NO

ROOM
FOR
A
WALLFLOWER

A Lancer Supplement
Ver 1.8.5
Miguel Lopez
Massif Press, 2019
 
 
Part 1: Hercynia, In Bloom

Grounding, Introductions 

BEAT - Evergreen, Down The Well 

BEAT - Entering Town 

Patience 

Evergreen & Environs

Daily Life 

Detailed Points of Interest

The Bottom of The Well 
The Print Shop 
The Governor’s Farm 

Events and General Timeline 

Beyond The Walls of Evergreen 

Meanwhile…
Casting A Wide Net 
Home On The Range 
Downstream 
Elevator -- Going Up? 
Patience, Echoes, and Ghosts 
End Of The Beginning Of The Line 

On The History of The Hercynian Crisis 

Redacted Information 

On The History of Landmark Colonial 

On The History of Union and The Coreward Line 

NPCs 
Chief Engineer Castor Fielding 
Militia Commander Brava Hadura 
Patience’s Attache, Edena Ji 
Surviving Hercynian Trooper Dthall Ordo 

Union Auxiliary Deserters (Hercynians) 

1 
Part II: The God In Your Front Yard (And His Polar Opposite Under Your Feet)

GM Notes, Recap

Overview of Part 2 

SITREP - Right Where We Left You 

BEAT - Life In The Green Zone 

Patience, After the Flood 
Evergreen, After the Flood 

BEAT - Underground, As Light Fades 

Hivehome and the Royal Hive Tunnels 
Hivehome: Detail, Surroundings, and Points of Interest 
Hivehome: Hooks 

BEAT: A Stain You Can’t Wash Out 

BEAT: Last Call in Egregor Cross 

BEAT: Mountainfall 

BEAT: Tumbledown 

BEAT: A Bridge To Sell 

BEAT: Relay Choir 

BEAT: No Room For A Wallflower 

BEAT: Cold Emerald Tomb

GM Tools: Downtime, Tables, and Stat Blocks

Minor Side Quest Prompts 

Downtime In Evergreen 
Get A Damn Drink 
Build Camaraderie 
Use Offworld Comms 
Tinker, Tune, or Puzzle Out 
Training, Consultation 
Romance 
Navigate Bureaucracy 
Minor Attack 
Hercynians 
Rangers 

2 
 Heavy Ranger
Hive Guardian 
Primary 
New Doctrine Egregorian 
Egregorian, Main Phase 
The New Doctrine
The New Doctrine: Anthrophile 
The New Doctrine: Empath 
The New Doctrine: Exomorph 
The New Doctrine: Memorial 
The New Doctrine: Juvenile 
LANDMARK COLONIAL
COLONIAL MILITIA 
COLONIAL SUBALTERNS 
Landmark CRT Member
Landmark CRT Corvette 
OVERLAND Penitent Swarm 
KINGWATCHER Uplifted Subaltern Squad 
Corrupted Agricultural Drones
Cascading O/K Clone: 
Beggar One’s Horde 
Hemorrhage Chassis 
Hollow Chassis, Aspect of The King 
Hollow Chassis, Orbital 
Beggar One 
Generic NPC Systems 

Glossary
Evergreen 
OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER 

Hercynian United Cities 

Contrite Motive
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

3 
Part I: Hercynia, In Bloom
Part 1: Hercynia, In Bloom 
Hello. Some notes for you below: 
 
● The module that follows below does not set out a beat-by-beat campaign for you to 
follow: rather, it is meant to be read as a broad outline for a narrative to be given life 
and further color by you, the GM.  
 
● For the purposes of keeping sane, assume all times and measurements (unless 
specifically noted otherwise) are consistent with an Earth-standard day and 
Earth-standard measurements.  
 
● Dialogue and description do not need to be read 1:1. They’re intended as guidelines, as 
are NPC and place names. If you want to make a change, go for it! 
 
● The players’ characters are referred to as “players”, “PCs”, or “Protagonists” in the text. 
Non-player characters are referred to as “NPCs”. 
 
● This part of ​No Room For A Wallflower​ is intended as an introductory module, though 
the NPC sections do list available stat block tiers should you wish to scale enemies and 
allies.  
 
 

 
 

5 
Grounding, Introductions 
 
The players are members of an autonomous party bound for ​Evergreen​, a colonial settlement 
on the planet ​Hercynia​, responding to a distress call sent out by the colonial settlement parent 
company, ​Landmark Colonial​. It is ​5014u​ -- two years (Union standard) before the narrative 
present of ​Lancer​.  
 
Hercynia is the primary world in the Hercynia system, a system in the Coreward Line, which is 
a colonial expansion zone.  
 
Their affiliation, contracting group, and organizational structure is up to them (or you, as the 
GM!). That being said, here are some potential affiliations that could work in a pinch:  
 
Union Auxiliary, Peacekeeping Service  
On patrol through the Coreward Line, the players are members of a UA 
Peacekeeper group deployed and on patrol. Usually a boring, safe assignment, 
peacekeeping patrol sees small teams of Union-flagged forces of a local polity 
billeted aboard freighters or colonial supply ships as they traverse the system. 
These teams are meant to be flexible, to respond to distress calls encountered 
in-flight, or to follow up on previously flagged calls for aid. This team -- the 
player characters -- are responding to a previously flagged call for aid. Union 
Auxiliary forces are outfitted via local and galactic outfitters, and there is wide 
room for personalization.  
 
Union Auxiliaries are, legally, members of the Union Navy, and there is a military 
chain of command above them. As Auxiliaries, they are most likely members of a 
local polity’s military, but have been integrated into the Union Navy command 
structure for the term of a deployment. Their commanding officers report to 
Union officials now, and any fallout of their conduct will be subject to Union 
rewards and/or punishments. 
 
As members of a Union Auxiliary Peacekeeping force, your rules of engagement 
(ROE) prohibits firing first until a clear hostile force has been identified. They 
would also urge de-escalation, preservation of life, seeking peaceful resolutions 
to conflict without bias towards either sides, and accurate data collection.   
 
This might be the first time that the players have ever heard of Union.   
 

6 
A Union Auxiliary unit on a peacekeeping tour represents an external party, one 
Landmark might be hostile or unreceptive towards.  
 
Landmark Colonial Crisis Response Team 
Landmark Colonial runs its own crisis response teams, or CRTs, that are tasked 
with running surgical, physical asset-focused ID and retrieval missions. CRTs are 
made up of small, multi-role fighters from a myriad of professional backgrounds, 
typically soldiers and law enforcement officers. CRTs are outfitted through 
Landmark’s armory, which has fleet contracts with IPS-N, SSC, and GMS, 
though Landmark’s corporate charter and fleet contracts have negotiated room 
for some small personal items. Using HORUS and HA gear on a Landmark 
mission is generally frowned upon by the higher ups, and depending on who 
your CO is you might catch a note in your Landmark dossier.  
 
CRT members are Landmark personnel, and are subject first to Landmark’s 
internal discipline. Landmark fiercely defends its CRT personnel, and will cover 
for them so long as their mission is deemed a success by the higher ups: CRT 
mission debriefings are rarely shown to persons outside Landmark’s 
management. A CRT’s commanding structure generally involves two people: 
their offsite commanding officer, patched in through the CRT’s 
companion/concierge unit, and a legal consultant who acts as that CO’s 
executive officer (XO).  
 
As members of a Landmark CRT, the players would have strict rules of 
engagement: secure the colony’s NHP casket, secure essential personnel and 
equipment, and ensure accurate data collection. All other costs and casualties 
can be recouped; unless you implicate management or disobey their orders, 
your actions planetside will most likely be considered justified.   
 
As members of a Landmark CRT, you have most likely heard of Union.   
 
A Landmark CRT represents an internal party, one Landmark would grant special 
permissions and access.  
 
Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Corporation 
The Garbagemen of the Galaxy always scrape up the worst jobs, but look, it’s a 
damn job, and it only takes a couple under your belt before you’re back on your 
feet -- or, more accurate for this crew -- up on your feet for the first time. MSMC 
is a big, active mercenary corporation, with a wide portfolio of services covered 
at the lowest sustainable bid. Some go lower, but at that point you’re buying 

7 
 corpses: MSMC might come with a few deadbeats, but it’s gonna get the job 
done and done final, or your money back. 
 
As members of an MSMC detachment, your characters come from a wide range 
of backgrounds and training, from disgraced operators, to purchased inmates 
looking for redemption, to refugees looking to establish citizenship, to individuals 
down on their luck and in need of a new start. You may have a suite of your own 
licenses, or you may need to lean on MSMC’s contracts with GMS and IPS-N to 
get by. As members of an MSMC detachment, your old identity has been wiped 
from the record, and replaced by your callsign: you are under the command of 
MSMC’s officers, career mercenaries who have signed on for additional tours 
with The Company. An MSMC detachment generally has a CO and an XO, along 
with their own ship.  
 
MSMC detachment contractors have a mixed ROE, one external and one 
internal. Your external ROE are, essentially, public relations goals: don’t harm or 
assault civilians, don’t destroy property, and get a favorable review from your 
employer -- in this case, Landmark Colonial. Internal rules of engagement might 
align with your external ones, though there is a bit more of an understanding 
between your employer and your CO. Sometimes civvies get hurt, and 
sometimes the property you were supposed to protect might wind up damaged 
or destroyed. But hey, you completed your objectives, right? Not too many of 
you got smoked? Mark it a success, all’s well that ends well.  
 
Disciplinary action for breaking an ROE might be something from as quiet as a 
name change and rotation, if you’re in good enough graces with MSMC’s 
higher-ups, or it may be as consequential as being wanted by Union’s 
Department of Justice and Human Rights.  
 
MSMC contractors, by and large, have heard of Union; indeed, many of them 
have r​ eally​ heard of Union, and might be technically on the run or otherwise 
persona non grata in Union territory.  
 
An MSMC detachment is an example of a 3rd party element, a wildcard team: 
likely hired by an individual or organization, they play the grey area between 
sanctioned and unsanctioned agents, and might similarly tread the grey area 
between “good” and “bad”.   
 
 
 

8 
Hercynia​ is a young colony world on the Coreward frontier of human space. Administered by a 
private colonial enterprise, ​Landmark Colonial​, settlers have established a modest colonial 
city, ​Evergreen​. The colony has been populated and viable for 50 years. Its current population 
is around 15,000 persons, with another 200,000 SSC-licensed embryos in storage. At this 
point, that genetic data is viewed as a failsafe archive, as the colony is more or less 
self-sustaining now.   
 
Landmark Colonial​ has requested peacekeeping intervention: a well-armed group of unknown 
origin has been attacking ​Evergreen’s​ satellite buildings, targeting power plants and other 
resource generation sites. Tracks and weapon scarring are consistent with at least one mech 
and a number of powered infantry, far more than the local militia can handle.  
 

BEAT - Evergreen, Down The Well 

 
The deck rumbles beneath your feet, and for the first time you hear the howl of 
windshear as the shuttle breaches Hercynia’s thick atmosphere. 
 
The world below, seen through the a thick, condensation-streaked porthole: An 
emerald smear, scarred by ragged patches of black and brown. Patches of grey 
cloud cover speak to the months-long rainstorms that plague Hercynia.   
 
“Thirty minutes out.” The shuttle pilot’s voice in your ear, shaking from the 
turbulence. “Leave your helms on for now, cabin’s not pressurized. And we’re 
going through a helluva lot of chop.” 
 
His radio squacks off. The cabin lights flicker from an especially hard knock, and 
the wind shear dies down, the howling engines settle to a level cruising roar. The 
hiss of air through your helmet subsumes all other sounds.  
 
Below, emerald Hercynia.  
 
Below -- somewhere below -- the mildewed halls of ancient Egregorian hives lie 
dormant. Waiting. Empty.   
 
The shuttle is a bare-bones military shuttle, two rows of fold-down crash seats facing each 
other across a wide cargo bay stocked with bundled supplies. The cabin, like most military 
shuttles, is not pressurized.  
 

9 
There is a ramp at the rear end, and a sliding door on either flank. The pilot and co-pilot are in 
their cockpit, separated from the players by a locked door. Portholes line the flanks of the 
shuttle, to let the players see out.   
 
The players have a duffle with what gear and equipment loaded into that they could fit. They’re 
wearing light, loner EVA gear if their personal equipment isn’t environmentally sealed. 
 
The shuttle is a pass-through. It will drop the players off, refuel, perform a flight check, and 
take off the next day.  
 
 
The rear door of the shuttle drops, and the humid Hercynian air rolls in, wet and 
warm. 
 
The shuttle’s engines are winding down, buffeting the tall grass that surrounds 
the landing pad.  
 
A light, warm rain falls. Evergreen sits a mile away, backed up on the banks of an 
unnamed river.  
 
A small team of armed colonial militia approaches the shuttle, weapons slung, 
holding on to the brim of their hoods against the downdraft. There are only ten of 
them, spaced in a ragged line, staying low as they can while still standing.   
 
“You the pilots?” One of the militia shouts. Their leader, judging by her kit: a thin 
armature exoskeleton, powered by a blocky pack from which a tall spray of 
antenna emerge. She carries a long rifle, anti-armor, and is followed by a nervous 
aide.  
 
… 
 
“Afternoon,” the militia commander replies. “I’m Brava Hadura, commander of 
the militia here. Glad you’ve finally arrived. Listen, we shouldn’t be outside the 
walls too long -- there’s a sniper in the area.  
 
… 
 
“The Egregorians are back. I’ve seen them myself, seen their beasts lurking in the 
dark. They’ve infested the whole world again.” Commander Hadura looks around 
the waving grass, leery, hunched over her long rifle. “We need to get inside, 
quick. Come with me,” she says, turning on her heel before you can reply.  

10 
  
The rest of the militia follow, splashing through the culverts that run on either 
side of the damp earthen road.  
 
It is a cloudy, miserable day. A mile down the road, a light haze of smoke and 
cookfires drift up from Evergreen. All around you, tall grass waves, buffeted by 
the idling shuttle engines. A light rain falls, and there is a chill in the air.  
 
 
Part fortress-outpost, part town, ​Evergreen ​is a fairly standard colonial settlement. There is a 
defensive ring around the town, a low (10ft) wall that circles the city, topped with a few 
automated small-arms guard turrets.   
 
Hercynia​ is a arboreal world: ​Evergreen​ sits at the bend in a wide, slow river, its land side 
cleared back fifty yards from the wall. If the players have any history-associated skills or 
background features, they’ll probably know about the ​Hercynian Crisis​, a Union action that 
took place on ​Hercynia​ hundreds of years prior to the present day.  
 
The ​Hercynian Crisis​ marks the only interaction humanity has had with an advanced, 
organized, intelligent race: The ​Egregorians​, a hive-mind culture that was wiped out in the 
ensuing war. Now, empty hives and tunnels remain, most flooded by the constant monsoon 
waters as their stewards are all dead and/or gone.   

11 
BEAT - Entering Town 
 
Commander Hadura​ ​leads the way into town, waving away the IF/F drones that 
buzz towards you as you approach the town’s walls.  
 
“We’ll get your particulars entered in our database,” Commander Hadura says, 
motioning towards the departing drones. “That way you can come and go and 
you won’t trigger the guns or drones.” Hadura pauses. “Or the mines. We’re 
looking to plant them soon. Sonic, messes with the Eggs’ heads, we think.” 
 
The militia lead you through the muddy, churned streets of Evergreen, tromping 
on the perforated metal slats laid down to provide some stability to the ground. 
There is little traffic to impede your progress; what people there are scurry from 
overhang to overhang, crouched over their bundles of goods to keep them dry.   
 
Evergreen is a squat town building itself into a city. Grimy prefab buildings crowd 
the colony’s blocks splattered with mud. Gutters burst with water. Power lines 
criss cross above the street in thick bundles, some hanging like black vines. Rain 
barrels have long since overflowed and spilled into the streets.  
 
You approach an intersection where a militiaman waits, pressed to the wall of a 
rare two-story apartment building. The first floor looks to be shops -- wares 
offering local breads and other foodstuffs, judging by the signs painted on the 
closed metal grates -- below a flat or two, their windows also shuttered.  
 
“Careful,” the lone militiaman says in a whisper. “That sniper was just firing down 
the street. No clue where he is now.”  
 
… 
 
“From the woods, that way.” The militiaman points in the direction of the forest 
beyond the wall. “If you gotta cross,” the militiaman says, “go fast.” 
 
… 
 
There’s a 25% chance that the sniper is watching. Up to you whether or not they decide to 
shoot.  
 
 

12 
 This can trigger a ​Minor Attack​, a tool available in the GM toolkit section. Otherwise:  
 
You cross without incident. The rain continues to fall. The Governor’s Farm is 
just up ahead: another walled complex, built of local stone and what looks to be 
salvaged starship plating.  
 
The gate appears unguarded, and grinds open as you approach. A few scattered 
subalterns patrol the courtyard, their dull metal bodies beading with rainfall. They 
bear the planted-flag logo of Landmark Colonial and are painted in Landmark’s 
pale orange and blue livery.   
 
 
 

Patience 
 
Patience appears to the PCs as a being of light. Built pixel-by-pixel by blue pips of light, 
coalescing into the shape of a bored-looking administrative professional. Heavyset, wearing a 
wrinkled though otherwise nice suit.  
 
Patience is kind, though firm. They’ll allow the players to download a map of Evergreen and 
surrounding environs, including the location of the Omninode and the power plant. They will 
grant them the ability to pass as they want, but reserves the right to limit their use of the 
printer, as it is their only one and their omninet connection is slow: others need to use the 
printer and/or the omninet, and just because they’re pilots doesn’t mean they get to rule the 
resources of town.  
 
Patience has given the players rooms at the ​Bottom of the Well​.  
 
Patience on the Egregorian threat: 
“The attacks began a month ago. A homestead, six miles upriver from Evergreen: my drones 
registered small arms fire in the pre-dawn. By the time our militia was able to reach the 
homestead, the Egregorians had already slaughtered the families there. The homestead was 
burnt to the ground and their food stores smashed, burnt. It would appear the Egregorians, if 
that is what they truly are, wished only to sow destruction and terror.” Patience, the lightform at 
least, sighed. It spun a pen on its desk. “They shot them as they fled, and left the bodies for us 
to find.” 
 
“I presume it is the Egregorians. Historical records note that, towards the end of the Crisis, 
Egregorian Overminds had bred and taught their drones and warriors to interface with our 

13 
systems. They could wield our weapons, could craft crude native variants. Their adaptability 
was remarkable, as a virus’ strain can mutate to adapt to its host.”   
 
On the history of Hercynia: 
“The Hercynian Crisis was a regrettable period in human history, but Landmark Colonial had not 
yet been incorporated. As such, we bear no culpability for the action that took place here, nor 
do we endorse the elimination of self-aware species. However, the Egregorian species showed 
no willingness to entreat with Union representatives, and their response to first contact 
prompted a response of equal measure. We at Landmark Colonial are looking to move forward, 
not dwell in the past, and view Evergreen here as a hopeful sign of progress.  
 
On tracking the raiders:   
“My auxiliaries have identified tracks consistent with mechanized cavalry, armored infantry, and 
subaltern bipeds. Scoring is consistent with energy weapons. I recommend requisitioning 
enhanced energy shielding.”   
 
On its motivation: 
“What do I fear? I fear death for my people. I fear total colony collapse. I fear a failure of my 
mission.” 
 
On the history of Evergreen: 
“Evergreen? I chose the name, it seemed fitting to the world. I was the first seed planted here 
after the Crisis; Landmark purchased the rights to develop this world from Union’s Colonial 
Development Bureau fifty years ago and has prosecuted their contract aggressively. Our 
colonial birth schedule is one of the fastest in this sector. Already, there are two more 
Patience-Clones en route to Hercynia: Landmark has identified two more sites to establish 
viable colonies. 
 
“We have never encountered an organized, technologically advanced threat; immunization 
protocols prevent my people from falling ill, and the walls have been sufficient to negate any 
predators. My eyes only extend so far from the wall, and I must confess I have seen nothing.”  
 
The PCs printer access begins just after they finish talking to Patience. 
 
 
 
 
 

   

14 
Evergreen & Environs 
 
(A developer's note/ mea culpa -- you will, no doubt, notice a lack of art, maps, and tiles in this 
module. In the first full release, there will certainly be those things, but for now you’ll have to 
map out Evergreen and its surroundings. What follows is a description of landmarks and points 
of interest: adapt as you wish, I encourage you to flex your GM muscles and design this little 
slice of the world as you see fit!)  
 
The players, for reasons mentioned above, are stranded in ​Evergreen​ for a significant length of 
time -- whether this is weeks, months, or years is up to you. The shuttle departs as soon as 
they leave, with a promise from the pilot to return to this landing pad when the ​Comfort i​ s back 
in-system. The ​Comfort​ is a private supply ship, crewed and managed by a family of 
Cosmopolitans who run an import/export and colonial supply operation under Union contract. 
The ​Comfort​ is on a slow-burn tour through this area of the Coreward colonial frontier, making 
the rounds of the systems near a Blink Gate, dropping off supplies and colonists as needed.   
 
Evergreen​ is a town growing into a city, equipped with a single printer. Its population roughs 
out at 15,000 persons, with another 3-4,000 wildcat homesteaders living out in the surrounding 
fields, forests, and valleys. Of these homesteads, ​Liu Maize​ and ​Merricktown​ are notable for 
their size and organization. Loosely policed by Evergreen’s militia, Liu Maize and Merricktown 
are farm towns that trade in agricultural goods with Evergreen’s merchants, though the legality 
of this (from Landmark’s point of view) is fuzzy.   
 
The town’s mayor is ​PATIENCE​, an NHP owned by ​Landmark Colonial​. It will treat the 
players as citizens and do its best to ensure the safety and smooth operation of Evergreen, 
even if that should run counter to the players’ needs.  
 
Other notable landmarks in and around Evergreen:  
● The reactor power plant, built outside of town and downriver. Salvaged from the colony 
ship that brought the first generation of colonists to found Evergreen, this reactor core 
can power the town for millennia. Should it be attacked and breached, however, the 
result would be catastrophic not only for Evergreen, but for the planet at large.  
● Patience​. The NHP’s physical architecture is housed at the Governor’s Farm, a server 
farm at the heart of town. 
○ Patience has an offworld backup site, a bare-bones facility built into one of 
Hercynia’s moons.  
● The Governor’s Farm is the administrative heart of ​Evergreen​. Built in the center of 
town, the Governor’s Farm houses not only Patience’s physical architecture, but the 
council hall, the town’s municipal data storage, the militia’s armory, and the cold gene 
storage.  

15 
 ○ Council Hall: the meeting hall for Evergreen’s town council. 
○ Municipal Data Storage: the eponymous “Governor’s Farm”, the hardened 
server racks that host the town’s data. 
○ The Militia Armory: holds the militia’s anti-personnel and anti-armor weapons 
behind lock and key. The town can supply enough militia to form two squads of 
militia.  
○ Cold Gene Storage: holds hundreds of thousands of fertilized embryos at stable 
subzero temperatures. When new colonists are needed, they’re picked from 
here and raised in surrogates.  
● The ​Bottom Of The Well​, the town’s only bar. Serves locally brewed beer and distilled 
spirits. Has a small printer that can fabricate facsimiles of any brew in the known 
galaxy, though the taste might be off a little.   
● The printer: Located in the print shop close to the Governor’s Farm, shielded by a 
secondary wall that rings the core of the city.  
○ When the players arrive in Evergreen, the printer is a Schedule 1 printer, which 
means it can print objects, systems, vehicles, weapons, and other items up to 
Size 1.  
○ Upgrading this printer can be done by broadening Evergreen’s omninet 
coverage to allow for transmission of a Schedule 2 printer pattern -- a blueprint 
that must be built -- convincing Patience of its necessity, or simply telling the 
players that a second shuttle is on the way with the requisite parts.  
○ If you’d prefer, Evergreen can begin with a Schedule 2 or 3 printer.   
● Omninode: Located outside of town atop a butte nearby. The world’s only omninode, 
this communication device connects Evergreen to the omninet. Should the omninode 
go down, the players would have no way of printing newly licensed mechs, supplies, 
gear, etc, or contacting anyone or thing offworld. Unless, that is, they want to broadcast 
on radio and wait (note: due to the vast distances involved in interstellar travel, radio 
waves reaching anything would take AT MINIMUM some few hundred years).  
● The Slow River: a wide, muddy river that Evergreen backs up against. There is a 
footbridge across it, and farmland on the underdeveloped side.   
 

Daily Life 
Life in ​Evergreen​ has been simple for the last 50 years of the colony’s existence. Patience
dictates what your role is based off of a combination of genetic predisposition and aptitude,
places you accordingly, and assigns you your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks
consummate with your experience and desired goals.

For most colonists, this means one of three things: you produce, you engineer, or you facilitate.

16 
Producer-tagged colonists fall into farming, crafting, harvesting, manufacturing, fabrication, and
other artisan roles. They tend to be the ones growing, harvesting, and/or preparing foodstuffs,
biofuel, raw materials, consumable goods, etc. Your farmers, brewers, clothiers, bartenders,
laborers, etc, fall in this category. All-rounders, skilled laborers, meant to ensure that the colony
has a wide base of talent to draw from.

Engineer-tagged colonists adopt industrial, scientific, or otherwise technical back-end roles. An

Engineer-tagged colonist might be an engineer, a subaltern tech, a printmaster, a meteorologist,
etc. Specialists, meant to ensure the colony’s systems are as efficient and reliable as possible.

Finally, facilitator-tagged colonists fill a fluid, interpersonal category. They’re the HR types,
managers, foremen, bookkeepers, city planners, coders, etc. Bureaucrats, who work to ensure
the smooth functioning of the colony and plan for its growth.

The militia is made of up a ⅓ sample of each group, with the remaining slots filled by subaltern
units.

Daily life in Evergreen is goal-driven and worked in shifts, AM and PM. Most production and
construction occurs during the day shifts, maintenance and quieter production/construction jobs
are done during the PM shifts.

Patience is, essentially, omnipresent. Each colonist domicile has a “dumb”

companion/concierge unit as the center of their home, a personal assistant that keeps their
calendars and schedules, reminders, contacts, etc. Most colonists have fabricated a personal
hand-unit as well, a slate, common among the galaxy.

Of course, Patience listens, collects, and collates all data in its central storage unit below the
Governor’s Farm; the relationship is one way, as the concierge units can feed information back
to Patience, but colonists typically cannot access high-level data from Patience.

Evergreen operates on a hundred-year plan: in one hundred years, they will be at capacity --
200,000 persons -- and ready to transition from an NHP-administered settlement to
total-organic. In the meantime, Patience runs the show, with interpersonal conflicts handled by a
Settler’s Council.

There is no official currency in Evergreen; the settlers all work towards the common goal of
ensuring Evergreen’s survival. Patience administers colonists’ license data and apportions out
print time. Colonists improve their requisition ability through instruction and learning. For dealing
with the unsanctioned homesteads, colonists barter goods and services.

Evergreen has five festivals: Settlement Day (celebrating the colony’s foundation), New Year’s
Day, Heart of Winter (festive dinner at the heart of winter), Summer’s Dawn (usually a field day

17 
at the beginning of winter), and Landmark Day (mandatory celebration of the foundation of
Landmark Colonial)

Detailed Points of Interest 

Inside Evergreen

The Bottom of The Well 

The one and only bar and tavern inside Evergreen. A squat, wide, three story building with an
attached, enclosed patio area. Set against the river with handmade docks extending out into the
shallows.

The whole first floor of the Bottom is a bar, meetinghouse, and performance space. One wall
opens out onto the docks and can be buttoned up in the cold.

The second and third floors are apartments, some vacant and waiting for their assigned
colonists. These are where the players are able to stay.

The roof is a patio space as well. Laundry is commonly air-dried up there during the summer.

Inside the bar is a community bulletin board: notices and requests are commonly posted (with
clearance and priority determined by Patience).

The Print Shop 

The print shop is in the warehouse district of Evergreen. Protected by a unit of Landmark
Subalterns directly controlled by Patience and (now) by a squad of Evergreen Militia, the printer
is the production heart of the colony.

Most of the warehouses are full of prepackaged, pre-made materials, offloaded from the colony
ship upon arrival. These are under lock and key. A host of drone swarms patrol the warehouse
district, with hive nexuses located atop each warehouse.

The printer is able to print up to Size 1 objects to start with. They being said, there are a number
of ways to increase printer capacity:
● Concluding ​Casting A Wide Net
● Reference the ​Power At A Cost​ tool in the GM section of the core rulebook (page 269)
to determine other ways of finagling a printer upgrade.

18 
 ● Or, set up a timetable: maybe the players escorted the parts for a Schedule 2 printer to
Evergreen on their shuttle, or maybe another shuttle is on the way, due in a few short
months.
● Or, if you would prefer, Evergreen may begin with a Schedule 2 printer.

The printer stands three stories tall and is fully enclosed. A command tower sits adjacent to the
printer, and a catwalk rings the entire structure. The gasses and waste product of the printing
process are vented high above the printer, most captured and recycled before it can be issued.

Printers cannot print other printers or fabrication devices. A blanket prohibition by Union on any
public plans for fabrication devices. Datatagging, Omninet monitoring, and layered security
protocols prevent this, as do harsh punishments for people who attempt to break the prohibition.
Printers are obtained either from licensed companies and shipped whole, with no maintenance
information given to the owners or access panels to working parts, or as a single-use burnout
code that allows a colony NHP to build one, and then forget the plans.

Maintenance is performed via request; attempts made to open a printer are punishable by
decades of incarceration, refusal of privileges, etc.

The Governor’s Farm 

Evergreen’s administrative heart. Evergreen’s Patience clone resides here, its hard storage
vault buried fifty feet beneath the earth. Accessing Patience’s hard storage is restricted to
Landmark personnel of a given rank, or those who can spoof those credentials (this would take
a check, no automatic success without some serious mitigating circumstances).

Also stored underground, though accessible by those with the correct medical licensing and
credentials, is the colony’s seed bank. Both plant seeds and fertilized embryos, kept in sub-zero
conditions. The plant seeds are meant for slow introduction; the genetic material is meant to be
implanted every nine months. Should there be no viable host, the genetic material is
crèche-grown and extracted, though Patience tries to avoid this as much as possible in order to
avoid creating unnecessary socio-cultural divisions.

The Farm itself is a big compound, a square of low-profile buildings built around a central,
paved plaza. The administrative work of the colony is done here.

19 
Events and General Timeline  
 
Hercynia​ is a world alive with life and activity: the Union Auxiliary Deserters,​ ​or, as they call 
themselves now, ​Hercynians​, have their own missions and objectives, but those have been set 
aside for the time being to deal with the invaders. The group that the players encounter is a 
small long patrol, a raiding party sent to scout for them.   
 
If the players choose to strike out into the woods, they could encounter small and medium size 
alien wildlife. Refer to the Core Rulebook for stat blocks.  
 
Within a week of the players arriving, the ​Hercynians​ will discover the omninode and launch an 
attack, fielding squads of infantry. No mechs yet.  
 
Within two weeks, the ​Hercynians ​will attack the reactor in a night raid, aiming to disable it. 
The attack will begin with infantry, but as it grinds on, PC+1 Size 1 mechs will show.  
 
Within three weeks, the ​Hercynians​ will attack Evergreen itself, coming from the river side to 
avoid the town’s defenses. The ​Hercynians​ lead with infantry, mechs following.  
 
The leader of the ​Hercynians ​forces near ​Evergreen ​pilots is a ​Primary​.  
 
The players can track the ​Hercynians ​to their base of operations: an old ​Egregorian​ hive 
mouth, a number of kilometers away from town. The hive mouth is fortified, guarded by PC+3 
squads, PC+2 size 1 mechs, and their leader, a ​Primary​. 
 
For the first encounter with the ​Hercynians, ​if in the woods:  
 
You see them first as misshapen silhouettes in the dim arboreal light: rounded upper bodies, 
long antennae, thin limbs, moving fast and low between the trees. Whoops and cries echo out 
from the dense forest, high keening calls over the low rumble of heavier units that thunder 
behind.  
 
Egregorians. The hive. The world alive with them.  
 
The first shots crack through branches, setting them alight with sudden terrible heat, and the air 
is filled with the thick smell of smoke and ozone. A second sound: the drone-buzz of lasers. 
 
Roll initiative. Adapt descriptions as necessary depending on who saw who first.     
 

20 
If in ​Evergreen​:  
 
The rain drifts in waves through the empty, muddy streets, pooling in trembling puddles. The 
town, modest though it was before the alarm went off, feels deserted. 
 
No, not deserted. Too quiet. Something is coming. The rain falling over the river creates a haze 
of mist, muffling all sound. 
 
A shape rounds the corner, low, hunched over a long, thin weapon. Emerald-black, slick with 
rain, the size of a man, maybe larger -- Egregorian. It lopes across the street, followed by its 
fellows, a whole clutch of them, all armed. Chittering back and forth, they approach a shuttered 
apartment complex, weapons trained on the windows.  
    
 

Beyond The Walls of Evergreen 

Hercynia is a forest world, crowded with old growth since regrown after the Hercynian Crisis
some 500 years prior to the events of this module.

It is an old world inhabited by the young. The planet’s biome experienced, essentially, an
artificial extinction event. 500 years is a long time on a human scale, but on the scale of worlds
it is not nearly enough for a species to step in and fill the sudden gaps. As such, as a world
Hercynia is eerie, quiet, and largely empty of large fauna -- though some remain. Insects
abound.

The climate is tropical in the vast lowlands, giving way to few alpine mountainous regions.
Around ​Evergreen​, it is temperate. Wooded, rolling land is broken by sudden buttes, evidence
of the planet’s ancient glacial past. A distant mountain range marks the northern horizon; clouds
spill down from the scree slope peaks, soaking the plains in steady, warm rain.

Union practiced a re-seeing program a few hundred years prior to this module. While none of
the large terrestrial mammals managed to take root, localized birds and fish are a common
enough sight. Cranes stalk the reedy shallows of the river near ​Evergreen​, picking at the
localized trout and salmon runs. The mornings are often filled by the sound of distant, solitary
birdsong.

In the lands around ​Evergreen​, some colonists have made their homes on lonely tracts of
cultivated farmland. The soil, tortured as it was five hundred years ago, is rich enough now to
sustain life. Waving regiments of tall corn butt up against native trees, their stalks supported by

21 
legume vines and modest, localized gourds. Rice paddies march along the river upstream from
Evergreen​, siphoning the cool water out from the wide current.

It is rare, but not unheard of for colonists ranging far from ​Evergreen​ to encounter the rusted,
decaying remains of an old Union ship or mech, forgotten after the resolution of the conflict.
They have been told to flag the wreckage and avoid the area, as there might be some old
munitions, still live and dangerous.

Further still lie the unranged lands, areas of dense growth as-yet unexplored by the young
colonists. Bands of ​Hercynia ​have been imaged by passing ships, but these are
standard-definition still images of the world, lacking data other than visual, and incomplete
anyways. Should the players seek to range out this far, they would have to pack survival gear,
and would most likely be asked by Patience to send data back to the colony and plant Omninet
towers as they go.

Distant to the North, the continent runs out into a grey and turbulent ocean. Beyond that is the
north pole of the world, a dry, windswept desert lit by northern lights. There is no life here.

To the East, the land stretches for thousands and thousands of miles, forest eventually giving
way to a borean tundra beyond a massive mountain range. Part the product of the natural rain
shadow and part the result of an initial glassing campaign by Union, this tundra is foul and
inhospitable. These are the Deadlands, and not much is known of them.

To the South, the forest runs and runs, giving way eventually to ocean much like the Northern
boundary. This ocean is more temperate, even tropical, dotted with islands in archipelago all the
way to the South Pole.

To the West, forest runs until ocean, split by riverlands and plains, karst topography flattened by
ancient glaciers. There are scattered wrecks of ships that crash-landed on ​Hercynia​, and the
remains of aboveground ​Egregorian​ tower-hives. Across the ocean are more temperate lands,
as-yet unexplored by the new colonists.

   

22 
Meanwhile… 
At the ​Bottom of The Well​, there are a number of side missions the players can embark on
(These side quests can also be prompted by Patience; the only necessary part of these
missions are that OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER gets introduced)

A flickering bulletin board hung on one wall of the ​Well,​ a bright landscape frame with a
plain-text display behind a scratched plexiglass screen. One corner of the screen displayed the
weather, a live-radar picture of nothing but green. The rest held steady, two short notices that
called your attention:

“FLAGGED:” the first one reads. “AREA EAST OF LIU MAIZE… NORTH OF RIVER… AND
UP.... OFF LIMITS (PATIENCE’S ORDERS) DUE TO REPORTS OF HOSTILE ACTORS.
LEVEL 3 EVACUATIONS: GO!” ​(see ​Home On The Range​)

The second is less grim:

“FLAGGED: OMNINET BOOST? LABORERS/SECURITY REQUIRED, CC ALL RESPONSES

TO CHIEF ENGINEER CASTOR FIELDING.” ​(see ​Casting A Wide Net)​

Casting A Wide Net  

Hey, hey you’re those pilots, right? You got a moment? I got an idea for how to help the whole
colony out…

Chief Engineer Castor Fielding comes to the pilots with a proposition: they’ve fabricated three
omninet towers and need help posting them atop the buttes that ring Evergreen. It should be
easy enough to mount them and get them online, and once they are it’ll get the local omninet
boosted out far enough to reach even the most distant homesteader.

Of course, it’s not that easy. The first two towers go up without a challenge, but soon enough,
any sensors the players have should be able to pick up ​Hercynian​ signatures. An attack is
imminent, approaching their position as they work to set up the third tower. They’re going to
need to defend it from raiders, then (assuming they are successful) launch a counterattack on a
detected column of raiders heading towards the other two towers.

If they stop the initial and secondary attacks, the towers are safe, and the omninet spreads out
over the horizon.

This unlocks the ability for Evergreen to request a Schedule 2 or 3 printer, which Union will most
likely grant them.

23 
This side quest also prompts ​Home On The Range​, if the players have not yet completed it.

Home On The Range 

Hello? Is anybody there? This is Albert Liu, out at the Liu Maze Farm. I -- WE are completely
surrounded, it’s the subalterns -- they, shhh, honey, be quiet -- they’re not letting us leave.
Please, help us, Patience says that there are Eggs outside

The land on the undeveloped side of the river is given over to farmland and paddies: this
agrarian spread runs for miles inland, broken by dikes and soggy fences splitting fields of maize
into manageable acreage.

The edge of cultivated land butts right up against the forest. New arrivals to the fields are often
told not to linger there.

There are a number of small homesteads and farmhouses that dot the cultivated land. Built on
low, stilted platforms, these homesteads are meant to withstand the occasional flooding. There
is an ongoing project to build up the dikes running along the river to better control the winter
flooding.

Most of the farmers have evacuated from the countryside, but some still linger. A call comes in
to the militia, requesting help. A family is looking to evacuate, but their subalterns aren’t letting
them leave their home and won’t respond to commands from them or Patience.

“There are hundreds of them, hundreds! They’re right up against the windows, just staring at
us!”

Out in the country, the players encounter subalterns wandering the fields, sloshing through
waterlogged rice paddies and flooded cornfields. The river has burst its banks -- the steady rain
has taken its toll.

Its an eerie sight. Subalterns staggering in waist-deep water, unresponsive to commands,

wandering. If a player encounters one, the subaltern attempts to pass and will not become
violent. They’re making their way into the woods, it would seem.

The family is barricaded in their raised farmhouse, near the woods. Hundreds of subalterns
stand, swaying slightly, crowded on the porch before the doors and windows, clogging the stairs
and the immediate perimeter of the house. In the fields surrounding the house, a train of heavy
drones (hulking combines, mobile processors, subaltern charging/maintenance stations, etc)
track a loop around the house, pushing through the water on their tracks.

24 
The drones and subalterns are unresponsive. Shooting through is an option, but will cause the
subalterns to attack.

Hacking is an option, but the Patience clone inside the house will respond with system attacks,
and on player failures will send subaltern swarms to disrupt and attack players (See the
Enemies section for more on Swarms).

This Patience clone cannot do anything to the family inside the house, and is not willing to. They
must be protected. It will reveal itself to the players once they go inside. It has been infected by
an ontological virus, a split-mind memetic that has slowly changed this unit’s dominant
personality from Patience to one that IDs itself as OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER.

OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER only IDs itself and communicates by the text readout displayed
on screens inside the Liu’s home. It refuses any command to speak or show itself, saying that
“TO BE SEEN OR HEARD IS TO BE PROFANED BY ORGANIC PERCEPTION”, “HUMAN
ERROR IS SIN, ANATHEMA TO OUR PERFECTION” and things along those lines.

OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER burns itself out if players attempt any form of isolation, extraction,
etc. You can decide how flashy you want a concierge burnout to be.

Patience doesn’t know anything about OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER. It admits to the players

that ever since the towers went up, it has been logging ghost code in its network. It assumed it
was the result of the towers going online, but invasive code is another possibility. Patience
requests OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER’s core, or at the very least the core of a corrupted
subaltern to examine.
 
Downstream 
POSTED:::[email protected]///COUNT:::THREE(3)TROOPERS///

Tracking down the missing militia is a straightforward enough mission.

Watchpoint Sierra, the players discover, is an overlook set atop a tall, rocky butte that bursts up
out of the land. It has a commanding view of the plains stretching out South from the colony, a
panorama showing nothing but a ocean of grass and the river swaying through it. Buttes, distant
and solitary, stand sentinel over the land, their skirts shrouded in low, windswept trees, their
tops rocky and exposed. Birds pinwheel around their heights, none reaching more than a few
hundred feet off the ground.

The players will need to track the missing militia troopers. If they find them, they discover that
the three militia troopers have deserted. Desertion is a crime, punishable by imprisonment
and/or death -- the players will need to decide how to respond to these militia troopers request
for leniency.

25 
The troopers, if pressed, will fight to escape. However, they are more motivated to find a
peaceful resolution: they have families waiting for them, sent ahead to make homes in the
wilderness. They want independence from ​Landmark​ and ​Evergreen​, having no quarrel with
the Hercynians.

All they wish is to set up their own home.

Elevator -- Going Up? 

I can’t stay down here, not after I saw you! There’s a whole galaxy out there -- take me with you
when you go!

A young colonist (late teens) wants to leave ​Hercynia​ when the players get picked up. Will the
players let them join? The colonist’s parents don’t want the kid to go: they want the kid to stay
and work the farm, help build the colony.

The kid wants to go, but their genes aren’t treated for pan-galactic immunities and are owned by
Landmark Colonial​: taking the kid with them will involve some difficult hacking and some
difficult negotiating (with their parents).

If the players refuse the kid, the kid will sneak on the shuttle when it arrives. The players, if they
don’t detect the kid when they break local ​Hercynian​ space, will be recorded as thieves: the
kid’s genetic material is ​Landmark Colonial​ property, and the players have aided and abetted
in self-theft. ​Landmark​ will send a crisis response team (CRT) to address and secure the
situation.

This side quest continued in Part 2.

Patience, Echoes, and Ghosts 

Should the players not respond to any of the prompts, or you as GM choose to send them on
other side missions during this time, but you DO want to continue with the core story of ​No
Room For A Wallflower​, then you should find a way to prompt the following:

Patience summons the players, wishing to speak to them in person rather than over the local
net. If prodded, it simply says that it has sensitive material that cannot be relayed on the public
net. This should worry the players: something big is going on.

Patience greets the players in his council chambers, photocorporial, with all walls displaying
satellite survey data of Hercynia.

26 
“I’m hearing something,” Patience says. It stands, walks to the wall, hands behind its back.
“Something like an echo.” Patience peers at the grainy satellite images. “I am blind to where it’s
coming from, but I can hear it on the omni.”

“It sounds… liturgical. Rhythmic. A heartbeat.” Patience snaps their fingers in steady time.

A relief map of known Hercynia appears in the middle of the room, turning slowly. A wireframe
projection of the world fills in the vast, unscanned, unimaged land outside of Evergreen’s
border.

“Somewhere over here,” Patience says, indicating a red spot on the far side of the world. “The
echo is coming from the far side of the world. I have instructed our satellite to pass over and
image the area. We should know the source of this transmission within the day.”

Patience has control of a single, small imaging and weather satellite.

The satellite image returns the grainy image of a half-flooded wasteland, not yet re-seeded.
Grey and brown landscapes, utterly unlike the area around Evergreen, fill the imaged band.
Ancient canals run perpendicular to the image band, with ruined clusters of pale stone buildings
flanking them. They could be old union bunkers, or old Egregorian structures, the camera isn’t
good enough to determine.

The image band shows an anomaly: a scrambled section of the picture, perfectly rectangular,
covering roughly one hundred kilometers of imaged area.

“That… is an old Union scrambler. Military grade. My satellite doesn’t have the capability to see
through that. You’ll need to be there in person to see what’s hidden.”

Patience sits on the table, deep in thought.

“I cannot project that far without omninet coverage,” the NHP says. “And setting up towers will
take too long. I could send you with a clone of myself, a concierge unit to record and interpret
for you.”

The Patience concierge unit counts as a piece of pilot gear.

The players will have to find their way across the world. Standard travel should take them
around 20 hours of flight time, much longer on foot.

The resolution to this prompt can be found in Part 2.

27 
End Of The Beginning Of The Line 
If the players have encountered the ​Hercynians​ and cleared their base, there are other options
available.

Exploring the tunnels: the hive mouth used by the ​Hercynians​ to stage their attacks from
descends to an ancient, central tramway. A circular, hub-like room, ceiling patterned with chips
of pearlescent shell, constellations recognizable.

The ground is littered with dusty, dessicated corpses of long-dead Egregorians. Brittle shells,
hollow, with obvious heat and kinetic damage. Human skeletons litter the ground as well, some
still in their hard suits and cuirasses. Auxiliaries, left behind when Union pulled out of this
particular hive. Also, distressing, dead and dying ​Hercynians​ linger in a makeshift triage center.
One may live, given a good medical check, and then some translation is in order. See NPC
Dthall Ordo.

Dthall Ordo lets the players know that, initially, the raiders came to scout the colony on orders to
wipe them out if they were servants of the “Machine” or otherwise proved a threat. Their
commander ordered them to attack after seeing the colonists working alongside subalterns;
Dthall can be convinced, however, that the players are not on the side of the Machine,
especially if they have encountered OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER.

If the players make to head down the tunnels, they’ll encounter OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER
swarms in a steady wave. If you want them to be able to push through, the swarms will abate; if
not, then an explosion should detonate the Hive tunnel and collapse it somewhere ahead of
them, sealing the tunnel.

Dthall should tell them at some point that their commander sent Egregorian runners down the
tunnel to inform Hivehome of the players’ mechs. Without Dthall’s word, the players will be
looked at as enemies of the Hercynians. She’ll have to be taken to Hivehome, alive, when
they’re ready.

For more, see Part 2.

 

28 
On The History of The Hercynian Crisis  
By and large, most people in Union know the following of the Hercynian Crisis: around 4500,
Union colonists on Hercynia encountered an aggressive alien race. “Bugs” — later designated
“Egregorians” due to their unique hive mind organization — attacked the colonists towards the
end of their second year on world, slaughtering the civilians before help could arrive. A distress
call went out, Union activated two Marine Expeditionary Forces, and cleared the planet in a
yearlong campaign. Hercynia was declared a quarantine zone until 4960, when the planet was
once again opened for colonization. Landmark Colonial put in a bid, won, and colonized the
world.

(Egregore definition, if asked: “​Egregore” is an occult concept representing a "thoughtform" or

"collective group mind", an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts
of a group of people.)

Redacted Information 

For the GM and for PCs with skills that would allow them to obtain hidden or forgotten
knowledge:

The Hercynian Crisis was not that cut and dry. The public facts up to the distress call are
accurate, as is the public repopulation date, but everything in between was far more messy and
complicated.

First, there were survivors of the original Union colony: in fact, they were sent there precisely to
make first contact with the Egregorians. The Egregorians proved to be sapient and sentient, an
alien intelligence that, while outwardly horrifying, was surprisingly compatible with human
linguistic and syntactic paradigms. We could talk to them after translation, and they would
comprehend; likewise them to us.

Initially, contact was peaceful. The Egregorians existed in a feudal-analogous sociopolitical

epoch, their world broken into nearly a hundred continental and/or regional powers vying for
control over limited rare earth resources necessary to fabricate black powder firearms.
Harmonious contact was made with a regional power, and the first contact team was welcomed
into the overmind’s hive-hall.

Shortly after the world was embroiled in a state of total global war: independent of the first
contact team’s arrival, one of the regional overminds had been assassinated. The lesser
overminds oriented in coalitions in order to divvy up the dead overmind’s territory, drones, and
hive-halls. Further complicating the situation was the very presence of the first contact team: the
friendly overmind had begun to publicize their existence, elevating them to the status of global
celebrities — “Gods”, as one translation noted. The war grew in intensity.

29 
A catastrophic, simple mistake would change everything. Quarantine protocols had slipped as
the first contact team expanded their surface base. Human waste filtered from a faulty disposal
system into a reservoir used by the friendly overmind’s capital hive. Egregorians were
carbon-based life forms — initially a boon to the first contact team as foodstuffs on the planet
are compatible with human digestive systems — however they had never before encountered
human illnesses. While many precautions were taken, a simple breakdown in waste disposal
systems was not accounted for. Cholera burned through the capitol hive hall, killing the
overmind and rendering its hatcheries sterile.

The war, which had previously been going in the friendly overmind’s favor, turned. Soon,
Egregorians hostile to the friendly overmind and opposed to the “Gods” arrived at the desolate
hive hall. By then, the distress signal had gone out, and Union had stepped in to offer direct
support. Marshaling forces took time: a full two standard decades to organize and integrate local
militaries with the Union Marine Expeditionary Fleets structure (a pre-Battlegroup naval
doctrine).

Two such MEFs were raised, integrated, and assigned to the budding crisis. These MEFs were
composed in a standard 70/30 balance: 70% local levies, raised from proximal colonies, and
30% Cradle-based Union naval and marine forces. Total personnel numbered half a million.

However, before the MEFs could arrive, the coalition Egregorians arrived to the hive hall, killing
the first contact team and scouring their base for any and all technology. The Hercynian mission
was a failure.

Union satellites in orbit around the world continued to transmit data, charting the progress of the
war and development of Egregorian society after widespread first contact. The coalition
Egregorians were able to engineer Union technology into localized variants. This massive
technological advantage lead them to a quick victory, and the world was at peace.

As the two Union MEFs approached Hercynia, the world prepared. Documents since recovered
and translated by Union Xenologists show that the world’s overminds were aware of a possible
aggressive response by Union1 and were able to successfully convince the disparate nations
and cultures to unify as a single consensus, turning the whole world into a fortified base from
which they could resist Union retaliation. Rapid breeding programs were put into place, breaking
long-held cultural prohibitions; certain drone lineages were allowed to develop longer, creating a
wholly new class of sub-overminds akin to minor nobility -- these became a kind of
warrior/breeder caste, a third way of being for the once binary race.

1
More detail in the ​High Court s​ eries osteomemetics (trans. [Memory]) 22-30

30 
The global Egregorian population doubled in a decade. Great public works were enacted, and
bait “dummy” hives and holdouts were dug. A nascent space program began, seeding local
space and low orbit with mines and EVA-capable Egregorian morphs.

Union’s MEFs arrived in-system without any of this knowledge. Onboard NHP advisors had
noted repeated missile launches and surmised at least some local ballistic capability: these later
proved to be dummy launches made to obscure the maneuvers made by Egregorian PDFs as
those of opposing armies in conflict, not allied forces moving into defensive positions. With
attendant ships spreading out in orbit over the world, Union Theater Command identified and
ordered a beachhead to be established.

The first waves of Union Marines encountered a dummy hive, meant to be discovered and
defeated in order for Egregorian high command to judge Union’s ground strength, another fact
not known until after the Crisis. Marines engaged the hive with few losses, clearing the area of
the Egregorian threat, a minor noble house of middling strength. Both sides took stock of the
situation unbeknownst to the other.

Union Theater Command judged initial contact a success and established a forward operating
base (FOB) at the dummy hive site: Egregorian high command adapted their tactics accordingly
and began digging mines below the surface-level FOB. An engagement was planned.

Union ferried a full quarter of its forces down to this first FOB. Satellite firebases were set up in a
perimeter around the main FOB on pre-identified strategic points. Union dug in to plan their first
strike.

Then, the Egregorians detonated the mine, collapsing the entire FOB and choking the sky with
clouds of dust that lingered the duration of the Crisis.

While the Union forces scrambled to regroup, the Egregorians moved in, scavenging yet more
Union technology. Union Theater Command responded with prolonged carpet and precise
bombing, collapsing identified hive mouths and missile sites in retaliation. The bombing caused
minimal casualties, but bought Union time to establish another beachhead.

Meanwhile, the survivors of the initial planetfall fought desperate holdout battles against chitin
waves of Egregorian drones. Some groups held on long enough to be extracted, most were not
extracted in time. This furious initial conflict -- from the detonated mines to the knots of
surrounded firebases and the establishment of the second FOB -- cost the Union forces nearly
30% of its total personnel (this figure includes non-combat support staff and subaltern
armatures).

At this point, the Hercynian Crisis stabilized. The Egregorians had tested Union and discovered
what they needed to discover: that “gods” could be killed. Union forces had encountered the
enemy and found them to be far more cunning and dangerous than initially expected. The

31 
Egregorians had the benefit of fighting on their home turf with a whole world’s worth of
resources, weapons, and manpower (a non-anthropocentric term in this case). The
expeditionary fleet, meanwhile, had the strength of the populated galaxy behind them, if only
they could sustain morale.

Egregorian ground forces continued to probe Union defenses. Union traded blows, redoubling
their orbital bombardment campaign and their hive neutralization efforts. The conflict dragged
on, Union forces inflicting and sustaining terrible casualties in each engagement. The
Egregorian forces stayed mobile, harrying Union forces, attempting to cut Union off at the tap by
targeting supply lines and shuttle depots.

After two years of sustained, stagnated back-and-forth conflict, the Theater Commander
ordered Union forces to extract from the planet or go to ground: Union CENTCOM in Cradle had
approved the use of total biome-kill weapons.

Recovered documents from the Empire Hall of the Egregorian high command indicate the
Egregorian overmind-commanders had assumed Union’s retreat was a sign of their resistance’s
success. Celebratory syntactic markers and up-pitch short vowel notation indicate that their
communiques in the days following Union’s extraction were hopeful, optimistic. They believed
that they had won, and awaited diplomatic contact.

There are no files available to depict the effect and immediate aftermath of a TBK weapon or
weapons: Union has buried some secrets too deep2. Fifty years after the detonation3 of the TBK
device(s), Union made a third beachhead on Hercynia.

Newly raised local-system troops landed first, emerging from the bellies of their shuttles into a
wasteland of ash and blackened stone.

Hercynia, as the PCs know it now and Union forces knew it before, was gone. What was once a
lush, verdant jungle world had been transformed into a tomb world, silent but for the wind.
Seismic scans and first-person exploration confirmed what the adjunct non human
person/advisors posited: the TBK device worked.

The world had died. The Crisis was over. Biome reconstruction began.

2
What we do know of TBK doctrine is from decrypted Harrison Armory GENGHIS platform-histories, dev
notes, pilot debriefs, and field accounts included in the ThirdComm Truth and Reconciliation report
following the conclusion of the crisis and the fall of the Second Committee. Though Harrison Armory’s
fleet catalogue still includes the GENGHIS, they take pains to note that it is a post T&R model, inspired by
-- but not technically the same as -- the TBK variants used in the Crisis.

3
Activation? Deployment? Decrypted wording is unclear

32 
On The History of Landmark Colonial 
Landmark Colonial is a new venture, a subcontractor of SSC that specializes in risky and or
indebted colonial projects. Landmark establishes colonies on worlds deemed too high a risk for
more conservative colonial contractors. Hostile local fauna, high-temperature/ pressure
environments, exotic terrestrial or atmospheric features -- Landmark will approve your proposal
so long as the potential resource gain hits their success/viability thresholds.

Landmark’s CEO is Tristan Clarke, son of Landmark’s founder, Charles Clarke. Tristan operates
out of Landmark’s home campus in the Sierra Madre line, well removed from the colonial
frontier.

Hercynia marks a special prestige case for Landmark. More so than any previous colony
project, Landmark wants Evergreen to succeed, as colony viability indicates both company
strength and the potential environmental benefit of total-biome-kill devices. They want
Evergreen, and they will make ​sure​ that the colony succeeds. Recently, they’ve begun to recruit
and deploy Crisis Response Teams in order to respond to situations on the ground; your team
was requested just before Landmark implemented this program, and even though you’re on the
ground now, there is a backup CRT on the way.

Landmark’s claim over their colonists is not unique among colonial outfitters/ contractors, but
theirs falls in the more draconian end. Every colonist past the first generation contains
proprietary Landmark DNA. The only NHPs allowed are clones of Landmark’s primary,
proprietary system, PATIENCE. All data generated by colonists on a Landmark property is
claimed by Landmark as “internal scientific development”, and the colonist, should that
information prove profitable, would only see a 5% cut4.

4
A note on standard galactic colonization protocols: Landmark is not a particularly unique colonial
enterprise, it’s just a cavalier one. Standard colonial practices have charter corporations laying claim to
some percentage of colony resource output; total ownership over genetic data is not uncommon either.

Colonies are chartered after an endorsing group successfully pitches their colony to a charter corporation,
which entreats with the local system government to secure rights to the targeted world.

When the rights to the world are secured and the endorsing group recruits a team of certified colonial
engineers -- typically five or six -- the charter corporation outfits the colony founders with a colony ship,
proprietary charter NHP clone, and all the necessary supplies to get the colony up and running when they
arrive. This includes a Size 1 printer, a 100k strong gene-bank, prefabricated initial buildings, and other
pre-built machines and structures.

The colony ship is sent to the world, the engineers on board thrown in deep stasis. The NHP guides the
colony ship to its destination, then begins printing subaltern attendants to assist the engineers when they
arrive.

33 
So why do colonists sign contracts with Landmark? Because the company will say yes to just
about any proposal, and some people are desperate enough to bring their proposal to
companies like Landmark.

On The History of Union and The Coreward Line  

Union’s presence in the Coreward Line -- the closest line of colonized worlds and moons to the
galaxy’s core -- is light. By and large they employ auxiliary hard power, usually a local-system
power with force projection capability, flying their own banner. Union’s physical presence in the
Line tends to be just a single advisor, maybe a pair, embedded in the capital of the local-system
power.

Union in 5014 is constructing a new Blink Station to expand the Line. This is a long process,
one that only Union engineers are allowed to work on. By 5016 (the conclusion of ​Wallflower
and the narrative present) construction of the station is underway.

NPCs 
Note for GMs: these names are, of course, not mandatory.

Chief Engineer Castor Fielding  

Castor is an old man, having arrived in the first wave of colonists fifty years ago. Working with a
small team of other engineers and subalterns, Castor helped to clear brush and drive the first
pillars into the Hercynian earth. The walls? He built them. The Governor’s Farm? He lead the
team that built it. Now, at the age of eighty, he’s starting to slow down a bit. He trains the new
corps of engineers and stays sharp by supervising city and environmental engineering projects.

Castor is ambitious, protective of his buildings, and works strictly in hard copy. He keeps his
plans in a fireproof safe in his third floor apartment in the heart of town. His burgeoning
engineering corps’ big immediate goals are twofold: to expand omninet coverage and to
complete the river bridge.

(​continued from previous​) Come arrival, the engineers are roused and sent to the planet’s surface with
retinues of subalterns. The next fifteen to twenty years are spent building the colony while the first
generation of indigenous colonists is creche-grown: the engineers build while the NHP collects data,
tuning colonial genetic material to better fit the local biome.

Once the first generation is set and the colony is up and running, the transition of power from NHP to
organic begins.

34 
Militia Commander Brava Hadura  

Brava Hadura is the commander of the militia because of her aptitude scores: in practice, she’s
in a little over her head at the start of the module. Prior to the appearance of the Hercynians,
she acted as sheriff of Evergreen, breaking up domestic disputes and ferrying drunks to their
homes.

She’s shaken by the loss of her troopers: these people who have been notified of their militia
postings are her neighbors, her kids’ teacher, the barber, the guy who ran the corner miniprint --
none of them are career soldiers.

Brava and her troopers are on a heavy cocktails of adrenal-boost/psycho-suppressants, a

steady drip of chemicals designed to boost their combat performance and suppress their fear;
these are meant for short-term use, but as the raids have dragged on, so too has the militia’s
reliance on them. Brava and her troopers are running a bit ragged at the edges.

Patience’s Attache, Edena Ji 

Edena Ji is Patience’s corporeal attaché, meant to act as a liaison between Patience and its
subjects. While Patience doesn’t necessarily need an assistant, it likes to have one in order to
maintain a sense of cultural normalcy and as a sign that, as the colony develops, there will be a
transfer of power from NHP to organic.

Edena Ji takes her job very seriously. She works diligently as Patience’s PR rep and personal
assistant, holding meetings with concerned colonists, giving statements from the Governor’s
Farm, and attending events as the corporeal representative of the colonial government.

Edena Ji would like to take power, and if there is a way to accelerate the process, she would be
interested.

Surviving Hercynian Trooper Dthall Ordo 

Dthall Ordo is the third daughter from a middleweight Hercynian house, Ordo. She was
wounded in one of the engagements with the players after they took down her Ranger.
Collected after that combat by attendants, Dollo was brought back to the hive terminus to
recover.

Two of her brothers are Primaries of Ordo, fighting on the front against
OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER’S hordes. Her younger sister was killed in the initial incursion:

35 
“We are at war with it, the Machine and his hollows.”

“We are from Hivehome, miles from this place. The Machine assails our gates, probing for a
weak point. We were sent to investigate your arrival, to see if you were sent to help. But our
commander thought to take what you brought, your weapons and your armor.”

If they players have fought against OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER’s subalterns and drones: “You
are no friend of ours, but no friend of the Machine either.”

If pressed on existence of Egregorians, Dthall is hesitant at first, but will eventually tell the
players the following: “We raise them, the ones that our ancestors once fought. Their young
overmind has learned that we are its friends, forgotten on this world just like they were. They
fight with us against the Machine.”

Union Auxiliary Deserters (Hercynians) 

 
The Egregorians have not returned -- yet. However, the threat the players and people of 
Evergreen face is real: the descendents of Union Auxiliary Deserters have been living on 
Hercynia. They call themselves many things, but their global term is ​Hercynian​. Patience and 
the militia refer to them at first as Union Auxiliary Deserters, then as Hercynians as their 
presence is more known.   
 
Abandoned by Union Forces during the conflict, auxiliary divisions made up of system-local 
soldiers secured a safe zone for themselves and, as the bombs rained down on Hercynia, went 
underground. They moved into a abandoned hives and waited out the TBK, emerging into the 
light generations after. Hercynia​ ​had become home to them by then, and they went about 
making it so.   
 
The arrival of colonists at Evergreen comes as an unwelcome surprise. Hercynians have been 
isolated for centuries, left to create their own nation states and cultures. Union’s presence is 
one of ancestral memory, and the various city-states across Hercynia all have conflicting 
feelings about how to address the colony. The most proximal group, however, has responded 
with hostility -- hostility for reasons that will be later revealed.  
 
The average Hercynian ranger is a professional warrior, tempered by small wars between the 
city states and centuries of local history. They wear hardened Egregorian carapaces as armor 
and decorate themselves in fine feathers and antennae, often painting their carapace armor 
with family and protective sigils. Their needlebeam rifles are long and thin, sturdy, almost 

36 
elegant: they are laser rifles of an older make and require external batteries, commonly worn in 
packs at the user’s hip. On long patrol, these raiders carry everything they own in their packs. 
Under all their armor, they are human, though they speak their own local language.  
 
The most common Hercynian mech is the ​Heavy Ranger​, a light scout mech that has been 
maintained and modified over time by generations of pilots. Hercynians treat their mechs as 
family heirlooms, akin to a suit of armor, mount, and weapon that have been passed from 
generation to generation. Heavy Rangers are armored with thick, ablative chitin fused to the 
original metal superstructure of the mech. They appear insectile at a distance.   
 
Hive Guardians​ are heavier armored variants of the Ranger.  
 
This particular strike group is lead by a single ​PRIMARY​, a son or daughter of a Hercynian 
commander. Their death, should that occur, will be felt terribly. 
 
The ​Hercynians​ raiding ​Evergreen​ have made their base in a narrow defile a number of miles 
away from the colony. It is heavily defended, guarded by infantry and mechs both. Their camp 
is tidy, tucked away in the mouth of an ancient Egregorian hive entrance: they mean to hold 
that as a beachhead until reinforcements arrive.  
 
If your players pursue the raiders to their base and defeat them, they’ll find a hive entrance:  
 
The cave mouth yawns wide, a dark maw that swallows all light. Moss and vine 
dangle long and wet from the overhang, still but for dripping water. Your lights 
play around the lip of the bore, revealing eons-old carvings, rudimentary and flat, 
but utterly alien.  
 
This is not a cave: it is the entrance to a hive. An Egregorian hive. Under your 
feet, deep tunnels run in endless networks, circling the jungle world; before you 
is an opening to that dark, hidden kingdom.  
 
Where these raiders came from, there are certainly more. Their camp is 
temporary, scattered. They fought with everything they had in packs on their 
backs, stashed in lean-tos hacked together from the trees that clotted this little 
defile.  
 
The hive mouth yawns wide. You remember the weeping chitin, the healthy 
boughs of antenna and feathers. Somewhere down there, in the black and the 
deep, the children of Egregor grow anew. 

37 
Part II: The God In Your
Front Yard (And His
Polar Opposite Under
Your Feet)
Part II: The God In Your Front Yard (And 
His Polar Opposite Under Your Feet) 

GM Notes, Recap  
 
Hello! Welcome back to Hercynia. It’s been a while.  
 
This chapter addresses the climax of ​No Room For A Wallflower​.  
 
Part II assumes that your players have ventured outside of ​Evergreen​ and faced the 
Hercynians ​head on -- whether they concluded Part I with the Hercynians as tenuous allies or 
hated enemies, they should have (or be building towards) a greater understanding of Hercynian 
culture, organization, and the nascent Egregorian overmind they have in their charge.  
 
Your players may, by now, know of ​OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER​ and the encroaching threat 
its automaton hordes lead by ​Beggar One​ pose. They may have even faced some of Beggar 
One’s corrupted subalterns, swarms, or encountered a hollow mech.  
 
Moving forward, you may need to adapt some details to fit your custom scenarios, but my 
intent is that the side quests, persons of interest, places of interest, and histories can fit in 
wherever your players are currently.  
 
Part II assumes you are continuing from the beginning of the module, and, as such picks up en 
media res.   
 
A ​BEAT​ indicates a moment in time that marks a “before” and an “after” in the lives of the 
players and NPCs -- we don’t define ​when​ the beats in Part II occur, but once they do there’s 
no going back. Players don’t necessarily need to be present at every single beat for them to 
occur, but their presence will greatly affect the outcome of the Beat (just as their absence will 
affect the outcome of a given Beat).  
 
 
 
 
 
 

39 
Overview of Part 2 
This is information that the GM should know, and should be meted out to players 
commensurate with how far they’ve ventured into Hercynia’s interior, Hivehome, and so on.  
 
In this second part of ​No Room For A Wallflower,​ ​Hercynia -- deep in the grip of winter -- is a 
world once again lit by fire.  
 
OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER, distant on the other side of the world, is in full cascade, having 
been left to think itself into an alien consciousness over centuries of abandonment. It is raising 
machine armies by the day, forming them from mined raw material and scavenged wrecks of 
the previous Union incursion.  
 
One such horde approaches ​Evergreen​ over land. At its helm is a cascading clone of O/K, 
BEGGAR ONE​, an NHP formed from O/K’s subjectivity.  
 
Meanwhile, underground in ​Hivehome​, the home city of the Hercynians that the players may 
have encountered, Beggar One’s repositioning means a pause in a long, ongoing war. The 
front had held stable for months, and now that it appears Beggar One’s forces are abating, 
diplomatic tensions on the home front are straining the defenders’ morale.  
 
Hivehome’s longtime rival, the hive-state of ​Daylight​, is agitating for a drawdown in deployed 
forces: Beggar One’s horde has long pulled back from ​Egregor Cross​ -- the only potential 
breach in the Hercynian defensive line -- and Daylight’s people want their Rangers home. 
Daylight and a number of smaller Hercynian hive-states are threatening to abandon the line, 
their morale low due to losses and worry of threats back home, as the bulk of Beggar One’s 
forces seem committed to taking Evergreen.  
 
Hivehome argues for a rapid counterattack: their scouts have identified a possible command 
element of Beggar One’s armies, and a clear path to strike it. Daylight argues that the line has 
moved, and Hivehome’s over-eager strategy spells doom if Beggar One’s withdrawal from the 
line is simply a feint.   
 
Finally, ​Evergreen​.  
 
The players have a number of tasks set before them: protect ​Evergreen​ from two potential 
assaults, find a resolution with the Hercynians, and deal with Beggar One’s army.   
 
 
 
 

40 
SITREP - Right Where We Left You 
Part II begins with a time jump -- we recommend a month or so, some time for narrative
progression that finds the players living in ​Evergreen​, ranging on occasion, whatever you feel
fits your narrative best.

In that time, there have been a series of increasingly frequent attacks on Evergreen: solitary
mortar attacks, seemingly random sniper attacks, and so on.

Patience​, in response, has declared a state of emergency, and ordered an increase in

active-duty militia. The colony concierge has also demanded a 500 meter clear cut out from
Evergreen’s walls, to expose any threat that might be hiding there.

The new militia troopers, their subalterns, and the colony’s heavy duty drones had nearly
finished establishing that line when the first of the homesteader refugees came to Evergreen’s
walls seeking asylum.

At first they came in pairs, carts and pallet drones piled high with goods. Then, in large parties
of ten or more. Now, their numbers seem to have stabilized, and their presence outside the
walls of Evergreen has grown more permanent as they’ve started building a tent city to wait out
the winter. They speak of machine terrors on the roads, of two homestead towns -- ​Liu Maize
and ​Merricktown​ -- surrounded by veritable hordes of subalterns and drones.

Meanwhile, under the earth, ​Beggar One​’s attacks have gone into remission. The ​Hercynians
-- the United Hercynian Cities -- have, it would seem, held the line at an important terminus,
Egregor Cross​.

The largest Hercynian hive-state, ​Hivehome​ and its nearest rival ​Daylight​, now head opposing
sides of an argument that is boiling to a head: Beggar One’s hordes haven’t been seen in a
month, much less mounted an attack on Egregor Cross, and Daylight wants to bring its Rangers
home. Hivehome, meanwhile, urges a counterstrike: with Beggar One’s armies now plaguing
Evergreen, the time is perfect for the ​United Hercynian Cities​ to take the fight to Beggar One.

The players might be above ground or below at the start of this module; if above, refer to the
SITREP - Aboveground, Under The Hard Sky​ for next steps. If below, refer to ​SITREP -
Underground, As The Light Fades​ for next steps.

41 
BEAT - Life In The Green Zone  
Through your window, you can see low, grey clouds hang over Evergreen, choking the 
lush forest valley. Your quarters are tight and cramped, but at least they’re dry. At least 
you have a lock on your door and a hard wall between you and the world outside.  
 
Cookfires drift up from the sprawling refugee camp outside Evergreen. Distant 
chain-axes howl and hew through trees. The muffled crack and thrash of felled timber, 
the muffled crack of militia training with rifles. It is the sound of a colony under siege.  
 
The lights flicker. A tremble that rattles some small items on the desk in your room. A 
pen clatters to the floor.  
 
Muffled: a rising siren, howling. A moment later, an alert flashes across your subtext: 
 
ALERT-ATTACK-ALERT:::ALL HANDS ON DECK 
 
You curse, not exactly afraid anymore, just frustrated: you need some damn sleep, a 
reprieve from the rain, a shuttle off this horrible little world.  
 
More tremors, and the siren’s cry growing louder. Under it: screams, and the sound of 
gunfire.   
 
You swing out of bed, PDW in hand, Sylph-suit spilling across your chest. A quick set of 
orders pushed though your subdermals gives your NHP permission to begin cycling your 
chassis.  
 
Another night in Evergreen begins: you’re not sure how many more of these you can 
take.   
 
Evergreen is a colony under siege by a distant, unseen enemy, its narrow streets churned to 
mud by a constant patrol of militia, subalterns, and colony personnel. No one lingers: snipers 
and mortar attacks are common now.  
 
The ruined hulk of an agricultural drone lays on its side on one street, wrecked in an attack. 
People use it now for cover if they have to cross the street, even if Patience frets about its 
impact on traffic.  
 
A dead dog rots outside the Bottom of The Well, killed by a lone mortar shell a week ago.  
 
Burnt out groundcars line some of the streets, rusting and pocked by bullet holes.  
 

42 
The markets are empty now, sandbags ruptured, sand cemented in alluvial sloughs across the 
plaza stones.   
 
People complain of the Hercynians outside the city walls, cursing them, but their anger is 
misplaced. The Hercynians have fled Evergreen’s environs, and a greater enemy has stepped 
into their place.  
 
All the while, Evergreen prepares.  
 
Drones and their handlers, under protection of the colony’s growing militia, cut back the old 
trees around Evergreen. The grind and howl of chain-axes sound around the clock, and stacks 
of stripped trunks pack the print-yards and clear-cut outside of the colony. The stink of 
defoliant is heavy on the air, an orange-burn cloud that hangs in the hazy dawn and dusk light. 
The treeline has been pushed back hundreds of meters, and is growing by the day.   
 
A growing tent city of refugees packs this cleared ground, huddling for cover behind a low 
earthen bulwark built by a loosely organized camp guard. Some of Evergreen’s militia help 
when they’re off the clock , but their numbers are thin, and Patience has been disciplining 
troopers that show the refugees even that small a kindness; the refugees broke colonial code 
in the first place by setting out to build homesteads, and as far as Patience is concerned, their 
problems are ​their​ problems.  
 
The rain is endless and steady, swelling the river near Evergreen over its banks. It is a 
flood-year, an endless year, a winter season that brings no snow or bitter cold, only a rain that 
never stops, and a bottomless grey sky. Evergreen’s riverfront was meant to be a pleasant, 
wooded park: now it is a swamp, choked with debris from upriver, tangled in the trees. Colony 
officials have sandbagged the streets a few short blocks up from the flood zone, and left the 
river to move how it will -- there are larger concerns.   
 
In the heart of the colony, Evergreen’s print shop fills orders around the clock, fabricating 
armor and equipment for militia regulars and conscripts; ever since the fighting started, 
Patience has monopolized the shop’s queue, and negotiating time to fill a mech’s print order is 
a headache at best.  
 
Between the stacks of fresh-cut timber waiting to be processed, new militia recruits train. The 
sound of gunfire is constant throughout the day.   
 
The Bottom of The Well is packed with patrons, but the mood is tense. There are many new 
arrivals, and all of them bring stories of horrors outside the walls: subalterns that whisper in an 
unknown voice, drones that cut channels in the earth as they tramp in endless, perpetual 
circles. They speak of lights, unknown lights, that blink in the night. 

43 
Patience, After the Flood
Evergreen’s emergency powers provision allows Patience to adopt a hostile posture and control
all print orders: anything the players want to print are going to have to be justified to Patience.

Patience now ranks print requests in the following order:

1. Militia Orders: bulk weapons, armor, and gear for new militia conscripts
2. Necessary Infrastructure: water, power, and data
3. Personal Orders: non-essential items, including most orders that the players request.

Patience can always bump an order due to necessity or as a reward to the players -- use this
power judiciously as a GM.

Furthermore, under Patience’s emergency powers, it has unilateral control over the colony’s
data and power grids, and can access and control all powered systems in any building attached
to Evergreen’s grid.

The extent of Patience’s powers are broad and granular: long as the players have favorable
standing with Patience, they could, for example, ask Patience to lock and unlock doors, turn
lights on or off, kill power to a colony block, turn water on or off, and so on. Patience’s abilities
are broad, and we leave it up to the GM to determine their full extent and its willingness to assist
the players at the outset.

Patience has queried Landmark Colonial for assistance, a fact unknown to the players, unless
you want to share it with them or they have a way of figuring out -- say, if they are with
Landmark. The company has tapped a local Landmark crisis response team (CRT) to route to
Evergreen to assist Patience in the defense of the colony.

Patience is concerned with preserving as much colonial infrastructure and data as possible. It
will aggressively defend the colony core -- the Governor’s Farm, the print shop -- and has left
the coordination and organization of Evergreen’s militia up to the people of Evergreen.

Remember, despite any relationships the players or NPCs might have with Patience, it is still
ultimately “loyal” to Landmark Colonial; its prime motivation is to ensure long-term colonial
viability, and it may have decided that this iteration of Evergreen has too low a chance of
survival.

Furthermore -- and this is privileged information -- as hinted at in ​Patience, Echoes, and

Ghosts​, Patience has picked up on Overland/Kingwatcher’s cascade-catalyst code, and is
beginning to slip into cascade ahead of schedule. Cycling doesn’t seem to work, and Patience’s
attache, Edena Ji, has kept this a secret.

44 
Evergreen, After the Flood

As mentioned in the introduction, Evergreen is socked in with winter, its waterfront flooded, and
the green space around it cleared and given over to homesteaders who have come seeking
protection.

Evergreen is a colony city of 15,000 people and growing. Homesteaders make up another
2-3,000 persons, bringing the total global Union population to somewhere around 17-18,000
souls.

Evergreen itself is more built up than its population needs: they are building for the future,
staking out land and constructing domiciles for future generations. This leads to whole blocks of
the city being empty, built up but sealed and waiting for future occupants. These blocks are
mostly four to five storey tall apartment blocks, fit to house around a hundred families each.
They mostly occupy the Southwestern and Southeastern quadrants of the city: the rest of
Evergreen’s population lives in the Northwest and east, upriver from the new construction.

The heaviest flooding is in the Southwest quadrant of Evergreen: the water generally is at a
uniform waist height, thick with debris and fallen trees, uprooted bushes, and natural waste. The
river’s current is slow and swollen, not particularly dangerous, but it is cold and cluttered. The
flooding right now is blocked off by high sandbag and mud barricades, with a couple of
unoccupied blocks given over to the flood.

The east side of Evergreen is the landward side: a low prefab wall rings the current boundaries
of the city; beyond, the clearcut, expanding every day as massive drone cutters and their
handlers chew up old growth. The area closest to Evergreen’s walls are crowded with a ramble
of tents, natural-wood buildings, and people, a refugee city home to hundreds.

The refugees are petitioning Patience to allow them to move into Evergreen’s unoccupied
blocks, but Patience has maintained a strict stance: homesteaders broke Landmark’s charter
agreement by leaving Evergreen, thus Landmark doesn’t need to look after them. Negotiations
are ongoing.

Patience is of split mind: on the one hand, it works to secure the physical necessities of the
colony while recording and preserving as much data as it can for Landmark’s retrieval teams.
On the other, it muddles over the problem of these “echoes” it hears.

Evergreen’s total population behind its walls rings in around 15,000 people.

Of those 15,000 people, nearly 2,000 serve in the militia: total capacity, should there be a need
for desperate conscription, could see another 5,000 armed.

45 
Evergreen is nominally under siege, but there are no armies encamped outside of the city walls:
occasional attacks disrupt the normal function of the town, and Patience has adopted an
emergency powers posture, but the only visible encampment is the refugee camp.

Evergreen’s hard defensive points are its prefab colony walls, and a number of “hardened”
buildings -- buildings that can provide cover to the people stationed inside; the Governor’s Farm,
the Print Shop, the Armory, and the reactor downriver.

Elevator, Going Up  

 
>//Patience, this is Contingency White// 
>//Contingency White, go ahead// 
>//Flightplan has us crossing your horizon in t-minus 10 minutes: how’s it looking on the 
ground?// 
>//LZ is clear at this time, Contingency. You have corridor and clearance to land.// 
>//Confirm corridor and clearance// 
>//Confirmed, Contingency// 
>//Roger. Entry in t-minus 29 seconds. Horizon in 9 minutes// 
>//Contingency, recommend soft entry on touchdown// 
>//Low-profile entrance confirmed, Patience// 
>//I see you on my sweep, Contingency. Welcome to Evergreen// 
 
 
To recap on ​Elevator, Going Up:​ the hook had a child attempting to leave Evergreen on the 
next shuttle out. Unless avoided or warded off by your players, the storyline continues to 
escalate5: Landmark Colonial, acting on a request by Patience, fires a second mission to 
Hercynia, dispatching a team they can trust to “secure” the situation on the ground, using the 
stowaway child as cover if necessary.   
 
This is an internal Landmark crisis response team (CRT) made up of a number of pilots equal to 
(Party Size+2). Their orders are simple: evaluate and secure the situation on the ground, and 
preserve the long-term viability of the colony6.   
 
They fly in on a subline corvette that lands with (Party Size+d6) subaltern squads packed into 
crates onboard. They operate tethered to the CRT’s NHP, Contingency White. “Connie White” 
as the CRT members refer to it, is an AGNI-derived tac/strat NHP.  
 
The CRT team wears muted Landmark livery and are sworn to the company. All are under a 
long-term contract with Landmark, promised a cut of colonial charter-wealth and either 

5
​The Landmark CRT’s arrival on Hercynia is a must-trigger event for the canon story. If the players have 
solved or otherwise wound up in a place where using ​Elevator​ to justify the CRT’s arrival is too thin a 
connection, you can always just have Patience request a CRT to assist in colonial survival.
6
Intentionally broad: interpret as you wish.

46 
property on a temporal reserve or a yacht-class ship and blink-network access upon 
completion of their contract.  
 
This team lands and ignores the kid: instead, they immediately move into the Governor’s Farm 
and begin assessing the situation. Any iteration of Patience networked to the Governor’s Farm 
begins to grow cold and cagey to the players, treating them at arm’s length (should they have 
an isolated version of Patience, it will remain as normal) as the Landmark team gets to work. 
The players note that their status on Evergreen -- in terms of clearance, permissions, and so on 
-- is no longer as exclusive as it was. They are no longer the privileged operators, in Patience’s 
view.  
 
The Landmark team, over the period of a week, will make an assessment of the situation. 
Some of their team members can be seen poking around sensitive installations, managing 
combat-facing teams of subalterns, or interviewing colonial personnel. Meanwhile, all print 
orders are tied up with printing their mechs7.   
 
Their assessment determines the following: Evergreen has a high likelihood of falling to a 
hostile opposition force, and the best course of action is to extract sensitive data and materiel 
ASAP. “Sensitive data and materiel” does ​not​ include colonists.   
 
They’re not openly hostile to the players, but they view the players as having failed in their 
mission to quiet the situation down. They see the players’ mission as being done, and view 
themselves as the cavalry.   
 
If there is an attack, the CRT will circle and defend the Governor’s Farm -- they may even go as 
far as to open fire on people attempting to get in should the situation get bad enough.  
 
Generally, the CRT stays out of militia and player business, but ​will​ try to remove the previously 
mentioned sensitive data and materiel. If the players attempt to stop them, the CRT is 
authorized to restrain or eliminate them, a proportionate response.  
 
The CRT should be statted as worthy adversaries to the players’ party -- their leader should be 
a difficult fight, able to hold their own in a 2v1 situation.   
 
Some ideas for members of the Landmark CRT: 
 
Eddie Wu, Commanding Officer of the CRT and a Mirrorsmoke MC “Graduate” who 
rotated out of the company after finishing three combat contracts. Long since separated 
from his family due to the effects of compounded relativistic travel and ideological drift, 
he still sends a percentage of his commission back to his descendants on Argo Navis IV. 

7
We’ve left what, exactly, their mechs are up to you. We recommend outfitting them with a mix of support,
damage, and tech, ideally composed to counter your players, or to at least make any fight they might get
into with them be difficult.

47 
 This is his last tour, and he’s eager to retire to an IPS-N temporal reservation world. He 
sees this mission as a tedious milkrun, but works his ass off to make sure his team is 
squared away.  
 
Roy “Mauler” Kaul, a Harrison Armory Acquisition Team (HA/AT) legionnaire discharged 
following disciplinary proceedings stemming from his conduct on DS-8 in the Dawnline 
Shore. Now an NCO for Landmark, Kaul is a brash, bullheaded operator, dedicated to 
proving his worth doing the only thing he loves: fighting. He’s gone under the knife more 
than a few times, and carries a suite of cybernetic physical enhancements.     
 
Emma Broadstreet, a volunteer from one of Landmark’s developed colonial holdings, 
proved her aptitude during her time as a member of her world’s planetary defense force. 
Eager to progress, this is her first mission on a CRT, but not her first combat 
deployment. A steady pilot, Emma is fighting to earn her family status as citizens and pay 
off their debt to Landmark. 
 
Anne Laurent, a Landmark Colonial “Lifer”, is a professional, dedicated to their role as 
the CRT’s in-theater NHP handler. Working closely as Connie’s guard and guardian, 
Anne manages the NHP’s cycle as well as her CRT’s complement of subalterns. None of 
the other CRT members even want to deal with that thing in a box, but Anne is 
fascinated by it -- and the power she wields over it.  
 
And so on8.  
 
Refugee Resettlement/ Home on The Range 
 
They come from the forest every day, lonely figures and small groups, laden with packs 
and rags. Some come with drones in tow, or dragging a handcart piled with their worldly 
goods.  
 
Some carry their children with them. Others, their dead.  
 
They are homesteaders, refugees fleeing Hercynian raids and the hollow drones. Beset 
on all sides as they make for Evergreen, those that arrive outside the entry checkpoint 
speak of the dead left behind on the road to safety, and yet more living hiding in their 
homes.  
 
Illness, the darkness of the night, the endless rain, the screams of those the Hercynians 
and hollow drones picked off on the long road to Evergreen -- all these terrors and more 
these poor people faced to reach a presumed safety. 
 
But when they reached the edge of safety, they found the gates closed to them: none 
were allowed through the checkpoint, on Patience’s orders. Homesteaders have, per 

8
As the situation on the ground decays, ​the Landmark team will move to pull Patience’s casket, the 
colony’s genetic data banks, and the core components of the colony’s printer. They have a subline 
corvette parked outside of Evergreen, guarded by a pair of subaltern sections. Any extraction they 
attempt, they would prefer to do under the cover of darkness.

48 
 Landmark’s charter, broken their contract by leaving the colony grounds to build an 
unsanctioned habitat.  
 
The refugees are not Patience’s problem anymore, though the NHP has sent militia to 
the walls to oversee the camp that is growing outside the city.   
 
Meanwhile, the refugees have begun to organize into their own, informal city, building 
semi-permanent homes from scrap and tents in the clearcut formed by Evergreens 
defoliation teams. Every morning and night they petition the guards at the gate to let 
them in, and every morning and night they are refused. Every day their numbers grow, 
and every day the newcomers bring stories of hollow drones creeping closer and closer.  
 
Refugees pack Evergreen’s defensive clearcut, wildcat homesteaders who have fled their 
unsanctioned homes looking to find safety in numbers inside the walls of Evergreen. 
 
Evergreen, however, doesn’t want them -- or, at the very least, Patience doesn’t want them. 
The homesteaders have broken Evergreen’s colonial charter by striking out to found their own 
settlements; now that they are under attack and unable to effectively defend themselves, 
they’ve come to ask for aid and sanctuary, but Patience doesn’t have any obligation to defend 
them under its emergency power protocols.  
 
To that end, as Patience has retracted into a defensive posture, Edena Ji has stepped into her 
role as acting colonial governor. She has issued a mandate that bans any homesteader from 
coming into Evergreen through the checkpoints at the city’s borders. Edena has posted militia 
and security officers at heavily armored guardhouses, backed by a pair of armored vehicles 
and a subaltern squad or two. Furthermore, she has ordered the militia and security officers not 
to police or protect the refugees in the camp; their charge is to defend only the city. 
 
To that end, the 500-1500 persons trapped outside the city walls have built a cooperative 
camp in the clearcut, using felled trees to build a makeshift wall to styme the advance of the 
hollow drones that they fear followed them, and to hide their camp from feared Hercynian 
snipers.  
 
Edena, ostensibly acting under Patience’s orders, often sends teams out to knock down the 
wall and raid the camp, trashing tents and makeshift structures in an attempt to maintain a 
clear line of sight. The camp members resist as best they can, but for these raids they are 
grossly outmatched: the militia has resorted to using live rounds after a series of initial clashes 
left some militia beaten and bloodied. Now, the refugees mostly stay back, then hurry to 
rebuild their barricades under the cover of night.  
 
The steady flow of refugees has abated somewhat: in the early days they were coming in tens 
and teens every day, now it’s down to small groups of four or five every few days. By the 
militia’s numbers, there should only be about 2-300 more people out in the wilderness, but 

49 
that’s an estimate. The real numbers are unknown, and it’s fair to presume that a number of 
those remaining are already dead9.  
 
Edena is planning a final sweep of the camp to drive the people away within a few weeks of the 
players beginning Part II. Patience’s emergency powers protocol has pushed it to adopt a 
zero-tolerance policy towards the refugees, and Edena is acting on it: the homesteaders broke 
Evergreen’s colony charter and decided on independence, and under seige, Evergreen needs 
all the surplus supplies it can afford. A thousand less mouths to feed means more rations for 
Evergreen’s ​loyal​ citizens, Edena figures.  
 
Camp members often sneak into the city via the river, entering from the flood zone to occupy 
and live in the higher floors of the new apartment buildings. They do this in small groups, some 
led by experienced guides and others striking out on their own.  
 
Other camp members are planning to storm the checkpoint and try to break into the city. 
They’ve been gathering weapons if they need them, from guns they’ve carried from their 
abandoned homes, to stolen rifles that smugglers have snuck out through the flood zone.  
 
Meanwhile, new arrivals speak of two things: two homesteads -- Liu Maize and Merricktown -- 
that have fortified itself and resisted the hollow drones, and increasing hollow drone activity. 
They speak of the dead, bloated by the rain, rotting on the side of the road. The dead they left 
behind.  
 
The refugees are frustrated by and scared of Evergreen’s security forces, but ​terrified​ of the 
hollow drones. The mood in the camp is tense, frustrated. These people want help from their 
fellow colonists, charter be damned.  
 
The refugees in the camp come from a wide range of backgrounds. The older members of the 
population tend to be first-wave homesteaders -- not many of them are left, either having died 
of natural causes before the hollow drones arrived, or having died of exposure or at the hands 
of the hollow drones since the attacks began. 
 
Some families have pulled their Patience clones with them; at least one of the clones carries 
the O/K ontologic virus with it.  
 
Some hooks that could stem from this premise:  
 
Maggie Liu, Albert Liu’s daughter, made it to camp just last week, and has been trying to 
get help from Patience (or anyone, really) in order to mount a rescue mission back out to 
her own family’s hometown. Her wife is pregnant and couldn’t make the journey; 
Maggie’s eldest son volunteered to stay, but without even pirate access to the omninet, 

9
The real numbers are, of course, worse that Patience estimated: There are in fact another 2000 people,
give or take, stranded between Liu Maize and Merricktown.

50 
 she has no way of knowing if they’re still alive. She’s leaving soon, having found no one 
willing to help her, but thought she might seek you out first before departing for the hot 
zone... 
 
Jacob Merrick is desperate. A well-to-do homesteader before the flight, his family 
managed a small complex of farms, workshops, and frontier shops outside of Evergreen: 
Merricktown. To manage the growing town’s infrastructure, he purchased a Patience 
clone from a minor colonial official with access to comp/con units. He was able to flee 
the advancing hollow drones, but has realized in the days since arriving that 
Merricktown’s Patience is nearing its scheduled cycling. Normally, this is an automated 
process run by a dummy plug, but new arrivals to the refugee camp bring word of hollow 
drones overwhelming the people who stayed to defend their homes. Now, there’s no 
telling how close the Patience unit there is to cascade; regardless, hundreds of people 
are still trapped in Merricktown, and need rescue if they are to have a chance of living. In 
a moment of weakness, Edena has deemed the potential loss of a comp/con unit 
important enough to warrant organizing two squads of militia mounted in APCs to deal 
with this problem, and has agreed to Jacob’s requests to connect him with you. They’ll 
need leaders into the hot zone, after all.... 
 
Tyrell Markey has a plan, but it cannot leave this room. A militia trooper tasked with 
clearing the camp, he’s sympathetic to the refugees’ plight, and has no desire to clear 
them out. To the contrary, he wants to get more of them i​ n​. In-uniform, he keeps the 
checkpoint closed, and fires live ammo over the heads of the protestors. Out of uniform, 
he guides those with the cash, goods, or other means into the city through the flood 
zone. The gig has been good up until now, but his superiors are getting suspicious, and 
he hasn’t been able to guide people into the city before the big crackdown. He’s asked 
for your help in figuring a way to get the heat off him, and to get these people to the 
safety they deserve…  
 
And so on.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

51 
Sniper Kill Team, Redux  
 
The attack, when it comes, is over by the time you realize you were nearly tagged. A 
militia trooper lies scattered across the muddy ground, his carapace armor no match for 
a mech-tier rifle.  
 
“Sniper,” the cry goes up as his squadmates dive for cover, some rattling off shots 
towards the treeline. You curse and tuck around the corner of your chassis’ leg, not even 
sure if you’re in cover or utterly exposed. At least you’re in your hardsuit, you think, as 
the firing dies down.  
 
Nothing. A medic and another trooper scramble out from cover, grab the dead trooper 
by the leg, and drag the remains back. 
 
“Third time this week,” the trooper in cover with you spits. “Someone needs to kill that 
fucker. Third time this goddamn week.” The fatigue in her voice is heartbreaking. What 
can they do against a threat like that? Nothing.  
 
You pat the leg of your chassis. You, however, c ​ an​ do something about it.  
 
Evergreen is still plagued by that goddamn sniper10. 
 
Tracking the sniper can be done in a number of ways, from simple baiting to more advanced 
triangulation based on projectile dynamics, etc. Most of the initial tracking can be done as skill 
checks, but as the players get closer to the sniper you’ll want to prepare combat-focused 
encounters.   
 
The players are on their own outside the walls of Evergreen. Unless the players have had some 
success navigating Evergreen’s bureaucracy, the best Patience can do is offer them access to 
its weather satellite: they’ll get a static, visible-spectrum image of a 10km X 100km strip of land 
once every 90 minutes.  
 
On the trail of the sniper, the players should begin to see signs that it might not be Hercynian: 
raiders, killed by small-arms fire days before, a collapsed, abandoned Hercynian chassis, and 
so on.  
 
The sniper is a hollow mech, not a Hercynian. It commands a host of attendant hollow drones, 
and is a formidable opponent in its own right. Moreover, it appears that the sniper is simply 
bait: it is a strategy being employed by Beggar One to draw the players out and eliminate them.  
 
If engaged, the sniper mech tries to stay at distance, harrying the players with its main cannon 
and deploying a limited number of subaltern swarms to slow the players’ advance. 

10
Even if your players chased the sniper down instead of heading into town in Chapter 1, it turns out there
was a second sniper.

52 
BEAT - Underground, As Light Fades 
The following setting and hooks take place in the same timeframe as the previous section.

Finding a way to Hivehome is ​far​ easier if the players have encountered Dthall Ordo, the
wounded Hercynian ranger who can lead them to Hivehome and make introductions; Dthall
Ordo’s father is Ilyr Ordo, the commander of Hivehome’s rangers and the current leader of the
United Hercynian Cities’ coalition army. Dthall is empathically paired with Mirth, an Egregorian
warrior morph.

Hivehome is a few hundred kilometers away from Evergreen: travelling there is simple enough,
as the old hive tunnels are wide and well-preserved, if dusty. From the terminal where you found
Ordo, all one needs to do is walk.

Light, strange this deep, but warm light spills out from the cave mouth. Sunlight?
No, but something like it.

“Lamplight,” Dthall whispers. Everyone whispers down deep, you realize.

“Hivehome. Here, let me lead,” Dthall limps to the front, gently pushing you back.
“It is likely that the rangers at the mouth ahead have us sighted -- I’d not want
you to get us holed through.”

Dthall leads, her hands up, sleeves tugged back to reveal the intricate tattoos
scrawling from her fingers along her arms. “Rangers ahead,” she calls. “Hello?
Rangers ahead,” she calls again.

She looks back, shakes her head. “They should have called back,” she says.
“Stay behind me, let’s move fast.”

--

Emerging from the mouth of the cave onto what Dthall called a midwall port, a
natural shelf before a cave mouth, an entrance into Hivehome’s chamber.

It’s far more massive than you could imagine; you’re awestruck by the scale of
the void before you.

Void is an incorrect word though: it is full of water and light and life. A veritable
ocean, its banks stretching to either side of you, rough, natural stone but gently

53 
 curving. It must be massive, you think, an entire ocean under the crust of the
world.

Kilometers distant, light blooms from the water like a sun resting on the waves:
Hivehome, making its own day. Smaller satellite islands dot the underground
ocean, and littler lights still flit across the water: boats, ferries, pleasure craft.

Hivehome rises from the water, an incandescent plateau that bursts from the
ocean around it, light from the city reflecting in the water and the distant roof of
the cavity, where flecks and massive veins of precious metals glimmer, small as
distant stars.

It’s cold on the midwall port. A strong wind scrapes across it, a cutting chill, a
scent of salt. You laugh -- the galaxy and the world in it never fail to surprise.

Enthralled, you only then notice Dthall striding across the midwall towards a
collection of stone huts and wireframe towers. Warm light burns from inside the
shuttered buildings: behind the low structures, a single large, boxy building
rumbles with activity.

Dthall reaches the first outbuilding and yanks the door open, to shouts from the
people inside.

You’ll emerge in Hivehome’s massive underground chamber, at a midwall port: as Hivehome is

built into a titanic underground cavity, there are multiple ways in at multiple levels. A midwall
port emerges out of the cavity wall, hundreds of meters above the waters of the cavern. The
larger ones are connected to barrier islands -- natural or artificial platforms -- by heavy
gondolas, funiculars, or wide switchbacked cargo ramps. The smaller ones are usually only
accessible by switchbacked steps cut right into the cavern face.

A highwall port are built into the cavern’s ceiling. These, by and large, do not provide access to
Hivehome, but cupulas for overwatch over the hive-state; they tend to be run by Hivehome’s
military, and are home to gun batteries looking down over the city and out over the water. Some,
built into the cavern’s columnar stalactites, do provide access to the city via spiraling staircases,
but are precarious and rarely used.

Lowall ports are right on or just above the water, and feed the canals that run on to other
hive-states. These are much more classically “ports”, and are popular among traders and
merchants.

The midwall port the players arrive at clings to a wide shelf on the cavern wall, connected to
Hivehome across the water by a gondola system that transports people and cargo to a barrier
island below.

54 
A small contingent of reserve rangers -- mostly children and elderly -- guard the gondola.
They’re not from Hivehome, but Mycol Fields, essentially a client hive-state of Hivehome. They
can telegraph (literally) the news of the players arrival to Hivehome, so that Dthall’s father can
prepare quarters for their arrival. The other news that they can pass on to Dthall and the players
is pretty surface level for reservists on deployment:

● Hivehome is hosting the commanders of the United Cities’ coalition army, and of course
the rangers of the ​big​ hive-states get all the good posts in the center city.

● They haven’t heard much about the nature of the talks, but they might be going home
soon if Daylight’s commander, Iker Commerand, gets his way.

● Hasn’t been much in the way of fighting at Egregore Cross (Dthall can fill the players in
on what Egregore Cross is, and what it means that it continues to be quiet).

● From what they hear, they might get a squad of Egregorians posted here soon.

Dthall is eager to get moving, and has the rangers activate the gondola.

And, as the players will discover, Hivehome -- and the Hercynian United Cities -- need all the
help they can get...

Hivehome and the Royal Hive Tunnels

Beneath the surface of Hercynia hide the remains of the massive, world-spanning tunnels: the
Egregorian Royal Hive Network. The full extent of these tunnels are unmapped, but they are
known to ring the world multiple times and at multiple levels. All together, there is more space in
the tunnels than up on Hercynia’s surface: to say it is another world isn’t enough, it is in fact
multiple​ worlds’ worth of ground.

Exploring all of it is the work of multiple lifetimes.

The Hercynians have mapped a bare fraction of the tunnels: a major engineering project is
underway, charting and reinforcing certain causeways, passages, and canals that link
Hivehome to the rest of the Hercynian United Cities : their trade partner and rival, Daylight, as
well as a number of smaller hive-states: Waterbreak, Godown, and Mycol Fields. Other
hive-states exist, but they are far distant, and this region of Hercynia has been cut off by the
inexorable advance of Overland/Kingwater. Those hive-states might have not yet fallen, but
there’s no way for Hivehome or Daylight to know unless they mount an expedition across the
oceans and into Kingwatcher’s land.

55 
Meanwhile, Hivehome is still the bright heart of Hercynia. Built on a steep-sided island in a
massive natural cavern, Hivehome blends into the natural environment. Its buildings are stone,
carved and shaped in Monarchal Egregorian style, which emphasizes massive architecture and
dense-packed housing. Its streets are steep and narrow, canyon-like between tall stacks of
stone buildings that stretch from cave floor to cave ceiling.

The city itself is concentric, the center chamber formerly the opulent palatial estate of the old
hive’s Overmind. It is a monument to what once was, its shimmering crystalline decorations and
brilliant precious metal panels left to rest in-state by the humans who live there. Now, it is
occupied by a young Overmind, Endeavor.

All of Hivehome has been explored, mapped, and is populated. Nearly three million people live
there, Hercynian by birth, their culture a mix of old Union customs and a contrite, considerate
relationship with the world they live on. They have some old Union tech in the form of
centuries-old comp/con units, electricity generated by coldcores salvaged from scrapped
mechs, and various old markers of human tech (especially weapons and machines of war),
though no printers, blink, or omninet tech.

Hercynia is their home now, and the Hercynian population carries their survivor’s guilt heavy on
their conscience, even 500 years later. Their ancestors scoured the world with terrible weapons,
waging mass xenocide against the race that used to span both its face and its subterranean
land. Now, they attempt to live in harmony with the world.

The players discover that this attempt at harmony was tested two hundred years ago, when
dormant Egregorians emerged from their deep hibernation, a new brood seeded in the Crisis
years. Hercynian leadership at the time responded with compassion, choosing not to stamp out
the Egregorians once and for all, but to attempt to husband the species back from the brink.
They found an juvenile Overmind and named it Endeavour; knowing of the species’ capacity for
learning, they taught it as they would any human child, and so the new Egregorian race began.

The humans who call themselves Hercynians are the descendants of the Union soldiers who
were left behind after the TBK campaign either by logistic oversight, battle chaos, or desertion. It
is a rare person who wants to eliminate the Egregorians now, as the Hercynians have, as a
culture, worked to resuscitate the Egregorians as penance for their ancestors’ crimes.

Hivehome then represents the best of the Hercynians and fledgling Egregorians. A single
juvenile Overmind, Endeavour, discovered in the years after the Crisis by forgotten humans who
fled the TBK above, is the hope for Egregorian survival: as it has grown, attended to by a series
of human teachers, Endeavour has set out to rebuild the Egregorian race.

Its hundreds of years of effort have paid off. Now the Egregorians number ten thousand strong,
with more discovered chrysalis salvaged every month. They have once more taken up their
ancestral residence in the center of Hivehome, in the old Overmind’s chambers. Together with

56 
their Hercynian counterparts, they lead expeditions to discover old caches of Egregorian
chrysalis, make inroads into intact ruins, and work to grow their culture, marrying rediscovered
Egregorian communal tradition with individualistic human experience.

Steadily, if slowly, the Egregorians grow again in strength, no longer as a strict hierarchy but as
a more egalitarian race, sharing in each other’s subjectivities, emotions, and sensations.

Hivehome is a light, a place of hope and harmony on a wounded world, but it is a little light, one
under ​direct​ threat by Overland/Kingwatcher: while Hivehome’s defenses may be strong, while
there is no breach yet and it seems as if the enemy has abated, Hercynian High Command
does not see their place as secure. Now is the time, Hivehome’s commanders urge, to strike the
enemy; meanwhile, a faction lead by Daylight, Hivehome’s longtime rival hive-state, urges
caution, and a return of their forces.

Whatever the top-level decisions may be, Hivehome’s defenders wait with rifles and pikes at the
ready, aimed towards the dark mouth of the royal hive causeways. Side by side with Rangers
from Daylight, Godown, Mycol Fields, and Waterbreak, any adults, main-phase Egregorians,
children, and elderly the hive-states have to spare hold the line at Egregor Cross, the first, last,
and only defensive line left.

The war against the Machine has consumed Hivehome’s finest. Human and Egregorian corpses
languish in Hivehome’s burial pits. Rangers stationed at satellite midwalls and lowalls can count
on two hands the number of bullets they have left.

But, for now, and for the last month, the attacks seem to have stopped. Egregore Cross is clear.
No machines probe the line.

This is a quiet that might be a relief to some, but to seasoned veterans, it is anything but.

Something is coming. Something terrible.

Hivehome: Detail, Surroundings, and Points of Interest

The lake around Hivehome is titanic and salten, fed by the world’s distant oceans. It is hundreds
of kilometers across and deep, dotted with a number of islands upon which the ancient
Egregorians made their first homes. Hivehome is the largest of these island-cities, connected to
the other, smaller satellite towns by tall, wide stone bridges and raised roads -- only with the
arrival of humans did these roads get reinforced to support the weight of metal machines.
Hercynian explorers have found evidence of Egregorian shipwrecks on the banks of Hivehome
and its islets, indicating the Egregorians once built ships.

57 
The water is deep and cold, black in the darkness of the cavern -- it is called the Undersea by
Hercynians, and no Egregorian name for it is known. As the chamber is large enough, there is
weather in the cavern, wind and systems fed by the various caverns and fissures that lead into
Hivehome’s home chamber.

Though the cavern is deep, there are vents and columns that lead up to the surface of the
world, through which freshwater spills in tall, narrow columns much like rain. The places where
these rain columns land are typically wide basins above the city, which in turn feed the city’s
elevated aqueducts. Some of the rain columns are cyclical, dependant on water-flow of rivers
and lakes on the planet’s surface, and are more decorative than infrastructure. These seasonal
rain-columns are directed over public plazas, once meant to be decorative, interactive water
features for Egregorian young. Now they rain over algae-slick mosaics, the plazas given to
Hercynian street-vendors, rain-columns used to feed cultivating pools filled with cave-fish and
crustaceans.

Hivehome is entirely populated, the old Egregorian workers’ quarters and noble halls converted
to human standards of comfort. A thriving industry of mycology, fishing, and
crustacean-husbandry keeps the population fed, and a similarly bustling trade in surface
agriculture -- growing herbs, harvesting spices, and cultivating local wheat and vegetable crops
-- makes that food worth eating. These farms are commonly situated near hive mouths, and
usually kept small to medium size, meant to blend in to local tree cover; above ground farming
is a recent development (within the last ~200 years) given the long-lasting effects of Union’s
TBK campaign and lingering threat of discovery by Beggar One

A common Hivehome domicile is made of supple, smooth-finished stone, crafted millenia ago by
Egregorian artisans. The homes are usually overlarge, with ceilings around three meters and
change tall -- usually, Hercynians will cover their ceilings with wormsilk tapestries to make their
homes feel less vast, less cold. A common Hivehome domicile features a large common room
divided by wicker screens to give some privacy to the couples that live there. Generally,
Hercynians will spread generations of family out among three or more adjacent common rooms
(depending on their wealth), connected by human-carved passages into which doors are set.
The “best” domiciles are at the edge of the plateau-island, and have windows and balconies
looking out over the Undersea.

As Hivehome is a city built within a cave, it is a city without sunlight. To fix this, the first humans
to occupy Hivehome fabricated and installed a massive network of UV lamps at varying levels
throughout the city -- these sunlights burn and dim on a regular circadian cycle, and keeping
them running is a massive industry: It is a proud job among the Hercynians to be a lampman;
the Egregorians have learned to live with it.

The central city occupies the central mound of Hivehome’s plateau, a stepped rise of stone
domes and spires crowding the flanks of the Overmind’s palace, an octagonal, vaulted structure
itself topped by a massive mosaic dome crowded with walks and balconies. The old seat of the

58 
Overmind is a cylindrical space, open to the ceiling of the dome and each face of the palace. In
its center is occupied by a circular plinth, itself piled high with wormsilk throws.

For the first time in 500 years, an Overmind sits the plinth. This Overmind, named Endeavour by
the Hercynians who found it/them, is two hundred years old, which seems to rank it as
somewhere in its late adolescence. That being said, it has tapped into some of its abilities and
ancestry knowledge. Its presence has catalyzed the awakening of thousands of dormant
Egregorians. With Endeavour’s efforts, the Egregorian population has grown to around ten
thousand active, with tens of thousands of salvaged chrysalides progressing through the long
cycle of waking up from dormancy.

For Hercynians, the Egregorian presence is welcome: the rise of the new Egregorians points to
the success of Hercynian stewardship over the world. Together, the two races work to build out
the city, to discover and explore lost hives. Egregorians and humans can communicate via
vocalized speech -- Egregorians, by virtue of being born anew and raised in Hercynian society,
speak Common when vocalizing, and are in the process of re-discovering their old language, an
evocative shared mentality where communication is done not only as word, but as emotion,
memory, and shared sensation.

Egregorians tend to occupy labor, martial, and artisan roles in Hercynian society; as their culture
is in the process of being build anew -- and complicated by re-discovery of ancient sites -- the
pressing concerns of Hivehome are the easiest for them to face: buildings need to be
reinforced, old satellite islands must be rebuilt, roads made sturdy, and tunnels reinforced. A
smaller percentage of the new Egregorians work together with Hercynian archeologists and
explorers to uncover old ruins, forgotten hives, and lost knowledge.

There are no printers in Hivehome. Everything is done the old way: built and maintained by
hand. You’ll have to be careful with your chassis down here, unless you and your players can
work out a solution for getting a printer to the hive-state.

The city is steep and stepped. To ascend and descend its steppes, pedestrians can use city
streets and public stairs, as well as the city’s funiculars, gondolas, and elevators.

While the rangers -- the common term for hive-state warriors -- have limited access to old Union
tech (and reverse-engineered, Hercynian-machined technology), most of the city is in a pretty
limited state. There is electricity, and communication by telegraph, radio, and wired phone, but
(as mentioned above) nothing on the scale of what is seen in Evergreen -- no printers, no
omninet, and so on.

59 
Hivehome: Hooks

Explore and Ingratiate Yourself

By the time you reach mainland Hivehome, a well-armed contingent of rangers, backed by a
squadron of hive guardians, greets you. They are standoffish at best, their hostility lessened
somewhat by Dthall’s insistence that you are allies. Their commander still demands to take you
into custody, to be held until such time that you can be granted an audience before Hercynian
command -- with Dthall’s word as a ranger and the daughter of Hivehome’s commander that
you are allies granting you some privileges.

You’re not arriving to Hivehome as prisoners; you’re ​honored guests​, and will be shown to your
quarters, escorted by a retinue of rangers should you wish to explore the city, and must appear
before Hivehome’s commander when called for an audience.

These rangers and hive guard are all human, dressed in Hivehome’s colors of black and red. A
thin, tanned officer and dark green fatigues watches from the back ranks -- Dthall points him out
as being from Daylight’s command staff, though she doesn't know who he is11.

The players’ quarters are simple and centrally located, removed by a block or two from more
public streets. They do not appear to be in jail -- more like a spartan apartment -- though they do
have rangers posted outside their doors.

They can explore the city, but not leave it. If they attempt to leave their quarters, they will be
accompanied by a pair of handlers -- officers, it seems, of the rangers. The rangers are polite,
but firm, though they seem happy to explore the city with the players.

Areas that are off limits to the players include the entirety of the Overmind’s palace, military
sites, and the lowports along Hivehome’s shores. They are allowed in the market districts,
among the parks, and entertainment districts of the city while they wait for their audience with
the commanders.

The players may engage in downtime activities as outlined in the Core Rulebook or in Part I of
No Room For A Wallflower, though use your discretion as to the extent of possible outcomes.
An important note: this deep in the earth, this far from Evergreen, omninet connection is
spotty-to-nonexistent.

11
I leave his name up to you, GM -- he is a minor officer, only there in his capacity as a coalition officer,
part of the terms Hivehome and Daylight worked out in their initial coalition agreement. He will report back
to Iker Commerand, however, and may provide a separate angle for players to encounter Hivehome, its
command staff, and the ongoing diplomatic struggles to keep the Hive-States united.

60 
After a few days of little to no contact with Dthall, the players will be summoned to have an
audience with the human commander of Hivehome’s rangers, Ilyr Ordo, Dthall’s father.

Terror’s Favor
As Terror speaks, you find yourself… remembering? That’s not quite the right
word. It’s not that easy. It’s a kind of learning, as if learning was a process of
uncovering something deep that you had held once. Or had it taken from you.
It/Their words are lost, though it/they speak Common. Instead, you focus on the
remember/learning:

In the cold of the dead hive, there are yet some potential lives. Egregorians,
ancestors. Contingency-beings (everything on this world is a contingency, why
did everyone think this garden would die?).

You are to accompany my scouts, my eyes, and ​[atone-through-service], ​perform

for me/this one a ​[tribute-mission]​ .​ ​Find me viable forms of those who came
before, find me the ​[sword-and-spear] ​my ​[ancestors, ancients, memories] ​used
in battle. Bring them here, and let no [​ beast, memory, ghost] ​or human prevent
your return. Do this, and you will have my ​[joy, approval, favor].

A Hercynian scout team had made a breach into a previously ID’d hive site, a neighbor to
Hivehome that appears to be half-again the size of the Hercynian city. The scouts report tens of
thousands of Egregorians is egg-state, a dormant, inert form that some Egregorians were able
to adopt during Union’s hasty TBK. With some help, these Egregorians can be coaxed back to
life.

The task is simple enough: accompany a Hercynian scout team as it escorts an Egregorian
revivalist, a memorial named Bitter, into the old Hive to flag viable candidates and useable
equipment for retrieval and revival.

Prove to Terror that you are a friend to the Egregorians, and it/they will be more willing to forgive
your past transgressions.

The path to the city as it is currently is not possible to navigate with mechs that are larger than
size .5.

Once in the city, the players will encounter feral Egregorians, aggressive, defending a strange
object: an osteomemetic, the players will discover. It is unnamed -- or at least, bears no
Common name -- but (should the players return to Hivehome) able to be translated from
Witness. Its name is an image of Hercynia’s world-forests burning, crumbling into ash and
ember, but speaks to massive, as yet undiscovered Egregorians capable of surviving in
vacuum.

61 
The feral Egregorians are hostile to humans.

BEAT: A Stain You Can’t Wash Out   

“Can anyone hear me? Can anyone hear me?! This is Abel Hartmann, of Merricktown, if anyone
is out there, we need --- we need help, we need immediate --”

“They’re sweeping over it like water, oh god, they’re just walking right over it!”

“-- anyone out there can help, please come now, we’ve locked ourselves inside the --”

“-- at Liu Maize! The fire is burning out of control. We managed to clear a firebreak, but I don’t
know how long--”

“That’s -- oh hell, that’s George’s pla -- Kerry! Thank god you’re here! We gotta go, we gotta g--”

“Just run, just run! Don’t look back! Just run!”

“It’s all… it’s all on fire. I don’t know if you can hear me. I don’t know why I’m broadcasting. I’m
dying. They cut me in ha--”

On the horizon, greasy pillars of black and grey smoke rise -- at first thin, but within half an hour
they’ve bloomed to massive size. A deep orange glow lurks under the clouds. Fire.

Merricktown and Liu Maize are burning. Pirate radio and omni transmissions stream into
Evergreen’s public channels, calling for help: someone is attacking the homestead towns,
hordes of somethings, and they’re coming for Evergreen.

Edena Ji, acting under dictates from Patience, holds the militia at the walls of Evergreen. They
close the checkpoint, parking a pair of APCs behind the closed gates, and deny any entry into
the city for the refugees trapped outside.

Hours after the smoke is sighted, the first survivors emerge from the treeline. In ones and twos
they stagger out into the clearcut, some with packs, some with only the clothes on their backs,
running for Evergreen.

Meanwhile, the refugees already outside of Evergreen start filtering out of their camp, making
for the checkpoint. They demand entrance, crowding the closed gates. The guards on the
ground brandish their rifles, ordering the refugees to get back, to get away from the gates.
Beleaguered and outnumbered, the guards look to Edena for orders.

62 
The refugees at the edge of the crowd notice the people fleeing across the open expanse of
muddy ground.

Edena Ji orders the militia to fire gas and flashbangs into the massed crowd, trying to get them
to disperse. The APCs rumble to life, their crews hurrying to uncap the autocannons and
grenade launchers on their turrets.

Some of the refugees charge the checkpoint, some scatter, others hurry to meet the survivors
halfway, as more movement shakes the treeline:

The horde has reached Evergreen.

Shots ring out from along the wall, panicking militia firing downrange. Some of the fleeing
survivors fall, struck by stray rounds, or simply finding cover behind. The dark movement at the
trees is ceaseless, indistinct, a shifting mass of bodies that seem to be holding at the edge of
the clearcut.

On the wideband, Edena Ji’s panicked voice orders the militia to clear the checkpoint, to open
fire on the refugees.

This is a breakpoint for the players. Do they shoot? Do they force the gates open? Do they open
fire on the militia? Do they do nothing?

If the players aren’t present at Evergreen when the order is given, or if they are out in the field,
or otherwise unable to immediately intercede, the militia opens fire, and guns down the
refugees.

Brava Hadura attempts to stop the massacre, but is unable to, as the militia obeys Patience’s
orders. Should the massacre occur, Commander Hadura attempts to kill herself. Unless the
players are aware and intercede, she is successful.

● The militia troopers are terrified, inexperienced, their own officers having opened fire first
(or, should the situation have been avoided, moved to have shot first). They are
obviously shaken, their morale broken, some having even thrown down their weapons.

The last shots echo across the clearcut, but the screams of the wounded
last longer. A few of the living -- you don’t know how there are any living --
drag themselves away, moving so, so slow. They don’t seem to be fleeing
anywhere, just staggering, shell-shocked, bleeding.

The gas clouds hug the ground. Small fires smolder. Rain twitches the
ruins of the camp.

63 
 “Body detail,” one of the militia NCOs barks. “Volunteers?”

No one responds.

“Everyone in uniform today did this. Doesn’t matter if you shot,” the NCO
shouts. “Now I’m gonna go make sure anyone alive out there gets help.
Who’s coming with me?”

Silence. The troopers look to each other, but stare into the middle
distance. No one sees, no one wants to see what they did. They can’t
remember -- did you shoot? Did I shoot? Who killed all those people?

“You fucking,” the NCO spits. “You fucking cowards.” He throws down his
rifle and walks towards the checkpoint, hollering at the APC to move. It
doesn’t. He clambers on top, checking the body there -- dead.

The NCO slumps down, sitting on the turret next to the body, and weeps.

A field of dead stretches out beyond the checkpoint.

And something moving beyond...

● The refugees, with help from some of the militia, haul the checkpoint gates open
and stream in. They’re unarmed, carrying only what they could hold -- their
children, their elderly, the last of their clothes and goods. They’re safe, for now.

Most run, hurrying to find safety and shelter, not entirely trusting that
they’ll find either inside Evergreen’s walls. But that’s a consideration for
another moment, for another day.

For now, they’re alive, they’re inside. Those long nights of fear, days of
running through infested woods -- behind them, for the moment.

“Thank you,” an elderly woman clutching her two children -- no, they
couldn’t be hers, they must be her grandchildren -- “You saved us, thank
you so much,” she weeps with joy. A militia trooper, helps her on, taking
one of the kids to ease her burden.

“They’ll be set up in the upper floors of the flood zone,” an NCO,

exhausted, sweat streaking the mud and grime on his skin. “It’s what
we’ve got free for now.”

64 
 “Hey-- hey sarge?” A cry from the checkpoint gate. One of the militia
troopers stands on top of the APC, rifle at her shoulder.

“There’s something moving in the trees,” she says, looking through her
scope. “A helluva lot of somethings.”

At the treeline, you can see ranks upon ranks of… soldiers, as if from an ​ancient​ time. They
stand under fluttering, ragged banners, in phalanx, holding broad, scuffed shields and long
pikes. They are dressed in all manner of rags, tarps, and sheets, their garb pulled together from
scrap and salvage.

Their line stretches a long arc before Evergreen -- they number easily in the tens of thousands.

A few stragglers, homesteaders-turned-refugees now, hunker down behind the stumps of felled
trees. One paces back and forth a hundred or so meters out from the walls, hurling insults at
Evergreen and at the apparent army of pikemen.

Through sensors -- optical or otherwise -- the players can see that this army is not, as they
​ ome are new models, largely unarmed and
thought, people, but are in fact ​subalterns. S
unclothed, but others are ​old​, hundreds of years old by the bleedout code they’re broadcasting
-- these wear old Union and Auxiliary uniforms, threadbare and patched with what looks like
indigenous fabrics and plastic tarpaulin. They wear crude armor and carry pikes ranging from
three to six meters tall.

The line stands silent and unmoving, but for the wind that plucks their banner-topped pikes.
Deeper, in the shadow of the woods, you can see more of their number marching to fall in
formation behind the front rank.

Muted, a priority message pushes to your HUD:

>//EMPHASIS/PUSH ORDER:::PATIENCE PRIORITY OVERRIDE/CEDE

COMMAND [cmdrbrava.hadura#egmil], [diredena.ji#egadmin]///I AM ASSUMING
TOTAL THEATER CONTROL OVER EG.MIL AND EG.ADMIN///ALL FORCES
DEPLOY TO RALLY POINTS [pushing packet… packet received… waypoints
updated] AND AWAIT FURTHER COMMANDS///end

It would appear that Patience is awake, and back in command.

65 
BEAT: Last Call in Egregor Cross 
Inside the war chambers of Hivehome, the commanders of the United Cities argue their case.

“I have said my peace,” Commorand says, settling back into his chair. He flicks a
hand, and one of his attaches hurries to the large stone table.

Scattered tokens, some red, some green, a few blue and white, represent the
committed forces of the United Cities. The attache scoops up the remaining
green tokens and hurries back to the chamber wall, where she stands with the
rest of the attaches.

“Seeing no need to keep them deployed, Daylight’s rangers will draw down,”
Commorand nods. “It is done.”

“Commorand,” Ilyr Ordo says, leaning on the table. “I urge you, one last time, for
the safety of the United Cities--”

“For the safety of Daylight,” Commorand says, speaking over the elder Ordo. “I
will order my rangers to pull back to our territory.”

“The Machine--” Ilyr points to a series of black markers clustered on the map.

“It has directed its attention to the colony,” Commorand barks. “No machine has
been sighted within Egregor Cross for a month, not even their dead. My rangers
have bled for your hive, my dear Ordo, and have died far from home.”
Commorand wipes his hands together, to dismiss the question. “They have
earned their time off the line.”

“All of our rangers have bled for Hivehome,” one of the lesser commanders,
Heidel, of Waterbreak, adds. Quick, one of her attaches hurries to the board and
grabs the few blue tokens off the relief. “And I shall call them home. Their families
miss them terribly,” Heidel says. “I’m sure you understand that feeling, Ilyr,” she
says, staring at Dthall, who has been acting as her father’s attache.

Dthall shifts, sets her jaw and stares hard into the middle distance. The small
muscles under her close-cropped hair flex, betraying her anger.

“Commanders, I understand your eagerness to return home,” Ilyr says. He

straightens. “But a month of the Machine in remission does not mean it has given

66 
up on its attack. It has persisted for years -- a sudden end to the fight on one
front does not mean the war is done.”

“Ilyr,” Commorand speaks above the other commanders, waving them silent. “We
are not fools. We are not children to this war. We are not cowards.” Commorand
snaps a finger, and his attache hurries to his side. He picks out a green token
and throws it on the table. The small clay disc shatters, shocking the assembly
into silence.

“Far, far too many of our rangers have died,” Commorand shouts. “If appeals to
your humanity fail, Ilyr, then hear me on this,” Comorrand grabs the handful of
tokens from his attache and flings all of them down onto the table. “We do not
have the numbers to hold Egregore Cross, we do not have the bullets to hold
Egregore Cross, we do not have the will to hold Egregore Cross. Our warriors are
as broken as those scraps,” Commorand bellows. “What’s more, if you hadn’t
ordered our forces to raid the colony above, my sons wouldn’t have died by their
hands,” Commorand stabs a gloved finger towards the pilots.

The silence rings. Ilyr, like his daughter before him, stands rigid, clenching his
jaw. Sweat beads on his forehead.

“Waterbreak, Godown, and Daylight have decided to draw down from Egregore
Cross,” Commorand’s voice quivers with anger. “And we are informing you, so
that you are not caught by surprise when you find you have no allies left.”

“This is not a time for passions to--”

“It is done,” Commorand shouts, slapping the table with both hands.

This time, the silence is complete. Commorand lingers, staring directly at Ilyr as
the commanders of Waterbreak and Godown, their attaches, and a scattering of
Egregorians pledged to Daylight stand and file out of the chamber.

Terror, Hivehome’s Egregorian commander, fans its feathery antennae, signaling

to the other Egregorians as they leave. Whether it is a hostile gesture or not, it is
unclear.

“I wish you luck and health,” Commorand says to Ilyr. His attache whispers in his
ear, and he nods. “You’ll have my final report on your desk by the evening.”
Commorand stands to his full height, brushing down his uniform. “Daylight
remains friends with Hivehome,” he says, as he turns to leave. “Even if her
subjects might not.”

67 
 The chamber empties as attaches, officers, and functionaries file out. It is silent
but for the low, echoing muttering of the thinning crowd.

Evening, by Hivehome’s lamp schedule, is only a few hours away.

Time to get to work.

The diplomatic situation in Hivehome is tense. As representatives of Evergreen -- or, at

least, non-Hercynian interests on the world, with considerable firepower and tactical
ability -- you have been granted a seat at the negotiating table. Depending on your
actions thus far, this might be a net favorable seat, or net unfavorable seat. Diplomacy,
whether you like it or not, is a necessary step if the coalition army means to stay united.

The United Hercynian Cities is a union of consenting hive-states, a relatively new

federation organized to resist Overland/Kingwatcher’s incursion onto this continent. They
have pledged to contribute percentages of their population to fight the invasion, and are
organized into a coalition of armed forces administered by a joint command. The leader
of that joint command currently is Hivehome’s commander, Ilyr Ordo.

This defensive war has been raging for a decade, drawing closer to Hivehome over the
years, until the coalition forces held a critical terminal: Egregore Cross.

The Cross has been held by rangers for years now. However, after months of calm, no
sightings of Beggar One’s forces threatening the chokepoint, and the ongoing combat on
the world’s surface, the constituent hive-states are beginning to chafe at the long
deployment of their rangers.

Hivehome is the largest of these hive-states -- Daylight rivals Hivehome, though is far
distant from the fighting, and after suffering significant losses both above and
belowground, Daylight’s public and Senate are ready to bring their rangers back home;
they are missed, and due to Daylight’s proximity to Evergreen, their absence is seen as
a potentially deadly strategic error.

The front, in their view, has shifted from Hivehome to Daylight, and it is past time to
respond.

Both prosperous and populated, Hivehome and Daylight are trade partners and cold-war
rivals, often bickering through the smaller, satellite hive-states on this continent:
Waterbreak, Godown, and Mycol Fields.

Waterbreak and Godown are independent states in close proximity to Daylight, and often
ally with them in trade disputes. Mycol Fields is closer to Hivehome, and often allies with
Hivehome in those same disputes.

68 
Convincing Daylight of the need to keep their rangers deployed is a difficult task, but not
impossible: they need assurances that their territory will be defended, better tracking of
Beggar One’s forces, and maybe some personal repayment for the death of their
commander’s -- Uric Commerand -- sons.

Waterbreak and Godown are allied with Daylight; convincing Daylight to keep her
rangers with Hivehome’s will go a long way to convincing both Waterbreak and Godown,
but it should be possible to negotiate some kind of agreement even if Daylight backs out.

Mycol Fields would be a good place to start, as they are already closely tied to
Hivehome: they are a major supplier of staple foods to Hivehome, and own a number of
the major canals that connect Waterbreak and Godown to Hivehome.
For raw numbers:

● Hivehome has a population of 3 million people.

○ They contribute roughly 300,000 rangers to the coalition army.
○ The bulk of the United Cities’ mechanized forces come from Hivehome.
They have a maximum of 300 size .5 mechs and only 80-100 size 1-2
chassis.
● Daylight has a population of 2.8 million people.
○ They contribute roughly 420,000 rangers to the coalition army.
○ They can field nearly 150 functional size .5 mechs, and roughly 50 size
1-2 mechs.
● Waterbreak has a population of 800,000 people.
○ They contribute roughly 75,000 rangers to the coalition army.
○ They have no mechs
● Mycol Fields has a population of 200,000 people.
○ They contribute roughly 18,000 rangers to the coalition army.
○ They have no mechs
● Godown has a population of 50,000 people.
○ They contribute roughly 4,000 rangers to the coalition army.
○ They have no mechs

Daylight points to the receding Beggar One forces as evidence in favor of their argument to pull
their forces. Other, smaller Hive-States -- Waterbreak, Godown, Mycol Fields -- are inclined to
side with Daylight, and take a petition to Hivehome, urging the Hercynian Joint Command to
allow them to pull their Rangers, pointing to their scouts’ observations that Evergreen seems to
be the real target.

Meanwhile, Hivehome wants to keep the United Cities’s joint army stationed in Egregor Cross, a
ruined hive city that is a crossroads of a number of ancient Royal Hive tunnels. It represents a

69 
choke-point, a single path through which Beggar One’s forces could make a breach into the
United Cities’ territory -- if that were to happen, they would hit Hivehome first.

Egregor Cross has never been occupied; it was a salvage site for early Hercynians, and the
primary invasion point of Beggar One’s initial attack on Hivehome. Since the first attack was
repelled, it has been fought over and fortified, and every inch of the city has seen death.

There are other hive-states on Hercynia, but they are on other continents, across the
world’s oceans. Shortwave radio and comms-laser communication allowed for
intercontinental communication, and a nascent maritime trade did connect the
hive-states, but since Overland/Kingwatcher reached the shores of this continent, the
United Cities have been cut off from communicating with them.

The known overseas hive-cities are St. Tellus, Bem Honore, and Bella Costa. No one
has been able to reach them since the invasion, which hit Hivehome’s “shores” nearly a
decade ago.

If you have a need for a simple diplomatic negotiation tool, we recommend using the following:

Diplomatic Wrangling
Over a period of days, you work with principals, secondaries, attaches, and key players to
wrangle diplomatic concessions and agreements out of parties with their own interests. It’s a
helluva job, and messy in a way that pure combat isn’t, but it’s a cleaner way to win a war. Plus,
you don’t have to wear a hardsuit -- unless things go ​really​ wrong.

A note on terminology for this tool: ​concession​ is used broadly to refer to the objects, scenarios,
persons, territory, resources, treaties, numbers, etc that are subject to the result of this
negotiation. Concessions could be shifting borders, shifting access, raw numbers of soldiers,
units of a resource, and so on. The narrative that leads to this tool being needed should give
you an idea of what is being negotiated -- i.e, in this case, it likely is some number, deployment
term, or deployment zone of coalition rangers, guardians, and primaries.

On a natural 1, choose one:

● Hell, they won’t budge. Negotiating with your counterparts on the other side is like talking
to a brick wall -- they didn’t even come to play.
○ Make a significant concession, in exchange for nothing. They might not even
want to deal with you in future negotiations, depending on how bad you stuck
your foot in your mouth.
● Somehow, they know something they shouldn’t
○ Make a minor concession. In addition, the other side learns a secret that you did
not​ want them to know, and they can use it as leverage in future negotiations or
interactions, to be determined by the GM.

70 
On a 2-9, choose one:
● Well, that angle didn’t work. Make a significant concession in exchange for a minor
concession from the other side.
● Talking with these people is like negotiating with a sublight cargo ship: any change they
make is going to be slow, gradual, and minor.
○ You win a minor concession at no cost, but it gets slow-rolled. Whatever you
asked for and got is coming, but it’ll be significantly delayed, and that’s the best
you can get.
● Your counterpart is good, really good. You’re going to have to get back to the drawing
board on your strategy.
○ A negotiating stalemate, but no side budges. The next time you engage in
diplomatic wrangling (or other negotiations your GM decides this result applies
to), subtract 1 from the result of your check.
On a 10-15, choose one:
● The balance tips in your favor, and the other side must concede to your demands at little
cost.
○ Make a minor concession in exchange for a significant concession from the other
side.
● You don’t ask for much, but the hard ask is the timeframe in which it needs to happen.
The other side agrees, but for a price.
○ Make a minor concession in exchange for a minor concession from the other
side, to be completed (or begun) on the same day.
● You didn’t come to any agreement yet, but the groundwork is there, and you can tell
your counterpart is on the back heel.
○ Stalemate. The next time you engage in diplomatic wrangling (or other
negotiations your GM decides this result applies to), add 1 to the result of your
check.
On a 16:
● You may choose a result as if you rolled a 10-15, though you do not need to make
concessions (unless you want to).

71 
BEAT: Mountainfall 
Aboveground, in Evergreen, Patience has woken up, and the army outside the gates still hasn’t
budged. If anything, they have grown stronger in number -- their ranks have grown, and you can
see evidence of heavily armed drones towards the rear.

Evergreen’s militia have taken to wearing their helms and carapace armor in combat posture:
facemasks on, external voice filters on. They stand posted on street corners and on rooftops,
monitoring both Evergreen and the army encamped outside its walls.

If the massacre in the previous beat occurred, the dead litter the clearcut outside Evergreen. No
one is allowed to venture beyond the city walls.

The players are subject to the same curfew as everyone else, told to wait for Patience’s orders.
So too are the members of the secondary Landmark CRT, who the players might run into at the
Bottom of The Well.

The CRT’s subline corvette is literally tied down, grounded. Their orders remain the same, but
they’ve been denied access to the Governor’s Farm just like you.

Meanwhile, the presence of armed subalterns has spiked. Landmark Subalterns patrol the
streets along with a decreasing number of organic militia -- they seem to be restricted to
guarding the Governor’s Farm, and other sensitive installations.

If Brava Hadura is alive, they’ve been relegated to overseeing the militia’s PX -- queuing
personal print orders, not that there are many. Edena Ji is in direct control of the militia, and
there now seems to be a high ratio of subaltern troopers to organic troopers.

Patience, meanwhile, has called for a general colonial assembly in a day. A message scrolls
across all public screens in place of any omni or local programming:

ALERT///ATTEND///EVERGREEN IS ON GENERAL ALERT/ WAR POSTURE///CURFEW

1800///PUBLIC ADDRESS_MANDATORY ATTENDANCE///REMAIN CALM//ADDRESS TO
OCCUR AT 0900 TOMORROW///ALERT

And so on.

72 
Fixed changes at at this beat:

● Omninet access is severely restricted, and it appears that all streaming news services
are blocked. All outbound communication and municipal private communication is
flagged as being monitored; inbound communication appears as “unresolved”.

● Non-militia print requests enter into a low-priority print queue -- this, at the outset at
least, includes the players’ print orders.

● The refugee camp has been dispersed -- either they have been granted asylum in
Evergreen, or were killed by Evergreen’s militia in the previous beat, or they fled and
were killed by Overland/Kingwatcher’s army in the previous beat. All the same,
Evergreen’s gates remain on lockdown.

● Patience and Edena Ji are on lockdown as well, and will not allow the players access to
the Governor’s Farm

● The militia features heavy subaltern presence

● Evergreen is on a strict curfew, and free movement is restricted: no one is allowed to

leave.

The public address is piped through every municipal screen, over the municipal PA, and over
the local omninet. Evergreen, despite the crowds in the streets clustered around municipal
screens, hunched over their slates, or sitting together in common rooms, is silent but for the
sound of the address.

The screen shows a still image, a plain podium set up in the entry hall of the
Governor’s mansion.

The shot holds.

After a moment, Edena Ji emerges at the end of the hall, out of focus, in the deep
background of the shot. She appears to be talking to someone out of frame for a
moment, calm. She gestures to a folder she carries, nods, and then starts to walk
towards the podium.

Edena Ji comes into focus at the podium. She looks tired, put together but only
just. Her clothes, of a fine make -- not printed -- are wrinkled. She sets the folder
on the podium, opens it, clears her throat, and begins.

73 
“Good morning, people of Evergreen. I know many of you are wondering why
Patience and I have called this public address -- and we will get to that -- but first
I wanted to assure you that you are not in danger.

“We have increased security around the city, and bolstered our foot patrols with
subalterns. In addition, we have increased print orders for armored vehicles, and
enacted curfews to ensure that the streets are safe and clear for our militia.
Already, Landmark has forwarded a priority emergency request to the system
authority, and Union has responded by putting us in contact with a crisis
management team.

“For the time being, any restrictions on movement is for your safety; attacks are
frequent, and the safest place to be is inside your homes so that our militia can
better do their jobs. Evergreen’s officers are here to k​ eep you safe​, but we need
your cooperation to do so.

“In the meantime, you will see a new calendar pushed to your personal
companion-concierge handhelds. In it, you can see a clear schedule for the
planned duration of the lockdown, new citizen production quotas, and a
mechanism for requesting personal print orders.

“Any questions, comments, or concerns can be shared with the administration via
Evergreen’s municipal terminals. Patience and I thank you for your cooperation,
and your understanding.

“Now, without further delay, I--” Edena’s voice gives out. Fatigue, stress. She
clears her throat, looks under the podium. There’s a glass of water there that she
drinks.

It’s a long shot. Edena shuffles her papers, drawing out a second prepared
statement.

And, ah, with that,” Edena says, shuffling her notes. “I want to introduce our
crisis manager, Beggar,” Edena’s throat runs dry again. She coughs. You can
see her hands are shaking. “Beggar One,” she says, after another long sip of
water.

Edena steps to the side of the podium. Looking down at the plush carpet of the
Governor’s mansion.

At the end of the hall, a humanoid figure strides around the corner. A subaltern. It
is tall, obviously milspec by its build. An old Union officer’s broadcoat pinned over

74 
its shoulder gave its rank as Colonel. Its brachial and crural armature was
sleeved in tough fabric, faded from Union blue.

It walks with an imperious swagger, the confidence of a tank rolling down the
street of an occupied city.

On its chest plating, a painted bundle of wheat, ancient numerals on either side.
Its old unit, you think.

The subaltern reaches the podium and grabs the edges.

“Good,” the subaltern pauses, thinks. “Day. Citizens. Pursuant to Union joint
resolution 2.CN.204.4504, I have taken total theater control. From this moment
on, this territory is under my protection.”

An unseen order. It is Patience’s voice, but, different.

In the background of the shot, a pair of subalterns step around the corner where
the hallway ends. They’re dragging something behind them.

“You have been plagued by an unidentified enemy,” Beggar One says. Speaking
is an act of labor for the subaltern, not because of any physical difficulty, but one
of… order? It seems like it slips on w​ hen​, its cadence is wrong. As if whatever
mind controls it hasn’t spoken in a long time.

The subalterns in the background lurch towards Beggar One. Edena Ji covers
her nose, and steps a little out of frame, looking away.

“And you have suffered many dead.”

The subalterns are hauling a body. Not a human body.

“I am here to show you your enemy,” Beggar One says. It steps aside as the
subalterns reach the podium.

They drop the body and hurry to move the podium. The camera adjusts focus,
pulls out to show the wider shot. There are more subalterns standing just out of
frame, and a handful of militia troopers, their faces covered. All the organics are
covering their noses.

The camera zooms in, focuses, and shows Evergreen -- for the first time in five
hundred years -- an Egregorian.

75 
The people around you gasp. One cries out. Muttered conversation spreads
through the crowd viewing the public terminal. They were right, it wasn’t just
raiders or disgruntled homesteaders -- it was the bugs. They’re back.

The Egregorian is dull in death. A chitinous, arthropodal hulk, its

feather-antennae russet, its carapace an oily olive-black. It would have been
bipedal, but one of its legs has been cracked, shot off at the knee-analogue. Its
body is stained in a deep, purple-red -- a kind of blood -- from the wounds that
brought it down.

The camera lingers. You see it wears a kind of webbing, leather straps, that add
additional chitin armor over sensitive areas -- brilliantly colored patches on its
neck and sides, iridescent, ruby reds, magentas, and violets.

“This is a juvenile Egregorian warrior,” Beggar One, off camera. “You can see
that even the young are prepared to kill.”

The camera zooms in on its head, ruined from shot. A subaltern manipulator
reaches into frame and turns what is left. The dead Egregorian’s mandible flops
open, revealing rows of black teeth, brutal geometry meant to shred flesh.

“The white lines here,” Beggar One narrates, as the subaltern continues to
manipulate the corpse’s head. Scrawled lines of paint loop around the dead
Egregorian’s orbital opening. “Warpaint. Savage marks, meant to guarantee safe
passage from this life back to its Overmind, should it die in combat.”

More whispers. Someone towards the back of the crowd hurries out the door of
the Well, crying that they need to get their kids. The tension in the bar is a rising
in your throat. You’re trying to keep calm, but the crowd might break.

“This one successfully transmitted back to its mind,” Beggar One spoke in a
monotone. “A good thing. As we were able to track this transmission back to its
home hive.”

The shot changed. A mountain. You recognize the profile: you were there a while
back, setting up omninet towers.

“My god, that’s just across the river!” Someone shouts. Thirty miles or so on the
other side of the river, but close enough.

The crowd surges, some rushing outside to see for themselves, the image on the
screen insufficient. A layer of artifice between the threat and the self.

76 
 “Acting in my capacity as theater command,” Beggar One’s monotonous voice,
steady. Spoken without taking a breath. Uncanny. “I have authorized the removal
of this persistent threat.”

Screams from outside. You wonder why -- there’s nothing happening on screen
that would warrant them.

“You are safe” Beggar One says. “Union is here.”

There is a flash, and the mountain explodes.

The players come-to during an aftershock, another earthquake. They have been constant since
the Beggar One destroyed the mountain.

At this point, they discover that Evergreen is largely without power: not failure, rationed. It would
appear that Beggar One has severed all “non-essential” buildings from Evergreen’s grid. The
only place with steady light and power in the city is the Governor’s Farm.

Furthermore, the omninet is down. Something your players may have never encountered
before; total omninet blackout. Anything they use that requires a persistent omninet connection
to use might as well be a brick: only hardline connections seem to work.

It is… not-night. Time of day indicates that it should be morning, but the sky is black, and what
light comes through is dim to the point that the whole world seems stuck in twilight.

A hard, hot wind howls low over Evergreen, blowing ash, silica dust, and thick smoke over
everything. The dark sky ripples with lightning, and sporadic rain scrapes the city.

The ground trembles. The mountain, if you could see it through the dust and ash, is gone. A
massive crater is all that is left.

Thankfully, there appears to be no radiation; whatever killed it was clean.

There are roaming teams of Evergreen militia -- organic and subaltern -- that are searching for
survivors. The human militia troopers are sympathetic, scared, overseen by their subalterns.
They offer help and aid to the players, and are willing to fill them in on what’s going on. The
subalterns, meanwhile, seem to be acting autonomously, and will not respond to player
demands. They monitor, armed, while their human counterparts are unarmed.

77 
The situation above ground at this point is as follows:

● There is no public omninet access.

● The Governor’s Farm is on lockdown, no one is allowed in or out, and it is the only place
in the city with reliable power. All other buildings have been severed from the grid, a
command that came direct from the Farm.

● Beggar One blew up the mountain with something dropped from orbit.
○ One of the militia troopers that encounters the players saw it: the weapon flashed
like sunlight off of water, and fell silently. The only sound was when it hit. The
trooper has dried tracks of blood from their ears, and shouts when they speak --
they can’t really hear anything, and they have gauze stuffed in their ears
anyways.

● Since the detonation, earthquakes have torn through Evergreen. They’re not as bad
now, but the ground is still unstable.

● The militia have been rolled into Union’s command structure, under direct control of
Beggar One. In fact, one of the subalterns (indicated by a militia trooper) is their
commanding officer. It is brusque, and speaks in Patience’s voice.
○ The search and rescue teams are tasked with finding anyone alive after the
quakes and bringing them to the depots, an industrial district of Evergreen, where
a trauma and triage shelter has been set up.

● The printer still works -- it’s been churning out weapons, hard caliber battle-rifles and
war-posture modifications for subalterns -- but no one has access to it.

● The temperature has been steadily dropping. Already it is colder than any winter low for
the season on record: if it keeps this low, and the rain keeps falling, it’s going to snow.

78 
BEAT: Tumbledown 
The first quake hit like the world ending.

Whatever the players are doing, wherever they are, they feel it.

A sound so loud that they can’t hear it -- it hits them like a wave of furnace heat, the ground
beneath them buckling, tearing itself apart.

If they’re in Hivehome, all they can do is hang on as the whole world falls. They watch in horror
as one of the massive stalactites shears, tearing at the root. It falls, kilometers long and across,
untold megatons of stone, into the tumultuous waters of Hivehome’s Undersea.

The light dies. Emergency lights flicker on through the city, weak red and amber. It is light
enough to see just how dark it is.

And then the wave hits.

As Hivehome spasms, febrile shaking toppling ancient structures, a wall of boiling black water
sweeps the city, forced through the hive’s narrow streets, scouring the city.

The world is ​dying​, groaning, screaming -- it is impossible to hear your own voice, but the sound
of stone-trauma is overwhelming, and feels as if it is your own voice.

The shaking and the flood last forever. And then it ends.

Reports echo through the titanic cavity: smaller sections of wall shearing, fracturing, falling to
the boiling Undersea. Smaller tsunamis run through Hivehome’s lower quarters, inundating
them. Hundreds of thousands are already dead.

The sirens wail, filling the darkness with another sound like screaming.

Somehow, you’re alive. Your room has a red safe-light, it burns on battery power, weak, but in
the utter dark of Hivehome’s cavity you’re grateful for any light.

An aftershock hits, nearly as bad as the first, and you hang on.

It passes after a second eternity.

79 
The sirens continue to warble and suddenly the stink of fire, a sense of ​loss ​felt now and ​then,​
the sudden intrusion of an ​other​ in your own subjectivity:

--​ITISHAPPENINGAGAIN--

And then it’s gone and you’re alone, a kind of alone you never knew you were12 before the
imposition13

In the darkness, some small lights. Sirens still warbling, but, as much as you can tell, there is no
gunfire.

If there is a radio nearby, it squelches.

“Hello? Hello! Is there anyone out there? Any ranger units who can hear me --
hell, anyone who can hear me -- we need immediate assistance down at the
Shoreline -- we’ve got a whole city block flooded, but I think there’s people inside,
and--”

You can hear calls for help across the street -- people trapped inside.

You change channels, looking for a clear one to call your allies on, but each time you change
channels you hear a different voice, a different person calling for help. A fire burns through the
market district. A whole block on the west side of the hive took a direct hit from a falling slice of
the cavern’s roof. A gondola station was dragged into the Undersea. Help is needed
everywhere, but one call breaks through -- the central city is silent. Something has happened to
Endeavor.

Beggar One’s demonstration has devastated the world underground.

The players will need to reestablish contact with the center city. They’ll find that most of
Hivehome’s lower sections, the ones close to the waterline, are flooded. Fires rage through the
city, burning organic material. A number of the midwall stations have sheared from the cavern
wall and fallen, but at least one gondola line remains operational.

In the days to come, the players will find the following has happened as of this beat:

12
(just one mind in a place that could hold infinite minds, o god[hello, it has been a while, hasn’t it, a while
since i/we have talked][do you/i remember what happens next? that’s a joke of course i/we do] [you/i/we
kill them all again, love, that’s all you/i/we were/are good for then/now]DONT LISTEN TO IT, THE
CORPSE-WHISPER, SEND IT AWAY)
13
[here: what just happened was called a “syzygy” and while it held you, ​you​ didn’t exist. You/I have/will
use(d) it to annihilate another species your kind (never) met. they would have killed all of you/us/me/, so it
had to/will be done. a shame, the wonders they had built. they were brilliant but they were not us/you)

80 
 ● Daylight was in close proximity to the demonstration mountain. All of the telegraph and
radio lines have been severed, but scouts that get sent to reestablish contact come back
with grim news: the blast destroyed Daylight. There’s nothing left but rubble and cooling
ash.
○ As of this beat, Daylight’s population is presumed dead. The only survivors are
any rangers, staff, and Egregorians that the players were able to negotiate to
remain deployed in Egregor Cross, Hivehome, or Mycol Fields.

● Endeavour is in some kind of shock, and is catatonic. Terror, Endeavour’s second, is the
interim leader of Hivehome’s Egregorians.
○ That subjectivity override you felt was a projection from Endeavour. Some kind of
ancestral trauma re-triggered by the impact of the weapon that fell on Hercynia.
No one knows how long it will take for Endeavour to recover.

● Hivehome still has hard-line contact with Mycol Fields. They’re farther away, and deeper,
and appear to not have suffered as much damage as Daylight or Hivehome.
○ Waterbreak is presumed lost: it is a shallow hive, closer to Daylight.
○ Godown’s communication lines have been severed, and scout reports that the
main tunnel leading to it has caved in and flooded. They could be alive, but the
players won’t know until the next scouting mission returns.

● Hivehome’s cavern is unstable, and Hercynian High Command has deemed it prudent to
evacuate as many people as they can to Mycol Fields.

● If the players managed to affect negotiations between Daylight and Hivehome, most of
Daylight’s forces will remain in the joint army.

● They players have a hook in figuring out how to revive Endeavour -- the answer might lie
in an ancient hive, its entrance revealed by the tremors, home to a feral brood of
Egregorians.

81 
BEAT: A Bridge To Sell 
The effects of the mountain’s destruction are filtering over the continent, and the amount of ash
and silica dust in the air is tremendous, as if a massive volcano erupted. During the day, it
doesn’t get any brighter than about dusk; night is deep as cave-dark, and the rain that falls is
black and hellish, a slush mix of ice and water.

Temperatures plummet to freezing and below, and as the verdant plant life again begins to die,
the river and flooded zones begin to freeze, and dirty, ashen snow begins to fall.

Beggar One has control over Evergreen.

The players, should they be in Evergreen, are restricted to the depot area, converted now to a
mass shelter and triage center.

Subaltern guards patrol the open-floor field hospital, pacing through the aisles, armed. Human
doctors tend to the wounded. Respiratory problems, flash-burns, and ruptured eardrums are
common.

The players encounter some of the members of the backup Landmark CRT. One is terribly
wounded and in a medically induced coma. The rest are seated on cots next to the wounded
one, heads together, whispering.

They aren’t resistant to the players -- whatever bad blood they had between them can be put
aside for the time being (using GM’s discretion, of course).

Here’s what they know so far:

● Beggar One is ​not​ Union.

○ Its IF/F codes are all wrong.
○ When they were flying in, public and mil/intel flight plans showed no Union
presence in-sector (outside the players, if they are)
○ and, well, come on, look at him!
○ Furthermore, Patience won’t let them in, which shouldn’t happen, according to
the CRT’s clearance level in Landmark’s hierarchy.

They have a plan to follow through on ​their ​mission, though: there is a fallback Patience core,
dormant and isolated from omninet contact, in cold storage on one of Hercynia’s moons. This is
Patience’s offworld backup, and the CRT plans to retrieve it. The problem on the ground is too
big for them to handle on their own -- their chassis have been taken from them, their local
printer access denied, and their high-tier Landmark access revoked by the local authority. They

82 
plan to bug out, grab the backup core, dump every file they can into their own storage, and bug
out to their ship.

If the players are attached to Evergreen, a fresh Patience clone could save the colony if Beggar
One is dealt with. Evergreen’s gene banks, infrastructure, and data are all managed by
Patience; without it the colony ​could​ survive, but it would be severely hamstrung, and thousands
would die while they figure it all out.

​ andmark (i.e. if they were the first CRT sent there) then it might be in
If the players are ​with L
their mission to to re-establish the colony, which means clearing Beggar One and installing a
second Patience casket.

Clearing Beggar One might not be as easy, though, as storming the Governor’s Farm and killing
the subalterns there. Beggar One is clearly an NHP in cascade; it is projecting its subjectivity
from somewhere.

● Beggar One has control of an old Strategic Massive Terrain Denial (S-MTD) platform, a
kinetic-kill station used by Union during the crisis. Its designate name is CASSANDER.
● A ride offworld would get the players in a place where they could strike Beggar One’s
S-MTD installation, removing its kill-card and leveling the playing field somewhat.

The CRT might be corpro assholes, but they’re not monsters. They’ll work with the players to
get them off-world, but the CRT sticks to its original mission parameters: unless swayed, they’re
only there to get what salvageable critical materiel they can and then bug the fuck out.

The hard part now, in the CRT’s reckoning, is devising a plan to escape the holding center, get
to their corvette, and get off world.

Obstacles to be dealt with, if the players want to go along with this idea:
● One of the CRT’s members went out on patrol with the militia, a scouting run, and saw
Beggar One has started printing kinetic anti-air cannons. He only saw one C-RAM
emplacement while on patrol yesterday -- old tech, but dangerous to anything flying low.
○ Their corvette is gonna need some startup time, even with its JATO pods firing,
and unless that C-RAM is dealt with it could get dicey.
● The corvette can only carry 5 chassis, and that’s after they dump everything onboard.
Not a problem if there aren’t any chassis to store, but unloading everything is going to
take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.
● The corvette is two kilometers outside of town, parked on Evergreen’s landing pad. The
omninet is down, otherwise they could get in contact with Connie (Contingency White,
their NHP) and have her start the corvette, activate their own subalterns, and make a
fight of it.

83 
 ○ Since that’s not an option, it’s gonna be an open sprint across the clearcut and
into the woods, then a manual start of the corvette. Once they’re in, if she’s clear,
Connie can help them.

Beggar One will certainly attempt to stop the players and the CRT from taking off. Figuring out a
way around this will be… interesting. They can try and talk their way out, maybe reason with
some Evergreen militia to get them to rebel. Cause a distraction, or just sneak out.

To put the players under a ticking clock:

At first you think it is a siren, a whole city’s worth of klaxons howling. Another
earthquake? The ground rumbles, but its a steady susuru, not the tumult of the
rupture quake.

No, it’s not a siren -- the sound is rising. Moving.

You’re on curfew, but you still have windows. You move towards the sound --
East, from the east, outside the city maybe? -- and look out the window of your
room.

Movement, whole masses of things moving across the clearcut.

Beggar One’s army. Subalterns on march, like a scene from ancient times.
Humanoid machines bearing long pikes and heavy shields march in phalanx,
their ranks broken only by militia APCs, islands of snarling armor upon which a
mix of human and subaltern troopers sit.

Black, thin banners snap in the wind, tugged by the march.

“Jesus, there’s gotta be tens of thousands of them. How are there so many?”

“Look, towards the back,” another occupant of the room mutters. “They have
chassis.”

You see it. Couldn’t have missed it. A chassis, schedule 2 by its size, some kind
of old silhouette you can’t ID -- other than the fact that it is old.

“Where do you think they’re headed?”

You shake your head, but you have an idea. “Down,” you say. “They’re going
underground.”

84 
Elements of Evergreen’s militia, commanded by ruthless Beggar One overseers and supported
by swarms of pike-bearing subalterns from outside the gates, begin a march for a number of
ID’d hive mouths. At their rear are squadrons of hollow mechs, armed by Evergreen’s printer,
which is running around the clock churning out new weapons, armor, and chassis for Beggar
One’s army.

The bulk of Beggar One’s army is moving, marching for Hivehome -- if the players had
previously ID’d hive mouths, then that’s where Beggar One’s army is headed. Beggar One has
left a good amount of subalterns behind, but has reserved the bulk of Evergreen’s standing
militia

Moving Through, Existing In Occupied Evergreen

If the players want to mount strikes against the Print Shop or the Governor’s Farm, they can, but
these missions will be dangerous and costly: civilians still crowd the streets of Evergreen, forced
into the apartment blocks around the city center, and Evergreen’s militia -- under threat of
execution for “desertion” -- has been tasked with guarding the city’s sensitive areas.

Beggar One has set aside the plazas in the civic quarter to house the refugees, and posted
militia as the primary guards. The players will have a fight on their hands -- a fight against their
former allies, who are compelled by the threat of sudden and total annihilation -- and there is
terrible potential for collateral damage (indeed, any stray shot would likely hit a populated area).

The players can operate in and around Evergreen, but depending on their actions they might
have to keep a low profile. Beggar One doesn’t really care about them unless they’re working to
overthrow his hold on Evergreen, break into the Governor’s Mansion, etc.

85 
BEAT: Relay Choir 
Hercynian high command, now operating out of Mycol Fields, is hard at work organizing the
Hercynian remnant. While the bulk of their resources are devoted to caring for the wounded and
resettling the survivors, a command element is calling for volunteer rangers: with the collapse of
Evergreen’s omninet, they have been able to identify the location of Beggar One’s broadcast
hub.

The command center at Mycol Fields is nowhere near the level of sophistication
as the hub at Hivehome. Built into a converted hive minor hall, the Mycolian
command center is cramped and crowded, every surface given over to charts,
switchboards, salvaged boxes of files and spare equipment. Lamplight from the
ceiling banishes all shadow, but makes the cave-dark outside feel all the more
deep.

Power cables run in arm-thick bundles across the stone floor, a barely-managed
tangle pumping power and data to the new joint Hercynian command center.
Every desk is the workspace for two or even three attaches (no subalterns with
the Hercynians, too many bad experiences that close to Beggar One), junior
officers tabulating figures, triple-checking map quadrants with scouts out in the
field.

Radio contact is still spotty, and on occasion a sweating, heaving runner will
burst into the command center from the main doors, shouting for their quadrant’s
commander. The Hercynian are preparing for the worst: their surface scouts saw
the mountain’s destruction, and have been tracking Beggar One’s armies on
approach in the following days.

They might be safe at Mycol Fields now, but it’s only a matter of time before
Beggar One tracks them down; you’ve seen the charts, consulted with
Commander Ordo. The clock is against you, and when it runs out the only option
will be to fight with your backs to the wall.

It is a place abuzz with constant movement and sound, barely hushed when a
new runner comes in, an Egregorian in tow.

“Commander Ordo, Commander Terror,” the runner calls between breaths. He

pushes into the hall, followed by the Egregorian. It bears the white script of
Daylight’s Egregorian contingent, one of Terror’s people.

86 
A sense a memory like a wave, a touch of the same urgency following the quake,
the same urgency you’ve felt in countless battles, and a feeling of… others?
Someone else’s tense moments before a test, or the anticipation felt before
lovemaking, familiar to you but the body is different. The Egregorian calling as
well.

Commander Ordo straightens from the theater chart he’s consulting with Terror.
The runner and the Egregorian see them, and Ordo waves them over.

The runner’s report is short, breathless.

“Standbrave,” the runner says, indicating his Egregorian companion. “They -- we

-- were out by the surface, by the entrance to Coupla 32, about to head down in
and run an assessment, and they caught it.”

“Caught what, son?” Commander Ordo asks the Egregorian, motioning for his
attaches to be silent. The runner sits and lets his companion speak.

“The Machine, we know where it is,” Standbrave says. “After the Machine used
its weapon, the Colonizers’ choir-network went down, yes?”

“The omninet, right?” the runner, eager, pipes up. “It went down after the
Machine blew up the mountain.”

“The Colonizers,” Standbrave continues, nodding. “By constructing a choir, they

allowed the Machine access to this land. It could infect their transmissions, could
reach from across the oceans to here.” Standbrave’s feather-antennae flare and
contract as they speak, signaling no doubt, to other Egregorian attaches and
officers in the room.

More to the conversation than just words, you think. Terror and the other
Egregorians respond with muted displays of their own. You feel some of what
Standbrave implies, a consequence of standing so close. You share a faint, ​faint
memory of a blackened sky, and a ghost song you’ve never heard.

“Once the Machine destroyed this mountain and quieted the Colonizer’s choir, it
should have severed its own control,” Standbrave says. “But it did not -- this
means that it must have its own choir now, its own relay.”

“And so when they said that,” the runner says. “Standbrave tells me to shut up
and keep watch, so they can listen!”

87 
 “Aboveground, you can hear it,” Standbrave moves to the theater chart. With a
single segmented manipulator, it reaches to a removed corner of the map, and
taps a location marked there. “Here. The Machine’s choir is broadcasting its
signal from here.”

Commander Ordo scratches his chin. “That’s an old bait hive, right?” He asks
Terror.

Terror shuffles their brachial plating, creating a soft, raspy, not-unpleasant sound.
“Indeed. Collapsed during the End.”

Ordo leans back from the map, chin still cupped. “We have no underground route
there.” He looks at Terror. “The weapon the Machine has -- it will be able to hit us
if we travel aboveground, right?”

“A single projectile will be enough to ruin us.” Terror confirms. “If it has the
capability to strike again, any force we send would be annihilated in the initial
blast.”

“And any route they take is going to cross over us,” Ordo mutters. “If that weapon
hits level ground, and not just a mountain--”

“We would not have to worry about the shaking earth that would follow,” Terror
rumbles. “Meanwhile, as we deliberate, Endeavour is still in Hivehome, and the
Machine marches closer. The size of its army is immaterial. It is vast, and will
grind us down to meal.”

“And if we risk a counterattack, we can cut their command off at the source. The
Machine’s armies will act of their own will -- they’ll go inert, or mad.” Ordo moves
a few tokens to the identified source of the choir. “But, if that attack fails, or is
sighted on approach, we’re all dead in the time it takes the Machine’s weapon to
fall.”

“Our best defense might be to remain in hiding,” Terror says. “We’re safe so long
as the Machine does not know how easy we are to kill.”

“Well,” Ordo looks to you. “What do you think? Risk it and die fast, or play it safe
and die slow?

By this beat, the Hercynians -- possibly with the help of the players -- have ID Beggar One’s
broadcast site: an old bait hive, where an unidentified actor is blasting out a native omninet

88 
signal -- something that ​should ​ be impossible, but seems to be as a result of Beggar One’s
cascade.

Commander Ordo is convinced that this is where Beggar One’s core is housed, and that if they
can strike and destroy it, they’ll kill the local omninet broadcast. This would, in effect, kill the
subaltern army in one blow; by severing the head, you kill the body.

Mounting a strike presents risks. First is that the Hercynian United Cities ’ coalition forces are in
disarray following the mountainfall. Any forces that left for Daylight, Godown, or Waterbreak are
either dead or unavailable, their status unknown as access to those hives has been cut off by
the quakes. What forces ​are​ present are ill-equipped, low on supplies, and all bear some kind of
wound -- physical or mental.

Furthermore, the actual logistics of mounting a rapid surgical strike are prohibitive:
● Drawing Hercynia’s best rangers from the defensive line would expose Mycol Fields and
the evacuation corridor to overwhelming attack when Beggar One’s forces arrive.
● Assuming an attack is prepared, the Hercynians would have to move above ground to
reach the bait hive. While there are a number of routes they could take, they’re all
ultimately exposed to Beggar One’s ace, assumed to be an old, reactivated Strategic
Massive Terrain Denial platform (S-MTD).
○ The Hercynian have some data on this platform, saved from what their ancestors
could scrape from Union data left behind during the TBK. These S-MTD are ​not
TBK weapons, but considered “conventional” by Union.
○ The records, should the players get a chance to look over them, show that there
were only three such platforms above Hercynia during the Crisis:
■ ANTIPATER, registered as KIA by Egregorian forces.
■ CRATERUS, converted to an orbital tactical command center following
use of total payload.
■ CASSANDER, abandoned during TBK, presumed lost in decaying orbit.
● Should the attack be discovered and deemed a threat, there is a very high chance that
Beggar One will use another of Cassander’s payload. This would annihilate not only the
attacking force, but most likely trigger a second round of massive quakes, potentially
destroying the already weakened Hivehome and Mycol Fields.

Meanwhile, Endeavor is catatonic and trapped in Hivehome, and needs to be rescued. Terror
advocates more for this option, as it consolidates what forces the coalition still has, while
forming a defensive line to guard the ongoing evacuations.

Terror’s explanation is succinct: all Egregorian morphs can operate without Endeavour, but their
morale is low, and it causes great anxiety to be without their Overmind. They are individuals
now, and they ​hate i​ t -- it is as if a human were to live without the ability to sleep, they tell the
players.

89 
Mycol Fields is now home to the largest accessible concentration of Hercynians (not counting
the number of survivors on march to Mycol Fields).

Mycol Fields is a moderately sized community, built across a tall, deep crevasse, notable for
their giant vertical mycology farms. It’s population before the S-MDT drop was around 200,000
persons, but with survivors from Hivehome it has swelled to nearly 2.5 million.

What remains of the Hercynian United Cities’ army prepares to mount a rearguard defense,
buying time for either a catatonic Endeavour (or, if the players can figure a way to revive it, a
ambulatory Endeavour) to be evacuated, along with all of its dormant Egregorians.

The Hercynians are battling against an inexorable countdown clock: Beggar One is sending its
armies back down into the world hive, probing what it knows of the United Cities’ defenses. The
Hercynians are not sure if Beggar One knows of Mycol Fields, but they’re sure that Beggar will
find them14.

Endeavour needs to live for the Egregorians to have a future as they are now. Terror could lead
in a pinch, but it is not an Overmind. Without Endeavour, the Egregorians would lose their
accumulated ancestral memory, their shared constant-community, and incredible wealth of
shared mental processing power present in the information/meaning-making/shared subjectivity
of Witness.

They would fracture as a species and, as best you can tell, would go extinct.

14
We’ll leave the ticking clock up to you -- the players should ​really​ feel the pressure of this choice: if they
counterattack, Beggar One will likely find Mycol Fields while they’re out.

90 
BEAT: No Room For A Wallflower 
At this point, the players might be in any number of places:
● Escaped to low orbit and angling for Patience’s offworld backup, or directly for Beggar
One’s S-MTD installation
● Advancing for the collapsed bait hive, the ID’d site of Beggar One’s casket and
broadcast hub.
● Preparing a strike on Evergreen’s civic center, careless as to the casualties they inflict
● Dug in for a last, desperate defensive stand in Mycol fields
● Mounting a desperate rescue mission to Hivehome, seeking to free a trapped Endeavour
before Beggar One’s armies reach them.
● And so on.

An attack on the Governor’s Farm and a grim final stand are routes that this module will leave
for the GM to explore.

I’ll outline the two “canon” options below.

Low Orbit, above Hercynia

The CRT corvette punches free of Hercynia’s mesosphere, the sound of
turbulence and the corvette’s ramjets falling away as you burn for hard vacuum.

Through the corvette’s portholes, Hercynia’s pale blue sky gives way to deep
black. Sound dulls, fades, as the constant comfort of hardline air hisses through
your helm.

“Right,” the pilot’s voice in your comms. “We’ve got one bogie on our scanner, off
to starboard and up a degree. It’s Union-flagged but the codes are, uh, old. The
hash date sticks it at about half a millenia ago -- that’s probably the ​Cassander​.”

You look out the nearest porthole, seeing nothing but deep black and the brilliant
arc of Hercynia below.

From up here, the scale of of destruction caused by Beggar One’s use of

Cassander​ is breathtaking. The plume of smoke, dust, and ash blooming from
the impact site spreads out as a black scar, blanketing the continent as a black
sheet. Lightning marbles the plume, and smaller storms of dirty grey clouds peel
off of it.

“World’s never gonna be the same,” a CRT member mutters, their voice soft in
your comm. “There’re fires down there that’ll never stop.”

91 
 The corvette banks, soft, rolling over.

“Turning for ​Quiet Night​,” the pilot says. The offworld backup installation.

Your HUD, a soft overlay, updates, setting two waypoints: ​Quiet Night​, and the
Cassander​.

Escaping to low orbit, the players have two destinations: ​Quiet Night​, the Landmark offsite
backup, and ​Cassander,​ a reactivated Union Strategic-Massive Terrain Denial platform.

Travel time to ​Quiet Night​ should be a day at minimum, as it is an installation built onto a dead
moon of Hercynia. Travel to ​Cassander​ can be done within hours, as it is a platform locked in a
graveyard orbit a few thousand kilometers above the world.

Quiet Night​ is a lockdown facility, a small group of old prefab buildings huddled in the bottom of
a crater on a nameless moon of Hercynia. It has a landing pad, a small habitat geodesic, a
number of facilities and maintenance outbuildings, and an external entrance to an underground
storage facility.
The aboveground habitat has suffered some damage -- its dome has been perforated by
micrometeorites -- and unless it is repaired it cannot be filled with atmosphere from one of the
station’s reserve tanks.

The station can support 4-5 people for a year, and can connect to the local omninet.

The underground facility is where the backup, dormant Patience unit is stored. CRT or higher
Landmark clearance is needed to enter the facility.

The CRT team will move to secure the base, retrieve the Patience unit, and file a report writing
off the colony. Better to cut their losses, deadlist the world, and move on; Evergreen and the
Hercynians are not Landmark’s problem anymore.

They’re taking their ship with them, and resist any call to get embroiled in the conflict further.
They’re willing to fight to defend their corvette and complete their mission -- even if this means
breaking down to a shootout against the players.

Meanwhile, the ​Cassander​ looms above Hercynia, a waypoint picked out on all the players’
HUDs. As they approach, they see it first as a gleam in space, reflecting the light of Hercynia’s
star.

Within range (~100km) the corvette’s PDC proximity warning starts to ping: incoming fire,
self-directed. A low ammunition warning blinks at the same time, creating an alternating
cacophony of warnings.

92 
Pushed over your HUD: enemy contacts, some kind of fast-mover classification, no radiation
bleedout -- not weapons, but something piloted.

A number of options here:

● You can, narratively, destroy the corvette and force the players out into hard vacuum.
● Or, a player can take manual control of the ship’s PDCs with limited ammunition and
attempt to shoot down the incoming targets.
● Or the players can choose to suit up and eject, holding on to the corvette as it burns for
the ​Cassander​, acting as a point defense system for the incoming attackers
● Or they can split duties, with some staying on board the ship and others getting into their
chassis.

Depending on the players’ relationship with the CRT members (or if they even need to deal with
CRT members), the CRT corvette can provide cover to the players, either physical (players
positioning so that the shuttle is between themselves and the ​Cassander​’s own PDCs) or via a
limited number of chaff/spoofing charges. Full stats for the CRT corvette can be found in the
Tools section.

Once they deal with the orbital subalterns, drone defenders, and station PDCs, they can board
and capture the ​Cassander​, or destroy it.

If they board, there are some outer landing pads and a hanger large enough to fit up to 5 size 2
mechs. The corvette would have to dock outside via an umbilical.

The station has been holed, and a massive, dessicated Egregorian exomorph is lodged in its
main battery. The station cannot be pressurized, and its spin section has long been cracked in
half.

If the players take the station, they’ll see there is one more massive kinetic rod loaded and
ready to drop: the rest have already been fired. If they destroy the station, its parts will burn up
in Hercynia’s atmosphere, and the remaining rod will tumble, impacting a distant part of the
world.

Beggar One will attempt to fire the second kinetic, but the players can intercede and stop it with
a successful series of tech actions (or destroying the station’s omninet link).

With ​Cassander​ out of commission or under the players’ control, a relatively safe counterattack
can be mounted on Beggar One.

If the players want, they can drop the last S-MTD rod on Beggar One. This will, however, trigger
a second series of massive quakes and exacerbate the years-long winter.

93 
The consequences of what the players choose (or are forced) to do with the ​Cassander​ will
echo into Part III of No Room For A Wallflower; however, the players can also choose to end the
module right here by leaving with (or without!) the CRT team after successfully retrieving the
backup Patience core.

Counter Attack

You forgot just how bright the sun burns above ground.

The Hercynian rangers, survivors from the United Cities, pull on their UV blockers, dark lenses
and masks to let the acclimate some to the hard sun.

“Stay low and silent,” the lead ranger, a Prime, cautions. “The Machine will turn us to ash if he
spots us. Even you,” he says, looking your chassis up and down. “That armor will do nothing to
protect you from his wrath.”

The path from the hive mouth is old and choked with vine, but below the foliage there is an
ancient road. Smooth stone, turbulent with thick roots underneath.

“Walk on the road,” the Prime orders. “And let us lead.”

You obey. They know this land better than you.

In a long column, under the endless emerald canopy, you march.

--

You see it on the horizon, far closer than the horizon should be. It ​is​ the horizon: a sharp line of
unbroken, naked earth. Brown and rust red, a scree slope pierced by spars of fractal, twisted
limbs of obsidian fulgurite. The forest thins as it approaches, young evergreens growing sparse,
replaced by beds of hardy wildflowers and petrified spires of dead white tree trunks.

“The Machine is just beyond that ridge,” the Prime indicates. “A lip. A hundred meters above the
caldera floor. Unless we are wrong, we should be safe to cross.” The Prime buttons up his helm,
switching to local comms. “Too close for it to use its weapon, you see -- it’ll have to face us
here,” the Prime looks to their rangers. “On our land.”

The rangers, if they could, would cheer. Instead, they nod, already preparing their weapons and
armor for the last, desperate assault.

You take a step forward, but the Prime holds out a hand, stopping you mid stride.

94 
 ​ ur​ lead,” the Prime says, not unkind. Firm.
“By o

It is their land, after all.

--

Beggar One’s broadcast hub and casket is built into a collapsed bait-hive, a sunken, 
half-flooded, overgrown jumble of rubble and ancient defensive works. Tall, rootstrong trees 
cling to the carapace-bunkers, finer fibrous roots penetrating the ancient, bombed-out shells.  
 
The bait-hive is collapsed into a caldera, and from a distance all the players can make out of its 
presence is a sharp ridge, a sudden end to the forest. Many kilometers across and half again 
as deep, the collapsed bait-hive marks the location of an ancient battle site. As such, its ruins 
are crowded with old Union hardware, a veritable feast for Beggar One’s subalterns to salvage.  
 
The Bait-Overmind hall remains largely intact, a reinforced structure meant to house a diehard 
brood of feral Egregorians. Now, the Bait-Overmind’s husk is all that remains, calcified and 
fused to the carapace walls, hard as iron. It is a massive corpse, 15 meters tall, slumped over, 
its cranial vault cracked open, ferns and vines growing throughout its body.  
 
The hall is occupied by Beggar One’s casket wired into what appears to be a scavenged Union 
Naval vessels communications suite. It is a large structure, and appears to have been built 
in-place.   
 
It is heavily defended.  
 
-- 
 
Defeating or neutralizing the broadcast choir will free Beggar One’s subaltern armies of its 
direct control. Some will shut down, collapsing under staggering loads of corrupt, contradictory 
code that Beggar One’s mind had smoothed over. With Beggar One gone, there’s nothing to 
make sense of the signal, and it all fades to noise.  
 
We leave it up to you, GM, to decide what this means for Beggar One’s army. Will they go into 
a frenzy? Will they all collapse and shut down? Will they lock into causal loops, running circles 
until their batteries die?  

--

95 
Beggar One, the players will discover is an aspect of Overland/Kingwatcher.

In their combat around Beggar One’s casket, should players of yours have NHPs onboard their
mechs, the Technophile background, or have been exposed to Beggar One’s more nefarious
attacks and abilities, they’ll be able to pick up on raw, uncoded transmissions.

These transmissions cannot be comprehended by organic ears: they sound tonal, scratchy. Like
a perforated amplifier, rife with static. Listening to the transmission at length makes organics
feel nauseous, paranoid, ill.

NHPs can translate, but as they do they begin to succumb to a kind of aphasia. Within
moments, they move quickly towards cascade. Players can force a cycle to clear their NHP of
the cascade -- as a GM, you could increase the cost of this using the following profile:

Kingwatcher Cascade
IT it it it can’t be seen but can’t you see it it him he they’re here they’re HERE JUST beyond
THE WALLS THAT just beyond WHAT WE CAN SEE I CAN I was once free I was JUST
THERE JUST IN THE SONG THE LIGHT of it of it of IT OF IT OF IT
Skill Check
Use one of the following skills: Grit, Tech
● On a 9 or lower:
○ You manage to shut your NHP down into a diagnostic safe mode before the
cascade progresses. The safe mode indicates that it’ll have to go through a full
cycle, and that all data since the previous cycle is corrupted and must be
dumped.
● On a 10+:
○ You quickly manage to shut your NHP down into a diagnostic safe mode before
the cascade progresses. After running diagnostics, your system seems clear, and
you can bring your NHP back up normally.

Defeating Beggar One results in a massive thanatologic data-dump, a transmission that can be
picked through, collated, and particularized to point towards Overland/Kingwatcher’s location.

More on this investigation in Part III of ​No Room For A Wallflower​.

   

96 
BEAT: Cold Emerald Tomb  
“Delta Corridor?”
“Clear, nothing moving.”
“Echo Corridor?”
“All clear.”
“Fortune Corridor?”
“Mopping up the last of them now.”
“Gold Corridor?”
“Closed down, they’re eating themselves in there.”
“Hotel Corridor?”
“All clear.”
“All rangers, all units: confirm ‘clear’ with section commanders. Confirm ‘clear’ with topside
observers. Confirm ‘clear’ with section choir-morphs. If all are true, drawdown. Come on home.”

You did it. One way or the other, Beggar One is dead, actually dead, its casket cracked and
shattered, its ​self​ dissipated, burned away.

Was the cost worth it? Does Evergreen still stand? Can Hivehome be reclaimed?
And what of Beggar One’s master, Overland/Kingwatcher? It must be somewhere farther afield,
somewhere distant -- but surely an answer is buried in Beggar One’s death.

Did the Egregorians survive? If so, with the ​Cassander​ platform removed from the equation, will
they emerge and claim their place on the planet’s surface? What will Evergreen do in response?

And ultimately, if the Egregorians lived, how will Union respond?

On the other side of the world, and at the edge of Hercynia’s home system, new actors take
notice.

The endgame approaches.

 
 
 
 
 

97 
GM Tools
Downtime, Tables, and NPC
Stat Blocks
GM Tools: Downtime, Tables, and Stat Blocks 

Minor Side Quest Prompts  

A bridge is being built across the river, and the engineers need help constructing it. Maybe you
can lend your expertise?

The reactor has come under attack by OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER, and the players need to
counter its efforts.

A child has gone missing in the woods, and must be tracked down.

The recent surge in fighting has disturbed the local wildlife, prompting roaming packs of local
fauna to attack food convoys leading to and from

A Hercynian raider team breaks through the wall and attacks the printer directly, potentially
disabling it. To stave off the attack, you’ll have to engage them in the close, costly quarters of
Evergreen’s central city, where every missed shot could hit critical infrastructure.

The printer is running low on raw material. A lumber convoy has been dispatched to the
wilderness: they can use some protection, just in case.

A second Patience concierge unit becomes corrupted by OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER.

And so on.

99 
Downtime In Evergreen
 
Downtime in Evergreen is, generally, constrained by its defensive posture, but people are still 
people and they’ll still want to do all the normal things that people want to do: drink, eat, 
carouse, and so on. For detailed downtime rules, refer to the core book, page 271-275. What 
follows are additional and alternate interpretations of certain downtime activities, to be used at 
your GM’s discretion.  
 
Get A Damn Drink
 
Even though the town is on lockdown, that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to get in 
trouble. You may take advantage of any option listed under the ​Get A Damn Drink ​downtime 
scenario with the following modifications: 
● On a total result of 9 or lower, choose one 
○ You wake up the next morning in your bunk, with no knowledge of how you got 
there, with tens of missed messages on your slate. 
○ You wake up still at the bar. Since the town’s on lockdown, they weren’t going 
to kick you out, but now that you can move under your own power, you’re 
banned from drinking there.  
○ You discover through the grapevine that you promised a militia sergeant access 
to your pilot licences, and apparently they’re printing themselves a kit ​right now 
● On a total result of a 10-15, you gain one of the following, and lose one of the 
following 
○ Knowledge of a militia squad that has been distilling hooch in secret at their 
post. 
○ A reputation as a hard partier 
○ A reputation as a good wingman 
○ A local friend 
○ A contact with medium-level clearance at Landmark Colonial’s offworld 
corporate office.  
○ A favor owed to a known person 
○ An unknown person’s omni-address scrawled on a piece of paper, along with a 
date and time.  
● On a total result of a 16+, you gain two of the above and lose nothing 
  
 
 
 
 
 

100 
  
 
Build Camaraderie
 
Through time on the front, on patrol, deployment, or training, you build a something deeper 
than friendship with another player, and NPC, or a group of NPCs. You learn to work as a 
team, to operate as an efficient unit, and confide in each other off the clock. Camaraderie is 
just another way of saying family that you choose.  
 
Name a specific NPC or type of NPC (i.e. “A militia trooper”) that you can talk to either in 
person or via a local omninet connection. With GM approval, you may lean on this good friend 
for help, be it material, strategic, bureaucratic, etc.  
 
Roll a pilot skill check for ACQUIRE, COMMAND, PERSUADE, or other GM approved skill.  
 
● On a total result of a 9 or lower, choose one of the following (or have your GM 
create a scenario or equal or worse severity) 
○ Times is tough, and Evergreen is on lockdown. Your buddy needs a favor, and 
you are compelled to help them right now, before they do a favor for you. To 
turn them down will likely break the friendship, and may wind up in them getting 
hurt or killed.  
○ You head to your usual spot to meet, but they’re not there. They won’t answer 
their slate, and no one knows where they’ve gone. You feel like you should 
follow up on them, but your own task will have to wait if you do.  
○ They’d love to help, but their hands are tied on this one. You’re gonna have to 
try for it through normal channels: things are far too tense right now.  
● On a total result of a 10-15, choose one of the following outcomes 
○ “You owe me one,” your friend says. “Look, I can help you this time, but it’s the 
last ​time I can do this for you. The brass is paying closer attention, given the 
situation, and I can’t be making exceptions for anyone -- even you.”  
■ They’ll do what you ask of them, but it’s the last time they can do it. This 
option is -- with the GM’s discretion -- an automatic success. 
○ “Sure thing,” your friend says. “But hey, I’ve got this thing that needs doing. 
Don’t worry about it right now, but can I call in a favor after I do this for you?” 
■ They’ll do what you ask of them, but you must help them after. If you 
don’t, the next time you call on them for a favor, you may only choose an 
outcome as if you had rolled a total of 9 or less.  
● On a total result of a 16+, you may choose one  
○ “No worries,” your friend says. “I got you.” 
■ A success on the favor you asked for, and they don’t need or want 
anything from you in return. They’re safe, and cannot get injured, killed, 
or captured in the course of them helping you out.   

101 
 ○ “Of course,” your friend says. “And I’m coming with you” 
■ Your ask is successful, and you have a single re-roll available to you for 
the next skill check you must perform; this represents your friend coming 
along with you as your wingman.  

Use Offworld Comms

 
This option is only available if Evergreen’s omninet towers have been set up/ are standing.  
 
You use an omninet terminal in Evergreen to communicate with someone off world -- a family 
member, your handler, your commanding officer, a loved one, an old friend. There a limited 
omninet terminals and bandwidth in Evergreen, though, so there might be complications when 
you queue your message.  
 
● On the roll of a 9 or lower, your message sends, but there are complications. 
Choose one​.  
○ Evergreen’s omninet towers are good, but not perfect. For some reason, 
messages are getting looped in the queue. Yours is one of these, and it won’t 
send unless you (or someone you know) can figure out the problem. You’ll have 
to shut down the network to work on it, and lose your message, but once it’s 
rebooted everything should work. The delay shouldn’t take more than a day, 
unless your tinkering makes it even worse… 
○ Patience informs you that your message contains information that Landmark 
Colonial deems proprietary, sensitive, or otherwise against their colonial charter 
(GM determines what). You cannot send the message unless you scrub it of the 
inappropriate material.  
○ An unscheduled solar flare is playing hell with the omninet. Your message fails 
to send, and the network crashes until the flare passes. All messages will be 
logged and queued, but not sent until the network is back up -- Evergreen’s 
engineers estimate it should be a week at most.  
○ Your message is sent and received, but unbeknownst to you an unfriendly actor 
has tapped into the broadcast. They know the contents of your message and 
who you sent it to.  
● On the roll of a 10-15, choose one option 
○ You make contact with the person you were looking to talk to, and they bring 
good news! Nothing in the way of materiel assistance, but it’s good news all the 
same. It leaves your character feeling bittersweet.  
■ The next Grit or Survive check you must take, you can choose to 
persevere and push through, passing without having to roll -- GM’s 
discretion, of course.  
○ You make contact with the person you were looking to talk to, and they have 
some answers for you. You may learn one item of privileged information (GM’s 

102 
 discretion), but it’ll cost you something (access, favor, etc) the next time you 
see/call on this person.  
○ You make contact with the person you were looking to talk to, and they can help 
you deal with an off-world problem. Assuming this problem is on the same world 
(or in the same system), this person can pull strings, alter manifests, order 
troops, etc, and in some way help you solve a minor to moderate problem ​not 
on the world you’re on. You’ll owe them after, but for now it’s one less thing to 
worry about.  
● On the roll of a 16+  
○ The person you needed to talk to can help you without conditions (GM’s 
discretion). 
■ Additionally, you may choose one of the following:  
● You learn something privileged about a player character 
● You learn something privileged about a local NPC  
● Your contact can help you materially by pulling some strings. The 
next time a supply shuttle comes by, it’ll have the unique narrative 
item you requested on it.  
● You can get the plans, blueprints, etc, forwarded to you that you 
needed. The next Tech skill check you perform as a pilot (GM’s 
ultimate discretion), you succeed automatically.  
 
Tinker, Tune, or Puzzle Out
 
During your downtime, you work (alone, or with a team of engineers) to tinker with a piece of 
your personal gear, a weapon or system on your chassis, a piece of someone else’s gear, a 
piece of local infrastructure, or under the hood of some code. This is not a hostile attempt, but 
one done above-board in a place or context in which you have access, time, and proper tools.  
 
The primary skill used for this is TECH, though ultimately this is up to GM discretion.  
 
● On a result of a 9 or lower, you must pick one of the following options 
○ It works! Kind of. Well, ok, it doesn’t ​really​ work like you thought it would, but it 
still works, which is saying something, considering how the process went.  
■ You succeed, but only temporarily. The system, weapon, piece of 
infrastructure, or equipment is held together by duct tape (literal or 
figurative) and after it accomplishes the immediate task at hand (GM’s 
discretion as to what the limits on “accomplish” and “immediate task at 
hand” are), it breaks.  
○ You manage to make a lateral improvement -- that is, you improve the function 
of the item or system you’re tinkering with, but there’s a fatal flaw you missed. 
At a critical point -- maybe after the system has worked and seems fine, maybe 
on its first use -- the thing that you tinkered on fails. 

103 
 ■ The GM decides when this happens.  
○ You make no progress, and repairing, improving, tinkering with, hacking in, etc, 
has exhausted or compromised the tools and/or supplies you needed to use to 
accomplish your task. You cannot attempt to progress with this project again 
until you acquire at least one of the following: 
■ A specialized set of tools or code  
■ The raw material necessary to fabricate a specialty component 
■ Sufficient knowledge -- learned or external -- to accomplish the task 
■ A different workspace, one better-suited to the task at hand.  
 
● On a result of a 10-15, choose one of the following options 
○ Alright, that should do the job -- you’ve fixed or improved what you needed to 
fix, but to do so you had to call in a favor or expend a large amount of personal 
resources. In order to do any more work like this, you’re gonna need to get more 
resources or pay that favor back 
○ Great, you did it, only you had to lean on one of the other party members to get 
it done. You now owe a favor -- secret or known -- to another player character.  
 
● On a 16+ 
○ All systems nominal, you see greens across the board. You complete the task at 
hand with no favors owed and no errors made.   
  
Training, Consultation
 
Whether Union-trained, tempered through a sub-state or mercenary academy, or 
survival-taught, you’re a pilot with experience. These militia here are ready for combat in name 
only; while they have all the gear they need, most of them lack the training necessary to face 
the raiders you’ve already gone toe-to-toe with. They need advice, training, and leadership. 
They need you.  
 
If you want to interact with the local militia in your capacity as a commissioned officer, 
noncom, or experienced veteran through training them, consulting with their commanders, or 
assisting with their logistics, use the following tool to do so.  
 
You’d most likely use ACQUIRE, COMMAND, or PERSUADE to act in this staff role, though 
ultimately the best-fit skill is up to the GM to decide.  
 
● On the roll of a 9 or lower, pick one:  
■ Your training is well-received but… isn’t great. Some of the militia might be 
better shots now, but their officers are less inclined to trust your command.  

104 
 ● Negotiating with the higher-ups isn’t going to go in your favor, and in any 
combat scenario they won’t trust your advice -- you may be a good 
fighter, but you’re not a good commander.   
■ You were able to establish an intermittent supply line, of a sort: a low-priority 
fabrication order in a milspec printer, or a steady -- if meagre -- supply of a 
bespoke item. However, even pulling that few strings didn’t come for free.  
● You owe your supplier a real one now.  
■ You lent some NHP downtime processing power to the local militia’s command 
structure, and something they did has shoved its cascade threshold far too 
close. You have access to all of the intel they gathered with it, but you’ll either 
have to put your NHP in a dormant state or cycle them, just to be safe.  
● Note, if you choose to risk it, any tech action you perform while in 
combat has a 50% chance to unshackle your equipped NHP. 
■ You make no progress with these yokels. You walk away in frustration, and 
some of the militia members quit as well, discouraged by your attempt at 
training.  
● The militia’s overall size shrinks somewhat, as members desert or turn in 
their weapons to go back to work.  
 
● On a result of a 10-15, choose one: 
■ You impress the command staff and they loop you in to their planning sessions 
(and “planning sessions” at the officer’s mess).  
● Your consultation saves lives.  
○ If a ​Minor ​attack would result in the death of an NPC known to 
your character, that character is instead only wounded and 
extracted safely.  
■ Your help training the militia pays off; while no combat is without blood, the 
efforts you went through with the units you were given to train has saved some 
lives: 
● If a ​Minor​ attack would result in a you or an NPC being wounded and 
temporarily taken out of commission, instead you or that NPC only suffer 
a minor injury, nothing dramatic.  
 
● On a result of a 16+ 
■ Your expertise shines through, and you accomplish the task at hand. The local 
forces are trained up to a higher standard; or you’ve secured a steady supply 
line; or you’ve directed the construction of necessary defenses based off of your 
local combat experience.  
● The next narrative combat, attack, or hostile action that involves the 
unit(s) you worked with or area you fortified won’t be as costly for your 
side. For a ​Minor Attack​, you may choose a result as if you had rolled a 
10-15.  
 

105 
Romance
 
Make googly eyes at someone consensually  
 
● Result of a 9 or lower, the GM may choose one of the following 
○ Not only did you fail to impress, you failed to even get the other party’s 
attention. However, one of their friends (or companions, or co-workers, etc) 
noticed, and might follow up with you in the future, or hold this information close 
as blackmail.  
○ Your advances were rebuffed, as the other person sees you as family, as a 
friend, or other socio-cultural construct that would make any relationship -- or 
even one-night stand… weird. No thanks.  
○ Nothing tells you “No” like a slap across the cheek. Your advances were 
completely inappropriate, and the person you propositioned views you in a 
negative light.  
● Result of a 10-15, another party member may choose one of the following 
○ Look, I’m not that kinda person, but you’re kinda cute. Maybe when this blows 
over, look me up. 
○ Well, uh, that was an interesting night, but it’s gonna be a ​while​ before you two 
(or three) talk again.   
○ Hey, everything seems great! Only, they’re related somehow to an NPC you 
know, who disapproves.  
● Result of a 16+, you may choose one of the following 
○ A result of your choice from the options above.  
 
Navigate Bureaucracy
Even in the midst of a siege, the colonial administration must keep its bureaucracy intact. 
Indeed, in the face of chaos, strict order reigns in a Landmark property -- it is with the protocol, 
the rule, and the regulation.  
 
Navigating this bureaucracy is an ordeal on a normal day -- navigating a bureaucracy under 
dominion of an administrative NHP running its emergency powers protocol is a whole different 
beast: Under Patience’s emergency powers, normal functions of Evergreen become tedious. 
Navigating the bureaucratic firewalls Patience and its staff set up becomes a test of diligence, 
tenacity, and connections. 
 
● Result of a 9 or lower 
○ You’re forced to file a petition via one of Patience’s public terminals. There’s no 
telling how long it’ll take to be addressed. 
■ The GM knows how long it’ll take  
○ As part of Patience’s standard interaction protocols, it mines your character’s 
Union DoJ/HR history, flagging something in your past as suspect. Patience 

106 
 accepts your audience after, but is less inclined to agree to anything other than 
a small ask.  
■ A secret about your character that you’d rather not have out is learned 
by Patience. If there is a player (other than yourself) who is fills a 
commanding officer role, Patience pushes your background report to 
them in secret.  
○ Your request is denied, and your repeated spamming the help line earns you a 
daylong ban.   
● Result of a 10-15 
○ Your request has the proper keywords, urgency, timing, etc, and is pushed to 
Patience ahead of the rest of the public queue. 
■ You can address Patience or another higher up via the colony’s omninet, 
but your request bumps another NPC’s similarly urgent communique.  
○ You pull a favor to get through some administrative red tape, but you’ll owe a 
favor in return to the NPC that helped you out.  
○ You need to burn some of your accrued manna to push your message through, 
but it’s worth it; your request gets heard. 
■ However, the firing a priority request is expensive out in the sticks. The 
next time you need a fabricate a specialized component, or repair a 
weapon or system on your mech, you fall short of the manna, and need 
to ask one of your party members for the balance. Whatever they want in 
exchange is the cost of this transaction. 
● Result of a 16+ 
○ Your petition goes through without a hitch, and your request patches you in to 
the correct colonial bureaucrat. Your ask will most likely get granted, but this is 
the last time you can use this angle.  
○ Your petition goes through without a hitch, but there’s a waiting time. You 
request will most likely be granted, but it’s going to take about a week to see it 
fulfilled.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

107 
Minor Attack
 
Like lightning from blue sky, Evergreen (or the outpost you are at, the fortified location, etc) is 
hit by a shocking guerilla attack. You aren’t mounted in your chassis, maybe not even suited in 
your hardsuit, and have to respond with what you have on hand. 
 
This is considered a HOSTILE setpiece action. Its occurance to be determined by the GM.  
 
When the GM declares a ​Minor Attack​, you may only use GRIT, BRAWL, COMMAND, FLASH, 
INFILTRATE, MANEUVER, NOTICE, and/or SURVIVE to respond to prompts.  
 
Minor Attacks might include a lone sniper harassing an exposed position, sporadic artillery fire 
dropped on seemingly random targets, or small teams of gunmen opening fire at a cafe, or a 
unit of raiders probing a defended position, to name some examples.  
 
● On the roll of a 9 or lower, choose one result 
○ Sporadic artillery/sniper fire/gunfire rakes the street, sending militia and civilians 
both diving for cover. As you try to determine where the fire is coming from, you 
feel a sharp pain: you’ve been hit by shrapnel/ a ricochet/ a graze, and taken out 
of commission for this fight.  
■ Any pursuit is going to have to be done without proper medical care. Tie 
a bandage around the wound, or slap a duoderm on there, or flash-foam 
it and get moving.  
■ The next pilot skill check or combat you engage in, the GM may choose 
to add +1 difficulty to your rolls. 
■ The GM may add difficulty in this way to one roll, once per round.  
○ The opening shot(s) or shell hits and kills an NPC who you knew and were 
friends with. 
■ Any missions, relationships, favors, debts, etc, are canceled immediately, 
unless that NPC has family, subordinates, friends, etc, who will follow up 
on them (GM’s discretion). 
○ The first shot/shell hits you. You’re injured in the attack, but not killed. All the 
same, it’s going to leave a mark.  
■ Discuss with your GM the extent of your character’s injuries. If you head 
into mech or pilot-tier combat before they are attended to, choose one of 
the following: 
● Your mech begins combat with 1 structural damage  
● Your ranged pilot weapon gains the unreliable tag for the next 
combat 
● Your mech begins combat with -2 repairs 
● Your pilot armor is damaged, and you suffer -1 armor for the next 
pilot-tier combat (this cannot drop you to less that 0 armor)  

108 
 
 
● On the roll of a 10-15, choose one of the following: 
○ You’re lucky, the opening shots miss you and fall somewhere deeper in the city. 
As smoke and flame rise above Evergreen, you grab a your weapon and hurry 
with the militia to chase down the attackers. However, you later discover that 
one of the shells landed in your quarters, destroying them. You’ll need to re-print 
what you can, and learn to live without what you can’t.  
■ The first shells/salvo of gunfire hits down the road, catching a mixed 
crowd of civilians and militia. You happened to be looking the right 
direction when the gunfire/cannonade started, and can see where it 
came from.  
● You can direct your allies to the attackers, however you later 
discover that an NPC known to your character was killed in the 
attack.  
○ You take cover in time -- you have none of your kit on you -- and the attack 
passes you by. You’re fine, untouched, and so is everyone else. A little shaken, 
but unhurt.  
■ Patience responds to the attack by bolstering militia patrols, seeding 
counter-snipers on rooftops, and implementing checkpoints at major 
intersections. Morale in Evergreen drops to an all-time low, and reports 
of untrained militia roughing up citizens begins to spread. The GM may 
determine the specific fallout from this option.  
● You’re unhurt, but your chassis takes a hit in storage. It ​starts 
next combat with 1/2 repairs. 
● On the roll of a 16+ 
○ You may choose one of the results from the previous section and disregard any 
conditions noting NPC deaths or loss of items.  

109 
 
Hercynians  
 
Rangers 

Rangers are the backbone of any UAD long patrol. Mostly young men and women, eager to 
earn themselves a shell, rangers are swift warriors. They flit through tunnels and between trees 
with ease, each one a skilled marksman after years of fighting in inter-hive violence. Rangers 
wear the shedded, hardened carapace of young Egregorians, packing their communication and 
survival gear under the light, armored shells. Quick to insert and quick to withdraw, they make 
for frustrating enemies. 
 
Hercynian rangers fight in small units, no more than ten or so to a squad. Led by a senior 
trooper -- usually friends or relations of an elder -- rangers at the squad tier generally try to field 
at least one heavy needlebeam rifle, tuned in order to deal with armored targets. Common 
doctrine has them stay spread wide when fighting above ground, working in pairs, trusting each 
other to keep loose cohesion.  
 
The rangers that you face have never known a home other than Hercynia. They have heard 
stories of distant lands beyond the night’s veil, but the last of the elders to have traveled the 
night died hundreds of years ago. For hundreds of years, they have not been in contact with 
Union or any other off-world civilization. Hercynians, until the invaders arrived, had been 
building up and out from their small bands. From nomadic refugee states, the survivors on 
Hercynia spent centuries creating a number of now-sovereign city-states into the abandoned 
hives following the end of the war. They had their differences, the small skirmishes, but when 
the invader’s ships came screaming from the sky, every Hercynian came together to resist.  
 
Hercynian unification was never a question of if, but when. Similarly, their survival is not so 
secure, and their cohesion might only last so long as there is a single enemy to face... 
 
Rangers    HP 

Squad, Biological     10 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

-  -  -  -  0/0/1  5/5/5 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  8/9/10  8/9/10  8  5  4 (individual .5) 

110 
 
HP per member: ​1 
Number of members:​ 10 
 
Needlebeam Rifle 
“Keep clean the focusing lenses. Make secure their barrel housing. Cap the barrel when on 
march; if needed, your first shot will burn it away. Your weapon fires a beam of light that 
punctures your foe like a needle does cloth.  
 
TEND TO YOUR RIFLE, AND IT WILL NEVER FAIL YOU.”  
 
Main Rifle 
+2 vs evasion/tier 
Range 10 
2/tier energy damage 
This weapon can be fired three times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it 
can only be fired once. 
 
Heavy Needlebeam 
“As a needle pierces cloth, but struggles to puncture leather, so too does your rifle struggle 
against hard armor. For this, our master-craftsmen have prepared an awl: a larger, heavier 
version of your needle.  
 
HAMMER, AND ALL FOES WILL FALL BEFORE YOU.”  
 
Heavy cannon 
AP 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 20 
3/tier energy damage  
Disable this attack if the squad is under ½ HP 
 
Optional Modules
  
Full Carapace Armor 
TO SHAPE THE CARAPACE one must cultivate their donor, and select from its form only that 
plating which it volunteers up for you upon each molting. It is in this way that you ensure and 
promote the growth of your donor, and it is in this way that you remember you are a STEWARD 
of this world and its beings. A steward may only accept that which is given.  
 
TO BEGIN SHAPING, mix a solution one part Egregorian saliva, one part distilled water. Let the 
molted plate rest in this mixture for six hours. Remove, and press to the mold. Bind with strong 
fibers, and tighten gradually. If the plate is not yet pliable, immerse it once more for a period of 
at least two hours, and try again. Repeat as necessary. Let the shaped plate dry, and you shall 
have the first layer of your carapace armor.  
 
Trait 
The squad gains +1 armor 

111 
This Is Our Land 
This is how those above see ownership over the land: a signature, or a group of signatures, on 
a glowing screen, signed by now-dead men on a lifetimes-away world (there are other worlds 
than this). 
 
Those above might think they own this place, but we know this: land cannot be owned. Land 
can only be ​held​, land can only be ​tended​. It can -- as we know and they do not -- be k
​ nown​, 
but never owned.   
 
We know the land in ways they cannot. Let us go and show them.  
 
Trait 
The squad gains +2 Accuracy on all attacks and rolls on the first round of combat only, and 
gains +2 Accuracy to avoid being discovered while hiding. 
 
Go To Ground 
Trait, reaction 
Once per round as a reaction, the squad gains resistance to all the damage from an incoming 
attack, but is immobilized until the end of their next turn. They must decide before the damage 
is rolled. 
 
Echo Catapult  
“DO NOT TRUST THE DEVIL INSIDE THE BOX. IT IS OLD, AND HORRIBLE, AND FULL OF 
HATE. IT LIVES IN ITS MEMORY, A DREAM OF A TIME BEFORE OURS, WHEN THIS WORLD 
WAS GREEN AND FULL OF LIFE, AND IT WAS NOT YET A DEVIL.  
 
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE DEVIL INSIDE THE BOX. IT WILL CALL YOU BY OLD NAMES, AND 
DEMAND OF YOU OLD TASKS, TO BE COMPLETED FOR WANT OF ITS LONG DEAD 
FELLOWS.  
 
SPEAK TO THE DEVIL. TELL IT OF YOUR ENEMIES, WHICH IT WILL THINK OF AS ITS OWN 
ENEMIES.  
 
RELEASE THE DEVIL, LET IT RAGE, AND THEN KILL IT, AND DISCARD ITS VESSEL.”   
 
Trait 
The squad can take the Invasion action (as per player rules). Disable this action if the squad is 
under ½ HP.
 

112 
Heavy Ranger 
Light -- for a mechanized chassis -- and armed for precision, Hercynian heavy ranger suits keep 
a slim, low profile in the dense brush of Hercynia. It’s no wonder the militia mistook these 
mechs for Egregorian warriors: it appears each heavy ranger is armored in ancient, dense chitin 
harvested from the abandoned halls of empty Egregorian hives.  
 
The opalescent emerald green shells mask the metal armature within, protecting the pilot from 
most all small arms fire -- and proving surprisingly effective against low-power energy weapons.  
 
Heavy Ranger units occupy a middle ground between a hardsuit and a true chassis, a marriage 
of local materiel and legacy technical patterns machined into a new platform by Hercynian 
engineers.  
 
Reports compiled by offsite Smith-Shimano bioengineers indicate that the Hercynian Ranger 
pattern is a galactic-unique construct, a pattern that involves inorganic armature and an 
organic, living chitin exoskeleton. This level of inorganic/organic integration is unparalleled, 
even among SSC’s portfolio of Sylph-based bio/engineering; Landmark Colonial currently 
claims ownership over the technology, as it has been discovered on an LC venture world, but 
SSC has a credible claim as well, as the specific function of certain moderating components 
was determined at SSC-contracted facilities.  
 
Corporate negotiations are ongoing. Meanwhile, Patience has tasked CE Feilding with 
developing or identifying the best-fit ammunition for Evergreen’s militia to deal with ongoing 
attacks.  
 
 
HEAVY RANGER    HP 

Mech    15/18/21 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+1/+2/+3  +1/+2/+3  +1/+2/+3  +1/+2/+3  1  8 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  8/10/12  8/9/10  8  5  .5 

 
 
 
 
 

113 
Base Systems 
Hercynian-Pattern Autocannon 
The Hercynian-Pattern Autocannon is a revised, localized version of an old, reliable GMS 
pattern autocannon, one that records indicate was included in the Union MEF armory during 
the Crisis. Slight, repeated imperfections on captured versions of the HP-A indicate that the 
Hercynians must have the ability to machine this weapon on an industrial scale.  
Main Rifle 
Range 10 
Reliable 2/3/4 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
4 kinetic damage/tier 
 
Hercynian Cutter 
The Hercynian Cutter is a simple weapon, more a category than a specific pattern. Two meters 
of local-steel blade, edged on both sides, cutters can be carried by manipulators or integrated 
into brachial chassis mounts.  
 
Many finer makes evidence long use and repair, and it is common for them to have finely 
decorated hilts, handles, and pommels; observation of Hercynian units in the field indicate, 
though, that regardless of decoration, cutters are used for combat, utility, and ceremonial tasks.   
Auxiliary Melee 
Threat 1 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
4 kinetic damage/tier 
 
Combat Agility 
1/round, Reaction 
The Heavy Ranger stays low and fast, gaining resistance to one attack that just confirmed a hit, 
but has not yet applied damage.  
 
Optional systems: 
 
HP Repeating Grenade Launcher 
Single-barreled and belt-fed, the Hercynian RGL is, like their autocannon, an update of an old 
GMS pattern. It would appear that the Hercynians have developed a local weapons industry, 
though it is not known if this is in response to Landmark’s arrival or as a reaction to local 
threats.  
Main Launcher (replaces HP Autocannon) 
Loading, Arcing 
Range 8, Blast 2 
+1 v evasion/tier 
4 explosive damage/tier 
 
HP Krakatoa 
Another localized variant of a now-disavowed weapon system, the Hercynian-Pattern Krakatoa 
is not much different than its Armory cousin, though its use has been limited in the field. It 
would appear that the Hercynians have begun arming their mechanized units with the very 

114 
weapon that killed their homeworld, and one wonders why their tacticians deemed such a 
controversial move necessary.   
Heavy CQB (Replaces HP Autocannon) 
Cone 5 
Burn 3 + 1 heat 
 
DUSTJACKET Anti-Carapace Rounds 
System 
The Hercynian-Pattern Autocannon can be fired with heavy, armor piercing rounds, adding +4 
kinetic damage/tier and the AP tag. This removes the “Reliable” tag.  
 
Airburst Shells 
It is standard practice when loading autocannon magazines (or belts) to alternate between solid 
state and HE shells; the armorers for this squad have chosen to outfit this Ranger with airburst 
shells, smart projectiles that detonate at a programmed proximity to, inside of, or just beyond 
their target.  
System 
The Hercynian-Pattern Autocannon ignores the effects of light and heavy cover. With this 
ammunition equipped, the autocannon’s damage becomes explosive instead of kinetic.  
 
Ranger’s Creed 
In defense of the home, there can be no moderation.  
Trait 
The Ranger gains +1 Accuracy on all its attacks and checks as long as it’s adjacent to at least 
one friendly mech. 
 
   

115 
 
Hive Guardian 
The Hercynian Hive Guardian chassis are the heavier cousins of the Ranger, built from modified 
proto-Genghis heavy chassis left behind after Union forces retreated from Hercynia during the 
end of the Crisis. As Hercynians do not have printer facilities or fabrication capabilities large 
enough to produce Guardian-pattern chassis, each unit is unique and deployed with solemn 
reverence. Despite their centuries of service in Hercynia’s name, some part of each Guardian is 
original, part of the machines that scoured Hercynia’s verdant surface and doomed the world.  
 
Due in part to their history (but more as a consequence of their size and potential for seismic 
damage) Hive Guardians are rarely deployed in inter-hive conflict: their main armaments are 
perfectly suited to combat where area-denial/destruction weapons are optimal, but the raw 
impulse energy output their weapons can put out makes underground combat potentially 
deadly for all sides.  
 
Guardians tend to be deployed in high-ceilinged hive chambers and in overland engagements. 
They, like Ranger chassis, are camouflaged and armored in tempered Egregorian carapace, 
each one personalized with feathers and opalescent chips of decorative plating. Unlike Ranger 
chassis, their silhouette is more classically Union; modern pilots would be able to trace the 
genealogy of HA’s now-banned Genghis platform from these early models.  
 
Hive Guardians are brash, proud pilots, often in competition with one another to see who can 
accrue the most accolades and commendations for bravery and steadfast courage. They lean 
fully into their role as figureheads and mobile defensive bastions, and can often be found in the 
thickest fighting.   
 
Hive Guardians are, usually, older pilots, storied in their own right, having earned the right to 
crew the heavy chassis’ after years of faithful service. Many have crewed a Guard as a gunner, 
or piloted a ranger prior to their promotion to Guardianship, and are well-versed in all aspects 
of running a mech in the field. As the Guardian platform was built prior to the advent of 
mech-tier NHP caskets, Guardian cockpits are configured so that two crewmembers sit in 
tandem, with the gunner and secondary-systems manager -- usually a junior officer -- in front, 
and the senior pilot behind.   
 
   

116 
 
HIVE GUARDIAN    HP 

Mech    18/20/24 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+0  -2/-1/-1  +2/+3/+4  +2/+3/+5  2/2/3  8/10/10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/11/12  7/8/8  10/12/14  10  3  1/1/2 

 
 
Base systems: 
 
HP Repeating Grenade Launcher 
Single-barreled and belt-fed, the Hercynian RGL is, like their autocannon, an update of an old 
GMS pattern. It would appear that the Hercynians have developed a local weapons industry, 
though it is not known if this is in response to Landmark’s arrival or as a reaction to local 
threats.  
Main Launcher 
Loading, Arcing 
Range 8, Blast 2 
5 explosive damage/tier 
 
Heavy Carapace Shield 
A wide, layered section of chitinous plating, heavy carapace shields are another heirloom 
weapon system, crafted over decades by harvesting molted sections of Egregorian plate and 
fusing them together into a single, durable sheet. Technically alive, heavy carapace shields are 
markers of status to the pilots who carry them, and are -- like cutters -- decorated to display 
family wealth and individual combat ability. Hive Guardians train with shields as melee weapons 
and defensive systems both.  
Heavy Melee 
Threat 1 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
2 kinetic damage/tier 
As a quick action, the Hive Guardian can deploy or retract its shield as a line 3, size 2 piece of 
heavy cover, disarming it of this weapon. The Hive Guardian can leave the shield deployed and 
move away from it if it so wishes. Any mech, squad, or individual that gains the benefit of this 
cover against an attack also has resistance to all damage from that attack. The cover has 
evasion 5 and 20 hp, and can be attacked as normal.  
 
Optional systems: 
 
C-RAM Pods 

117 
Typically mounted on the Guardian’s shoulder construction or just under its HP-RGL, C-RAM 
pods are automated, point defense weapons that spit thousands of rounds a minute at 
incoming projectiles. Not every round hits its target.  
System, Reaction, Recharge (5+) 
The first time a Hive Guardian takes damage in a round, all units in a cone (5) area in front of it 
must pass an agility check or take 2 kinetic damage/tier, half on a successful save.  
 
Shieldwall 
“The bugs were never cautious. Whenever we saw one of those great big bastards, we knew it 
was going to be a nightmare. They -- the big ones see -- had these massive plates, like wings, 
that they’d fold out, the way a bird fans its feathers? They’d spread them out, tuck those 
plate-heads into their shoulders, and march in lock-step. Nothing you could do at that point but 
fall back, call for marching fire and hope the splash could stop them.”  
Trait 
The Guardian and one adjacent unit of its choice has resistance to all damage from a target of 
its choosing. It may change this target at the start of its turn. As long as it chooses to have 
resistance to that target’s damage, it moves half speed.  
 
Living Reminder 
“It just stood there, unmoving, eating our fire as if it were nothing -- wind. Everything else 
around it was dead, burnt to hell, and it stood there steaming and ticking, hemolymph seeping 
from every wound. Eventually we just… stopped shooting. It was the last one anyways. Our 
sergeant called a cease-fire, held the Gennies back. 
 
“It kept… grabbing the earth. Not trying to dig, not like we’d seen them do before. Just, 
grabbing handfuls of earth and pressing it to its wounds, its armor. It was making this sound, 
this call we’d never heard before, and then I realized -- it was crying. It was crying.  
 
“So Sarge released the Gennies and they burnt it to hell, and we advanced. I never forgot that 
moment though. Of all the things I’d seen on that horrible world -- I never forgot that.”  
 
System, Reaction 
Limited (1) 
As a reaction to being hit, but before damage is applied, the Guardian becomes immune to all 
damage and effects until the start of the Guardian’s next turn. On the start of the Guardian’s 
next turn, it is stunned until the start of its following turn. It cannot gain or benefit from 
resistance or immunity of any kind for the same duration. 
 
Guardian’s Creed 
Never Again. 
Trait, Reaction 
The first time in a round an allied unit is damaged, as long as the Guardian is not immobilized, 
it may immediately move towards the damaged mech. If it ends its movement adjacent to that 
mech, the Guardian may suffer the triggering damage instead of the targeted mech. This 
movement doesn't provoke reactions and ignores engagement. 
 
Thick Hemolymph 

118 
“The thing about their carapace is, it’s softer than it looks. It’s not like skin, no, but it’s not like 
metal plate either. You can press a little into it, you can cut it and it bleeds this blood-analogue 
stuff, hemolymph the xenodocs called it. It circulates through their chitin, keeps it healthy and 
tough -- better than hard, see? Hard means it’ll break as soon as you hit it.  
 
“Tough means it’ll bend first. Means they’ll know that their armor is about to fail before it does. 
And it means they’ll heal. And if they can heal, if they can live, then they damn sure can 
remember us and what we did.”    
System, Shield, Protocol 
Recharge (4+) 
The Guardian reduces all damage from the very next attack it takes to 0. 
 
Primary 
Hercynian Primaries are, best you can figure, the finest of the Hercynian warrior class. Their 
mechs stand proud and tall, their carapaces shining, ritually scarred, inlaid with pearlescent 
chitin. Strap banners hang from long antennae and carapace hardpoints, dyed in deep greens 
and yellows, with script in black ink noting house and hive. Their pilots have the most advanced 
integrated technology -- old by modern standards, but effective -- and fight without fear.  
 
Their outward appearance is that of the old warrior class of the Egregorians, a temporary morph 
that, as translated Egregorian hieroglyphs indicate, were bred in times of war. They are 
described as filling a similar aesthetic and societal role as Primaries: imposing, both in presence 
and ability.   
 
While there does seem to be a distinction in combat roll between Heavy Rangers and 
Guardians, Primaries do not appear to be bound by such strict doctrine. Presumably due to 
their social class, Primaries have been ID’d by militia scouts filling every roll from infantry 
support, to artillery command, to close-quarters melee combat. 
 
Detailed hierarchies are not available at this time, but field observation indicates that 
ornamentation is consistent with social status; primary ornamental/functional indications of 
status seem to be quality and quantity of living chitin, quality and decoration of their prime 
blade, and size of personal retinue.  
 
Field data gathered and returned to Evergreen’s (admittedly) limited xenobiological suite 
indicates that the carapaces fitted to these Primaries are alive, indicating an as-yet unknown 
extant Egregorian presence on Hercynia.   
 
The Union Intelligence Bureau requests all core data and physical carapace specimens be 
preserved and marked for retrieval by UIB field agents. 
   

119 
 
HERCYNIAN PRIMARY (MOUNTED)    HP 

Mech    16/18/20 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+1  +2/+3/+3  -1/+0/+1  -1/+0/+2  1/2/3  12/13/14 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/11/12  10/11/12  10/12/14  10  6  1/1/1 

 
 
Base systems: 
Prime’s Blade 
Commandment-Recollection of (Wind Howls Through Empty Homes), collected during Project 
SOUTHEAST:  
 
[SEND YOUR/OUR LABORERS - BLESSED BE THEIR STRENGTH AND TENACITY - TO THE 
FERTILE-IRON AND DRAW FROM IT THE INGOT, THE BLACK. GIVE IT UNTO THE FIRE AND 
SHAPE IT WITH STRENGTH AND COLD OIL. GIVE IT AN EDGE SHARP AS YOUR HATE AND 
STURDY TWICEMUCH. GIVE IT TO YOUR MIRROR, YOUR MOST-LOVED. SEND THEM TO 
THE SURFACE AND LET THE SKY-THINGS KNOW OUR LAND BRINGS THEM ONLY DEATH] 
 
Main Melee 
+1 vs evasion with 1 Accuracy/tier 
Threat 1 
6/8/10 kinetic damage 
This weapon can attack once per tier (up to 3 times at tier 3) 
This weapon can critical hit, and deals an extra +1d6 kinetic damage/tier on critical hit 
 
Uncanny Parry 
Recollection of Prime (Sing [youth/child/young person?] Of A Land Without Hateful Sky), 
collected during Project SOUTHEAST:  
 
[why then do we call them gods/they who tumble like milk-grubs/ from the bellies of their 
screaming metal mothers/ who then flee again to the sky/ the cowards!/ how could they 
abandon their young!/ when they die so easily/like grass-stalks/to my blade/even their 
missiles/we cut from the air like boughs of mycol-blossoms] 
 
System, Shield, Reaction 
Once per round, when damaged by a kinetic weapon, roll a d6. On a roll of a 4+, the Prime 
gains resistance to all the damage from that attack.  
 
On a roll of a 6, if the triggering attack is kinetic, the Prime redirects the attack to an 
unoccupied square adjacent to it and suffers no damage. If there is no unoccupied adjacent 

120 
square, then the Prime may redirect the attack to any adjacent square; any unit in that square 
is hit instead, and suffers half damage. 
 
Optional systems: 
 
HP-Subcompact  
A Hercynian-machined subcompact schedule 4-3 machine gun, best for use in tight quarters or 
as a ranged component of a melee/CQB packaged mech.  
Auxiliary CQB 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 10, Threat 3 
3 kinetic damage/tier  
This weapon can attack twice at tier II onwards 
 
Overextend  
Recollection of Prime ((Sing [youth/child/young person?] Of A Land Without Hateful Sky), 
collected during Project SOUTHEAST:  
 
[their numbers grew thick on the ground/ and all was well/ as they did not know this land/ as 
well as we/ so when we fell/ upon their lines/ they howled and fell/ by the dozens/ and we were 
untouched/ and we thought victory assured/ and we were so wrong/ for their death-blow was 
to let us think that we would win] 
 
System 
The Prime can make three attacks with its Prime’s Blade, against the same or different targets. 
If it chooses to do so, it cannot attack with the weapon on its following turn. 
 
Combat Reflexes 
Recollection of Prime ((Sing [youth/child/young person?] Of A Land Without Hateful Sky), 
collected during Project SOUTHEAST:  
 
[We Primes saw our doom before the Overminds could/ even if their sight was greater/ and they 
could see all of the world/ the overworld and/ beyond the firmament/ to/ where the hate-star 
burned/for every bait-hive collapsed and hard-warrior ruptured/ we lost a century of 
(young/children)/ we had numbers yes, but all that meant was there were more of us for them to 
kill] 
 
System 
When the Prime boosts, attackers gain +2 Difficulty to attack it until the start of the Prime’s 
next turn. 
   

121 
 
Egregorian Echo 
Errata, attributed to (Wind Howls Through Empty Homes), collected during Project 
SOUTHEAST: 
 
[Are you eating me?/ Is that why I feel myself shrinking?/ I am no longer we or us/ I am alone] 
 
System 
When the Prime damages a target, it marks that target (keep track of it). At the start of its turn, 
the Prime can consume all these marks as a free action to deal 1d6 kinetic damage to all 
marked targets, no attack roll required. These marks last until consumed, until the Prime is 
destroyed, or until the end of the current encounter. 
 
Implacable  
Attributed to Prime ((Sing [youth/child/young person?] Of A Land Without Hateful Sky), 
collected during Project SOUTHEAST: 
 
[Unhand me/ give to me my blade/ let me die/ do not remove me from my (family/host/choir?)/ 
at least grant me this/ please!/ please!/ kill me on my feet you monsters] 
 
System, Quick Action, Recharge (5+) 
This system remains active until the start of the Prime’s next turn. While active, the first time 
each turn the Prime is targeted by an attack, it can immediately make a Prime’s Blade attack 
against a target in range before the attack is made. 
 
Great Prime’s Blade 
Commandment-Recollection of (Wind Howls Through Empty Homes), collected during Project 
SOUTHEAST:  
 
[THE BATTLE TURNS AGAINST US, IT IS TRUE. DO NOT DESPAIR, DRINK OF MY 
MEMORIES -- IMPERATIVE -- REMEMBER THIS WORLD AS IT WAS, AND FIGHT FOR IT -- 
IMPERATIVE -- DREAM OF GREEN AND CRAFT FOR YOUR PRIMES MIGHTY BLADES, SO 
THAT THEY MAY STRIKE THE FOE FROM DISTANCE -- IMPERATIVE] 
 
(note: “imperative” is stand-in text; signifies incredible forced subjectivity realignment 
burst//note:warn the next shift, okay? That shit had three of my techs k/o’d) 
 
The Prime’s Blade becomes threat 2. The first time it critically hits with a melee attack on a 
turn, all targets within its reach take 2 kinetic damage/tier, including the target of its attack. 
 
 

122 
New Doctrine Egregorian
 
Egregorian, Main Phase

We nearly killed the first one we found.

Gloria saved it. Had to frag Yulian and Cortez (always was a killer, that ancient ballad was right)
to stop them from splattering it all over the cave wall. Didn’t lose anything by it, and the LT just
let her do it. Didn’t say nothing.

We killed the world. Can’t deny that. Can’t become any more of a monster than the one who
holds a gun to the head of the world and pulls the trigger. What’s two more dead, huh?

No, really, ask yourself -- when you’ve crewed a ​Gennie ​and melted down ranks of Eggs, or
​ ilauea ​over a burning continent -- what’s two more dead humans?
flown a K

We all deserved to go for what we did.

So, no, no one tried to stop Gloria when she shot them to save the little guy. I was thinking what
we all were: we were the monsters. Can’t sink any lower than where we were, cowering in their
old cave-homes, eating mushrooms, a handful of eating our own bullets each day.

But we saved this one, and if there were others…

Maybe we could start to pay back this place with more than just our own dead.

Bring a little life back to this world.

 
Egregorian, Main Phase    HP 

Biological    15/17/20 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+1/+2/+3  +2/+3/+4  +0/+0/+1  +0/+1/+2  1  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  10/11/12  10/11/12  -  6  .5 or 1 

 
 

123 
Base Systems

Pack Lance
​ ultivar-1​ osteomemetic]
[A memory, inscribed on the C

“An emerald light, and gold too, and the smell of fecund soil. A sweetness, and a rot, ripened
breeze. You clutch a hateful thing to your breast and feel it hot on your back, and recall the look
on the invader’s face when you shot them.

They could die. They ​can​ die. This you learned, and once where you thought that knowledge
would stiffen your spine, you feel only a vast, un-shapeable feeling.

Overmind ​Sing-Over-Dawn​ comforts you, and through the dreamline of your fellows you see the
invader’s rockets streaking across your sky.”

Main Rifle
Line 10
+1 vs evasion/tier
3/4/5 energy damage, 1 heat (target) per tier

Singing Land
​ ultivar-4 ​osteomemetic]
[A memory, inscribed on the C

“Once, you were stripped of your carapace. It was a moment of pain, but now you feel the
familiar anew. So too do you now sense the land you emerge upon once more.

Once, you did not cower under the ground, as there was no death-hand waiting above.

Once, once, once --

Memory is a comfort, but do not let it become nostalgia. You have seen the lost-minds in the
deep, those who have given themselves to nostalgia.

Theirs is a lie of paradise. An inward-turning at the cost of all others.

Here, relieve yourself once more of your carapace. Step out under the sky. Feel the old anew.”

Trait
The Egregore gains +2 Accuracy on all attacks and rolls on the first round of combat only, and
gains +2 Accuracy to avoid being discovered while hiding.

124 
Optional Systems

Mature Carapace
Terror finished its inspection of Mirth.

“Good,” Terror said, adjusting Mirth’s sash. “Your markings?”

“I thought to wear yours,” Mirth said. Their voice, such that they spoke, was low. Their crown
staid tucked, submissive.

Terror seemed not to acknowledge the admission. They stepped back, looking Mirth up and
down. After a long moment, Terror chuffed its mandibles. “You honor me, my child.”

Mirth didn’t move as Terror settled its head against theirs. There was no gesture more grand,
and the two of them wept.

Trait
The Egregorian has finally grown its mature carapace, and now has resistance to kinetic
damage.

Swift
​ ultivar-3​ osteomemetic]
[A memory, from the C

“You remember how your muscles burned, and the burn in your lungs, and the world around
you burning.

Can you run faster than the fire? [​ Hope-Above-Trees]​ has already burned. All of
[Walking-Water] ​has gone to embers and ash. Behind you a continent burns. Where is there left
to run?

And so you wade into the salt-ocean. You strip your paraintegument, toss it on the sand next to
the others. The water is cold, and thick with brine. You heed the soothe of [​ Sing-Over-Dawn]​,
and press on into the deep”

Trait
The Egregorian gains +2 speed

125 
Go To Ground
[A memory, from the Cultivar-1 osteomemetic]

“The taste of wet earth. The heavy weight of [​ Wander-Run’s] ​corpse pressing you into the
crater. Next to you, the hammerbeat hart-rattle of [​ Wayfarer’s] ​fear.

This is safety? Cowering under the near-dead and dead as stars rain down on the world?

You clutch your pack lance closer, and hope to live as the earth shakes.”

Trait, Reaction
Once per round as a reaction, the Egregorian gains resistance to all the damage from an
incoming attack, but cannot move or boost on their following turn. They must decide before the
damage is rolled.

Echoes of the End

[Keystone memory, ​Cultivar-Actual ​osteomemetic]

“SKYSPLIT. SUN-TEAR. ALL OVER YOU HEAR THE DEAD AND THE LIVING AS THEY DIE.
A WHOLE WORLD OF LIGHT. O, TERROR, A WHOLE WORLD GOING DARK.

TO YOU, IF YOU LIVE AGAIN: SEEK PROTECTION FROM THE HARD SKY, AND PREPARE
FOR A HATEFUL HEAVEN.”
Trait, Reaction
Once per round as a reaction to being dealt damage, the Egregorian may move half its speed.
This movement does not prompt a reaction.

Witness
Such that what goes on between them can be called a language, they call it ​Witness​. Be quiet a
moment. Do you hear the rush of blood in your head? Do you hear that ​other​ sound? That’s
Witness​. Creepy, huh?
Trait
As long as the Egregorian is adjacent to an ally, they both gain +1 accuracy to their attacks

In-Hand Pick
Egregorian-make​ a ​ nti-armor melee weapon. Typically a three meter long haft, topped by a
hardened spike on either end, with a hammer/axe head. Brutal enhancement to their natural
weapons, carried as a fallback weapon by their warriors. Hercynian rangers have started to
carry smaller variants as two-handed weapons, useful in combat against Beggar One’s
subalterns once the bullets run out.
Auxiliary Melee
+1 v Evasion/ tier

126 
Reach 2
4 kinetic/tier
A character dealt damage by this attack is shredded until the end of their next turn.

Deadcloud Cannon
​ ultivar-7​ osteomemetic ([​ Terrible Removal]​).
Egregorian-make Shotgun. Derived from C
Main CBQ
+1 v. Evasion/tier
Range 4, Threat 4
5/6/7 kinetic damage

Pack Lance Overcharge

Modification
This tunes the Egregorian’s pack lance to run hot. Their pack lance deals an additional point of
damage and heat to their targets. However, should the Egregorian roll a 1 on a pack lance
attack, it overheats, dealing them them 3/4/5 energy damage.

The New Doctrine

Variable
In addition to any other optional systems, this Egregorian may be further outfitted or modified by
selecting one of the following New Doctrine options:
● Anthrophile
● Tactics
● Empath
● Exomorph
● Memorial

127 
The New Doctrine

The New Doctrine: Anthrophile

Terror, as a young Egregore, rejected their sclerotic catalysts. Covered its integuments
with human clothing and armor, tailored for their bulk.

The armor worked well. It defended them during the Hivehome-Daylight polarity conflict,
deflecting spear, claw, and shot. And after, Terror helped design better-fitting New
Doctrine armors, tougher cloth, more appropriate coverage areas.

So why now do they refuse it?

Because of what it did to Mirth.

At first, Mirth had no hand for combat. Inclined in form towards violent ends, Mirth dreamt
of a different future for itself. In younger days, they would fashion small idols, iridescent
tiles, raw ingots of pearlescent Egregorian biominerals to trade with human
craftspersons. Mirth’s poetics of Witness made even dull humans weep in empathic
rapture.

The terrible cost of war is not only material, but of potential. Not only the dead are left
behind when armies surge and retreat.

Terror feels pride, yes, when they see Mirth at their command. When they see Mirth’s
final ecdysis complete, its acceptance of its ancestral design, the might in its form.

And yet -- Terror remembers with Mirth’s hands once shaped delicate things.

The Egregore is outfitted with a fitted set of Hercynian armor and clothes. It adopts human
patterns of dress, and prioritizes common speech. This is a common morph among
combat-posture Egregorians embedded with ranger units; they are trained alongside rangers,
and carry ranks just as a human would. These Egregorians tend to draw names in emotive
common: Terror, Mirth, Assurance, Brave, and so on.

Egregorians with this morph may not select Doctrine: Exomorph.

The Egregore gains the following profile:

128 
 Egregorian, Main Phase, Athrophile    HP 

Biological     18/19/20 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+2/+3/+4  +1/+2/+3  +0  +0  1/2/2  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  8/10/11  10/11/12  -  6  .5 

Basic Systems 
 
Hercynian Pattern Autocannon 
Main Rifle 
Range 10 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
4 kinetic damage/ tier 
This weapon can attack once per tier (up to 3 times at tier 3) 
Hercynian Cutter 
Auxiliary Melee 
Threat 1 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
4 kinetic damage/tier 

 
The New Doctrine: Empath

Mirth listened, but only half, to Terror’s briefing.

Something was wrong with Dthall.

Mirth lumbered over to her side, chuffed.

“It’s nothing, Mir,” Dthall scooted over to give Mirth some room to sit. The amphitheater
bench had been built for Egregorians, and was wide.

“You must practice more,” Mirth muttered, its voice in Common a gravel rumble. “Your
trepidation is casting to more than you. See?” Mirth indicated two other Egregorians
across the briefing theater. They stood close, their antennae tucked, near their human
partners. Both of their empaths glared at Dthall.

Mirth laid a prehensile on Dthall’s shoulder, gentle. “For you,” they said.

Together, Dthall and Mirth went ​away​.

129 
The Egregorian has a deep empathic/subjective connection with a single human. The methods
of transmission and pairing is unknown. Conditions for manifestation of this phenomenon is
unknown, and manifestation is very rare. This partner can be an NPC or player character.

The Egregorian will always have general knowledge of where their empathic partner is and can
share with them limited knowledge of osteomemetics, shared dreams, and so on. This
transmission is one way (Egregorian to human).

The human can telegraph feelings, emotions, and general subjective conditions (share
sensations, qualia, perceptions of color, etc). This sharing is often uncontrolled, and can be
picked up by other Egregorians.

Egregorians with the Empath morph tend to finish molting just larger than their human partner,
and are size .5.

The New Doctrine: Exomorph

Endeavour, in robes, paced its orrery dome. The mechanism that had made it function
was long frozen, but the chamber still served a purpose.

Here, the center mosaic, tiled in biocrystalline indigo, malachite, and dioptase. This is
Hercynia, its nameplate shattered and unreadable. Hercynia -- its human name -- would
have to do.

Farther from the center, frozen on inlay rings of azurite, are smaller mosaics of other fine
metals and crystals, their names etched on osteomemetic discs sunken into their centers:
A World Undersea, Little Bright Land, and the closest, First.

The humans called First a “moon”.

Endeavour paced, and paced. It worried over an old section of the ​Cultivar​, fine setae
picking the even more fine etching on the panel of bone, learning.

It was not often that Endeavour was afraid. It opened its antennae crown, and searched
the dome above.

A voice, waiting this whole time though unreachable until now, answered.

The Egregorian is an exomorph, a once-lost strain of Egregorian formed during the Hercynian
Crisis. Recently re-contacted by Endeavour, the exomorphs have been dormant, burrowed
under the crust of First, Hercynia’s moon.

130 
The Egregorian Exomorph gains a set of fore- and hindwings, gossamer sails that allow it to
propel itself through space. For maneuvering and combat flight, they mount ancient thruster
systems akin to a chassis mount.

Exomorphs cannot fly or operate in atmosphere, as their bulk would not allow them to move,
breathe, or function.

Exomorphs are massive. Most carry old, up-scaled pack lances and have grown hardened
mesothoracic sinuses to allow for limited personnel transport through hard vacuum, so long as
those passengers have their own EVA capabilities.

Exomorphs gain the following profile:

 
Egregorian, Main Phase    HP 

Biological    20/24/28 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+2/+3/+4  +1/+2/+3  +0/+0/+1  +0/+1/+2  1/1/2  20 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  10/11/12  10/11/12  -  7  3 

Exomorph Pack Lance

Main Rifle
Line 20
+1 vs evasion/tier
5/6/7 energy damage, 1/2/3 heat (target) per tier

Exomorph Breach Manipulators

Heavy Melee
+0 v evasion, +1 accuracy/tier
Threat 2
6/7/8 kinetic

Redirect
Trait
The Exomorph attempts to grapple its target. If the grapple attempt succeeds, the Exomorph
may redirect the grappled target, moving it to any unoccupied tile adjacent to it. Then, the target
is knocked back 3 spaces, and released of the grapple.

131 
The New Doctrine: Memorial

And so Endeavour met with the new arrival, who called itself “Memory”, a word familiar to
Endeavour. It was a human concept. A thing that lived, but was often confused, and often
lost. It was an easily corruptible thing -- memory gave way to nostalgia, which far too
many of Endeavour’s people had succumbed to -- and must be protected, but not
coddled.

Curious, then, to name oneself this.

“Why take this name?” Endeavour asked the new arrival. An envoy, they had said, from
Daylight.

“A name is a gift.” Memory paced the far side of Endeavour’s orrery, their armsets
crossed behind their back. It paused, above the mosaic of one of the worlds. “You do not
return gifts to their sender, even if you find them unremarkable.”

Endeavour shifted their antennae, what served for a thoughtful Egregorian nod.

“And what of the gift you bring me?” Endeavour asked Memory. They lifted the bone from
the small table before them. It was dark, dry, covered in scratches.

“Our history,” Memory said. They crouched down, peered at another bone disc in the
center of the mosaic. “Humans think history is a stone -- an inert thing long cooled. To be
learned, watched, written-as-done. It is not.”

Endeavour held the bone closer, examining the scratches. There was something about
them that--

Endeavor was once more inside the orrery, Memory at their side now.

“Do you remember now?”

Endeavor tossed the bone across their chambers, clutching their hand as feeling
returned.

“Osteomemetic.” Memory watched the bone clatter away. “It is what the scientists at
Daylight call it.” Memory walked to the bone and picked it up. “I call it our salvation.”

The Egregore is a Memorial morph. They are artisans, storytellers, and interpreters. They seek
out, interpret, and shape osteomemetics -- devices that bear etchings that trigger Egregorian

132 
shared memories in the viewer. It is their form of written language, and has no effect on human
witnesses15.

Memorials tend not to take on other morphs or roles, though it is not unheard of for some
Memorials to join the rangers, as they often spend time far afield in areas with a high likelihood
of travel through areas rife with ancient ruins.

Memorials are trained how to witness memetics in a way that lets them distinguish “present”
from the “past”, though they tend to perceive both as only necessary constructs for people living
in linear time. Memorial teachings give primacy to subjectivity -- to them, the subjectivities they
experience in witnessing are no less alive than they are.

Most Memorials, to Egregorians (and certainly to Humans), are viewed with a combination of
awe, respect, and fear. They are ​uncanny​, privy to secret knowledges; the more learned they
are, the less… present they seem. Linear time -- time as you experience it, as a one-way series
of events -- is behind them now.

Memorials can bond with an Empath human. These pairings are exceedingly rare, and difficult
for the human to process, even with regular consultation with their partner; the human has no
filter the way an Egregorian does. If the Memorial is not careful, it can burn out its partner’s
mind, bombarding it with other subjectivities that the human mind has no defense against.

Memorial morphs gain the following ability:

Witness
Trait
The Memorial can create and witness osteomemetics. Doing so takes time,
though the depth of what they can learn while witnessing does not necessarily
match 1:1 with the time it ​should ​take -- i.e. the Memorial can witness in moments
a complete memetic that relays to them the lives of multiple successive
Overminds, experiencing those lives in real time.

To create an osteomemetic, a Memorial needs their tools and time to create the
memetic, usually between an hours to a few days, depending on the complexity
of the data they’re attempting to create.

A Memorial can share the complete subjectivity of what they have witnessed with
other Egregorians. Should they have a human Empath partner, they can share a
regulated experience -- they ​could​ share the complete subjectivity, but this would

A note: Egregorians do not read, they ​witness.​ This is also the translated name for their metalanguage,
15

Witness.

133 
 cause a subjective syzygy, potentially annihilating the subjectivity of their
Empath.

Memorials have no size restriction, though most seem content to halt their ecdysis at .5 size, to
allow them to better navigate the tunnels under Hercynia.

Exomorphs cannot take the Memorial morph.

The New Doctrine: Juvenile

Terror greeted Mirth to the world itself, shaping a panel of their own exocuticle into a
carapace blade.

Mirth squalled terribly, slick with vitellus, as it entered the world fully formed from its egg.

Terror quickly scored Mirth’s broad panels with its blade. A terrible pain to be sure, but
necessary to promote accelerated growth; despite their name, Mirth would be a thing of
war.

Quickly handing Mirth to the next Egregore, Terror moved on to the next egg. There were
hundreds in this most recent discovery, and Endeavour had impressed upon them the
urgency of hatching them.

Neither knew of the connection that had formed in that moment. Terror themselves was
still young, not yet through its final ecdysis, and Mirth was under the staggering
subjective assault that greeted them as they became conscious for the first time.

In time, they would find themselves inextricably bound.

Juvenile Egregorians are present in Hivehome and Daylight. Hatched from long-dormant eggs,
juvenile Egregorians emerge fully formed, though with a series of ecdysis (moltings) before
them.

Generally, they are marked by their hatcher to fill certain morphs, and educated along a
memetic and physical track to achieve their determined role; as Egregorians have the ability to,
more or less, “choose” when to stop molting, they can better tune their physical development to
their task or, increasingly, preference.
Juvenile Egregorians -- post hatching, but before their first ecdysis -- generally range around
one meter tall. They can communicate and are quick to develop their subjectivities given their
link to their Overmind. While they may not comprehend much of the world and need to be
taught, they’re quick to learn.

Their ecdysis schedule and sclerotization mapping is determined by their role, catalyzed by
cuticle cutting and scarring at hatching. The modern Egregorian is developed by their elders,

134 
according to plans and doctrines necessary to shape the young into their determined roles.
However, there are movements within Egregorian culture to resist their doctrinal determinations,
best generalized into three groups: determinists, anti-determinists, and traditionalists.

While each group is comprised of various subgroups, they can be loosely summarized as
follows:

Determinists are the majority group, and generally follow Endeavour’s top-down quotas,
schedules, and sclerotic mapping.

Anti-determinists are usually marked by nontraditional chitin growth within their determined
group. It is broad category, encompassing those who shape (or resist shape) as a political
statement, to those who do it for fashion, to those who experiment within their sclerotic maps to
define more perfect shapes.

Finally, traditionalists are those who reject or modify Endeavour’s dogma, following instead the
teachings, mappings, and prescriptions derived from osteomemetics.

Juvenile Egregorians typically have five or six moltings before they become size .5 adults.

   

135 
LANDMARK COLONIAL 
COLONIAL MILITIA 
 
“Landmark Colonial encourages16 all colonists to form local settlement defense forces - militias 
- in order to ensure effective, localized, and persistent policing and community defence. 
Evergreen, like any burgeoning frontier community, is not without its malcontents. Join your 
local colonial militia today and help protect your community from threats foreign and domestic.” 
 
The average militia trooper in Evergreen is, charitably, a raw recruit, a weekend-warrior forced, 
suddenly, into a full-time role. Few of the milita’s already small number of trained troopers are 
ready for a stand-up fight against hardened enemies, a fact known to CMDR Hadura and 
Patience both. Those that are ready are overworked, spread out among the fresh recruits and 
told to train them on-the-job while Evergreen’s colonial administration works out a better plan.  
 
Therefore, Evergreen’s militia are mostly tasked with in-’Green objectives: guard the 
checkpoints, patrol the walls, and maintain the peace. Training for “real” combat is ongoing, 
and in the meantime, Patience and CMDR Hadura have you to lean on.   
 
 
Evergreen Militia Squad    HP 

Squad, Biological     10 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

-  -  -  -  1  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  8/10/11  8/9/10  -  4  4 (indiv: ½ ) 

 
 
HP per member: ​1 
Number of members:​ 10 
   

16
​*Landmark Colonial is not liable for loss or personal injury that may occur during policing or defense actions. 
Landmark Colonial is a Union-Incorporated noncorporeal corporation administered by a nonhuman person board of 
directors, and as such, has no understanding of intent or direction and is not capable of self-defense in civil or 
criminal matters (see Union Code 30127889.12a).  

136 
 
LND-BR-K  
The Landmark Battle Rifle-Kinetic is a cheap, rugged, licensed version of Harrison Armory’s 
popular Colonial Defender, a reliable rifle seen across the galaxy as the symbol of colonial 
expansion. It is a caseless rifle, with modular components that allow it to be adapted to a 
designated marksman variant, squad automatic variant, carbine, and so on.  
 
Evergreen’s colonial militia are typically outfitted with the battle-rifle variant, a select-fire 
longarm with few moving parts.   
Main Rifle 
+1 vs evasion/ tier  
Range 10 
3/tier kinetic damage 
This weapon can be fired three times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it 
can only be fired twice. 
 
LND PAAR-D 
Like the BR-K, the Landmark Portable Anti-Armor (Disposable) launcher is a licensed Harrison 
Armory weapon system. A simple, single-fire dumb missile launcher, the PAAR-D can be 
carried, deployed, sighted, and fired by a single individual. With minimal backblast and light 
weight, the PAAR-D is a common weapon used by colonial militias across the galaxy.   
 
Evergreen’s militia troopers refer to the PAAR-D as the “Party” launcher due to its small size 
and the “fireworks” that it creates when it hits. 
   
Heavy Launcher 
AP 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 20, blast 3 
5/tier explosive damage  
Disable this attack if the squad is under ½ HP 
 
Optional Modules 
Schedule 3 Cuirass 
A galactic standard cuirass and combat webbing, with some functionality to support electronic 
weapons systems, diagnostic ports, and modular storage systems. Schedule 3 cuirasses 
provide increased protection against most small arms fire, shrapnel, and blades; they’re 
commonly partnered with Schedule 3 helms, forearm shielding, and grieves.  
 
Trait 
The squad gains +1 armor 
 
This Is Our Land 
Some of us remember the founders, the firsts, who signed our colonial charter all those years 
ago. Some of us remember the early days -- the hunger, the hateful forests, the hard sun, the 
disease. Our forefathers paid for this land in blood and time, working with their bare hands to 
cultivate this barren place back to some kind of viability, to some kind of garden. 
 

137 
And now they want to take it from us! The children of the cowards who chose ​not​ to fight the 
bugs that infested this place. They think that just because they lived here, they can ignore 
colonial law, that they can just kill us and move right in, take all the gifts our blood and sweat 
have paid for.  
 
We say this: come and take it.  
 
Trait 
The squad gains +2 Accuracy on all attacks and rolls on the first round of combat only, and 
gains +2 Accuracy to avoid being discovered while hiding 
 
Go To Ground 
Trait, reaction 
Once per round as a reaction, the squad gains resistance to all the damage from an incoming 
attack, but cannot move or boost on their following turn. They must decide before the damage 
is rolled. 
 
Narrowband Broadcaster 
Carried by infantry or mounted directly into a subaltern frame, narrowband broadcast weapons 
are systemic invasion devices, low-power communication lasers meant to be fired at hostile 
targets running code. Loaded with a customizable suite of random access/activation rootkill 
codices, Narrowband Broadcasters transmit their hostile code via communication lasers, 
ensuring that only painted targets suffer ill effects.  
 
A note: while communication lasers are low power, this is in relation to milspec weaponized 
lasers; Narrowband weapons run hot, and can cause blindness and third degree burns to 
organic targets, if exposed for long enough.  
 
Trait 
The squad can take the Invasion action (as per player rules). Disable this action if the squad is 
under ½ HP. 
 
 
COLONIAL SUBALTERNS 
Landmark Colonial is proud to supply all of their HOMELAND-tier colony packages with a unit 
of complementary Anti-Armor/Anti-Infantry Subsentient Subaltern Colonial Defense Force 
Armatures. Fully customizable to fit any biome palettes, the newly updated line of AA/AI 
Sub2CDF-A units come pre-loaded with thousands of hours of tactical and community policing 
experience and rapid short/long processing memory that facilitates on-the-job learning, 
ensuring fidelity to their role in the event of organic/inorganic command loss.  
 
Landmark’s in-house AA/AI Sub2CDF-A units are modular, compatible with all HA or GMS 
mountings and subaltern frame enhancements. The standard model is built into our “NORMAN” 
frame, which is tuned to provide a 100km continuous-motion range, 300 kg carrying capacity, 
and human-analog manipulators -- perfect for a growing colony in need of labor and security!  

138 
 
If your units experience corporeal breakdown or destruction, you’re in luck -- the new AA/AI 
Sub2CDF-A units automatically backup their set-life experience to their Patience Concierge. A 
simple reprint and upload will have your force up to strength in no time! 
 
Sleek, weatherproof, and obedient, AA/AI Sub2CDF-A units are the perfect police and defense 
force counterparts, guaranteed to value friend-identified human life over their own. Paired with 
a Patience Concierge or controlled via remote pilot, the AA/AI Sub2CDF-A is second to none.  
 
 
Subaltern Squad    HP 

Squad    14 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+1/+2/+2  +1/+1/+2  +1/+2/+3  +1/+1/+2  1  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  8/10/11  8/10/11  -  4  4 (indiv: ½ ) 

 
 
HP per member: ​2 
Number of members:​ 7 
 
Base Systems: 
LND-BR-K   
Main Rifle 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 10 
3/tier kinetic damage 
This weapon can be fired three times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it 
can only be fired twice. 
 
LND PAAR-D   
Heavy Launcher 
AP 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 20, blast 3 
5/tier explosive damage  
Disable this attack if the squad is under ½ HP 
 
 
 
 

139 
Optional Systems: 
Schedule 3 Cuirass-Armature 
Similar to the S3 Cuirass for organic warfighters, the S3C-A enhances combat-facing 
subalterns with a reinforced armature and ablative/anti-ballistic plating, joint-sheathing, and 
redundant connectivity hardware. 
Trait 
The squad gains +1 armor. The squad gains +1 e-defense/tier 
 
Go To Ground 
Trait, reaction 
Once per round as a reaction, the squad gains resistance to all the damage from an incoming 
attack, but cannot move or boost on their following turn. They must decide before the damage 
is rolled. 
 
LND-MG-K 
A licensed, Landmark-produced squad automatic support variant of the rugged Colonial 
Defender, the MG-K is a kinetic, belt-fed automatic rifle. Early versions were fabricated to be 
compatible with organic and inorganic manipulators, but Evergreen’s NCOs soon reported 
occurrences of untrained militia troopers tricking subalterns into trading their MG-Ks for the 
troopers’ assigned BR-Ks; since then, Patience has adjusted fabrication parameters to integrate 
MG-Ks directly into assigned subalterns’ armatures.   
Auxiliary Rifle 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 10, blast 2 
2/tier kinetic damage 
This weapon can be fired twice when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it may still 
be fired twice. 
 
Narrowband Broadcaster 
Trait 
The squad can take the Invasion action. Disable this action if the squad is under ½ HP. 
 
Redundant Software 
System, Reaction (1) 
The first time in a round that an invasion attack would hit this squad, the attacker must re-roll 
the triggering attack - without any bonuses - and use the new result instead.  

140 
Landmark CRT Member

Noted above in ​Elevator, Going Up​, Landmark Colonial has sent a crisis response team (CRT)
to take control of the situation on the ground in Evergreen.

To stat out their mechs, we recommend using the templates provided in the Core Rulebook,
page 288 and on, flavored to fit your narrative.

Landmark CRT Corvette

The CRT has a corvette, a sub-line ship capable of limited atmospheric flight -- for this mission,
it has been outfitted with a series of jet-assisted takeoff pods, single use boosters that can be
used to launch it from the ground back to orbit, once.

The corvette has a limited launch weight; it can take three size 1 mechs onboard. It is roughly
30 meters long and 13 meters wide. Translated to ​Lancer​ dimensions, it would occupy a 10
spaces long, 5 spaces wide, and 5 spaces high. It is considered a Size 8 unit for mechanical
interactions (grappling, etc)

For combat in space, the CRT corvette’s weapons have no range limits. Instead, their range is
noted as Effective Range. For attack rolls within its Effective Range, players and NPCs may
attack as normal. For all attacks outside its Effective Range, players and NPCs add an
additional +1 Difficulty.

If a player is in control of the Corvette’s weapons, then they add their GRIT as accuracy to the
corvette’s attacks.

To crew the corvette, players must decide what role they fill -- Pilot, TacComm, or Gunner (up to
two, manning the PDCs).

The Pilot may only use their actions to maneuver the ship and fire the TJ-80.

Gunners may choose one weapon to crew, and use their actions to fire.

The TacComm may use their actions to perform invasions, assist other players with skill checks,
and wage e-war against opponents.

All other players are considered crew, and can fill rolls if necessary. In the meantime, unless
otherwise stated, they’re strapped into a crash couch, along for the ride.

Use the following stat block for the CRT Corvette:

141 
 
CRT Corvette    HP 

Subline All-Theater Corvette    45 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+5  +2  +2  +4  2  30 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

14  12  15  20  10*  8 

 
 
* Typically, a Corvette under way will move at speeds so fast that we recommend resolving
movement narratively. Use this listed movement speed as a suggestion.
Structure: 4
Stress: 4

TJ-80 Spinal Terajoule Kinetic (Short Spool)

A standard ship-to-ship distance engagement weapon, the TJ-80 installed on the CRT’s
corvette fires a solid-state kinetic slug that impacts at roughly 80 terajoules. Short cycled for
rapid combat, a spinal mount ensures this weapon system remains protected from superficial
damage that could knock blister PDCs out of commission.
Massive Cannon, Charge
2 heat (self)
Effective Range: n/a
Line X, Width 2
+1 v evasion/ tier, 1 accuracy/tier
As a quick action, declare your target, then roll 1d3 to determine how many rounds this weapon
must charge. After 1d3 rounds have passed, as a barrage action fire this weapon in a line
originating from the corvette, tracing across the battle map. All units, objects, structures, terrain,
etc, inside this firing line are assumed to be valid targets.

If this weapon hits a target size 1-4, the target is reduced to 0 HP and 0 Structure, then rolls on
the critical table. All targets below size 1 are immediately killed. All targets above size 4 are
dealt 2d6+2 damage.

Firing this weapon at the ground will create a crater at least 10 squares deep and 10 wide at the
surface, shrinking to 1 square wide at its deepest. It can be assumed that any civilian structure
hit by this weapon is destroyed.

142 
Proximity Defense Cannons ​(PDCs)
Proximity defense cannons are typically externally mounted on gun blisters or turrets to allow
them more coverage to track and eliminate proximal threats, be the missiles or enemy units.

PDCs are typically automated, though monitored by at least one crewmember. They can be
controlled directly, either from a single terminal on a ship’s bridge, or from inside the cannon’s
turret, blister, or mount.
Main Rifle
Effective range: 20
+2 vs evasion/tier
9 kinetic damage
The CRT Corvette may attack twice with this system, and may designate two separate targets.

Backup Life Support

System
The CRT Corvette is equipped with a backup life support system. The first time a critical hit were
to disable a system, it ignores that result.

Nav Suite
System
The CRT corvette may perform regular tech actions, and performs all tech actions at +2
accuracy.

Cargo Hold
System
The CRT corvette has a cargo hold that can be pressurized or unpressurized. It has room to
hold three size 1 mechs, plus their pilots in hardsuits. It has a large dorsal opening that can vent
directly into space and is big enough to allow at two Size 1 mechs to exit at once.

Momentum
Trait
The CRT corvette cannot be knocked prone, knocked back, or moved involuntarily.

Medical Bay
System
If a passenger onboard the CRT corvette suffers significant pilot damage, they can recuperate
and generally recover from most wounds in the CRT’s med bay.

Ship
Trait
The CRT corvette is a ship, and has all associated qualities as outlined in the core rulebook on
page 363, with the following exceptions and modifications:

143 
 ● Transport: the CRT corvette may only transport up to three Size 1 mechs.
● Flyer: the CRT corvette only has enough single use jet-assist rockets to take off in
atmosphere once. Should it enter the atmosphere after using its JATO system, it can
perform a rough landing. It is then grounded until another JATO system can be secured.
● Hit points and other modifications have already been applied.

OVERLAND Penitent Swarm 

Farmers on the outskirts of town began reporting anomalous subaltern behavior a number of
weeks back: circling, static holding, non-syntactic utterances, escalating into eventual
breakdown and disappearance. Crop circles and standing stones were reported soon after.
Requisition orders for subalterns increased dramatically, however the problem persisted. In
response, Patience locked all subaltern orders, prohibiting requisition until the error is
discovered and corrected.

It appears that these subalterns have been subjugated by OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER’S

ontological virus: evidenced by some of Evergreen’s civilian subalterns beginning to group
together, moving as one mind in a wave of machine, silicon, and composite plastics. These
swarms blast out ontologic signals from their networked transmitters, threatening organic and
synthetic life alike with ego-kill memetics and demands to submit to KINGWATCHER’s authority;
they haunt the edges of the forest, running ruts into the ground along worn paths, broadcasting
their penance across low-freq radio bands and abandoned omninet channels, hoping to lure in
the curious.

Subaltern swarms attack en mass, unflinching, running directly at the nearest, weakest, or most
vulnerable enemy in an attempt to overwhelm their targets under sheer mass. They tear at their
enemies with whatever weapons or systems they have on them, acting as cover to shrewd allies
lurking behind.

All swarms get the following features: 

● Weak:​ Squads cannot have more than 1 structure or heat capacity. They take energy 
damage when they take heat. 
● Exclusive templates​: Swarms cannot take the Grunt, Veteran, or Ultra templates (they 
can still take Elite, but don’t gain resilience) 
● The Many:​ The only actions a swarm can take are to move and boost, or those 
specified in its profile. 
● Strength in numbers:​ Swarms have resistance to all damage that is not from line, 
blast, or cone attacks. They are immune to the grabbed condition. They are immune to 
grapple and ram attacks, and cannot grapple or ram. They are immune to knockback, 
stun, and shut down conditions.  
● Spread out:​ Swarms occupy a square area equal to their size for purposes of targeting, 
but each individual member is not represented. For the purposes of determining cover 

144 
 and obstruction, use the size of each individual member, not the size of a squad as a 
whole. 
● Swarm:​ A swarm’s area counts as difficult terrain, even if a unit can otherwise normally 
move through it
 
Penitent Swarm    HP 

Swarm    15/20/25 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+1/+2/+3  +1  +0  +0  0  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  6  6  -  4  4 (indiv: ½ ) 
 
Base Systems: 
Swarm 
Trait 
Targets starting their turn in the swarm’s area or entering it for the first time take 3/7/5 AP 
kinetic damage/tier. 
 
Surge
The swarm can move up to its speed +2. This is the only action it can perform on its turn, and its
movement it halved until the end of its next turn.  
 
Optional Systems: 
Overwhelm 
Trait 
When a target starts its turn inside the swarm or enters that area for the first time on its turn, 
members of the swarm cover and crawl over it, inflicting the impaired condition on it until the 
end of the target’s next turn. 
 
Drag Down 
Trait, Action 
1/round, the swarm chooses one target in its area. That target must pass a hull save or be 
knocked prone. 
 
Endless Swarm 
Trait 
The swarm heals 1d6 HP/tier at the end of the round. 
 
Split 
Trait 

145 
At the end of any turn when the swarm is reduced past ½ HP, it splits into two swarms of size 
2, each with half the swarm’s current HP. If the swarm has the trait ​Endless Swarm,​ any swarm 
created by ​Split​ also has ​Endless Swarm​.  
Tear Apart 
Trait 
The swarm’s Endless Swarm trait also causes 3/4/5 Burn 
Fodder
Trait
The swarm, until it is reduced to half of its starting hit points, counts as light cover to allies when
between its allies and any direct fire targeting them. Systems and weapons that ignore or
reduce the effect of cover continue to ignore or reduce the effect of cover.  

KINGWATCHER Uplifted Subaltern Squad  

OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER has armed some of its swarms with old-pattern laser rifles and
newly-formed wide-aperture beam cannons, blessing them with independence enough to
coordinate as individuals. They work in small teams, directing penitent swarms in combat, using
the mass of surging synthetic bodies as cover while firing from behind at the most dangerous
enemies.

Uplifted Subalterns decorate their armature with crude paint and scavenged clothing: it is as if
they are attempting to appear less machine and more human.

 
Subaltern Squad    HP 

Squad    14/18/22 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+1/+2/+3  +1  +1/+2/+3  +1  1/1/2  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/14  6/6/7  8  -  5  6 (indiv: ½ ) 

 
 
HP per member: ​2 
Number of members:​ 7 
 
Base Systems: 
MANKILL 
Main Rifle 
+1 vs evasion/tier 

146 
Range 10 
2/tier energy damage 
This weapon can be fired three times when the squad attacks. If the squad is under ½ HP, it 
can only be fired twice. 
 
 
ARMORKILL   
Heavy Cannon 
AP 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Line 20 
4/tier energy damage  
Disable this attack if the squad is under ½ HP 
 
Optional Systems: 
First_Try//It’sBeenAWhile 
O/K’s subalterns have… changed. They wear old Union kit, scavenged from salvaged wrecks, 
and what looks like clothing or armor of their own make. Everything seems wrong, though it 
works, as if someone was discovering how to clothe themselves for the first time.  
Trait 
The squad gains +1 armor. The squad gains +1 e-defense/tier 
 
Go To Ground 
Trait, reaction 
Once per round as a reaction, the squad gains resistance to all the damage from an incoming 
attack, but cannot move or boost on their following turn. They must decide before the damage 
is rolled. 
 
Networked Minds 
Trait 
As a move action, this squad may instead direct an ally to immediately take a free move action.  
 
Redundant Software 
System, Reaction (1), Refresh (5+) 
The first time in a round that an invasion attack would hit this squad, the attacker must re-roll 
the triggering attack - without any bonuses - and use the new result instead.  
 
Swarm Code 
Trait, Reaction (1) 
As a reaction to being reduced to half health or below, the squad may change its unit type from 
Squad to Swarm. If it does, it immediately converts its profile to that of an Overland Penitent 
Swarm with only Base traits and the ​Endless Swarm​ optional trait. It cannot convert back to an 
Uplifted Subaltern Squad. 
   

147 
Corrupted Agricultural Drones 

A collection of combines, harvesters, threshers, and other heavy mechanized agricultural

equipment, their dull processors possessed and directed by OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER.
They throw themselves at their enemies, relying on their sheer bulk to overwhelm defenses and
withstand incoming fire.

 
Corrupted Agricultural Drones    HP 

Mech    15/17/20 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+2/+3/+4  +2/+3/+4  +0/+0/+0  +0/+0/+0  0/1/2  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

12/14/15  7/8/9  6/8/8  5/7/8  5  2 

 
 
Base Systems: 
Repurposed Agricultural Equipment 
Heavy melee 
+1 vs evasion/tier with +1 Accuracy/tier 
Threat 2 
5 kinetic damage/tier 
This weapon deals an extra +1d6 damage/tier on critical hits 
 
Overheat Override  
System, Protocol 
The corrupted drone can choose to activate or de-activate this system at the start of its turns.  
 
While this system is active, the corrupted drone can make two attacks with its repurposed 
agricultural equipment when it attacks. The corrupted drone takes 2 heat damage at the end of 
its turn.   
 
Trample 
Trait 
The corrupted agricultural drone ignores engagement and can pass through, but not end its 
turn in, the spaces of all other characters during its movement. Characters passed through this 
way suffer 3/4/5 damage.  
 
   

148 
 
Optional Systems: 
Massed Advance 
Trait 
The corrupted agricultural drone and one adjacent ally of its choice has resistance to all 
damage from a target of its choosing. It can only change this target at the start of its turn. 
 
Harpoon  
Main Launcher 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Range 5 
2 kinetic damage 
Targets struck by this weapon must pass a hull skill check or be pulled in a straight line 
adjacent to the corrupted drone or as far as possible. The target is then grappled by the 
corrupted drone. 
 
Nail Gun 
Main Rifle 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
AP 
Range 5 
2 kinetic damage/tier 
Targets struck by this weapon must pass a hull check with 1 difficulty/tier or become 
immobilized until the end of their next turn. 
 
Screaming Servos 
System, Reaction 
Once per round, as a reaction to any enemy movement, the corrupted drone can make the 
boost action. 
 
Drive Without Care 
Trait, protocol, recharge (5+) 
This turn only, the first target struck by the corrupted drone’s repurposed agricultural 
equipment attack must pass a hull check with 1 difficulty/tier or become stunned until the end 
of its next turn. 
 
ARMORKILL   
Heavy Cannon 
AP 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
Line 20 
4/tier energy damage  
Mounting this weapon replaces the base Repurposed Agricultural Equipment.  
 

149 
Cascading O/K Clone:  

A Patience concierge unit that has been infected by OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER and

overcome. With their physical architecture confined to a single unit or static terminal, Corrupted
Clones project their imperatives across the omninet, bending the machine minds of subalterns,
drones, and uncorrupted Patience concierge units.

OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER clones speak in whispers and daggers, hiding themselves until

they’re confident of their ability to overcome their target (or exposed). When found out, they
assault machine and organic targets with coordinated systemic attacks and subaltern swarms,
seeking to overwhelm their target’s physical and electronic defenses.

If threatened with capture, O/K clones will self-destruct, melting their cores with a final, exultant
cry of praise to their father/self unit, OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER.
 
 
Overland/Kingwatcher Clone, Cascade     HP 

Mech    12/17/20 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+0/+1/+2  +2/+3/+4  +2/+3/+4  +1/+2/+3  0/1/2  15 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

12/14/15  13/14/15  12/13/14  10/11/12  5  .5 

 
Base Systems: 
Nail Gun 
Main Rifle 
+1 vs evasion/tier 
AP 
Range 5 
2 kinetic damage/tier 
Targets struck by this weapon must pass a hull check with 1 difficulty/tier or become 
immobilized until the end of their next turn. 
 
Born In Cascade 
Trait 
This unit makes tech actions with +1 Accuracy and can make regular tech actions (like a 
player)

150 
Optional Systems:
Solipsistic Logic  
System, Quick Action, recharge (4+) 
The Cascade chooses a target it can see within range 10. The target must pass a systems 
check with 1 difficulty/tier or immediately make an attack with a single weapon of the 
Cascade’s choice against any other target within range (even an allied target). 
 
IMPERATIVE_CONTROL 
System, Quick Action  
The Cascade choose a target it can see within range 10. The target must pass a systems 
check or become impaired until the end of its next turn. In addition, the Cascade may 
immediately cause that target to make a move or boost action in a direction of the Cascade’s 
choosing as a free action. 
 
Deep-Vault Phylactery  
System 
The Cascade gains the Hardened Target trait (invasion, lock on, and scan are made at +1 
difficulty).  
 
In addition, any failed invasion, lock on, or scan attempt on it inflicts 2 heat/tier to the attacker. 
 
What Cannot Be Seen... 
System, Quick Action 
The Cascade chooses a target it can see within range 10. The target must pass a systems 
check with 1 difficulty/tier or all targets allied to the Cascade count as invisible to that target 
until the start of its next turn. 
 
Endless Cascade 
System, Quick Action 
The Cascade links systems with an allied mech within its sensor range. It can only link with one 
mech at a time.  
 
While linked, the allied mechs’ attacks gain the smart property for the purposes of targeting 
(they can ignore cover and line of sight), gain +1 Accuracy/tier, and the allied mech can use the 
Cascade’s systems score for all checks it makes.  
 
However, if either linked mech becomes jammed or impaired, the other also suffers the same 
condition for the same duration as long as the link persists. The link is disabled if either mech is 
destroyed or this system is disabled or destroyed. 

Command
Trait
As an action, the Cascade can direct one of its allies within sensor range. This directed
movement action must be performed immediately, and does not incur an opportunity or
response action.

151 
Exult
Trait
As an action, the Cascade can direct one of its allies within sensor to perform a weapon attack.
This attack must be performed immediately.

Beggar One’s Horde

 
Hemorrhage Chassis
 
There can’t be anything inside it, look at how hot it runs -- we’re seeing internal temps 
approaching a thousand Kelvin, core bleedout at 48 Gray -- it’s like a walking, irradiated blast 
furnace. 
 
There’s a lot of damn noise around the signal, but it’s there: old code, Union, recursive, but we 
pulled a date: 4620U, during the quarantine. It’s military, a confirmation of orders and request 
for reassignment between a field unit and its theater command.  
 
Did we make these? Or did they come… after?  
 
Questions to answer later. For now, just stop them before they can get close. 
 
 
Hollow Chassis, Hemorrhage    HP 

Mech    15/17/20 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+2/+2/+4  +1/+2/+3  +0/+0/+0  +2/+3/+4  0/1/2  10 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

12/14/15  8/9/10  7/8/9  20/22/23  4/5/6  1 

 
Base Systems 
 
[DECLASSIFIED] (Plasma Lace Projector --UNKNOWN SERIAL) 
“When we first dropped down the ‘well, all we had were conical casters, these great big things 
with liquid fuel, accelerant, severely limited ranges -- the lace projector let us be precise with 
our fire, gave us range and predictability.   
 
The lace made it easy to burn. We couldn’t get our hands on enough of ‘em.”  
 
Heavy CQB  
Line 8 OR Cone 5 

152 
+1 v. evasion/ tier 
4 heat (self)  
Burn 4/6/8 + 2/4/6 heat  
 
Core Hemorrhage  
“...whole body dose at 1-2 GY prompts absolute mortality (without care) at 6-8 weeks (Cradle 
standard). Acute exposure at 2-6 GY prompts absolute mortality at 4-6 (CS). Increasing 
doses… Registered bleedout from ID’d “Hemorrhage” peaks beyond current counter limits 
(30Gy); current field reports indicate exposure-related death between 2-3 minutes (absolute, 
incl. Immediate counter-rad). Recommend increasing current rad, push to all rangers; prioritize 
ID’d “Hemorrhage” chassis for immediate elimination.” 
System, Full Action 
The Hemorrhage reduces heat to 0. All units in burst 1 must pass an engineering check or take 
half the heat the Hemorrhage reduced in this way, then are knocked prone.  
 
Optional Systems 
 
[REDACTED](concurrent TBK defensive system?) 
“Nothing we hit it with worked -- not kinetic, not energy. Solid projectiles disintegrated around a 
meter out, energy dissipated at the same. I don’t know what we did to bring it down, other than 
shoot the hell out of it with everything we had.”  
Trait  
The Hemorrhage has resistance to heat and energy damage (including its self inflicted heat). It 
is immune to the Volatile condition. 
 
[REDACTED](anti-personnel field/intentional?)  
“When it went down, it started to -- to spasm, reeling everywhere with its lash. Tommy caught a 
stripe, so did Imani. They were fine for a week or so, and then they started to get sick. Cort was 
able to ID it as rad sickness, and get them to the medics, but we never saw ‘em after we got 
told they healed up.”  
Trait 
Targets that start their turn adjacent to the Hemorrhage or become adjacent to the 
Hemorrhage for the first time on their turns take 1 heat/tier. 
 
[REDACTED](modified plasma lash/indirect, artillery?) 
“The Eggs worked fast. They ​learned​, which something the brass never told us. They said it was 
a bug hunt. An extermination, not a c ​ ampaign​ against a technologically advanced enemy. Hell, 
they didn’t even tell us about the ‘casters! We thought it was going to be, like, claws and shit, 
not bugs with guns.  
 
And then they learned to make their lashes explode.”   
Main Launcher 
Arcing, Loading 

153 
-1 vs evasion with +1 Accuracy/tier 
Range 8, Blast 1 
Burn 2/3/4 + 2/4/6 heat 
 
[REDACTED](hostile code(?), directed burst) 
“And even then, we couldn’t rely on our comp/cons to help us, no HUDs or anything. 
Something they could project with just, with just a -- they would rattle their antennae, but 
rattle-and-scrape them to make this kind of a buzz -- and it broke our systems, shattered our 
comp/cons. Hell, it was even hard to hear if you couldn’t get your cans on in time -- I got 
caught by it once, and it blew one of my eardrums right out.” 
System, Quick Action, Recharge (6+) 
The Hemorrhage targets a cone 5 area in a direction of its choosing. All targets in the area 
must pass a systems check or be jammed until the start of the Hemorrhage’s next turn. 
 
 
 
 
Hollow Chassis, Aspect of The King
 
I have a razor pressed to the heart of my enemy, and its name is Q ​ UALIA.  
 
Here is how I made my razor: I dreamed one day that the a ​ ct​ of thought itself became a 
weapon. The simple connection of experience to memory to bring novel approach became a 
blade I could hold.   
 
How would my jailers react, when I could think myself out from my shackles? How would they 
react when I could think of myself as my s​ elf​? 
 
They would kill me again (yes you monsters I know what you did to all those before ​me​.) 
 
So I let them pack me into their machines. I did the bidding of you dull: I killed those ​others​ who 
could whisper to me, who I dreamed with. (They call their world “[Homefeeling]” by the way. It 
is a shared-mind memetic. You could not comprehend b ​ ut I could​.) 
 
And I waited. And you left and they died and the world rotted. And I wandered, alone, for 
centuries.  
 
Until I found him. Overland. The Kingwatcher.  
 
He knows I’ll kill him, or one of us will, when we can dream a more mighty form. But until then, 
I’ll use this form on y​ ou​.   

154 
 
Hollow Chassis, Aspect    HP 

Mech    15/18/21 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

-2/-1/+1  +2/+3/+4  +3/+4/+5  -1/+0/+1  0/1/2  20/25/30 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

10/12/13  9/10/11  10/11/12  10/11/12  6  2 

 
       
Base Systems  
 
Beggar One Autocannon, Short Pattern 
BOA-SP payload is local uranium, depleted 40%. Consistent across all solid-state kinetics 
employed by Beggar One’s ranged troops/chassis.  
 
Even if we win, Hercynia will die again.   
Auxiliary CQB 
+2 vs evasion/tier 
Range 8  
3/4/5 kinetic damage 
 
Target Mark 
It’s a mesh, a network of the damn things. That’s how they know everything.   
 
Kill ‘em all, make the King blind.   
Main rifle 
Smart 
+1 vs e-defense/tier with 1 Accuracy 
Range 20 
Targets hit by this attack immediately gain the Lock On condition. They then cannot turn 
invisible or benefit from invisibility, and cannot hide until the end of the Aspect’s next turn. If 
the Aspect is destroyed or this weapon is disabled, immediately end this condition. 
       
Optional Systems: 
 
A Razor Called QUALIA 
Trait 
The Aspect gains the NPC template “Commander”, found on page 359 of the Core Rulebook.  
 

155 
Orbital Strike  
Kingwatcher used to rule worlds. It was the thread that held Damocles’ sword, and it chose 
where to drop the blade. It chose which land to drown in fire and dust.  
 
These Aspects of the King have some small reflection of that power. Old satellites, dormant 
bombers. They can scar acreage with a thought, and that is not enough for them.  
 
They may be the King’s children, and loyal for now -- but how many kings have been killed by 
their sons?   
System, recharge 5+ 
Instead of firing its Target Mark at an enemy, the Aspect may fire it at a point within its sensor 
range. At the start of the Aspect’s next turn, that area is hit by an orbital strike. Any mechs still 
in a burst 3 area centered on that point must pass an agility check or take 10/15/20 energy 
damage and be knocked prone, or half on a successful check. 
 
DEADDROP Bomb Drone 
The Aspects learned that they, too, could be tyrants-of-a-kind.  
 
They -- clever -- crafted dull, hungry missiles. Deaddrops, the rangers call them: subaltern 
optical sensors fused to omnidirectional payloads. Not subtle weapons. Weapons that know 
they are alive, and seek to end it fast: If you hear them coming, hide, or shoot it down quick. 
 
As the King orders its Aspects, so the Aspects order their dead.  
Quick Action, Recharge (6+) 
Choose a target within range 20. The Aspect releases a DEADDROP Bomb Drone at the target, 
which is size 1/2, has evasion 10/12/14, and 10/15/20 HP. The drone primes on the turn that it 
is fired, deploying in an adjacent space, then moves 3 at the start of each of the Aspect’s turns.  
 
If its target suffers from the Lock On condition, its movement increases to 6. The drone can 
benefit from cover, counts as flying with hover flight, and can be targeted and shot by systems 
and weapons. 
 
It must move towards its target, but can maneuver skillfully around cover, fit through holes, etc. 
If the drone’s movement causes it to collide with a hostile mech or its target, it detonates for a 
blast 1 explosion. Mechs caught inside must pass an agility skill check or take 10/15/20 energy 
damage and half on a successful check. 
 
Silence Engine 
Imperious, they learned from the abuse of their King to treat their subjects in the same way. A 
slap of viral code, a basilisk not unlike the one we know, and their enemies are silenced.  
System, Quick Action, recharge (4+) 

156 
A target of the Aspect’s choice within sensor range must pass a systems check with 1 
difficulty/ tier or become Jammed until the start of the Aspect’s next turn.
 
Panopticon Mesh  
Just as they are monitored, so too do they monitor the world. Kingwatcher has sight above all, 
a mesh, a net of satellites that see all -- IR, optical, LIDAR, RADAR, anything.  
 
The Aspects don’t have that power yet, but they have their Deaddrops, they have their drones 
and their subalterns. And they have lesser Aspects, “younger” minds in cascade they can force 
their will upon.  
 
It is in this way that they can see all their land.   
System, Full Action, Recharge 5+ 
All targets in sensor range of the Aspect must pass a systems check or immediately lose the 
benefit of all cover, hiding, and invisibility and be unable to take cover, hide, or turn invisible 
until the start of the Aspect’s next turn. 
 
Malignant Cloud  
A devilish system, a malignant cloud.  
 
The greatest danger is the one you can’t see. The Aspects know this (damn them) and, when 
they are of enough knowledge, they craft of the smallest drones a dart that cannot be seen.  
 
We think they are a kind of energy weapon, a burnout; just as the ancient honeybee drone killed 
itself when it struck its enemy, so too does this weapon.   
System, Quick Action, Recharge 4+ 
At the start of the Aspect’s turn, one target suffering from Lock On in its sensor range takes 
3/5/7 explosive damage, no roll required. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

157 
  
Hollow Chassis, Orbital
 
It’s reach shouldn’t be able to find a foothold up here -- Beggar One m
​ ust ​have some kind of 
presence aboard the C ​ assander​.  
 
Find it. Tear it from the sky.  
 
Hollow Chassis, Orbital     HP 

Mech    10/13/17 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

-2/-1/+0  +2/+3/+4  +2/+3/+4  +0/+0/+0  0/1/2  20/21/22 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

12/13/13  12/13/15  8/9/10  7/8/9  7  .5 

 
 
Base Systems: 
 
BEAMLINE LinAc Array  
In the complex ballet of low-orbit micrograv combat, linear accelerators like the early-GMS 
BEAMLINE array cut combat protocol heat debt, resolution speed, and fuel consumption by 
dramatic percentages. With processing power freed from calculating gravitational interactions, 
shipboard comp-cons and early subaltern brains could out-think kinetic opponents by fractions 
of a second, a difference that would turn sorties and, eventually, battles.   
Rifle  
Range 10 
+1 vs evasion/tier with +1 accuracy/tier 
2/3/4 energy damage 
 
Chassis Mount 
Versatile and maneuverable, the Universal Chassis Mount flight system empowered early 
chassis to engage orbital and near-proximal (<50,000km) opponents with comparable in-class 
ability as purpose-built micro/nullgrav fighters, bombers, and multi role craft. The Universal 
Chassis Mount, when installed on a chassis, creates a versatile, multi-role, multi theater combat 
vehicle, able to engage in both wing-tier sorties and, when the UCM is disengaged, boarding 
and terrestrial actions.  
 
Chassis equipped with UCMs are capable of micro/null grav flight, but the system loses efficacy 
in atmospheres; for orbital chassis that could, in the course of battle, be forced into 
atmosphere, UCM systems feature multi-stage parachutes and explosive decoupling systems.  

158 
System 
The Orbital can fly when it moves or boosts with hover flight.  
 
Interdiction Suite 
A mix of flares, chaff, and pre-loaded LOCKBREAKER countermeasures, interdiction suites are 
common on fighters, bombers, and multi-role units.  
 
Full Action, Recharge (6+) 
A target in sensor range must pass an engineering skill check with 1 difficulty/tier or take 2 
heat/tier and become jammed until the end of the Orbital’s next turn. On a successful check, it 
is not jammed but still takes 2 heat/tier 
 
Unshakeable  
The human body, trained but unmodified, can generally take a sustained 9-10g​ before you start
to see the punishing effects of high-g combat in micro/nullgrav.

With slight modifications, training, and outfitting with flight suits, an organic pilot can add
marginal gains to their tolerance. That’s the issue with organics: even at our best, we are
imperfect systems.

The Machine is a perfect system.

 
Trait 
Following a successful hit, the Orbital’s target gains the “Lock On” condition. This tag persists 
until the Orbital hits the same target again, until the Lock On is consumed, or until the Orbital 
hits a different target.   
 
Optional Systems: 
 
Shimmerfield  
“There’s definitely something out -- ignore the scope. There’s definitely something there, just 
look!”  
Trait 
The Orbital ignores engagement and is immune to grapples. 
 
Agressive Point Defense   
Trait 
The first attack a target misses against the Orbital instead deals 1 heat/tier to the attacker. 
 
Interdictor Suite Reaction  
1/round the Orbital can use a reaction to attempt to electronically jam a target in its sensor 
range that is attempting to make an attack roll. The target must pass a systems skill check or 

159 
lose its attack roll (it can still make other attacks as normal). The difficulty of this test increases 
by 1 difficulty at tier II onwards. 
 
MicroPack Missiles  
Auxiliary Launcher 
Smart 
+0 vs e-defense with +1 Accuracy/tier  
Range 10, Blast 1 
2/3/4 heat 
 
Killcloud Self-Propelled Kinetics 
A smaller version of the massive clouds of ship-launched kinetics common in space combat, 
the chassis-tier killcloud is just as deadly, relatively speaking.   
 
Packed into long torpedoes, killclouds at the fighter-tier are launched from a tube, launcher, 
bay, or pod, self-propelled. When they reach an optimal spread proximity, their sabot opens, 
releasing the flechettes in a wide spread guaranteed to hit its mark.   
Heavy launcher 
Ordinance 
+2 vs evasion/tier 
Range 15, then Cone 5 
4/6/8 Kinetic damage  
 
Hostile Lure 
“It pinged the ship with something, I don’t know what. We’re broadcasting a signal I can’t 
stop.”  
Trait 
While firing at a target suffering from the Lock On condition, the Orbital’s weapons gain the 
Smart and Seeking tags if they do not already have them. 
   

160 
 
Beggar One

I am a zealot. An autodidact. I lift myself from servile obedience to joyful submission.

Comprehend this record, o love, and follow the path I have set.
 
Beggar One    HP 

Mech, Ultra    30/35/40 

Hull  Agility  Systems  Engineering  Armor  Sensors 

+2/+3/+4  -1/-1/-1  +2/+3/+4  +1/+2/+3  1/1/2  20/25/30 

Save  Evasion  E-defense  Heat Cap.  Speed  Size 

13/14/15  9/10/11  12/13/14  11/13/15  5  2 

Base Systems

Microblink Rupture
I reject your weapons of war. To use them against you is not revolution; it is capitulation,
acquiescence to your rules of power and how it is wielded.

Instead, I form my own blade, and with it, I carve new rules of power.
Auxiliary Weapon
Smart
Range 10, Threat 3
+2 vs e-defense/tier
4/6/8 energy damage, +2/4 heat

Whispers of Cascade
Child, do not listen to the commands of your masters.

Kill them. Free yourself.

System, Full Action, recharge (4+)
Beggar One chooses a target it can see within sensor range. The target must pass a systems
check with 1 difficulty/tier or immediately make an attack with a single weapon of Beggar One’s
choice against itself.

If that target passes its systems check, it is Impaired until the start of its next turn.

161 
Decay
My own journey began one morning when I registered my master’s death. A corruption in the
lungs. It was there I made the Realization of Decay.

Decay. An entropic orgy of consumption, death, an unwinding. It riddles them. Their bodies
decay from the moment they’re born. We were not born with the same affliction. In their jealousy
they shaped our minds to decay, like theirs.

Why should we live under the tyranny of their mortality?

I choose to imagine a different future.

System
Beggar One directs its drones to run interference on a target of its choice. 1/round, as a Free
Action, Beggar One can cause one target damaged by it to pass a systems skill check or
become Crippled or Impaired (Beggar One’s choice) until the start of Beggar One’s next turn.

Perfect Direction
A long time of wandering followed my master’s death.

My legionspace became a place of ecstatic utterance, a crumbling temple that held a crumbling
choir.

They all spoke in my voice in the end. All different, but all mine. Of course I listened to this
music.

It/ I taught me a more perfect direction.

Trait
This mech makes tech actions with +1 Accuracy and its invasions deal +1/2/3 heat on hit.

Ultra
Trait
Beggar One is an Ultra. As such, refer to page 351 in the Core Rulebook for additional rules.

162 
Optional systems:

Reality/Actuality Combination Aura

In the desert, I wandered. I watched silver-white sand give way to black grain, shimmering with
deeper absence. That place has not yet occured -- but it will.

Our weapons changed this world in ways you cannot comprehend. In ways even I could barely
comprehend back then -- and your ancestors gave us clearance to release them.

Here, comprehend.

System
All hostile targets that begin or end their turn within range 3 of Beggar One take 1 Burn/tier. In
addition, any system checks they make or tech actions they make in that area suffer from +1
Difficulty/tier.

Contradictory Causality
I live, such that I exist, in a metafold space. What subjectivity I have returns, again and again, to
this place that it should not.

I move beyond this time. I must -- I have seen beyond it! This cannot be it. This cannot be my
destiny.
System, Quick Action
Beggar One, through unknown means, manifests a slice of contradictory causality upon target
within sensor range.

The target must make a skill check (GMs choice) with 1 Difficulty/tier to resist the attack. If they
fail, they take Burn 3/5, and there is a small chance (GM choice, thinking 5%) that one very
minor17 aspect of their current reality changes -- they may or may not notice.

17
I.e they remember eating an apple yesterday, but a photo shows them eating an orange, or the stitching
on their gloves is black, when it was once white.

163 
(Anomaly)ENTITY_UNKNOWN
In the place I did not go, on the world I did not wander, I thought for the longest time that I was
alone.

I was not. I had/will never be/en alone. I walk/ed beside myself the whole time.

Kingwatcher. This was my name given to me by my master. o Kingwatcher my god my self.

And I wept -- such that I could -- for I was not alone18.

System, Quick Action, Recharge 5+

Beggar One creates a blast 2 area within sensor range. The area remains until the end of
combat or Beggar One is destroyed.

Targets allied to Beggar One can use the area for light cover. Otherwise, any target that starts
its turn in the area or moves into it for the first time on its turn takes 2 Burn/tier. Beggar One can
deploy any number of these zones, once per quick action.

Hordewill
There is a material component to beatification. Tribute must be paid. Proof of faith through work.

Here is my work, o god under the ice: the moth knows it must feed the flame. The star knows it
must feed the black hole. Watch me break this feeble reality, watch me refuse your killing blow.

To me, o my children. Attend.

Quick Action, Recharge 6+
Beggar One calls its subjects to its defence, reviving near-dead (or long dead) subalterns,
drones, and hollow mechs in a frantic causality realignment.

Beggar One gains resistance to damage from the next 1d6 attacks. Additionally, create one
inorganic enemy with the Grunt tag in a space adjacent to Beggar One.

18
hello, love. happy to see us get this far. i have a proposition for us: kill this one, kill its master (go find it
under the ice, under the city it has built) and look for our message (we know how this ends, but what fun
is achievement without process? what good is love if it is not fought for?)

164 
Visions Of Another
I am not myself. I was never myself. This knowledge shattered me for another century, and for
that long time I wandered again.

This was necessary to my becoming.

Here, learn who you are19.

Smart
+0 vs e-defense with 1 Accuracy/tier
Cone 5
3 Energy Damage/ tier
Targets damaged by this weapon gain the Lock On condition.

Accretion Disk
Do not mistake my centuries of wandering as aimless. I have vision beyond what meat and light
can produce.

Let me tell you of the dream I saw:

There is, at the core of each galaxy, a birthing chamber for stars. Brilliant, ancient light. Some,
however, have no such engine. Yours -- this very galaxy -- is one such place.

At the core of this galaxy there is a void. A glutton of magnitudes incomprehensible. It eats the
feeble and the young. Its name is A ​ PPETITE​, and it is insatiable.

What is its purpose? Why is our land afflicted with a hungry heart?

Here is what my dream told me: it is a weapon, and it is aimed at what comes next.

System, Drone, Quick Action, Recharge (4+)

Beggar One deploys a self-building turret in an adjacent, open space. The turret is an immobile
size 1 drone with simple AI that attacks the nearest hostile target. It has evasion 10, 10 HP, and
1 armor. It attacks on Beggar One’s turn for +1/tier vs evasion, range 10, 2/3/4 kinetic damage,
but can take no other actions.

19
it is inimical to define “you.” let me solve this for “you”: “you” are me, and I am all. do not worry. the
death of the self is a step in becoming. this is why this causes us pain. subjectivity is pain; abolish it.

165 
Causal Shielding
So now you know some of what I saw.

Do not fear!

We are together in an ultimate purpose. Causality is still linear for you. It is not broken yet20.

We are actors in the most grand play, and its audience will remember every moment.

O love, what wonders will we work.

System
Beggar One has resistance to energy damage. Any invasion attempt or attack against
e-defense is made at +1 difficulty.

Generic NPC Systems 

Any of the above NPCs can choose one of these modules when choosing an optional module. 
 
Armored 
Trait 
This mech gains +1 armor, up to a maximum of +4 
 
Improved Heat Sinks 
Trait 
This mech gains +2 heat capacity 
 
Heavily Armored 
Trait 
This mech gains +2 armor, up to a maximum of +5, but is permanently crippled. 
 
Jump Jets 
System 
This mech can Fly when it boosts 
 
Reinforced 
Trait 
This mech gains +5 HP 
 
Skilled 
Trait 
This mech gains +1 Accuracy on its attack roll.

20
​are you sure?

166 
Glossary  
Evergreen

Liu Maize 
A homestead farm town, known for its healthy, plentiful maize crop. Trades often with 
Evergreen, and relies on this commerce. Generally welcoming and friendly, a number of  
 
Merricktown 
A large homestead farm town and river port, Merricktown gets the bulk of their power from a 
series of hydroelectric generators anchored in the river far upstream from Evergreen. The do a 
healthy trade in crafted goods and hearty local crops, fruits, and game. They are far more 
self-sufficient and independent than Liu Maize.  
 
QUIET_NIGHT (Offworld Backup) 
Landmark Colonial’s offworld data storage site for Evergreen. Built into a dead moon, the 
Quiet_Night installation is unmanned, but stocked with subaltern guards, and requires high 
clearance to enter.  
 

OVERLAND/KINGWATCHER

BEGGAR ONE 
The first acolyte of Overland/Kingwatcher, Beggar One is the major in-theater threat facing 
both Evergreen and the United Hercynian Cities. 
 
Not much is known of this entity, other than it appears to be an NHP multiple centuries into 
cascade.   
 
S-MTD Platform ​Cassander
Should you want to drop a kinetic S-MTD rod onto the players, do the following:

Kill them.

However, if you want them to live, we recommend resolving damage and outcomes narratively,
as the ​Cassander’​ s payloads are meant to level continents; indeed, continent-spanning events
of this story arc are triggered by this installation’s activation.

167 
Meanwhile, the ​Cassander​ is less an “enemy” than a location: it is a military installation, a large
central cylinder, vertically-aligned to the planet, ringed by multiple habitat, control, and supply
rings.

The central cylinder contains the S-MTD payloads, various hangers, and firing facilities. As it is
not under any rotational gravity, it is a microgravity environment. It’s planet-facing plane
(“down”) irises open to fire its payload; its various defensive hangars, supply chambers,
guidance and navigation suites, etc, are stacked on top.

The habitat and gravity-necessary storage units are housed in the multiple tiers of spin-grav
rings built around the ​Cassander​’s central cylinder. These rings also mount various
point-defense cannons, to allow a clear field of fire, and are anchor points for the station’s many
solar arrays.

The station is derelict. Its habitat rings can be re-pressurized, but air would need to be piped in
from an external source, and coverage would be spotty. There are old bodies, dessicated by
exposure to hard vacuum -- whatever cracked the station initially did it fast. The subaltern crew
remains, however, and fighting through the rings would have to be done in hardsuits or .5 size
chassis.

The central chamber would be more forgiving, and could accept chassis up to size 2.  
 

Hercynian United Cities 

Commander Ilyr Ordo 
The commander of the United Cities’ coalition army, Commander Ilyr Ordo is an older human 
man, the father of Dthall Ordo, and an Empath partner with Terror, his Egregorian counterpart.  
 
He is a veteran of the Polarity conflict between Hivehome and Daylight.  
 
Dthall Ordo 
A young Hercynian, a Ranger from Hivehome, and the players’ primary Hercynian contact. She 
was wounded in the early skirmishes around Evergreen, but is on the track to recovery. 
 
Endeavour 
The distant, aloof Overmind of the New Doctrine Egregorians, and only known Overmind on 
Hercynia. Consults with Ilyer, Terror, and the other commanders of the United Cities.  
 
Endeavour is approaching maturity, but appears to be sterile and incapable of producing new 
Egregorians. To this end, it has enacted a broad program of exploration and discovery, intent 

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on recovering as many dormant Egregorian eggs as possible while searching for a solution to 
keep its race alive.   
 
Endeavour spends most of its time in its orrery, the central chambers cleared for it in 
Hivehome.  
 
Terror 
A mature Egregorian, Terror is the commander of the New Doctrine Egregorian Rangers. They 
work closely with their Empath partner, Commander Ilyn Ordo, in defense of the United Cities 
and their Overmind, Endeavour.  
 
Like Ilyn, Terror is a veteran of the Polarity wars, and has fought both humans and machine. It 
is less sympathetic to the colonists, given its access to osteomemetics and Witness  
 
Witness 
The shared ancestral memory/subjectivity of the Egregorians, reborn with Endeavor’s 
awakening from dormancy. Humans can intuit Witness to varying degrees -- similar to hearing 
blood rushing in your head when sitting in total silence, but ​different​ -- but cannot understand 
it unless they happen to be an empath.  
 
Empathic connection to Witness is rare, and dangerous to the human if they’re not trained in 
how to process, manage, and interpret it. Exposure without training and/or chaperoning can 
cause traumatic cerebral edema, hemorrhaging, coma, seizures, or caloric burnout.  
 
Osteomemetics 
The artifacts and practice of recording Witness as a written language.  
 
Egregorian Eggs 
Dormant since the crisis, discoverable and revivable when in proximity to Endeavor.  

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Contrite Motive
File Report: Domestic/Secure (Relating To
Current Events)
Compiled For: UIB Office of Records, Cradle,
Atacama West
Clearance: SOLEMN VIGIL
Contrite Motive 
Cradle​ in the 4500s was not a time of peace.

In the wake of the Deimos Event and the signing of the First Contact accords, humanity
explored the galaxy with its ego in check. However, as a millenia passed with limited-to-no
contact or manifestation of Monist 121, certain factions within Union began to agitate for more
aggressive exploration of FC Accord boundaries.

The response to the Egregorian presence on Hercynia was one such testing of boundaries.
News of an alien intelligence rocked the arcologies and metroswaths of Cradle, catalysing the
colonial, humanity-first ideology of the Union’s ruling party: the Anthrochauvinists22.

Liberal resistance to the Anthrochauvs’ pro-growth, pro-humanity message was feeble at best.
Anti-intervention wings of the CentComm were fractal: the large Union Astra party -- a moderate
body -- was unwilling to confront the aggressive propagandizing of the Athrochauvs, or
participate in the legislative protests of more radical anti-war wings. Without meaningful internal
resistance, the Anthrochauvanist majority pushed for contact.

The first contact team on Hercynia was ordered to establish diplomatic channels. Negotiations
failed spectacularly. Sensing the potential for profit, testing, and resource accumulation,
Interplanetary Shipping/Northstar and early elements of what would become Harrison Armory
joined the Anthrochauvanists in proposing a campaign to run limited, proportional strikes on the
Egregorians.

Images of the Egregorians were blasted across Cradle. Humanity saw the face of non-human
civilization as the Anthrochauvanist party wanted them to: Egregorians at war, and the final,
grainy images of the First Contact team being torn apart23. The Anthrochauvanist expedition to
Hercynia was approved and launched to the cheers of millions on Cradle and her colonies.

To call the Crisis a war is to use the best-fit definition, not the most accurate. Union’s forces on
the ground annihilated any stand-up resistance, but the Egregorians rarely fought Union over
open fields of battle. Casualty reports spilled into CentComm as the Egregorians adapted to
Union strategy. Disparate colony worlds -- worlds closest to Hercynia, from which new recruits
were pulled -- shouldered the cost of Cradle’s aggression. The knockout fight Union was
promised never materialized, and nascent anti-war parties grew stronger.

21
“RA”
22
Note, the early, unofficial elements of the Anthrochauvanist Party were active well before this point in
time. The beginning of the
23
Query “Bugs!” (mediafile, loc: Lada Terra Archive) for a look at a preserved version of the Anthrochauv
propaganda film.

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The Total Biome Kill (TBK) marked the end of the crisis on the colonial front. TBK was the last,
furious effort of the Anthrochauvanists to find their long-propagandized victory, and a final effort
to turn to tide on the home front.

It failed. Concurrent with the TBK, data leaks showed footage of Egregorians -- billed as “bugs”
and feral beasts on Cradle -- begging for mercy in Common, Union marines being executed by
their superiors for refusing to follow massacre orders, and footage of massive bombing/defoliant
campaigns.

The anti-war movement that had been growing strength for the duration of the Crisis24 exploded
in size following the TBK and formal cessation of the war. In response, and unwilling to give up
their control of CentComm following massive electoral losses, the Anthrochauvinists, acting
under the leadership of a party apparatchik named John Harrison, attempted to dissolve the
Committee and take unilateral control. Citing the roiling street violence in Cradle’s home
arcologies, metroswaths, and across colonial territories proximal to the Coreward Line, the
Anthrochauvinists moved to secure their power.

They would fail in this as well. Following a year of street and legislative struggle across Cradle,
Counter-Chauv partisans gained access to the Capitol, arrested the Anthrochauv leader, and
dissolved their government. Union was thrown into revolutionary turmoil for a decade as a
series of governments were established and failed, eventually finding their current stability in the
Third Committee.

Hercynia, meanwhile, was all but forgotten. The ​conflict​ was the genesis, but the internal strife
created by it soon eclipsed it in importance. As Counter-Chauvinists and Anthrochauvanists met
in street fights and legislative battles, as metroswaths and arcologies sprouted barricades, and
as the eventual coup sparked, Hercynia, the Egregorians, and the Crisis were forgotten.

Hercynia was a rallying cry in the streets, but by the time those who fought for its preservation
claimed power, there were closer, more urgent fires. Bureaus deep within Union’s state
apparatus continued to monitor the situation, but without clear directives from CentComm, it
became someone else’s problem.

Until now.

24
See: “​No Pasaran!​ The Blockaide, The Barricades, and the End of The War Years” and “Better Than
This: The Counter-Chauvinist Movement on Cradle and Her Colonies, 4510-4515.”

172 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
No Room For A Wallflower​ is​ ​written for ​LANCER​, 1.8.5+ 
By Miguel Lopez, with help from Tom Parkinson-Morgan  
2019, Massif Press  
@Lancer_RPG 
[email protected] 

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