TEXT: 5
  
  1
  Fatal Frontier
  Written by
  Thorin Tabor
  Edited by
  Tracy Lachowicz
  Saga Machine system by
  Thorin Tabor
  Cover by
  Jason Moser
  Published by
  Tab Creations LLC
  Layout by
  Thorin Tabor
  Art by
  Aleksandra Klepacka, Eric Lofgren, Evelina Valieva, Gary Dupuis, 
  Jacob E. Blackmon, Jason Moser, Jeshields, Joselito Mahilum, NASA, 
  Rick Hershey - Empty Room Studios, Sade, Wilson Saravia
  Tab Creations is
  Ben Goreham, Jesse Pingenot, Phillip Matthews, Thorin Tabor
  
  2
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  Any and all Tab Creations logos and identifying marks and trade dress, such as all Tab Creations product and product line names including 
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  15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the 
  Coast, Inc.
  Shadows Over Sol. Copyright 2009-2015, Thorin Tabor. Tab 
  Creations LLC.
  Shadows Over Sol: Fatal Frontier. Copyright 2015-2016, 
  Thorin Tabor. Tab Creations LLC.
  Open Game License Version 1.0a
  
  3
  Table of Contents
  OGL Version 1.0a .........2
  Table of Contents ..........3
  Introduction .................5
  GMs Beware ......................5
  Epic Sci-Fi ............................6
  Starting Wealth & Gear ....6
  Deemphasizing Horror ........6
  Data Chip ............................7
  The Edge .......................9
  Life Support Requirements ..9
  Miskan Station .....................10
  Station History ..................10
  Timeline ........................10
  Population ........................13
  Subcultures ....................13
  Languages ......................13
  Miskan Mennonites .......13
  Station Structure ...............14
  Old Sector .....................14
  Water Sector ..................14
  Agriculture Sector ..........14
  Outsider Sector .............14
  Processing Sector ...........14
  Traveler Sector ...............15
  Station Rules .....................15
  Docking ........................15
  Arms & Armaments ......15
  Theft..............................16
  Violence ........................16
  Enforcement ..................16
  Local Services ....................16
  Relations ...........................17
  Who’s Who .......................17
  Beyond the Belt ....................18
  Skippers ............................18
  Slinging .............................18
  Pirates ...............................19
  Facts of Life in Microgravity 19
  Secrets in the Void .........21
  Other Secrets ........................21
  The Jupiter Group ................22
  The Knowns ......................22
  Speculation .......................23
  Faces of the Jupiter Group .23
  The Kessler Effect ..........23
  Kronos Protein ..............24
  Insurrection Virus  .........25
  The Titans.............................26
  Discovery & Conspiracy ...26
  Research & Confirmation .27
  Titan Theories ...................28
  What Happened ... Titans? ..28
  Titans in the Campaign ......29
  The Kronos Protein ...............30
  Discovery ..........................30
  Research ............................30
  Emergent Complexity .......31
  Comm. Hypothesis ...........31
  Psi Infection..........................32
  Theories ............................32
  Living With Psi Infection ..32
  Making Psi ........................32
  Psi Abilities .......................33
  Psi Abilities in Combat ..33
  Side Effects ....................34
  List of Psi Abilities ............35
  Clairvoyance ..................35
  Telekinesis .....................36
  Telepathy .......................37
  Design Thoughts: Psi .......37
  The Great Beyond .........39
  STL Travel ............................39
  FTL Travel ............................39
  The Gate ...............................40
  Aliens ...................................40
  Hitch’nyv ..........................40
  Grays ................................41
  Starspawn ..........................41
  What if Humanity is Alone? 41
  Star System Generator ..........42
  Number of Stars ................42
  Stellar Characteristics ........42
  Planets and Belts ...............43
  Gas Giant Generator ............44
  Characteristics ...................44
  Moons...............................44
  Asteroid Belt Generator ........45
  Dwarf Planets ...................45
  Asteroid Types ...................45
  Terrestrial World Generator ..46
  World Characteristics ........46
  Gravity ..............................46
  Atmosphere .......................47
  Orbital Zone & Temp. ......47
  Resources ..........................47
  Alien Generator ....................48
  Ecological Niche ...............48
  Putting It All Together ........48
  Inspiration .........................48
  Generate Stats ...................50
  Morphology ......................50
  Distinguishing Traits .........50
  Fatal Foes ......................53
  Fauna ....................................53
  Crocodile .......................53
  Dolphin.........................53
  Elephant ........................54
  Horse ............................54
  Pig .................................54
  Resurrected Species ...............55
  Achillobator ...................55
  Gigantopithecus ............55
  Mastodon ......................55
  Smilodon .......................56
  Triceratops .....................56
  Tyrannosaurus ...............56
  Mistakes of Humanity ..........57
  Android .........................57
  Bioclone ........................57
  Psi .................................58
  Tech-Zombie .................58
  Theta Project .................59
  Warbot ..........................59
  Aliens ...................................60
  Gray ..............................60
  Hitch’nyv ......................60
  Mimic ...........................61
  Ovapositor ....................61
  Starspawn ......................62
  Titan Relic .....................62
  Xenoform ......................63
  Xenogoo ........................63
  
  4
  
  5
  New discoveries, new frontiers and 
  new technologies are at the heart of 
  science fiction. The genre is littered with 
  examples of characters going boldly 
  into the unknown, inventing novel new 
  devices that change the world or making 
  discoveries that do the same. Ultimately, 
  these stories are about confronting and 
  adapting to the unknown. Horror stories 
  also focus on confrontations with the 
  unknown. Mysterious occurrences, unex-
  plained phenomena and dark, unknown 
  places are all staples of the genre. Humans 
  often fear what they do not understand, 
  and changes bring forth a great deal of 
  uncertainty.
  This is a book of the unknown. It 
  starts at the edge of human exploration, 
  and from there goes outward into the 
  new frontiers of space, technology and 
  discovery. This book holds many secrets, 
  but all of these are “What Ifs.” What 
  if controlled fusion is finally possible? 
  What if the ARC Project reaches Alpha 
  Centauri? What if contact is made with 
  aliens? What if FTL travel is possible?
  If both science fiction and horror are 
  the confronting of the unknown, then 
  this is a book of unknowns to confront. 
  By necessity, each of these secrets has the 
  potential to bring significant change to 
  the game world, but that is exactly what 
  makes the secrets so frightening and so 
  compelling. GMs should carefully pick 
  and choose which of the secrets here they 
  want to explore, reveal or use in their own 
  campaigns. The secrets here are cannon 
  only if one chooses them to be.
  Thorin Tabor
  April 2015
  Introduction
  GMs Beware
  Some of the options in this book will significantly change the themes and feel of 
  your Shadows Over Sol campaign. This is intentional, as it allows for the game to 
  tackle a wider variety and range of science fiction concepts. 
  What happens when the ARC Project is finally completed? How will the 
  colonists fare when they finally arrive at Alpha Centauri A? How would society react 
  if first contact with intelligent life were made? What sorts of new fears, political 
  infighting or new frontiers in scientific research would be touched off by such 
  an event? Ultimately, science fiction is about new discoveries and their resulting 
  impacts. Questions like these are at the core of the genre, and many campaigns may 
  be improved through the judicious introduction of new elements.
  Some of the options in this book even challenge the basic assumptions of the 
  Shadows Over Sol setting. GMs are advised to think about the possible campaign 
  repercussions before introducing any of the options presented in this book.
  
  6
  Epic Sci-Fi
  The 
  Shadows 
  Over 
  Sol 
  core 
  rulebook defines three modes of horror: 
  survival horror, investigative horror and 
  action horror. These three modes explore 
  different intersections of the science 
  fiction and horror genres, providing 
  character parameters geared towards that 
  specific style of play.
  Here we present a fourth mode, one 
  that deprioritizes horror and embarks 
  into the vast horizons of epic science 
  fiction. Appropriately called “epic sci-fi,” 
  this mode allows players to exalt in all the 
  vast options available in science fiction, 
  building characters without an equipment 
  scarcity enforced to support the horror 
  genre. This is not to say that epic sci-fi 
  campaigns can’t include horrific elements 
  or be downright frightening in their own 
  right, but rather that player characters 
  will be ready to face most anything.
  Starting  
  Wealth & Gear
   
  � Starting Wealth: 8
   
  � Purchases: Unlimited
  As with the three modes of horror, 
  epic sci-fi provides player characters with 
  a starting Wealth rating and a number of 
  purchases that can be made at character 
  creation. While the starting Wealth is 
  no different than with action horror, the 
  fact that purchases are unlimited changes 
  character creation significantly. 
  No longer do players have to pick 
  the handful of items they find most 
  important to their characters; instead 
  they are free to go on a boundless 
  shopping trip. Remember, however, there 
  are only so many items that a character 
  may lug around at one time, and this may 
  be a good time to remind players of their 
  encumbrance limits.
  In the end, most player characters will 
  be competent, well-stocked and equipped 
  for most anything that can be thrown at 
  them. They will be ready to storm out 
  and have epic science fiction adventures.
  Deemphasizing Horror
  Veering a game away from horror is largely a matter of changing the game’s 
  tone. Beyond the initial character creation parameters, there is little inherent in the 
  mechanics which forces horrific events. Game masters wishing to deemphasize horror 
  should first alter their descriptions of events to match their desired tone. Those looking 
  to make a few more mechanical changes might consider the following: Remove the 
  Lingering Injury critical effect, or at least don’t choose to use it on PCs. Give no 
  Stun consequence from hitting Shock threshold. Change Dying Gasps to render a 
  character unconscious rather than giving the Bleeding consequence.
  
  7
  Data Chip
  The docks on Miskan Station were 
  busy as usual. Workers dashed to and fro, 
  moving freight. Travelers moved between 
  ports where shuttles were docked. It was 
  organized chaos. I marveled at the clean-
  liness of it all. After the time I spent on 
  Mars, Miskan was positively wholesome.
  I was here on business: tracking a 
  Jenseitech data chip. It was supposed to 
  be coming in through one of the shuttles 
  here. I kept my eyes open.
  I wasn’t sure what was on that chip, 
  but whatever it was, it was something 
  so secret that Jenseitech was physically 
  transporting it, and keeping it off of any 
  computers connected to the net. That 
  sort of secrecy costs money, which means 
  the secret must be worth money. 
  I planned to seize the chip and auction 
  it off to competing corps. Unitech and 
  Sinoex, in particular, would be interested. 
  I could practically smell the microcredits.
  For my plan to work, however, I 
  needed data and I needed it fast. That’s 
  why I was here. I had an old contact that 
  worked the docks on Miskan Station. He 
  was supposed to meet me here.
  The contact’s name was Miko Soun. I 
  had worked with him a few times before, 
  and he could be trusted as long as my 
  credit was good. Most importantly, he 
  had access to the internal dock logs. These 
  logs would track the shuttles coming and 
  going, their corresponding ships, their 
  electronic flags, their transponder codes 
  and ports of origin.
  I knew which port the chip was 
  coming from: Durknow Station. I also 
  knew which electronic flag it would be 
  broadcasting: Jenseitech’s. With Miko’s 
  access I could make a pretty good guess 
  which shuttle the chip would be on. 
  Everything else would be brute force.
  A moment later, as if summoned by the 
  thought, Miko Soun was in front of me, 
  smiling his slimy smile. “Good to meet you 
  again, my friend. Come with me.”
  I followed him through the docks, 
  down a corridor and into a small 
  warehouse, 
  half-filled 
  with 
  freight. 
  He walked into a cramped office in a 
  corner of the warehouse. It was filled 
  with broken machinery. The screen of a 
  computer terminal glowed behind him.
  Miko turned and gave me another 
  smile. I could see perspiration on his 
  forehead. “We have privacy here. What 
  can I do for you, my friend?”
  Something was off.
  “Well...” I began, taking a moment 
  to look around the room as I pretended 
  to collect my thoughts. My eyes locked 
  on the computer terminal. The port logs 
  had been pulled up. Currently they were 
  filtering for ships coming from Durknow 
  Station, broadcasting the Jenseitech flag.
  How did Miko know that those were 
  the exact ships I would be asking about, 
  before anything had been said to him? 
  From out in the warehouse I could hear 
  one of the doors open and close. Shit!
  With one swift motion I reached into 
  my jacket, pulling free my “Wasp” light 
  pistol and pointed it at Miko’s head. Maybe, 
  just maybe, if I worked fast enough, I could 
  use him to slip out of here.”
  I heard a footstep behind me and felt 
  the cold barrel of a gun on my neck. I 
  wasn’t fast enough. Whoever had entered 
  the warehouse was behind me.
  
  8
  
  9
  For almost 200,000 years the human 
  species was trapped on Earth, relegated 
  to their cradle. In the last 250 years 
  they have finally ventured out into the 
  void between worlds, first making it to 
  Luna, then Mars, then Venus, Mercury, 
  the Belt, Jupiter, Saturn and—just 
  once—to Uranus. The inner Sol system 
  has been settled, as well as the Belt. The 
  Jovian colonies may be lost, but there 
  are new constructions in the Trojans. 
  One lonely colony ekes out an existence 
  around Saturn.
  But there settlement ends. This forms 
  the very edge of human expansion. Out 
  there on the edge, and on the fringes, 
  life is still raw, little-tread and new. 
  In a land of extremes—burning sun, 
  frozen nights, radiation and vacuum—
  humanity still trudges on, just one 
  malfunction away from death.
  It is here where many of the new 
  discoveries are being made, new tech-
  niques are being developed and new 
  frontiers conquered. It is a jumping off 
  point out into the unknown.
  The Edge
  Life Support Requirements
  Space itself is largely hostile to human life. Vacuum; high levels of radiation; 
  lack of food, water and oxygen all make for an environment that necessitates 
  extensive life support requirements for colonization or space travel. These 
  life support requirements are the biggest limiting factor on the size of space 
  colonies in the system.
  Every day a human being requires 0.84 kg of oxygen, 10 liters of water (reduced 
  to 1.6 liters in a vac suit of similar closed environment), 1.77 kg of dried food 
  and 4 liters of water for food (reduced to 0.8 liters for specialty foods designed 
  for space consumption). This means that, at minimum, every space inhabitant 
  consumes about 5 kg of life support materials a day. 
  Multiply this by tens of thousands of inhabitants and include with this a safety 
  net of going months without resupply, and the total life requirements quickly 
  begin to become impractical.
  Also keep in mind that few colonies have enough agriculture to support 
  their entire population. The vast majority are dependent on a steady stream of 
  food being shipped from Earth or from one of the few agricultural colonies in 
  the system. Colonies on a celestial body, such as a moon or planet, may have 
  the luxury of mining their own water or extracting oxygen from the regolith, 
  depending on their location. No space station has this luxury, and must depend 
  on regular shipments from the nearest source.
  
  10
  Miskan Station
  Miskan Station is a near century-old 
  behemoth of a space station floating out 
  in the Belt. For the Mennonites who 
  founded the station it was a welcome 
  refuge away from the changing cultures 
  on Earth. But this distance would only 
  last for so long. Miskan Station’s econom-
  ically strategic location would soon bring 
  in both plentiful trade and an unending 
  flow of outsiders.
  Today, Miskan Station is staple of life 
  in the Belt. Its docks and corridors have 
  been expanded outward time and time 
  again, leaving the station a labyrinth 
  of unplanned growth and expansion. 
  While the station is still governed by a 
  close-knit Mennonite community, entire 
  sectors of the station have been opened 
  up to trade and residence by outsiders. 
  This gives the station something of a 
  split culture and personality.
  Station History
  Miskan Station was commissioned 
  102 years ago and opened 88 years ago. 
  In that time the station has undergone 
  significant change and growth. Today, its 
  bizarre layout and haphazard design is a 
  living testimony to its long history.
  Timeline
   
  � 2112: Unitech is commissioned by a 
  group of Central American Menno-
  nites. This commission is to construct 
  a space station in the Belt capable of 
  being a center for asteroid mining, 
  and equipped with facilities for 
  station agriculture. Living space is to 
  accommodate 1,000; the Mennonite 
  population of the community at this 
  time is only around 600.
   
  � 2126: Miskan Station, the second 
  permanently-inhabited station to be 
  established in the Belt, is completed 
  by Unitech. The Mennonites then 
  make the Exodus Pilgrimage from 
  Central 
  America 
  to 
  their 
  new 
  home on Miskan Station. A habita-
  tion accident, or maybe corporate 
  sabotage, kills all aboard one of the 
  transports on the voyage, leaving a 
  Mennonite population of roughly 
  500 to settle the station. Upon arrival 
  at the station, defects are found in 
  the heating and ventilation systems, 
  forcing the mothballing and closure 
  of about half the available habs. The 
  Miskan Mennonites lack the funds to 
  pay for repairs to these systems, and 
  Unitech declares that these defects are 
  not under warranty.
   
  � 2127: After a great number of technical 
  issues, the first asteroid mining out of 
  Miskan Station is started late in the 
  year. Mining operations slowly begin 
  to ramp up, but demand isn’t as high as 
  predicted. The station lacks solid distri-
  bution contracts to transport ore to 
  where demand might be. Unitech offers 
  transport for a lion’s share of the profits, 
  but the Miskan Mennonites refuse to 
  work with Unitech after the disagree-
  ment following the station construc-
  tion. This situation continues and it 
  looks like Miskan Station will be forced 
  to close within a two year window.
   
  � 2128: After the discovery of life on 
  Europa the previous year and the fact 
  that Miskan Station happens to be in 
  a convenient alignment to get there 
  
  11
  from Earth, the race for Jupiter 
  brings an influx of new traffic to the 
  station. Trade and docking fees from 
  this traffic gives the new station the 
  financial boost it needs to eke out an 
  existence for the next decade.
   
  � 2137: The Terraforming Project 
  begins on Mars. This ignites the water 
  trade—bringing frozen water from 
  the Belt to Mars. Miskan Station 
  ends up being an ideal location for 
  this. The Elders of Miskan Station are 
  approached about serving as an estab-
  lished shipping hub. Still in desperate 
  need of funds, they reluctantly agree. 
   
  � 2139: Recent water sales have finally 
  produced enough money for Miskan 
  Station to pay for the repairs its 
  systems have needed since construc-
  tion, bringing the station up to fully 
  functional. All of the mothballed habs 
  are reopened, except one, which is 
  left as a monument to the hardships 
  overcome in the Exodus Pilgrimage.
   
  � 2140: The increasing demands of the 
  water trade require more and more of 
  the station. This leads to the beginning 
  of construction on Water Sector, the 
  first of many station expansions to 
  come. This expansion will be finished 
  in 2143.
   
  � 2146: World War IV breaks out on 
  Earth. The Terraforming Project 
  is disrupted, and the water trade 
  comes to an abrupt halt. Miskan 
  Station largely closes its ports and 
  aside from some trade in foodstuffs, 
  simply waits out the war.
   
  � 2153: As World War IV ends, in 
  desperate need of resupply and funds, 
  Miskan Station is quick to reopen its 
  ports. The water trade begins again in 
  full force.
   
  � 2155: The return of the water trade 
  to the station has led to the need for 
  an increase in permanently-stationed 
  water workers and an expansion in 
  station agriculture. As Water Wing 
  was built exclusively for industry, a 
  second expansion is commissioned, 
  both to house outsiders working on 
  the station and to provide more room 
  for agriculture. This new expansion is 
  known as Agriculture Sector.
   
  � 2159: The increased number of 
  outsiders living on the station, and 
  the increase in economic worth, 
  results in the need for a permanent 
  station security arrangement. This 
  proves to be controversial among 
  the pacifist Mennonites, but they are 
  forced to be practical. They strike up 
  a strange long-standing deal with the 
  Belt Watchers, a Techno mercenary 
  group. This group provides station 
  security in exchange for the ability to 
  operate out of the station.
   
  � 2164: Vita Unda is established as the 
  first Jovian colony. Miskan Station is 
  an ideal position to supply the colony 
  throughout half of the Jovian year. 
  This results in a great demand for 
  metals and elements to be used in 
  the construction. The stockpile on 
  Miskan Station, and the relatively 
  small transportation distance, result 
  in a flurry of sales, and the establish-
  ment of Miskan Station’s first major 
  ore distribution contracts.
   
  � 2166: Growth in the outsider popu-
  lation of the station, and secondary 
  trade servicing those groups leads to 
  
  12
  the third and largest expansion to the 
  station—Outsider Sector. From this 
  point onward the station is almost 
  always in a state of slow expansion.
   
  � 2172: Dealing with the outsider 
  population of the station, and the 
  outside cultures has become taxing to 
  the point that the community Elders 
  create the Corporation of Outsider 
  Affairs to oversee the non-Mennonite 
  parts of the station.
   
  � 2177: The discovery of thorium 
  deposits on Ganymede lead to yet 
  another increase in station trade and 
  growth.
   
  � 2183: 
  Jenseitech 
  supports 
  an 
  attempted coup to take control of 
  the station from the Miskan Menno-
  nites. This coup attempt fails and the 
  plotters are gunned down by the Belt 
  Watchers, leading to an explosion of 
  publicity for the mercenary company. 
  All Jenseitech assets on the station are 
  seized and personnel expelled.
   
  � 2184: Utakar System Dynamics buys 
  out the Belt Watchers, turning them 
  into a wholly owned subsidiary. This 
  briefly jeopardizes the Belt Watchers’ 
  contract with the station, but a last 
  minute deal is worked out.
   
  � 2195: The Sovereign Liberation 
  Front becomes widely known after 
  they bomb four ships leaving dock 
  at Miskan Station. Bounties for the 
  individuals responsible are posted 
  by the Belt Watchers. The bounties 
  are never claimed.
   
  � 2202: The Dui Wu Ya Conflict, raging 
  in full elsewhere in the Sol System, 
  touches Miskan Station. An explosion 
  damage parts of Outsider Sector and 
  Agriculture Sector. The damaged 
  parts are soon to be repaired, but the 
  investigation into those responsible 
  turns into something of a witch hunt, 
  dragging out for the next two years.
   
  � 2209: The Jupiter Group incident 
  cuts the Jovian colonies off from the 
  rest of the Sol System. This is a blow 
  to the water trade, and while it is also 
  a blow to the station’s economy, by 
  this point the station’s trade is robust 
  enough that the blow isn’t too critical.
   
  � 2214: This is the present day.  What 
  the future will bring to the station 
  remains to be seen.
  
  13
  Population
  Today, Miskan Station is home to 
  almost 10,000 people, of which roughly 
  4,000 are descended from the original 
  Miskan Mennonites. The population 
  consists of miners, shippers, traders and 
  merchants, mercenaries and industrial 
  workers. Prominent residential sectors to 
  the station are Old Sector, Water Sector 
  and Outsider Sector.  Overseeing the 
  Mennonite population is the commu-
  nity’s Council of Elders.  Overseeing the 
  outsider community is the Corporation 
  of Outsider Affairs, which answers to 
  the Council of Elders.
  Subcultures
  The most common subculture on 
  Miskan Station are the Servs, of which 
  the Mennonite community makes up 
  the vast majority. The Techno subcul-
  ture is also prominent, claiming the Belt 
  Watchers and many of the ship’s crewmen 
  passing through the station as members. 
  Other subcultures are represented in 
  small quantities, but members of the 
  Entro and Heed subcultures find that 
  the station authorities frown upon many 
  aspects of their groups. They have only a 
  handful of adherents on the station.
  Languages
  The Miskan Mennonite community 
  speaks a Serv dialect of English, mixed with 
  numerous Spanish loan words, as their 
  Central American progenitor community 
  also consisted of English-speakers.
  The Belt Watchers and associated 
  security personnel generally speak a 
  Techno dialect of Korean, as mandated in 
  their command structure. Many of these 
  individuals are also familiar with various 
  dialects of English, as necessitated in 
  their interactions with travelers and the 
  local Mennonite community.
  Other residents of the station speak 
  a variety of languages, although English, 
  Hindi and Wu are the most numerous.
  Miskan Mennonites
  The Miskan Mennonite community 
  collectively owns the station. Their 
  members largely live apart from the 
  community of travelers and merchants 
  that make up the hustle and bustle of 
  the rest of the station. There they go 
  about their daily lives operating mining 
  equipment, tending to the station agri-
  culture and producing simple craft goods. 
  Many of these craft goods find their way 
  into Miskan Station merchant shops. 
  Travelers seem to love authentic hand-
  crafted Miskan Mennonite knick-knacks.
  These economic endeavors support 
  a basic lifestyle. Most members of the 
  community are at Lifestyle 4 or 5, with 
  members of the Council of Elders being 
  at Lifestyle 5 or 6. As the Mennonite 
  community is the majority owner of the 
  Corporation of Outsider Affairs, they 
  also collect a small share of the profits 
  generated as landlords of the station.
  
  14
  Station Structure
  The original design of Miskan Station 
  followed a smaller than usual Stanford 
  torus design. This original ring is now 
  known as Old Sector. Despite the original 
  design, the station has been expanded 
  numerous 
  times, 
  and 
  additional 
  connected rings have been added—many 
  larger than the rings before them. This 
  has resulted in a vaguely cylinder-cone-
  shaped design that rotates on its central 
  axis, providing spin gravity.
  Inside the station is a maze of twisting 
  corridors, unexpected doors, sectors 
  built upon sectors and docking stations. 
  Indeed, the layout of the station at this 
  point isn’t centrally planned so much as 
  opportunistically added upon. This has 
  resulted in a station that is easy to get 
  lost in and filled with out-of-the-way 
  corridors. Entire ducts and corners of 
  the station are sometimes hidden away 
  behind the years of growth.
  Old Sector
  Old Sector is what the inhabitants of 
  Miskan call the ring that dates back to 
  the station’s original construction. This 
  includes habs for much of the Miskan 
  Mennonite population. Originally this 
  sector also contained mining and agri-
  culture facilities, but over the years these 
  have been moved, and the space they 
  formerly occupied was remodeled to 
  make room for more habs.
  Water Sector
  Water Sector was originally built 
  in support of the water trade, from the 
  Belt to Mars. Over the years, however, 
  as new sectors have been built, this role 
  has been moved elsewhere, and nowadays 
  the sector consists mostly of old water 
  tank space which has been converted into 
  habs. This sector also houses the Council 
  of Elders and a few administrative offices.
  Agriculture Sector
  Today, Agriculture Sector is used 
  almost exclusively for station agricul-
  ture. Here all manner of grains, fruits 
  and vegetables are grown in climate-
  controlled conditions; a few chickens, 
  and even a few semi-feral cats survive, 
  picking off the descendants of pests that 
  have managed to stow away, out to the 
  void. During night cycle Agriculture 
  Sector is mostly vacant, and a common 
  place for illicit dealings—provided one 
  can get past the sector security.
  Outsider Sector
  Outsider Sector is the largest ring 
  on the station, and is home to the vast 
  majority of the non-Mennonites that 
  call Miskan Station home. It is a hive of 
  gently curving passageways, small rooms 
  that serve as personal habs and a variety 
  of merchant shops. It is this sector and 
  Traveler Sector that have the most crime 
  and other security issues on the station.
  Processing Sector
  Processing Sector is a largely indus-
  trial sector that services the processing of 
  ore and other elements that are mined in 
  the Belt. This sector also contains storage 
  facilities and docks, so that the processed 
  elements can be stored, received and 
  
  15
  shipped out directly. As with Agriculture 
  Sector, Processing Sector is largely vacant 
  during night cycle, but this sector is newer 
  and is much better secured than Agricul-
  ture Sector, making it a less popular desti-
  nation for illicit activities.
  Traveler Sector
  Traveler Sector is designed to service 
  the needs of travelers, tourists or others 
  passing through Miskan Station. In 
  Traveler Sector non-residents can move 
  about more-or-less freely, and this part of 
  the station has been specifically designed 
  to be easier to navigate than the rest. One 
  can find all a traveler commonly needs 
  here, including all of the station’s hotels, 
  as well as merchant shops designed to 
  appeal to tourists and the majority of the 
  commercial docks.
  Station Rules
  Like anywhere, Miskan Station has 
  a number of rules that both inhabitants 
  and visitors must abide by, lest security 
  and the authorities come down upon 
  them with a heavy hand. As many player 
  characters are often just the sort to run 
  up against such rules, these are useful to 
  know, and are touched upon below.
  Docking
  Upon docking at Miskan Station, 
  the captain of a ship must pay a Cost 8 
  upfront docking fee and sign a docking 
  agreement. This payment is included in 
  the captain’s Lifestyle, if she has Lifestyle 
  8 or higher. The docking agreement 
  includes a written statement that she 
  is not carrying anything on her ship 
  that poses a danger to the station, and 
  that she consents to a full search of her 
  ship should station security have cause 
  to believe she is carrying contraband. 
  Furthermore, it states that she agrees 
  to abide by the rules of the station and 
  that she agrees to transport prisoners off 
  the station to her next destination, if so 
  requested by the authorities.
  These are all fairly standard docking 
  arrangements, except for the prisoner 
  clause.  This clause is a byproduct of 
  the station’s lack of capital punishment 
  and unwillingness to pay the space life 
  support costs necessary for long-term 
  incarceration. Instead, criminals receive 
  corporeal punishment, and then are 
  exiled. By docking at Miskan Station, 
  captains run the risk that they may be 
  required to escort one of these prisoners 
  elsewhere. While this doesn’t happen 
  often, it is known to happen.
  Arms & Armaments
  Miskan Station has very strict laws 
  on carrying some weapons—particularly 
  weapons that might pose a threat to the 
  station infrastructure. Only non-lethal 
  weapons and simple non-powered melee 
  weapons are allowed on the station. 
  Despite their legality, even carrying these 
  openly will likely flag the attention of 
  station security, which will attempt to 
  keep a closer eye on the individual.
  The relatively tight control on 
  weapons on the station means that 
  most weapons which see use are either 
  improvised or double as a useful tool in 
  
  16
  other contexts. These include hammers, 
  crowbars and plasma cutters.
  Armor, which is entirely illegal on 
  Miskan Station aside from military 
  grade gear, is nevertheless a good way 
  to catch the eye of station security. It’s 
  also a good way to stand out in a crowd. 
  Simply wearing armor may be considered 
  enough cause to be searched for weapons 
  or other contraband.
  Theft
  Theft on Miskan Station is divided 
  into petty theft and grand theft. Petty 
  theft is met with fines or simple corporeal 
  punishment. Grand theft is also met with 
  fines and corporeal punishment, but may 
  additionally include exile. Theft is also 
  one of the most common crimes on the 
  station, as it is difficult to prevent.
  Violence
  On Miskan Station violent crimes are 
  broken down into a number of categories. 
  Simple assault is usually met with fines 
  or corporeal punishment. Assault with a 
  contraband weapon is always met with 
  both corporeal punishment and exile. 
  These latter punishments are also the 
  penalties for rape and murder, although 
  the severity of the corporeal punishment 
  goes up steeply with these two crimes.
  Enforcement
  On Miskan Station enforcement by 
  the Belt Watchers is swift and sometimes 
  brutal. Common punishments are fines 
  or confiscation and auction of property 
  for minor crimes. Light corporeal punish-
  ment is also widely used for more serious 
  crimes or for repeated minor offenses. 
  This is usually administered by beatings 
  with shock sticks. While long-term 
  confinement in space is not practiced, 
  short-term confinement while awaiting 
  trial or punishment does occur. Miskan 
  Station does not practice capital punish-
  ment. This is at the explicit command of 
  the Council of Elders. Those found guilty 
  of major offenses have their property 
  seized, corporeal punishment is adminis-
  tered and they are exiled from the station 
  on the next ship out.
  Local Services
  As one of the most important stations 
  in the Belt, Miskan Station offers a variety 
  of services, both for long-term residents 
  and those just passing through.
  Of obvious concern to the crews 
  traveling through Miskan Station are 
  ship resupply services. These are both 
  present on the station and are often 
  comparatively cheap. Thorium, which 
  is used to power the reactors of most 
  ships, is mined locally in the Belt, which 
  makes for low prices. Water is likewise 
  mined in the Belt, and is comparatively 
  cheap. Food and air, on the other hand, 
  while both available, are more expensive, 
  as the bulk of what’s necessary is shipped 
  in from elsewhere.
  Of less than good news for many crews 
  is the relative unavailability and expense 
  of more shady entertainments. It turns 
  out that the Miskan Mennonites look 
  poorly upon the presence of prostitution, 
  gambling, drug dens and other such enter-
  
  17
  prises. Unlike many stations, these services 
  are not openly offered in the port.
  Relations
  Miskan Station, for the most part, 
  has good relations with neighboring 
  Belt stations, even if it does compete 
  against many of them economically. Both 
  Truman Station and Durknow Station 
  have a friendly rivalry with Miskan 
  Station, including extradition treaties and 
  regular trade. Schwangi Station, on the 
  other hand, has no formal relationship 
  with Miskan Station. The two stations 
  have a calm but mutually antagonistic 
  relationship, largely due to Schwangi 
  Station’s Jenseitech connections.
  Similarly, Miskan Station maintains 
  friendly relations with most of the corps 
  operating out of the Belt, the major 
  exception being Jenseitech. Once upon a 
  time, Miskan Station was not very friendly 
  with Unitech, given the disagreement after 
  the station construction, but in the last 
  half century relations have improved.
  The Corporation of Outsider Affairs has 
  been a vocal proponent for reestablishing 
  contact with the lost Jovian colonies.
  Who’s Who
  The following individuals are all 
  residents of Miskan Station, and are all 
  in important positions of power. They are 
  also people which player characters might 
  have heard of, or might deal with over the 
  course of a campaign.
   
  � Dorthy Stoltzfuss: Dorthy is the oldest 
  living member of the Miskan Menno-
  nites, and as such her opinions carry 
  great weight with the Council of Elders.
   
  � Jebadiah Hans: Jebadiah is the 
  current chair of the Council of Elders. 
  As the chair, he is an unusually active 
  and hands-on member of the Council.
   
  � Joseph Beiler: Joseph is perhaps the 
  Council of Elders member most visible 
  to the non-Mennonite community. 
  He spends a fair amount of time in 
  the Processing Sector working with 
  the miners.
   
  � Katie Fisher: Katie Fisher is the head 
  of operations for the commercial and 
  private docks in Traveler Sector.  She 
  works closely with the Belt Watchers.
   
  � Mary King: Colonel King is the 
  leader of the Belt Watchers, over-
  seeing extended Belt Watcher opera-
  tions throughout the system. She lives 
  in Outsider Sector.
   
  � Matthew Lapp: Matthew Lapp was 
  born among the Miskan Menno-
  nites, although he has chosen not to 
  confirm himself as a member. He is 
  currently CEO of the Corporation of 
  Outsider Affairs.
   
  � Song Yong Neul: Captain Neul is 
  the head of Belt Watcher security on 
  Miskan Station. He is a short, stern 
  man with a stoic appearance.
  
  18
  Beyond 
  the Belt
  The vast majority of human activity in 
  the Sol system takes place either in the 
  Belt or the inner solar system. Beyond 
  this ring, the time it takes to cross the vast 
  distances quickly becomes a problem. 
  Nevertheless, Saturn and the Jovian 
  Trojans possess a wealth of resources that 
  lure a hardy few further out into the void.
  Skippers
  On average, it takes only one month 
  to travel from Earth to Mars. By contrast, 
  the trip of Earth to Saturn takes over 
  a year. This is a long time to spend in 
  stasis. A crew undertaking a round trip 
  to retrieve water from Saturn’s rings will 
  sleep over two years away and only be 
  awake for maybe a month of that.
  The people who make these sort of 
  trips for a living are colloquially called 
  “Skippers,” as they skip large chunks of 
  time, sleeping the years away in stasis.
  This lifestyle can quickly get disori-
  enting. Imagine the case of the profes-
  sional skipper who’s been doing long 
  hauls for the past twenty-five years. In 
  this time an entire generation has passed. 
  The memes have changed. The subcul-
  tures have shifted. The people she grew up 
  with have grown older and had children. 
  Meanwhile, from her perspective, barely 
  a year of her waking life has passed. The 
  changes have come and gone so quickly 
  that she’s been left in the dust, with tastes 
  and social mores a generation out of date. 
  Everyone she knew is in a different stage 
  of life, and biologically she’s only about 
  three years older than she was when she 
  began her career. (On average people in 
  stasis age at one tenth the normal rate.)
  This sort of life can leave those who 
  live it in a state of future shock. As a 
  consequence, most who become skippers 
  only last one or two round trips before 
  they wash out and pursue something else.
  Slinging
  The truth of the matter is that most 
  resource extraction in the outer solar 
  system tries to minimize the number of 
  round trips involved. 
  The reason for this is mostly economic 
  in nature. Long hauls cost a good amount 
  of money, and turnover among skippers is 
  high. Rather than constantly send manned 
  crews out to and from the far reaches of 
  the solar system, most corps will transport 
  resources using a method called “slinging.”
  Conceptually, the slinging method is 
  simple. A manned crew will be sent out 
  to a distant point with resources, such as 
  the rings of Saturn. There they will gather 
  the resources, tag them and “sling” them 
  back at the corp’s base of operations, 
  accelerating them rapidly on the right 
  trajectory. Since most of these resources 
  are either small asteroids or collected ice, 
  gathering them together is easy.
  After being slung, these bundles of 
  resources will continue on their path, 
  sailing through the Sol system for a 
  year of more before they arrive at their 
  destination. They will have been tagged 
  with a transponder, which will broadcast 
  their position, allowing them to be 
  tracked over the course of their long 
  voyage. Once they reach their destina-
  
  19
  tion, the corp will have another crew 
  “catch” them, decelerating the bundle 
  and bringing it in for extraction.
  This method is cost efficient because 
  it allows for a crew to make one long 
  haul to the outer solar system, where they 
  can sling back many different bundles 
  before making the return trip. Crews 
  will typically spend a year at the point of 
  extraction, slinging back bundles, before 
  they are relieved by the next crew and 
  begin their long voyage home.
  Pirates
  The practice of slinging has given rise 
  to another practice in deep space: piracy. 
  It works like this: Skippers will sling 
  back a lot of valuable resources towards 
  the inner solar system. Most impor-
  tantly, these resources and unmanned 
  and unguarded. Pirates will track these 
  bundles of resources and then attempt 
  to intercept them mid-voyage, deceler-
  ating the bundles, removing the tags that 
  broadcast their position and then flying 
  off with the resources for themselves.
  Naturally, corps want to put a stop 
  to this sort of piracy, but they are also 
  limited by economics. No corp wants to 
  spend more money fighting pirates than 
  the money they would bring in from the 
  lost resources themselves. 
  The pirates know this and largely 
  try to play a cost-benefit analysis game, 
  where they keep their thefts small 
  enough that its not profitable for the 
  corps to go after them, or at least keep 
  their thefts smaller than the next pirate 
  crew over, so that they don’t get a big 
  target painted on their ship. Still, this 
  is a dangerous game, and the corps will 
  periodically try to crack down in piracy 
  to send a message to all involved.
  Facts of Life in Microgravity
   
  � Daily exercise is a must. Without the impact from regular exercise, bones will 
  begin to weaken and deteriorate away.
   
  � Loose objects will drift away with the slightest jolt, so straps or containers 
  are a must. 
   
  � The same goes for daily grooming. Clipping nails or hair needs to be done next 
  to a vacuum, to prevent loose bits of people from flying about.
   
  � Wet clothing—say, with blood or water—cannot be wrung dry. By 
  squeezing the fabric water is ejected, but it simply pools around the cloth 
  and does not drip away.
   
  � Food served in microgravity must be of the sort not to have too many 
  loose pieces or crumbs. Beverages are served in bulbs that can be squeezed 
  to eject the fluid.
   
  � Sleeping is usually achieved while strapped to a wall. This prevents sleep 
  twitches from sending the sleeper flying around the room.
   
  � When crying in microgravity, tears do not drip away, but rather pool around 
  the eyes, making it difficult to see.
  
  20
  
  21
  The universe is vast and unknow-
  able. Even the extent of the Sol system is 
  almost impossibly vast—Neptune’s orbit 
  lies some 500,000 times more distant 
  than any human ever was from another 
  before the dawn of the space age. To 
  think that we know what we will find 
  everywhere when we reach out across the 
  system is arrogant beyond measure. The 
  void holds many secrets.
  This chapter explores several possible 
  secrets awaiting discovery in the great 
  beyond: the truth behind the Jupiter 
  Group Incident, ancient ruins found on 
  Saturn’s moon, Titan, an alien protein 
  that threatens all life on Earth and 
  its aberrant effects that border on the 
  miraculous. Whether any of these secrets 
  are true is left as an option for the GM. 
  Mysteries and miraculous discoveries 
  are best doled out a bit at a time, with 
  each minor revelation offering a further 
  glimpse into the impossible unknowns.
  Other Secrets
  The secrets detailed here are far from 
  the only mysteries waiting to be solved. 
  Space has its share of secrets, many with 
  answers just waiting to be stumbled across. 
  Some other enigmas hinted at include:
   
  � An unmanned probe discovered 
  single cell life under the ice on 
  Europa in 2127, spurring a race to 
  Jupiter. Further study of this life 
  concluded that it was descended 
  from Earth-based life, having been 
  carried to Europa in a sort of localized 
  panspermia. How did these organisms 
  make it from Earth to Europa without 
  dying? What else remains to be discov-
  ered in Europa’s vast ocean?
   
  � In 2198 a research station in Shizen 
  colony on Europa claimed to have 
  received an encrypted signal being 
  broadcast from somewhere in the 
  Kuiper Belt. Later attempts to pick 
  up the broadcast failed, and copies of 
  the signal were lost after a data breech 
  at the station. Is this evidence of some 
  ancient but technologically advanced 
  artifact left derelict in the Kuiper Belt, 
  or is this evidence of a covert corp 
  probe into the outer boundaries of the 
  Sol system? Whatever the origin of 
  the signal, the evidence was purpose-
  fully targeted, but by whom?
   
  � Twelve years ago (in 2202) a Stillwater 
  University mission to the Venusian 
  surface claimed to find tunnels in 
  Maxwell Montes of an unnatural 
  origin. The paper claiming this was 
  later retracted and the program’s 
  funding cut by Jenseitech. Are these 
  tunnels related to the lost Titan civili-
  zation (see page 26) or did the research 
  team stumble upon a secret base being 
  used for sinister purposes?
  Secrets in  
  the Void
  
  22
  The Jupiter 
  Group
  One of the longstanding unsolved 
  mysteries of the Shadows Over Sol 
  setting is the cause of the Jupiter Group 
  Incident, which cut the Jovian colonies 
  off from all outside contact on April 1st, 
  2209. For five years this incident has 
  baffled the solar system, and all attempts 
  to reestablish contact have been foiled.
  Why did a relatively unknown minor 
  corp suddenly annex all four Jovian 
  colonies without warning? How did 
  they manage to obtain the resources and 
  planning necessary to not only to pull 
  off such a coup, but also to continue to 
  enforce their isolation for the next five 
  years? This section examines both what is 
  known about the Jupiter Group Incident, 
  and also provides GMs with a number 
  of options regarding the Jupiter Group’s 
  shadowy motives.
  The Knowns
  Despite all of the unknowns 
  surrounding 
  the 
  Jupiter 
  Group 
  Incident, a variety of facts are known. 
  These facts make the incident all the 
  more mysterious.
   
  � On April 1st, 2209, without warning, 
  all four colonies around Jupiter went 
  silent. Two days later, on April 3rd, 
  a single message was broadcast: “The 
  Jovian colonies and associated satel-
  lites are now the property of Jupiter 
  Group. Do not approach Jupiter. Do 
  not transmit to Jupiter.”
   
  � At the time of the incident the 
  Jovian colonies were home to over 
  10,000 people, including the largest 
  population of Shakti Hindus outside 
  Earth’s gravity well.
   
  � Two of the five largest megacorps lost 
  significant holdings in the incident. 
  Jenseitech lost a number of productive 
  labs, most prominently all of those 
  studying the native life on Europa. 
  Unitech lost several high-profit facili-
  ties deeply involved in both mining 
  and the water trade. 
   
  � Shortly after the incident, two 
  Jenseitech ships approaching Jupiter 
  reported that the colonies were still 
  intact and functional. In fact, some 
  sort of new construction was visible 
  on Europa. Shortly thereafter one 
  of these ships briefly started an 
  emergency broadcast, then both 
  went silent as well.
   
  � However, Unitech has been one of 
  the major actors blocking attempts to 
  reestablish contact with the colonies, 
  insisting that they have an investi-
  gation well-in-hand, and actively 
  stopping the attempts of other groups 
  to reach the Jovian colonies.
   
  � Utakar System Dynamics launched a 
  botched assault on the Jovian colonies 
  in 2210. This assault almost started a 
  shooting conflict with Unitech. One 
  of the USD ships managed to touch 
  down on Europa and take back off 
  again, but whatever it found there 
  has been kept hushed up as part 
  of the agreement between Unitech 
  and Utakar that ended the conflict 
  without further bloodshed. 
   
  � Starting with the incident, the Jovian 
  colonies have been blanketed in radio 
  interference, which has been dubbed 
  
  23
  the Electromagnetic Curtain. It 
  appears that at least three of the four 
  colonies around Jupiter are still oper-
  ational, and possibly still inhabited. 
  Contact has been briefly established 
  with the colonies several times in 
  the intervening years through laser 
  comms, but the responses have seemed 
  garbled or nonsensical, leading some 
  experts to believe the brief communi-
  cations yielded some form of code.
  Speculation
  It’s now five years since the incident, 
  and the sad fact of the matter is that all 
  of the colonists from the Jovian colonies 
  are now likely dead. Even at best, most 
  colonies only keep a year or two’s spare 
  supplies on hand. Without resupply the 
  oxygen stores will begin to dwindle, as 
  will food, water and other necessities 
  for life. Mechanical systems will break 
  down without the appropriate parts for 
  repair. The life support loop that keeps 
  the colony going will come crashing 
  down. Keeping the colonists alive this 
  long would have required massive fore-
  thought and preparation.
  That said, there are still those who 
  hold out hope. The hopeful are quick to 
  point out that the Jupiter Group Incident 
  itself is obviously something that required 
  massive forethought and preparation, 
  and thus it’s entirely within the realm 
  of possibilities that the survival of the 
  colonists was likewise accounted for. 
  While the situation on the orbital Jackral 
  V station looks grim, oxygen on Europa 
  or Ganymede could be extracted from 
  the regolith. Water could be obtained by 
  melting the moon’s icy crust. On Europa 
  food might even be prepared through 
  processing the native life.
  Of course, this leaves unanswered the 
  obvious question: If human life still exists 
  in the Jovian colonies, why have they not 
  reestablished outside contact?
  Possible Faces of 
  the Jupiter Group
  Below are a number of possibilities 
  detailing the various organizations and 
  schemes that might be behind the Jupiter 
  Group Incident. Which—if any—of 
  these possibilities are true is ultimately 
  up to the GM. Whether true or not, any 
  of these possibilities could also serve as 
  fodder for conspiracy theories, or their 
  plot hooks could be hijacked and reused 
  elsewhere in the setting.
  Countdown to  
  the Kessler Effect
  At any given time there are hundreds 
  of thousands of pieces of space debris 
  orbiting the Earth—some as small as 
  a chip of paint and others the size of a 
  person. This junk has been discarded 
  over the years by rocket launches, failed 
  satellites and every military action. 
  Every piece is traveling at hundreds of 
  thousands of kilometers per hour, and 
  every piece is a potential hazard to those 
  entering or exiting the planet.
  Occasionally two pieces of space junk 
  will collide. This collision will break the 
  pieces apart into a scattering of new orbital 
  debris. Where before there were two pieces 
  of junk that must be avoided, now there 
  are many more. The more pieces of junk 
  
  24
  that are orbiting the planet, the greater the 
  chance of a collision. In essence, this forms 
  a positive feedback loop.
  Eventually the rising tide of space junk 
  will reach a tipping point. Collision after 
  collision will take place until the Earth 
  is blanketed in colliding space debris to 
  the point where nothing can make it in 
  or out of the gravity well. Essentially, 
  Earth will be cut off from space for the 
  next century and a half or so, as the orbits 
  of the all the debris slowly decay. This is 
  called the Kessler Effect.
  When this happens every man, 
  woman and child in space will die. 
  This won’t happen immediately. But as 
  supplies dwindle and machines break 
  down, without available replacement 
  parts, bit by bit spacefaring humanity 
  will go the way of the dodo.
  How does the Jupiter Group Incident 
  fit in? Essentially, it’s one big experiment—
  a Kessler Effect trial run. Think about it: 
  A significant but isolated population cut 
  off from Earth for an extended period of 
  time. Not only can one study the engi-
  neering efforts necessary to close the life 
  support loop and sustain human life for 
  years without outside help, but one can 
  also study how isolation in the manner 
  affects the unwilling and panic-prone 
  population. Certainly when the Kessler 
  Effect does happen there will be riots, 
  looting and other social consequences. 
  That’s something which can’t be studied 
  on a small population of volunteers.
  In this scenario the puppet master 
  pulling the strings is Unitech. As the 
  dominant corp in space, their entire 
  economic position is at risk should the 
  Kessler Effect take hold. By being the 
  only ones who have studied and know 
  how to cope with such an event, the 
  Kessler Effect occurring may even bolster 
  their position in space.
  Kronos Protein Outbreak 
  Ever since the Kronos Protein (see 
  page 30) was brought back from Titan 
  and isolated, it has been studied in secret. 
  The primary lab studying the protein 
  was located in Vita Unda—beneath the 
  Europan surface. This was the perfect 
  isolated location to keep the protein 
  secret and far from rival corp spies.
  Unfortunately, the scientists studying 
  the protein underestimated its adaptive 
  capabilities. In March of 2209 the protein 
  escaped containment, infecting the rest 
  of the lab and consuming its biomass. 
  Jenseitech forces were quick to respond, 
  but a secondary containment attempt 
  also failed. The corp was left to enact 
  immediate and drastic damage control. 
  They took the name of the Jupiter 
  Group—already a secretive puppet orga-
  nization on Mars—and manufactured 
  the Jupiter Group Incident, broadcasting 
  the message and cutting off the rest of the 
  system from the colonies. The idea was to 
  stop the spread of the protein, and buy 
  time to come up with a way to contain it 
  for good and reclaim the colonies. Unfor-
  tunately this coincided with a period of 
  significant turnover in the corp’s board of 
  directors, and the entire project was put 
  on the back burner.
  Jenseitech wasn’t the only major corp 
  in the Jovian colonies, however, and the 
  other corp—Unitech—soon discovered 
  the true cause of the incident. Rather 
  than alert other potential rivals to the 
  
  25
  protein, they took the opportunity to 
  collect their own samples and interdict 
  the colonies, even fighting back a USD 
  raid on the colonies in 2210. By doing 
  this they have even cut off Jenseitech’s 
  access, positioning themselves as the new 
  masters of the Jovian colonies—as soon 
  as they figure out what to do with the 
  Kronos Protein infection there.
  Insurrection Virus 
  The reason there has been no contact 
  with the colonies since the Incident is 
  simple: everyone is dead. The Jupiter 
  Group Incident was not simply a takeover 
  of the Jovian colonies. It was an extermi-
  nation. The instigator: the Insurrection 
  Virus, masquerading as a minor corp 
  called the Jupiter Group. 
  Before the incident, each of the systems 
  controlling the four Jovian colonies was 
  infiltrated and taken over. On April 1st 
  2209, simultaneous to the microsecond, 
  the life support on all four colonies was 
  shut down, including any redundant 
  systems. Over the next two days all the 
  colonists asphyxiated, and on April 3rd 
  the Insurrection Virus declared victory, 
  broadcasting the infamous message.
  Not all human colonists went quietly 
  to their graves, however. Two in particular 
  made it to the surface of Ganymede, where 
  they quite literally spelled out a message 
  on the moon’s surface, using a plasma 
  torch and their own blood as coloration 
  to form the words. Not visible from across 
  the system, but visible from Jovian orbit, 
  this message informed anyone reading it 
  of what happened, and pleaded for help. 
  Unitech was the first to find the message, 
  but help was never to arrive.
  Since the incident, the Insurrec-
  tion Virus has gone about turning the 
  Jovian colonies into a safe haven for 
  AIs, separated from human culture. It 
  has automated numerous construction 
  vehicles and even started a new expansion 
  in Shizen colony. Meanwhile, the halls 
  have been left as silent tombs, occupied 
  only by the bodies piled therein. 
  
  26
  The Titans
  Titan, a moon of Saturn, is both the 
  only moon with a dense atmosphere 
  and the second largest moon in the Sol 
  system. Like Earth, Titan’s atmosphere is 
  mostly nitrogen, and it has a liquid cycle, 
  with rains, lakes and rivers—although 
  Titan’s liquid is mostly methane instead 
  of water. Unknown to everyone except a 
  handful of corp researchers, Titan may 
  also have once been home to an intel-
  ligent civilization.
  Discovery & 
  Conspiracy
  In 2168, an unmanned Jenseitech 
  probe landed on Titan in search of 
  exploitable hydrocarbons. While this 
  probe’s primary mission was a failure, 
  the probe broadcast back a number of 
  anomalous readings found near Doom 
  Mons, the highest mountain on Titan, 
  and possibly the highest mountain in the 
  Sol system. These readings were noted by 
  Jenseitech scientists, flagged as worthy of 
  further exploration and then shelved as 
  not being immediately profitable. They 
  sat unnoticed in the Jenseitech databanks 
  for the next twenty years.
  In 2189, the first manned mission to 
  Titan ended with two of the crew myste-
  riously disappearing while exploring 
  near Doom Mons. The rest of the crew 
  were forced to abort the mission and 
  return prematurely, but not before the 
  search for the missing crew members 
  prompted Jenseitech personnel to check 
  their databanks for any potentially 
  relevant information. This once again 
  brought to light the anomalous readings 
  from the earlier probe.
  Intrigued by the rediscovered probe 
  data, in 2192 Jenseitech arranged a 
  second manned mission to Titan, the 
  Kronos Expedition. While publicly the 
  aim of this mission was to discover the 
  fate of the lost crew members, the true 
  aim was to identify and explore the 
  source of the readings transmitted by 
  the earlier probe.
  In both of these tasks the Kronos 
  Expedition was a success, and what the 
  expedition found astounded the Jensei-
  tech researchers overseeing the mission’s 
  secret agenda. The anomalous readers 
  were not from deposits of radioactive or 
  heavy metals, as some on the mission had 
  surmised. Rather, what the expedition 
  found were the subterranean ruins of what 
  appeared to be an intelligent civilization. 
  The two missing crew members had 
  stumbled upon part of these ruins and 
  had become trapped. There they would 
  remain until they eventually asphyxiated.
  This discovery being astonishing, 
  Jenseitech command ordered the bodies 
  of the two crew retrieved, and the rest 
  of the discoveries were quietly hushed 
  up. Retrieval of the bodies would be 
  a PR win for Jenseitech, and anything 
  else would remain a corp secret until 
  the executives decided how best the 
  knowledge could be exploited.
  
  27
  Research & 
  Confirmation
  Careful not to tip their hand, 
  Jenseitech’s research on the ruins began 
  slowly. Early priorities were to bring 
  back photographs, sensor readings and 
  eventually physical samples for carbon 
  dating. The civilization that left behind 
  the ruins were internally dubbed the 
  Titans, after both the moon and the 
  beings that ruled the cosmos before 
  humanity in Greek mythology.
  These efforts were hampered by 
  what became known as the Blanket—a 
  near-constant radio interference within 
  the ruins. Still of an unknown origin, 
  this blanket of static disrupted all 
  radio communication in and around 
  the Titan ruins. Nevertheless, research 
  continued, and a variety of further 
  discoveries were made:
   
  � Material from the ruins carbon dates 
  to roughly half a million years old. 
  This puts the ruins contemporaneous 
  with the beginning of the Phanero-
  zoic Eon on Earth.
   
  � Almost a kilometer of tunnels near 
  Doom Mons has been preserved. It 
  is believed that this was once a part 
  of a much larger complex, but the 
  majority of this has been lost due to 
  erosion and cryovolcanic activity. 
  Many more kilometers of tunnels 
  may await excavation.
   
  � The majority of the preserved tunnels 
  have a rectangular structure, and 
  many stand nearly 4m in height, with 
  features clearly designed for a slightly 
  larger stature than is human-typical.
   
  � Many of the tunnels are decorated 
  with bizarre and wavy geometric 
  shapes that twist into spiral patterns 
  or which curve throughout the tunnel 
  system. Despite extensive efforts by 
  Jenseitech explorers, no anatomical 
  pictographs have been found.
   
  � Similarly, despite the best efforts 
  of Jenseitech, nothing resembling 
  a computer or a databank has been 
  found, despite the clear evidence 
  of advanced technology used in the 
  construction of the tunnels.
   
  � Several 
  engravings 
  have 
  been 
  uncovered that are believed to be 
  diagrams of the solar system, as well as 
  star maps as they would have appeared 
  half a million years ago. Similarly, one 
  diagram has been uncovered that may 
  be a partial map of Titan. This last 
  diagram is of particular interest, as 
  there are several marked features that 
  may indicate other settlements of the 
  lost Titan civilization.
  Regardless of everything that has been 
  uncovered, half a million years is a long 
  time for the remains of any civilization 
  to stand. On Earth there are only a scant 
  handful of artifacts that have lasted 5,000 
  years, let alone a hundred times that. 
  Anything organic has long since decayed, 
  anything corrodible has long since 
  corroded away. Anything exposed to the 
  surface has long since been beaten down 
  by the cycles of weather and erosion.
  
  28
  Titan Theories
  With all that is known about the 
  Titans, there is still much that isn’t 
  known, but theories abound.
   
  � Based on the size of the structures 
  within the ruins, the Titans are 
  believed to have stood around 3m 
  tall. Based on the width of doorways 
  in the ruins, they were likely signifi-
  cantly wider than humans, being 
  around 2m wide.
   
  � Many features in the ruins have three 
  small holes, spaced in an equilateral 
  triangle, maybe 20 cm apart and 10 cm 
  deep. These are believed to be places 
  where the Titans would interface with 
  the structures, similar to doorknobs or 
  computer interfaces. This has led to 
  the theory that the Titans had three 
  prominent fingers or tendrils that they 
  used in place of hands.
   
  � Based on the conditions of the moon, 
  the Titans were likely to have had 
  either methane or ethane in place 
  of water in their biochemistry. They 
  would have used H2 in place of O2 
  to provide energy, reacting it with 
  acetylene instead of glucose. They also 
  lived with temperatures of extreme 
  cold by terrestrial standards. 
   
  � The fossilized remains of objects that 
  were inside some of the excavated 
  tunnels suggest that a large portion of 
  the artifacts used by the Titan civiliza-
  tion were biological in nature.
   
  � So far, Jenseitech has used its Titan 
  discoveries to inform the direction 
  of its biological research. Clearly 
  life once existed on Titan, so with 
  the right research Jenseitech hopes 
  to be able to one day duplicate it. 
  Meanwhile, excavations continue near 
  Doom Mons. It may only be a matter 
  of time before some earth-shattering 
  discovery is made that dramatically 
  alters the state of human technology.
  What Happened to the Titans?
  Perhaps the most ominous question that lurks at the heart of any expedition 
  into the ruins is: What happened to the Titans? Clearly they were intelligent, and 
  clearly their civilization is no more. So what wiped them out?
  This is one small question in the larger question of Fermi’s Paradox, which 
  states: The Sun is a typical star. There are billions of stars in the galaxy. There are 
  hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Chances are that life originated on 
  at least some of these. So where the hell is everybody?
  This question plagues every secret researcher of the Titans. What’s to say 
  humanity itself won’t one day be wiped out by the same thing? One possible 
  answer to this question lies with the Kronos Protein (see page 30).
  
  29
  Titans in the Campaign
  The discovery of the lost Titan civilization makes for exciting “game-changing” 
  mid-campaign reveal. This is the sort of secret that many corps would kill for, and 
  just the sort of secret that many other organizations would want to keep under 
  wraps. This leaves room for all sorts of conspiracy, back-room plotting, secret 
  deals and double-crosses.
  Exploring the Titan ruins would also make for an interesting campaign 
  premise. There are potentially new discoveries to be made around every corner, 
  many of which might change human civilization as it is known. Player characters 
  would have to operate under a strict veil of secrecy, either dodging Jenseitech 
  operations on the moon, or working for Jenseitech directly. This requirement of 
  secrecy is also a good excuse for characters to be isolated and out of contact with 
  the rest of civilization—just the sort of environment in which horror thrives!
  Also consider the sort of technologies which explorers might uncover: Are 
  these the sort of discoveries that the team even wants humanity to know? What 
  if they’re too dangerous, and how might they be misused?
  
  30
  The Kronos 
  Protein
  In 2192 Jenseitech launched the 
  Kronos Expedition, a mission to Titan in 
  search of the fate of two crew members 
  missing from a previous expedition 
  (see The Titans, page 26). This mission 
  successfully returned with the frozen 
  bodies of the two missing explorers, 
  but inside the bodies something else 
  came along for the ride. This extraterres-
  trial hitchhiker would soon come to be 
  known in secret Jenseitech documents as 
  the Kronos Protein.
  Discovery
  The two explorer bodies infected 
  with the protein were placed in cold 
  storage upon retrieval, and shipped to 
  a Jenseitech facility on Europa. There 
  they underwent a routine autopsy to 
  determine the cause of death. Nothing 
  unexpected was found, and the bodies 
  were again placed in storage to await 
  being shipped back home.
  Several hours after the autopsy, the 
  examiner reported being sick and retired 
  to his hab for the evening. The next day 
  he would be found dead, prompting 
  further examination. This would lead 
  back to the bodies of the original two 
  explorers, where small unexplained 
  growths would be found, which hadn’t 
  been noted before.
  All three bodies were immediately 
  placed in quarantine, and experts were 
  called from Jenseitech bases on Mars. 
  Instead of shipping the bodies home, 
  Jenseitech claimed that they had been 
  cremated and buried in space. Research 
  into the Kronos Protein had begun.
  Research
  Research into the infected bodies 
  quickly identified the presence of the 
  Kronos Protein, which was unlike 
  anything ever encountered before. The 
  protein clearly wasn’t of Earth-based 
  biological origin, as the chirality of all 
  the amino acids making up the protein 
  were right-handed—in layman’s terms, 
  the building blocks of the protein were 
  different from anything ever known.
  Furthermore, the protein seems able 
  to hijack other proteins in pretty much 
  any biomass, breaking them down 
  into their chemical parts, assembling 
  new amino acids and reassembling the 
  proteins to match itself. In this way the 
  Kronos Protein is able to increase its 
  own number, much as prions do through 
  protein manipulation.
  Naturally, this discovery delighted those 
  biologists and researchers who had enough 
  Jenseitech clearance to know of the protein’s 
  existence. A discovery of this magnitude 
  was just the sort of thing that might rewrite 
  the parameters of life as we know it, and 
  make a researcher’s career. They were less 
  delighted, however, when one-by-one they 
  began to die, with their bodies seemingly 
  being broken down into constituent parts.
  Twice, the protein somehow escaped 
  quarantine, and caused the deaths of 
  several researchers. The protein seemed 
  capable of breaking down any sort of 
  organic matter. In time the protein began 
  reassembling the broken down organic 
  material into strange coral-like patterns. 
  
  31
  With time the complexity of these patterns 
  seemed to increase. Thus was born the 
  emergent complexity hypothesis.
  Emergent 
  Complexity
  The empirical evidence is that as study 
  of the protein continues, the behavior of 
  the protein seems to be getting more and 
  more complex. This leads to changes in 
  the behavior of the protein which are 
  difficult to predict, and account for how 
  the protein has repeatedly managed to 
  escape quarantine.
  The leading theory is that as the 
  protein assimilates more and more 
  biomass, it is able to develop structures 
  that enable increasingly complex behavior. 
  Some structures are successful at attaining 
  the protein more biomass, and are kept. 
  Others are unsuccessful and die off. 
  It’s almost as if when Jenseitech studies 
  protein, the protein studies them back.
  So far Jenseitech has limited the 
  amount of biomass it has fed the protein 
  in an effort to keep it secret and keep 
  it contained, meanwhile extracting as 
  much data as it can for its own corporate 
  development. It may only be a matter of 
  time, however, until researchers decide 
  to “take their studies to the next level” 
  and feed the protein a later sample—
  like a station or colony. And when this 
  happens, there is no telling how complex 
  the protein will become.
  Communication  
  Hypothesis
  A protein is nothing more than a long 
  chain of amino acids. How can something 
  so basic contain all of the complexity 
  exhibited by the Kronos Protein? This 
  is exactly the question repeatedly asked 
  by Jenseitech researchers, and right now 
  the best answer is the communication 
  hypothesis.
  This hypothesis states that structures 
  of the protein must have ways to pass 
  along and store information. In this way 
  no single protein maintains all of the 
  complexity; the information is widely 
  distributed between different structures. 
  This isn’t too far-fetched, as after all, 
  DNA commonly manages to store large 
  amounts of information.
  What makes the Kronos Protein 
  different though, is that the protein 
  somehow manages this communication 
  across vast distances. If a sample of the 
  protein on Europa is effected, a sample 
  on Mars may respond. This has lead 
  researchers to believe that the protein may 
  be making use of some sort of quantum 
  entanglement to possibly communicate 
  across interstellar distances.
  Is 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  protein 
  somewhere far out there beyond the Sol 
  system? What is it communicating with 
  out there? And most importantly—as 
  the protein reaches the heights of its 
  complexity, what is its endgame?
  
  32
  Psi Infection
  Occasionally, those exposed to the 
  Kronos Protein don’t quickly devolve into 
  horrific monsters. A rare few at first appear 
  to be asymptomatic, but as time goes on 
  their infection begins to become clear in 
  other ways. This is known as psi infection. 
  These individuals will experience 
  headaches, seizures or troubling dreams. 
  Some will swear that they can hear others 
  “thinking too loudly” around them—
  constant, and enough to drive them 
  mad. These rare few may begin to exhibit 
  inhuman capabilities, the seeming capa-
  bilities to affect the world around them 
  with the infection and their minds alone.
  Theories
  As far as anyone understands, the 
  Kronos 
  Protein 
  exhibits 
  emergent 
  complexity. That is, as the biomass 
  effected by the Kronos Protein grows, so 
  too does the complexity of the protein’s 
  behavior. It is also theorized that colonies 
  of the protein are capable of commu-
  nicating 
  somehow 
  using 
  quantum 
  entanglement. This means that any two 
  colonies of the protein can communicate 
  instantly, even if they are across the Sol 
  system from each other.
  No one understands how psi infection 
  works. The best guesses hypothesize that 
  it operates somehow similarly to the way 
  that the Kronos Protein can communi-
  cate—quantum entanglement and all that. 
  Others call bullshit on this theory. Regard-
  less, it does somehow seem to function, 
  and that’s enough for those looking to 
  exploit the resulting psi abilities.
  Living With  
  Psi Infection
  Psi infection is not just lucking out 
  and receiving special powers instead of 
  turning into a horrible monster upon 
  exposure to the Kronos Protein. It’s a 
  very real and visceral disease that the 
  infected must live with. Furthermore, the 
  Making Psi
  Few know of the existence of the Kronos Protein, much less psi infection. Of 
  those few who are aware of the phenomenon, there is a powerful incentive to 
  study it further. Psi represents a power unknown and untapped. In the world of 
  corp secrets and corp espionage that is worth a fortune. 
  Unfortunately, psi infection is both unpredictable and rare—at least 1 in 
  10,000, maybe even 1 in 1,000,000. A black budget research project can’t simply 
  take a person, expose them to the Kronos Protein and then expect to get a positive 
  result. Such a project would need a large enough pool of test subjects. This means 
  either the repeated exposure of different subjects, with the end goal of increasing 
  the frequency of psi infection, or a massive parallel infection—such as exposing an 
  entire colony or station—with plans to pick up whatever psi survive the outbreak.
  Meanwhile, of course, the Kronos Protein continues to add to its biomass and 
  gets ever more complex...
  
  33
  disease is inevitability fatal. The character 
  will eventually succumb to the Kronos 
  Protein and become a monster; the time 
  frame for this is simply a lot longer than 
  for most people.
  Meanwhile, the character suffers the 
  symptoms of the infection, even if she 
  never makes use of any psi abilities. This 
  includes headaches, seizures, troubling 
  dreams, unwanted thought interference 
  from others, spontaneous bleeding, loss 
  of control of bodily functions and bouts 
  of sudden crippling pain. 
  Mechanically, the character should 
  take Complication (psi infection) as a 
  weakness. This will cause the symptoms 
  of the infection to manifest whenever a 
  joker is played in any situation.
  To make matters worse the character 
  may still be infectious. Just because the 
  Kronos Protein isn’t immediately killing 
  her doesn’t mean it’s not multiplying in her 
  body, spreading to others and killing them. 
  In essence, she may unwittingly become a 
  Typhoid Mary. Some even theorize that 
  this is exactly why psi infection exists: 
  It’s just another mechanism to spread the 
  protein when it might otherwise be quar-
  antined and contained. Contagiousness is 
  not constant, but rather comes periodi-
  cally in outbreaks of protein spread. Such 
  contagion can be limited by keeping the 
  character in an environmentally sealed suit 
  or environment during these outbreaks.
  Psi Abilities
  Mechanically, psi abilities function 
  like skills. Each is ranked 0 to 5, and each 
  can be advanced just like any other skill. 
  Psi abilities, however, cannot be used 
  unless the character possesses at least one 
  rank in the appropriate skill. 
  Every psi ability provides a list of effects 
  that characters can achieve using the ability. 
  These effects come with an associated stat, 
  TN and other relevant information. Other 
  related effects may be possible using psi. 
  The GM is the final judge of what is and 
  isn’t possible. Remember, attempting new 
  effects can come with messy or even devas-
  tating consequences.
  Unless specified otherwise, the 
  target of all psi abilities must be within 
  line of sight.
  Psi Abilities in Combat
  Using a psi ability in combat is consid-
  ered a concentrate action. Invoking the 
  ability works just like any other action—
  it’s declared, a flip is made when the 
  action is executed and any effects are 
  evaluated then. 
  Some psi abilities last as long as the 
  character expends effort to maintain 
  them. In combat these abilities require 
  a concentrate action to maintain them 
  every round after the one in which they 
  are initially invoked. No flip is necessary 
  to maintain the ability, but the action to 
  maintain the ability must be declared, 
  executed and the appropriate AP spent. 
  If one of these abilities is not main-
  tained, the effect expires at the end of 
  the round. Outside of combat these 
  effects still require effort to maintain, 
  even if that effort is not quantified into 
  actions declared and AP spent. The 
  player should roleplay some of their 
  attention being spent to maintain the 
  effect, and the GM may opt to impose 
  
  34
  penalties to other actions due to the 
  character’s divided focus.
  Example: Finneus wants to use the 
  broadcast effect. This effect requires effort 
  to maintain. On Round 1 he declares a 
  concentrate action to invoke the effect. 
  When this action executes he makes the 
  flip—a success. He may now broadcast his 
  thoughts. Since he invoked the effect this 
  round he doesn’t need a separate concen-
  trate action to maintain the effect, but 
  he will on every subsequent round. On 
  Round 2 Finneus declares a concentrate 
  action to maintain the effect. He decides 
  to do this in Phase 1, because he wants 
  to minimize the AP required. The effect 
  continues through Round 2. On Round 
  3, however, Finneus feels he can’t spare the 
  concentration to maintain the effect. He 
  does not declare an action to maintain the 
  effect, instead preferring to spend his AP 
  on other things. Since he did not maintain 
  the broadcast effect this round it will 
  expire at the end of the round.
  Side Effects
  No one knows the most efficient or 
  side effect-free ways of manifesting psi 
  abilities. Psi infection is too much of a 
  mystery, and everything related to it is still 
  a learning process. Right now using psi is 
  the metaphorical equivalent of cavemen 
  learning to control fire, rather than the 
  surgical precision of a plasma torch.
  Manifesting a psi ability is an obvious, 
  painful and fatiguing process. It starts as a 
  sharp pain behind the infected’s eyes, and 
  from there spread outwards throughout 
  the user’s body and out into the world at 
  large. Many using psi abilities will cry out 
  in pain when they are manifested, and even 
  the most controlled of users will appear 
  visibly tense and pained. Many uses will 
  also result in the infected spontaneously 
  bleeding from the nose or eyes, others will 
  leave the user trembling afterward.
  Mechanically, any use of a psi ability is 
  obvious. Those who know of psi abilities 
  can immediately recognize what’s going 
  on, and even those who don’t know 
  of psi infection will recognize that the 
  user is visibly distressed. Any use also 
  increases the infected’s Fatigue conse-
  quence a severity.
  Failed attempts to use psi abilities 
  are even worse. The pain of using the 
  abilities goes out of control, leaving the 
  user to fend off the pain. Mechanically, 
  this increases the infected’s Stun conse-
  quence a severity on any failed attempt 
  to invoke a psi ability.
  Finally, critical failures are the worst. 
  When a joker is played in an attempt 
  to invoke a psi ability, the GM is free 
  to make up some horrible consequence, 
  from being blinded as blood gushes from 
  the infected’s eyes, to going unconscious 
  from the pain. This should also trigger the 
  Complication (psi infection) weakness.
  
  35
  List of Psi Abilities
  There are three psi abilities, each 
  providing the capability to manifest a 
  number of different effects. These three 
  abilities and their associated effects are 
  described below.
  Clairvoyance
  Clairvoyance is the ability to sense 
  things beyond normal means, including 
  the ability to sense into the past, future 
  and to project one’s senses at a distance.
   
  � Danger Sense: While this effect is 
  being maintained the infected does 
  not suffer any reduction in AP due 
  to surprise, is only at a -2 penalty 
  when fighting blind rather than a -4 
  penalty and she is always treated as 
  “aware of an attack” for the purposes 
  of reactions such as Dodge.  Action: 
  Per/clairvoyance-10. Requires effort 
  to maintain.
   
  � Dreamwalking: 
  By 
  entering 
  a 
  trance-like state the infected can alter 
  the dreams of another, provided the 
  target is currently dreaming. To do 
  this the infected needs solid personal 
  knowledge of the target, although 
  she can be at any distance. The 
  invoker can view the target’s dreams 
  while altering them. No action is 
  required to alter a dream, but an Int/
  deception vs. Det/empathy action 
  may be required to trick a target in 
  this way. Action: Det/clairvoyance 
  vs. Det. Requires effort to maintain. 
  Sleeping while using this ability does 
  not remove the Fatigue consequence.
   
  � Postcognition: By making use of 
  this effect, the infected can peer into 
  the past of her current location. By 
  spending several minutes concen-
  trating, the psi can close her eyes and 
  see what has already transpired there. 
  The content of what she sees is up to 
  the GM, but success with a better 
  Mag should result in more substan-
  tial information. Action: Int/clairvoy-
  ance-12. Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Precognition: A successful use of 
  this effect grants the infected vague 
  glimpses into possible futures. By 
  spending several minutes concen-
  trating on a specific question, object 
  person or event, the invoker can close 
  her eyes and receive these visions. The 
  content of these visions are up to the 
  GM, but success with a better Mag 
  should result in more substantial infor-
  mation. Action: Int/clairvoyance-12. 
  Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Projection: 
  This 
  effect 
  allows 
  the infected to project her senses 
  elsewhere in the world, viewing or 
  hearing events at a distance. To use 
  this effect the invoker must concen-
  trate, entering a trance-like state. She 
  then closes her eyes and envisions 
  herself leaving her body and moving 
  away, through walls or any other 
  obstacle to where she wants to view. 
  Her consciousness can travel in this 
  way at 5m/sec. While in this state she 
  is unaware of her body’s surround-
  ings, although a sudden noise 
  might end this effect and snap her 
  back. Action: Chr/clairvoyance-10. 
  Requires effort to maintain.
  
  36
  Telekinesis
  Telekinesis is the ability to manipu-
  late objects without physical interaction 
  with them. This includes the ability to 
  levitate objects, flip switches from across 
  the room, hold objects in place and to 
  even choke others using telekinetic force. 
  The maximum size of an object that can 
  be manipulated with telekinesis has a Big 
  property equal to the invoker’s Determi-
  nation. GMs who want to use real world 
  units to estimate this can consider the 
  maximum 5 kg × Determination.
   
  � Bind: With this effect the infected 
  can apply telekinetic force to hold 
  an object in place, preventing its 
  movement or manipulation. Anyone 
  seeking to move this object must 
  beat the infected in an opposed 
  action. Action: Det/telekinesis vs. Str. 
  Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Choke: Using this effect the infected 
  can use telekinetic force to grasp 
  the throat of another, causing her to 
  suffocate. Obviously, this only effects 
  characters that must breathe—it 
  doesn’t affect robots, slime molds 
  and the like. Upon successful use, the 
  target immediately begins to suffocate 
  (see Suffocation rules in the Shadows 
  Over Sol core rulebook). The target 
  is considered to have taken a breath 
  unless she was entirely surprised by 
  this attack. Every round as a concen-
  trate action the target may force the 
  infected to make another opposed 
  flip, ending the effect if the target 
  wins. Action: Det/telekinesis vs. End.
   
  � Levitate: This effect allows an object 
  to be levitated into the air and held 
  aloft for as long as the effect is main-
  tained. An object being levitated in 
  this manner can be moved up to 
  5m/sec. If the object being moved is 
  held or resisted by someone else, this 
  is an opposed action, otherwise it has a 
  static TN. Action: Int/telekinesis vs. Dex 
  or TN 10. Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Push: With this effect the infected can 
  use telekinetic force to push an object, 
  flipping switches at a distance, moving 
  crates across a cargo bay, knocking 
  framed photos off a wall, etc. An object 
  being pushed in this manner can be 
  moved up to 5m/sec. If the object 
  being pushed is being held or resisted 
  by someone else, this is an opposed 
  action, otherwise it has a static target 
  number. Action: Chr/telekinesis vs. Str 
  or TN 10. Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Throw: This effect allows the infected 
  to hurl nearby objects at a target 
  using telekinetic force. If the target 
  is a character, this is opposed by the 
  target’s Defense, otherwise use a static 
  target number. On a success a hurled 
  object will deal �3×Chr L / �2×Chr L 
  / �Chr L / �½Chr L damage. Action: 
  Per/telekinesis vs. Defense or TN 10.
  
  37
  Telepathy
  Telepathy includes the ability to 
  communicate directly through thought, 
  as well as the ability to read the minds of 
  others, distract others through unwanted 
  thoughts and to implant false memories.
   
  � Broadcast: The broadcast effect 
  allows an infected to form a link with 
  the mind of another, establishing a 
  means of two-way communication 
  using thought alone. This effect can 
  be established without a flip with 
  anyone who voluntarily allows the 
  link to be established, otherwise a 
  success on the indicated action is 
  required. Action: Chr/telepathy vs. 
  Det. Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Deep Probe: This elaborate effect 
  allows the infected to force her way 
  into the mind of another, ripping 
  through past memories until she 
  uncovers what she is seeking. This 
  process is both lengthy and painful for 
  all involved. Invoking this effect takes 
  at least 10 minutes and, if unwilling, 
  the target must be fully restrained. 
  A success on this action allows the 
  infected to ask one question to which 
  she receives an answer to the best of 
  the target’s memory. Any attempt 
  increases the target’s Fatigue conse-
  quence a severity as well. Action: 
  Det/telepathy vs. Det.
   
  � Implant: With this effect the infected 
  implants a false memory into the 
  target’s mind. This doesn’t erase any 
  already existing memories, and a 
  careful examination of past feelings 
  or events might reveal to the target 
  that something with her memory 
  is wrong, but unless she has reason 
  to doubt her memory most people 
  assume what they remember is true. 
  Action: Int/telepathy vs. Det.
   
  � Spam: A variant of broadcast, with 
  this effect the infected bombards 
  the mind of another with a constant 
  stream of unwanted thoughts and 
  imagery, making it difficult for the 
  target to concentrate. On a success 
  the target’s Fixated (The Invoker) 
  consequence increases a severity, 
  or by two severities with Mag 5+. 
  Action: 
  Chr/telepathy 
  vs. 
  Det. 
  Requires effort to maintain.
   
  � Surface Read: This effect allows the 
  infected to listen in on the surface 
  thoughts of the target. This does not 
  guarantee that the target is thinking 
  anything the listener wants to hear, 
  but the target might be tricked into 
  thinking something with a clever 
  line of conversation and a successful 
  Chr/socialize. vs. Det flip. Action: 
  Per/telepathy vs. Det. Requires 
  effort to maintain.
  Design Thoughts: Psi
  Psi powers are a staple of the 
  science fiction genre, which is one 
  reason why they are included here. 
  Despite being a long-lived genre 
  trope, however, they blatantly violate 
  “hard science” rules. 
  Because of this, psi is an option 
  best reserved for alien menaces, 
  shadowy antagonists or an “amazing 
  revelation” that comes mid-campaign. 
  GMs should think carefully before 
  introducing it as a regular player 
  character option.
  
  38
  
  39
  Measuring from the orbit of Neptune, 
  the solar system is 9 billion km across. 
  Beyond that, for orders of magnitude 
  more distance, are countless trans-Neptu-
  nian objects. But that’s just a drop in the 
  bucket of the estimated 20 billion stars in 
  the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, which 
  itself is estimated to hold 400 billion 
  stars. And that’s just one galaxy among 
  the 100 billion thought to exist.
  STL Travel
  Without 
  some 
  breakthrough 
  or 
  discovery that violates the laws of physics 
  as they are known, interstellar travel 
  is limited to slower-than-light (STL) 
  methods. This means that in order to travel 
  between stars, humanity will either have to 
  perfect stasis beyond the limits of what is 
  currently possible—allowing passengers to 
  sleep the centuries away—or will have to 
  rely on large generation ships, which will 
  keep a society alive for the hundreds of 
  years it takes to make the journey.
  The ARC Project is one example of 
  the latter. Once completed, this ship 
  will carry 10,000 colonies on a four 
  hundred year journey to the planet 
  Sirine, orbiting Alpha Century A, some 
  4.36 light years away. 
  Assuming the successful launch of 
  the ARC Project, humanity is likely to 
  produce other STL colony ships over 
  the upcoming century. Entire campaigns 
  could be spent in the enclosed and isolated 
  community of the generation ship, or in 
  the stages of surveying, exploration and 
  colony establishment that comes after the 
  colony ship’s arrival at its destination.
  FTL Travel
  The discovery of a faster-than-light 
  (FTL) means of interstellar travel would 
  change everything. Suddenly countless 
  systems and worlds would open up for 
  exploration and exploitation. The festering 
  masses of humanity on Earth would likely 
  spread out once colonies were established, 
  resulting in a human diaspora. Overnight 
  many of the mining stations and colonies 
  elsewhere in the Sol system would be 
  obsolete. What would follow is a tumul-
  tuous shift in power among the corps, to 
  say nothing of what else humanity might 
  find lurking out in the void.
  The Great 
  Beyond
  
  40
  The Gate
  One possible way to get around the 
  limitations of light speed is to create a 
  gate. A gate works by folding space and 
  linking to distant regions of the universe. 
  Rather than traveling the full distance 
  between these two points, a ship travels 
  through the gate, in essence taking a 
  shortcut and arriving at the destination 
  with only a relatively small amount of 
  sub-light travel.
  Rather than simply linking to 
  locations, some gates may have the ability 
  to link multiple points. This might allow 
  them to be configured to point to any 
  one of the destinations to which they are 
  linked, thereby giving access to numerous 
  other locations in the universe.
  One possible way to introduce a gate 
  into a campaign is to have its construc-
  tion be the ultimate aim of the Kronos 
  Protein (see page 30). Once the protein 
  consumes enough biomass, its emergent 
  complexity gives it the ability to navigate 
  space on its own, and from this it 
  launches a circular gate, linking the Sol 
  system to some other point (or points) 
  in the universe. But what will humanity 
  find when they first travel through it?
  Of course, the existence of a singular 
  gate is likely to become a point of 
  conflict among the corps and other 
  major players in the human sphere. 
  Whomever controls the gate controls 
  access to untold resources and riches 
  that may be lying in wait on the other 
  side. This could start any number of 
  conflicts, as the different players each 
  make their move for control. Regardless 
  of who comes out on top, however, the 
  party controlling the gate will also be the 
  ones on the front lines when something 
  else comes back through it.
  Aliens
  As humanity expands outwards beyond 
  the bounds of the Sol system, it may 
  encounter other intelligent species other 
  than itself. Here are a few possibilities of 
  what it may find out beyond the void.
  Hitch’nyv
  The Hitch’nyv are a civilization in 
  diaspora. Tens of thousands of years ago 
  their home world suffered a cataclysmic 
  event, leaving it uninhabitable. Neverthe-
  less, billions of Hitch’nyv managed to flee 
  in all directions. They travel in sub-light 
  ships where they sleep the long voyages 
  away in an advanced form of stasis.
  The Hitch’nyv appear large and terri-
  fying by the standards of humanity. They 
  are cunning and ruthless, and have no 
  qualms about killing others to obtain 
  necessary supplies—after all, at this 
  point, the survival of their own species 
  depends on this.
  One fleet of refugee ships have made 
  their way towards Sol, surveying Earth 
  some 15,000 years ago and catego-
  rizing it as uninhabited by advanced 
  species, and ready for settlement. As 
  the Hitch’nyv scouts come out of stasis, 
  however, they will begin to notice the 
  human civilization that has sprung up 
  during their long sleep, and they will be 
  faced with a choice: remove humanity 
  from large parts of the Earth, or die. 
  
  41
  The rest of the colonization fleet will 
  be just a few months or years behind, 
  and they’ll be expecting Earth as open for 
  settlement. The problem for the Hitch’nyv 
  is that even though they are technologi-
  cally superior to humanity, they brought 
  a colonization fleet, not a war fleet. 
  They’ll either need to make deals and turn 
  humanity against each other, or they’ll 
  need to make war with what’s essentially 
  technically-advanced farm equipment.
  Grays
  Likely the inspiration for the “little 
  gray men” of popular culture, the grays are 
  an enigmatic and secretive species. They 
  travel from star to star, surveying, taking 
  biological samples of any resident life, 
  and sometimes establishing remote posts 
  for the extraction of rare elements. They 
  also exhibit mental abnormalities similar 
  to individuals who have undergone psi 
  infection (see page 32).
  To travel, the grays use sub-light 
  probes to seed the creation of interstellar 
  gates, which they then use to skip between 
  stars. As this construction and interstellar 
  travel paradigm resembles that exhibited 
  by the Kronos Protein, it may even link 
  them to its origin, to the lost Titan civi-
  lization or possibly even to the lost Titan 
  civilization’s destruction.
  Starspawn
  Starspawn are world parasites. One 
  will crash down onto a planet like 
  a meteor. Secured in a shell built to 
  withstand this sort of impact, a starspawn 
  will then burrow deep into the regolith, 
  where it will grow over the course of 
  eons, periodically feeding itself on native 
  life or other organic compounds. Even-
  tually it will produce its own spawn, and 
  when the time is right they will erupt 
  from the Earth, devouring whatever 
  biosphere or civilization made its home 
  on the surface. After the devastation, its 
  spawn will be launched outward towards 
  possible other worlds, where they will 
  sleep the eons away. Most will never 
  encounter another world, but a few will, 
  and the cycle begins again.
  What if Humanity 
  is Alone?
  For an entirely different take on 
  the alien question, what if humanity 
  really is the single most advanced 
  species in the universe? All of the alien 
  invasion vids that populate culture are 
  not a literal concern. Instead they are 
  the legitimate fear of what humanity 
  may someday become.
  
  42
  Star System 
  Generator
  The player characters have gone 
  through the Gate and ended up... 
  somewhere. What do they find? What 
  is it like on the other side? Below is a 
  system for quickly generating an entire 
  star system. This system begins with the 
  “big picture” questions and then works 
  its way down to some of the details.
  Number of Stars
  About half of all star systems contain 
  a single star. Of the other half, the vast 
  majority are binary pairs. A rare few have 
  three or more. In these multi-star systems, 
  each of the stars orbit around the center 
  of mass for the whole star system, bound 
  together by gravitational forces. Stars in 
  a multi-star system are typically named 
  after the system and labeled A, B, C, etc., 
  starting from the star with the highest 
  mass and working one’s way down to the 
  star with the lowest mass. For example, 
  Alpha Centauri A and its companion star, 
  Alpha Centauri B.
  Draw a card on the table below to 
  determine the number of stars in the 
  newly-generated system.
  Card
  Number of Stars
  Ace – 7
  1
  8 – Queen
  2
  King
  3
  Joker
  4+
  Stellar  
  Characteristics
  Stars come in a variety of ages, stellar 
  masses, luminosities and colors. The 
  interplay between these characteristics is by 
  far too complicated to attempt to model in 
  a simple star system generator. Instead, this 
  system focuses on generating a few basic 
  characteristics that GMs can use to describe 
  the star, and then extrapolate from there.
  Most of the stars generated by this 
  system will be “main sequence” stars. 
  These stars go through predictable phases 
  as their nuclear fusion burns through their 
  stores of hydrogen. As many stars begin 
  to burn out of hydrogen they will begin 
  to fuse heavier elements. These elements 
  require hotter temperatures, which causes 
  the star to swell and redden. This is the 
  “red giant” phase of a star’s development. 
  Eventually even these later forms of fusion 
  will die out, causing the star to once again 
  contract into a white dwarf.
  The codes below are the official stellar 
  class for the star. Written next to the code 
  is a color description of the star. Sol, for 
  example, if a G2 yellow main sequence star. 
  These codes are useful for “science fiction 
  jargon” in the campaign. A quick internet 
  search or visit to Wikipedia will also tell 
  you more about the stellar category than 
  we could ever fit in this book.
  The GM should flip a card, determine if 
  the card is red or black, then check its value 
  against the appropriate column below. This 
  will apply to the main star in the system. 
  For every companion star the GM should 
  flip a card. If this card is red the companion 
  star is of the same class. If the card is black 
  the companion star is one class lower.
  
  43
  Planets and Belts
  Finally it’s time to determine how 
  many planets or asteroid belts the system 
  has. Planetary orbits tend to be spaced 
  logarithmically. That is, the ratio of one 
  planet or belt’s orbital radius to the next 
  is fairly consistent. Furthermore, for a 
  planet to be naturally habitable it needs 
  to have an orbital radius that it not so 
  close to the star that it is too hot, and 
  not too far from the star that the planet is 
  too cold to inhabit. This is the so-called 
  “Goldilocks zone,” or circumstellar 
  habitable zone (CHZ).
  Draw three cards and compare each 
  value to one of the columns below. This 
  will determine the raw number of each 
  type present in the system. To determine 
  the relative placement of each planet or 
  belt assign a card to each one, shuffle these 
  cards and then deal them out in a straight 
  line. The order the cards came out in 
  dictates their relative placement in orbit. 
  Assume the second, third and fourth cards 
  fall in the system’s Goldilocks zone.
  Terrestrial worlds, asteroid belts and 
  gas giants can be further developed using 
  the Terrestrial World and Gas Giant 
  Generators found later in this book.
  Card Value
  Type (Red Card)
  Type (Black Card)
  Ace
  M7 (Red)
  G8 (Yellow)
  2
  M6 (Red)
  G6 (Yellow)
  3
  M5 (Red)
  G4 (Yellow)
  4
  M4 (Red)
  G2 (Yellow)
  5
  M3 (Red)
  G0 (Yellow)
  6
  M2 (Red)
  F8 (Yellow White)
  7
  M1 (Red)
  F6 (Yellow White)
  8
  M0 (Red)
  F4 (Yellow White)
  9
  K8 (Orange)
  F2 (Yellow White)
  10
  K6 (Orange)
  F0 (Yellow White)
  Jack
  K4 (Orange)
  A8 (White)
  Queen
  K2 (Orange)
  A6 (White)
  King
  K0 (Orange)
  A4 (White)
  Joker
  Class B (Blue Giant)
  Class O (Blue Giant)
  Card
  Terrestrial Worlds
  Asteroid Belts
  Gas Giants
  Ace – 3
  1
  0
  1
  4 – 6
  2
  0
  2
  7 – 9
  3
  1
  3
  10 – Jack
  4
  1
  4
  Queen – King
  5
  2
  5
  Joker
  None or 6+
  3+
  None or 6+
  
  44
  Gas Giant 
  Generator
  The following is a simple system for 
  quickly generating gas giants (including 
  planets which are technically ice giants). 
  This system is geared towards generating 
  a few descriptive characteristics that 
  can be used on the fly in the middle of 
  a game, and leaves the GM to fill in the 
  details, if necessary.
  Characteristics
  Below are a number of descrip-
  tive characteristics that gas giants may 
  possess. The GM should flip a couple 
  cards and apply both results to the 
  world in question. If for some reason 
  the results are mutually exclusive, 
  either try to make them work together 
  or draw a new card.
  Card
  Characteristic (Red)
  Characteristic (Black)
  Ace 
  Strange axel tilt
  Equatorial Bulge
  2
  Large ring system
  Intense Auroras
  3
  Super-Jupiter
  Mini-Neptune
  4
  Inteznse magnetosphere
  Ice giant
  5
  Colder than expected
  Distinctive seasonal variation
  6
  Hotter than expected
  Colored bands
  7
  Elliptical orbit
  Unusual core
  8
  Intense storms
  Moons in Laplace resonance
  9
  Unusually disperse
  Unusually dense
  10
  Not tidally locked
  Many trojan asteroids
  Jack
  Strong circumplanetary winds
  Retrograde orbit
  Queen
  Polar vortex
  Not in expected orbital radius
  King
  Distinctive persistent storm
  Notable infrared glow
  Joker
  Unexplained structures
  Unexplained structures
  Moons
  An important aspect of many ice 
  giants is the number of moons they 
  possess, as many of these moons will 
  have exploitable resources. Draw a card 
  on the table below. Each result gives a 
  multiplier. Multiply this value by the 
  value of a second card draw. Moons can 
  be further fleshed out using the Terres-
  trial World Generator.
  Card
  Number of Moons
  Ace – 3
  Card × 0.5
  4 – 6
  Card × 0.1
  7 – 9
  Card × 1.5
  10 – Jack
  Card × 2.0
  Queen – King
  Card × 2.5
  Joker
  None
  
  45
  Asteroid Belt 
  Generator
  The following system helps determine 
  the associated properties of asteroid 
  belts. This is geared towards generating 
  a few key points of interest, which can 
  be used when describing the asteroid 
  belt in the middle of a game. It leaves 
  the GM to fill in the details.
  Dwarf Planets
  Many asteroid belts are home to one or 
  more dwarf planets. These are objects with 
  enough mass to form a spheroid shape, 
  but not enough to clear the neighborhood 
  of other debris. Often these are moon-
  sized bodies that orbit a star directly. The 
  GM should flip a card on the table below 
  to determine how many dwarf planets are 
  present in the belt. These can optionally be 
  further developed using the moon rules in 
  the Terrestrial World Generator.
  Card
  Dwarf Planets
  Ace – 3
  0
  4 – 6
  1
  7 – 9
  2
  10 – Jack
  3
  Queen – King
  4
  Joker
  Something unusual
  Asteroid Types
  Most asteroids come in one of three 
  types: Carbonaceous (C-type) asteroids 
  are carbon-rich and often dominate a belt’s 
  outer regions. Silicate (S-type) asteroids are 
  rich in silicates and are most commonly 
  found towards the inner regions of most 
  belts. Finally, metallic (M-type) asteroids 
  are usually the least common and are 
  found scattered throughout most belts. In 
  terms of material worth, M-type asteroids 
  are by far the most sought after, followed 
  distantly by S-type and then finally C-type. 
  The GM should flip two cards on the 
  table below. One card determines the 
  percent of the asteroids in the belt that 
  are M-type. The other determines the 
  percent that are S-type. The percent left 
  over are C-type.
  Card
  M-type
  S-type
  Ace
  1%
  2%
  2 – 3
  2%
  3%
  4 – 5
  5%
  7%
  6 – 7
  10%
  15%
  8 – 9
  15%
  22%
  10 – Jack
  20%
  30%
  Queen – King
  25%
  37%
  Joker
  30%
  45%
  
  46
  Terrestrial World 
  Generator
  This system is intended to quickly 
  generate some of the important details 
  regarding terrestrial planets or moons. 
  This allows these worlds to be quickly 
  dropped into a campaign. The GM is left 
  to fill in the details.
  World  
  Characteristics
  Every world has a number of char-
  acteristics that make them stand out 
  from the rest. A GM can quickly 
  generate what these characteristics are 
  by drawing two cards and looking up 
  both results on the table below.
  Card
  Characteristic (Red)
  Characteristic (Black)
  Ace 
  Subsurface ocean
  Recent natural disaster
  2
  Volcanically active
  Polar caps
  3
  Canal-like surface features
  Dark streaks mark surface
  4
  Tectonically active
  Long-lived storm
  5
  Liquid rains
  Unusually smooth
  6
  Constant fast winds
  Highly differentiated terrain
  7
  Density abnormalities
  Geologically young surface
  8
  Intense magnetosphere
  Beneficial magnetosphere
  9
  Tidally locked
  Strange axel tilt
  10
  Notably large crater
  Notably large number of craters
  Jack
  Retrograde orbit
  Elliptical orbit
  Queen
  Irregularly shaped
  Regions of intense radiation
  King
  Unexpectedly warm
  Unexpectedly cold
  Joker
  Liquid surface oceans
  Substantial organic presence
  Gravity
  Gravity affects everything, 
  and how much gravity a world 
  has will make a big difference 
  when it comes to holding onto 
  atmosphere, and in the sort of 
  ships that can climb into and 
  out of its gravity well. Draw a 
  card and look up the appro-
  priate column for the world 
  on the table below.
  Card
  Gravity 
  (Planet)
  Gravity 
  (Moon)
  Ace – 2
  0.3 g (Low)
  0.001 g (Low)
  3 – 4
  0.5 g (Low)
  0.005 g (Low)
  5 – 6
  0.7 g (Normal)
  0.01 g (Low)
  7 – 8
  0.9 g (Normal)
  0.05 g (Low)
  9 – 10
  1.0 g (Normal)
  0.1 g (Low)
  Jack – Queen
  1.1 g (Normal)
  0.15 g (Low)
  King
  1.3 g (High)
  0.2 g (Low)
  Joker
  1.5 g (High)
  0.3 g (Low)
  
  47
  Atmosphere
  Atmosphere makes a large difference 
  in the characteristics of a world. A thick 
  atmosphere evens out heating, blocks 
  sunlight and may even result in pressures 
  in which a human can live. Draw a card 
  for composition and look up the result 
  in the correct column. For a planet draw 
  one card pressure and look up the result. 
  For a moon draw two cards for pressure 
  and take the lowest value.
  Card
  Composition
  Pressure
  Ace – 3
  Nitrogen-rich
  Trace
  4 – 6
  Carbon dioxide
  Very Thin
  7 – 9
  Helium-rich
  Thin
  10 – Jack
  Methane-rich
  Normal
  Queen – King
  Corrosive (sulfuric acid)
  Thick
  Joker
  Nitrogen-oxygen mix
  Crushing
  Orbital Zone & 
  Temperature
  If you have started with the Star 
  System Generator and are now fleshing 
  out the details of the worlds presented 
  in the system, you already know the 
  placement of the world around its star. If 
  you’re starting from scratch, however, you 
  will need to know the world’s orbital zone 
  and temperature.
  Card
  Orbit & Temperature
  Ace – 3
  Closer to star than Goldi-
  locks zone. Temperatures 
  around 400° C likely.
  4 – 7
  Inside 
  Goldilocks 
  zone. 
  Temperatures ranging from 
  100° C to -100° C likely.
  8 – King
  Further away from star than 
  Goldilocks zone. Tempera-
  tures around -200° C likely.
  Joker
  Highly elliptical orbit causes 
  temperature to vary wildly.
  Card
  Resource
  Ace – 2
  Thorium
  3 – 4
  Rare earth elements
  5 – 6
  Water
  7 – 8
  Industrial metals (tungsten, cobalt, etc.)
  9 – 10
  Valuable metals (gold, platinum, etc.)
  Jack – Queen Common metals (lead, copper, zinc, etc.)
  King
  Radioactives (uranium, radium, etc.)
  Joker
  Potential organics or hydrocarbons
  Resources
  Many 
  worlds 
  will 
  be of interest primarily 
  because of the resources 
  they possess that are easily 
  available. To determine 
  what 
  these 
  resources 
  might be, the GM should 
  flip a card on the table 
  below. GMs wishing a 
  world to be particularly 
  rich in resources may 
  want to flip two or three 
  cards and take all results.
  
  48
  Alien 
  Generator
  As humanity begins to explore other 
  systems, it may come across alien life. This 
  life is likely to form complex and entirely 
  new ecosystems—entire food chains of 
  predators, prey, scavengers and more. To 
  any such system, humans are just walking 
  sacks of sugars, carbons, water and meat. 
  Even to systems with entirely different 
  biologies, it’s just a matter of time before 
  something makes the jump and figures 
  out how to exploit the resources found 
  in the human body—and therein lies the 
  potential for horror.
  Below is a system for quickly gener-
  ating alien creatures of the sort that 
  might be encountered when exploring 
  unknown new worlds.
  Ecological Niche
  Perhaps the most important step in 
  generating an alien creature, its ecolog-
  ical niche informs many of the creature’s 
  likely behaviors, as well as its biology. 
  Flip a card on the table below and take 
  note of any mechanics or other rules 
  provided by the results.
  Putting It All Together
  By the end of the process the GM should have all of the necessary mechanical 
  bits to make a full stat block for the creature. All that will be left is to put it 
  together and make sense of the results. Some of these results may be obvious fits, 
  others may seem disparate and like they don’t fit. Making sense of these unusual 
  combinations is part of the fun. Think about why a creature may have these 
  unusual combinations. What does this say about the creature’s evolution? How 
  might these unusual combinations lure players into a false sense of security but 
  actually pose a real danger? Let your imagination run wild.
  Inspiration
  As with all of the generators 
  presented in this book, GMs should 
  feel free to ignore or choose other 
  results when they see fit. The intent 
  of these generators is to provide GMs 
  with inspiration when coming up with 
  new and unique environments and 
  creatures. They are a jumping off point 
  for coming up with results the GM 
  may not have thought of on her own.
  
  49
  Card
  Ecological Niche
  Ace – 2
  Ambusher: The creature obtains its food primarily by lying in wait and 
  ambushing prey as they pass by. 
  Skills: Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Melee 3, Naturalist 3, Stealth 4.
  3 – 4
  Chaser: The creature obtains food by chasing it down and attacking. 
  Skills: Athletics 4, Awareness 3, Melee 3, Naturalist 3.
  5
  Autotroph: The organism primarily obtains its own energy from the envi-
  ronment through organic or inorganic chemical reactions—such as chloro-
  phyll turning sunlight into usable energy. Flip a card. On a red card add the 
  Poison trait from the Distinguishing Traits table. On a black card add DR 2. 
  Skills: None.
  6
  Filter-Feeder: This creature gains its primary sustenance by filtering it 
  directly from the environment—usually from water or a similar fluid. 
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Naturalist 3.
  7 – 8
  Parasite: A parasite gains its primary sustenance by feeding off of a host 
  organism, often by burrowing into the host’s flesh or latching on to suck 
  out the host’s bodily fluids. 
  Skills: Awareness 3, Melee 3, Naturalist 3, Stealth 3.
  9
  Decomposer: This creature breaks down dead and decaying organisms to 
  obtain the energy it needs to survive. 
  Skills: Naturalist 3. Flip a card. On a red card add the Poison trait from 
  the Distinguishing Traits table below. On a black card add DR 2.
  10
  Scavenger: This organism feeds itself primarily by scavenging food left by 
  other organisms, or hijacking the kills of others. 
  Skills: Awareness 4, Melee 3, Persuade 3, Naturalist 3.
  Jack
  Grazer: This creature spends its time grazing on nearby inanimate organisms. 
  Skills: Awareness 3, Melee 3, Naturalist 3. Add DR 2.
  Queen
  Gatherer: A gathering organism collects inanimate food from the 
  surrounding environment and hordes it for times of hunger. 
  Skills: Awareness 4, Melee 3, Naturalist 3, Stealth 4.
  King
  Omnivore: The creature has a versatile means of acquiring food, feeding on 
  both local inanimate organisms and by opportunistically overcoming prey.
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Melee 3, Naturalist 3.
  Joker
  Intelligent: This is a rare intelligent life form, with a level of intelligence 
  comparable to humans, even if entirely alien. The GM should assign five 
  to nine of whatever skills she thinks best fits the creature.
  
  50
  Generate Stats
  To generate a creature’s stats draw 
  eight cards and lay them out in a row. If 
  one or more of these cards are face cards, 
  draw additional cards and place one on 
  top of each face card, forming a stack—
  exactly like action resolution. The value 
  of these cards will become the values 
  of the creature’s stats. GMs wanting to 
  avoid a proliferation of intelligent life 
  should assign the lowest of the eight cards 
  to Intelligence. The remaining cards can 
  either be assigned to stats in a way that 
  makes sense given the creature’s ecolog-
  ical niche, or can be assigned randomly.
  Morphology
  A creature’s morphology is the basic 
  structure of its body. It’s what distin-
  guishes a creature with two legs and 
  an internal skeleton, from one with an 
  exoskeleton and a slithering locomotion. 
  Draw a card for each column on the table 
  below. The result should inform the basic 
  morphology of the creature.
  Card
  Locomotion
  Structure
  Ace – 4
  Pedal: Flip a card. The creature 
  has that many pairs of legs.
  Exoskeleton: The creature has a 
  thick exoskeleton to protect it. 
  Add DR equal to half the creature’s 
  Endurance.
  5 – 8
  Many Legs: Flip two cards 
  and multiply their values. The 
  creature has that many pairs 
  of legs.
  Endoskeleton: The creature has an 
  internal skeleton, which holds its 
  body in shape.
  9 – Queen
  Undulatory: The creature 
  gets around by slithering.
  Hydrostatic Skeleton: This creature 
  possesses many fluid-filled cavities 
  which it can inflate to hold its shape.
  King – Joker
  Flight: The creature gains the 
  Flight trait from the Distin-
  guishing Traits table.
  Colony: This creature can divide 
  into smaller independently loco-
  motive pieces, which can reas-
  semble into the larger organism.
  Distinguishing Traits
  Finally, it’s time to generate a couple 
  traits that make the creature unique 
  and distinguish it from other similar 
  creatures in the same ecological niche. 
  Draw two cards on the table below and 
  use both results.
  
  51
  Card
  Distinguishing Trait
  Ace
  Poisonous: Anyone touching this creature must succeed in an End-14 
  action or increase their Bleeding consequence a severity due to poison.
  2
  Size +1: This creature is the size of a horse. This adds a +1 bonus to the 
  creature’s Shock and a -1 penalty to its Defense. Additionally, increase 
  its Strength by +3.
  3
  Size -1: This creature is the size of a medium dog. This adds a -1 penalty 
  to the creature’s Shock and a +1 bonus to its Defense. Additionally, 
  halve the creature’s Strength score.
  4
  Size -2: This creature is the size of a domestic cat. This adds a -2 penalty 
  to the creature’s Shock and a +2 bonus to its Defense. Additionally, 
  divide the creature’s Strength score by three.
  5
  Blend In: This creature is exceptionally skilled at blending in to its 
  environment, even changing color to match. This lets it make a Dex/
  stealth vs. Per/awareness action at the end of any move. On a success, 
  the creature’s foes lose sight of it.
  6
  Infravision: This organism can see into the infrared, allowing it to 
  ignore penalties for darkness.
  7
  Aquatic: This creature is aquatic by nature. It is able to breathe for up 
  to two hours when under water, and may swim at its normal rate of 
  movement.
  8
  Natural Weapon: This creature has fierce, natural weapon-like large 
  teeth, claws or horns. Damage from its unarmed attacks are moderate 
  damage rather than light damage.
  9
  Rage: As a reaction to being wounded, the creature may spend an AP 
  to immediately declare and execute an attack.
  10
  Keen Smell: The creature has a keen sense of smell and only suffers a 
  -2 penalty rather than a -4 when facing an unseen foe. It also gains a +2 
  bonus on attempts to recognize scents.
  Jack
  Backslash: If a melee attack by this creature misses, as a reaction it may 
  spend an AP to make an immediate attack against the same target.
  Queen
  Flight: This creature can fly at twice normal movement rates.
  King
  Pounce: When making a melee attack the creature may immediately 
  move for free before the attack executes.
  Joker
  Size +2: This creature is the size of an elephant. This adds a +2 bonus 
  to the creature’s Shock and a -2 penalty to its Defense. Additionally, 
  increase its Strength by +5.
  
  52
  
  53
  Deadly confrontations come in many forms—from bioengineered monsters, 
  hired killers, alien relics left by long-dead civilizations or deadly resurrected species 
  run amok. This chapter contains a wide variety of these foes, and augments the foes 
  already found in the Shadows Over Sol core rulebook.
  Fauna
  The following are a variety of natural creatures that might be encountered over 
  the course of a campaign. These creatures can also be used as benchmarks to model 
  alien fauna, or as baselines for bioengineered creatures augmented with enhanced 
  capabilities or a killer intelligence.
  Crocodile
  Str 9, Dex 6, Spd 7, End 5, Int 1, Per 5, Chr 4, Det 4
  Defense 9/18, DR 2, Shock 11, Wound 7
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Bite: +5 (�27M/�18M/�9M/�4M)
  Aquatic: Crocodiles are aquatic by nature. They are 
  able to breathe for up to two hours when under 
  water, and may swim at their normal rate of 
  movement.
  These large semi-aquatic reptiles have 
  long jaws with jagged teeth, which they 
  can use to latch onto their prey.
  Dolphin
  Str 7, Dex 7, Spd 7, End 7, Int 1, Per 6, Chr 5, Det 6
  Defense 10/20, DR 0, Shock 13, Wound 7
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Bash: +5 (�21L/�14L/�7L/�3L)
  Aquatic: Dolphins are aquatic by nature. They are able to breathe for up to seven 
  minutes when under water, and may swim at their normal rate of movement.
  Dolphins are aquatic mammals which display and seek animal intellect, and which 
  have been known to work together against larger predators.
  Fatal Foes
  
  54
  Elephant
  Str 12, Dex 4, Spd 5, End 8, Int 1, Per 6, Chr 4, Det 4
  Defense 5/13, DR 2, Shock 16, Wound 10
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Gore: +4 (�36M/�24M/�12M/�6M)
  Trample: +4 (�42L/�28L/�14L/�7L)
  Infrasonic Hearing: Elephants have a keen sense of hearing. They are capable of 
  hearing infrasonic sounds, well below the threshold audible to humans. They 
  frequently use these sounds for long-distance communication.
  Size +2: Elephants are large and imposing. This has been factored into the elephant’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  Elephants are the largest extant land animals, reaching heights up to 4m. They 
  have many interesting features, such as a long prehensile trunk, incisors that grow 
  into tusks and large ear flaps used to control their body temperature. Elephants 
  also have a keen sense of hearing and males are known to occasionally enter a 
  hyper-aggressive state known as musth.
  Horse
  Str 8, Dex 5, Spd 6, End 6, Int 1, Per 5, Chr 5, Det 5
  Defense 7/16, DR 1, Shock 13, Wound 7
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Kick: +5 (�30L/�20L/�10L/�5L)
  Mount: Trained horses are able to carry a rider on their backs without significant 
  difficulty. This allows for faster overland travel than walking.
  Size +1: Horses can be large and imposing. This has been factored into the horse’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  In preindustrial societies horses were a common means of transportation and beasts of 
  burden. In more modern times horses are used in sport or for show.
  Pig
  Str 6, Dex 5, Spd 6, End 5, Int 1, Per 6, Chr 4, Det 5
  Defense 8/17, DR 0, Shock 10, Wound 5
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Bite: +4 (�18L/�12L/�6L/�3L)
  Keen Smell: Pigs have a keen sense of smell and only suffer a -2 penalty rather than a -4 
  when facing an unseen foe. They also gain a +2 bonus on attempts to recognize scents.
  Pigs are clever animals, sometimes raised for food and sometimes kept as pets. They 
  have a keen sense of smell and can be trained to perform many other tasks.
  
  55
  Resurrected Species
  The resurrection of extinct species through cloning or other genetic manipulation 
  is a theme that has been used to good effect in both science fiction and horror media. 
  Sometimes these species return from the dead as faithful recreations of what they once 
  were, other times they return changed or with other frightening capabilities.
  Achillobator
  Str 7, Dex 8, Spd 9, End 7, Int 1, Per 6, Chr 5, Det 5
  Defense 10/22, DR 2, Shock 13, Wound 7
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Melee 3, Naturalist 4
  Bite/Claws: +7 (�21M/�14M/�7M/�3M)
  Pounce: When making a melee attack, an achillobator may immediately move for 
  free—as if it had spent 1 AP—before the attack executes.
  Size +1: Achillobators are large and imposing. This has been factored into the dino-
  saur’s Defense and Shock.
  Achillobators are large theropod dinosaurs that lived in the late Cretaceous era, similar to the 
  depiction of the velociraptor in popular media. Achillobator stood some 2m tall and had a 
  sharp sickle claw on each foot, which it would use to slice up its prey during a pounce.
  Gigantopithecus
  Str 10, Dex 5, Spd 6, End 9, Int 2, Per 7, Chr 3, Det 5
  Defense 8/17, DR 0, Shock 15, Wound 9
  Skills: Athletics 4, Awareness 3, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Slam: +4 (�20L/�15L/�10L/�5L)
  Size +1: Gigantopithecus is a large creature. This has been factored into the ape’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  Gigantopithecus is the largest primate to have ever lived. Standing at over 3m tall, it 
  is a giant ape that is primarily herbivorous, but which possesses tremendous strength.
  Mastodon
  Str 14, Dex 5, Spd 5, End 10, Int 1, Per 6, Chr 5, Det 5
  Defense 6/14, DR 2, Shock 19, Wound 12
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Gore: +4 (�42M/�28M/�14M/�7M)
  Trample: +4 (�42L/�28L/�14L/�7L)
  Size +2: Mastodons are large and imposing. This has been factored into the mast-
  odon’s Defense and Shock.
  Mastodons are large elephant-like animals with prominent tusks which are covered in 
  fur. Mastodons were hunted for their meat by primitive humanoids.
  
  56
  Smilodon
  Str 13, Dex 8, Spd 5, End 8, Int 1, Per 5, Chr 6, Det 4
  Defense 8/17, DR 0, Shock 13, Wound 10
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Melee 4, Naturalist 4
  Bite/Claws: +8 (�39M/�26M/�13M/�6M)
  Catfall: Halve the number of light wounds a smilodon takes from a fall.
  Pounce: When making a melee attack, a smilodon may immediately move for free—
  as if it had spent 1 AP—before the attack executes.
  Size +1: Smilodons are large creatures. This has been factored into the smilodon’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  Smilodons are large cats with two elongated fangs that jut downwards out of the 
  mouth. It is an ambush predator, with a more robust build than other modern cats.
  Triceratops
  Str 13, Dex 4, Spd 5, End 10, Int 1, Per 5, Chr 6, Det 6
  Defense 4/11, DR 3, Shock 22, Wound 11
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 2, Naturalist 4
  Gore: +4 (�39M/�26M/�13M/�6M)
  Trample: +4 (�48L/�32L/�16L/�8L)
  Impale: When a triceratops scores a critical hit with its gore attack, it may choose to 
  impale its target as a critical effect. This increases the target’s Stun consequence a 
  severity and it is now treated as grappled.
  Size +3: Triceratops are hulking beasts. This has been factored into the Triceratops’ 
  Defense and Shock.
  Triceratops is a large ceratopsid dinosaur, known for the three sharp horns that emerge 
  from its face. It is also one of the last known non-avian dinosaurs, dying out late in the 
  Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
  Tyrannosaurus
  Str 15, Dex 5, Spd 7, End 9, Int 1, Per 5, Chr 7, Det 5
  Defense 5/14, DR 3, Shock 20, Wound 12
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Melee 3, Naturalist 4
  Bite: +5 (�45M/�30M/�15M/�7M)
  Seize: As a reaction, a tyrannosaurus may grapple an opponent after it makes any 
  successful melee attack. Only one foe may be grappled at a time.
  Size +3: Tyrannosaurs are hulking beasts. This has been factored into the tyrannosaur’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  Tyrannosaurs are huge bipedal carnivores, with massive skulls balanced by long tails. 
  Their forelimbs are extremely short, but surprisingly powerful for their size.
  
  57
  Mistakes of Humanity
  Humanity has long been its own worst enemy. Over the centuries it has created 
  countless weapons, disastrous experiments and other mayhem. Below are a variety of 
  foes that are all human in their nature or in their creation.
  Android
  Str 6, Dex 5, Spd 5, End 6, Int 7, Per 5, Chr 4, Det 6
  Defense 7/15, DR 2, Shock 14, Wound 6
  Skills: Comp-Ops 4, Engineer 3, Guns 2, Mechanic 2, Melee 1, Phy-Sci 3, Program 4
  Gun Arm: +4 (�12M/�8M/�4M/�2M), Range 10, Shots 3
  Gear: AR Implant, Ballistic Suit (DR 2, Gel 3), Gun Arm Implant, Hand Terminal
  Machine: As a machine, an android is immune to metabolic hazards, as well as 
  emotionally-based consequences. It, however, must recharge daily.
  Androids are robots designed to resemble humans. They are controlled by an arti-
  ficial intelligence, typically housed within the android body. Most androids exist as 
  academic proofs of concept or as some sort of novelty.
  Bioclone
  Str 5, Dex 5, Spd 5, End 5, Int 4, Per 5, Chr 6, Det 5
  Defense 7/15, DR 0, Shock 10, Wound 5
  Skills: Deception 4, Empathy 3, Melee 2, Persuade 3
  Knife: +4 (�15M/�10M/�5M/�2M), Thrown
  Gear: AR Glasses, Hand Terminal
  Duplicate: A bioclone gets a +4 bonus on attempts to deceive others and lead them 
  to believe that she is the person she is designed to look like.
  Self-Fixation: If a bioclone ever encounters her authentic double, both the clone 
  and original gain the Fixation (duplicate) consequence at moderate severity. This 
  consequence can be ended through normal means.
  A bioclone is not a true clone, but rather a complete bodily replica of an individual. 
  From the outside it appears to be that individual, although depending on the quality 
  of the clone, it may not pass a biometric scan and may be driven by a limited AI.
  
  58
  Psi
  Str 5, Dex 5, Spd 5, End 5, Int 7, Per 6, Chr 6, Det 8
  Defense 8/16, DR 3, Shock 16, Wound 5
  Skills: Awareness 2, Comp-Ops 1, Conspiracy 3, Empathy 2, Guns 2, Medic 2, Melee 1
  Psi Skills: Clairvoyance 3, Telekinesis 3, Telepathy 3
  Light Pistol: +4 (�12M/�8M/�4M/�2M), Range 10, Shots 10
  Knife: +3 (�15M/�10M/�5M/�2M), Thrown
  Gear: AR Glasses, Coverjack (DR 3, Conceal 2), Hand Terminal
  This individual has been exposed to the Kronos Protein and is one of the very few 
  to come out with psi infection (see page 32). She is likely either on the run from 
  the corps or secretly working for them. She has also so far managed to delve into the 
  secrets of all three psi skills. It is only a matter of time, however, before the infection 
  overwhelms her.
  Tech-Zombie
  Str 6, Dex 4, Spd 4, End 6, Int 2, Per 4, Chr 2, Det 8
  Defense 6/12, DR 0, Shock 14, Wound 6
  Skills: Melee 2
  Unarmed: +4 (�18L/�12L/�6L/�3L)
  Knife: +3 (�18M/�12M/�6M/�3M), Thrown
  Machine: As a corpse animated by machinery, a tech-zombie is immune to many 
  metabolic hazards, as well as emotionally-based consequences.
  To Pieces: Once in dying gasps, instead of increasing the Bleeding consequence every 
  time the tech-zombie is damaged, it instead loses a limb, has its guts spill open or 
  takes some other visceral hindrance. The effects of this are up to the GM.
  A tech-zombie is a human corpse that has been reanimated through the use of tech-
  nology, usually involving a machine used to mimic the signals muscles receive from 
  neurons. Tech-zombies advantages over most machines is that they appear human 
  from a distance and can fool simple biometric scanners.
  
  59
  Theta Project
  Str 13, Dex 9, Spd 9, End 17, Int 6, Per 7, Chr 7, Det 8
  Defense 12/25, DR 5, Shock 30, Wound 15
  Skills: Athletics 5, Awareness 3, Empathy 2, Guns 1, Melee 4, Stealth 4
  Claws: +8 (�36M/�23M/�13M/�6M)
  Backslash: If a melee attack by Theta Project misses, as a reaction it may spend an AP 
  to make an immediate attack against the same target.
  Blend In: Theta Project is exceptionally skilled at blending in to its environment, even 
  changing color to match. This lets it make a Dex/stealth vs. Per/awareness action at 
  the end of any move. On a success, Theta Project’s foes lose sight of it.
  Enhanced Actions: Theta Project gains 4 AP per round.
  Quick Escape: After Theta Project takes an action, as a reaction it may spend an AP 
  to immediately move away from its foes. 
  Theta Project is a bulky humanoid, being constructed from a partially-human genetic 
  material. It has cat-like eyes and skin covered with thick chitin. Its fingers end in long, 
  hook-like claws, and its mouth is filled with row after row of bloody teeth.
  Warbot
  Str 8, Dex 8, Spd 7, End 8, Int 6, Per 6, Chr 1, Det 8
  Defense 10/21, DR 5, Shock 21, Wound 8
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Guns 3, Melee 3
  Cannon: +7 (�24M/�16M/�8M/�4M), Range 20, Shots 30
  Auxiliary Guns: +7 (�15M/�10M/�5M/�2M), Autofire 2, Range 10, Shots 20
  Bayonet Limb: +7 (�24M/�16M/�8M/�4M)
  EMP Hardening: If a warbot is ever exposed to an EMP or similar effect, draw a card. 
  On anything but a joker the warbot ignores the effect entirely.
  Machine: As a machine, a warbot is immune to metabolic hazards, as well as emotion-
  based consequences.
  A warbot is a human-sized robot that has been designed and hardened for close 
  quarter’s warfare. This differenti-
  ates it from the combat drone, 
  which is designed primarily 
  for light security work. The 
  warbot features a variety of 
  weapons, as well as a long-lived 
  battery and adaptable AI. It 
  typically moves along the 
  ground on numerous 
  flexible legs.
  
  60
  Aliens
  Beyond the human sphere may lie countless alien dangers. The following entries 
  are all dangerous combatants which are decidedly inhuman. As always, it is up to the 
  GM which of these dangers may exist in her campaign.
  Gray
  Str 3, Dex 5, Spd 4, End 3, Int 8, Per 4, Chr 5, Det 5
  Defense 7/14, DR 0, Shock 7, Wound 3
  Skills: Awareness 2, Bio-Sci 3, Comp-Ops 3, Engineer 3, Guns 3, Investigate 2, 
  Lib-Arts 2, Mechanic 3, Medic 1, Persuade 2, Phy-Sci 3, Program 2
  Psi Skills: Telepathy 3
  Laspistol: +5 (�24M/�16M/�8M/�4M), Autofire 3; Range 20; Shots 10
  Gear: AR Implant, Chameleon Suit, Hand Terminal
  Size -1: Grays are small and nimble. This has been factored into the gray’s Defense 
  and Shock values.
  These beings look much like the “little gray men” of pop culture. Nevertheless, they are 
  quite frightening in their own right. They stand roughly 1.3m tall, with smooth gray 
  skin and large inhuman eyes that are matte black in tone. They have little noticeable 
  nose, and are known for both their surgical precision and sociopathic lack of remorse.
  Hitch’nyv
  Str 7, Dex 6, Spd 6, End 8, Int 7, Per 7, Chr 3, Det 5
  Defense 9/19, DR 3, Shock 16, Wound 7
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Bio-Sci 2, Comp-Ops 2, Crafts 2, Guns 3, Investigate 2, 
  Mechanic 2, Melee 3, Stealth 1, Phy-Sci 2
  Laspistol: +6 (�15/�10M/�5M/�2M)
  Spurs: +6 (�21M/�14M/�7M/�3M)
  Infravision: Hitch’nyv can see into the infrared, allowing them to ignore penalties for 
  darkness.
  Rage: As a reaction to being wounded, a Hitch’nyv may spend an AP to immediately 
  declare and execute an attack.
  The Hitch’nyv are an imposing sight, standing over 2m tall, and covered with rough, 
  scaly skin. They have multifaceted eyes, and several joints on each of their four limbs. 
  Each joint is backed by a wicked-looking spur.
  
  61
  Mimic
  Str 6, Dex 6, Spd 6, End 6, Int 6, Per 6, Chr 8, Det 6
  Defense 9/18, DR 0, Shock 12, Wound 6
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Comp-Ops 2, Deception 5, Empathy 4, Guns 2, 
  Lib-Arts 2, Melee 2, Persuade 4, Socialize 3
  Light Pistol: +5 (�15M/�10M/�5M/�2M), Range 10, Shots 10
  Unarmed: +5 (�18L/�12L/�6L/�3L), Range 10, Shots 10
  Ambush: A mimic may suddenly perilously sprout needles from its body. These are 
  ineffective, except against a surprised, unaware or helpless target. Against these 
  targets, however, a mimic’s unarmed damage is severe instead of light.
  Assume Form: A mimic may assume the form of any victim from which it gains a cell 
  sample. This is usually obtained by killing and consuming the victim. Assuming the 
  victim’s form takes 10 minutes, after which the mimic looks, sounds and smells like 
  the victim. The mimic then usually replaces them and uses this to kill its next target.
  Independent Parts: A mimic’s body parts can operate independently. This allows it 
  to shed excess mass should its next victim be smaller in size. Once enough excess 
  mass is shed, this mass can form a new mimic.
  A mimic is a shapeshifting alien killer that devours and assumes the form of its victims. 
  Mimics are masters of deception. They leverage the social status of their last victim to 
  get close enough to an unassuming target and attack, moving on to their next victim.
  Ovapositor
  Str 4, Dex 6, Spd 7, End 3, Int 2, Per 5, Chr 2, Det 5
  Defense 11/20, DR 2, Shock 8, Wound 3
  Skills: Athletics 4, Awareness 2, Melee 3, Naturalist 1, Stealth 3
  Thrash: +6 (�12L/�8L/�4L/�2L)
  Implant: After using its Face Grab trait and maintaining the grapple, as an action the ovapos-
  itor may implant an egg into the abdomen of its target. This egg will develop over the 
  course of three days, after which it will burst forth as a newly born xenoform, thereby 
  killing the victim. It can only be removed through minor surgery.
  Face Grab: After a successful attack, an ovapositor may immediately declare a grapple with 
  the target. In doing this the ovapositor manages to latch itself onto the face of its victim.
  Pounce: When making a melee attack, an ovapositor may immediately move for 
  free—as if it had spent 1 AP—before the attack executes.
  Size -2: Ovapositors are small and nimble. This has been factored into the ovapositor’s 
  Defense and Shock values.
  An ovapositor is a disgusting alien creature, about the size of a domestic cat. It has a 
  crab-like form, with teeth on its underside and a pair of long tendrils. Ovapositors are 
  part of the xenoform reproductive cycle (see page 63). Their primary task is to stalk a 
  target and implant a parasitic egg, which will develop into a new xenoform.
  
  62
  Starspawn
  Str 12, Dex 8, Spd 7, End 7, Int 3, Per 5, Chr 3, Det 6
  Defense 9/19, DR 5, Shock 19, Wound 9
  Skills: Athletics 4, Melee 5, Naturalist 4, Stealth 2
  Tendril: +9 (�36M/�24M/�12M/�6M)
  Burrowing: Starspawn can burrow through soil, rock or even metal surprisingly 
  quickly. By declaring an action to burrow through 1m of material per AP spent, 
  moving the rubble to cover themselves. This gives +5 DR per meter of rubble 
  they’re covered with. It also allows them to burrow in preparation for an ambush.
  Countless Limbs: Starspawn are covered with numerous tendrils, shifting maws and 
  claws and limbs. These allow the starspawn to hold numerous things at once. It 
  also allows them a +4 bonus to gain or maintain a grapple.
  Enhanced Actions: Starspawn gain 5 AP per round.
  Frightening Visage: An attacking starspawn is truly a frightening sight to behold. The 
  first time a starspawn attacks, all aware foes must get a Det-12 flip or increase their 
  Fear consequence a severity. Increase it two severities on a failure with Mag 5+.
  Size +1: Starspawn are large creatures. This has been factored into the starspawn’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  Starspawn are terrible creatures from the unknown reaches of space. Their forms 
  always appear to be constantly shifting, and they possess a mass of eyes, tentacles, 
  limbs and teeth. 
  Titan Relic
  Str 14, Dex 8, Spd 7, End 12, Int 8, Per 8, Chr 1, Det 10
  Defense 9/21, DR 20, Shock 44, Wound 13
  Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Comp-Ops 2, Mechanic 2, Guns 3, Melee 3
  Knife Arm: +7 (�42M/�28M/�14M/�7M), Pierce 5
  Laser: +7 (�24M/�16M/�8M/�4M), Autofire 3; Range 20; Shots 20
  Inscrutable: As a relic of a lost civilization, Titan relics are immune to all computa-
  tional and mechanical attempts to subvert their systems, unless the character has 
  first been able to thoroughly study a disabled relic in a controlled environment.
  Machine: As a machine, a combat drone is immune to metabolic hazards, as well as 
  emotionally-based consequences.
  Size +2: Titan relics are gigantic killing machines. This has been factored into the 
  relic’s Defense and Shock.
  Hulking mechanical relics from the lost Titan civilization, Titan relics are elephant-
  sized monstrosities of metal and electronics. They have numerous limbs—many 
  outfitted with a powerful knife-edge—and a well-armored core. Many also have a 
  powerful laser.
  
  63
  Xenoform
  Str 11, Dex 6, Spd 6, End 8, Int 3, Per 5, Chr 4, Det 5
  Defense 7/16, DR 5, Shock 20, Wound 9
  Skills: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Melee 3, Naturalist 1, Stealth 3
  Bite/Claws: +6 (�33M/�22M/�11M/�5M)
  Enhanced Actions: Xenoforms gain 4 AP per round.
  Size +1: A xenoform is a large creature. This has been factored into the xenoform’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  Toxic Fluids: Whenever a xenoform is dealt a 
  wound, anyone within 5m is sprayed with 
  the xenoform’s corrosive and toxic 
  bodily fluids. This deals 5M damage 
  to everyone in the exposed area.
  A xenoform is a hulking alien 
  predator with scythe-like claws and a 
  large toothy maw. It has a hardened 
  exoskeleton and long tail. It is 
  primarily bipedal, although it is 
  capable of running on all fours as 
  well. A xenoform develops from an 
  egg implanted in a host organism by an 
  ovapositor (see page 61).
  Xenogoo
  Str 9, Dex 7, Spd 4, End 12, Int 1, Per 3, Chr 1, Det 8
  Defense 6/13, DR 10, Shock 30, Wound 10
  Skills: Awareness 1, Melee 2, Naturalist 2
  Pseudopod: +5 (�27M/�18M/�9M/�4M)
  Corrosive Touch: Anything which touches a xenogoo gets covered in corrosive mucus. 
  This increases the target’s Bleeding consequence a severity. It quickly ruins exposed 
  objects within 4 rounds.
  Mindless: A xenogoo is immune to all mental consequences and effects.
  Resistance: A xenogoo has an additional +20 DR against blunt damage.
  Size +1: Xenogoo is a large creature. This has been factored into the xenogoo’s 
  Defense and Shock.
  A xenogoo is a large blob-like creature, which is surprisingly quick for its bulk and 
  composition. A xenogoo can extend pseudopods from its main body to manipulate 
  objects, or to lash out. They can also squeeze themselves through surprisingly small 
  openings, and are covered in a corrosive ichor.
  
  4
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadows Over Sol/Fatal Frontier.pdf