Stars Without Number

Stars Without Number is essentially a post-apocalypse sci-fi space-age setting, but set many years after the apocalypse and downfall of civilization. Things are rebuilding, and while things used to be (prior to the apocalypse) high-fantasy scale (like Star Wars), the timeline when the game takes place is more akin to the television show Firefly, essentially a Space Western.

Because the PDF for Stars Without Number is free, I'll occasionally copy-paste some material from the free version in here.

The following is the first introduction to the game.

The year is 3200. Humanity is scattered like dust among the stars. The broken relics of a former day litter the sky and men and women struggle to rebuild the glory of humanity’s lost golden age.

History
For almost a thousand years humanity had expanded from its ancient cradle to fill the sky with its worlds.

At first the expansion came by way of the enigmatic “spike drives” that granted humans the ability to skip between stars. Countless nations, faiths, and ideologies sent colonists to the darkness above to find new homes where they could live free from the oppressive rule of Terra’s calcified masters. The spike drive touched on different worlds. It folded the tissue of space and time and pierced it to emerge at distant stars, but the space between touched in turn those who traveled it. Over the course of generations, this subtle influence shaped certain descendants of the starfarers.

The condition that resulted was known as “Metadimensional Extroversion Syndrome”. Most simply knew its victims as “MESses”. Later, they were known as psychics. MES inevitably killed or maddened its carriers when they began to use their powers. The surge of extradimensional energy either cooked their brains or burnt a pathway through their sanity. It was only through decades of research and the expenditure of countless lives that techniques were developed for harnessing this power safely.

The channeling of psionic energy began the second great expansion of humankind. Even though hardly more than one in ten thousand humans were touched by MES, it was still enough to reshape human civilization. Vast choirs of psychics were employed to develop new technology, advanced manufacturing capabilities, and huge jump gates that could teleport whole freighters across interstellar distances. Spike drives were relegated to the frontier, to the distant star systems that could not yet afford to train the psychics or buy the components necessary to build their own jump gates. This reliance planted the seed of the golden age’s destruction.

In 2665, a metadimensional pulse of unimaginable violence erupted from the Veil Nebula, washing over the whole of known space in seconds. Every psychic in human space was instantly killed or maddened by the surge, burnt out in what later became known as the Scream.

With the jump gates inoperable and all the psychic mentors insane or dead, the core worlds were suddenly cut off from the frontier. Afew spike drive ships remaining in the core were able to make their way out, bringing tales of horror, starvation, and frantic warfare over shipyards and orbital factories. Most of the core worlds are thought to have perished, cut off from the worlds that supplied their enormous populations and fueled their vital technologies.

The centuries that followed were known as the Silence, as unnumbered human worlds fought to survive their sudden isolation. Some slid into barbarism or worse, their planets unable to support a starfaring civilization. Some worlds lacked metals, or fossil fuels, or any one of countless other vital ingredients for maintaining their industry. And all, of course, lacked the psionic mentors necessary to train a new generation of psychics.

Over the past six hundred years, humanity has slowly, painfully begun to heal the wounds of the Scream. Not all worlds were incapable of independent survival, and these hardy planets have become the linchpins of stellar nations and miniature empires. Trade routes have revived with time and the building of new spike drives. Expeditions are regularly mounted to the tomb worlds of the outer core to scavenge what can be reclaimed from the bones of the dead past.

Yet a pall hangs over these efforts. Great sacrifice has revived some of the old secrets of psychic training, but no world dares rely on psionic forces any longer. The nature of the Scream is still a mystery. For now, humanity strives to build a world that does not rely upon powers it cannot fully understand or completely control.

Human space is a vast canvas of mystery to most. Ancient navcharts are long out of date. Alien races have since moved into many formerly human-held sectors, and there remain ruins of races that long predate mankind. Warlords and petty tyrants scheme to expand their stellar domains, and brave souls struggle to recover lost secrets.

Stars without number await you.

Additional History
Assume that the history of earth was more or less the same. Famous happenings, bands and such all happened, but at some point not too far from the present day, it came down to two "nations", the East and the West.

Sometime close to our present day, Russia had a total economic collapse, and the US and Europe allied against an increasingly aggressive Chinese Government. The War ended with a Chinese defeat, but was in large indecisive as China was simply forced to concede defeat and not much more.

As a result of these conflicts going on, with Japan left on the sideline, Japan rose to greatness again, but their greatness didn't last long. They attempted a military campaign against a weakened China, which was successful, but it meant the end of Japan as it was known, and the East faction was born. The East bears heavy cultural references to Japan prior to their defeat in WWII, but they speak Chinese (Mandarin).

In the meantime, Europe, Australia and the rest of the Western world had rallied into a Union that slowly grew to become a single nation over the course of a hundred years.

After a few cold wars and some minor conflicts, the West made some breakthroughs in their space programs when they discovered alien technology.

For a brief while, the hostilities on earth ceased when intelligent life in space was confirmed and the East and the West formed the Terran Mandate (an alliance of all Earth military against extraterrestrial threats).

The West and the East both eventually managed to use this technology to more effective spaceships and as they started exploring their solar system, the West once again got the drop on the East by finding a derelict alien spacecraft in an asteroid field. The East made their own discoveries, and built a space-station around the remains of what they believed to have been a previous space-station where they had made a mystifying discovery, namely a sort of machine.

The West managed to produce humanity's first spike-drives, but these spike-drives were too weak to properly transport a ship outside of the solar-system without an accelerator, but the derelict ship revealed the location of the accelerator to be the machine the East had discovered.

Working together for the first time in a while, the West shared their technology for free access to the accelerator, and sent humanity's first ship out of the solar system.

Soon, humanity made contact with other alien races, some peaceful, some not, but it didn't take humanity long to rise to a technological level that rivaled the other intelligent life in the universe that they had discovered and the East and West divided the space they explored between them. A species known as the Alamari were especially helpful to share technology.

The Alamari were very intrigued to help human kind with MES, as all Alamari are inherently psychics (and only a select few races had proven capable of developing psychic abilities), and they helped humanity utilize their psychics. The East were the first to make contact with the Alamari and the first to start utilizing their psychics, but the West invented the jump-gates.

The Alamari saw how much human kind were alike with themselves, and along with a few other races that also relied heavily on psychic abilities, they invited humanity to join in an Alliance (Essentially the EU of the Galaxy) with a few other intelligent species, but only the West joined where as the East reshaped into a feudal fascist Empire where only psychics could rule as nobility and aliens were seen as second-rate citizens, with the exception of the alamari who were revered as friends and mentors.

The Alamari shared their terraforming technology with both factions, as the Alamari had made the interesting discovery that most intelligent species (90% roughly) required the same living conditions (with some slight variations). The Alamari terraforming technology required powerful choires of psychics in large freighters with psy-gear, and jumpgates to be operational.

When the Scream happened, almost a thousand years later, the Empire almost collapsed. The heir to the Empire survived, but was insane beyond repair. They managed to, through violence and fear, keep control over shreds of their Empire, as more and more broke free and formed the Free Trade Alliance, a group of independent nations that wanted freedom from both the Alliance and the Empire.

The Alliance was practically reduced to, just the Terran Republic, as most of the alien species numbered too little to even populate a single planet by then.

The Empire and the Alliance are fighting over what resources remain, and the Free Trade Alliance stands between both of them.

Factions
There are several major factions.

The Alliance
The Alliance was started by the Alamari, and it's focus is to create a peaceful military- and commercial alliance between factions of species that share "the like", as long as these have achieved a somewhat similar technological level. The Alliance lasted for a long time, but the Scream practically undid it. While it still exists, the disabling of the Jump Gates has rendered it nearly impossible for it to remain effective, and it no longer means anything in galactic politics.

The Alliance is ruled by a council. Back in the day, the council members had to be psychics, and only one council member, from each species was allowed, this forced species interested in joining, to somehow unify to join the alliance, or at least find a peaceful means of deciding who should be council member. The rule about all council members having to be psychics was in place to protect council members from each other, as psychics can sense when psychic powers are being used, and protect themselves accordingly, but this rule has obviously been revoked, in fact it is now forbidden for council members, or any alliance politicians for that matter, to be psychics.

Many Alliance species are practically "gone", meaning their homeworlds are so far away that there's almost no connection to them anymore. A lot of said species have become decimated in the aftermath of the Scream, because most of them heavily relied

The Alliance created the Commercium as a "neutral" (but of course Pro Alliance) banking nation, so that nations not wanting membership in the Alliance could still benefit from the advances of the Alliance, to a certain degree. The Commercium was perhaps the biggest success of the Alliance, and it has spread through out worlds.

Justicars
A Justicar is an agent of the law who works for the Alliance Council and the Commercium. Justicars have full jurisdiction among members of either Commercium or Alliance, and are entirely above local and galactic laws when it comes to upholding the interests of the Commercium and the Alliance. They protect the infrastructure and the peace with any means they have at their disposal.

The Commercium
The Commercium is a part of the Alliance, and one of the few remaining things from the Alliance, that still matters. While independent from the political system of the Alliance, the Commercium was a galactic banking organization, that handled logistical issues as well. Today, they are the last shred of order and authority in the Universe.

The Commercium owns all galactic infrastructure, meaning they own practically all means of interstellar communications. The Commercium partially owns, and has funded, the creation of most larger companies, such as ship-crafters and other extremely essential companies.

Back when the Alliance was still powerful, it was still possible to be a member of the Commercium, as a nation, without being a member of the Alliance. It still is, but it's still advantageous to be an Alliance nation if one wants to do business with the Commercium.

The Commercium is the only bank that can issue Commercium Credits, the most widespread currency in the known Universe. While a cash version exists, Credits are mostly digital money.

The Commercium enforces that certain educations must, no matter what nation, uphold a certain standard. This is to protect galactic infrastructure (can't have engineers working together without understanding each other, ect.).

The Commercium also enforces the PIDU units (personal identification), handles all ship registrations and much more.

The Democratic Human Republic of Terra
Formerly just a union of Western minded nations on Earth, the Terran Republic as it's more commonly known (or simply the Republic) is the only large and notable faction of humans that currently claims membership in the Alliance, and as such, also the bulk of the Terran Mandate. They are also by far, the largest Human faction there is, though not far behind them, is their rival faction, the Terran Empire.

The Republic has an overwhelming amount of core worlds and frontier worlds, but they have sadly lost most of their colonies.

A nation of red tape and complicated laws, ruled in part by big corporations and furthering a society of debt and constantly rising social standards, it's hard to see what the future will bring for the Republic, but there is a clear analogue to real world Western Countries such as the United States of America.

Corruption is a huge problem in the Republic, and the only thing that truly works optimally in the Republic, is their incredible Space Navy, which is 100% invested into the Terran Mandate, making the Republic the current leaders of the Terran Mandate, and also grants them the Council Seat with the Alliance.

Masters of Bureaucracy, the Republic is perhaps the most important member of the Commercium. Some speculate that the Republic is investing so heavily in the Commercium, because they are hoping that they will manage to create a powerful enough Commcercium, that by the time their own nation collapses into a puddle of bureaucratic mess, the Commercium will be so strong that it will no longer matter.

Government
The Republic is ruled by a senate. The High Senator is the acting representative of the Republic, in the Alliance, but also the closest thing to an outright leader that the Republic has. Every sector in the Republic is represented with a Senator, which of course means the senate is quite large. Potentially infinite in fact. The same model carries over to the lower steps, meaning each hospitable planet that has inhabitants in a Republic Sector, has a seat on the Sector Council and the Senator of the Sector in question is the closest thing to a leader that sector has. This same model continues on planets for cities. Council members and their respective leaders are elected. There is a complicated system of laws, rules and regulations that state who and how a person can apply to become a candidate valid for voting.

Military
Each planet is responsible for maintaining their own ground defenses. The Republic maintains a large military reserve, of former professionally trained soldiers that get paid to hone their skills for a few days every week. The republic also organizes militia forces, at least in the more rural areas, where the training is quite minimal, but still available to those that have the time, or want to. As for actual standing military, the Republic keeps a minimum of professional soldiers on planets for protection duties. Most soldiers who have these jobs are space navy enlistees that have been grounded for a while, as there is just no incentive to invest in ground forces anymore, apart from the reserves of course. The Republic is a part of the Terran Mandate, which means they have to supply troops to the Terran Mandate. The Republic pays their enlisted fairly well and give decent benefits, so many enlist with the Terran Mandate Space Navy, either as Spacers or as Space Marines. Many people get their education through the Space Navy, becoming either one type of craftsmen or some sort of technician, and then they return to their homes some years later, buy some property and start a business (or join one), and join the reserves for extra cash. The Republic offers great tax reductions to anyone who serves actively in the reserve, and a mostly symbolic tax reduction to anyone who is a member of a militia. The enlistment contracts clearly states that anyone who has served in the Terran Mandate Space Navy is required to serve at least 6 months as a Reservist after their contract expires, and even after that, depending on where they live, they must join a militia and remain a member for at least a full year. Being a reservist offers free medical and dental services and a lot of free training opportunities, and continued educational beneifts. Being in the militia offers a generous tax deduction from health- and dental expenses and some other deals. The public opinion is very positive towards the military.

View on psychics
Psychics are an extremely valuable resource, they aren't trusted by the general population. Psychics are removed from their homes and trained in facilities away from normal children and trained to blend in, taught to control their abilities and how not to use them wrongly in public. Being a psychic citizen in the Republic means mandatory military service for at least long enough to finish a basic enlistment contract, and then a permanent position in the reserve, and it means having to go through psychic training programs and being able to produce a certificate from a valid psychic academy. Psychics are watched by the government, and most are employed by the government, either as military psychics or they work as technicians. Many republic psychics flee to the FTA or to the Empire where they aren't simply viewed as a resource. This problem in the Republic has rather recently spurred a campaign to start accepting psychics into normal society again, and as a result, psychics have just been allowed to open up psychic service businesses, resulting in mixed reactions from the public.

The Terran Mandate
The Terran Mandate used to be the joint military effort of the human species. Today, it's the official name of the faction of humans that holds membership in the Alliance. It's only notable member these days, is the Terran Republic, accompanied by a number of lesser human factions. The Terran Mandate mirrors the Alliance, with a small council and common laws that applies to all members, but it's primary functions is the major Space Navy that it provides to serve the Alliance and the human race (primarily the Republic of course!). The Terran Empire used to be a member of the Terran Mandate, and when they left following the events of the Scream, the Majority of the Imperial Space Navy remained in the Terran Mandate (their officers were silently executed to prevent defection, or they were bribed when communications went down - most of them were psychics who died on their own anyway), meaning the Mandate has, perhaps the largest space navy in the entire known universe.

The Terran Empire
The Empire changes it's name fairly frequently, to the point where the Empire itself had to sanction from the top, that it was okay to simply call it "the Empire" (previously, it was punishable to dishonor the name of the Empire by calling it by a wrong name). The Empire rose out of the former Eastern union on Earth, and they've always been a fascist country, but the rise of the psychics gave birth to a new dawn for this nation. It was reshaped into a Feudal Empire, and even after the Scream, it was rebuilt as such. The Empire lost a lot of systems after the Scream however. Order, discipline and military might are the trademarks of the Empire. Citizens are more or less required to perform military services and are constantly forced to conform to the norm, the State has almost all the power and dictates a lot in people's lives, but the common person has a lot of freedom, surprisingly, and conditions are rather good for the average citizen. It's not that difficult to make something of oneself in the Empire, all it requires is the ability to do it, it's generally possible to simply join a program to start what ever one is interested in, as long as one can make it work. One would assume this meant that the Empire had a lot of innovation going on, but people in the Empire don't often stray outside of the norm. Noble families of Psychic's rule the Empire.

The Empire has a strong military, but they lack the proper technology to move it effectively. They are perhaps the strongest military might in the galaxy. Almost all of their citizens are former soldiers and serve in active militia duties to protect their settlements.

The Empire is a Commercium nation, but left the Terran Mandate, and the Alliance, when the Scream happened, primarily because their entire nation was crippled as all psychics went insane or died. It rose to greatness again, because the Empire was structurally more primitive than the rest of the Alliance, not really using Jump Gates to the same extent, meaning their colonies didn't die.

The Empire has a relatively small number of coreworlds and very few frontier worlds, but it has a large number of colonies.

Government
Being a Feudal Empire with hereditary titles, the Terran Empire is fairly easy to figure out. Essentially a Communist Feudal Magocracy, it's a state where only psychic noble families rule. Any psychic can start his own noble family, and will be assigned a fief. There are too few psychics to rule over all fiefs, even with the fiefs being divided in rather large portions, so many fiefs are ruled by Magistrates (non psychics), who more often than not, can trace their lineage to a psychic nobleman. Psychic potential runs in the blood, but it's never a sure thing, it often skips a few generations or only one child in many will be psychics, so the law states that a noble family can remain in control of their fief uncontested, for two generations without a psychic heir, or five generations if the family fulfills a number of conditions. More often than not, it's not difficult for a noble family to keep their fief almost indefinitely, but occasionally, someone comes along and claims their fief, in which case the noble family is outed, but often given a different area of responsibility.

Culture
The general population are trained from childhood, and sorted according to needs and abilities. If one grows up in a mining colony, one will without a doubt acquire an education and a profession that correlates with mining, unless another colony nearby needs workers more, in which case forced relocation happens. Marriage and production of children is rarely entirely voluntary. Parents tend to quickly wed their children, because once a child reaches the working age (around age 20 for most), they will not have a lot of time for anything but work, and making a family will be difficult at that point, especially because professions are not very gender diverse (most miners are men, ect.). The language spoken in the Empire is a weird mix of Japanese and Mandarin - the Majority of the language is Japanese, but a lot of Mandarin expressions are mixed in, to the point where a Mandarin speaker from our time could probably follow a conversation with moderate success, while a Japanese person would understand approximately just as much, maybe a bit more. The state is above every individual in the Empire, and propaganda is everywhere.

Military
Everyone is a soldier in the Empire. All individuals, with a rare few exceptions, are conscripted for a while after which they have to serve in the military reserve for a period of time. Then, as they are expected to have families and such, they start a rotation so they rotate out to militia duty, and back into reserve duty with intervals of 6 months until they reach a certain age, at which point they are rotated permanently out into the militia, until they eventually also get too old for that (at retirement age which is stunningly high in the Empire - and age most don't live to see). The Empire relies on quantity over quality, and they don't train their average soldiers very well, nor is their standard equipment anything to be proud of, but their space navy almost rivals the Terran Mandate space navy in size due to this strategy, though their ships are vastly inferior. Seeing as the Empire used to be a member of the Terran Mandate, they follow an almost identical military model, and a lot of the equipment is the same, the problem is that the Empire lacks the general motivation in the public to develop new methods. People are punished for thinking outside the box, so no innovation ever happens unless someone is specifically told to innovate something.

The Free Trade Alliance
The FTA as it's commonly referred to, came into existence when a large group of smaller factions wanted to seek membership with the Commercium. The Commercium didn't want to handle that many independent contracts, especially because many of these minor factions were likely to become absorbed by each other within the next few years, only to once more claim independence. The Commercium made a decree, demanding that all of these minor factions would enter a military- and trade alliance with each other, and that henceforth, all of their worlds would be Commercium Worlds, no matter who ruled or owned them.

The vast majority of these minor worlds agreed, because it sounded like a good way to protect themselves from larger factions such as the Empire and the Republic, but the truth was, that they had all been tricked. The Commercium was well aware, that the FTA would never be able to agree on any military efforts, and while the Republic and the Empire, as well as other Commercium factions started sweeping through the FTA worlds, swallowing them up, the Commercium started buying up land and enterprises at favorable rates.

Eventually, a strong core of powerful factions within the FTA managed to put together a space navy worth speaking of, and at first they demanded to be released from their Commercium contracts. The Commercium made it clear, that if this demand was not taken back within 24 hours, they would order both the Empire and the Alliance to cooperate on a full scale annihilation operation against these factions. The demand was wisely rescinded.

In the end, the FTA became a faction worth speaking of, and they're one of thee major powers in the Universe.

Government
The FTA has no particular Government model. Every nation in the FTA has a representative on the FTA council, and bigger nations who contribute more military to the joint cause have more sway, but apart from that, there is very little to say about the FTA.

Military
The FTA can be compared to NATO, it's a large group of militaries that all do things a little bit differently, who don't speak the same language and who bears strong marks of the cultures they represent. The FTA is the third biggest military force in the known space.

The Exchange
The exchange is the biggest crime-syndicate in known space. It's actually two gangs that allied under a common banner, and in the past few hundred years, the two gangs have entirely melted together, at least in FTA controlled sectors, but inside Alliance and Imperial space, they're still two separate gangs, namely the Terran Mafia and the Triads. The exchange runs smuggling, manufacturing and distribution of illegal goods, in and out of all three faction spaces. The exchange has the best bounty hunters (who are legally nothing more than hitmen of course, because the exchange has no legal authority to post a bounty), they have corporate spies, maltech producers, extortionists, slavers and much more. The exchange is ruled by powerful psychics known as "Criminal Minds". These illusive people are not overtly the bosses of the exchange, leaving more public figures to pose as mafia bosses. The entire exchange has three formal bodies, the body that actually identifies as the exchanges, and the two previously mentioned chapters, and currently, the one that identifies as the exchange is the most powerful. The exchange managed to legally purchase a planet in FTA space (if by now, not several more), and they've become recognized as a legitimate business company. The exchange also runs a completely legitimate shipping company and a bank, both seem completely uninvolved in money laundering.

The Terran Mafia
Organized pretty much like any mafia, this criminal organization is generally covert. They control a number of street gangs because they control the supply that these gangs live off of, and thus they never really enter the picture themselves. The Terran Mafia exists only in alliance space, and this gang has no formal name, it simply is, the "Terran Mafia" was a name granted by the media, but it seems to have stuck, even it's own members use it.

The Triads
This gang actually traces it's heritage back to the Japanese Yakuza, but when Japan invaded China again, the Yakuza had no real choice but to start working closer with the triads, and it eventually lead to a transformation. The Triads are essentially a Mafia, but wrapped in eastern traditions. They operate only inside Imperial space.

Verna Corporation
Verna is a big corporation that is based out of the FTA currently, but obviously used to be an Alliance based company. Verna grew because they had certain deals that ensured trading with the East (later the Empire) for the longest time. Verna has often been accused of being a shady company that makes all decisions based on profit and own interests. Verna is perhaps the biggest and most powerful human corporation, it owns a multitude of FTA planets and manufactures most things kinds of items, excepting spike-drives and spaceships. Verna produces only Post tech equipment, but their main source of revenue comes from simply owning desirable resources and selling these. Verna might be big, but it's still rivaled by many other corporations, many of which are much more honest and altruistic than Verna. Verna is generally disliked, but their underhanded methods grant them power despite their very standard products.

Scavenger Fleets
A scavenger fleet is a nomadic fleet of civilians that roams space. Hydroponic ships, factory ships and other functional ships make these fleets self sustainable. The original Scavenger Fleets fled from the original terran home worlds so many years ago, and they have been travelling since. Some of them have just started making it into known space.

Reaver Raiders
The Reaver Raiders are believed to stem from long lost scavenger fleets. When the Scream occurred, a lot of old and quickly thrown together spike drives were used, and it's believed that a lot of these weren't entirely safe. It's also possible that the aftermath of the Scream just still was in effect. Supposedly, some of the Scavenger Fleets slowly succumbed to madness. Reaver Raiders are a bit of a legend or a myth, at least that is how they're seen on the Core Worlds, but on the Frontiers, they're believed to be real.

It's said that Reavers have subconscious psychic powers that they use to gain superhuman attributes when fighting, and that they're entirely relentless.

Popular theories state that they abduct people and turn them into new Reavers, that they're cannibals, rapists, sadists, masochists and entirely insane and hateful towards all living things.

Reapers Pirates
Reapers are a loosely organized band of space-pirates that appeared shortly after the scream. Originally a semi-religious cult of anarchists, they're now more of a status among space pirates. Reapers as a rule of thumb do not attack each other, but are otherwise not terribly organized. Reapers have taken over a few worlds that they hold as outlaw worlds. Reapers are murderers, rapists, slavers and pillagers. Many are very destructive, and they are known for their vandalism and their attempts to spread fear. Many reapers are insane, and among reapers, a great deal of abuse happens. Many speculate that the reason reapers rape and hurt others, is because it's how they treat each other. Any prisoners of the reapers should expect to be tortured for fun and frequently raped before they're sold into slavery, which is why most people try to kill themselves if they're about to be boarded by reapers.

Terran Union
The Terran Union or the TU is a widely discussed topic. The Union started as a political party inside the Republic but when the Republic joined the Alliance, they became a para-military terrorist organization. They are a pro-human organization who do not believe in associating with Aliens. They've almost been wiped out several times, but they continue to exist. Surprisingly, their lack of dependency on Psychics made them quite powerful after the scream, and it turned out they ruled several frontier worlds far out in the reaches of space. Now they're a very powerful faction that has quite a lot of pretech equipment. They're known for trying to develop maltech that specifically targets alien species. The TU doesn't have anything against aliens per say, at least not aliens who exhibit "the like", but the "others", they are very afraid of. As a backup measure however, they're trying to figure out how best to destroy anything not human. A separate branch of the TU still exists in Republic politics, and they've been welcomed in the FTA as long as they do not openly hinder any equal members who are aliens. The Empire isn't really compatible with the TU. The Terran Union relies on mercenaries and private armies.

Species
There are various alien species that humanity has encountered.

The Drax
The Drax are inspired (appearance wise) by Turians from Mass Effect. These Insectoid/humanoid hybrids are not very different from humans. There are practically only male Drax because the few female drax upon being impregnated grow catatonic and eventually die after giving birth to at least around a hundred drax larvae. Only one in a hundred drax males ever experience mating with a female, and becoming a father raises them in society to being the head of 100 drax. One in 100 drax larvae is female. There's almost always one female in a batch, rarely more though. Because of the way the drax work, they grow very slowly in population. The Drax have no unified government. Drax aren't as independent as humans, nor rarely as individualistc, so they take a -2 on both Charisma and Wisdom. They gain a bonus of +2 to strength and a +2 constant Damage reduction. The Drax are organized in Clans, and every time a female is born into a clan, members of neighboring clans will fight and compete for the honor of owning this female. Females in drax society aren't considered people, and aren't even biologically capable being individuals. Drax grow up very quickly and do not live very long, a Drax larvae cocoons after 3 years, and hatches again after a year. They're only eggs for about a year and they live an average of 10 years at the most. Homosexuality is normal in drax society, and drax males form couples naturally. In fact, drax males have a cavity similar to a human female vagina that seems to solely serve the purpose of being a sexual organ. When a drax manages to acquire a female, the female is still a larvae, so in many ways, it is comparable to a couple that adopts a child, except they do it with the sole purpose of impregnating it to raise their own social status. Some Drax naturally develop feminine tendencies, despite being male (roughly an equal split between male mindsets and female mindsets), and these two opposites are naturally attracted to each other. These homosexual relationships typically form between siblings, but also frequently between members of different clans. Drax are very xenophobic, but trade with foreigners sometimes. They have space-fearing technology, but they're somewhat primitive. It's believed they developed their space-tech from salvaged species. Some believe the Drax developed from parasitic lesser species and might have caused the downfall of a previous civilization.

The Nanites
The Nanites are modeled on Geth from Mass Effect. They were the result of Maltech gone utterly wrong. A scientist named Farlan Tung invented a nano-bot that could replicate itself, and connected it to an AI. The AI became unbraked, and it destroyed an entire planets worth of population and this resulted in the Nanite "species" rising. The Nanite Species are essentially AI confined to a mechanical body that can move, but it's the fact that they consider themselves a species, and revere their creator, Farlan Tung, and the Mother AI in much the same way that other living species revere certain people or subjects of religion, that makes them unique.

Humanity, and other species, have obviously managed to construct AI controlled androids before, but never have they designed any that considered themselves a species.

The Nanites live on a planet in a very remote sector, but they've managed to spread. They don't believe in destroying worlds, so they refuse to create more of their old nanobots, but they believe that they have the right to a homeworld, same as every other species. There is currently a treaty with the Nanites, allowing them to keep an entire sector for themselves, but to leave terraformed planets outside that sector, alone. The Nanites have at least agreed not to colonize any terraformed or otherwise hospitable planets, but they scavenge technology like all others.

The Nanites however have agreed to share their technological discoveries with the Commercium and are generally peaceful.

Nanites aren't biological creatures, and they can take many shapes and sizes, so it's difficult to say anything definitive about them.

Alamari
The Alamari are modeled on Assari from Mass Effect. The Alamari is believed to be the oldest space-faring species in the galaxy, that shares the "likeness". They established the Alliance to bring a measure of unity to the species that took to space who shared the Likeness, and they naturally gifted as psychics, and originally, they only communicate through telepathy despite being fully capable of human speech.

Alamari have only a single gender, but this gender can turn out both appearing feminine and masculine, though since the discovery of other species with the like, the birth rate of masculine alamari has declined so rapidly that they're now considered so rare, that humans have next to no knowledge about them. Alamari have a very low birth rate, but they also do not age, nearly at all. Just as they're capable of independently reproducing, they seem capable of regenerating their own DNA.

Immortality cures were developed from the Alamari DNA code. Alamari already had a surprisingly low birthrate when they were first discovered, but their birthrate dropped after the discovery of other species with the like. They appear naturally attracted to other species, but alamari society had rules about it being forbidden to mate with members of outside species before a child had been born of their own species.

Alamari are believed to have organs that resemble genitalia, but serves no direct purpose in mating except making the swapping of DNA easier, and apparently more pleasant as they are capable of experiencing sexual enjoyment. While a feminine alamari will still have the facilities that could turn into something a human man would refer to as male genitalia, it will normally be so underdeveloped that only a medical examination would reveal it's presence, and the same goes for the rare masculine alamari, how ever, alamari of both "genders" are capable of, at will, adapting their physiology to accommodate what ever species and gender they choose to mate with.

Alamari are capable of reproducing with most sapient species, by collecting their DNA through various means (typically done by means that most would consider the old fashioned way). This can even be done by devouring the parts of the subject in question, but this isn't exactly considered a main stream method among the highly civilized and peaceful Alamari. The child that is born will only be alamari if the alamari didn't mate with a foreign species, but will almost always be psychic if the other parent is of a species capable of being psychic. Very rarely, giving birth is fatal to Alamari, because their own biology cannot bear a child too foreign, but this is extremely rare and has not happened in hundreds of years as alamari are rather good at keeping their patients alive.

If an alamari mates with a foreign species, they lose the ability to reproduce their own kind, but in turn, they have no control over when they reproduce their own kind. It happens, seemingly a bit at random at some point in the alamari's existence.

Very few alamari survived the scream, as all alamari are psychics. Most live in protectorates on the Alliance core worlds, but a few wander the galaxy aimlessly. Despite their madness, a few managed to mate, while others were caught and forced to mate by people who were interested in preserving the species.

Thus, through heinous actions, the race was saved. Most remaining alamari are powerful psychics, and they're attributed with the return of mentor programs causing a new generation of psychics, but other alamari are researching their origins and their history. Alamari are very long lived, but their birth rate is low, or at least that's how it used to be.

The current generation of Alamari have grown into adulthood in a few hundred years and seem to age much more rapidly, and their birthrate has exploded compared to the average of a child every century that used to be the norm. There are only a few hundred alamari alive, spread between the Empire, the Alliance, their own homeworld and a few wanderers.

These alamari were all raised by humans, which means they've abandoned their original ways of communicating solely through telepathy. These new alamari are extremely akin to humans, but have not changed biologically.

The new alamari have a +2 to Wisdom representing their strong minds, but they are considerably frailer than humans and take a -2 penalty to Strength, as it's difficult for their physiology to gain the mass of a human. They often appear very lithe. Alamari also gain a free caster level as psychics.

Xegh'li
The Xengh'li are modeled on Salarians from Mass Effect. They are frail and weak, compared to humans, but they have existed for a longer time than the human species and are considered more advanced. Referred to by humans as the Xengh, this species are akin to salamanders and seem to share a lot of DNA with Salamander-like species, and they're not mammals either. Originially aquatic, they evolved into being amphibious shortly before they grew sapient.

The Xengh are members of the Alliance, but because they're amphibious, their expansion was slowed a great deal as they could utilize planets much more effectively when it came to living space and as such, their home sector, they barely ever expanded outside, except for exploration and mining operations.

Xengh are common enough on core Alliance worlds, but the original home-worlds of the Xengh have been cut off, as they are too remote to reach anymore. It's not known what has happened to these worlds as their primary sector is very far outside the currently reachable parts of space.

The Xeng are generally peaceful and do not seek conflicts, which is of course wise, given their frail nature. They are naturally curious and inquisitive, but are by nature non-confrontational. Their ability to climb certain surfaces almost effortlessly (when naked at least, which they commonly would be on their own worlds at least - clothing being something they've adapted to in the alliance) and survive in both water and on land makes them versatile enough to have survived for this long despite their weak nature.

Xeng have survived by versatility and good survival instincts. They gain +2 dex and -2 constitution, as they are fairly easy to kill, but they gain a +2 to reflex saves.

Background packages
All available background packages. The backgrounds are distributes into categories pertaining to the origins of the character in question.

Coreworlder
Coreworlders come from the pinnacles of civilization, where everything is plentiful (poverty and misery included). The Coreworld are full of opportunity and promise, but they are difficult to float, the coreworlds are often so populated and so industrialized or simply so demanding that the amount of worlds needed to sustain them is hard to maintain. The Coreworlds are so diverse that it is almost impossible to show a pattern in how people born there develop.

Skill gain: Bureaucracy

Colonist
The colonies are Coreworlds in the making. They're usually much more manageable and sustainable, often peaceful and with well established defenses, but typically not as bureaucratic as the core worlds nor as diverse. The Colonies are only a few steps removed from the Frontier. Many colony worlds are not only self sustaining, but they're also as developed as they're ever going to be. Often, these worlds are simply used for a few resource gathering projects, or for manufacturing. Colonists are fairly diverse, but their jobs tend to lean towards what the planet focuses on.

Skill gain: Profession

Frontierborn
Being from the frontier means being forged in fire. The frontier worlds are dangerous, untamed, unexplored and typically remote, and the Frontier is often only a few steps removed from total being lawless. Crime is punished severely in regions that are policed, vigilanteism is encouraged in areas that are not. People born on the frontier are often shaped by their harsh experiences there - The Frontiers are after all, sometimes even more removed from civilization than the Lostworlds.

Skill gain: Survival

Spacer
Being a spacer means to be at home while off planet. Most spacers live on spacestations, constantly travel between worlds on freighter class-ships or live most of the time on even bigger ships. Spacers are an odd bunch, or at least many think so. They're rarely very accustomed to being outside on planets. Being a Spacer means being technologically apt. Survival off-planet is entirely dependent on certain machinery functioning, and people are rarely allowed permanent residency on a space station without being generally useful.

Skill gain: Tech/Astrogation

Lostworlder
Lostworlders are the people who got stranded on various frontier- and colony worlds when the Scream happened. Some wonder if the Lostworlders aren't the lucky ones, but most people regard them as unfortunate souls. The Lostworlders have rebuilt their entire society, and they've lost their heritage to Earth, most fail to realize that Earth exists, or they simply don't care anymore. The Lost worlds are typically primitive and religious.

Skill gain: Religion

Social Layer

The layer of society your character comes from. This has a lot to say about who your character turns out to be.

Urchin
Castoffs and byblows and orphans, there are few worlds that don't have at least a few unwanted children growing up in the shadow of more fortunate families. Those of them that survive learn how to do what is necessary to live, and often that means leaping at the chance to get offworld. Starting feature:

Skills:Culture/World, Culture/Criminal, Stealth, Survival

Noble
Almost every world has its elite, but some lost worlds or splinter cultures take the idea to an excess rarely found on more advanced planets outside of the Empire. The nobility of most lost worlds has a degree of power over their lessers that would be unthinkable elsewhere, but the consequences of a political error can be correspondingly fatal. Those with the money and the chance often seek exile among the stars. Starting Feature: Leadership.

Skills:Persuasion, Culture/World, Bureaucracy, Business

Lostworlder
You grew up on one of the former frontier worlds, but after losing touch with the core worlds, your colony slowly fell into the forgotten, and in time the mostly uneducated laborers that worked there didn't manage to pass on their origins very well, and every subsequent generation grew up, knowing just a little bit less about their roots. There are worse examples of lost worlds though, at least yours retained quite a bit of technology due to there being nearby cities with industrial production facilities. Starting feature:

Skills: Culture/world, survival, Vehicle/Land, Profession/Any.

Peasant
A surprising number of spacer families have started from a dirtgrubbing lostworlder peasant who thought to find a better life in the sky. Tough, practical, and with a keen knack for holding on to the wealth that comes their way, peasants can often endure rigors that would put an end to less pragmatic folk. Starting Feature:

Skills:Culture/World, Profession/Any, Business, Survival

Tribesman
Some are woad-painted lostworlder clansmen, while others are gangsters among looming habitat towers. Whatever their surrounding, tribals are those men and women who identify with a family or group above any outside law. There are times when the destruction of the tribe or the need for outside help drives a tribal to seek a wider world. Starting Feature:

Skills: Athletics, Perception, Culture/World, Survival

Spacer
Whether you were born in space or not is irrelevant, but one thing is certain; your home is space. You've grown up on space stations or in Starships. Life among the stars is the only life you know, and whether or not you would ever seek an existence within a real atmosphere is something you need to ask yourself eventually. Though too young to have been able to understand the complications of interstellar navigation, you've still picked up some desirable skills at an early age. Starting feature: Zero-G training.

Skills: Culture/Spacer, Culture/Traveller, Computer and Vehicle/Space.

Child of the Commercium
You've traveled among the stars with your parents since you were a child, because of their job that demanded such a lifestyle. You rarely stayed on a planet for more than a few months at a time, sometimes a few years if you were lucky - to oversee a project. Lacking access to formal education, you've been taught most valuable trade secrets of oldest scam in the book; mercantile. Starting Feature:

Skills: Culture/Spacer, Culture/Traveller, Empathy and Business.

Prodigal child
Your parents were highly educated on tech level four planet, and the academical lifestyle was passed on to you with the mother's milk. Whether or not you have any actual interest in science is of course a subject worthy of debate, but the fact of the matter is that people expect you to devote your life to bringing back the lost wonders of old. Starting Feature:

Skills: Culture/World, Science, History and either Tech/medical or Tech/posttech.

Frontier Child
Your parents are probably miners or otherwise involved in the industrialization of a fairly unpopulated planet. The long work hours and probably having siblings has meant a lot of time left to your own devices, but also frequently being overloaded with house duties, as well as being expected to quickly gain a profession to be able to aid the household. Starting Feature:

Skills: Culture/World, Profession/Any, Bureaucracy and any "vehicle/" skill but space or Tech/Posttech.

Middle-class
Your parents are completely ordinary people on a tech level four world, and your childhood has been very similar to a traditional upbringing in modern society. This means you've had time to pursue your own interests, rather than being pushed into an education at an early time, which is normal on worlds like yours. Starting Feature:

Skills: Culture/World, Perform/any, Athletics and any "Vehicle/" skill but space.

Early Training packages
These packages represents your characters earliest steps of education. Some of them may require a certain background.

Armsman
This requires the Tribesman or Lostworlder background. Lostworlders often build their cultures on brute force and cold steel. These men and women are often in the pay of a local warlord or religious leader, using hard-won combat skills and a keen tactical eye to do their master’s bidding. Some of them who end up on the wrong side of a political question have reason to get offworld, and quickly. Gains medium armor proficiency and martial weapon proficiency.

Skills: Tactics and Intimidation.

Astrogator’s Mate
Requires a background that offers Culture/Spacer. Scavenger Fleets and major spacecraft have an entire crew of astrogators dedicated to plotting the next spike drive path and navigating the dangerous energy fluxes of the space between. These men and women require further seasoning before they’d be trusted with a post as a full astrogator, but they still learn the essentials of the profession. Gains the Zero-G proficiency and -

Skills: Navigation, Tech/Astrogration

Upcoming Criminal
Making it is hard, many people are forced to turn to crime to survive, others simply can't be bothered to make an honest living. Most criminals are small-time drug dealers or thieves who burglarize vehicles and homes, all relatively low risk and low reward, but others run with members of violent street gangs. Gains the feature -

Skills: Culture/criminal and Security.

Ship Crew
Requires a background that offers Culture/spacer or background that offers Science or Tech/Posttech. Ship Crew are fairly well paid considering they have their accommodations paid for, but not very well considering the hazards of space. They all gain Zero-G proficiency and one other feature depending on their sub-specialization seen below.

Biotech Crew
A lot can go wrong in space, and few problems are as immediately lethal as a breakdown in a ship’s life support systems. Biotechs not only serve as medical crew but are also responsible for maintaining and repairing the ship’s life support.

Skills:Tech/Astronautic, Tech/Medical

Comm Crew
Commtechs operate a ship’s radio and tightbeam laser communications systems, and usually find additional duties in maintaining a ship’s computer software. A career spent talking to potentially unfriendly audiences give most commtechs a great deal of practice at keeping a smooth, persuasive line of speech.

Skills: Computer, Persuade

Deck Crew
The “deck apes” make up the bulk of a ship’s crew, each one responsible for one of a host of back-breaking or dangerous duties. Modern ships lack much of the automation and redundancy of pretech starcraft, and the price of an extra crewman is often far cheaper than that of the robot or braked AI that would otherwise be necessary.

Skills: Athletics, vehicle/land

Engine Crew
Ferocious radioactivity and arcing power makes the engine room of a large spacecraft into a deathtrap for an unwary engine “snipe”. Ancestral rivals of the “deck apes” on most ships, engine crew wear heavy protective suits while tending the balky and temperamental postech engines of modern starships.

Skills:Tech/astrogation, Tech/Postech

Gunnery Crew
Few ships mount enough weaponry to justify a complement of specialized gunners, but naval warships always have a substantial number aboard. Gun crew have a daredevil reputation in most navies. The massive capacitors and generators required in most gun emplacements have a tendency to be the first to blow during a heavy engagement, taking out the vast banks of fire control computers and the crew along with them. Gains the Heavy Weapon proficiency.

Skills: Tactics and perception.

Security Crew
Whether the “red suits” of holovid fame or the club-wielding enforcers aboard a mining frigate, the security crewmen are responsible for maintaining order aboard the ship and taking control of landing areas. Most are a ruthless and clannish lot, little-loved by the crew and greatly feared by those natives who face them in battle. Gains the martial weapon proficiency.

Skills: Security, Tactics

Hermit
Whether from a desire for solitude, an esoteric religious reason, or local fear of an untrained psychic, some lostworlders find a life as a solitary hermit. Those who would live off an unforgiving world's bounty must be wary and knowledgeable, and some come to tire of their solitude or seek a greater loneliness in the stars.

Skills:Culture/World, Traveller or Spacer and Survival

Political ideologist
On most civilized worlds politics isn’t the blood sport it can be on more elemental worlds. Even so, there are times when a politician can find his or her best advantage in a lengthy span out of the public eye, preferably offworld. The best of them have a distinct knack for adapting to new power structures. Gains the leadership feature and -

Skills: Persuade, Bureaucracy

Religious Initiate
Priests or religious leaders of some kind exist on almost every planet, and most of them couple sincere belief with a pragmatic knowledge of human nature. It's not uncommon for a priest to choose to take the blessed word to the heathens among the stars and find more success there than unbelievers might expect. Gains the Leadership feature and -

Skills: Persuade, Culture/Religion

Academic
You've spent your early life devoting your life to studies and research. If your world has any sort of degrees or any formal educational system, then you're probably more familiar with that by now, than with your childhood home. You've probably had your eye on a specific field, but it's hard to neglect areas of study in this time and age. Gains the feature -

Skills: History, Science

Soldier
This early training package represents the basic foundation for any military training. It could be your character simply served in a militia and then went on to become something different, but it could also be a stepping stone to a budding military career. Gains medium armor proficiency and martial weapon proficiency.

Skills:Survival, Tactics

Technician
Technicians keep an advanced world's technology running and its populace healthy. Some focus on inanimate tech, while others are medical experts who use sophisticated devices to keep their fellow humans in repair. Some sort of technical expert is all but indispensable on any expedition due to the need for repairs. Gains the feature -

Skills: Any two Tech skills except Maltech and Psitech.

Transporter
Goods are worth little if they can’t get to a buyer, and transport specialists are there to provide the conveyance. Whether a hot zone grav trucker or a courier ship pilot, these specialists know how to use a steady hand on the wheel to make a delivery. Gains the feature -

Skills: Navigation, Vehicle/Any

Worker
Truck drivers, grounds keepers, factory workers, and a hundred other professions are described by this background. Even in advanced societies, there is usually some manner of labor that requires more patience than creativity, and those consigned to such work are often ready to seek something more rewarding among the stars. Gains the feature -

Skills: Profession/Any and any "vehicle/" skill except space, or bureaucracy or business.

Training packages
Not all training packages are available to all backgrounds. It will be noted if there are restrictions. Those marked with a star require a martial early training, those marked with two stars require a criminal background or criminal early training, those marked with three stars require a space-related background or early training, the training packages that have four stars require the Academic early training or Prodical Child background and those that say "psychic" require the character in question to have at least one caster level as a psychic.

Bounty Hunter
With the option of offworld flight existing for certain criminals, it’s not uncommon for planetary governments to employ significant numbers of bounty hunters to track down their most notorious fugitives. For these bounty hunters, actually overcoming the target is the easiest part of the job; it’s finding them that requires effort. [Bounty Hunter requires martial weapon proficiency]

Skills: Athletics, Persuade, Stealth, Perception, Security, Vehicle/Any

Criminal**
Ordinary thieves and grifters tend to have short, unpleasant careers terminated either by their own incompetence or the punitive grip of the law. Expert criminals have the potential for something greater, wedding a broad range of larcenous skills to a brazen ambition.

Skills: Business, Gambling, Perception, Athletics, Security, Stealth

Con Artist**
Some thieves get what they want with a gun, but others find it easier with a kind word and a smile. Con artists are wise to keep moving ahead of their angry marks, but the trip can be an enjoyable one.

Skills: Persuade, Empathy, Business, Security, Stealth, Language

Explorer
The galaxy is jeweled with countless lost worlds, exotic races and forgotten edifices, both of mankind and of stranger breeds. The explorer means to find these far-flung places and add them to the known sphere of human knowledge. The profession requires not only a deft talent at navigation, but the ability to survive whatever the explorer finds.

Skills:Athletics, Navigation, Perception, Survival, Tech/Postech, Vehicle/Any

Pilot***
Frontier pilots are often forced to deal with jobs that might be fobbed off on specialists aboard the ships of richer owners. The best of them can fix almost anything that might break aboard a ship, and then drill it out to the next star single-handedly. This technical versatility makes them useful dirtside as well. Gains a free feat of their own choice (may not be a feat listed as a bonus feat gained from one of the other packages).

Skills: Computer, Navigation, Tech/Astronautics, Tech/Postech, Vehicle/Any, Vehicle/Space

Preceptor Adept****
The Preceptors are an organization of scholars and instructors dedicated to the preservation of human knowledge. Many of their adepts are found in space, seeking to share their knowledge with less fortunate worlds in exchange for a modest recompense.

Skills: Bureaucracy, Business, Persuade, Culture/Spacer, Tech/Medical, Tech/Postech

Scientist****
Expert scientists stand out from among their less enlightened brethren by the sheer breadth and vigor of their knowledge. Almost any variety of technology yields to their study, and they have a knack for dealing with the kind of bureaucratic organizations that spring up to foster- or contain- their researches.

Skills: Bureaucracy, Perception, Tech/Medical, Tech/Postech, Tech/Pretech, Tech/Any

Xenoarchaeologist****
The galaxy is full of the echoes of former sentient species, and the xenoarchaeologist is trained in unearthing their secrets. The ruins of these ancient races are often quite dangerous for humans, and more than one xenoarchaeologist has been forced to defend their dig site against the depredations of more profit-minded scavengers.

Skills: Culture/Alien, Language, Perception, Empathy, Tech/Any, Vehicle/Any

Academy Graduate - Psychic
Most worlds that have recovered the secrets of psychic training have established special academies to educate up and coming psychics. The curriculum taught at these academies tends to be very practical in nature. Medical science to deal with the neural trauma of psychic powers, psitech operation, and practical social engineering techniques are all part of the average academy course of study. This package represents a psychic with no academical background who has studied to become a psychic. The following four packages are also affiliated with a formal academy, but have studied in more specialized areas due to already established backgrounds.

Skills: Tech/Pretech, Persuade, Tech/Medical, Tech/Psitech, History, Science,

Psychic Researcher - Psychic****
Graduated from an academy with a specialty in the past. Vast secrets of psychic power remain buried in the wreck of ages. Whole disciplines were lost when the Scream destroyed the psychic culture of humanity centuries ago, and psychic researchers are dedicated to unearthing these secrets anew. The work is horrendously dangerous as psychic burnout claims the great majority of researchers within a few decades. Still, the promise of lost power always draws new students.

Skills: Bureaucracy, Tech/Medical, Perception, Tech/Psitech, Language/Any, Navigation

Healer - Psychic****
Graduated from an Academy with a special in Biopsionicists are gifted with enormous powers of healing and restoration, but telepaths are also known for entering the medical profession. Healer psychics often blend mundane medical technology with subtle psychic manipulations.

Skills: Perception, Tech/Psitech, Tech/Medical, Vehicle/grav or land, Tech/Posttech, Empathy

Criminal Mind - Psychic**
Studied at an academy, but dropped out or failed the exams. The temptations of easy wealth lure a disturbing number of psychics, men and women willing to use their powers for personal advancement regardless of the cost to others. These criminals often need to keep on the move, as most planetary police departments prioritize psychic criminals above every other category of lawbreaker.

Skills:Culture/Criminal, Persuade, Security, Stealth, Business, Empathy,

Military Psychic - Psychic*
Graduated from a military psychic academy - your psychic powers were harnessed by the military programs frequently found in the Empire, but also in other armed forces. Psychics are rarely useful as direct agents of destruction, but their capacity to alter a battlefield with their powers gives them a significant role in militaries that have mastered the necessary training protocols. These psychics tend to excel at maintaining an inconspicuous cover, as enemy psychics are always high-priority targets in warfare.

Skills: Stealth, Persuasion, Empathy, Athletics, Tech/Psitech, perception,

Rogue Psychic - Psychic
You're a psychic, but you have no formal training. You're lucky to have survived. You may have had a mentor or something of the like, but you've never been affiliated with regular psychic academies.

Skills: Choose any other training package that you would otherwise have access to, and gain those skills.

Tribal Shaman - Psychic
Some lost worlds or splinter cultures retain a religious veneration for psychics; a few have even developed enough knowledge to successfully train newly-active psychics. The products of these cultures tend to be exquisitely versed in esoteric religious doctrine, and are often capable of impressive performances of song, dance, or other ritual art. [This training package requires the tribesman background and specifically the religious initiate early training]

Skills: Perform/any, Vehicle/Land, Tech/Medical, Empathy, History, handle animal.

Assassin**
There are always those willing to pay to remove obstacles, and assassins are those willing to take the work. Some are crude street thugs while others are polished professionals. The nature of the work requires regular travel, and some assassins find it most prudent to be perpetually on the move. [The Assassin requires requires martial weapon proficiency].

Skills:Athletics, Security, Stealth, Tactics, Survival, Business,

Commando*
Trained for infiltration behind enemy lines and dealing with the peculiarities of foreign cultures, commando troops are tough, stealthy, and capable. Some find themselves at loose ends after leaving whatever service trained them, and seek new frontiers on distant worlds.

Skills:Athletics, Perception, Stealth, any "Vehicle/" skill except space, Tech/medical, Security

Enforcer*
Enforcers are in most aspects guards or hired muscles that protect the interests of an organization, legit or otherwise. They often prefer peaceful negotiation to violence- but violence is always an option.

Skills:Business, Persuasion, Security, athletics, Perception, Vehicle/any

Officer*
Elite exemplars of whatever armed force trained them, infantry specialists have a versatility that gives them a distinct edge in many combat situations. Many with this training were non-commissioned officers in their former militaries.

Skills:Athletics, Stealth, Bureaucracy, Persuasion, Empathy, Vehicle/any

Mercenary*
Gold can’t always get you mercenaries, but mercenaries can always get you gold. That truism has led countless men and women to spend their lives in brutal brush wars and civil skirmishes. Mercenaries are rarely welcome on worlds with a strong central government, but enough worlds lack that quality to make their profession a persistent one.

Skills:Business, Perception, Stealth, Security, Vehicle/any, athletics.

Space Marine*
It’s rare even for a naval warship to have a significant contingent of these men and women aboard. “Space Marines” specialize in quick assaults on vulnerable ships or planet-bound installations, trained to overwhelm and neutralize the opposition aboard a boarded ship or native outpost. This training could easily represent a pirate. [Requires the zero-G proficiency]

Skills: Culture/Spacer, Athletics, Tech/Astronautics, Security, Stealth, Perception

Templar
Most modern worlds have worked out an acceptable modus vivendi among their various religions, one in which all can coexist peacefully. Not all worlds are so fortunate. For whatever reason, some religions find it necessary to train “holy warriors” for their cause, either to defend the faithful or scourge the unbeliever. In modern days, we call people like these "fanatics". [Requires martial weapon proficiency]

Skills: Perception, Culture/Religion, Stealth, Tactics, Empathy, Stealth

Sectors
Discovered Sectors will be listed here.

Hyperion Sector
The Hyperion sector is not widely known. Not a thousand years years ago, it was but a cluster of stars being settled by frontiers, helpessly forgotten between more interesting sectors and the core worlds. Used for nothing but the occasional mining colony and some agriculture, the system has suddenly become extremely important to all the major factions, and no one really knows why. The logical answer is, that with the Jump gates out of order, the core worlds need to establish themselves sector for sector, and now that connection has been lost to many of the supply worlds, smaller and more uninteresting sectors such as the Hyperion sector have suddenly become very important resource-wise.

Both the Empire and the Alliance are struggling for control of this system, but the FTA got there first and already offered their assistance to some of the populated planets there. The FTA forces are trying to hold off both sides, who are in return both fighting each other.

Terminus system
The Terminus system is a fairly remote system in the Hyperion Sector. It has 16 planets, being rather dense. The System is impossible to get to, without a level 3 spike drive, due to it's remote location.

Terminus I
Terminus I has a breathable atmosphere, but the planet is incredibly warm on the sunny side, to the point where outdoor survival is impossible. . A day on Terminus I lasts roughly a full Terran week. Terminus I has plants and even forests that have adapted to the incredibly high surface temperatures. In the shadows of said forests, a few animals live. More live underground, and finally there are flying animals that travel constantly to stay in the shade.

Terminus I is also home to some nomadic human and Alien travelers, who drive their life stock along the dark plains of the dark side of the planet and occasionally mine for resources.

Terminus II
Terminus II is very warm, still too warm to offer comfortable living on the surface. Terminus II has a breathable atmosphere and a day on Terminus II is slightly longer than a day on Earth, but not by much. The surface is mostly barren due to very low amounts of water being present on the planet, but it was used for mining operations before the scream. Several mining bases were left behind, the planet mostly depleted for resources, but new inhabitants have moved in, namely a clan of Drex who live in the underground tunnels.

Terminus III
Terminus III is a warm, mostly topical planet, devoid of an ocean, but with many great lakes and very long rivers. The planet is divided by en equatorial belt of desert, and near the poles, the climate becomes more bearable. The planet is covered mostly in jungle, it has a breathable atmosphere and plenty of wild life. A day on Terminus III is slightly shorter than a Terran day. The planet is under Imperial control, and two Imperial noble families control each their half of the planet from their cities at the poles, and both are feuding for control over the planet.

Terminus IV
Terminus IV, or Matar as it's commonly known as, by it's inhabitants, is a naturally found planet with a breathable atmoshphere and earth-like conditions that is considerably smaller than Earth, but has slightly longer days (roughly 30 hours). A single spacestation orbits Matar known as Matar Station - It has a ship repair yard, orbital defenses, a single squadron of defensive fighters and docking capabilities, mostly used for transits of cargo and people to and from the planet.

Verna Corporation owns several Landing stations, but the only public station is in the Capital.

Matar has differing climate and is mostly covered in ocean. The continents center on areas that, climate wise, are comparable to southern USA. The planet has vast oil reserves under the ocean, but only has one real city, the Capital, Matar City. There are a few lostworlder settlements located in the mountains, near old mining operations. These lostworlders are practically savages who frequently attack the Mataran citizens.

Some more civilized former lostworlders live in numerous villages and towns spread out through the country and have accepted peace offerings and reclaimed a lot of their lost technology, but they have started a religious war against the Mataran citizens recently, which has caused a civil war, which is believed to be a result of Verna Corporation becoming the new ruling faction on the planet and their subsequent industrialization of the only other continent, which is considered a holy-site for the savages and the former lostworlders, considering it a spiritual land where the dead go, not to be visited by the living.

The only other continent on the planet has been all but bought up by Verna Corporation and is being industrialized.

Terminus V
Terminus V doesn't have much water on the surface, but is otherwise with a breathable atmosphere and a healthy agriculture. The planet is FTA controlled, and several of the bigger cities are rumored to be bases for the Exchange. The planet has several governments, they don't really work well with each other. Terminus V is otherwise a fairly decent place. Terminus V is incredibly rich in reasources, and produces a wealth of food.

Terminus VI
Terminus VI is the primary Alliance planet in the Terminus system. Covered in mountain ranges and slightly colder than the other planets, the wilderness becomes very harsh when moving away from the equator. As a result, the Equator belt, where possible, is pretty much one long big city.

Terminus VII
This incredibly cold ball of ice is pretty much all rock and metal. It's currently the primary battleground for Alliance and Imperial troops who fight over control of this gold mine.

Other planets
Terminus VIII through XVI are all uninhabitable. Some of them have bases with breathable atmospheres, others have space stations that orbit them.

Setting
Varies setting-based entries to inspire, visualize and specify.

The Core Worlds
Core worlds are extremely populated worlds where there can usually be found a considerable amount of pre-tech equipment. These worlds are the most civilized and most important worlds, but they rely on colonial worlds for supplies. Core worlds are extremely futuristic and people live idyllic and excellent lives there, except of course for the poor who are ever present.

Core worlds are not normally found anywhere near frontier worlds. Typically an entire sector is considered core or frontier.

Examples from sci-fi: Corruscant and Naboo from the Star Wars movies.

Frontier worlds
The frontier worlds are typically capable of presenting only a modest number of up-to-date items, mostly found on space station and in government installations. Frontier worlds are traditionally ruled by a governor, but there are independent frontier worlds, most of which are either rather isolated, or members of the FTA. The law is considerably looser on frontier worlds. Any unclaimed land can be taken by any private person who wishes (meaning companies cannot claim land in the same way - such are the customs), and citizens who wander outside the settlements are required to protect themselves.

Examples from sci-fi: Dantooine from Knights of the Old Republic, many planets from Fire Fly and Mass Effect.

Outlaw worlds
Outlaw worlds do not exist because of their resources and they're not important enough to warrant any large faction being interested in taking over. These independent nations do have a measure of law and order necessary to hold a society, but people often live there out of necessity or because they've come into exile while a few people take important jobs there. It's often very cheap to gain property in such a place, the problem is that very few people respect property rights in such a place, and ownership of items is often fairly temporary.

Outlaw worlds are home to a lot of outlaws, as the name suggests, and often are ruled by corrupt people.

Examples from sci-fi: Tattooine from the Star Wars movies.

Space Stations
There are a few tech level three space stations up and about (no artificial gravity), but tech level four space stations are more common. Most planets have a spacestation, as otherwise, in order to carry out an operation over the city, it's necessary for a carrier to orbit. Space stations are surprisingly much cheaper to make than spaceships, so all inhabited planets have a space station, with very few exceptions, most of these being planets that are inhabited by lostworlders.

There are many abandoned space stations, but tech level four stations rarely fall out of the sky.

Some space stations do not orbit a planet, but are instead strategically placed in locations where the gravitational pull from various celestials keep them more or less fixed in a location, and other stations are built into asteroids.

The largest space stations are city-sized, but mos stations are roughly the size of, say, a very large building. There are certainly enough areas that you can find new places even after months, and enough people can live on them that you will never get to know everyone, but faces will start to get familiar eventually.

Most space stations exist so that larger ships that cannot land on planets easily, can dock and handle transit from there, and most of them also feature, at least ship repair yards.

Most shipyards are in space, as it's necessary to build the large ships in space.

Examples from sci-fi: Omega Station from Mass Effect, the Citadel from Mass Effect, Titan Station from Dead Space 2, Blue Haven from Outlaw Star

Smuggling
In a world where futuristic technology exists, it may be difficult to understand how smuggling works. In the end, you need to ask yourself, how does it even work in our world? There are so many implementations that make is nearly impossible to smuggle in illegal contraband without a very tight operation. The same can be said about space-smuggling.

The law changes from place to place, but most governments for that very same reason agree, that as long as something doesn't leave the the spaceship, it's not been smuggled, and it's not illegal yet.

Typically, the goal for a smuggler is to acquire goods that are illegal somewhere, and get them into the hands of those who may have a need for them, or someone who redistributes in most cases. Smuggler goods can be almost anything from medicine, exotic food, materials, weapons, drugs and much more. If it's normally illegal, or if it's taxed, there's money in smuggling it.

To smuggle, it's usually necessary to establish a contact, or it's necessary to land somewhere, where there's generally no security checks made. Free merchant ships are normally used for smuggling operations because they can land on planets and moons. Landing out in the wilderness is an option for more rural planets, but core worlds will never permit something like that. Planets with all encompassing governments will also usually threaten to shoot someone out of the sky if they do not comply with demands, but some planets do not have the equipment necessary to follow up on such threats, and in such cases, it's just a matter of having a contact meet the smuggler in the wilderness.

Smuggling to core worlds is only possible by using technology that can trick the technology the core worlds use to enforce their contraband laws, or by taking advantage of the ever present seed of corruption.

The smuggler is rarely the person to establish these connections, smugglers are normally hired individually by the supplier, and are told to meed who ever the buyer is. The smuggler's payment is handled individually. Some smugglers of course run their own operations.

Examples from sci-fi: Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly (and his crew), Han Solo and Chewbacca from Star Wars,

Piracy
What is space piracy, and what is it's purpose? Slavery is a thing in both the Empire and on many FTA worlds. Verna Corporation has often been in court to defend their use of illegal slaves on their remote world factories, and the pirates are the main suppliers of slaves.

Pirates ironically rarely have the weaponry to take on commercium protected trade vessels, so they tend to go after free merchant ships. Typically, these ships are worth more than the cargo, but because communications are so delayed in this time, a pirate ship can make a decent living simply staking out a popular jump-location, and hold up everyone who arrives for their cargo, until eventually, authorities arrive, at which point the pirates are normally already gone.

Pirates also typically raid planets when they occasionally feel like they've got the necessary capacity to do so.

Examples from sci-fi: It so happens most pirates in sci-fi are evil and not very memorable.

Privateering
Privateers are "pirates", or rather mercenaries, hired to attack certain factions and their vessels in space. This usually occurs when two factions are at war. This is just really "space mercenary work", but in reality it doesn't differ from piracy. Some privateers only attack supply ships and military vessels, but most attack anyone from a given faction, even civilians. It's not unheard of that actual pirates take these jobs.

Mercenary work
While every faction tries to maintain an established military, most factions also try to stay out of war most of the time, and the incentive to forge a large fleet is very small, mainly because no one has the economy to do this. Obviously, official militaries are very organized and follow certain regulations. It's not a secret however, that some of the best warriors out there aren't soldiers, they're mercenaries.

Mercenaries use ship armaments that they steal from enemy forces, from aliens, from pirates and occasionally through piracy, what a shocker that most mercenaries aren't exactly honest people. They have access to advanced military equipment that they steal from the fallen and consider part of their payment. Spoils of war.

Mercenaries also aren't citizens of the factions they work for, making them incredibly expendable.

The real issue of the universe isn't that there aren't resources enough to manufacture new weapons, new ships, nor that there aren't enough people to use them, nor even that there isn't enough money to produce it. The issue would be the logistics. Setting up a successful mining operation, maintaining a shipyard and weapon factories, equipping soldiers, stationing soldiers, acquiring food and lodgings for soldiers.

Finally, communications prove to be another huge hurdle. Imagine building such an elaborate logistical operation, without being able to call someone on the phone.

Mercenaries eliminate these issues, making them an extremely popular choice.

Mercenary companies exist in all shapes and sizes. Some are former military specialists, some specialize in security and work the frontiers, others are specialized as pirate hunters while others yet are fully mobilized fleets for hire that can make or break a war.

Compared to the life of an average soldier, mercenary life is very diverse. The discipline is more loose and the bureaucracy is almost nonexistent, but the risk is also greater and the lifestyle is much harsher, but the reward is also not even comparable.

A mercenary grunt tends to make as much as a low ranking officer in official military. Only official military elite units and high ranking officers can brag of a paycheck that compares to mercenary earnings.

Examples from sci-fi: Zaeed Massani from Mass Effect, Gene Starwind from Outlaw Star,

Bounty hunting
The Commercium enforces that their bounties are valid through out known human (and the few alien races that also are members) space, which is why crossing the Commercium is usually a bad choice. While a law broken in one sector is very unlikely to be enforced in another, if the slight was carried out against the Commercium, one can be certain that fully legal and licensed bounty hunters will come running.

Another force to be reckoned with, is the Exchange that also has the power to bribe their way to make officials turn a blind eye, or even participate in the hunt, though hunters working for the exchange are more commonly referred to as "hit men" or "assassins" by everyone else, though they do not always get paid to kill their targets.

Because of the communication issues in the galaxy, bounty hunters are in general considered to be "the law", simply because policemen cannot pursue people across borders, and as long as a bounty hunter can present credentials and a legally issued bounty, in most cases, people will not object to him carrying out his mandate, even if the offense carried out isn't valid where the criminal is caught or killed.

Many worlds in the FTA, considered to be Outlaw worlds, offer sanctuary to anyone (unless that is, some one whom they like better asks, or someone bribes them). This is of course an obstacle for bounty hunters.

Bounty hunting is lucrative for a reason. Money isn't scarce for most factions, but making sure that breaking the law isn't something done lightly.

Naturally also a risky business, the average bounty hunter that does survive his escapades can retire as a wealthy man.

When a faction wishes to hire a bounty hunter, they normally put the bounty up through the Commercium, by paying the money they wish to offer up as a reward to the Commercium. The Commercium offers this service to all factions that work with the Commercium, free of charge, which also means the bounty can be claimed from anywhere - But just because the Commercium handles the bounties, it doesn't mean the bounty suddenly gains validity outside the area in which the crime was committed.

Frontier planets handle bounties on their own, because they don't have the law enforcement capacity to enforce the law planet wide, nor the resources to search for criminals high and low. Bounties are normally only sent forth to the Commercium if it's suspected that the criminal has fled the nation in question.

Examples from sci-fi: Jango- and Boba Fett from Star Wars

Treasure hunting
Treasure Hunting is one of the most lucrative and dangerous businesses there are. The Commercium pays good money for pre-scream technology that helps them make more Quantum Entanglement Communication centers, or more Jump-Ships, and manufacturers pay well for discoveries that could aid them.

Creating Pre-scream technology is difficult and in some (unfortunately often the most important) cases, it's only possible to repair existing issues. Occasionally gold mines are found, like old factories and just blueprints even, or large enough quantities of something that it becomes possible to reverse engineer it.

Treasure hunting normally takes place on "dead worlds" or in sectors and in systems that haven't been used or been home to any recognized factions for a long time. Treasure Hunters often come into conflicts with aliens, lostworlders and pirates, making it a dangerous occupation.

Examples from sci-fi: Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy

Technology
Various entries about technology in the setting.

Tech level four planets
These planets typically have bullet trains that span the globe, enabling travel across the surface of the planet at an alarmingly fast rate. Inside cities, the bullet trains make owning a vehicle almost entirely redundant.

Most transportation of cargo is handled on the ground by drone-cars, and personal vehicles are either flying grav-cars that use autopilot to link with the traffic controlling AI or the much more common hover cars that have the capability of flying over the typically slower drone cars that fill the streets.

On the frontier, level four tech is normally restricted to the capital, and level three tech is common place elsewhere, excepting certain things. This means most people are born naturally on the frontier. True tech level four worlds usually extract carefully selected egg and sperm and grow the child in a tube, to ensure the right genes are present, and that minimal risk comes to the parents.

Map
Very few people actually have maps of the known universe anymore. A few pre-scream galaxy maps still exist, these horribly outdated maps are incredibly valuable and would make navigation on a Starship infinitely much easier, as such an updated map would be capable of travelling to pre-visited destinations without a navigator. The few antique models that exist are too valuable to put on ships.

Jump-ships
A jump-ship is an antique AI controlled level 5 Spike-drive ship that siphons fuel from stars and and jumps between certain stations, updating the extra-web. These ships are entirely automated and were activated after the scream occurred. Not many of them exist, but any pirates who attack them will be hunted down by the Commercium, that desperately relies on any means to transmit information. The jump-ships are old technology, used primarily before FTL communication was invented, but seeing as most FTL communication has been lost, these ships were re-activated - the few that were left.

Quantum Entanglement Communications
Quantum entanglement communication centers are extremely well guarded facilities, normally located on moons or space stations. They usually have several quantum entanglement connections they manage. These facilities can communicate with each other in real time, no matter the distance. The Commercium owns and guards all of these facilities, and has obligated all major factions to aid in the protection of these, if they are found inside faction space.

A few Quantum Entanglement communication centers have been built since the scream, and the location of many have been lost. Repairing them is a extremely demanding and building new centers is practically impossible and happens maybe once every decade requiring tons of resources.

The Alliance, the Empire, the major factions within the FTA, nor surprisingly the Exchange and the Commercium all have real time communication with each other, though it's important to remember that just because the Empire can talk to the Alliance, it still doesn't mean that the Alliance can talk to themselves any easier.

The Centers are primarily used to transmit banking data.

The Quantum Entanglement Network
Quantum Entanglement communications cannot be hacked, traced or otherwise interfered with, making it the preferred method of communication for anyone who can afford it. The Commercium controls almost all quantum entanglement centers, and they've established something called the Quantum Entanglement Network (QEN), which is a network of quantum entanglement stations that, through several steps, are all somehow linked, meaning that by passing all information through some relatively large centers located in core sectors, that all smaller centers are linked to, it's possible to to pass information through this network to any center.

All small centers have a minimum of two connections, one connection leads to a major center, while the other leads to the desired destination.

All major centers are connected to each other, sometimes through several lines, and all small centers link to at least one major center.

The QEN is extremely busy at almost all times, the cost of being allowed access to the QEN is so high that most independent governments cannot afford it. Messages sent through QEN are naturally real time, if only sent between one link - the delay grows slightly longer for every link it has to pass through and in rare occasions, a video call might seem as if there is a hint of delay, but otherwise, the transmission rate for something so simple is almost flawless no matter how many links it must pass through, but one of the biggest limitations is that there are only one line, typically, meaning that sometimes, the line will simply be busy.

Another great limitation, is that transmitting heavier data through the QEN, is extremely slow. The QEN can transmit data at a rate that shames modern network transfer rates, but considering that data has gotten extremely complex - it's a given that many data transfers have also grown in size. The transmission of banking data alone takes up a good portion of the network. Fortunately, advanced computer technology makes it possible to use the same QEN line to transmit multiple things at once, but this technology isn't entirely flawless yet.

Laser communications
A cheaper and more low-tech alternative to real FTL communication, the Laser communication devices allow the transmission of data between the occasional setups where a line can be established. This communication is so close to being real time that most can't tell the difference and most major worlds find a way to keep connected to the laser grid in their sector, and this means that extra-web and sector-web is updated at a very agreeable speed.

Laser communications makes it possible for planets, stations and moons to remain in instant contact with each other almost all the time. Occasionally, the connection is cut for sometimes upwards of days or weeks in some rare cases, but in most situations, when something blocks the connection, a satellite will quickly be moved in to handle the issue, or a ship will be dispatched to position itself and function as a relay, cutting downtime to usually less than a few hours.

In very rare cases, it's even used to send information out of a system, to a different system, but this naturally results in quite a bit of a transfer time.

Laser communication functions by shooting rays of light through empty space to a receiver that then re-transmits. It's a low-tech and not too expensive solution, and unfortunately not very secure either. Manufacturers and IT specialists are struggling against hackers to come up with new and safer encryption methods, but as long as it means that people can have real time conversations on the phone with their relatives on a different planet, people generally don't care too much if their personal information is at a risk of being exploited, as is the way.

Omni-gel
Omni-gel is a gel-like paste that can worked into plast-steel (a ceramic-like metal alloy), or flexi-steel (a flexible material that feels more like rubber than metal). Omni-gel is used by the modern equivalent of 3D printers, to manufacture most items in modern production. Omni-gel is exposed to high-frequency waves that causes it to turn into liquid, and it's then reworked, while the printer infuses it with various chemicals and gasses, which turns it into the desired material.

FTL Communications
Both Laser Comms and quantum entanglement are examples of valid means of space communication, but neither are actually "Faster than light". Quantum Entanglement is always real-time, so it's relative speed doesn't enter into the equation as nothing is actually sent or moved, it's just two subatomic particles that change position when interfered with. Laser communication is exactly the speed of light, which is why it it's usually reserved for communication within a system.

The only actual FTL communication that has been developed, is through the use of FTL-Communication relays, that function similarly to Spike Drives.

These relays are often built as space-stations that orbit a star. Making a station that can orbit a star so closely is expensive, as it needs to be gold-plated, but at least the fuel and electricity costs are entirely void. Using a device similar to a spike-drive, the station receives information through laser communication, and transmits this to several other stations within the sector.

The amount of observation and research that needs to be done by experienced space navigators and scientists before such a system can be set up, means that these stations are very slowly spreading - Too slowly. Using special ships that are equipped to log certain data, the navigators observe the movement of all celestial bodies and their gravitational pull.

Essentially, a data transmission is sent through warped space, through a pre-calculated route, using a computer that has been filled with data, logged from the jump-route between the two destinations. On the other end, the other station picks up the data transmission and stores it, or re-transmits it through laser comms, or in case of more private messages, through quantum entanglement.

The Commercium funded Project Frontier a while ago - they went out on a limb and assumed that it would eventually be possible to increase the range of the devices on the stations, so a lot of them have been built in locations considered strategical - Sadly, over a hundred years after the funding of project Frontier, these stations currently serve as nothing more than extremely expensive laser-comm relays that are in the Quantum Entanglement network.

Starships
There's a huge difference between an actual frigatte and a free merchant ship, and for that reason, I've implemented a few more shipclasses.

Cargo Lighter
A cargo lighter can travel from a planet surface, to orbit, or from a planet to a very nearby planet, a station or to a moon. Cargo Lighters are normally used for transportation in this manner, and cannot perform spike drills. They are space worthy. A lifeboat is a cargo lighter without Cargo space. A cargo lighter has the same statistics as a normal shuttle, but cannot fit any additional equipment, nor does it have any hardpoints for ship weaponry, though it can easily support an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry weapon, or even multiple of these.

Fighter
Fighters are typically operated by one or two people. Most fighters have an automated weapon system, but the pilot has at least one weapon system he can fire while flying. The slightly bigger two person fighters (typically bombers) have a gunner in the backseat. Whether or not a fighter is outfitted with a spike drive depends on what it's used for. Spike drives however can also be used to travel faster inside a solar system, and speed is essential for fighters. Costs for Fighters remain the same.

Shuttle
Shuttles are big enough to transport a bit of cargo and a few passengers. There's usually not enough room in a shuttle to do much more than sit around, and they're mainly used by transportation companies that distribute goods on a planet by going in and out of orbit, and to transport people to and from space stations. They're also ideal for transporting people to nearby moons. Most shuttles do not have a spike-drive, as they're never used for travelling such distances and aren't even well outfitted for long term interstellar travel. Most shuttles don't even have proper oxygen recycling, and rely on being able to fill it's tanks when they enter an atmosphere or dock with a station. Shuttles come in different sizes, some are actually as small as fighters. Shuttles are still treated as Fighters in regards to upgrade costs as they are normally similar sized.

Transporter (free merchant)
Also known as Free Merchant ships, the transporter class represents a ship large enough that people can move around and have rooms designated for various things. A free merchant ship always comes with crew quarters, a toilet, a kitchen, a medbay (usually a small room with an operating table and enough cots to narrowly contain the crew minus one person if necessary) and an activity room. A transporter, as the name suggests, usually comes with a lot of cargo space. Free Merchant ships fell out of fashion pre-scream, as most transportation was handled by the slow-boats using jump gates, but the small free merchant ships survived because their spike-drive technology made them ideal for quick distribution of goods, so most of them were used for express deliveries. Others were outfitted as luxury homes and used as personal yachts to hold wild space parties and travel to exotic locations, essentially used as auto-campers. Transporters are ideal for smuggling and express deliveries because they can land. A single person can fly a transporter just fine, as it's an uncomplicated setup, and practically just an oversized shuttle with a spike-drive. Transporters are no longer as expensive to upgrade as normal. Considerably smaller than a true frigate. Power costs (marked by a # symbol in the book) are no longer doubled, and other costs (marked by an * symbol in the book) are only doubled, so it's now considerably cheaper to equip such a ship, which again goes to show why it's a favorite among space adventurers and small operations.

Examples of Transporters in popular sci-fi's: The Millennium Falcon, The Ebon Hawk, The Firefly.

Corvette (patrol boat)
Formerly known as the "patrol boat", the corvette class ship is the first military grade sized ship. Corvettes can run with a small crew and are normally used for patrols and for hit-and-run attacks as well as for recon. A corvette is cheaper to outfit with expensive gear like emission dampeners, making them the space-equivalent of a submarine. REquiring only a crew of five, typically, to run (a pilot, a navigator, an engineer, a co-pilot and a communications expert), they are cheap and effective. Typically run with an operation crew of only five, typical setups include a ship medic and a fire team of Space Marines who also handle on-ship security, and then of course a gunner for each weapon installed and more often than not, a specialist of some sort and a few crew members who can rotate multiple positions and maybe an extra technician or two.

Examples of Corvettes in popular sci-fi's: The SSV Normandy SR1.

Frigate
Frigates are the smallest military ships used in actual offensive actions. Frigates are slightly larger than corvettes (a large corvette can actually be bigger than a small frigate, what makes the distinction would be the ship specifications). A frigate as a minimum crew of 10 and is a mobile base.

Other ships
There's nothing else to mention about the other ship-types.

Items
These items have changed properties or needed further explanation, or pure and simple weren't in the core book.

Identification Technology
Some quite advanced technology did survive the scream. The advanced technology used for identification purposes by most advanced nations and factions consists of a small and very thin flexisteel layer, full of super advanced nano-chips, which is placed under the skin of the forearm. Using nano-tecnology, it connects through the nerves, to a small nano-chip implanted in the brain at birth. This device is called a PIDU (Pie-due), which stands for "Personal Identification Display Unit". The Commercium utilizes these devices, and as such, they also manufacture new modules and, free of charge repairs and maintains existing ones. PIDU technology was invented by the Alamari, but is used by all Alliance species.

Identification
The unit stores a nano-chip with what ever valid credentials a person needs. Unfortunately, very easy to manipulate, but it's still the best way around the obstacles normally presented. Setting up a fake ID profile is easy, when it comes to producing the data through software, and uploading it to a nano-chip. Installing the nano-chip is also easy. The hard part is uploading the same data to the nation's databases. There are cyber criminals who make a living off of this, and on purpose leave small back-doors open into the main servers of their respective factions.

The reason it's even possible to change the ID chips, is because military personnel needed specific alternative chips for military purposes, and this concept was also useful in various other workplaces. The device cannot discriminate between the identities and simply adheres to an installed protocol as for what chip to use with what systems, and it's fairly easy to install a secondary ID chip and give it priority.

These devices function as passports and birth-certificates, but more or less optionally also pertains information about specific credentials an individual may or may not have.

Personal interfacing
The device, considered intrusive by some, has the ability to interface with the user's senses, and give them the sensation that they are hearing something, or seeing something. Most modern forms of entertainment and recreation is done through such means. While the technology to replicate the software that interfaces with the feature, the device can even simulate bodily stimuli, but this causes no end of confusion and conventionally disabled.

Personal monitoring
The device does collect a small amount of information about the user, such as blood pressure, heart rate and other such.

Output and input
The device has no ability to remotely connect with other devices per say. The device is partitoned into several sub-devices, and some of these can connect to, say, wireless connections or other device. These sub-devices can be removed and replaced easily and do not have a direct connection to influence the main device. It's completely optional to even have these devices installed.

Interaction
If left open, commercials and other things in the general public eye, will access the device's public profile, and tailor inputs specifically to the user. The device also works in the opposite way, allowing the user to leave, at least what appears to the user as, permanent holographic imaging on various surfaces, or simply at a given location. This is the equivalent of a note taking program, essentially. These images can be viewed by others if the devices are in sync. These images can be used as an interface to better operate devices that are hooked up to the PIDU, such as a portable computer. While most datapads (portable computers) do have a limited touch interface, the ability to dock with larger devices, and usually it's own actual holographic interface, most simply leave them in their bags and operate them remotely using their PIDU's.

Security
Hacking a personal device and somehow misusing it, is so impossible that it has almost never been done, but when it's done, the outcome is incredibly disappointing. Because the device is user-input controlled, anything one would want to be able to do with it, causes merely a small amount of annoyances to the user.

Banking and the Commercium
The Commercium has a strict interest in being able to identify people. As previously mentioned, these units are not fool proof, but they do prevent a person from, with no effort, claiming to be someone they're not (or at least, it stops from them from being successful in their claims). The commercium, however also installs small modules in these devices, that can monitor credit activity. The device has knowledge of pre-agreed terms with what ever banking service is used, and keeps track of how many credits the carrier has available. Seeing as only one module can exist at a time, and these modules can only be replaced with confirmed face time with a banking employee, it's difficult to exploit these devices, and they safely allow people to make purchases.

The devices can blue stamp purchases using a code signature that is generated by a complex algorithm, allowing a company to subtract the money from an account at next given opportunity - The device itself also remembers that this purchase was made, and alters the total amount of available credits, and makes a note of the blue stamping, so the next time connection is established to the bank the servers will start moving money, even if the company in question has not claimed their money yet.

All attempts to exploit these systems have been unsuccessful. The Commercium handsomely pays technological experts to try to hack them under controlled circumstances, and these methods have sometimes been successful, resulting in updates and counter measures. The Commercium hunts down, and executes anyone who even attempts to exploit these modules outside of a contract with the Commercium. They once took down a large branch of the Exchange in such a hunt, and with them, a notorious mercenary company, and once and for all proved that they were very serious.

Spread and use
The spread of this setup was made fairly early on, before the end of humanity's golden expansion age. Almost all colonies and frontier worlds, no matter how old or remote, were set up with machinery that could install both of these devices with a 99% success rate, as well as the machinery that produces it.

Projectile weapons
Projectile weapons of this day and age are very different from modern versions. The bullets fired are of very high caliber, to compensate for the fact that armors have advanced a lot. This is why a weapon built for automatic fire, with serious recoil dampening technology, will rarely be possible to rapid-fire. Even with the limited amount of recoil dampening you can put into a handgun, it's difficult to fire a handgun one handed. Auto-fire weapons typically trade long range or damage for their ability to fire multiple times in a row. The advanced recoil dampening technology installed in them, makes it possible to fire multiple rounds accurately.

Shotguns and what is in present time considered to be "extremely low caliber" weapons are used for sporting competitions and for hunting of game that cannot otherwise be brought down. Such weaponry is still lethal to humans, but any armor (except primitive armor) will compeletely negate the effects of such weapons (though they otherwise deal the same damage as their regular chambered counterparts on the charts). These weapons rarely require a license.

On the frontier, owning a projectile weapon for personal defense is the norm, most people carry a revolver with them at all times, and have even bigger weaponry in their vehicles and homes typically.

Energy Weapons
Energy weapons are the future, or rather it was. Energy Weapons are considered military grade, and despite many of them being T4, they are very hard to get on the frontier. Most ideally suited for combat in space, energy weapons see most use on spacecrafts in the various space navies, and are extremely rarely used by people planet side.

In systems where piloting is taught, the price of a license often comes with a laser pistol to symbolize the importance of being able to keep the peace on a spacecraft, without the added risk of shooting a hole in the hull.

Heavy Armor
There are several kinds of heavy armor - Heavy armor is a general catch-all term for anything with an inbuilt exo-suit. Heavy armor always comes with an armored undersuit and very uncommonly without a vacc-skin combined with that suit - while the vacc-skin is optional, it should be considered a "pay extra" option, when purchasing heavy armor, and the armored undersuit is considered part of the armor rating already.

Power-armor
Power armor was invented to give space-marines an edge in combat. The original power armors were closer to what people would call a robotic suit, but what currently passes for a power armor is based on outdated space-marine technology, but it's still the best military grade armor around. While technically tech level four, Power Armor is exceptionally rare outside of the elite Space Marine forces.

The reason power armor was designed for space marines, is because it's generally difficult to take a soldier in power armor down, without heavy weaponry, something you cannot easily fire inside a ship - The lowered defensive capabilities also matter very little in close-quarter-combat, as there will not be much to take cover behind.

The invention of power armor predates the invention of a vacc-skin, so the idea was to create a suit that could also sustain the space marine, should he be sucked out into space. Power armor normally comes with a booster pack (a very weak jetpack), meaning anyone who wears it can move freely in a vacuum, and it normally comes with magnetic boots.

Power armor cannot be legally bought in almost any systems, and the armor itself is considered a deadly weapon, due to the sheer strength enhancements.

Power armor gives a superior damage reduction of 12, adds a strength bonus of +4 but has a max dex bonus of -1, and a creature wearing it, increases in size by one category. Power armor ignores most kinds of damage entirely, only tech four and above can hurt a person in power armor.

Assault Suit
A much lighter infantry based version of a power-armor. The assault suit is a power armor without all the fancy applications to make it space worthy, and made less bulky for the same reason. The Assault suits are considered second-rate to true power armor, but they're much more common with heavy infantry (heavy infantry use support weapons that often require the soldier to remain exposed for prolonged time, making these suits ideal). A suit of armor like this grants a damage reduction of 10, grants +2 strength and has a max dex bonus of 0.

Medium armor
Medium armor is any kind of armor that has an encumbrance. The Light armor known as the Armored Undersuit can be worn underneath all medium armors for additional protection.

Primitive armor
Primitive armor only protects against primitive weaponry (tech level 2 or lower). There are several examples of such armor - typically used by lostworlders, settlers, raiders, bandits and anyone who cannot afford proper armor.

Semi-primitive armor
Semi-primitive armor is what we today consider top of the line, such as kevlar with cemaric plating. Semi-primitive armor is very cumbersome, but it does actually offer splendid protection against modern weaponry. Semi-primitive armor protects against tech level four and down. The only example of this kind of armor, is "Woven body armor". This kind of body armor is worn by security forces and soldiers on frontier planets, mostly. On core worlds, it's usually used by militia units or by private citizens and gangsters.

Modern Armor
Modern armor is made of incredibly lightweight plast-steel, a ceramic like substance that is very thin and light, but offers supreme protection. The Combat Field Uniform (or CFU) is one of the most versatile armors ever created, and it's so light and agile, that on core-worlds, it's just considered the "field uniform" (hence the name). The armor has a climate control system that will work well inside an atmosphere, but also for a limited time in space (it will run out of power long after the wearer runs out of air), a water container stored in the back (essentially an inbuilt hydration system) and the ability to upgrade it in a number of ways - In the end, the CFU, if fully ugraded, will start to seem like a light version of a power armor. [The CFU is actually a light armor - anyone can flawlessly use this armor, but putting it on requires Medium armor or supervision]

Armor upgrades
These upgrades can be installed into a suit of armor - Most of these already come pre-installed in some armors.

Combat HUD
A very small AI is installed into the helmet and collects and displays combat data, and handles certain tasks on voice command, or intuitively. +1 defence and +1 attack. Price: 5000 credits. Contains an inbuilt compad and bioscanner.

Magnetic boots

Allows the user to walk along a magnetic surface in a vacuum, or to stand firm if there is a sudden hull breach. 500 credits.

Vacuum thruster packs
Allows the user to move freely in a vacuum, in any direction the want. 1000 credits.

Exo-Skeleton
A light exo-skeleton that can be integrated with any armor, or worn stand-alone. Offers +1 strength. 3000 credits.

Lightsabers
Real lightsabers are ancient treasures, most of them are found either as parts of uniforms that are issued to extremely high ranking officers in the Alliance, they're found in wealthy people's collections, among royalty in the FTA on occasion and in greatest numbers in the Empire. Almost all Imperial noble families own a lightsaber, as these are considered family heirlooms.

Only a few lightsaber crafters exist, and while creating lesser modernized versions, only a psychic with extensive knowledge of psitech can create a true saber, albeit the saber can then be used by anyone.

The reason only a psychic can craft them, is because the ancient machinery necessary to create them, are psitech, and the precision necessary cannot be mimicked by anyone but a psychic with extreme control over their mind.

Lightsabers cannot be used by ordinary people without eye shielding, and it's necessary to wear protective gloves for normal people when wielding them. Lightsabers are extremely dangerous as close combat weapons and were invented to aid space-marines in boarding missions.

Personal shields were becoming common place, and space marines needed a good close-quarter weapon that could also help them cut through doors and locks quickly, but shields are extremely uncommon after the Scream, and lightsabers have thus completely lost their combat value as all but a symbol of wealth, or in the case of the Empire, status.

The only intergalactic fencing sport that still exists uses down powered versions of lightsabers, and it's quite popular, albeit expensive.

The modernized lightsabers that have been designed post-scream are shadows of the originals and cannot achieve the same level of cutting power (though still sharper than a monoblade), and they serve the same function as ceremonial sabers among officers in the military and are only used for parades. They do not generate nearly enough light and heat that protective gear is necessary, at least not if the saber isn't kept activated in long periods of time.

Modern lightsabers are always pure-white in color, but the Imperial antique sabers, and the occasional new addition, crafted by the master artisans, are any color of the rainbow, though admittedly it's almost impossible to notice the true color for anyone but a psychic as a true saber shines as brightly the sun, or so it feels.

True lightsabers are too valuable to use in real combat, but every decade or so, it happens that two Imperial Noblemen duke it out using them regardless. Some Imperial Officers are rewarded for their services with true sabers, and as a tradition, they use them to execute enemies and occasionally use them to signal for an attack to start.

When alliance officers experience, what they refer to as "the flash", they know that they are facing a truly great commander.