/+3
spaces.

Blastcrown
System, Full Action
The Champion begins charging a massive
detonation. Their Weak Point becomes
exposed. At the end of their next turn or if they
are destroyed it detonates in a Burst 2
explosion. Characters in the affected area must
pass an Agility save or take 15/20/25 Energy LIMBER Trait
damage, or half as much on a success. Their
mech then deactivates as its reactor is The Champion ignores difficult and
expended, removing them from the scene. dangerous terrain and cannot trigger or take
damage from Mines.
Crowdwork
Champion Action LINE UP Protocol, Combo, System
The Champion gains +2 Accuracy on the next The Champion chooses a character in
attack roll, check, or save they make. Sensors; they take 2 Heat and gain Lock-On.

DATA FRACTURE Trait

The Champion’s tech attacks gain On Hit: 1/
Round, deal 1 Heat to 1/2/3 other characters
in Range 3 of your target.

Extrudite Printer
Champion Action
The Champion places a size 1 block of hard
cover with 10 HP in Range 3. MOCK Quick Action, Trait
FEATHER-DUSTER Pattern Comp/Con The Champion riles a hostile character in
System, Quick Action, Recharge 5+ Range 5. That character gains +2 Difficulty on
The Champion clears a single condition other attacks targeting any other character until they
than Stunned or Jammed from themselves or deal any damage or Heat to the Champion, or
an adjacent ally. the Champion targets another hostile character
with any action.

Reflex Spool
Champion Action
The Champion Boosts.

[114]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 WRAITH Capsule
System, Quick Action, Limited 1
The Champion and all adjacent characters
become Intangible until the end of their next
turns.

RWC Nettle Drone System

Drone Recharge 5+, Quick Action
The Champion deploys a Nettle Drone (size
½, 10 HP, 10 Eva/E-def) to a point in Sensors.
It projects a burst 2 razorwire cordon; the
affected area is difficult terrain and
characters that end their turn within it take
2/2/3 AP Kinetic damage.
CHAMPION STYLES
SPECIALIST Trait When you create a team of Champions, give
The Champion increases one mech skill to +2/ each one a unique Style from the list below:
+4/+6 and reduces another to 0/0/0.
Artillery:
SUPERHOT SHIELDING Trait • PRECISE: Focused snipers that manipulate
turn order to their advantage.
When the Champion enters the Danger Zone • CAUSTIC: Heavy artillery that pummels the
they gain resistance to all damage until the battlefield with AoE Burn effects.
start of their next turn.
Controller:
Tag-Team Blink Beacon
• ROGUISH: Quick harassers that break up
System, Recharge 4+
player positions.
The Champion can use its standard move to • PUNISHING: Aggressive hackers that
instead teleport, swapping places with another compound negative statuses and Heat.
Champion in Range 10.
Defender:
TENACIOUS Trait • NEWBIE: Inexperienced trainees that draw
When the Champion is reduced to 0 HP it rolls attention and distract enemies.
1d6. On a 5+ it resets to 1 HP instead. • STALWART: A towering bulwark that shields
allies and blocks defensive positions.
THERMOPTICS Trait
The Champion’s attacks gain +1 Accuracy Striker:
against targets in the danger zone. • VICIOUS: High-damage duelists that can
tear through armored foes.
• TRAINED: A versatile veteran of the ring
that keeps pressure with consistent fire.

Support:
• INSPIRING: A potent buffer that dives in
with the front-line to empower its allies.
• PRESCIENT: A precognitive chessmaster
that lines up the perfect shot for its allies

Iconic Headliners:
• GLORYHOUND: Rough-and-tumble
bruisers that demand attention and punish
distraction.
• LEADING: Coordinating commanders that
conduct their team for maximum efficacy.

[115]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 CAUSTIC INSPIRING
Every obstacle, every trophy – you’ll burn down Ever by your side, until neither of you can take
anything in your path. another step.

Armor: +2 Evasion: +2
Eva/E-Def: -2 Speed: +2
Speed: -2 HP: -4
Heat Cap: +2 BATTLEBOND Trait
Sensors: +5
Size: +1 Allied characters adjacent to the Champion
gain +1 Accuracy on all checks and saves. Its
CORROSION Trait Weak Point is exposed if an adjacent ally’s is,
The Champion is immune to Burn. If a hostile or there are no allied characters in Range 3.
character ends their turn with 8+ Burn, they
take 2 Burn and it creates an Opening on Co-Coupled Fuel Rig
them. System, Quick Action
The Champion and an adjacent character ally
VENT RELEASE Trait gain +2 Speed until the end of their next turn.
The Champion’s Weak Point is exposed when Until the end of their next turn or they break
it is in the danger zone or Exposed. adjacency, whenever the Champion or their
ally voluntarily moves, the other mirrors them,
moving an equal number of spaces in the
same direction.

Despoil
System, Quick Action
The Champion makes a ranged attack with
+1/+2/+3 against a drone, deployable, or
terrain in Range 20, dealing 10 AP energy
damage on a hit. If this destroys it, it creates a
Caustic Pool in a free space that it occupied.

Patch Job
Champion Action
The Champion or an adjacent ally gains 3/4/5
Overshield. As long as they have this
Overshield they are immune to Impaired.
Spread Pollution
Champion Action
The Champion creates a Caustic Pool in a
free space adjacent to any other pool.

[116]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
NEWBIE PRECISE
Just keep trying kid — you’ll be in the big Sight, mark, fire, reload. Sight, mark, fire reload.
leagues one day. Sight, mark, fire, reload. Rest. Sight, mark –

Speed: +1 Sensors: +5
DISTRACTING Trait E-Defense: +2
The first time each round that a hostile CHESSMASTER Trait
character damages the Champion, they gain Precise Champions can critically hit with
an Opening. When the Champion is ranged attacks, creating an Opening on their
destroyed, all hostile characters gain an target.
Opening and 2 Champion Actions are added
to the pool immediately. RECALCULATING Trait
The Champion’s Weak Point is exposed from
DEVOTED TRAINEE Trait the start of their turn until the end of the current
A Champion cannot expose a Weak Point, round.
and is vulnerable at all times unlike other
Champions. Attacks against allied characters
adjacent to the Newbie gain +1 Difficulty.

Pinwheel
System, Full Action
The Champion becomes Immobilized until the
start of its next turn. Until the start of its next
turn whenever a hostile character starts their
turn in Range 15 they must make an Agility
save. On a failed save they take 4 Energy
Eager Finisher damage. Each subsequent character that
System,Quick Action, Combo makes this save takes +2 damage on a failed
The Champion chooses a character with an save.
Opening in Range 15. It moves up to its
Speed directly towards them or as close as Punish Misstep
possible, then makes an attack against them Champion Action
with the Training Rifle. This attack The Champion makes an attack with the
automatically hits without rolling unless the Focus Beam against the character who’s turn
targeted character uses their Overwatch just ended, if they ended their turn without
reaction to fire any weapon at the Champion, in cover from the Champion.
which case it is rolled as normal.

Arrogant Taunt
Champion Action
The Champion gains Lock-On and +2
Overshield for every allied character in Range
2 (max 6/6/8).

[117]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 PRESCIENT
They know every move before you ever even
think to take it.

Speed: -1
HP: -4
Sensors: +2
E-Defense: +6
SIMULATION ENGINE Trait
When the Champion targets an allied character
with a tech action they gain a Simulation
token. Attacks made against characters with a
token treat them as being Invisible. As long as
at least one character holds a Simulation
token, the Champion’s Weak Point is not Unstable Blink Generator
exposed. A character can only have one token System, Deployable, Recharge 4+, Quick
at a time, and tokens last until they are Action
consumed or the character holding it takes The Champion deploys a Blink Generator
damage. (size ½, 10 HP, 5 Eva/E-def) to a free adjacent
space. The first time each turn an allied
character moves adjacent to the Generator
they roll 1d6, teleporting that many spaces in a
direction of their choice.

Augury
Champion Action
The Champion rolls 1d6 and 1d20. Until the
start of its next turn it can replace the value of
a die rolled by an ally in Sensors with one of
these values instead, once per die.

[118]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
PUNISHING E-Defense: +4
Systems: +2
It’s not about the trophies, the cheers, the Sensors: +10
money - it’s about seeing your opponent broken Save Target: +2
and begging, as you correct their world. Heat Cap: -2
PRESSURE COOKER Trait HP: -2
When the Champion causes a character to ‘Horsefly’ Swarm Nexus System
enter the danger zone, it also creates an Drone, Recharge 4+, Quick Action
Opening. The Champion deploys a Horsefly Swarm
(size ½, 5 HP, 10 Eva/E-def) to a point in
FRUSTRATION Trait Sensors. Whenever a hostile character in
Characters with 0 Heat treat the Champion’s Range 2 of the drone gains Heat, it deals 1/1/2
Weak Point as being exposed. AP Energy damage to them.

Toxic Radio
Champion Action
The Champion chooses a character in
Sensors and rolls 1d6. They take 2 Heat and
gain a condition until the end of their next turn
depending on the number rolled:
• They take +1 Heat.
• Impaired
• Slowed
• Immobilized
• Shredded
• Jammed

Speed: +2
ROGUISH Eva/E-Defense: +4
The people love a show, and you’ll give them Save Target: +2
one every time, whatever it takes. HP: -4
Armor: -1
STAGGERING FLOURISH Trait Holo-Shroud System
The Champion creates an Opening when The Champion creates a Line 4 cloud of holo-
forced movement it inflicts knocks a character chaff 2 spaces high with at least one space
into an obstruction. adjacent to it that lasts until the end of their
next turn. It grants soft cover and is difficult
CORNERED Trait terrain. Whenever a hostile character enters
The Champion’s Weak Point is exposed while the area, they roll 1d6. On a 5+ the chaff
2+ hostile characters are adjacent to it. redirects them and they are forced into an
adjacent space outside the area instead and
Concussion Bomblets System treat it as an obstruction for the rest of the
current turn.
Whenever the Champion moves or Boosts it
may place a Bomblet in a free space that it Center Mass
passes over or adjacent to. These are mines; System, Quick Action, Combo
when they detonate, the triggering character Choose a character in Range 8. They are
must pass an Agility save or take 2/2/3 AP knocked Prone and Impaired until the end of
Explosive damage and be knocked 2 spaces their next turn.
in a direction of the Champion’s choice.
Smoke Bomb
Champion Action
The Champion detonates a Burst 1 smoke
bomb. Hostile characters in the affected area
must pass a Hull save or be knocked back 1
space. The blast leaves a lingering cloud of
smoke until the end of the Champion’s next
turn; it grants soft cover and characters at
least partially in the affected area cannot draw
line of sight outside of it.

[119]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 STALWART TRAINED
You are the anchor. You are the mountain. You Welcome to the big leagues - let’s see if you can
are the rock that breaks the storm, from now hold your own.
unto eternity.
Speed: +1
HP: +4
Armor: +1
Size: +1
LAST STAND Trait
The Champion is immune to Shredded and
bonus damage. Its Weak Point is exposed
when there are no allied mechs in Range 2.

HEAVYWEIGHT Trait
Hostile characters gain an Opening when they
become Engaged with the Champion.

EXPERIENCED PERFORMER
Trait
When the Champion causes a character to
lose Structure, they also gain an Opening. At
the start of the 4th round of a scene or later,
Rampart Shield System, Quick Action the Champion gains +1 Accuracy on all
The Champion can raise or lower this shield as attack rolls, checks, and saves.
a quick action. While it is raised they are
Slowed and gain the following effects: POISE Trait
• They gain Resistance to all damage. The Champion’s Weak Point is exposed until
• Adjacent allies gain hard cover and the start of its next turn when it takes 16
cannot be critically hit or have their Weak damage (after reduction) in a single round.
Points exposed.
• Whenever they or an adjacent ally are Stylish Finisher
attacked by a character in Range 2, that System, Quick Action, Combo
character must pass a Hull save or be The Champion chooses a character in Range
knocked Prone. 10 that does not have cover from their position.
They take 5/6/7 Kinetic damage that cannot
Shatterbunker System be reduced in any way. If this causes them to
Full Action, Recharge 5+, Combo lose Structure the Champion can immediately
The Champion forces an adjacent character to Boost or Stabilize as a free action.
make a Hull save. On a failed save they take
AP Kinetic damage equal to half their current Combat Roll
HP and become Shredded and Jammed until System, Quick Action, Recharge 5+
the end of their next turn. On a success they The Champion Slides up to its Speed. If it
take 2 damage and are knocked back 1 space ends this movement adjacent to hard cover it
and Impaired for the same duration instead. may reload a single weapon.
Take Heart
Champion Action
The Champion clears Prone, Shredded, and
Exposed from itself or an adjacent ally.

Light Trigger
Champion Action
The Champion fires the Arena Rifle. This
attack deals half damage.

[120]
Section 4 // Iconic Champions
VICIOUS
The blade moves without even thinking now.
Imagine how much faster you can still become?

Armor: +1
Evasion: +2
E-Defense: +2
KILLER INSTINCT Trait
Vicious Champions may Slide 1 directly toward
their target when they make a melee attack.
When they hit a character with a melee attack,
they can create an Opening as a quick action.

OFF-BALANCE Trait
The Champion’s Weak Point is exposed while
it is Prone, Immobilized, or Stunned.

Monowire Garrotte
System, Quick Action, Recharge 6+
The Champion chooses an adjacent Prone,
Immobilized, or Stunned character, seizing
them with a loop of monowire. They take 2/3/4
AP Kinetic damage and until this effect ends
they cannot willingly leave adjacency with the
Champion, and it may repeat the damage as a
Protocol. The effect ends if adjacency is
broken or they pass a Hull save as a quick
action. On a failed save, they take this damage
again.

Pommel Strike
Champion Action
The Champion Rams a character in range.

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Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 ICONIC ULTRA:
HEADLINERS
If a Champion has the Ultra template, it picks
from one of the Headliner Styles instead of the
default list. Only one Champion per scene can
take the Ultra template.

SPECIAL RULES
Headliners use an additional mechanic called
Glory. Glory is a special mark on characters
that does nothing innately, but each Headliner
gives it unique characteristics and has certain
systems and traits that rely on its presence.

Only one character can have Glory at a time; at

the start of the scene, the Headliner has Glory.
Glory can be transferred in two ways:
• When a character with Glory is hit by an
attack or fails a save, Glory passes to their
attacker after the attack resolves.
• When a character with Glory targets an
allied character with a quick or full action,
they may pass Glory to them.

OPTIONAL SYSTEMS
Baton Pass ARMORY SPONSORSHIP Trait
Champion Action The Headliner gains +1 Accuracy on
When another Champion is destroyed, the Engineering checks and saves, and all
Headliner gains access to their Champion Champions clear 1 Heat when they use their
Action in addition to their own for the rest of Champion action.
the scene.
BARONIC SPONSORSHIP Trait
Battle Standard
System, Deployable, Quick Action The Headliner adds +2 to all checks and
saves, and an additional Champion action is
The Headliner deploys or picks up a Battle added to the pool each round.
Standard (Size 1, 10/15/20 HP) in a free
adjacent space. While deployed the standard HORUS SPONSORSHIP Trait
counts as a character for the purpose of
controlling sitrep zones, and adjacent The Headliner gains +1 Accuracy on Systems
Champions gain +1 Accuracy on the first checks and saves. Whenever a tech attack
attack roll or save they make each turn. misses a Champion, the attacker takes 1 Heat.
When a Smart or Seeking weapon misses a
CALL-OUT Trait Champion, the attacker takes 1/1/2 Kinetic
Damage.
Hostile characters with Glory cannot become
Hidden, and if they end their turn with Glory NORTHSTAR SPONSORSHIP Trait
they gain Lock-On.
The Headliner gains +1 Accuracy on Hull
Dueling Cape Trait checks and saves, and all Champions gain +2
Armor while their Weak Point is exposed.
Whenever the Headliner is targeted by an
attack, roll 1d6. On a 4+ it misses; this does SMITH-SHIMANO SPONSORSHIP Trait
not stack with invisibility. On a 3 or less it
misses, but this trait deactivates for the rest of The Headliner gains +1 Accuracy on Agility
the scene. checks and saves, and all Champions move an
additional +2 spaces when they Boost.

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Section 4 // Iconic Champions
HEADLINER - LEADER
A crown for your head; their loyalty at your
command, life or death.
STRATEGIST Trait
Whenever a character gains Glory, including
the Headliner, it may push them 2 spaces in Firing Line System
any direction. Full Action, Combo, Recharge 5+
The Headliner chooses a character in
SYSTEM SNARE Trait Sensors, marking a Burst 2 area. They must
When a hostile character takes a reaction in make an Agility save or take 3/3/4 Kinetic
response to an action, reaction, or move that damage once for every Champion in the area,
the Headliner took, they gain an Opening. to a maximum of 4 times. On a success they
take no damage.
COUNTERPLANNING Trait
TacSim Fog
The Headliner’s Weak Point becomes
Protocol, System, 1 Heat(self)
exposed when 3+ hostile characters have
consecutively held Glory without being The Headliner places a Blast 1 cloud of
interrupted by an allied Champion. Only the TacSim Fog centered on a free space in
character that currently holds Glory treats it as Sensors. Hostile characters in the affected
being exposed. area cannot benefit from cover or critically
hit, and attacks made by allied characters
against them deal +2/3/4 bonus damage on a
critical hit.

Resupply
Champion Action
The Headliner chooses an allied character;
they clear 2 Heat and may immediately roll to
Recharge.

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Section 4 // Iconic Champions
 HEADLINER - Strong-Arm Bracing
System, Quick Action, Recharge 4+
GLORYHOUND The Headliner chooses an adjacent allied
The cheering crowd is the only thing louder than Champion or a Prone hostile character and
the blood rushing in your ears - best give them a throws them at a hostile character in Range 5,
good show. placing them in the nearest free space
adjacent to their target. Both the thrown
Size: +1 character and their target must pass a Hull
HP: +5 save or take 6/9/12 Kinetic damage and be
Armor: +1 knocked Prone, or half as much damage on a
Save Target: +1 success. Characters with Glory have +1
Sensors: -5 Difficulty on this save.
Eva/E-Def: -2
KING OF THE RING Trait Pump-Up
Champion Action
The Headliner gains +1 Accuracy on all If the Headliner has Glory, it gains 4/6/8
attacks made against other characters with Overshield. If it does not, its next attack gains
Glory. When it gains Glory, it immediately rolls +2/3/4 bonus damage.
to Recharge and clears all conditions that
were not self-inflicted.

REGICIDE Trait
The Headliner’s Weak Point becomes
exposed if it ends two of its turns consecutively
without Glory, until it regains Glory. Only
characters with Glory treat it as being exposed.

Headlopper
Heavy Melee, Inaccurate, +1/+2/+3
[2 Threat] [9/12/15 Kinetic Damage]
Damage this weapon deals cannot be reduced
by characters with Glory.

Crownsplitter
System, Quick Action, Recharge 6+
The Headliner can only activate this system
when they hit a character with the Headlopper.
Their target gains an Opening and must make
an Agility save; on a failed save, they must roll
1d6 to destroy a weapon or system as if they
had rolled System Trauma on a structure
check.

Bully
Reaction, 1/Round, Recharge 5+
Trigger: The Headliner hits a character with a
melee attack.
Effect: Knock your target back 3 spaces; if
they hit an obstruction or another character
they take 3/4/5 Kinetic damage and are
knocked Prone.

CHALLENGE
Protocol, Combo, Trait
The Headliner chooses a hostile character in
Range 10; that character gains Glory,
regardless of who currently holds it, and must
pass a Systems save or become Slowed and
Impaired until the end of their next turn.

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Section 4 // Iconic Champions