TEXT:  
   
       
  LURIAN    TRAILING   CLUSTER – BOOK 2 
  THE   LOST   FLAME   OF   PROMETHEUS 
   
  COMPATIBLE   WITH   STARS   WITHOUT   NUMBER 
   
  By Josh Peters
  
   
   
   
                                 1 
  LURIAN   TRAILING   CLUSTER – BOOK 2 
  THE   LOST   FLAME   OF   PROMETHEUS 
   
  Credits
  Cover Art 
  (c) sdecoret  www.fotosearch.com Stock Photography 
  Interior Art 
  (c) sdecoret www.fotosearch.com Stock Photograph 
  (c) Digitalstudio  www.fotosearch.com Stock Photography 
  Author 
  Josh Peters 
  Editor 
  Omer Golan-Joel 
  Interior Design & Layout 
  Kathy Hazlewood 
   
   
  All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All significant characters, 
  names, places, items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Stellagama Publishing. Parts of this game product have been published under the Open Game 
  Licence. A copy of this licence is shown on the last page of this book. To learn more about the Open Game Licence, please go to www.mongoosepublishing.com. 
  This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organisations, places 
  or events is purely coincidental. 
   
  Stars Without Number™ is a trademark of SineNomine Publishing and of Kevin Crawford. Used with permission under license. 
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  2 
   
  Contents 
  Lurian    Trailing   Cluster – Book 2 .................................................................................................................. 1 
  Introduction: Welcome back to the Lurian Trailing Cluster ........................................................................ 3 
  Required Materials .................................................................................................................................. 3 
  About the Author .................................................................................................................................... 4 
  GM Info: Navigating the Lurian Trailing Cluster .......................................................................................... 5 
  New Ship Size Classification: Corvette .................................................................................................... 6 
  A note on Tech Levels and Terminology: ................................................................................................ 8 
  Chapter 1: Five Detailed Systems................................................................................................................ 9 
  Aipaloovik ................................................................................................................................................ 9 
  Enke ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 
  Artume .................................................................................................................................................. 21 
  Abreia .................................................................................................................................................... 26 
  Rudianos ................................................................................................................................................ 34 
  Chapter 2: The Flame of Prometheus in the Lurian Trailing Cluster—Fiction and Fact ........................... 43 
  Chapter 3: The Hunt for the Flame of Prometheus Campaign ................................................................. 47 
  Campaign Outline: ................................................................................................................................. 47 
  Starting the Campaign: The Hook ......................................................................................................... 53 
  Part 2: Getting to Artume ..................................................................................................................... 67 
  Order of Prometheus Star Chart, with Drill Nav Routes (December 2664). ......................................... 85 
  Appendix: Logs and Other In-Character Clues .......................................................................................... 86 
  Open Gaming License ................................................................................................................................ 91 
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  3 
   
  Introduction: Welcome back to the Lurian Trailing Cluster 
  The Lurian Trailing Cluster (LTC) is a group of fourteen adjacent systems in Karta Sector that form a natural 
  trading zone. During the Terran colonization era, misfits, rebels, exiles, and immigrants settled these worlds 
  looking for a fresh start. Six hundred years ago, a psychic cataclysm caused the Deluge, a time of chaos, death, 
  and the near-total collapse of human civilization. Most of the worlds of the LTC survived the Deluge because 
  they were already self-reliant, but some weathered the calamity better than others.  Now that the Deluge has 
  finally receded, these traumatized societies are ready to reclaim the stars. 
  Exploration in the name of advancing technological and scientific development is paramount to the long-term 
  survival of any society, and those of the Lurian Trailing Cluster are no different. There is a real, practical, need 
  to uncover the secrets of long-lost civilizations and decipher their technologies. The Deluge set back scientific 
  and technological development by centuries. Finding useful artifacts is one thing, but finding examples of 
  technology that can be reverse-engineered can be even more valuable to any society. Finding a data repository, 
  like a library or archive, filled with the scientific, technical and cultural information needed to advance society 
  is the ultimate dream of any scholarly expedition into the ruins of the past. There are many reasons hardy 
  individuals take up a life of adventure in pursuit of knowledge. Some are scholars willing to chase down even 
  the most tenuous myths, in the hope that they will uncover a long-lost truth. Some are scientists who are sick 
  of waiting for others to return from expeditions, just to sift through amateurishly sourced piles of technological 
  scrap. Some are genteel treasure hunters, whose hunger for knowledge is spurred on by a thirst for glory and 
  fame. And some just want to get paid very well by whoever is sponsoring expeditions into the unknown these 
  days. 
  This book is split into three chapters. Chapter One describes, in detail, five systems of the Lurian Trailing Cluster.  
  Chapter Two recounts the Legend of the Flame of Prometheus – a quasi-mythical repository of vast knowledge 
  - and how it was lost during the Deluge. It also discusses the true fate of the missing Flame. Finally, Chapter 
  Three presents a campaign about a group of ambitious Lurian treasure hunters and scholars who go searching 
  for the long-lost Flame of Prometheus. 
  One more Lurian Trailing Cluster book is planned, and will include write-ups of the remaining six systems, as 
  well as details for further adventures set in the Cluster. 
  Required Materials 
  The Lurian Trailing Cluster Book 2: The Lost Flame of Prometheus is designed for use with Sine Nomine 
  Publishing’s excellent game Stars Without Number. The complete free version of Stars Without Number is 
  available for download at: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition. 
  Stellagama Publishing’s Lurian Trailing Cluster: Book 1 is highly recommended to get the most out of this 
  product. It can be found at: 
  http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193545/Lurian-Trailing-Cluster--Book-1 
  A pencil, paper, and a complete set of polyhedral dice are also required in order to get the most out of this—or 
  any—gaming book. 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  4 
   
  References to Other Books 
  In this book, references to specific pages in other books and products are shown as the code for the relevant 
  book followed by the page number, both in italics, thus: SWN x or (SWN x) 
   Stars Without Number Free Edition: SWN 
   Suns of Gold: Merchant Campaigns for Stars Without Number: SoG 
   Skyward Steel: Naval Campaigns for Stars Without Number: SS 
   Engines of Babylon: EB 
   Lurian Trailing Cluster: Book 1: LTC1 
   Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game 3rd Edition: BFRP. This free OSR fantasy game can be downloaded at: 
  http://basicfantasy.org/download.cgi/Basic-Fantasy-RPG-Rules-r97-bookmarked.pdf 
   
  Die Throw & Notation Conventions 
  The die throw and notation conventions used in this book are the same as those described on SWN 6. 
  Systems 
  The rules for skills, combat, hazards such as radiation, starship travel, or other game systems are the same as 
  those in the Systems chapter on SWN 59. 
  About the Author 
  Josh Peters is a high school math and history teacher, an accomplished drummer, and avid tabletop RPG gamer. 
  Josh has a Master’s degree in history, and resides in Montreal, Canada, with his beautiful, patient wife and 
  deviously adorable daughter. 
  Stellagama Publishing 
  Stellagama Publishing is a small, independent, international role-playing game publisher focused on science 
  fiction gaming. We publish stuff for the White Star™ RPG; Sword & Wizardry: White Box™; Mongoose 
  Publishing® Traveller™, 2nd edition; Stars Without Number, and the 2D6 Sci-Fi OGL rules; and. Our interests are 
  first and foremost to put forth enjoyable, immediately playable supplements, settings and adventures for these 
  games for the enjoyment of our fellow players and GMs. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  5 
   
  GM Info: Navigating the Lurian Trailing Cluster 
  The worlds of the Lurian Trailing Cluster are all accessible via Spike-1 drive-equipped starships. This would 
  normally make it a very busy section of the galaxy, with a very high volume of interstellar traffic, and very 
  lucrative interstellar trade. However, one of the main conceits of Stars Without Number is that in order to drill 
  safely from one system to the next, a starship requires a safe course chart by which to navigate. Without an 
  accurate chart, even the most mundane Spike drill can be catastrophic for all but the most experienced 
  navigators. Moreover, a world that is adjacent on the map but without a Spike drill course connecting it to 
  another world may as well be located across the galaxy: it is, for all intents and purposes, completely isolated—
  unless someone is foolhardy enough to attempt a blind drill. 
  The existence of specific drill courses combined with the dangers associated with attempting to navigate without 
  any course charts creates a “Spike geography” in the LTC. The peculiar Spike geography of the LTC is the result 
  of the exploration and colonization efforts that occurred before the Deluge, and has not changed since. Basajaun 
  serves as the central hub system, and from there, three arms extend out: one to Spinward, ending at Moloch; 
  one to Trailing and Coreward, which includes everything from Lur up to Vanth; finally, the Rimward arm extends 
  down to Enke, and to Artume, and is the only one that is not commonly travelled. Only a select few Karta Trading 
  League and Gure Gauza (LTC1 17-19) captains have access to the spike drill course charts from Basajaun, to Enke 
  and on to Artume. There are no known course charts that plot the drill to Rudianos. No one has visited that 
  system in centuries. 
  Understandably, an up-to-date spike drill course chart is a valuable commodity. Gaining access to course charts 
  can be an adventure unto itself. More importantly, a previously unknown drill route, complete with a (relatively) 
  safe course chart, is a priceless treasure for any starship captain. For the newly resurgent Lurian Trailing Cluster, 
  the revival of interstellar trade is made possible only by the rediscovery of all the drill routes within the Cluster 
  itself, and to the systems beyond. Recently, the Karta Trading League and Lurian Republic have negotiated a 
  deal to make Spike drill course charts publicly available for the routes along the Spinward and Trailing-Coreward 
  arms. The KTL and Gure Gauza are still the only traders with access to the systems of Enke and Artume. The KTL 
  has not deemed it fit to share any of its course charts that leave the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
  For general information on the Lurian Trailing Cluster, an overview of the fourteen worlds in the Cluster, as well 
  as information and game statistics for the factions found in the Cluster, please see LTC1 7-24. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  6 
   
  New Ship Size Classification: Corvette 
  Corvette-size vessels: Falling between small fighter-class hulls and larger frigate hulls, the corvette hull fills the 
  gap between small one-person crewed ships and larger vessels that might be too large for a handful of 
  entrepreneurs looking to make a fortune among the stars. Corvette-class ships are usually civilian vessels, 
  though some interstellar navies have made use of small, cheap, well-armed vessels as pickets, espionage ships, 
  and raiders. 
  Special Rule: treat Corvette-class hulls as Fighter-hulls for purposes of starship fitting masses. Corvettes use the 
  Frigate-class price multiplier for starship fittings. 
  Cutter Hull: The cutter is a common workhorse vessel in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. Occupying a middle ground 
  between small shuttles and larger trader hulls, the cutter can be many things: small trader, courier, scout, and, 
  in Aipaloovik, privateer. Cutters are a cheap alternative to larger free merchant ships for crews not interested 
  in, or able to, engage in bulk trade. 
  Gunboat Hull: Occupying a middle ground between small fighters and larger patrol boats, the Gunboat is a small 
  military vessel. It is used mainly as a raider, scout, and privateer. This type of vessel is highly prized in the Lurian 
  Trailing Cluster, because it is relatively cheap and packs a punch. 
   
  Class 
  Cost 
  Speed 
  Armor 
  HP 
  Crew Min/Max 
  AC 
  Power 
  Mass 
  Hardpoints 
  Size 
  Cutter 
  500k 
  3 
  2 
  15 
  1/4 
  6 
  8 
  8 
  1 
  Corvette 
  Gunboat 
  800k 
  4 
  5 
  18 
  1/4 
  6 
  10 
  10 
  2 
  Corvette 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  7 
   
  System Index: 
  Hex 
  Name 
  Atmosphere 
  Temperature 
  Biosphere 
  Pop 
  TL 
  GG 
  Stars 
  Tags 
  0506 
  Moloch 
  Thin 
  Cold 
  Immiscible 
  OP: 1000 
  4 
  3 
  M3V M9V 
  Tomb World, Outpost World 
  0606 
  Kadmon 
  Breathable 
  Temperate 
  Miscible 
  150 
  million 
  3 
  1 
  G8V M2V 
  Cold War, Heavy Industry 
  0706 
  Aipaloovik 
  Airless 
  Temperate 
  Remnant 
  200 
  0 
  1 
  M3V M4V 
  Abandoned Colony,  
  Heavy Mining (former) 
  0805 
  Basajaun 
  Breathable 
  Warm 
  Hybrid 
  400k 
  3+ 
  2 
  M4V M3V 
  Colonized Population,  
  Trade Hub 
  0806 
  Enke 
  Breathable 
  Temp-Cold 
  Miscible 
  600k 
  3 
  2 
  K4V M7V 
  Sea-going cities, 
  Xenophobes 
  0906 
  Meza Virs 
  Breathable 
  Temp-Warm 
  Hybrid 
  60 
  million 
  3+ 
  2 
  G6V K7V 
  Badlands World, Warlords 
  0907 
  Artume 
  Airless 
  Cold 
  None 
  OP: 500 
  4 
  1 
  M5V 
  Bubble Cities,  
  Flame of Prometheus 
  1003 
  Vanth 
  Breathable 
  Temperate 
  Hybrid 
  600k 
  1 
  5 
  K3V M4V 
  Oceanic World,  
  Restrictive Laws 
  1004 
  Byalstok 
  Thick 
  Temp-Warm 
  Hybrid 
  1 million 
  4- 
  2 
  G7V BD 
  Heavy Mining,  
  Freak Weather 
  1005 
  Yama 
  Breathable 
  Temperate 
  Miscible 
  19 million 
  3 
  0 
  G8V K9V 
  Oceanic World, Civil War 
  1006 
  Abreia 
  Breathable 
  Temperate 
  Hybrid 
  5 million 
  3 
  2 
  K0V K5V 
  Desert World, Rigid Culture 
  1007 
  Rudianos 
  Breathable 
  Warm 
  Miscible 
  800k 
  3+ 
  4 
  G1V BD 
  Flying Cities, Tomb World 
  1106 
  Lepra 
  Corrosive, 
  Invasive 
  Warm 
  Microbial 
  OP: 2000 
  4 
  1 
  F3III 
  Hostile Space, Gold Rush 
  1107 
  Lur 
  Breathable 
  Temperate 
  Miscible 
  15 million 
  3+ 
  3 
  G4IV BD 
  M3V M4V 
  Progressive, Liberal 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  8 
   
  A note on Tech Levels and Terminology: 
  The Deluge: One of the inspirations for Karta Sector, the Lurian Trailing Cluster and the secrets it contains, is 
  the Deluge Myth: that at one point, humanity was so corrupt and beyond salvation that a higher power decided 
  to wipe the species out and begin anew. In the Lurian Trailing Cluster, the Deluge refers to the events that 
  would quickly wipe out interstellar civilization in Karta Sector: the utter chaos, unmitigated violence, and 
  societal collapse that occurred in the psychic cataclysm's wake. 
  Tech Level 3+: Tech Level 3 with specialties is a fairly common version of a Tech Level 3 society that experiences 
  occasional interstellar contact. While the majority of the world’s technology is solidly Tech Level 3, in some 
  areas, typically space travel and weapons technology, the world is able to produce—often by salvage—simple 
  versions of Tech Level 4 items. Spike drives are typically limited to Drive-1. Tech level 3+ worlds often have a 
  definite “frontier” feel. 
  Tech level 4-:Tech Level Low 4 is a slightly different phenomenon than 3+. In this case, the world is highly 
  advanced in a variety of ways, but does not have much in the way of interstellar technology. At best, a TL4- 
  world can manufacture a spike drive at Drive 1 rating, but often does not have the facilities or human expertise 
  to do so. These worlds often have an otherwise high-tech feel, but are limited in their interstellar travel 
  capabilities. 
  The Order of Prometheus: A pre-Deluge monastic order that worked to preserve knowledge and civilization 
  throughout known space, and especially on the frontier. The Prometheans were deeply steeped in mysticism 
  and mysteries, and not much is known about them in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. Their data library on Basajaun, 
  better known as a Flame of Prometheus, was lost during the early days of the Deluge. 
  The Merchant Guild: A pre-Deluge interstellar trading organization. The Merchant Guild often made money 
  acting as intermediaries between parties involved in difficult trade negotiations. The Merchant Guild did not 
  survive the Deluge in the Lurian Trailing Cluster, but their impressive Prime Station orbiting Basajaun did. 
   
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  9 
   
  Chapter 1: Five Detailed Systems 
  The following systems were briefly introduced in LTC1 11-15, and are discussed in greater detail here. 
  Aipaloovik 
  Hex 
  Name 
  Atmosphere 
  Temperature 
  Biosphere 
  Pop 
  TL 
  GG 
  Stars 
  0706 
  Aipaloovik 
  Airless 
  Temperate 
  Remnant 
  200 
  0 (4) 
  1 
  M3V M4V 
  Tags: Abandoned Colony, Heavy Mining (former) 
  Enemies: A motley scavenger crew picking over the old starport. They will shoot first and loot the bodies later. 
  Their ship, the Zirnitra, a well-armed merchant freighter, is hidden in the asteroids. A cunning, semi-sentient 
  stalking predator alien, guarding its lair from humans. Julius Saracco, the KTL political refugee-turned-pirate 
  leader in Aipaloovik. 
  Friends: Spike, a lonely AI trapped in a barely functioning computer core that is helpful because the PCs are the 
  first sentient beings it has seen in three centuries. Orion Kent, an antediluvianprospector that managed to hide 
  in a suspended animation berth in the depths of an asteroid. If the PCs find him and thaw him out, he will be 
  very grateful. Francesca Jurako, a Gure Gauza operator looking to escape Saracco’s pirate/mining base. 
  Complications: The PCs’ KTL-registered ship is carrying cargo that the pirates particularly object to: slaves. A 
  mine is not structurally sound, and there is a cave-in. Trapped methane gas is released during exploration of a 
  mine: any sudden move could set the whole place alight. An asteroid is home to a rare and hungry space-worm. 
  The mining facility security system is activated, and ancient security drones are on the way. 
  Things: An aggressive, malfunctioning security robot. A long-forgotten mine-car track; where does it lead? 
  Mining lasers and other heavy equipment. A Polymorphic Route Oracle, hidden deep in a forgotten vault: it is a 
  priceless treasure, worth hundreds of thousands of credits—if not millions—to the right buyer. Who else knows 
  about it? The long-lost mining claims of the pre-Deluge miners, on a dataslab. An enormous pile of valuable rare 
  minerals, already processed, and left in the ruins. Prospecting tubes of a promising find. But where is it located? 
  A massive automated mining robot/facility, clinging to a nearby asteroid. It is about to detach and head to 
  another asteroid. 
  Places: A dark, silent tomb filled with mummified corpses exposed to hard vaccuum. A secret tunnel leading to 
  a cache of pretech relics. The mess hall of a massive miners’ residence in the starport. The enormous smelting 
  complex, once a mighty furnace of industry, now a cold, dead, vacuum.  
  Trading: None. The Aipaloovik Pirates might be willing to trade salvage for luxuries, but not in quantities large 
  enough to warrant using the rules in SoG. 
  Fleet Build Points: 8. The Aipaloovik Pirates have made good use of their technical skills, scavenging parts to 
  maintain their small fleet. The pirates are unable to build new ships, but they can easily maintain their current 
  ship numbers, mainly by cannibalizing any wrecks they come across. 
  Aipaloovik Fleet: The pirates are well-stocked with small spike-1 capable fighters and shuttles: they have at 
  least a dozen, and possibly more hidden away in storage across the asteroid belt. These are almost always armed 
  with sandthrowers or reaper batteries. The fleet has a handful of larger vessels: two free merchant traders, a 
  patrol boat, and three cutters. These ships are spike drive vessels in name only: none of them have drilled out 
  of Aipaloovik in years.The Aipaloovik pirates are expert navigators in their home system; they have mastered 
  the art of ambushing their prey as they refuel from the only gas giant in the system, and know how to use the 
  asteroid belt to hide their numbers from the occasional KTL patrol that comes looking for trouble. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  10 
   
  System Overview: 
  Aipaloovik was the site of an extensive asteroid belt mining operation, with thousands of miners and hundreds 
  of vessels working the massive asteroid field that still dominates four system orbits today. Aipaloovik is now a 
  dark, lonely system with a single gas giant useful for refueling operations. The main star here is a small red 
  dwarf; a remote binary star orbits half a parsec away. Although the asteroid field around Aipaloovik station itself 
  is played out, the inner and outer belts in this system are still rich. A lucky prospector could find a beltstrike of 
  major value here nowadays, though water and silicates are still common. There is a small fortune to be made in 
  salvage here as well. Pirates also operate out of Aipaloovik, due to the system’s location straddling the only 
  spike drill route from Basajaun to Moloch, and to systems further beyond the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
   
  Occupied Orbits 
  0 
  (M3V) 
  1 
  Planet (Molten, size 4) 
  2 
   
  3 
   
  4 
  Asteroid Belt 
  5 
  Asteroid Belt—Aipaloovik 
  6 
  Gas Giant (14 moons and Asteroid Belt) 
  7 
  Asteroid Belt 
  8 
   
  9 
   
  16 
  (M4V) 
   
  Planetary Overview: 
  Aipaloovik is a very large asteroid, and was chosen as the site of the main starport and ore processors in the 
  system, in one of the densest parts of the asteroid belt. It had a major mining operation that employed most of 
  the inhabitants. The rest were on Aipaloovik to run the bars, brothels, processing stations and the star port. This 
  was a frontier belter colony par excellence. When the Deluge came, the habitation domes that provided life 
  support for hundreds if not thousands of miners were compromised during the upheaval. Most of the 
  inhabitants died, and the whole system was left in ruins by those few who made it to Basajaun or Kadmon. A 
  handful of survivors managed to enter emergency cryogenic hibernation berths, but their fate remains 
  unknown. Much as been picked clean over the last six centuries, but who knows what treasure awaits deep in 
  the mines? 
  Not surprisingly, Aipaloovik has a small transient population of pirates, smugglers and other criminals holed up 
  in a few old facilities in the system. These small groups are independent, and keep to themselves, unless a 
  particularly juicy target enters the system. Notably, some of the pirates here are refugees from Nezha Cluster 
  from beyond the Lurian Trailing Cluster, who did not fit in with the Karta Trading League’s new pragmatism—
  specifically the tacit acceptance of the Gure Gauza slave trade in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. As a result, the Gure 
  Gauza are universally despised by the criminals and pirates in this system. 
   
  Notable Places: 
  The Asteroid Belt: this system’s asteroid belt was considered a major find during the Terran State Era, and it 
  was meticulously surveyed and exploited by all sorts of entrepreneurs for all sorts of reasons. When the Deluge 
  hit, chaos reigned for a while, and then silence. The asteroid belt might still contain some rare minerals or heavy 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  11 
   
  metals. These days, however, anyone visiting this system’s belt does so to scavenge from the ruins and wrecks 
  of the vessels and installations that once operated here. 
  Aipaloovik Starport Ruins: Aipaloovik was the name of the asteroid, and the major belting station in this system. 
  The facility is a massive structure, dominating much of the exterior of the asteroid, and a surprising amount of 
  its interior. Much of Aipaloovik was pressurized, and had artificial gravity. Now, the station has lost most of its 
  atmospheric integrity. The whole place is a maze of twisted metal, exposed circuitry and ruin. Aipaloovik has 
  been scavenged only once before, after the Deluge, but has otherwise been undisturbed for centuries. 
  Knowledge of this place has been lost by even the KTL, who only acknowledge publicly that a mining operation 
  used to be here, and nothing more. Whatever awaits a determined explorer shall be a surprise to all. 
  Abandoned Mines: By the time of the Deluge, Aipaloovik itself had more or less been played out. However, 
  there were plenty of secondary asteroid facilities and deep mines that twisted and turned through even small 
  rocks. The asteroids in the inner-most system orbit were largely ignored because of the difficulty getting to them 
  compared to the outer belts. Many of the planetoids here are very rich in all the right metals and minerals 
  needed for postech and pretech manufacturing. In any case, abandoned mines are quite common in the belts, 
  and all sorts of salvageable goods can be found here. One such mine has been used to hide a Polymorphic Route 
  Oracle (SoG 68) by parties unknown. The device is waiting to be salvaged from the asteroid mine, but whoever 
  hid it also set up some aggressive security measures to discourage unwanted visitors. 
  Abandoned Mobile Ore Mining Hulk: Sitting astride an asteroid like a giant mechanical space-spider, is a large 
  mobile industrial mining complex. This facility is a massive devourer of asteroids, built in-system by an interested 
  corporate mining conglomorate that did not survive the Deluge. The Hulk is shut down, but in its heyday, its 
  Fotosearch - http://www.fotosearch.com 
  (c) sdecoret www.fotosearch.com Stock Photography 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  12 
   
  operators could steer it to a target asteroid and attach anchor it with its four building-sized “legs”. Then, with 
  the help of a small swarm of semi-autonomous mining pods, the Hulk would begin tearing the asteroid apart 
  with a wide variety of drills, lasers and and “frakkers” designed to split the asteroid quickly and efficiently. 
  Everything would be stored in containers, for processing at the Aipaloovik Processing Station. The Hulk is a 
  twisted maze of access hatches, maintenance tunnels, and dangerous rock grinders. No one has been aboard it 
  in half a millenium. 
  Aipaloovik Processing Station: Adjacent to the asteroid’s starport lies the massive, hulking ore refinery that 
  served this whole system. It was once a testament Terran technology and Karta Sector's frontier know-how. The 
  Processing Station was designed to remove the contents of belt-mining cargo hold modules that were 
  specifically designed to mesh with the station. Then, raw material was shunted to various holding zones, some 
  of which were pressurized to enable direct access to the ore for sampling. But most was kept in vacuum storage, 
  and then smelted in massive arcology-sized furnaces. The molten metals were poured into ingots or other 
  desired shapes, and further processed for bulk shipping. Now, the entire station lies cold and dead. Untold 
  wealth and danger is contained within, as the six centuries of micro-gravity vacuum decay have turned the 
  processing station into a silent tomb. Spike, the processing station’s braked AI core, is in a semi-dormant ready-
  state. He has limited computing power in his current incarnation in the machinery. Much of the computer core 
  and databanks of the Processing Station were purpose built, and six centuries of neglect have not been kind. 
  Aipaloovik Stalker: This large, dog-sized creature has taken up residence somehow in the pressurized portions 
  of the  Aipaloovik Processing Station, and now defends its territory from any encroachment. Roughly spider-like 
  and hermaphroditic, it usually feeds on vermin and pests that can be found in the dark corners of Aipaloovik. 
  However, it will eagerly take up the challenge of hunting a new food group. The Stalker will attack from ambush, 
  and flee to strike again later if needed. It has a Stealth skill of 2. 
   
  Aipaloovik Stalker 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 4 
  No. Appearing 
  1 (1d4 for more fun!) 
  Hit Dice 4 
  Saving Throw 
  11+ 
  Attack Bonus +6/+6/+6 
  Movement 
  30’ 
  Damage 1d6/1d6 claws 
  1d10 mandible 
  Morale 
  7 
  The Aipaloovik Pirates: The Aipaloovik Pirates are a rag-tag band of political refugees-turned-criminals who 
  inhabit a half-dozen old asteroid mining facilities in this system. They have a small fleet of armed spike drive 
  vessels, and prey on shipping that passes through Aipaloovik—especially any vessel known to be affiliated with 
  the Gure Gauza or KTL.  You can find their faction information on LTC1 20, but it is worthwhile to discuss their 
  motivations and social structure here. 
  Upon its arrival in the Lurian Trailing Cluster, the Karta Trading League sold its principles in order to develop a 
  working relationship with the Gure Gauza. Early on, many of the KTL traders were uncomfortable dealing with 
  organized crime elements, but they rationalized away their misgivings by the usual means: someone had to 
  provide the illicit goods and services that were in demand across the LTC. If the KTL didn’t deal with the Gure 
  Gauza, someone else would. And besides, the Gure Gauza trading network already in place provided stability, 
  and that was good for business. 
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  13 
   
  KTL merchants had to swallow a much larger, harsher, pill when they learned that the Gure Gauza was the main 
  force driving the slave-trade in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. Pragmatism won out, and the merchants would learn 
  to hold their noses when dealing with Gure Gauza slavers. Certainly, the KTL outlawed any slavery on its ships, 
  stations, or planetary holdings. Nor would the KTL allow any of its members to be enslaved. Instead, a tacit 
  understanding of tolerance towards slaving took hold very quickly on Prime Station and the KTL’s other holdings: 
  outright slavery was forbidden, but perpetual indentured service contracts and other quasi-legal forms of 
  slavery were recognized as a part of the “cultural milieu” in which the KTL was forced to operate. 
  As the KTL’s coffers filled, fewer and fewer voiced their dissent to this moral “flexibility”; however, a group of 
  principled merchant captains and spacers, led by Julius Saracco, publicly recoiled from the tacit acceptance of 
  slavery. And when their protests were rebuffed, these captains rebelled, taking their ships and crews to 
  neighboring Aipaloovik system, where they began raiding Gure Gauza and KTL shipping with equal ferocity. 
  Nearly three decades have passed, and the Aipaloovik pirates now form a small community in the asteroid field. 
  Their ships are battered, the crews tired, but they continue their fight against the abomination that is slavery in 
  the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
  The pirates are now organized according to their ship: crew and their families are members of the extended 
  “clan” that is their affiliated vessel. They did this largely out of practical needs. The children of these spacers are 
  raised to be spacers themselves, often learning by watching their parents on the job. Meetings take place at a 
  secret asteroid base, discovered early after the fleet’s arrival at Aipaloovik. It is here that most trading, 
  matchmaking and planning occurs. These days, the Aipaloovik pirates are increasingly restless.  Their attacks on 
  KTL shipping are diminishing in frequency and effectiveness. Slavery, the Gure Gauza, and the KTL don’t seem 
  to be going away anytime soon. Some are calling for bloodier raids. Others consider the schism with the KTL all 
  those years ago a lost cause. Only time will tell if the Aipaloovik Pirates can be a force for positive change in the 
  Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  14 
   
  The Trusty-class light freighter: 
  This small freighter is an old, well-worn design that is common in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. It is a lower-tech 
  design, usually made from refurbished hulls or cannibalized from older parts. As such, its performance is often 
  lower than normal (armor and speed might be reduced). All this has given the class the less flattering name of 
  “Rusty”-class trader. The Aipaloovik Pirates have a handful of Trusty-class freighters, which they have armed 
  with cannibalized weapons from salvage operations. These ships are sufficiently dangerous to pose a problem 
  to the traders making their way from Basajaun to Moloch. 
   
  Trusty-class light freighter 
  Hull: Cutter 
  Power: 8/4 free 
  Mass: 8/0 free 
  Cost: 545 000 
  HP: 15 
  Crew: 1/4 
  Speed: 3 
  AC: 6 
  Armor: 2 
   
  Cargo 
  10 tons 
  Weaponry 
  Reaper Battery: 3d4, clumsy 
  Defenses 
  None  
  Fittings 
  Spike-1 Drive 
  Atmospheric Configuration 
  Ship’s Locker 
  Monthly Cost 
  16200 
  Payroll: 12000 
  Stores: 2400 
  Maint. 1800 
  Notes 
  This Trusty-class freighter has been cannibalized from a few wrecks 
  that were found drifting in the Aipaloovik system. It has not made a 
  single drill out of Aipaloovik system since it became operational two 
  decades ago. What has prevented this ship and its crew from being the 
  laughingstock of the Pirates is that it mounts a very angry-looking 
  Reaper Battery particle accelerator. 
   
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  15 
   
  Enke 
  Hex 
  Name 
  Atmosphere 
  Temperature 
  Biosphere 
  Pop 
  TL 
  GG 
  Stars 
  0806 
  Enke 
  Breathable 
  Temp-Cold 
  Miscible 
  600k 
  3 
  2 
  K4V M7V 
  Tags: Sea-Going Cities, Xenophobia 
  Enemies: Commodor Jonas Gilford, tasked with defending the floating city of Iridia and Enke in general from 
  Offworlders. He commands a wet-navy fleet of escorts and destroyers. Carmine Obororos, an Enken treasure 
  hunter/pirate with a large, armed, deep sea submarine. A group of hunters from the frozen city of Yoramba, 
  ready to ambush any Offworlders (PCs). Ilya Chinedu, the Buru of the Gure Gauza interstellar slaver ring that 
  operates in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. She has two ships, the Red Queen, a large slaving frigate, and the Eris, a 
  small scout/raiding ship. 
  Friends: San Lucas, a fishing community of roughly 20 boats and a small island village/harbour in the equatorial 
  region, open to trade. Pablo Urago, the captain of a belter vessel operating quietly in the gas giant asteroid field. 
  Mikal Navar, a young fish farmer from Ankara who is desperate for someone to help him free his family from 
  slavers. 
  Complications: Pirate marauders from Meza Virs and Abreia  arrive and engage in slave raids. A massive storm 
  drives a floating city onto shallow shoals, causing extensive damage. A pack of icebergs threatens a city. The 
  rulers of a city have banned trade with offworld merchants. An Iridian customs patrol, bearing down on the ship 
  the PCs are travelling in—if they discover offworlders, they’ll shoot and neglect to ask questions. 
  Things: The untouched treasures of the sunken ruined city of Kayzar. A map of the last known location of the 
  city of Kayzar, carved in rock on a small island atoll. A weak homing beacon for the Polaris, a small starship that 
  crashed into the northern glacier a century ago. It is trapped in the ice with cold sleep pods; unfortunately, the 
  PCs aren’t the only ones tracking it. A vital shipment of repair supplies for the city of Yoramba. Rare deep core 
  glacier samples that would be useful in understanding the rapid glaciation on Enke. 
  Places: Ankara, a frozen city, nearly encased in ice, with a vibrant holdout population. A frozen, brilliant, wind-
  swept ice sheet plain. The asteroid belt around the gas giant, where interstellar merchants often play cat and 
  mouse with slave raiders. The high seas in a rough storm. The bridge of the city of Iridia, where major decisions 
  are made. The slums of Iridia, which are nothing more than rafts moored to larger rafts, outsiders can find 
  shelter here. A small fishing village on a remote island atoll, far away from everything. 
  Trade: Waterworld/Glacier World 
  Friction: 5—Enke is deeply xenophobic, and most traders have a hard time making headway. 
  Supply and Demand:  -2 Agricultural, -1 Vehicles, +1 Survival, +1 Tools, +2 Livestock 
  Goods 
  Type 
  Cost 
  1 
  Processed fish and krill 
  Agricultural, Low tech 
  500 
  2 
  Exotic Caviars 
  Luxury, Low tech, Compact 
  10000 
  3 
  Aquatic Pharmaceuticals 
  Medical, Compact, Rare 
  50000 
  4 
  Housewares, Postech 
  Common, Postech 
  5000 
  5 
  Parts, Vehicles (watercraft) 
  Tools, Vehicle, bulky 
  10000 
  6 
  Metawheat 
  Agricultural, Low Tech 
  500 
  7 
  Tools, Industrial 
  Tool, Postech 
  10000 
  8 
  Slaves 
  Sapient 
  25000 
  9 
  Small Arms, Projectile 
  Military, Low Tech,  
  5000 
  10 
  Vehicles, military watercraft 
  Vehicle, Postech, Military, Bulky 
  25000 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  16 
   
  Trouble: 4 As per Tyranny. 
  Notes: Enke presents a major problem to traders and most offworlders because the Enkens believe that 
  offworlders are a scourge. Even those Enkens who do engage in trade with off-world strangers are remarkably 
  circumspect and often very bigoted in outlook. 
  Fleet Build Points: 28. Enke is a TL3 world with some remnant technological capabilities in computing and 
  cybernetics from before the Deluge. The most developed technology on the planet is wet-naval architecture, 
  which does have some space applications. The Enkens have not been able to develop any space-going 
  technology on their own.  
  Enke Fleet: None. The Enkens have been subjected to repeated slaver raids during the Deluge because they 
  have not been able to defend themselves from threats from space. The three largest floating cities of Iridia, 
  Delhi and Artemisa do have advanced wet navies. When they are not busy jockeying for position or engaging in 
  low-level warfare amongst themselves, the most advanced of these vessels might have the ability to shoot down 
  a careless spacecraft in atmosphere. 
   
  System Overview: 
  Jaya, the bright orange star in this system, has a binary red dwarf in the tenth orbit. Nayda orbits in a very, very 
  slow procession, altering seasons and tides on the other planetary bodies. One of the system’s two gas giants 
  orbits this red dwarf, further complicating refuelling operations and navigation in and out of system. The other 
  gas giant sports a massive asteroid belt that has not been extensively exploited. The only planet with any water 
  and life is Enke, the mainworld. 
   
  Occupied Orbits 
  0 
  Jaya (K4V) 
  1 
  Jurema (Airless rockball, burning) 
  2 
  Niti (rockball, polar ice caps) 
  3 
  Prinelas (rockball,  cold) 
  4 
  Enke 
  5 
  Bessarion (GG, with major asteroid belt) 
  6 
  Sophoulis (frozen GG, 5 large moons) 
  10 
  Nayda (M7V) 
  10a 
  Leda (GG, 12 moons) 
   
  Planetary Overview: 
  Enke is an arctic water world. The planet is far enough away from its sun that it is not tidally locked, and makes 
  a full day’s rotation every 30 hours. Only 14% of the planet is dry land, and most of that is trapped under massive, 
  multi-kilometer thick glacial ice. The planet is currently in the grips of a brutal ice age, which began just at the 
  beginning of the Deluge. The dominant theory among Enken scientists is that the ice age might be due to the 
  slow progression of Nayda’s orbit  in the solar system, and there is no indication of it letting up any time soon. 
  The ice sheets on Enke are extensive. Most of the planet is covered in ice except for a thin equatorial band. The 
  ice is not encroaching on the remaining liquid ocean, but neither is it receding.The flora and fauna of this world 
  are mostly aquatic, though some species have evolved to live on the small continents and island archipelagos 
  that dot the equatorial regions. Most of the native life is compatible with human biochemistry. It is theorized 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  17 
   
  that a massive enzyme compatibility introduction project was undertaken when the colony was first settled, but 
  no one really knows. 
   
   
   
  Enke Society: 
  Before the Deluge, Enke was the site of major engineering feats. The colonists had constructed massive floating 
  cities, and the world’s culture had evolved around these amazing structures.The destruction wrought by the 
  Deluge was profound: some cities sunk after riots, while violence and social disorder caused fires and huge 
  damage to those cities that remained afloat. Then, the ice age commenced. Cities were trapped on shoals as 
  sea levels dropped, only to be crushed by the advancing ice shelf. Some of the trapped cities have been 
  completely abandoned, their last known location lost to all but a few emigres. Others still subsist on whatever 
  can be farmed in undersea aquaculture operations. The few free-floating cities near the equator are the most 
  prosperous, but even there, life is difficult. The Enkens are particularly resentful of offworlders: after the Deluge 
  no help from their neighbours ever came. They feel they were abandoned to drown with their cities. Matters 
  only got worse when contact was finally re-established, it was in the form off-world raiders who began a brutal 
  campaign of pillaging, slaving, and destruction. While some cities are more reasonable in their outlook towards 
  off-world visitors, the prevailing notion among the floating and trapped cities is that off-worlders are predatory 
  savages responsible for the Deluge, and will one day be made to pay for the suffering they inflicted on the poor 
  people of Enke. 
  Enkens are divided into two major social groups: the City Folk live in the massive floating arcologies and are 
  generally urban in outlook and behavior. The Fisherfolk are more nomadic, living in their boats, or base their 
  operations out of small island villages. Many Fisherfolk hail from coastal villages located on the remaining larger 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  18 
   
  land masses. Few live in the interior: the tundra and arctic climates are particularly harsh, and unsuited for 
  agriculture. The two groups are not necessarily antagonistic, though many of their interests do conflict. In 
  general, the City Folk are less tolerant of outsiders, both local and extra-planetary, than the Fisherfolk. The City 
  Folk have also maintained a fairly high level of technology. They are capable of producing some amazing deep-
  sea exploration vehicles when they are required. As well, the City Folk are no strangers to cybernetic 
  augmentation, advanced computers, and advanced engineering techniques. The Fisher Folk are much less tech-
  savvy, but they have mastered the technologies that they rely on to survive and thrive as well. The knowledge 
  and infrastructure required to build spike-drive capable ships has been completely lost on Enke. 
  Language, Culture and Religion: Nigerian, English, and Germanic are the most common languages among the 
  Enkens. Culturally, most Enkens are quite xenophobic, and their society is riddled with self-doubt and insecurity 
  about its future on the planet. This resignation is not all-pervasive, but it does inform much of the religious 
  observance on Enke. A number of doomsday cults exist here, though they have not discovered any maltech to 
  spark them to act on their beliefs. However, this has not prevented them from supplanting many of the more 
  traditional Christian and Buddhist adherents on Enke. Even those more traditional faiths have taken an 
  apocalyptic turn among Enken believers. 
  Notable Locations: 
  Iridia: The largest and most prosperous of the floating cities. Iridia guards the Passage, the navigable strait 
  leading from the Eastern Ocean to the Basin. It is the main bottleneck for ocean-going vessels on Enke. The 
  Iridians maintain a Passage Due, which provides them with a great deal of hard currency, as well as establishing 
  them as a major irritant to sailors on Enke. Unfortunately for the other floating cities and independents, Iridia’s 
  population of 150000 also maintains one of the finest navies on the planet. They have two (small) aircraft 
  carriers, a fleet of patrol destroyers and frigates, as well as a large but classified number of submarines. These 
  vessels are in various states of repair, as many are pre-Deluge relics. The Iridians are desperate to maintain their 
  stranglehold on shipping trade on Enke, and the city’s royal family occasionally entertains thoughts of uniting 
  Enke’s floating cities under its benevolent rule. In order to increase Iridia’s power, the royal family is considering 
  allowing the Karta Trading League access to their markets, in return for spares for its navy. The Royal House of 
  Eridani has also sent a small delegation to Prime Station, orbiting Basajaun (LTC1 38-39) in order to petition the 
  KTL to help end slave raids on Enke. The Iridians are not aware of any connection between the KTL and the Gure 
  Gauza slave trade. Iridia is also desperate to develop nuclear weapons in order to cement its rulership over the 
  other cities and the few land settlements. Iridian scientists are working feverishly to develop a rudimentary 
  nuclear device. They are also considering a radical plan that involves detonating multiple nuclear bombs deep 
  in the polar glaciers to help bring about an end to the ice age.  
  Delhi: The main contender for the spot of most powerful floating city after Iridia is Delhi, population 170,000. 
  This floating city is currently anchored in the open ocean in the center of a large gyre. This provides the city with 
  a great deal of stability. It also forces anyone who would attack Delhi to enter into strong ocean currents that 
  would necessitate certain maneuvers that make most naval attack plans more predictable to the defenders in 
  the city. Delhi is a large and ungainly urban structure especially lacking in maneuverability, as far as ocean-going 
  cities are concerned. The city is ruled by a Confucianist theocracy that took power a century ago. The former 
  government, a democratic council, had lost a series of naval skirmishes with the Iridians, and the Confucian 
  mandarins that had staffed much of the city’s bureaucracy was spurred into action. Delhi is now ruled by the 
  Council of Mandarins, who ensure that the city’s residents conform to the Bureaucracy of the Deep Waters. 
  Delhi’s residents have grudgingly accepted the Council’s rule, as it has provided stability and a great deal of 
  organizational know-how: much of the city’s navy was once located on the ocean floor. It is now a reconstituted 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  19 
   
  fighting force, and is almost ready to challenge Iridia for naval supremacy on Enke. Delhi is, unfortunately, 
  extremely hostile to off-worlders, and barely welcomes Fisherfolk or Cityfolk from other floating cities on Enke. 
  Artemisa: This city is an industrial powerhouse on the high seas. Artemisa has a population of 120,000, and is a 
  dirty, pollution-spewing mass of tangled factories and warehouses. Artemisa makes everything, and its citizens 
  are proud of the fact that every other floating city trades for Artemisan manufactured goods, from weapons to 
  power plants. The city is one of the few places on Enke where the government is not totalitarian or absolutist in 
  some way. Here, a republican system holds the various factions in check, ensuring that no one group—the 
  military, the clergy, the industrialists, the workers—hold too much power. Unfortunately, this internal 
  politicking has turned Artemisa inward-looking; there are few here who are interested in military dominance or 
  scientific exploration. Like most places on Enke, Artemisa is rather hostile to offworlders, though some goodwill 
  might be accorded traders who are willing to part with exotic foodstuffs in exchange for manufactured goods. 
  Yoramba: One of the major floating cities that has been recently trapped in polar ice. The Yorambans have 
  managed to make the best of a bad situation, but are constantly attempting to free their giant arcology from 
  the glacier’s clutches. Over 40000 people make Yoramba their home, and while many Yorambans are bitter 
  about the eventual fate of their home, a vocal, energetic minority are confident that they can solve the problem. 
  The glacier is roughly 2km tall, and is slowly driving Yoramba up and out of the sea. The most recent failed 
  attempt to free the city was just two years ago. 
  Ankara: This city is a glittering jewel, a tragedy, and a secret haven for freedom. Ankara is nearly completely 
  encased in glacial ice. When the ice age began, the sea level dropped dramatically, and the city ran aground on 
  a previously unknown shoal. The Ankarans tried to free their home for many generations, but the city has been 
  lifted out of the ocean by the ice sheet, and has finally been surrounded over the last decade. The most 
  optimistic estimate is that Ankara has another two decades before it is completely crushed by the ice. The 
  Ankarans are resigned to the fate of the city. Much of the old elite has already left, and those who remain are 
  determined to enjoy their doomed home to the fullest. There is an open democracy flourishing in Ankara, which 
  is also the least xenophobic major settlement on the planet—10,000 people who won’t automatically shun, 
  cheat, or assault offworlders as a matter of course. The Ankarans have also developed amazing forms of cultural 
  expression: their deep core ice sculptures are singularly spectacular. 
  San Lucas: This small fishing village is actually descended from a group of off-worlders who made Enke their 
  home during the height of the Deluge. They are remarkably friendly for Enkens, and many of their children make 
  a point of accepting outsiders, or even hitching a ride on visiting spacecraft to other stars. The Lucans number 
  no more than 150, and keep to themselves on their small, lush and flourishing island home. 
  Kayzar: The Lost City of Kayzar is a mythological sunken ruined city. It is one of many such myths, but there are 
  those who claim to be former residents of the Lost City, and have an inkling of its final resting place. The truth 
  is that the city was lost in living memory, as the northern ice shelf finally sunk the trapped floating arcology. The 
  city now rests at the bottom of the ocean under four kilometers of solid ice, its exact location now a mystery. 
  Those who claim to have a map to its location are nearly all charlatans, but someone currently alive must have 
  an idea of where the city is… 
  The Red Queen and Eris slave ships: There are many slave ships that have plagued Enke over the centuries. In 
  the last fifty years, none have inspired more terror than the Red Queen slaver, and its “herald” the Eris. The Red 
  Queen is a Gure Gauza-affiliated frigate that has a reputation across the Lurian Trailing Cluster. Due to the KTL’s 
  tacit acceptance of the slave trade, the Red Queen is able to operate out of Yukatan on Meza Virs with little 
  difficulty. The Eris is an independent mercenary ship that has been engaged by the Red Queen’s financial backers 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  20 
   
  to provide extra muscle and escort capabilities for the larger ship. The two ships are harbingers of death and 
  terror, and the appearance of either in the skies over Enke has brought down the government of mor than one 
  floating city that could not prevent slave raids on its citizenry. Recently, the Iridians have sent a small delegation 
  of noblemen and women to Prime Station in order to petition the KTL to put an end to slave raids on Enke. They 
  do not yet know how futile their diplomatic efforts will be. 
   
  The Red Queen Slaver 
  Hull: Frigate 
  Power: 15/0 free 
  Mass: 15/0 free 
  Cost: 4,640,000 
  HP: 40 
  Crew: 10/80 
  Speed: 2 
  AC: 7 
  Armor: 
  10 
  Cargo Space 
  20 tons 
  Weaponry 
  Reaper Battery: 3d4, Clumsy 
  Defenses 
  None 
  Fittings 
  Armory, Atmospheric Configuration, Cold Sleep Pods (x5) Extended 
  Life Support, Fuel Scoops, Ship’s Locker 
  Monthly 
  Cost Total 
  109000 
  Payroll: 
  75000 
  Stores: 15000 
  Maint: 19300 
  Description 
  A much-feared slaving ship in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. The Red 
  Queen is not fast, nor is it well-armed, but it is advanced enough to 
  overcome any resistance a low-tech settlement may have.  The Queen 
  can carry 200 captives in cold sleep, and has enough stores for 80 
  active humans. Usually the Queen has 40 crew/raiders, and another 
  40 slaves in chains in the cargo hold. 
   
  The Eris Slaver Scout 
  Hull: Gunboat 
  Power: 10/0 
  Mass: 10/0 
  Cost: 1,870,000 
  HP: 15 
  Crew: 1/4 
  Speed: 4 
  AC: 6 
  Armor: 
  5 
  Cargo Space 
  4 tons 
  Weaponry 
  Plasma Beam: 3d6, AP: 10 
  Defenses 
  None 
  Fittings 
  Atmospheric Configuration, Armory, Boarding Tubes, Cold Sleep Pods, 
  Extended Life Support  
  Monthly 
  Cost 
  15500 
  Payroll: 7500 
  Stores: 1500 
  Maint: 6500 
  Description 
  The Eris works with the Red Queen slaver, and is considered to be 
  the “herald” of the larger vessel. This small, heavily armed ship 
  operates as a pirate and slaving scout for the Gure Gauza slavers in the 
  Lurian Trailing Cluster. In addition to the crew, the Eris holds a small 
  contingent of raiders, and can store four captives in cold sleep. 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  21 
   
  Artume 
  Hex 
  Name 
  Atmosphere 
  Temperature 
  Biosphere 
  Pop 
  TL 
  GG 
  Stars 
  0907 
  Artume 
  Airless 
  Cold 
  None 
  OP: 500 
  4 
  1 
  M5V 
  Tags: Bubble Cities (Tomb World), Flame of Prometheus 
  Enemies: Karlin Perera, the leader of a group of scavengers who are quietly exploring many large domes on 
  Artume’s surface. The Intimates, a secret cabal of technology cultists who are not happy that the Flame of 
  Prometheus on Artume will be defiled by the unclean. Emanuel Naxos, unscrupulous KTL treasure hunter. Boss 
  Lisger Trall, the harsh Gure Gauza Buru that runs Nestor. He’ll want his cut of whatever the PCs bring back to 
  the station. Harrison Churchill, a slave trading ship’s captain on Nestor station looking for wholesale wares. 
  Friends: Elias Tobin, scrap dealer who knows his way around the ruins of Solozanos. Geraldine Hayward, a 
  wandering Nativ Zohar acolyte and seeker of knowledge. She might have information to help the PCs’ search 
  for the Flame of Prometheus. Mendy Janorus, a Gure Gauza man on Lazardis that needs the PCs for some jobs. 
  Captain Zeru Etxea, the captain of the Belauntzi, the Gure Gauza merchant ship that keeps the Artume 
  settlement afloat.  
  Complications: A decaying support strut fails and some of the ruins collapse on the PCs! The PCs have triggered 
  an ancient alarm system, and reactivated security drones are on the way—they have blasters. The competition 
  arrives to ambush the PCs and relieve them of their salvaged treasure. An NPC with a grudge against a PC has 
  arrived on Nestor station, with some of his biggest, meanest friends, and, unlike the PCs, he’s in the good graces 
  of the Gure Gauza here. 
  Things: The ancient Flame of Prometheus, which is a secret underground library complex, filled with pretech 
  and priceless knowledge. Its main database is priceless, and it belongs in a museum. A wreck of a pretech 
  scout/corvette starship in good condition. An alien artifact with script matching the same script found at Lepra,in 
  the Flame of Prometheus. Somewhat portable pretech habitat life support technology, which would be priceless 
  on countless other planets. A shipment of a few dozen slaves from Abreia, languishing in a pen in Lazardis. The 
  Gure Gauza captured them and brought them to Artume for warehousing and processing. 
  Places: On the outside of an old habitat dome, surveying the damage. Deep inside the rockball Artume, in the 
  dusty halls of the Flame of Prometheus. The old parts of the Solozanos starport, still in decent shape, but cold 
  and dead. The lively cantinas and merchant stands on the station Nestor. By lively, read dangerous. An out of 
  the way warehouse in Lazardis, where the Gure Gauza have set up slave pens. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  22 
   
  Trade: Station/Wreck. Artume is a mining and scavenging outpost that exists to facilitate the plundering of the 
  old settlement that used to thrive here. In general, it’s a haven for all sorts of shady deals. 
  Friction: 2 
  Supply and Demand: +2 Survival, +1 Livestock, -1 Postech, -2 Sapients  
   
  Goods 
  Type 
  Cost 
  1 
  Colonial Survival Materials 
  Survival, Postech, Common 
  2000 
  2 
  Fine Liquor 
  Luxury, Low Tech, Compact 
  10000 
  3 
  Medical Supplies, Postech 
  Medical, Postech, Compact 
  25000 
  4 
  Parts, Starship Maintenance 
  Postech, Astronautic, Rare 
  25000 
  5 
  Parts, Postech Industry 
  Postech, Tool 
  10000 
  6 
  Pretech Junk 
  Pretech 
  50000 
  7 
  Slaves 
  Sapients 
  25000 
  8 
  Housewares, Postech 
  Postech, Consumer 
  5000 
  9 
  Tools, Astronautic 
  Tool, Postech, Astronautic 
  25000 
  10 
  Metal Ingots, Rare Alloys 
  Mineral, Bulky, Rare 
  5000 
  Trouble: 3, as Tyrranical world. Subsitute in Gure Gauza organized crime goons instead of more typical political 
  goons. 
  Notes: Artume is a scavenging operation first and foremost. It needs basic supplies like rations and all the 
  necessities of life support, as well as the sorts of luxuries and amenities that you can’t bring along with you when 
  you’re planning an expedition into the deepest darkest parts of an entombed airless city. There are two major 
  points of trade: Lazardis, the starport, which is on the surface, and the station Nestor, which is in 
  geosynchronous orbit. Both are dens—nay, nests—of iniquity, but trade does happen. 
  Fleet Build Points: 3. The Gure Gauza that run Artume are not interested in shipbuilding, as that might attract 
  too much attention to their operation here. However, enough high-tech salvage comes up off Artume’s surface 
  to be useful for parts and repairs. 
  Artume Fleet: A few system shuttles exist to take merchandise up from Lazardis to Nestor and back down. As 
  well, the Gure Gauza ship Belauntzi operates out of Nestor. The Belauntzi is a fast free merchant, with a Spike-
  2 drive and a secret proprietary drill rudder to Basajaun. The Gure Gauza rely on the ship for supplies and news. 
  System Overview: 
  This lonely system is cold and quiet. Artume is the single rockball planetoid orbiting a massive jovian gas giant. 
  The gas giant, Zar, is far enough away not to be tidally locked to its nameless red dwarf star, but there really 
  isn’t much worth exploring here. The tidal forces from the tug of war between the red dwarf star and Zar provide 
  Artume’s planetary core with some energy, which is what made this barren rockball an attractive prospect for 
  miners. There isn’t much else in this system, though the occasional asteroid and planetoid can be found if you 
  really look hard enough. 
  Planetary Overview: 
  Artume itself is just another rockball moon, however its geothermal activities formed rich mineral deposits and 
  subsequently led to extensive mining operations. There is no liquid water present on the planet, and no 
  atmosphere. The surface is scoured with impact craters, and further scarred by multiple strip-mining sites and 
  old boreholes. Even with the intensive mining capacities of Antediluvian  technology, Artume was not played 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  23 
   
  out. Many small and medium sized domes dot the planetary surface as well, each a massive, ancient, tombstone 
  marking someone’s failed dreams of making it rich. 
  Artume was once a burgeoning hub of heavy mining, with a population in the tens of thousands. There were 
  multiple operations; domes can be found everywhere on the planetary surface. The main spaceport was on the 
  surface at Solozanos, with a smaller space station Nestor. Solozanos was a magnificent testament to advanced 
  industrial techiques: it was as much an ore and compound processing center as it was a full starport. The Deluge 
  was easy on Artume, although panic swept Solozanos when the few psions in the system died or went insane. 
  However, the situation stabilized very quickly, and humanity on Artume looked like it was going to be able to 
  weather the flood, for the near future at least. Plans were made to set up a trade expedition to Lur: processed 
  ores would be exchanged for much-needed life support supplies and food. Then, tragedy struck. A massive ore 
  hauling ship, the MTD Javadi, crashed into the main habitation dome at Solozanos, causing an explosive 
  decompression. Whoever survived the disaster left as quickly as they could. All that remains of Artume’s main 
  settlement at Solozanos are mummified corpses, unprocessed ores, and half-empty fuel bunkers in the starport. 
  Other settlements collapsed as life support systems failed.  In the end, Artume sat dead and lifeless for centuries. 
  At some point during the Terran State Era, the Prometheans set up a commune and research facility deep inside 
  the planet in an old mine. Fearing the worst in human nature, the Flame of Prometheus computer core and 
  vault/repository was kept away from prying eyes. Hidden within are multiple pretech artifacts, as well as xeno-
  artifacts that predate settlement in Karta subsector. These xeno-artifacts include alien devices brought to the 
  Prometheans from the Lepra system, as well as samples of the mysterious alien script that are found on  the 
  ruins on Camros beyond the LTC. Most importantly, the Flame of Prometheus contains data that could provide 
  untold scientific and technological knowledge to all worlds in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. It must not fall in the 
  wrong hands. The Prometheans, if they still exist, have not visited their Artume facility since the beginning of 
  the Deluge. It has passed into myth, and occasionally treasure hunters arrive on Artume to seek it out. None 
  have succeeded. 
  Black X’s refer to major habitat dome ruins and/or remains of large mining operations on Artume’s surface. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  24 
   
  Artume Society: 
  Nearly a century ago a small group of Gure Gauza-affiliated salvagers and explorers managed to restore power 
  to the main orbital station Nestor. Since then, Artume has been home to a transient population of scavengers, 
  miners and speculators, all of whom have been desperately searching for the hidden treasures that they know 
  must still be waiting inside the ancient mines or the airless halls of the old settlements on the moon’s surface. 
  There are now two main outposts: the orbital station Nestor exists mainly for traders and the more transient 
  adventurers. It’s population is roughly 200 people, give or take. Nestor station is a large, convoluted facility, 
  ancient and complex. Half of it is still unused and somewhat unexplored. 
  The rest of Artume’s population is found dirt-side, mainly in Lazardis, a small secondary starport facility that was 
  brought back online some five years ago. Lazardis was once a mining center on the planet, and has become 
  something of a boom town, especially since a very small ore refining system was brought to the planet’s surface 
  and began smelting operations. The massive Antediluvian ore refinery in Solozanos remains empty and dead, 
  and Solozanos itself is still largely unexplored and dark. The wreckage of the MTD Javadi still lies in the middle 
  of the city, its habitat dome a shattered mess of composites and glass scattered around the ship. No one who 
  has entered the Javadi has ever emerged alive. 
  Nestor and Lazardis are ruled by the Gure Gauza, through a variety of front organizations to present a bare 
  fascade of respectability. The Gure Gauza use Nestor as an out-of-the-way clearing house for black market items: 
  slaves, illicits of all sorts, pretech artifacts, information, and occasionally spacecraft. If goods are marketed on 
  Nestor, it means that the Gure Gauza doesn’t want the rest of the Lurian Trailing Cluster to know about them. 
  On Lazardis, they provide more legitimate services for miners, but charge hefty service, storage, and refining 
  fees. Artume is one place where the Gure Gauza can operate with impunity, and even then they are reluctant 
  to rule directly. The Gure Gauza on Artume have a single ship, the free merchant Belauntzi, which they use for 
  regular resupply and shipping to and from Basajaun. The Belauntzi is carefully disguised as a Spike-1 vessel, but 
  is, in reality, a rare Spike-2 capable ship. The Gure Gauza captain, Zeru Etxea, has a secret course rutter direct 
  from Artume to Basajaun, which he uses to make infrequent but quick resupply and trading missions. 
  In the shadows, watching very carefully, are the Intimates. This group of technology cultists are an ancient and 
  secret sect of the Gure Gauza that were tasked with stealing the Flame of Prometheus from Prime Station on 
  Basajaun, and moving it to Artume for their own nefarious purposes. They see themselves as Guardians of the 
  Flame, though their leadership were largely destroyed when the MTD Javadi crashed. Their ultimate goal was 
  to use the knowledge in the Flame to control the development of the Lurian Trailing Cluster, and eventually rule 
  Karta sector and destroy all who oppose them! Unfortunately, the Deluge nipped those plans in the bud. For 
  more information on the Flame of Prometheus and the Intimates of Artume, see the following chapters. 
  Notable Locations: 
  Nestor: The two hundred or so spacers and traders who make Nestor their home are a hardy, tough group of 
  survivors. The station is not particularly well-explored. The Gure Gauza boss, Buru Lisgur Trall, keeps people out 
  of the unexplored parts of the station mainly because he is understaffed and unwilling to take responsibility for 
  whatever changes that might occur should the station’s habitable areas be expanded. Boss Trall currently has 
  the locals under his thumb, and he knows that any change would probably be bad for business. 
  The station is divided up into a handful of sections: the Docks are the starship repair and cargo section is well-
  maintained, though very worn and old. A hangar exists for minor overhauls, though the work must be conducted 
  in zero-gravity and in a vacuum. There is no airlock for the Nestor repair facility. The Docks are also not fully 
  sealed, and require a great deal of maintenance to make sure that traders and their goods (mainly the latter) 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  25 
   
  are not damaged in transit. The “Market” is the major warehousing and brokerage space on the station. Traders 
  looking for a good deal are advised to make friends with the locals who work the Market for one of the larger 
  trading houses—all under Gure Gauza protection, naturally. Anyone who is violently opposed to slavery, or who 
  cannot conceal this attitude, is unwise to visit the Market. The Court is the main station promenade and social 
  space, with rough bars, brothels, and drug dens mixed in with hotels, restaurants, and slightly more savoury 
  locales. The Hab is where the station’s permanent residents reside in quarters that have all seen better days.  
  Lazardis: This small dome was once a mining town satellite settlement of Solozanos, and in the re-establishment 
  of human settlement on Artume, Lazardis was selected because it was close enough to Solozanos and other 
  dead settlements for easy salvage operations. It already had sufficient mining and ore processing equipment on 
  hand to make any new operations economically feasible. Only a few dozen outfitters and the owners of the ore 
  processing machinery make Lazardis their home. However, a few adventurous souls have set up bars and a 
  brothel here for the miners and salvagers. Lazardis is under the direct rulership of Lisgur Trall and the Gure 
  Gauza. Every business pays protection money, and the local security force is brutal in enforcing the peace. Woe 
  to the salvager who attempts to disrupt things at Lazardis. 
  Solozanos: The Dead City has only seen a handful of successful salvage operations pull out some lucrative goods. 
  The city’s dome is shattered, and the MTD Javari sits in the middle of the city, a giant sealed tomb. No one who 
  has entered the wreck of the Javadi has ever returned. Rumours abound of Solozanos’ hidden pressurized 
  buildings, and animals that have adapted to the environment, still guarding the untold treasures that lie within 
  the city’s shattered dome. 
  The Flame of Prometheus: The Prometheans did not actually move their priceless archive to Artume. That was 
  the work of the Intimates, who proceeded to establish the fake Legend of the Flame. The Flame was destroyed 
  by the crash of the MTD Javadi. However, enough relics and data survived for the Intimates to continue with 
  their plan and move the remaining pieces of the Prometheans’ work to their secret facility at Ringshadow 
  Station. There, a few score Intimates rest in cryo-sleep, guarded by advanced security systems and a number of 
  traps for those who may have found their way to their hidden base. The data archive, the Intimates and the 
  legend of the Flame of Prometheus are all detailed in the following chapter. 
  Language, Culture and Religion: The lingua franca on Artume is English, though the Gure Gauza operators here 
  have been known to converse openly in their strange language. Artume is home to spacers and scavengers, so 
  most of the cultural norms here are based on adaptations from spacer culture. If there are any religious 
  observances among those living on Artume, they are kept very private. 
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  26 
   
  Abreia 
  Hex 
  Name 
  Atmosphere 
  Temperature 
  Biosphere 
  Pop 
  TL 
  GG 
  Stars 
  1006 
  Abreia 
  Breathable 
  Temperate 
  Hybrid 
  5 million 
  3 
  2 
  K0V K5V 
  Tags: Desert World, Rigid Culture 
  Enemies:  Arlene Kershaw, corrupt Lurian trader: she has been working with Gure Gauza-affiliated slavers who 
  have been preying on many of the Lurian Trailing Cluster’s more vulnerable worlds. Abreia serves as her 
  inconspicuous and central base of operations. Abreian sand snake, a 5-meter long predator with fangs, and 
  poison in the dunes. Bjorn Nimota, an imperialist local warlord with dreams of conquest. He will not negotiate 
  and will actively stymie any peace talks among the northern powers. Guillaum Chen, a scavenger and mineral 
  prospector convinced the PCs are going to claim jump him. A hive of angry, hungry, Abreian xeno-termites. 
  Friends:  Julian Nuro, a technician at a desert outpost near Gateway who will help anyone in need. He has begun 
  smuggling slaves off of Abreia, aboard any vessel that will help. Leon Kristal, a local scientist exploring the ruins 
  of a habitat tower with his team. Piata Yokosawa, the ruler of Bregan who is willing to work with other warlords 
  in order to consolidate her position and survive what she sees as the last great conflict on Abreia. She is a 
  ruthless political animal, and needs leverage on Nimota to get him to cooperate, or to get him removed from 
  power somehow. 
  Complications: A sandstorm strands the PCs in a ruin. Can they survive long enough for rescue? A scavenging 
  team arrives at the PC’s campsite, and is looking to make a score. Local bandits want a cut of the PCs’ trading 
  revenues, An outpost’s water supply has been contaminated, and it is beyond the locals’ capability to fix. The 
  PCs accidentally deal with the Untouchable caste, or otherwise offend the locals by breaking caste laws. 
  Things: Pretech water condenser. Downed weather satellite with important information. A map of hidden wells. 
  A warehouse full of the last KTL merchant’s cargo. Precious traditional regalia needed for a Brahmana wedding 
  in Arbos, Peasant tribute to Heka, Opulent treasures of the Brahmana caste, lost in the Living Desert. 
  Places: The ancient and well-used palace of Placida, where water is channeled into fountains and pools for all 
  to enjoy. Sudra-caste slums in Heka, where opposition to Nimota is palpable. Inside a ruin of a massive 
  skyscraper that peeks out from under a cracked habitation dome. In a quiet oasis spring, deep inside a dark 
  grotto. A warehouse in the desert outpost of Gateway, filled with offworlder contraband seized by the Oligarchy. 
  Trade: Savage Desert World 
  Friction: 4 
  Supply and Demand: -2 Agricultural, -1 Cultural, -1 Sapient, +1 Tools, +1 Survival, +2 Military 
  Goods 
  Type 
  Cost 
  1 
  Colonial Survival Supplies 
  Survival, Postech 
  5000 
  2 
  Housewares, Basic 
  Low Tech, Consumer 
  2000 
  3 
  Livestock, Common 
  Common, Livestock 
  2000 
  4 
  Native Artwork 
  Cultural, Luxury 
  10000 
  5 
  Postech Building Material 
  Tools, Postech, Bulky 
  10000 
  6 
  Pretech Junk (Salvage) 
  Pretech 
  50000 
  7 
  Slaves 
  Sapient 
  25000 
  8 
  Small Arms, Projectiles 
  Military, Low Tech 
  5000 
  9 
  Tools, Basic Hand Tools 
  Low Tech, Tools 
  5000 
  10 
  Fine Liquor 
  Luxury, Low Tech, Compact 
  10000 
  Trouble: 4, As Savage World. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  27 
   
  Notes: Abreia is not a great place for trading, mainly because everyone is going to want a piece of the action. 
  The ruling class are quite aware that a trader could change the balance of power very suddenly. Gateway is the 
  notable exception. Reduce the Friction to 3 and the Trouble to 3. It’s not amazing, but it’s better than anywhere 
  else on the planet. The sole caveat is that only non-military goods receive this special adjustment. 
  Fleet Build Points: 38. The Abreians are not spacefarers, and are more concerned with surviving their hostile 
  desert home than they are with reclaiming their system. However, enough technology exists on the world that 
  they could contribute to a shipbuilding effort with proper diplomatic enticements. Abreia is also home to many 
  lost TL5 small vessels and astronautic parts that could be very beneficial if retrieved from the ancient starports 
  buried under desert sands. 
  Abreia Fleet: None of the warlords in the northern reaches of Abreia have any space assets. The habitat tower 
  of Gateway has the closest thing to a reliable starport on the planet, but the Oligarchy that rules Gateway lacks 
  any space assets as well. 
  System Overview: 
  Abreia system’s twin orange stars emit a large amount of radiation, and much of this system has borne the brunt 
  of this bombardment. The inner terrestrial planets here are all rockballs, their magnetic fields were unable to 
  prevent the EM radiation from the twin stars to strip away planetary atmospheres. Abreia itself orbits within 
  the precarious habitable zone, which is further out from the close binary than usual. The asteroid field here is 
  viable, but has not been explored since the Deluge. There are likely abandoned mining posts and other industrial 
  facilities hidden in the rocks. Two gas giants stand silent sentry further out, on slow orbits around the binary. 
  Their moons may have many secrets to divulge. 
   
  Occupied Orbits 
  0 
  Bikiak (K5V) 
  1 
  Ireki (K0V) 
  2 
  Kula (vacuum) 
  3 
  Vereg (thin atmosphere, bacterial biosphere) 
  4 
  Loth (airless rockball) 
  5 
  Carmina (thin atmosphere, no biosphere) 
  6 
  Abreia (Lina, Ober) 
  8 
  Asteroid Belt (viable) 
  9 
  Nioba (GG, 20 moons) 
  10 
  Krim (GG, 19 moons) 
   
  Planetary Overview: 
  Abreia is a dry, desert world with a thinner than average atmosphere. The native flora and fauna are highly 
  evolved, and have adapted well enough to the heat, the radiation, the atmosphere, and the aridity. The planet 
  is not tidally locked, but days are three weeks long. This tends to have a detrimental effect on imported life, 
  especially plant life and visiting spacers. There are no oceans here, and only at the poles are there any standing 
  lakes. Much of the water is subterranean; native life has adapted accordingly. 
  The vast majority of Abreia’s landscape is stark desert, though with a great deal of variation near the poles and 
  in protected valleys. This was not always the case; old Abreian myths hint at a time when the planet was a more 
  temperate, more lush home for humanity. Whatever happened during the Deluge either initiated rapid 
  desertification, or sped up the process a great deal. The end result is that between the 40th parellels, north and 
  south, there is very little water present on the surface of the planet. Much of the wildlife has adapted to 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  28 
   
  requiring minimal water, or by finding it deep in the ground. It is only at the poles where some standing bodies 
  of water exist, and even here life is harsh and unforgiving. Under the desert lies a vast subterranean network of 
  caves which hold much of the planet’s water. These caves teem with undiscovered and highly alien life forms. 
  Entrances to these caves are common and easy to find, as long as one knows what to look for. However, the 
  northern hemisphere, with its standing lakes and rivers, has fewer access points to the tunnels, since the water 
  is on the surface already. 
  Dotting the planetary desert landscape are the countless ruins of extensive human habitation: derelict and 
  decaying small towns, ruins of cities, cracked and destroyed habitat domes, and the settlements found inside. 
  Sometimes imported life forms that were once domesticated have survived and prospered in these ruins. 
  Whatever happened on Abreia, it took the lives of millions, if not billions of humans. Most significantly, there 
  are six ruined megalopolises on Abreia, scattered across the globe. Some are practically buried by the 
  encroaching sand dunes, but other megacities still stand in the open, in the dry cracking heat of the desert. They 
  are often visited by scavengers and raiders, desperately seeking to find whatever remaining technology that 
  might be salvageable. 
   
  Abreian Society: The Caste System 
  Human society on Abreia is defined by a rigid caste system that has evolved out of the socio-economic and 
  cultural realities of life in this harsh environment. The caste system that developed out of the chaos of the 
  Deluge is just one of the survival mechanisms that have endured due to its utility and inertia. Abreians are born 
  into four main castes, arranged below in order of precedence. Each caste can have as many as six sub-castes, 
  detailing various regional and occupational pecking orders:  
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  29 
   
  Brahmana: leaders, diplomats and priests. Most Brahmana Abreians are Mandalay speakers, and are urbanites, 
  living in the large northern cities, where they are closer to the centers of power. Brahmana Abreians comprise 
  roughly two per cent of the population. The Brahmana actively disdain commercial activity, relying on their land 
  holdings and other hereditary wealth for power. 
  Satria: public servants, police, and military officers. The Satria comprise five per cent of the planetary 
  population. While most do end up employed in government services in many small towns and villages, the 
  majority of the Satria caste is concentrated in urban centers.  
  Wesia: merchants, scientists and skilled craftsmen. Although they generate most of the commercial activity on 
  Abreia, the Wesia and much of their activities are viewed with disdain. The Wesia caste runs all the major trans-
  desert caravans on Abreia, and is also responsible for any interstellar trade—under Brahmana supervision, of 
  course. Roughly twenty-five per cent of Abreians belong to the Wesia caste. 
  Sudra: unskilled labour, servants and slaves. The Sudra is the most numerous caste, as well as the poorest. Slaves 
  from military conquest, regardless of their former caste membership, automatically become Sudra. The Sudra 
  are the least educated and have the lowest life expectancy of any caste. 
  Untouchables: Below the Sudra are the Avarna, or Untouchables, who live outside the caste system. 
  Untouchables are born into their caste, though it is possible to either leave the caste system or be expelled from 
  it: breaking the rules regarding caste intermingling is one of the main ways of becoming Untouchable. However, 
  small groups have been Untouchable since the implementation of the caste system. This is either a holdover 
  from the colonization of Abreia, or an indication that some rejected the caste system from the outset and were 
  made Untouchable during the Deluge. 
  The caste system on Abreia has a variety of cultural and social consequences. However, it should be noted that 
  despite any friction caused by the inherent injustice of the caste system, the stratification of Abreian society has 
  done a lot to keep it together in the face of the hardships humanity has suffered here since the Deluge. The 
  chaos of individuality, social mobility and democracy has been replaced by a necessarily sturdy social structure 
  that ensures continuity and stability. 
  The caste system is a complex affair that is difficult for outsiders to comprehend. There are restrictions on nearly 
  everything, from whom and when one can eat with, talk to, trade with, and sleep with. Generally, the upper 
  castes are proscribed from accepting gifts from the lower castes, though the reverse is not true. Certain streets 
  and districts in cities and towns are segregated by caste. Urban living is often dictated by caste, with higher 
  castes living more centrally, while lower castes living on the periphery of the city. Water use is also highly 
  dependent on caste: Brahmana are entitled to more water than lower castes, but they must be careful not to 
  use too much, or risk sparking highly destructive water riots. 
  Occupations, especially among Wesia, are usually inherited. This is done to ensure that every settlement always 
  has the right mix of technical and intellectual expertise. Naturally, the Brahmana view lower caste professions 
  as degrading, and will not (openly) engage in trade, craftsmanship, or servitude. Finally, social mobility within 
  the sub-castes of Abreian society is allowed, but upward mobility to a new caste is nearly unheard of. Marriage 
  outside of one’s caste is grounds for expulsion from the family, if not the entire community. 
  Abreian Society: The Rest 
  The preferred form of settlement on Abreia is a walled township, where the caste system does a decent job of 
  guaranteeing social cohesion. The population is concentrated in the northern hemisphere, and is sufficient to 
  support basic industry; most of the resources available are put towards survival and defense. Large cities are 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  30 
   
  rare, with only five major urban centers with more than 50,000 people existing on the planet. Here, industrial 
  manufacturing and large scale agriculture take place. As a result, life for the majority of urban Abreians is 
  difficult, but bearable. 
  Technology on Abreia is varied, though generally averages out to a poor TL3. Aircraft are rare and not seen 
  outside of the polar regions, due to the high winds of the desert. Ground vehicles are common, salvaged grav 
  vehicles and powered armor suits less so, the latter often adapted from survival gear. The cities are, naturally, 
  more technologically advanced than the more rural regions. Construction, hydroponics, and water recycling are 
  the most advanced technologies on the planet, crucial as they are to everyone’s survival. However, it is worth 
  noting that settlements are inter-dependent, and require vigourous trade in foodstuffs and outside technical 
  expertise in order to survive. 
  There is a major crisis challenging humanity on Abreia: the all-encompassing desertification of the planet, which 
  the locals have called the “Living Desert.” Abreians are experts at desert survival, and many will spend their 
  entire lives contending with the Living Desert. Their architecture tends towards building low, semi-submerged 
  structures, often drilling down deep enough to access the water that is hidden underground. Abreians 
  understandably prize water, greenery, and cool, damp spaces enough to make them standard features in any 
  long term habitats. Since the days are so long and unpleasantly hot, and the nights interminably long and 
  surprisingly cold, the pace of life can be slowed down to a speed off-worlders might find aggravating. However, 
  when the sun does not set for three weeks, there is little rush to carry out certain activities. “Putting things off 
  until tomorrow” is a ridiculous statement on Abreia. 
  The Living Desert: The Abreian Desert is, somewhat ironically, the result of the Deluge. Prior to the cataclysm, 
  Abreia was a prosperous colony with a population numbering in the hundreds of millions. The planet was 
  perfectly suited to human habitation, with a wide range of diverse ecosystems and life forms. Unbeknownst to 
  the Terran State or the colonists, this fortuitous situation was the result of ancient alien psychic terraforming 
  technology that had been planted deep within the planet millennia ago. When the Deluge hit, the psychic shock 
  wave destabilized the terraforming devices. Worse still, Kelechi Etung, a precognitive psychic, survived the 
  Deluge but was driven into a state of insane paranoia. In his feral state, Etung was now aware of these 
  terraformers. He managed to remotely access the alien technology and set the planet on a course for rapid and 
  total environmental collapse, before dying in the midst of the new desert he had created. 
  The Living Desert was mad Etung’s parting gift to humanity on Abreia. The devices that comprise the alien psi-
  tech terraformers are nodes embedded deep in the planet’s crust, and are powered by geothermal energy 
  sources. They work by projecting telekinetic or teleportative phenomena within their area of operation, and can 
  supplement this with a legion of psitech nanite-swarms capable of acting as psi-antenna relays. In short, the 
  Abreian Desert does seem to come alive, in the form of weather phenomena and “sand creatures” that can 
  suddenly ruin an otherwise well-prepared desert expedition or trade caravan. 
  Language, Culture and Religion: The majority of Abreians speak Nigerian or Mandalay, with Sino-Slavic and 
  English existing as trade/technical languages. Religion on Abreia is highly animist, and the deserts themselves 
  are worshipped as living entities that are analogous to how ancient mariners once worshipped and respected 
  the seas and oceans. Trees and water figure prominently in religious depictions of mercy and comfort. A few 
  Christian and Muslim missions exist here, but are often seen as inauthentic impositions on Abreia’s reality. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  31 
   
  Notable Places and Details: 
  Gateway: One of the larger oasis tower structures in the northern hemisphere, Gateway is so named because 
  it serves as the last stop before the great expanse of equatorial desert on the planet. The Living Desert holds 
  many secrets, and Gateway beckons the brave and foolhardy who are keen on making their fortune. The tower 
  is currently an independent free city with a population of about 25000.  The city is ruled by the mercantile 
  Oligarchy that has maintained its power there for the last three decades. The secret to Gateway’s success is that 
  it relies on trade: the other cities sell it food and water in exchange for technical and luxury goods coming from 
  offworld or the ruins in the Living Desert. Gateway is the only place on the planet where offworld traders can 
  even hope to get something close to a fair shake, and has a reputation as a cosmopolitan trading settlement, 
  despite its government. As long as traders are willing to obey the rules and grease the right palms, they will be 
  able to operate with little problem. 
  Heka: This settlement is the largest urban center on Abreia, and is ruled by a driven, ruthless warlord: Bjorn 
  Nimota’s rule is absolute, and he collects tribute from countless farms and hamlets across the north. He has set 
  his sights on Gateway, as well as all the other northern fiefdoms. He has only recently consolidated his grip on 
  his own holdings, and is building a fearsome army and navy in order to spread his rule across the planet. Only 
  time will tell if he is successful in creating an empire or not. 
  Bregan: This is a large city on the shores of Lake Kalabal. It supplements its agricultural production with a thriving 
  fishery—much of it compatible native species—the surplus of which is aggressively traded. Bregan is governed 
  by a council of elders known as The Five. Currently, Piata Yokosawa has secured her position as leader of the 
  Five, and has initiated negotiations with Heka in order to stay out of the coming war everyone knows Nimota is 
  going to instigate. Yokosawa’s administration of her city has been exceptionally effective, and her power base 
  is drawn from all strata of society. Bregan is militarily weak, but the city has much to offer Nimota should he 
  agree to a tacit understanding of non-aggression. 
  Placida: On the south-west shore of the Upper Gwoza, a swamp and lake system that provides much of the 
  water for the region’s agriculture, is the sprawling city of Placida. This large, disorganized city is home to over 
  half a million people. Notably, half of Placida is constructed on a flood plain, using stilts and floats to 
  accommodate the changing swamp and lake water levels. Placida has never been conquered in the city’s history, 
  due to the fact that the terrain around it is so difficult to navigate. The corrupt oligarchy here that passes for a 
  government is confident that the city will withstand Nimota’s ambitions. Meanwhile, the merchants here 
  continue to get rich off of trade caravans arriving from Fri’iga further west. 
  Arbos: This is a small fortified city of 100000 on the southern shore of the Lower Gwoza swamp. It is a vibrant 
  place, and has grown quite wealthy off of trade with Gateway further south.  
  Fri’iga: Lake Mafa is a large and deep freshwater lake with a diverse native biosphere, as well as imported 
  human-compatible species. Fri’iga supports its large population through the cultivation of local kelp-analogues 
  and a sophisticated fishing industry. Fri’igans are noticing, however, that their crop yields and fishing catches 
  have been declining. The Living Desert might finally be coming for them. 
  Salos: This remote settlement in the southern hemisphere of Abreia is barely known among the northerners, 
  but occasionally a Saloser trading caravan will find its way to Gateway or even Heka. The city of Salos is barely 
  20000-strong, but is well-fortified and sits atop a deep underground water cistern. The city is also partially 
  enclosed within a mesa. Drip agriculture and the mining of precious minerals provide some export goods. As 
  well, Saloser desert guides are considered the finest on the planet. If the Living Desert wishes to divulge its 
  secrets, it will do so to a Saloser. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  32 
   
  The Lost City of Urbanos: the equatorial region of Abreia is notoriously inhospitable. However, due to the 
  mountain chains’ effects on dominant weather patterns, a valley exists in the equator that is quite inviting. It is 
  said that an advanced civilization exists in this hidden valley—a sort of Shangri-La on Abreia. The legend goes 
  that the city of Urbanos thrives on Abreia and will make itself known when the time is right. No less than three 
  separate expeditions equipped with starships and survey sensors have all been lost while attempting to locate 
  the city in the past decade. Perhaps the Living Desert simply does not want Urbanos to be found. 
  Bestiary: 
  Abreian Sand Snake: This fearsome 5-meter long predator is native to the dunes and rocks of the Living Desert. 
  It has a nasty poisonous bite (Toxicity 12, Virulence 2, Interval 2 minutes). Failure to save means death from 
  organ failure. Usually attacking from ambush, the Sand Snake has a Stealth skill of 0. 
  Abreian Sand Snake 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  6 
  No. Appearing 
  1d4 
  Hit Dice 
  6 
  Saving Throw 
  12 
  Attack Bonus 
  +8 
  Movement 
  30’ 
  Damage 
  1d8 bite (poison) 
  Morale 
  10 
  Abreian Xeno-Termite: These swarming insect-like creatures are a major pest in underground constructions, 
  and are notoriously unselective with regards to their appetites. The queen of a xeno-termite hive is a meter-
  long monstrous-looking insect, prized for its jewelled chitin: the husks are often wrought into jewellery. 
  Abreian Xeno-Termites 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  6 
  No. Appearing 
  1d8 
  Hit Dice 
  1/2 
  Saving Throw 
  15 
  Attack Bonus 
  +1 
  Movement 
  20 
  Damage 
  1d4 
  Morale 
  8 
  Abreian Desert “Elemental”: A common manifestation of the Living Desert, especially during sandstorms. The 
  Desert Elemental is a fearsome engine of destruction, and will demolish anything in its path. It appears as a form 
  of sand and shimmering air, and often takes a humanoid shape (possibly the result of Kelechi Etung’s tampering). 
  Telepaths, precognitives and metapsionists will recognize the psychic nature of the Desert Elemental. 
  Elementals can only be harmed by psitech or energy weapons. Projectile weapons that have no explosive 
  component will do no damage. Explosives do half damage. A Desert Elemental takes double damage from water-
  based attacks, like high pressure steam. 
  Special attack: Any creature of 4HD or fewer hit by a Desert Elemental must make a Physical save or be thrown 
  off their feet in 2d12 meters in a random direction, for 1d6 damage. A desert elemental does an extra 1d8 
  damage against flying targets. 
  Abreian Desert Elemental 
  (Lesser) 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  3 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  8 
  Saving Throw 
  10 
  Attack Bonus 
  +6 
  Movement 
  60 
  Damage 
  2d8, Special 
  Morale 
  12 
  Abreian “Demon”: These entities are another symptom of the malfunctioning terraforming devices hidden in 
  Abreia’s crust. An Abreian Demon is a humanoid creature that is composed of clouds of smoke, surrounded by 
  flames. A Demon is a rare and terrifying sight: an intelligent, disembodied humanoid who speaks to the PCs 
  directly. They are not inherently violent, but are unstable, and easily provoked. They can only be damaged by 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  33 
   
  psitech weaponry, and non-heat energy weapons: lasers and plasma do not work. It is possible that an Abreian 
  Demon is actually some sort of avatar of the alien terraforming technology that was combined with Kelechi 
  Etung’s insane psychic imprint. 
  An Abreian Demon can create illusions (as per phantasmal force, BFRP 27), but with sound and other physical 
  effects. A Demon can also turn invisible (BFRP 24), at will, as often as it likes. It can create a wall of fire (BFRP 
  34) three times per day. It can also create fire at will, causing the flame to behave as it wishes, and can launch 
  a fire attack up to 60 meters away, doing 1d8+1 damage. A Demon may also transform itself into a 5-meter-tall 
  pillar of flame three times per day that will set fire to all flammable items within 3 meters. It can retain the pillar 
  shape for up to 3 rounds. When in this form, the pillar of fire adds 1d8 points of damage to the Demon’s blows. 
  Abreian Demon 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  3 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  10 
  Saving Throw 
  10 
  Attack Bonus 
  +12 
  Movement 
  90 
  Damage 
  2d8 fist, and special 
  Morale 
  12 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  34 
   
  Rudianos 
  Hex 
  Name 
  Atmosphere 
  Temperature 
  Biosphere 
  Pop 
  TL 
  GG 
  Stars 
  1007 
  Rudianos 
  Breathable 
  Warm 
  Miscible 
  800 000 
  3+ 
  4 
  G1V BD 
  Tags: Flying Cities, Tomb World 
  Enemies: Megan Orneal, a Sistro Air Force ace known for her ruthlessness. She leads a squadron of advanced 
  grav fliers on terror raids across the planet. Lewis Bachari, a KTL operator who is trying to steal grav tech 
  schematics and working parts. He will soon have enough “samples” to return to Basajaun a very wealthy man. 
  Vanessa Midolera, an Alexandrian saboteur working to destroy the city of Derrot. Jiao Benshu, demented 
  survivor tribe chieftain on Tomar. He knows that should any expedition return from Tomar, his people’s way of 
  life will be destroyed in short order. He and his tribe, the Xiao-Ling, are cannibals. Havar Krux, a bloody-minded 
  scavenger of the Reef. Sistro automated defense drone system, which is a semi-autonomous expert system that 
  is also capable of operating in multiple drones simultaneously. The patrol drones are often supplemented with 
  “defense” drones, which are especially merciless. The Sistro “Yeti”: a native apex predator that lives in the 
  mountains the government of Sistro is attempting to terraform into step-farms. The Yetis are nocturnal apex 
  omnivorous predators. King Orman Turner II, ruler of the doomed city of Beylix. Kalum Prescott, ruler of the city 
  of New Alexandria. 
  Friends: Umberto Johar, a Sistro maintenance tech in need of help. Liss Holt, former New Alexandria city defense 
  force pilot. She is no longer flying for the city, and now operates an airborne search and rescue company off of 
  a grav-barge near New Alexandria. Timon Nurbery, a meteorological researcher at the New Alexandria Institute 
  who predicts that the frequency and intensity of the ion storms will increase in the coming decade. Kunming 
  Son, the captain of a fleet of air-scavengers. His men operate off of a grav-carrier called the Sky Lady. They 
  mainly scavenge off of the abandoned floating cities that still drift in the skies of Rudianos. Dr. Dalilah Bai, a 
  historian and archaeologist from Lur studying the ancient cities and is hoping to descend to the planet’s dead 
  surface. Maxwell Ridley, Huang-Di Air Pirate leader, smuggler and scoundrel. 
  Complications: Sudden storms break out: these are compounded by the fact that the volcanic ash acts as an 
  ionizing catalyst, making the storms particularly dangerous. Drastic altitude loss: one of the gravitic generators 
  on a flying city fails, and the city begins a slow, uncomfortable descent towards the clouds below. A raid from a 
  rival city (Sistro, Derrot and New Alexandria are all at war) disrupts whatever the PCs are doing. Vital hydroponic 
  or carniculture machinery break down. Do the PCs have the parts and technological skills necessary to save the 
  day? All the cities are partially abandoned, old booby-traps and patrol drones lie in wait for scavengers. On the 
  surface of the planet, the atmosphere is corrosive enough that extended exposure, especially when mixed with 
  rain and wind, will begin degrading equipment! A handful of desperate natives survived the Catastrophe. They 
  live in the darkest parts of the “islands”, where they have enough shelter and privacy to avoid detection. Their 
  tech level is generally TL1, though some may have more advanced artifacts. A building in one of the floating 
  cities collapses, killing scores, and requiring a major rescue operation for trapped survivors.  Where are the PCs 
  when this occurs? 
  Things: Precious refined atmospheric gases: without access to mines and other sources of mass raw materials, 
  recycling of old materials on the floating cities is common. Refined atmospheric gases, especially from the ash 
  clouds below, is a major source of minerals for manufacturing. Pretech grav engine plans from Derrot: the KTL 
  or any other off-world faction would pay dearly for plans and working models of pretech. Especially since this 
  might help break the Spike-2 barrier for starship construction. Lost pretech equipment in a salvager’s hold. 
  Psitech caches in Huang-Di, just sitting there, waiting to be picked up. Ancient historical documents detailing 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  35 
   
  the years after the Deluge. Since Rudianos did not suffer greatly during the Deluge, it is possible that these are 
  some of the most important historical documents about the Lurian Trailing Cluster to have survived, outside of 
  a Flame of Prometheus. 
  Places: Underside of the city of Huang-Di, with sky pirates dogfighting all around. A calm and quiet library on 
  the surface of Rudianos, in a city covered in human bones and volcanic ash. Catwalks stretching over 
  unimaginable gulfs below. Crumbling hive-city in Tadeh, where people live in squalor and life is cheap. A ruined 
  hydroponic facility in a ghost city. Although the machinery no longer functions, there are ample salvage 
  opportunities here. Jiao Benshu’s cannibal tribe's lair on the island of Tomar, deep in the forest. 
  Trade: Isolated Tyranny World 
  Friction: 4 
  Supply and Demand: +2 Agriculture, +2 Livestock, +1 Postech, -1 Tool, -1 Military, -2 Consumer  
  Goods 
  Type 
  Cost 
  1 
  Colonial Supplies 
  Agriculture, Survival 
  1000 
  2 
  Drugs, Raw Materials 
  Agriculture, Biotech, Bulky 
  2000 
  3 
  Exotic Jewels 
  Rare, Mineral, Luxury, Compact 
  25000 
  4 
  Housewares, Basic 
  Low Tech, Consumer 
  2000 
  5 
  Vehicle Parts 
  Tool, Vehicle, Postech 
  25000 
  6 
  Metal Ingots, Rare Alloys 
  Mineral, Bulky, Rare 
  5000 
  7 
  Native Artwork 
  Luxury, Cultural 
  10000 
  8 
  Parts, Basic Industry 
  Low Tech, Tool 
  5000 
  9 
  Small Arms, Heavy Weapons 
  Military, Low Tech, Rare 
  10000 
  10 
  Tools, Basic Hand Tools 
  Low Tech, Tool 
  5000 
  Trouble: 3, As per Tyranny 
  Notes: Trading on Rudianos is complicated by a healthy distrust of offworlders. Merchants who make good local 
  contacts and who import foodstuffs are likely to be more successful than most. Depending on the floating city 
  that the PCs encounter, they may have an easier time or not. Currently, Rudianos is effectively isolated, as all 
  known metadimensional course charts to the system have been lost. 
  Fleet Build Points: 29. Rudianos society is particularly well-suited to supplying interstellar navies, but they have 
  not managed to build a spike-drive ship since Antediluvian times. The Rudianites are currently too busy engaging 
  in brutal low-intensity warfare using high-tech grav flyers (and quite a few lower tech flyers) to spend too much 
  time worrying about space flight. Ironically, their expertise in gravitics would go a long way in advancing spike 
  drive technology in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
  Rudianos Fleet: None, though it is unknown what ships might be hidden under the thick volcanic ash clouds that 
  cover the surface of Rudianos. As well, many of the floating cities still have unexplored sections. Who knows 
  what small spacecraft might be tucked away in a private hangar.  
  System Overview: 
  Mirzam is a stable yellow main stage star with a distant brown dwarf Vela, orbiting far past the Oort cloud. The 
  asteroid field that lies in the system was deemed attractive for exploitation, but no belting has occurred here 
  for centuries. This system is largely dominated by four exceptionally large gas giants, making it an ideal spot for 
  discreet wilderness refuelling. As well, the preponderance of moons orbiting these gas giants can supply ample 
  amounts of minerals and water for space stations and belting operations. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  36 
   
   
  Occupied Orbits 
  0 
  Mirzam (G1V) 
  1 
   
  2 
  Sabik (Medium rock ball, 2 moons) 
  3 
  Rudianos (2 moons, both large, Lurri, Kara) 
  4 
  Kaus (GG, 8 large moons, rings) 
  5 
  Heta (GG 16 moons) 
  6 
  Asteroid Belt (viable) 
  7 
  Phad (GG, 20 moons, rings) 
  8 
  Syrma (GG, frozen) 
  15 Lenar (BD) 
   
  Planetary Overview 
  Rudianos is an Earth-sized world with a pronounced (20 degree) axial tilt, 20 hour days, and 380 day years. The 
  planet was ecologically diverse, with very warm average temperatures. There are no ice caps on Rudianos, 
  though a handful of glaciers inhabit the coldest mountain regions in the northern and southern hemispheres. 
  Rudioanos suffers from violent tides and high levels of tectonic activity, due to the planet’s two large moons, 
  Lurri and Kara. Despite this, humans inhabited the planetary surface in great numbers during the Terran State 
  Era. Once teeming with life, blessed with large oceans and ample drinking water, Rudianos is now a hellish, 
  blasted world: most of the planet is blanketed in a thick cloud of ash and dust. Yet interstellar civilization’s 
  collapse in the aftermath of the Deluge was not to blame for this environmental catastrophe that left Rudianos 
  bereft of a biosphere. Instead, a massive volcanic eruption, likely due to the planet’s inherent seismic instability, 
  brought about an extinction-level event. The planetary surface is dark and gloomy, with very little sunlight 
  piercing the thick cloud cover. The flora have all but perished, and animal life is non-existent beyond only the 
  most hardy extremophile microbes. The long winter shows no signs of subsiding. There are small islands—the 
  tops of mountains and remote alpine valleys—that peek through the clouds. Here it is possible to understand 
  the extent of the tragedy on Rudianos. These tiny sheltered biomes are filled with interesting plant life, and 
  highly evolved exotic creatures. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  37 
   
  Map 1: Rudianos Flying Cities and “Islands”:  
   
   
  Rudianos Society 
  In the face of this tragedy, humanity nevertheless endures on Rudianos. The environmental catastrophe that 
  blotted out the sun did not end civilization. Because of the prevalence of earthquakes and the extreme tidal 
  forces on the planet, the settlers on Rudianos had adapted long before volcanic ash filled the sky. During the 
  Terran State Period, the floating cities of Rudianos were constructed by an extremely forward-thinking 
  technology conglomerate specializing in gravitics and life support technology. Colonial Gravitics Group was the 
  major corporate sponsor of settlement on Rudianos, provided settlers agreed to live in enormous arcologies 
  kept aloft via their advanced proprietary anti-grav technology. The result of this settlement effort produced 
  over a dozen massive cities, each one a fully contained urban center, in which millions lived and died while 
  floating in the lower atmosphere of the planet. Only agricultural settlements existed on the planetary surface; 
  these were established only when it became clear that the carniculture and hydroponics bays incorporated in 
  each city designs were not sufficient to sustain the population and have a surplus for trade with the other cities 
  and systems. 
  The Deluge caused major dislocation on Rudianos, but a lack of high-powered psychics meant that most of the 
  cities and surface farms that sustained them survived more or less intact. When the volcanic Catastrophe 
  occurred, however, the situation became dire. The floating cities were overpopulated, and once the harvests 
  failed and the surface settlements became untenable, the meager output of the integral hydroponics were 
  strained to the breaking point. The chaos and dislocation of food riots brought a number of cities crashing down 
  to the planet’s surface; once starvation was widespread, it was easier for the authorities to regain control of the 
  surviving floating cities and institute harsh rationing measures. The rationing was very strict, but only delayed 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  38 
   
  the inevitable. In the end, only those cities that also instituted strict reproductive restrictions on their populaces 
  were able to weather the worst of the Deluge. Since those draconian measures were enacted, Rudianites have 
  survived, but never thrived, in their floating cities. 
  Rudianos is an example of a “knockdown” TL3 society: once blessed with a high TL4 technological base, the 
  suffering and deprivations of the Deluge caused untold technical knowledge to be lost forever. The foremost of 
  this knowledge is how to construct new floating cities, but even simple gravitics is now considered cutting-edge 
  technology on this world. Aside from basic grav flyer technology, Rudianos is solidly TL3. Much of the various 
  floating cities’ industrial output is taken up by commercial goods and other sundries meant to placate the 
  underclass of inhabitants who are constantly searching for distractions and meaning in their lives. The baseline 
  tech level on Rudianos is roughly that of an early 21st century Earth, though with more advanced gravitics, 
  genetics, and hydroponics. Military production is also a major industrial activity, with grav flyers, and more 
  traditional jet aircraft and aerodynes being produced. Since the floating cities lack easy (or any) access to fossil 
  fuels, much of their military might runs on solar-charged power cells. 
  Rudianites have adapted to their situation as best they can, but their societies have been deformed accordingly. 
  Where there were once a multitude of cosmopolitan city-states in the clouds, there are now a handful of floating 
  tyrannies, each one equally repressive towards their own citizens, and furiously xenophobic to all outsiders. 
  Living in a floating city is a miserable existence. The food is bland, the opportunities for personal advancement, 
  travel, and self-expression are limited, and sexual reproduction is limited to those who can justify their progeny 
  by pledging them to the state. 
  This bears further explanation. The shortage of food for the denizens of the cities is so acute, even to this day, 
  that when two people wish to have children, they must apply to the local government for permission to do so. 
  However, this permission carries with it the promise that the offspring of this couple will serve the state in some 
  capacity or another, for a period of time determined at conception. If a couple wish to have more children (and 
  some do), the service requirements only increase. Most indentured conscription terms last five years after the 
  child reaches the age of majority (16). The end result is that the cities are capable of fielding military forces 
  much larger than their populations would suggest. Moreover, these militaries are dominated by aggressive, 
  easily indoctrinated young adults eager to prove themselves. While many object to the indentured conscription, 
  the system is viewed as a fact of life; the birth of a child is generally not considered to be the happy event it 
  would be elsewhere. The governments of the remaining floating cities cling to power via this system, which is 
  weirdly self-sustaining: those who would not contribute to the city’s military tend to not have children to which 
  they can pass on their anti-governmental beliefs. Instead, zealots produce five or six children for the city, 
  indoctrinating them with the righteousness of their service from a young age. The result is that most of the 
  floating cities on Rudianos are authoritarian dictatorships protected by a zealous praetorian guard of young 
  soldiers willing to die for their government. 
  Anti-Government movements exist in secret in every floating city. They usually coalesce around orphanages, 
  hidden in the forgotten depths of the city; it is illegal to have a child without government authorization. The 
  parents of an unauthorized child are considered traitors—they are straining the city’s already overtaxed 
  resources—and the children themselves are non-persons until taken into custody by the government. Captured 
  “feral” children are subjected to a battery of tests, and those who pass are considered conscripted for twenty 
  years after they reach the age of majority. Those children who fail are never seen again. The anti-government 
  resistance movements are mainly concerned with smuggling feral children off-city to live among the nomadic 
  grav barge caravans, or providing them with fake IDs and a chance at a normal life. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  39 
   
  Language, Culture and Religion: Originally, Rudianos was settled by a mix of Euroslavic and Sianese-speaking 
  settlers. However, The Colonial Gravitics Group brought its own group of settlers with it to the planet when it 
  set up shop and began building the floating cities. This later immigration was largely English and Hispanic 
  speaking. This later group comprised the majority of the personnel trained in running the floating cities. Today, 
  English and Hispanic are the languages of the upper and educated classes on Rudianos, while the majority of 
  city-dwellers still speak a guttural Euroslavic or Sianese. Sino-Slavic is also spoken as a trade language among 
  the few merchants that ply the skies in their grav barges. The vast majority of Rudianos is atheist, a cynical 
  holdover from the privations and destruction of the Deluge and the Volcanic Event. Many of the resistance 
  groups that operate the Children’s Underground Railroad on Rudianos are religious. Some monotheistic sects 
  do survive among the most devout of the lower-classes, but the governments of the floating cities have correctly 
  recognized this threat. After all, their reproduction regulations fly in the face of the most primordial 
  commandment ever given: be fruitful, and multiply.  
  Map 2: Ruins on the Surface of Rudianos: 
  Black X’s represent major city ruins. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  40 
   
  Notable Places: There are nine floating cities on Rudianos. Each one is a marvel of Terran engineering: an 
  enormous floating structure with skyscrapers and other buildings on the top side. Much of each city state is 
  currently in disrepair or even abandoned. Each is a shadow of its former self, reduced to drifting above the ash 
  clouds that blanket the planetary surface. The cities themselves are filled with unknown technologies from the 
  former age, much of it malfunctioning and now very dangerous. Each city’s society is unique, but those that 
  have survived have each adopted some form of authoritarianism and the population control measures described 
  above. The six largest, as well as two major land masses, are discussed here. Note that there exist a half-dozen 
  ghost cities: floating cities with no (or very nearly no) population whatsoever. Many were abandoned by their 
  inhabitants, or their populations starved to death when hydroponics systems finally failed. 
  Sistro: A city of roughly 200000 souls, drifting near an archipelago of mountaintops on the planetary equator. 
  Sistro is a particularly odious tyrrany. The ruling junta has devoted much of its time to reclaiming the mountains 
  as arable land. This process requires the use of forced labour, the majority of whom are prisoners of war or 
  “feral” children. Other than producing arable land, the rulers of Sistro do not have a long term plan. Half of their 
  city is abandoned, save for the occasional patrol drone or maintenance crew. The repair crews are important 
  because the city’s anti-gravity system is on its last legs.  There are those in the anti-government resistance who 
  believe that Sistro’s leadership plans on colonizing the mountaintop archipelago with the faithful once the grav 
  systems die, leaving the rest of the city to plunge into the ash clouds below. Sistro is currently at war with New 
  Alexandria and Tadeh. 
  Derrot: Drifting high up in the lower atmosphere, the city of Derrot was once a spectacular showpiece of Terran 
  technology. Sealed under a giant dome, Derrot was always designed as a high-flying city, where those wishing 
  to be far removed from the day-to-day were able to, at least metaphorically, soar in the heavens. After the 
  Deluge and the Catastrophe, Derrot’s leaders were the first to enact strict rationing and reproduction laws in a 
  vain effort to save their floating haven from the worst deprivations. It was a failure. Derrot is now ruled by a 
  repressive, hierarchical technocratic dictatorship that sees the lower classes (both in Derrot and on other cities) 
  as fit for nothing more than cannon fodder. Derrot is one of the most technologically advanced of the flying 
  cities, with a wide array of cybernetic enhancements made available to the upper classes. As well, its air force 
  is particularly well-equipped with grav fliers and high-speed ramjet interceptors. 
  Huang-Di: This floating city is a shell of what it once was. With barely 10 000 permanent residents, much of the 
  city is abandoned and decaying rapidly. Now, it is home to a motley band of air pirates, who use Huang-Di as a 
  base of operations and hideout. Huang-Di is somewhat remote, and difficult to locate given the EM static and 
  turbulence of the region. This makes it a perfect place for slave-traders, smugglers and other dealers of illicit 
  goods. It is also one of the major destinations for escaped children and other dissidents from the other floating 
  cities. The pirate leader, Maxwell Ridley, has no problems with anyone who makes their way to ‘his’ city, but he 
  also has no qualms betraying any dissidents should their presence cause problems with the other cities. 
  Maxwell’s pirates are a diverse group themselves, and their equipment runs the gamut from “barely flying” to 
  “advanced prototype”. The pilots and navigators in Maxwell’s band are top notch, though they lack the discipline 
  of a more traditional military. 
  Tadeh: A poor, overcrowded floating city with a population of about 150 000, Tadeh is a blight upon the skies 
  of Rudianos. The city’s rulers, the Overlords, are brutal and total in their authority. The city has a hive-like 
  atmosphere, being formed out of massive enclosed arcologies that were designed by seemingly baroque Terran 
  social engineers. The result is a panopticon: the Overlords have eyes, both electronic and organic, everywhere. 
  The social order here is built upon seemingly scientific notions of urban design and advanced social darwinism 
  justified by genetics. Everyone in Tadeh has a place, and everyone has a role to play. Unfortunately, dissent is 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  41 
   
  not tolerated, and escape is nearly impossible. Most lawbreakers are punished by execution, though the city 
  does boast of a large prisoner force of air marines. Tadeh’s air force is currently tasked with developing the 
  island of Migros for military and agricultural purposes. Tadeh is in a state of war with both Sistro and New 
  Alexandria.  
  New Alexandria: Though ruled by an autocratic dictatorship, the floating city of New Alexandria is something of 
  a forward thinking place. It would be foolishly optimistic to call Kalum Prescott a progressive ruler, but his 
  foresight regarding the need for reclaiming what little land there is on Rudianos, as well as his willingness to 
  deal with other floating city governments and off-worlders does put him in a different category than the rulers 
  of most of the other cities on this planet. New Alexandria is roughly 100 000 strong, and boasts a high 
  technological base, as well as an educated upper class. The New Alexandria Institute is the only location on 
  Rudianos where psionics can safely develop their powers. Of course, none of this comes without a price: 
  Institute graduates, both psychic and normal, are conscripted for five years in addition to the mandatory 
  conscription term their parents agreed to when they were conceived. The result is that Alexandrian society 
  suffers from a superiority complex: most of the upper class feel that it is their destiny to eventually rule all the 
  floating cities on Rudianos, and for their way of life to dominate over all other social orders. The Alexandrian 
  military is especially advanced, and its grav technology is coveted by all other militaries on the planet. New 
  Alexandria is in a three-way war with Sistro and Tadeh. 
  Beylix: A more remote floating city with a population of only 75000, Beylix is ruled by an absolute monarch, King 
  Orman Turner II. Turner’s rule is somewhat benign, though his councillors and noblemen are kept happy with 
  riches and favours. Beylix is a poor city, and most of the denizens work in factories, maintenance crews or the 
  air force. What Beylix’ rulers are not telling anyone is that the city is doomed to drift into the Reef within the 
  next five years. 
  Tomar: Once a high glacial valley and plateau, the “island” of Tomar is a lush patch of land that rises up out of 
  the ashes of Rudianos’ tomb. Ideal for farming, Tomar would be considered an ideal place for humans to farm 
  and settle, if it were not for the fact that no expedition from any of the cities has returned. Flyovers show dense 
  forests and tracts of arable land. Unfortunately, no one is willing to put up the expense to launch another 
  doomed expedition. 
  The Reef: A chain of high mountains juts through the thick ash cloud in the west of Rudianos’ sky. Rumour has 
  it that at least two other floating cities met their dooms on the Reef when their gravitics failed, and they drifted 
  into the mountains, and then tumbled down to the ground below the clouds. A handful of scavengers have 
  explored some of the Reef, and have returned with wonders from a long-dead age. However none have 
  ventured below the clouds to see if anything remains of the floating cities. Currently, the city of Beylix is slowly 
  drifting towards the Reef, caught in a vortex of air currents that will likely lead to its destruction. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  42 
   
  Sample Rudianos Aircraft: 
  These vehicles are typical of the Rudianos air-vehicles that are used in military operations and for what passes 
  for commerce between the flying cities.  
   
  Grav Scout/Raider (TL4) 
  64,000Cr. 
  Speed 5 
  Km/h Travel 
  1500 
  Armor 5 
  Power 
  6/0 free 
  Hit Points 15 
  Mass 
  8/0 free 
  Crew 1/2 
  Hardpoints 
  2/0 free 
  Base Frame Grav Flyer 
  (modified) 
   
  Fittings Afterburner, Sealed Atmosphere, 
  Power System, Small Railgun: 3d8  
  This fast attack grav flyer is little more than a grav-generator strapped to a railgun and power booster. It isfragile, 
  nimble, and deadly. The power system is not as efficient as it could be, but is typical for most raiders that have 
  to make do with whatever is available. 
   
  Gunship (TL4) 
  97,000Cr 
  Speed 2 
  Km/h Travel 
  1200 
  Armor 8 
  Power 
  8/0 free 
  Hit Points 30 
  Mass 
  22/0 free 
  Crew 6 
  Hardpoints 
  6/0 free 
  Base Frame Atmoflyer (TL4) 
   
  Fittings Power System, Milspec, Small 
  Sealed Atmosphere, Targeting Board 
  Cargo Space (14000kg) 
  Heavy Machine Gun: 3d6# 
  Hydra Array x2: 3d6# 
  The gunship is typical of the heavy attack aircraft used by the flying cities for terror attacks on each other. There 
  are countless variants of this type of flyer, but all are typically ponderous, tough, and heavily armed. 
   
  Grav Barge 
  75,000Cr 
  Speed 0 
  Km/h Travel 
  100 
  Armor 4 
  Power 
  3/0 free 
  Hit Points 30 
  Mass 
  16/0 free 
  Crew 10 
  Hardpoints 
  2/2 free 
  Base Frame Grav Truck 
   
  Fittings Environment, Air 
  Sealed Atmosphere 
  Extra Passengers x2 (8 extra) 
  Cargo Space (10,000kg) 
  Civilian trade between the different flying cities is a rare thing, but some nomadic traders do exist. They ply the 
  skies in slow-moving, ungainly grav barges. Each of these vessels is unique, and in constant need of maintenance. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  43 
   
  Chapter 2:  
  The Flame of Prometheus—Fiction and Fact 
  The Myth: 
  The Prometheans were a mythical quasi-religious group of scientists and scholars primarily concerned with the 
  dissemination of knowledge and the preservation of human interstellar civilization. One of their main 
  achievements was the establishment of multiple archives, called Flames of Prometheus, across known space. In 
  Karta Sector, a remote frontier region during Antediluvian times, the Prometheans had managed to establish a 
  Flame on Prime Station, the massive orbital over Basajaun. They worked hand in hand with the Merchant Guild, 
  the main trading and diplomatic order that had built Prime Station, to facilitate the growth of commerce and 
  civilization in Karta Sector. 
  When the Deluge hit, Karta Sector was completely isolated. The violence and chaos of the Deluge began to spiral 
  out of control. Millions perished. In the confusion, the Jump Gate at Basajaun had its orbit destabilized and was 
  lost. In order to prevent the loss of the Flame in a similar fashion, the Prometheans that survived on Prime 
  Station launched a daring plan to move the Flame to a more secure location: a hidden research facility on the 
  mining colony at Artume. There, the Flame could be safeguarded until the Deluge receded and humanity was 
  ready to rebuild their interstellar civilization. There are dozens of mining facilities dotting Artume’s surface. 
  Perhaps one of them will offer clues regarding the whereabouts of the Flame? 
  The Truth: 
  The Gure Gauza (LTC1 19) interstellar crime syndicate is more than just a collection of like-minded criminals 
  operating over great distances. The Gure Gauza is also derived from an ancient ethnic group originally from 
  Earth, which escaped to the stars in the early days of exploration and colonization. The identity of this group 
  has long since been forgotten, but the Gure Gauza remember, and trace their origins back to it (the GM can, if 
  needed, use any ethnicity for the ancestors of the Gure Gauza). The Gure Gauza have survived and prospered 
  as an organization in part because of the ethnic and cultural connections that still persist between disparate 
  Gure Gauza clans, on disparate worlds across Karta Sector. Many Gure Gauza operations are apolitical: the Gure 
  Gauza appreciates the stability afforded by governments, and the opportunities such stability affords. And the 
  Gure Gauza understands that there will always be a place for organized crime activities in every human society. 
  Someone, somewhere, is willing to pay good money for whatever is deemed illegal or immoral. 
  The Gure Gauza syndicate itself is very diverse and decentralized; each clan has its own way of doing things, 
  depending on the circumstances in which they have found themselves. Over the last millennium or so of 
  dispersion, Gure Gauza culture has fractured and drifted, in some cases quite dramatically. Prior to the Deluge, 
  one of the many Gure Gauza clans transformed into a secretive mystical order known as Barukko, which 
  translates loosely as Intimate. The Intimates were unique among the Gure Gauza: they abandoned their 
  involvement in more mundane criminal activities, and began offering their services exclusively as spies, 
  infiltrators, and assassins. The Intimates closely adhered to three of the four Old Ways of the Gure Gauza: one, 
  hospitality is to be accorded to any visiting Gure Gauza member; two, secrecy is to be maintained at all times; 
  and three, you must serve the Gure Gauza when called upon. The fourth rule, “the status quo is good for 
  business—chaos is not,” was where the Intimates diverged from the main tradition. Though the Intimates were 
  never eager to foment chaos and disruption, they acknowledged that their activities could have political effects 
  that might be detrimental to other Gure Gauza operations. The Intimates were usually able to smooth over any 
  offense their actions may have caused by paying other Gure Gauza clans large sums of money. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  The Intimates’ emergence as a mystical group of spies and assassins-for-hire remains a mystery. However, some 
  Gure Gauza clans have records of political and ideological disputes between their leaders and those of the 
  Intimates. A close reading of these records points to the Intimates’ ideological motivations. The Intimates were 
  deeply obsessed with the use of illusion, sleight of hand, and facades in order to preserve their secrets and 
  autonomy. Nothing the Intimates ever did was as it seemed. They were masters of diversionary tactics, feints 
  and counter-feints. Their more run-of-the-mill Gure Gauza brethren often became infuriated by Intimate games. 
  What also emerges is that the Intimates developed a sinister long-term agenda: their goal was to hold real 
  power. One of the main sources of power, the Intimates reasoned, was the control of knowledge: scientific, 
  cultural, and technological. Once the Prometheans arrived in Karta Sector and built their Flame, the Intimates 
  saw their opportunity to step out from the shadows and seize power for themselves. 
  Six hundred years ago, the Flame of Prometheus was indeed located on Prime Station, orbiting Basajaun. 
  However, mere months before the Deluge, the Intimates had infiltrated and subverted the Merchant Guild on 
  Prime Station. The Intimates staged a bloodless coup, replacing the recently deceased Guild Consul with one of 
  their own, and were suddenly in charge of Prime Station. After a few months of preparation, they then carried 
  out a very bloody attack on the Flame of Prometheus. They massacred the Prometheans and took over the 
  entire Flame data repository. The Intimates loaded the data core and all the Prometheans’ relics onto the MTD 
  Javadi, a spike-capable bulk freighter, and headed to a secret Promethean base they had discovered in the 
  highlands of Artume, called Ringshadow. From there, the Intimates were going to use their newfound 
  knowledge and technology to subvert their opponents and bend all of Karta Sector to their will.  
  The Deluge, however, hit when the MTD Javadi was on its descent trajectory over Artume.  The Javadi’s psychic 
  precognitive navigator went insane, killing everyone on the bridge. The Javadi crashed into the main dome at 
  Solozanos, killing thousands, as well as the majority of the Intimates’ leadership on board. The surviving 
  Intimates adhered to the mission, and headed to Ringshadow with whatever relics and information from the 
  Flame of Prometheus that survived the crash. Deeply suspicious of the Gure Gauza establishment on Nestor 
  Station, they kept their true intentions completely secret. Meanwhile, at Ringshadow, they set up a series of 
  traps and façades, behind which they hid their treasures. Leaderless, the remaining Intimates then went into 
  cold sleep hibernation. They have very occasionally come out in shifts to get information about their 
  surroundings and the Lurian Trailing Cluster.  They also used their Gure Gauza brethren on Nestor Station to 
  unknowingly spread the false myth of the lost Flame of Prometheus. However, the Intimates kept their true 
  scheme a secret from the rest of the Gure Gauza, and the Flame was never recovered. 
  Basic Game Master Facts About the Flame Today: 
  No one but the Intimates knew that the MTD Javadi was carrying the Flame of Prometheus when it crashed into 
  the Solozanos dome. The remnants of the Flame of Prometheus are now underground at Ringshadow. 
  Nowadays, the Gure Gauza on Artume only know that something very secret and valuable existed on Artume, 
  but are unsure of what, beyond knowing the fake Flame myth themselves.  The current Gure Gauza Buru on 
  Artume is in the dark, and the organization has not had any contact with the Intimates, that they know of.  The 
  majority of the Intimates remain in cold sleep, with only a handful of them being active at a time. Over the years, 
  they have fed the Gure Gauza with some technological know-how—albeit very discreetly—in order to maintain 
  the Gure Gauza’s hold on TL4 scientific knowledge.  At this point, the Intimates have no real ability to capitalize 
  on their position. They are a tiny population, but are all fanatics. They have remained in stasis for much of the 
  intervening six centuries, with small contingents guarding the Flame. They have only recently awoken in larger 
  numbers since scavenging operations began out of Lazardis on Artume’s surface. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  45 
   
  If they were to learn about the lack of any interstellar powers at present, the Intimates would make contact 
  with their Gure Gauza brethren on Nestor station and use the Flame data to gain control of the Lurian Trailing 
  Cluster. However, they are reluctant to share their treasures, and hold the Gure Gauza of today in contempt. 
  After all, didn’t the Intimates secretly help maintain the Gure Gauza’s technological advantage all these years? 
  And for what: the Gure Gauza seem more interested in the slave trade than seizing real power for themselves.  
  Still, the modern Gure Gauza do adhere to the Old Ways, and would be honour-bound to render assistance to 
  the Intimates, if it was requested. Once the Gure Gauza on Artume mobilize behind the Intimates, they would 
  begin work on a multi-system coup d’état that would install Gure Gauza puppet-masters on Abreia, Yama, Meza 
  Virs (somewhat accomplished already), Enke, Vanth, Byalstok, Lepra and Basajaun. With the KTL completely 
  subverted, and Prime Station under Gure Gauza control, the Lurians would be the only serious military threat. 
  Then the Gure Gauza would break from tradition and step out from the shadows to rule directly. Few Gure 
  Gauza clans would agree with this major ideological and practical change, but that is a weakness to be exploited 
  by any opponents of the Intimates’ plan. 
  The Scene of the Crime: Prime Station 
  Above the planet of Basajaun, deep in the old, unused parts of Prime Station, are the lost remains of the Flame 
  of Prometheus: large galleries, computer cores, old empty holocodex libraries, that sort of thing. It’s all been 
  abandoned and is in complete shambles. Although the Karta Trading League has managed to get a section of 
  Prime Station running, they’ve focused their attentions on the station’s ship building facilities and other practical 
  concerns. Although they are very interested in relics from inside the bowels of Prime Station, they are reluctant 
  to mount expeditions for a couple of reasons: first, the KTL would have to publicly honour any salvage claims 
  made by returning explorers. Second, the KTL does not know how Prime Station works, exactly. The station was 
  built to Tech Level 5 specifications, and fixing anything that would likely be broken during such an expedition 
  would be far beyond the capabilities of the Karta Trading League. Worse than being the clumsy explorer 
  infamous for causing Prime Station to crash into Basajaun would be being the Karta Trading League, who lost 
  their amazing headquarters because they allowed a clumsy explorer to traipse around in its depths. 
  Breaking into the “Basement” of Prime Station requires some preparation and skill, as the KTL has anticipated 
  that there will always be self-styled archaeologists foolhardy enough to explore the unknown regions of the 
  station, regardless of the risk to the tens of thousands who live here. Any known access points are monitored 
  by a variety of passive security measures, including any drones and robots that might be available. As well, KTL 
  security personnel are authorized to use lethal force to prevent looters from getting access to the rest of Prime 
  Station, if the situation calls for it. 
  Once past the KTL’s security perimeter, a group of adventurers would have a long expedition ahead of them. 
  Prime Station is massive. With so much of it unexplored and lacking power and life support, it would take some 
  time to navigate the various mass transit tunnels that wind through the facility. 
  Determined explorers will eventually discover the empty remains of the Flame of Prometheus. They would find 
  little except for a small hidden cell of Intimates who remained behind in cryogenic stasis, waiting for intruders. 
  If woken, the Intimates’ first move will be to assess their would-be rescuers. Those PCs that are deemed 
  unworthy of aiding the Intimates would be murdered outright by means of robot guardians. Those intruders 
  evaluated to be gullible, but also useful, would be deceived into thinking that these sleepers are actually 
  Prometheans. They have recorded fake logs, and inserted them into the computer banks remaining in the Flame. 
  They have even gone to great lengths to construct a fake tomb for the Head Firebringer, complete with a TL5 
  body double! The fake Prometheans will need transit to Artume, where their Flame awaits. The gullible pawns 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  could later be ambushed on Artume, and the Intimates would then have a new spacecraft available to use 
  towards their nefarious plans. 
  The Intimates’ plan is not foolproof. Buried in the remnants of the Flame of Prometheus computer systems on 
  Prime Station are also clues as to the real fate of the Flame. The final log entries of the Prometheans on Prime 
  Station detail the arrival of a “new Head Consul” to the Merchant Guild on the station. They discuss how the 
  relationship between the Exchange and the Prometheans changed for the worse, culminating in the Exchange 
  accusing the Prometheans of breaching their long-term tenancy contract for housing the Flame on Prime 
  Station. The Head Firebringer of the Prometheans was detained and put on trial.  The final log entry shows grisly 
  footage of the Prometheans being gunned down and massacred by the Intimates as they carried out their bloody 
  purge. These logs are an important clue, since they cast the entire myth of the Flame into doubt, but they are 
  not easy to find unless the searchers are specifically looking for them.  Complicating matters, the Intimates’ fake 
  logs have them impersonating Prometheans. These logs detail their heroic preparations for their journey to 
  Artume, and their travails as the Deluge began to hit. This was all part of their myth-making. 
  The most important clue on Prime Station is even more shocking than finding a group of false Prometheans in 
  stasis: the Head Promethean Firebringer has been kept alive in a horrible semi-comatose state for the past six 
  centuries. She learned much of the Intimates’ plans, and might be able to communicate the final resting place 
  of the Flame, before she dies… 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  47 
   
  Chapter 3: The Hunt for the Flame of Prometheus Campaign 
   
  The Flame of Prometheus? Just another Golden Age myth. It’s the same old story: things were good. There 
  were untold wonders and people lived long, happy lives without want of anything. Then things went wrong, 
  but there was someone, somewhere, who had prepared for this eventuality, and hid away the One Thing that 
  would preserve the future. It’s just a matter of finding that One Thing. All the signs are there! Believe! 
  Yeah. The Prometheans were kindly scholars, dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and human 
  civilization. To this end, they would build archives to serve as really fancy public libraries, and then spread 
  these archives across space. Just in case. Well, nothing like an archive has ever turned up on Basajaun, or any 
  of the other systems in the Cluster. Not even on Lur, and the Lurians keep on reminding us that they were 
  First Wave colonists, just waiting for the Prometheans to arrive. 
  The Flame of Prometheus is a fairy tale: during the Deluge, and in the chaos after, the selfless Prometheans 
  spirited themselves and their knowledge away. This does seem rather counterproductive to their goal of 
  saving humanity by spreading knowledge, don’t you think? 
  It’s all hidden away in some old mining bore hole on Artume. Or Rudianos. Or in my mother-in-law’s 
  basement. Find the Flame of Prometheus, and an interstellar utopia is just around the corner! Well, what are 
  the Prometheans waiting for? Let’s face it, if the myth had any basis in reality, then the Prometheans hid 
  themselves and their Flame away a little too well. 
  Overheard at the Rude Rudder Spacer Bar, Prime Station, Basajaun. 
   
  Recovering the Lost Flame of Prometheus is a major undertaking. Anyone funding an expedition would usually 
  engage a group of highly professional individuals dedicated to the singular goal of the advancement of human 
  knowledge and re-establishment of interstellar civilization in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
  Instead, a group of player characters will be mounting an expedition. 
  Campaign Outline: 
  The Hunt for the Lost Flame of Prometheus campaign follows a group of motivated player characters as they 
  uncover one of the great mysteries of the Lurian Trailing Cluster: the final resting place of the Flame of 
  Prometheus. The PCs will uncover evidence of a horrible crime committed just before the onset of the Deluge. 
  They will have to determine the truth of what transpired on Prime Station, if they stand any chance of surviving 
  this campaign. 
  Six hundred years ago the main data repository of the Prometheans—the Flame of Prometheus—was located 
  on Prime Station, hanging over the planet Basajaun. The Flame had been constructed in order to support the 
  massive efforts to colonize the Lurian Trailing Cluster, and Karta Sector beyond. To that end, a number of smaller 
  data nodes were planned for each of the burgeoning colony worlds. However, the project was doomed to failure 
  from the start. 
  Mere months before the catastrophe that would later be named the Deluge destroyed much of human 
  civilization, a highly secretive group of assassin/spies-for-hire known as the Intimates infiltrated the Flame of 
  Prometheus. Once their preparations were complete, they launched a surprise attack on the Flame and 
  massacred the Prometheans there. The Intimates had planned this power-grab for months, or even years; their 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  victory was swift and sudden. The Flame was loaded onto the MTD Javadi, a decrepit spike-drive bulk freighter, 
  and taken to a small secret base on the mining moon of Artume. From there, the Intimates had intended to use 
  the knowledge found in the Flame to eventually assume control over all the worlds in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
  The Deluge, however, crashed through space when the Javadi was descending from orbit onto the airless moon 
  of Artume. The psychic precognitive navigator on board went insane, murdered the crew, and crashed the ship 
  into the main habitat dome on the planetary surface. The Intimates were decimated, and the Flame was 
  destroyed. 
  The few Intimates that had survived salvaged whatever remained from the crash, and hid away in their secret 
  base. They spent some time spreading the myth of the Flame of Prometheus, in order to lure those with the 
  means of uncovering the grisly truth about the Flame's fate into their clutches.  Occasionally the Intimates 
  emerge from their cryogenic hibernation to determine if interstellar civilization had recovered enough for them 
  to attempt their takeover. 
  The player characters are treasure hunters, archaeologists, and other adventurers who have the means and 
  motivation to track down the few clues still remaining about the fate of the Flame of Prometheus. Once they 
  determine its final location, the PCs would mount a daring expedition and recover the Flame, or at least as much 
  of the data contained therein as possible. 
  The campaign begins wherever the players and GM want it to; their first goal will be getting to Prime Station, 
  and doing some investigation. Once they realize that the Karta Trading League has not explored much of the 
  station, the PCs will want to mount their own expedition for the original home of the Flame of Prometheus—all 
  while not alerting the KTL to their activities. 
  A successful expedition into Prime Station will create more questions than answers: the Myth of the Flame is 
  clear that the Flame was moved after the Deluge began. But this does not match the evidence the PCs will have 
  found. As well, the presence of two cryogenically frozen Intimates—disguised as Prometheans—will further 
  complicate matters. 
  One thing is known for certain: the Flame was moved to Artume. The PCs will travel to that airless moon of a 
  gas giant. There, they will have to quickly learn to navigate the treacherous domain of the Gure Gauza crime 
  lord that runs the salvage operations on Artume’s surface. The Intimates have their agent in place as well, quietly 
  watching for anyone attempting to locate the Flame. 
  The PCs will want to explore the wreck of the MTD Javadi, the vessel the Intimates used to transport the Flame 
  to Artume. The Javadi is a death trap. A horrible monster guards the unfortunate truth: the Flame's data core 
  was destroyed when the Javadi crashed. Should they survive what awaits them in the shipwreck, the PCs will 
  head to Ringshadow Station, the secret base the Intimates had co-opted from the Prometheans. They might 
  also understand by this point that whoever moved the Flame, it was not the Prometheans. 
  The PC’s expedition into Ringshadow Station is fraught with peril. Not only are there advanced security measures 
  in place, but there are also the traps and monsters prepared by the Intimates. And after they enter Ringshadow, 
  the Intimates’ agent, the Watcher, will follow behind to hunt down these interlopers and destroy them. The 
  climax of the campaign is the dangerous confrontation between the Watcher, his men and monsters under his 
  control, and the PCs. All the while, the Intimates are awakened from their cryogenic slumber. 
  If the PCs do manage to evade the Intimates’ facades and traps and defeat the Watcher, they will discover that 
  while the main Flame was indeed destroyed, there is still hope. Among the small treasure trove of high tech 
  goodies are the Prometheans’ Emergency Flame Units. These were designed in case some terrible cataclysm 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  49 
   
  should befall humanity, and the Prometheans were unable to help restore civilization. The Emergency Flame 
  Units contain enough information in them to restore interstellar civilization to the Lurian Trailing Cluster and 
  Karta Sector. Those who can recover them and disseminate the knowledge contained within will be 
  remembered in history among the great explorers and scholars of all time. Those PCs who are more financially-
  oriented should surely be able to translate their exploits into a book or movie deal, at the very least. 
  What follows below is a fairly complete textual description of the campaign. GMs are encouraged to fill in the 
  gaps left in this campaign outline with the details that bring any gaming session to life: maps, monsters and 
  extra NPCs. As well, facilities like Prime Station and Ringshadow Station are outlined only in their overall layout. 
  It is up to the GM to find maps for the player characters to traipse through. Wherever possible, this campaign 
  will assume that the GM will find maps and background setting from a variety of sources on the Internet. 
  Notable Organizations and NPCs: 
  The following entries detail the NPCs and organizations that are central to the Lost Flame Campaign. For more 
  information on some of the factions listed below, see LTC1 17-24. 
  The Order of Prometheus: Before the Deluge, the Prometheans established Flames to act as repositories for 
  human knowledge on as many worlds across known space as possible. This way, they hoped to prevent de-
  civilization: the process by which knowledge is forgotten or lost, as communication between centers of learning 
  and the frontier decreases as humanity spread through the galaxy. In Karta Sector, the Prometheans established 
  a main Flame of Prometheus on Prime Station, orbiting Basajaun, near the Jump Gate, and were in the process 
  of developing subsidiary archives for many nearby colony worlds. The Prometheans did not survive the Deluge 
  in Karta Sector. 
  Gure Gauza (LTC1 19) : This venerable interstellar crime syndicate is highly diversified and decentralized. In the 
  Lurian Trailing Cluster, the Gure Gauza still operate in the shadows, unwilling to openly exert too much control 
  over more legitimate groups and thereby expose themselves to retaliation. The Gure Gauza are the primary 
  financiers of the slave trade that still plagues the LTC. On Prime Station, the Gure Gauza is primarily concerned 
  with maintaining its arrangements with the Karta Trading League. On Artume, the Gure Gauza are able to 
  operate slightly more openly: the entire human settlement in that system is run with Gure Gauza backing.  
  Karta Trading League (LTC1 17) : This interstellar merchants’ guild is more than happy to make money helping 
  restore interstellar trade among the disparate worlds of the Lurian Trailing Cluster. Prime Station, however, is 
  their corporate fiefdom, and even if three quarters of it lies unexplored, no one is allowed to mount expeditions. 
  The Karta Trading League is careful to monitor anyone who would foolishly endanger their station by exploring 
  it. 
  The Intimates: This sect more closely resembles an order of mystical assassins than a splinter faction of the Gure 
  Gauza crime syndicate. The Intimates were expert infiltrators and spies, and decided to seize power for 
  themselves in Karta Sector by killing the Prometheans, stealing their Flame, and moving it to a secret facility. 
  The heist went according to plan, until the Deluge completely derailed it. Intimates now rest in cryogenic 
  hibernation in their secret facility, sitting on top of their ruined scheme of one day ruling Karta Sector. 
  Emmanuel Naxos: No treasure hunting adventure is complete without the presence of a rival possessing even 
  fewer morals than the typical group of PCs. Naxos is such a villain. He is not interested in the historical or 
  scholastic value of any archaeological finds. He does not care about how the ancients lived, or how they made 
  art, and why it was meaningful to them. He serves only his inexhaustible greedy impulses. 
  
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  Naxos is a fairly recent arrival on the archaeological/tomb-robbing scene in the LTC, Emmanuel Naxos has his 
  own ship, the Ruby, his own crew, and his own agenda. He has made some big scores, but of late he’s in a bit of 
  a slump. Generally, Naxos is mainly concerned with the value his finds will have on the relic market. Their utility 
  in restoring the LTC to TL4 is a distant secondary concern to his personal power and prestige. 
  Naxos can serve as a source of information, or even nav charts (if properly paid), but he is more useful as a 
  means to harry the players. Naxos is well-equipped, has a well-handled public image, and is highly regarded by 
  many KTL Board members. If anyone were able to get official sanction to mount an expedition into The 
  Basement, it would be Emmanuel Naxos. If the GM wishes to complicate the lives of his or her players during 
  their expedition into Prime Station, having Naxos operating as a rival, with a small army of hired goons to back 
  him up, would not be inappropriate. 
   
  Emmanuel Naxos (Level 6 Expert) 
   
   
  Armor Class 
  3  
  No. Appearing 
  1 + a retinue of goons 
  Hit Dice 
  6 (30HP) 
  Saving Throw 
  11 
  Attack Bonus 
  +5 
  Movement 
  30’ 
  Damage 
  Special 
  Thermal Pistol: 2d6* 
  Pistol is burst capable 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  9 
  +3 
   
  The Ruby 
  Hull   Gunboat 
  Power     10/1 free        
  Mass    10/0 free            
  Cost 
  1150000 
  Hit Points: 18 
  Crew: 1/6 
  Speed: 4 
  Armor: 5 
  AC: 6 
  Weaponry 
  Reaper Battery: 3d4, Clumsy 
   
  Defense 
  Hardened Polyceramic Overlay 
  Fittings 
  Spike-2, Atmospheric Configuration, Fuel Scoops, Fuel Bunkers, Extended Stores , Cargo: 4 tons 
  Operating Costs 
  Monthly: 13800 
  Payroll: 10500 
  Stores: 1500 
  Maint: 4800 
  The Ruby is a small corvette-sized courier that has been sufficiently modified to Naxos’ tastes. The ship is an advanced, fast vessel 
  designed to take small cargos and sensitive information discreetly and directly to their destinations. It is intended for longer voyages with 
  very little turnover time in port. The vessel is not designed for a stand-up fight, but it can certainly pummel any opponent with its brutal 
  particle accelerator. 
  Migdal Queens: The natives of Basajaun are increasingly desperate to throw off the yoke of KTL-domination. To 
  that end, the Basajaun Resistance on the planetary surface has reached out to many native merchants on Prime 
  Station. Migdal Queens is a fairly loyal Resistance “fixer”, who does much of the “acquisitions” work the 
  Resistance needs in order to build up its forces. Queens is a good patron for the PCs to work for, as long as they 
  don’t ask too many questions about the kinds of things he’ll be asking them to retrieve from ruined habitat 
  towers on the surface of Basajaun.  
  Migdal Queens (NPC Patron) 
   
   
  Armor Class 
  7 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  5 HP 
  Saving Throw 
  13 
  Attack Bonus 
  +1 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  Special 
  1d6+1 pistol 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  8 
  +1 
   
  Mattitya Tarkwa: Tarkwa is a major scoundrel and terror of the space lanes. He leads a band of blood thirsty 
  pirates from the bridge of his very aggressively fitted frigate the Reaper. Tarkwa is not a brutal sadist, but he 
  definitely prefers it when things go his way: all the time. Tarkwa is well past the point of pretending that he’s 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  51 
   
  some sort of Robin Hood figure. However, he does take opportunities to chew the scenery. GMs should take 
  the opportunity to play a powerful, playful, and dangerous pirate in the prime of his career, even if it’s over the 
  comms. 
  Mattitya Tarkwa (level 7 Warrior) 
   
   
  Armor Class 
  3 
  No. Appearing 
  1 + crew 
  Hit Dice 
  7 (45HP) 
  Saving Throw 
  10 
  Attack Bonus 
  +8 
  Movement 
  30’ 
  Damage 
  Special 
  Mag Rifle: 2d8+2 
   
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  10 
  +3 for 
  Leadership, 
  Tactics 
   
  Reaper-Raider (Tarkwa’s ship) 
  Hull            Frigate   
  Power            15/1 free 
  Mass               15/0 free 
  Cost 
  5 410 000 
  Hit Points: 40 
  Crew: 10/40 
  Speed: 3 
  Armor: 10 
  AC: 5 
  Weaponry 
  Charged Particle Caster: 3d6, AP 15, Clumsy (+5 to hit) 
  Sandthrower 2d4, Flak (+5 to hit) 
  Defense 
   
  Fittings 
  Spike-2 Drive, Atmospheric Configuration, Aux. Power Unit, Boarding Shuttles, Fuel Scoops, Booster Pack 
  Cargo: 80 tons 
  Operating Costs 
  Monthly: 112540 
  Payroll: 75000 
  Stores: 15000 
  Maint: 22540 
  The Reaper is a pirate vessel operating in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. It is commanded by Matitya Tarkwa, a merciless pirate of ill-repute 
  and few morals. Tarkwa’s Crew: Vehicle/Space +4,  Computers +3, Tactics +3. 
  Buru Lisger Trall: The Gure Gauza boss of the entire system of Artume, Boss Trall, as he is known locally, is a 
  shrewd and cunning criminal organizer. He plays the role of an aging, decadent man lost in a sea of dark 
  hedonism, to lull any potential opponents into overconfidence. Boss Trall knows what people want to see, and 
  is happy to satisfy their prejudices. Trall has one main goal: he is only concerned with the stability and growth 
  of the slaving, salvaging, and warehousing operations taking place on Nestor Station and on Artume’s surface. 
  Should anyone prove a threat to that growth or stability, he will act quickly to neutralize the threat. Trall usually 
  takes a 50 per cent cut of salvage from anyone on Artume.  
  Buru Lisgur Trall (NPC Gangster boss) 
   
   
  Armor Class 
  7 
  No. Appearing 
  1+bodyguards 
  Hit Dice 
  10HP 
  Saving Throw 
  13 
  Attack Bonus 
  +2 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  Special 
  2d6 Thermal Pistol 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  8 
  +3 for social skills 
   
  Iveran Minika, The Watcher: The Intimates have spent most of the past six centuries in cryogenic hibernation, 
  but occasionally one or two of the Gure Gauza sect is thawed out, woken up, and sent out to have a look around. 
  This Intimate is named The Watcher. The current Watcher is Iveran Minika, a healthy man in his mid-forties. He 
  is currently posing as a merchant on Nestor Station. Minika is a discreet and careful observer. He holds the 
  current Gure Gauza leadership on Nestor, and probably on Meza Virs, in absolute contempt.  Minika was a fairly 
  well-established Intimate in Antediluvian times. He has multiple cybernetic implants, as well as a variety of high-
  tech equipment to draw on should the situation warrant it. Most notably, Minika is capable of controlling Bio-
  Terrors, via a TL5 cybernetic implant. This fact alone makes him one of the most terrifying individuals the PCs 
  will likely encounter in this campaign. Minika will direct the Bio-Terrors to attack the PCs once he locates them 
  in Ringshadow Station. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  52 
   
  The Watcher 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  1 (Deflector Array) 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  7 (35 HP) 
  Saving Throw 
  12 
  Attack Bonus 
  +7 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  Special 
  Plasma SMG: 2d6* 
  Cybernetics: 
  Minika has a device 
  that allows him to 
  control Bio-Terrors. 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  Leadership 2, 
  Stealth 1, 
  Persuade 1 
   
  Brother James and Sister Zhitan: These are two Intimates that have survived for 600 years in cryogenic 
  hibernation on Prime Station. 
  Brother James is a talented and charismatic man, dedicated to advancing the Intimates’ cause. He was a 
  Promethean, but also Intimate, and prided himself on remaining loyal to his true masters when the purge of the 
  Prometheans came. James was the “face-man” of the Intimate cell left behind. It was a job he volunteered for. 
  Brother James’ main goal now is to get on a ship, and get to Artume. He will lie, cheat, and connive his way to 
  Artume, but is not above using violence to achieve his goals. 
   
  Brother James: 
  Level 6 Expert 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  5 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  30 HP 
  Saving Throw 
  As Expert 
  Attack Bonus 
  +4 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  Concealed Plasma 
  Pistol 2d6 
   
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  Stealth 2, 
  Persuade 3, 
   History 1 
  Sister Zhitan was a budding psychic in the Intimates, but did not adhere to the rules governing the use of psychic 
  powers within the Intimates. Thus, she was put in cold sleep on Prime Station, and not allowed to travel to 
  Artume, as a punishment. Zhitan is a unique individual: all the psychics from before the onset of the Deluge 
  died, or went insane and then died. The cold sleep process Sister Zhitan underwent preserved some of her 
  sanity. She is a completely feral psychic, able to use the powers she knows without expending Power Points. 
  However, she can maintain a thin veneer of sanity, at least for the first few days after she is thawed out. After 
  that time, she will grow increasingly unstable, and eventually begin committing all sorts of atrocities. 
  Fortunately, she is not capable of inflicting damage directly with her powers. 
  Sister Zhitan will automatically use the Metalinguistics Telepathic power, and has an established Mental Link 
  with Brother James. She will take her time and attempt probes of all the PCs, in order to learn what they know 
  about the Intimates, and the Flame. As well, she will try to learn what has happened over the centuries that she 
  has been hibernating. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  53 
   
  Sister Zhitan 
  Level 5 Psychic 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  5 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  24 
  Saving Throw 
  As Psychic 
  Attack Bonus 
  +2 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
   
  Psychic Powers 
  (all mastered) 
  Concealed Plasma 
  Pistol 2d6 
  Level 5 Telepathy 
  Level 
  5 
  Precognition 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  Persuade 1, 
  Stealth 2 
   
  Starting the Campaign: The Hook  
  Stars Without Number encourages sandbox-style science fiction gaming. The Lost Flame of Prometheus 
  campaign is written with this in mind. This means that it is important that game masters wishing to run this 
  campaign do their utmost to hook the players into pursuing the Flame without forcing them to do so. Players 
  should be motivated to recover the Flame on their own. That is not to say that the player group cannot diverge 
  from the campaign. However, the GM needs to make pursuing the Flame a worthy goal unto itself. To that end, 
  it might be helpful for the GM to have a discussion with the players first, in order to determine what sort of 
  adventures and campaign the players wish to participate in. Unless something akin to “treasure hunts” or 
  “adventure-archaeology” are mentioned, the Flame of Prometheus will most likely remain lost, as players 
  wanting to engage in interstellar trade or piracy (or both) as their main in-character activities will not find a 
  multi-adventure campaign centering on a lost data core particularly engaging. 
  For those groups that are interested in a multi-session treasure hunt, there are a number of hooks available to 
  GMs who are at a loss for generating their own ways of motivating a group of ambitious player characters: 
  1. The PCs have some sort of knowledge that gives them a leg up on the Myth of the Flame of 
  Prometheus. Perhaps they know that the Myth is inconsistent with little-known historical facts they’ve 
  gathered through their research. Maybe they have some obscure historical knowledge about the 
  Prometheans that might help them. They could have access to a rough, incomplete, map of Prime 
  Station that indicates where the Flame of Prometheus was located. In any case, the information they 
  have may not be at all accurate, but it is sufficient to motivate them to mount an expedition. 
  2. A classic way of hooking the player characters into the campaign would be by means of a treasure 
  map. One PC might have old, outdated course rudders that lead from Basajaun, to Enke, and finally to 
  Artume. Navigating a drill while using these Spike drill charts would be extremely dangerous, but it still 
  puts the PCs ahead of most interstellar freebooters. Adding in some information regarding the Flame 
  Myth, and the fame and fortune that awaits those who find the Flame might be sufficient. 
  3. A well-worn trope is to have the PCs be hired by a patron to do some digging: corporations like one of 
  the Merchant Houses on Lur, the Voltaire Astrogation Academy, the Karta Trading League, or a 
  particularly wealthy private individual might suffice. Either way, the patron has information about a 
  very valuable, very old artifact that needs to be recovered. The patron needs a brave crew with a ship, 
  and no questions asked. Archaeological knowledge is an asset, but not a necessity. It never hurts to 
  have the patron be an old, rich relative of one of the PCs. 
  4. The party might include a PC who is a budding archaeologist. Given enough research and clues, this PC 
  might want to track down any leads that point towards the Flame of Prometheus on Prime Station. 
  Naturally, rival universities, treasure hunters, and governments might have an interest in finding out as 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  54 
   
  much as possible about the Flame of Prometheus, on the off chance that it can be recovered. GMs 
  might want to consider naming this campaign hook “Raiders of the Lost…Flame.” 
  Whatever hook the GM devises, the player character group will need access to a ship (their own, or one on 
  retainer) and enough money to finance the expedition, especially if an individual or organization is not acting as 
  patron. 
  Getting to Prime Station 
  One of the main clues about the whereabouts of the Flame of Prometheus is that it is not in the place it was 
  known to be: Prime Station, orbiting Basajaun. Thus, it is only natural for players to want to begin their 
  investigations there. The PCs’ starting location will determine the route taken to Prime Station. For those PCs 
  starting on Lur, this will mean a drill from Lur to Abreia, another to Meza Virs, and finally a third drill to Basajaun. 
  Adventures on each of these planets can be one-offs, or can help finance the expedition. Having the players run 
  a trading/smuggling sideline business is a great opportunity for a GM to insert all sorts of complications and hi-
  jinks into an otherwise linear campaign. 
  Secondary Adventure Suggestions: 
  Abreia: visiting Lurians can contact Arlene Kershaw, a Lurian trader at the Gateway hab tower (the closest thing 
  Abreia has to a star port). Kershaw often serves as an agent for other patrons, and she is currently looking for a 
  group of adventurers to accompany an expedition out into the Living Desert with Dr. Leon Kristal. The doctor is 
  interested in anomalous readings his last expedition logged, before disappearing in the desert. He’d like the PCs 
  to help find whatever’s left of the expedition, and hopefully the source of the anomalous readings. The Living 
  Desert is often wracked by violent storms that will make sensor sweeps from spacecraft next-to-useless. The 
  PCs will have to land their ship and begin searching in ATVs. What they find is up to the GM, but it should be 
  dangerous and guarding some pretech stims, to be sure. 
  Meza Virs (LTC1 43): The starport of Yukatan is a very vibrant locale, filled with people who are eager to rob 
  visiting offworlders blind and leave them bleeding in dark alleys. There are all sorts of jobs a group of PCs with 
  a ship can do for business interests that are controlled by the Three Families. The Adventure Templates (SoG 
  45) are an excellent source of fodder for basic shady jobs for these shady patrons. More altruistic PCs might find 
  work doing some smuggling of freed slaves off-world, working with Brother Gill Oppenheim, a local priest that 
  opposes slavery and is a link in a tenuous underground railroad. However, if they were not discreet, they might 
  have to deal with the repercussions of their altruism when they encounter the Gure Gauza. Another avenue for 
  adventure would be to work for Yosef Khaleer, of the Freehold of Talinn. He pays well, and the PCs have a 
  starship for which he would quickly find a use. Players should quickly learn that working for Khaleer means 
  working against the interests of the KTL and the Gure Gauza on Meza Virs. 
  Game Masters looking to further spice up the voyage from Lur to Basajaun might want to include an encounter 
  with the vicious space pirate, Matitya Tarkwa, and his ship, The Reaper. Tarkwa only starts fights he knows he 
  can win, so if the PCs do run into him, they should probably run away after getting a sensor reading of his 
  powerful ship. 
  Prime Station (LTC1 39) 
  Lurians and other lower-tech spacers arriving at Prime Station for the first time will be in awe of the place. Prime 
  Station is an enormous orbital built to TL5 specifications. The station remains parked, stationary, above 
  Basajaun, which is tidally locked to its star. This feat is accomplished by advanced gravitic arrays buried deep 
  within the station itself. That they have not failed in 600 years is testament to the high-tech construction 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  55 
   
  capabilities of the old Terran regime. Prime Station is detailed on LTC1 38; more information on the station is 
  presented below. 
  There is plenty of interstellar traffic in and out of Prime Station, but if this is the first time the players and their 
  ship have visited, they will attract some attention. While this might not be a bad thing, any inquiries regarding 
  the Flame of Prometheus made to the Karta Trading League administrators of the station will be met with polite 
  dismissals of its existence; the PCs will also be discreetly observed to determine if they are actually going to go 
  exploring in those parts of the station the KTL has deemed off limits. 
  Worse than attracting the attention of the KTL, the PCs’ arrival will attract the attention of everybody else. Prime 
  Station is a nest of intrigue and lies, visited by cutthroat traders from across the Lurian Trailing Cluster—and 
  beyond—who are all looking for the next big score. If the PCs are not careful, they could attract a great deal of 
  undesirable attention. This could lead to any number of adventures. LTC1 38 details the various factions that 
  are operating here. Lurians might do well to at least check in with the Lurian consular delegation here, if only to 
  establish a safe haven if things go horribly wrong. The Basajaun native insurgency might target the PCs in their 
  campaign to disrupt KTL operations on Prime Station. Migdal Queens might even hire the PCs to retrieve items 
  like pretech atmospheric purifiers hidden in an abandoned habitat tower on the planet’s surface. One such 
  atmo-scrubber would be sufficient to reduce the strain Meridian Tower’s (LTC1 39) overtaxed life support 
  systems. This would allow more native Basajaun resources to be used towards the anti-KTL insurgency. 
  The KTL will be interested in the PCs, especially if they are indiscreet. More importantly, rival treasure hunters 
  will come out of the woodwork, attempting to suss out just what the PCs are after. An expedition into Prime 
  Station is almost unheard of, and there are those who are also interested in the Flame of Prometheus Myth. 
  Perhaps the most dangerous is Emmanuel Naxos, a KTL affiliated treasure hunter. 
  However, the players’ main goal is to get past KTL security, and get into the “Basement” of Prime Station. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  56 
   
  The “Basement” Expedition: 
  Once they’ve got their bearings, it might be useful to remind players why their characters are on Prime Station: 
  this is the last known location of the Flame of Prometheus. A bit of discreet poking around should be done. If 
  players are at a loss, it might be useful for the GM to suggest using Bureaucracy, Computer, Culture/Criminal, 
  Culture/Spacer, History, Persuade, Perception, and Security skill rolls to move things along. Encourage the 
  players to roleplay out the processes by which they use their skills. For each point above a roll of 6, give the PCs 
  the following, starting with the first point of information: 
  1. The station is very large, and only about a quarter of it is occupied and maintained by the Karta Trading 
  League. 
  2. The unexplored parts are collectively referred to as “The Basement”. The KTL lays claim to the entire 
  station, including the Basement, but there are no expeditions, for fear of damaging the integrity of the 
  station, especially the gravitic engines that keep it parked over Basajaun. 
  3. There is a station-wide system of transit tubes, complete with stations and cars, that is completely 
  inoperable. “Ghost stations” are located all over Prime Station, but they are sealed up and monitored. 
  4. KTL station crews are given regular maintenance routes. They pass by a number of life support nodes 
  that are either non-functional, or operating at a very diminished capacity. 
  Remember, the PCs must be discreet in all their inquiries. If they are sloppy looking around Prime Station, the 
  KTL will become aware of their true intentions, and send their professional and highly capable security forces to 
  stop the expedition before it even gets started. 
  With these clues, and a bit of legwork, the PCs should eventually find two entrance points into the Basement of 
  Prime Station: an old abandoned transit station, and a maintenance access tunnel. 
  The Basement Itself: 
  The map below represents the basic layout of the portion of the Basement that the PCs will explore in their bid 
  to find the Flame Hall. GMs should feel free to make any changes that they like. The Flame Hall (12), Heart of 
  the Flame (13) and the Crypt of the Intimates (15) are the most crucial parts of this expedition. The Private 
  Residence (13), where the PCs stumble upon the 600-year-old Head Firebringer Paredes, is important, but not 
  necessarily to the later parts of the campaign. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  57 
   
   
   
  The Basement: Area Descriptions 
  #1. Maintenance Entrance: 
  Shadowing a maintenance crew should lead the PCs to a disused manufacturing center. Attached to this old, 
  shut down tangle of robotics and conveyors is a life support node with access tunnels to the Basement. Although 
  it is disused, the facility is part of regular maintenance checks. The maintenance techs are annoyed with this 
  service route. Every week, the maintenance team of two technicians visit. It’s very uneventful. There are two 
  security drones that demand a pass-phrase: “Cellar Door” is the most current one. The drones will attack with 
  stun rifles (these do non-lethal damage and knock a target out at zero HP). They also send a beacon to KTL 
  security services. If they are attacked with lethal force, they switch to laser rifles. An armed response team will 
  arrive in 15 minutes. 
  Basic KTL Security Drone 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  7 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  1 (6HP) 
  Saving Throw 
  15 
  Attack Bonus 
  +1 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  2d6 Stun Rifle, 1d10* 
  Laser Rifle 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  +0 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  58 
   
  #2. Factory Floor  
  Machines hang in the darkness, robotic arms limp, frozen, or in garishly weird positions cast strange shadows 
  off helmet lights. The Factory Floor has a multitude of nooks and crannies in which to hide. It’s a dark and 
  dangerous place. That’s why it’s been cordoned off by the KTL. 
  It’s Been 600 Years Since the Last Workplace Accident: a wrong step forces a PC to roll an Evasion or Luck save: 
  otherwise a whole assembly system comes crashing down around a PC’s head. Lose one random piece of 
  equipment, or 2d6 HP. Bad news: There is no way back via the factory/maintenance direction to Prime Station! 
   
  #3 and #9. The Transit Conduits:  
  Once the PCs have entered the Basement through one of the two entrances, they must travel through ancient 
  transit conduits.  The transit conduits snake their way through all of Prime Station, and once served as a mass 
  transit system for many of the station’s residents. Six centuries of disuse and neglect have turned them into 
  large, poorly lit, dank, cylindrical death-traps with ladders and gantries. Travelling through the conduits is 
  hazardous and slow going.   
  Time in the Conduits: 2d4hrs – MoS of Navigation 8 roll (minimum 2 hours). 
  Some stretches of the conduits are relatively safe and unremarkable, with 1G gravity, in the vertical. The lack of 
  maintenance has turned some parts of the tunnels into grav traps. Some sections are zero-G, while others are 
  1G in a strange direction. There may or may not be atmospheric integrity in every section either. The PCs will 
  encounter 1d4 + 1 different kinds of conduit “terrain” before they find another location. Roll 1d6 and consult 
  the table below: 
  Die Roll 
  Hazard 
  1 
  Gravity: 1G, in the downward direction of the tunnel. 
  PCs will have to climb down. 
  Atmosphere : normal. 
  2 
  Gravity: 1G in a random direction. 
  Roll 1d6: 1: Downward, as above, 2-4: Reversed! 
  5, Left side of the conduit 
  6: Right side of the conduit. 
  Atmosphere: vacuum. 
  3 
  Gravity: Zero-G. Atmosphere: Vacuum 
  4 
  Gravity: Zero-G. Atmosphere: Vacuum 
  5 
  Gravity: Zero-G. Atmosphere: Normal 
  6 
  Gravity: Random, as above. Atmosphere: Normal 
  On a random result, the PCs have to make a Culture/Spacer or Perception check at 8+ to notice the effects of 
  the switch in gravity before they walk into it. Otherwise, they should roll Tech saves to avoid the worst effects 
  of sudden shifts in gravity or atmospheric pressure. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  59 
   
  While in the conduits, there are only a few random encounters possible.  Roll for every 2 hours: 
   
  Die Roll 
  Encounter 
  1 
  None 
  2 
  None 
  3 
  Lift Car, safe 
  4 
  Lift Car, unsafe 
  5 
  Drone 
  6 
  Hazard 
   
   Drone: This is a basic security drone sent in by the KTL (see above), and will respond with non-lethal 
  force first. The drone will broadcast an alert signal the moment it spots any sapient life forms in the 
  conduits.  
   Lift Car, Safe: Jammed in the conduit with the emergency brakes engaged. It will require a crowbar or 
  cutting torch to get through. 
   Lift Car, Unsafe: This is the same as above, except that there are remains of a person inside. A skeleton 
  with decaying clothes: Integrity stim, personal effects, holo-display of a hab tower on Basajaun 
  (Tripoli). There is a 1/6 chance of the car sliding or otherwise being unsafe (collapse, etc) while the PCs 
  are inside.  Insist on Evasion, Tech or Luck saves to keep the players on their toes.  Damage should be 
  minimal, though tarrying too long might cost the PCs a piece of equipment. 
   Hazard:  
  1. Electrical Surge: roll vs. Tech or take 2d6 damage from exposed wiring, or lose one piece of 
  electronic equipment. 
  2. Explosive decompression: roll vs. Tech or Luck three times: one save means taking 2d20 
  damage. Two saves means 1d20 damage. Making all three saves avoids any damage as the 
  character manages to escape any ill effects. Failing all three saving throws means the character 
  has been sucked out into space!  
  3-5. Strut fails: Roll Evasion or Luck, to avoid taking 2d6 damage from a collapsing conduit. 
  6. Gas Vent: Noxious chemicals. Make a Physical save to avoid: -2 to hit, -1 to skills, for 1d6 hours. 
  This only applies if the PCs are not in vacc suits. A Tech/Medtech roll vs. 10+ will remove this effect, 
  as will purge stims. 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  60 
   
  #4 and #8: Hab/Work Units 
  These dusty and decaying arcology blocks contain apartments, shops and offices. There is little of exceptional 
  value to find, but much to explore, as the PCs make their way deeper into Prime Station. 
  Encounters: 1 in 6 chance of encountering a KTL monitoring drone. 
   
  Basic KTL Security Drone 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  7 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  1 (6HP) 
  Saving Throw 
  15 
  Attack Bonus 
  +1 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  2d6 Stun Rifle, 1d10* 
  Laser Rifle 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  +0 
   
  Treasure: after 1d4 hours of searching and scrounging: 
  A-Cells (1d4 + 2) 
  Holodisplays: an ad for the botanical gardens and “colonization simulation center” off promenade 5. 
  A few skeletons wearing AC 7 clothing. (worth some credits); other trinkets worth 1d6x100 credits; historical 
  documents of interest to scholars. 
   
  5. Garden 
  The air is heavy, humid and warm. The PCs exit a cylindrical tunnel with water-stained walls. Water drips from 
  the ceiling, making little splashes in puddles at their feet. Before them is a thickly overgrown green-space.  It 
  doesn’t take long to see the truth: this was once a garden, now grown wild. There are man-made structures 
  throughout, but everything is covered in thick vegetation: moss, vines, and all sorts of plants.  There are stands 
  of trees everywhere, thick enough to block visibility beyond 20 meters. And where there aren’t trees there’s 
  ferns as tall as a person, and even a small swamp.This was once a lush garden that has been contaminated by 
  the contents of a variety of leaky chemicals and stim units. A trail of discarded stims will eventually lead to the 
  house in the middle of the garden. 
  But before anyone can say “hunting predator” … two giant carnivorous lizards attack from ambush!  
   
  Giant Lizard 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  4 
  No. Appearing 
  2 
  Hit Dice 
  6 
  Saving Throw 
  14+ 
  Attack Bonus 
  +5/+5/+5 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  1d4 claw/1d4 
  claw/2d6 bite 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  8 
  +1 Stealth 
   
  The House: Once clear of the initial welcoming committee, the PCs will soon discover a myriad of life forms, 
  most harmless, though deformed through 600 years of forced closed habitation and low level stim-nanite 
  contamination. They will also discover a one-storey bungalow nestled in the heart of the forest. It is overgrown 
  with vegetation, but otherwise still very sturdily built. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  61 
   
   
  In the house is an infestation of Giant Centipedes (8 of them) that will be found nesting in the containers in the 
  dark common room in the corner with the table.  They will drop onto the PCs and cause mayhem. This is also 
  where the PCs will find some treasure. 
   
  Giant Centipede 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  9 
  No. Appearing 
  1d8 
  Hit Dice 
  3HP 
  Saving Throw 
  16+ 
  Attack Bonus 
  +1 
  Movement 
  20 
  Damage 
  Physical Save or 
  poisoned for 10 days 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  7 
  +0 Stealth 
   
  Treasure: 6 Integrity Stims (SWN 57), 1d6 stims of various types. Map of the park, and map of the direction to 
  the Flame of Prometheus in holo-codex form. A Navigation roll will determine that the PCs have a shortcut, but 
  will require moving through conduits to #12, the Flame Hall. 
   
  6. Shopping Promenade 
  This was a commercial and social center In Antediluvian times. 
   It is dusty, quiet and foreboding. There are huge vaulting ceilings, and old tattered flags hanging down 
  from rafters: Order of Prometheus, Merchant Guild Terran State, and an emblem that represents the 
  Karta Sector. All are unknown to the present-day inhabitants of the Lurian Trailing Cluster. 
   The stalls and buildings are separated by alleys and avenues. It’s all neatly laid out, and the passage of 
  time has caused very little disturbances. There are doors half-open, and detritus of commercial 
  products and wrapping is strewn about haphazardly. 
  PCs can explore. The power is on standby, so turning on a holo-arcade and playing games is possible.  Everything 
  has Terran State Social Engineering subliminal technology embedded throughout, so to the modern Postdiluvian 
  human, it seems contrived, sugar-coated, and a little bit creepy. 
  Encounters: 
  1. Creepy expert system greeting bot: “Hellooowwww there…citizen///WELLcommmetoo Commercial 
  and Social PROminAHD 5.” This clunky wheeled-humanoid hybrid is eager to greet humans on the 
  Promenade. It has clearly malfunctioned. The robot is stylized to look sleek, shiny, and retro-futurist. It 
  just looks like a reject from the Jetsons, and has been roaming the Promenade, chasing the dogs (see 
  below) for 600 years. The contraption is disconcerting, but otherwise harmless. Though it does 
  generate a lot of noise. 
  2. A huge holo-game arcade. It’s still functional, so when the PCs enter there will be lots of light and 
  noise. The only danger here is that there are definitely some conformity “suggestions” embedded in 
  subliminal messages in each game. If a PC decides to play a 600-year-old video game (and who 
  wouldn’t?), roll Mental save to avoid being penalized by -1 to all skill rolls for half an hour. 
  3. Antedeluvian Security Bots: These are expert system-driven automatons wielding stun batons. They 
  will attempt to subdue any PC, but are not much of a threat (AC 8, 6 HP, +1 AB, 1d8 non-lethal 
  damage). There are 6 of them, operating in a squad, and PCs should take some visceral pleasure from 
  annihilating robotic mall-cops. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  62 
   
  4. Feral Robo-dog pack: This is a pack of “enhanced personality” pets that have gone slightly off in the 
  past 600 years of isolation. The robo-dogs are somewhat sentient, though are not true AIs, and have 
  evolved a standard pack hierarchy/territorial social order. They will observe the PCs, and only emerge 
  once the robots have been dealt with. The dogs are slightly unnerving: they all speak English with 
  Received Pronunciation accents. They also have horrible pun pet names: Michael Canine, James Earl 
  Bones, Pawtrick Stewart, Caspaw Weinbarker, etc. They don’t see a problem with that. The dogs are 
  capable of eating normal food and converting it to power, but can also run on Type-A power cells (one 
  cell will last a year). 
   
  7. Central Exchange 
  The Central Exchange is a transit junction of maintenance conduits that the PCs can use as a reference point. 
  Everything leads to and from the Central Exchange, so if they get back here, they know they’ve worked through 
  a full arm of the Prime Station expedition. 
  The Exchange hallways are decaying and old. It’s dark, and barely lit anywhere.  There is a transit track (for 
  maintenance) along the main throughway.  The car the transit track is lodged near the eastern edge of the map, 
  dead and unmovable. The power can be restored with an hour of work. During that hour, the PCs will have to 
  contend with the monster below… 
  Treasure: A small trove of maintenance-style gear can be found in the northwest (med closet):  
  2 Integrity Stims (SWN 57), 2 Micropurgator Stims (SWN 57), 4 random stims, 4 Laz Patches (SWN 42) 
  In the closets in the south of the main track are a variety of tools: a full Pretech toolkit, as well as 12 A-Cells and 
  4 B-Cells (SWN 42). There is also a micro laser cutting torch which uses A-Cells. 
  Monster: Bio-Terror! This terrifying creature will stalk the PCs and strike from ambush. It is difficult to detect. A 
  Bio-Terror is a horrifying swarm of nano-cybernetically augmented bacteria that has achieved animal 
  intelligence! It looks like a strange shimmering black protoplasm, constantly roiling and bubbling, and entire 
  creature can weigh up to 300kg, but still slide through cracks and crevasses to get at prey. Rumors of these 
  creatures abound, but very few individuals have ever survived meeting one. A Bio-Terror is very resistant to 
  physical attacks: projectile weapons will only do half damage. Energy weapons and electrical attacks do full 
  damage. When a Bio-Terror is reduced to zero hit points, it will retreat and regenerate within an hour. The only 
  way to destroy one is to set it on fire and reduce it to zero hit points—in either order. Because of this weakness, 
  Bio-Terrors will recoil from extreme heat (plasma guns, flamethrowers), but are quick to realize that any such 
  heat is temporary.  Once the PCs set up a perimeter of flames, it is possible to permanently defeat this monster, 
  or at least keep it at bay. Its two tendrils have a range of 10 feet. 
  Bio Terror 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  6 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  8 
  Saving Throw 
  11+ 
  Attack Bonus 
  +10/+10 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  Special 
  1d10/1d10 tendrils 
  Physical attacks do ½ 
  damage 
  Can only be killed by 
  fire. 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  63 
   
  #10. Abandoned Transit Station Entrance: A ghost station for the inoperative transit system that winds its way 
  through all of Prime Station. It is located in a fairly well-travelled part of the habitat zone, but has been forgotten 
  about in the last ten years.  As an expedient, a hab arcology was built over the station, since it was not in service 
  anyways. The entrance is monitored by a handful of security cameras: two on the main sealed entrance, and 
  one on the hidden maintenance entrance still accessible from the hab arcology’s maintenance level. There are 
  no discernable blind-spots to these cameras. Getting by them will take a bit of high-tech ECM wizardry, or some 
  other highly stealthy abilities. If the PCs are detected by the cameras, a KTL security team will arrive in 5 minutes.  
  11.  Private Residence 
  This is the secluded private house where the Head Firebringer, Master Devika Paredes, has been imprisoned 
  and tortured in a state of suspended animation for the past 600 years!   
  The Gure Gauza-corrupted Merchant Guild carried out their purge of the Flame of Prometheus, and slaughtered 
  most of the Prometheans. They had a special fate for the Head Firebringer, Master Paredes: she was to be 
  tortured, forced to reveal the secrets of the Prometheans, until her death. But a particularly vicious turn of fate 
  occurred when the Deluge hit: the psychic who was tasked with her torture went insane while using psitech 
  devices. His body was consumed by the torching he underwent. Unfortunately, his psychic energy lingered on 
  in the psitech machinery around him. 
  The result: Firebringer Paredes has been left to suffer, hooked up to machines and slowly wasting away to 
  insanity, for the past 600 years as a psychic ghost continues to sustain her in her agony!  The good news is that 
  her ordeal has bonded her to her tormentor.  She knows the final location of the Flame of Prometheus: 
  Ringshadow. This she can reveal to the PCs in her last dying breath. , The Firebringer’s belongings can be found 
  in the horror’s chamber.  All that is left is a single data chip hidden in a locket. In the data chip will be a journal 
  entry regarding the betrayal and purge of the Flame. 
   
  Psychic Horror 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  6 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  4  
  Saving Throw 
  12 
  Attack Bonus 
  +4 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  2d6 Stun Rifle, 
  Horror Attack 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  12 
  +0 
   
  The ghost of the Psychic Intimate was torturing Firebringer Paredes when the Deluge began. It no longer knows 
  its own name, and will want to torture anything living that enters the house. It will investigate and analyse first, 
  but will soon attack from ambush.  It has two attacks: the first, a biopsychic blast of 2d6 non-lethal damage that 
  is excruciatingly painful. Anyone who is hit must roll Physical Save or lose their next action. The second is a 
  Telepathic horror assault: roll Mental Effect save or suffer -2 to hit, -2 to saves and -1 to skills. This lasts until 
  the horror is destroyed. The ghost is immune to physical attacks, though energy weapons will do half damage. 
  Destroying it requires finding the psitech generator in the basement and destroying it. The horror will oppose 
  this with all its power. 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  64 
   
  12. Flame of Prometheus Hall 
  This massive, promenade is dusty and dark. Despite it being on a space station, the Flame Hall still feels like a 
  large, open-air atrium, with windows opening out over the planet far below. The view is spectacular. There are 
  art installations, the occasional slogan etched into the obelisks and other monuments that are silently decaying.  
  Here and there is evidence of a struggle.  Deeper investigation will reveal evidence of a mass shooting and clean-
  up: some plasma scorching, a few splatters of blood, and some parts of the floor where industrial cleaners 
  stained the tiles.   
  A visitor’s map to the Flame of Prometheus can be found on a mural in an ancient Roman-style mosaic.  
   
  13. Heart of the Flame of Prometheus 
  The Flame of Prometheus itself is a cathedral-like structure with high arching ceilings, columns, gardens and 
  beautiful art, all done in a style that is at once avant guarde and classical. The sweeping dome overhead creates 
  an especially impressive effect. But the walls are decaying and damaged. There are definitely signs that 
  something terrible transpired here: some blood smears can be found in the corners and behind furniture.  But 
  the walls are covered in geometric mosaics, wonderful tilings, and all sorts of mathematical artistry. Some 
  flickering lights indicate that power is still intermittently available.   
  The Heart of the Flame is a massive, massive open space with a huge dome overhead, multiple levels, and stacks 
  and stacks of books, computers, holo-displays, holo-cubes, emitters, a true marvel of education and knowledge. 
  With only a little effort, the power can be restored. And a holo-emitted expert system of a Promethean will 
  appear. His name is Promethean Yan, and he is happy to assist in any way possible. Unfortunately, without 
  access to the actual Flame, Yan is friendly, but has no knowledge of anything other than the basic layout of the 
  Flame, some facts about Basajaun, the date and time (he will be amazed to discover how out of synch his clock 
  is). 
  Here, the main computer logs are active. The PCs can very quickly cycle up the forged logs. It is impossible to 
  find the real logs in the Heart of Fire. [See Appendix for logs] 
   
  14. Flame of Prometheus Administrative Center 
  This is one of the more banal sections of the Flame: the day to day running of the Flame of Prometheus 
  repository was done from this office core, with the help of an advanced series of expert systems.  The power is 
  now intermittent, and the expert systems are completely offline.   
  Quasi-religious motifs adorn the walls, even if this was the office/admin sector. There is very little here: a few 
  holo records of colonial construction projects on Basajaun’s surface are interesting.  Some plasma blasts and 
  other signs of violence scar the walls.  
   
   The computers here can be activated.  If they are, the log entries will be dated March 15, 2665 (12 
  days after the Deluge began); they describe the plan to move the Flame to Artume.  This evidence is 
  forged, and was planted by the Intimates to prevent anyone from learning the truth. [See Appendix for 
  logs] 
   Extra work (Computer 10+) will dig up buried Promethean computer logs: The PCs will find the logs of 
  the actual Prometheans, before the Intimates' purge, and including one log of video footage of the 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  65 
   
  purge, and the first time the PCs will hear the Intimates speak in their Gure Gauza tongue. [See 
  Appendix for logs] 
   
  15. The Den of the Intimates  
  This is a small crypt off the Heart of Fire. It is dark and dimly lit, with mosaics of flame, fire, and light motifs 
  throughout. There are study alcoves and nooks for introspection. This was the old private study of the senior 
  Prometheans, and the quarters of the Master Firebringer and two of her trusted servants. It was turned into a 
  (fake) crypt by the Intimates, as part of their efforts to cover their tracks in the wake of their coup. 
  The secret door in the wall of the servants’ room hides a small chamber with 1d3 Integrity stims. Everything 
  here suggests holiness and solemnity.  Beyond some double doors is a large ritual room: a communal altar, a 
  small stage, and some valuables still adorning racks and wall-mounts.  But it’s all very bland, and somehow does 
  not mesh with the stark, yet glorious architecture of the Heart of the Flame or Hall of the Flame. 
  There is a sarcophagus in the back: it is part of the ruse. On it is marked the name of Master Firebringer Devika 
  Paredes. The well-preserved body contained within is a fake, though it will require a scan with TL5 sensors to 
  determine this. 
  There is a secret door under the altar in the ritual room, leading to the Crypt. 
   
  The Crypt of the Intimates: an outer chamber holds the power systems and supplies for the eight Intimates that 
  are lying in a state of suspended animation here. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re not an Intimate, six of 
  the cold sleep pods have malfunctioned. Only two Intimates remain: Brother James, and Sister Zhitan. Reviving 
  the two remaining Intimates will take a number of hours equal to 1d6 x the margin of success of a Tech/Pretech 
  or Tech/Medtech roll. 
   
  The Intimates: These two Antediluvians are a major archaeological find in and of themselves. However, unless 
  the PCs are sharp, it is likely that the two Intimates are going to cause major problems for the expedition. Their 
  main goals are: 
  1.  to pass themselves off as Prometheans 
  2. get a bit of intelligence regarding the nature of the Lurian Trailing Cluster; 
  3. get to Artume and make contact with whatever Intimates are there. 
  There are two complications: the cryo-chambers of the six other Intimates failed, which has left Brother James 
  and Sister Zhitan without any manpower or a qualified crew of spacers. As well, these two were left on Prime 
  Station as punishment, and being low-level Intimates meant that they do not know where the Flame is hidden. 
  All they know is that the MTD Javadi left for Artume… 
  What the Antediluvians know: 
  1. They were participants in the purge. 
  2. They know that the Master Firebringer was captured and tortured. 
  3. They know that the Flame is at Artume, but they don’t know where. 
  4. Their job was to stay behind and clean things up, and then wait for either rescue, or for discovery. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  66 
   
  Their supplies: 
  The room with all the boxes contains all sorts of supplies: 
  Rations, A and B power cells, 8 vacc skins, 24 Integrity stims, 1d6+3 random stims. 
  TL4 survival supplies, and 50KCr in precious jewels. 
   
  The Guardian: These expert system-driven Guardian robots are hidden in the Crypt of the Intimates, and will 
  only activate when (not if) the PCs alert the Intimates to their true intentions. They will defend the Intimates 
  first, and kill PCs second. 
   
  The Guardian Bots 
  Armor Class 3 
  No. Appearing 2 
  Hit Dice 36HP 
  Saving Throw 12 
  Attack Bonus +7 
  Movement 30 
  Damage Laser Rifle: 1d12*, 
  Monoblade 1d8+1 
  Morale 12 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  67 
   
  Part 2: Getting to Artume 
  The end result of the Prime Station expedition should hopefully be that the players have learned that the 
  Prometheans themselves did not move the Flame to Artume. They might not know who the Intimates are, but 
  they should rightly suspect foul play on Prime Station. Hopefully, they learned about Ringshadow Station from 
  Firebringer Paredes. If not, they should at least want to follow the trail to Artume, and might want to look for 
  the MTD Javadi. 
  The PCs may or may not have course nav charts to get them to Enke, and then to Artume. If not, they’ll have to 
  get their hands on some. Either way, they will likely have to make a stopover at Enke. Adventures could include 
  doing a job for the KTL, or a KTL-affiliated merchant, in exchange for course charts to Enke and Artume. While 
  refueling in the Enke system, the PCs might witness a slaving raid. If they’re on the planetary surface (rather 
  than skimming fuel from a gas giant) then they might be caught up in such a raid. Alternatively, the PCs might 
  be caught up in the local rivalries of the different floating cities. Trading on Enke will be difficult, as the locals 
  are highly xenophobic. 
  Artume: 
  Background 
  Ringshadow, or Ringshadow Station, was a secret facility used by the Prometheans to study any alien technology 
  that they came across. As Terra lost its grip on Karta Sector, the Prometheans became worried of a long term 
  decivilization trend, and expanded Ringshadow as an emergency bunker. After a major interstellar social 
  upheaval, the Prometheans reasoned that there would be a time of chaos and violence that they would be ill-
  equipped to contain directly. However, once this Deluge subsided, they would emerge from their bunker at 
  Ringshadow, and begin restoring civilization by disseminating lost technology and knowledge. This plan might 
  have worked except that the Intimates had learned about the Promethean base at Ringshadow. The Intimates 
  took over the site as part of their coup, and expanded it over the course of their first few years on Artume. 
  When the MTD Javadi crashed on Artume, the few survivors and the small contingent of Intimates working at 
  Ringshadow salvaged what they could and established the protocols that would ensure that their secrets would 
  not be discovered: the institution of Watcher was created to act as the eyes and ears of the Intimates. 
  Furthermore, work was carried out at Ringshadow Station to make the facility more secure. Anyone who would 
  be foolish enough to mount an expedition would be ambushed by the Intimates, and murdered. Traps and fail 
  safes were put in place in order to ensure that the treasures of the Intimates would never leave Ringshadow. 
  The Situation Now 
  Everyone who knows anything about the legend of the Flame of Prometheus knows that Artume is a strange 
  place for it. But that’s what the legend says. The problem is that Artume is riddled with small mining settlements, 
  research stations, and other less savoury old locales, all abandoned. It has been 600 years, and the handful of 
  intrepid souls who have dared look for the Flame have never found anything. No one knows where to even 
  begin. 
  The wreck of the MTD Javadi sits in the middle of the ruins of Solozanos. Salvage expeditions into the wreck are 
  not encouraged. Things live in the wreck, and no one who has ever ventured deep into the ship has ever made 
  it out alive. In order to gain access to the computers on the bridge of the Javadi, it will be necessary to hook up 
  power from engineering, which means an excursion into the bowels of the ship. It is here that a Bio-Terror waits 
  to destroy anyone looking through the wreckage. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  68 
   
  The Gure Gauza on Nestor Station do not know what it is that they are guarding, or awaiting. They know that 
  Artume holds some sort of treasure for the interstellar crime syndicate, and little else. Someday, someone with 
  knowledge will arrive, speak the secret words in the secret language, and the Gure Gauza on Nestor will do their 
  duty. Until then, the station is used as a clearing house for unsavoury goods and trades in the Lurian Trailing 
  Cluster: slaves, drugs, maltech, that sort of thing. 
  There are a handful of people on Artume eking out a living as salvagers on the moon’s surface, or as traders and 
  brokers at Lazardis, the small dirtside station that the Gure Gauza have established.  
  Arriving at Nestor Station, the PCs will be mistaken for KTL traders, and are informed that whatever salvage they 
  get from the moon’s surface, Boss Lisgur Trall takes his cut: 50%. It is up to the PCs to decide how to proceed. 
  Discretion on Nestor Station is advised. Do the PCs play along, or do they buck the system?  And do they attract 
  enough attention that the Intimates begin watching them? At the Javadi, the PCs make a discovery about the 
  Flame: it’s probably destroyed. Also, they have logs from Prime Station, and they know from those logs that the 
  final resting spot is some place called Ringshadow. 
  The Watcher: Iveran Minika (see Notable NPCs, above) has not had any cause to worry about anyone finding 
  the Flame, or Ringshadow Station, and only a handful of individuals have made it as far as the wreck of the 
  Javadi, never to be seen again.  While the PCs are exploring Nestor Station and the MTD Javadi, Minika will not 
  go out of his way to interact with them in order to determine their intentions. However, if they have survived 
  the Bio-Terror on the Javadi, he will become extremely interested. Still, the Watcher will not directly engage 
  with the PCs until he has determined that they are on their way to Ringshadow, and a major threat. At which 
  point, he will invoke the ancient Gure Gauza code (much to his chagrin) and ask the local Gure Gauza Buru for a 
  number of picked men to act as muscle. Then, Iveran Minika will head to Ringshadow and hunt the PCs down 
  as they search for the Flame in the facility. 
  The MTD Javadi: This ancient wreck lies in the middle of Solozanos’ ruined habitat dome, on Artume’s surface. 
  If the PCs know that the Intimates had acquired this vessel to ship the Flame of Prometheus to Artume, they will 
  probably want to explore the hulk. If they don’t know about the Javadi’s significance, it might be useful for the 
  GM to tempt the players by mentioning that no one who has tried exploring the wreck has ever survived. 
  The Javadi crashed onto the airless moon of Artume, smashing through Solozanos’ habitat dome, causing a very 
  violent and sudden decompression. Thousands died as they were sucked out into space. Because of the rapid 
  loss of oxygen, the Javadi’s wreck is surprisingly intact, as there was little to feed the flames of any explosions. 
  After smashing through the dome, the freighter drove into the ground, plowing through the heart of Solozanos, 
  and finally coming to rest in the middle of the settlement, with debris and shattered dome all around. The Flame 
  and all the relics contained within were largely lost, when most of the cargo containers attached to the vessel’s 
  central spine were torn and crushed to bits in the crash. Whatever did survive was moved to Ringshadow by the 
  survivors, and those few Intimates who were already waiting for the Javadi’s arrival. 
  Exploring the Javadi: there are four sections to this hulk. This should be played as a horror scene as much as 
  possible. The Javadi is pitch dark and airless. The hallways are smeared with blood and gore, preserved in the 
  vacuum.  There are remains of body parts, but no bodies. It is dangerous and slow going for PCs, as they pick 
  their way through twisted bulkheads and hallways. Their only sources of light are those that they bring with 
  them. The Javadi is an airless tomb, so the tension of having to wear a vacc suit should be emphasized as well.  
  1. Airlock and Bridge: The Javadi is accessible via the airlock, which has no power, and will have to be 
  cranked open. Not that there’s any air remaining inside. The bridge is another point of entry that is 
  visible, and relatively safe. Explorers will have to climb up the vessel to reach either access points, 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  69 
   
  which is not difficulty in the moon’s lower gravity. The bridge is accessible through the rooftop, which 
  looks as though it has been cracked apart and peeled back by a massive claw. The bridge computers 
  are not powered, but do contain important information. It will take 1d6 x10 minutes to jury-rig a B-Cell 
  to power up the computer and download whatever logs remain. 
  2. Quarters: The crew quarters were picked clean by the Intimates when they salvage what they could 
  from the ship. However, something here went horribly wrong. There are remains of people, ripped 
  apart, and blood stains can be seen everywhere. 
  3. The Cargo Spine: The Javadi hauled cargo by attaching standardized shipping containers to a long, thin 
  spine that ran from the bridge and crew quarters, back to the engineering section. The spine is 
  currently bent, and broken in a number of places. The PCs will have to exit the spine on at least one 
  occasion on their way back to the engineering section. Below them are the crushed remains of dozens 
  of cargo containers. Many are missing, but whatever remains is totally wrecked, and not worth 
  salvaging. Players might feel particularly despondent at this point, especially if they know that the 
  Flame was on board. 
  4. Engineering: The Javadi’s aft section is in surprisingly good shape, all things considered. However, the 
  only viable access point is through the cargo spine. This means that the PCs will enter the Engineering 
  section one at a time, and slowly pick their way through a dark, multi-level jungle of twisted metal, 
  dangerous power conduits, and a horror waiting for them. Once the PCs get into the guts of the 
  Engineering section, they will encounter a massive Bio-Terror, left by the Intimates to keep anyone 
  from learning anything. If the PCs have supplied power to the ship’s computer in the Bridge, or if they 
  enter the Engineering section, the Bio-Terror will awaken and begin stalking any interlopers. The 
  creature is at a supreme advantage, as there is very little light in the Javadi’s hull, nor on Artume in 
  general. The PCs will be hard pressed to permanently defeat this creature, but they may be able to 
  delay it long enough to get off the ship with any information they do find. 
  Really Large Bio-Terror 
   
   
   
  Armor Class 
  4 
  No. Appearing 
  1 
  Hit Dice 
  12 
  Saving Throw 
  12 
  Attack Bonus 
  +10/+10/+10 
  Movement 
  30 
  Damage 
  Tendrils x3: 1d10 
  damage each 
  Morale 
  Skill Bonus 
  9 
  Stealth 1 
   
  The Javadi Logs: these will explain more of the story. See Appendix. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  Ringshadow Station:  
  The first question to ask when mounting the expedition to Ringshadow Station is: “where is Ringshadow 
  Station?” The answer to this is that Artume is the largest moon of a gas giant with rings. The GM should make 
  this comment in an off-hand manner, in order to make sure the players are paying attention. Of course, six 
  hundred years ago, the rings were casting a slightly different shadow than they are currently. It will require a 
  Science or Navigation skill check to figure out the exact coordinates of Ringshadow station, but it is not an 
  obvious location. Particularly cruel GMs might want to provide the players with as many as three or four 
  alternate sites for them to explore before they stumble on the actual location. This should be done only to ramp 
  up the tension, especially if the players are starting to realize that their characters are being watched. 
  Once the PCs have arrived at Ringshadow, the GM should run the “dungeon delving” expedition like any other, 
  but with a catch: once the PCs are in Ringshadow, the Watcher will be racing to catch up with them. As well, the 
  PCs might cause the thawing and awakening of the remaining Intimates in Ringshadow. Between the opposition 
  ahead of and behind them, as well as a few Bio-Terrors waiting in the depths of the facility, Ringshadow Station 
  should provide plenty of challenges to any group of players. 
  Ringshadow Station: Basic Information 
  The station’s life support and power are on standby. The air is stale, the lights do not work, the computer 
  systems are completely deactivated, and the airlocks take a long time to cycle. PCs will have to use their personal 
  lights for illumination, but they will not need oxygen bottles unless they plan on staying there for a while and 
  don’t turn on the life support systems. The entire facility has also suffered some damage from seismic activity 
  that occurs on Artume from time to time. A few centuries of earthquakes have not been kind to certain parts of 
  Ringshadow. This will only make life more challenging for anyone exploring the facility. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  1. Entrance and Operations: 
  This section represents the “operations” part of Ringshadow. Here, teams of Prometheans and other scholars 
  working on behalf of human civilization would prepare for expeditions, usually to study or recover ancient alien 
  artifacts, or to ensure that a society is properly equipped to survive on the frontier without reverting to 
  barbarism. Time has not been kind to this facility. The entire place is pitch black, the air is musty, and there is 
  only minimal power: enough to run the front door airlocks, security cameras and the grav security drones. 
  A. Holo-Projector News Hall: past the airlock with the Promethean Torch Sigil on the floor is a raised 
  platform. The four columns on this platform are holoprojectors that display news and intelligence to 
  those who ask for it. They are currently non-functional. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  B. Security Drone Bay: Two grav-mobile security drones are stationed here.  
   
  Grav Security Drone 
  Armor Class 5 
  No. Appearing 2 
  Hit Dice 2 (12 HP) 
  Saving Throw 15 
  Attack Bonus +4 
  Movement 30m 
  Damage 2d6 stun rifle, 1d12* laser rifle 
  Morale 12 
  Special These drones are standard security bots, and will respond with non- 
  lethal force first, but will switch to lasers quickly enough. 
  Two charging ports are located in this room, along with a handful of spares. The charging ports can 
  recharge a Type-A cell in 30 minutes, a Type-B cell in 2 hours. 
  C. Briefing Room: A large table, holoprojector, seating in a circular fashion. This room was used to prep 
  agents going out on a mission. 
  D. Prep Room: This room has rows and rows of empty equipment racks. A dozen Type-A cells remain in a 
  cubby. As do three Integrity stims.  
  a. The secret door: this leads to the armory hallway through the secret door. The Armory is 
  nearly empty. There are two TL4 Revolvers (+1 to hit and damage) here. 
  E. Ops Center: More large holo displays, as well as advanced commo systems, are located here. All of it is 
  shut down. An Argus web unit is lying here in a corner. 
  F. Computers, Comms and Data Center: All this has been ransacked, and nothing is functional. 
  G. Mess Hall: Where the Prometheans on duty ate and met, and tried to pass the time. A food prep area 
  is off to the side, as well as an adjoining pantry. Nothing here is really salvageable, except for two 
  packs of antediluvian field rations. 
  H. Duty Shift Barracks: Those on duty would bunk here. 
  I. Note: the Intimates have set up monitoring sensors in the airlock. They are detectable on a Perception 
  or Security roll (-2). 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  73 
   
   
  2. Ringshadow Station Barracks Ruins 
  This map represents the barracks and facilities of the day-to-day functioning of a secret facility on an airless 
  moon. The barracks are generally in ruins after an earthquake destroyed the eastern wing of the facility. What’s 
  left has little value, but some treasures can be found. The entire area is totally dark, and the air still smells of 
  rotten eggs. 
  A. Medical Bay: A waiting/triage area joins two clinic rooms. There are medical supplies in the left-most 
  clinic room: 1d6 Integrity, 1d3 Micropurgator stims (SWN 57). A TL5 Medkit is also available. It 
  functions exactly like the TL4 version, but is encumbrance 1. 
  B. Barracks: These rooms are spacious, and housed the Prometheans and occasionally the Guardian 
  Committee Agents who lived and worked here. There are dorm rooms, private quarters, communal 
  washrooms, kitchens, the whole NW corner of the map is like this.  
  Fotosearch - http://www.fotosearch.com 
  (c) Digitalstudio  www.fotosearch.com Stock Photography 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  74 
   
  a. Secret Door: This is the entrance to the research section of Ringshadow station. It has security 
  protocols that require a Security skill roll to bypass.  
  b. Supplies: A handful of Type-A powercells can be picked through, as well as personal items like 
  old holo-projectors and a Concert Cube. 
  i. The Concert Cube: “Dawn of the Replicants” was a particularly popular weird-prog band 
  from the Core that never really made it big in Karta Sector. Until now.  The Cube’s 
  volume settings go up to 11. 
  C. Lounge: a black obelisk entertainment unit is mounted in the floor, and there are a handful of tables 
  and chairs left here as well.  On the south side of the room is a secret access panel to a supply closet. 
  a. Supply Closet: This contains a variety of 600-year-old drinks, worth a small fortune to a noted 
  connoisseur. 
  D. Ruins: The hallway here collapsed in an earthquake centuries ago. Much of it is destroyed. However, 4 
  Xeno-Roaches make their home in these ruins. They will attack the PCs the moment they enter the 
  ruined hall, hoping to eat something that isn’t rock. The Roaches are afraid of heat, and will skitter 
  away from any open flames. Astute PCs that have survived an encounter with a Bio-Terror might notice 
  the similarity. In truth, the Bio-Terrors are a genetically engineered, miniaturized, cybernetically 
  enhanced, and fully weaponized swarm of Xeno-Roaches. 
   
  Xeno-Roaches 
  Armor Class 5 
  No. Appearing 4 
  Hit Dice 1 (5 HP) 
  Saving Throw 14 
  Attack Bonus +2 
  Movement 20 
  Damage 1d4 bite 
  Morale 12 
  Special Rip open vac suits. 
   
  E. The Other Secret Door: This leads to the tunnels the Intimates dug to get them from the barracks 
  directly to the research caves, in order to stay out of site. Detecting this door requires either Pretech 
  devices, or a Perception roll of 10+. It will lead the PCs into the small tunnel on map 3. 
   
   
  
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  3. Bubble Caves: 
  This region represents the deepest the Prometheans needed to dig when they made Ringshadow. It contains 
  a variety of scientific sensor equipment, as well as six Pretech force field generators. The force field 
  generators may or may not work, depending on the room. Any working instruments provide some dim 
  lighting. Otherwise, the entire region is pitch black.  
  The entire section is made out of cooled lava flows and bubbles. The obsidian and slate here is strikingly 
  pure, and exceptionally beautiful. Unfortunately, the walls are particularly smooth, making climbing difficult. 
  A. Faulty Bridge: The PCs coming from the main tunnel access from map 2 will have to cross a bridge if 
  they wish to explore anything on the other side of the lava flow tunnel. The bridge will collapse when 
  the second PC crosses it. Roll an Evasion save to avoid falling to the tunnel floor, and taking 2d6 
  damage (save Luck to take half). 
  B. The Bubble Caves: This naturally formed complex was used by the Prometheans to store objects and 
  study them. They also had a variety of seismic sensors set up in order to learn more about Artume’s 
  particular interplay of tidal forces.  
  a. Seismic Activity Sensors. They are still functioning, but on low-power mode. There are sensor 
  logs that can be retrieved if the PCs wish to spend 1d6 hours doing so. 
  C. The Six Force Field Generators: These are still active! With good reason!  Inside each is a frighteningly 
  large Bio-Terror swarm. These were put here by the Intimates, as a defense mechanism against 
  intrusion controlled by the Watcher. 
  D. Faulty Field Generator: One field generator is on the fritz. When the PCs get close, a Bio-Terror 
  attacks! It is possible to scavenge the field generator, but it will require 3d6 hours to do so. The field 
  generator will take up 12 points of encumbrance. 
   
  Bio-Terror! 
  Armor Class 5 
  No. Appearing 1 
  Hit Dice 8 (35 HP) 
  Saving Throw 11 
  Attack Bonus +8/+8 
  Movement 30 
  Damage 1d10/1d10 tendrils (5m range) 
  Morale 10 
   
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  4. Worked Bubble Caves 
  This is the first evidence of actual Intimate activity at Ringshadow Station. This part of the facility was created 
  before the coup, in anticipation of what was to come. Like all their work, the Intimates here rely on deception 
  and stealth to ensure that only the Intimates can find the entrance to the Main Hall (#5). The north side of 
  the lava tunnel has no lighting, but can be lit with some work. The south side has spooky lighting set up in a 
  reverential array in order to evoke the mood that “this is the Flame!”. 
  A. Intimate Interlopers! The PCs will be watched while they are crossing the shorter bridge (which looks 
  very sturdy). The Intimates here have been awakened from stasis in order to carry out the scouting. 
  Their four sleep pods here are now empty. They are a little confused, but know what they have to do. 
  They were placed in the sleep pods in this chamber for this very reason. 
   
  Intimate Scout Team 
  Armor Class 4 (CFUs) 
  No. Appearing 4 
  Hit Dice 3 (15 HP) 
  Saving Throw 13 
  Attack Bonus +4 
  Movement 20 
  Damage 
   
  Plasma Proj: 2d8, 
  Monoblades 1d8 
  Morale 
   
  11 
   
  Once they’ve determined that the PCs are threats for two rounds, the Intimates will head towards the secret 
  door and get out to section 5. If they are attacked, they flee directly to the Main Hall (#5) via the secret door, 
  or to section 3. They will not reveal the location of the secret door to the Main Hall! These Intimates have 
  cybernetic implants that allow them to commit suicide in three rounds. It is possible to defeat the implant, 
  mainly by “inoculation” via the use of an Micropurgator stim (SWN 57). This will kill the nanites/poison that 
  is designed to quickly neutralize the Intimate. Unfortunately, these Intimates are fanatics, and will not 
  divulge any secrets. 
  B. Supply Room: Contains rations, Type-A and B power cells, and other mundane necessities. 
  C. The Fake Flame of Prometheus: This is the final part of the ruse. There are pictograms and sigils 
  representing knowledge, Karta, and all the systems in the Lurian Trailing Cluster. However, it all looks 
  like it’s been given the once over, and everything is in shambles. It looks as though there is no data 
  here. 
  D. Fake Flame of Prometheus 2: More of the same.  There are fake logs retrieved from the MTD Javadi on 
  a data disk that is placed conspicuously on a dias: 
  “The ship crashed, and we are sorry to report that the majority of the contents, as well as the 
  primary Flame core, have been lost. We have failed in our mission to Karta Sector. We do not 
  know what disaster has befallen humankind here, but we hope that when the Deluge waters 
  recede, we can help restore the first embers of the Flame of civilization.” 
  E. The “Reliquary”: The Intimates built up a collection of useless Pretech junk, some low-end TL4 or TL5 
  weaponry and 4 canisters of polymorphic nano-manufacturing tubes (SWN 57).  
  a. The Secret Door: There is a primitive glyph in the wall of the reliquary, two triangles touching 
  each other inside a circle. This should give the PCs a clue that there might be more to this whole 
  story. Perception 8+ and/or Security 8+ to access the secret door. Exceptional success means 
  the silent alarm was not tripped. 
  5. The Main Hall of the Intimates 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  77 
   
  This is lit, but dimly, in order to preserve power. The air here is just as stale, and there are signs of recent travel 
  (the observation party in section 4). The main hall is grandiose in a way that the Flame of Prometheus is not. 
  There are all sorts of nooks and crannies here. 
  A. The Welcoming Alcove: Lots of empty rooms here, some with basic supplies and rations. The secret 
  door to the north has a Type-A cell, a small thermal pistol, and a single Titan stim.  
  B. In the “Pit”: Another grav security drone. It will attack after two rounds. Speaking the phrase: “Gure 
  Gauza” will prevent an attack. It has +2 AC for cover against direct fire attacks. If the guardian is 
  overwhelmed it will try to escape via the secret passage in the Pit. 
  At the bottom of the pit is a data terminal. This terminal can be used to access the emergency 
  settings and begin the rapid de-thaw process for all Intimates. 
   
  Grav Security Drone 
  Armor Class 5 
  No. Appearing 2 
  Hit Dice 3 (18 HP) 
  Saving Throw 15 
  Attack Bonus +4 
  Movement 30m 
  Damage 2d8* Shear Rifle 
  Morale 12 
   
  C. Monitor Center: This room has multiple holoprojectors and screens on the walls, and if the power is 
  on, it can be used to monitor the entire Ringshadow Station! 
  D. Drone Bay: The Intimate Scout Team will be here, resupplying and considering their next course of 
  action. They did not anticipate anyone getting this far without the others being revived. Something 
  must have happened. They have command of three more security drones. 
  E. Guardian Security: These two guardian bots in the western-most alcove will not move until living 
  humans arrive and are slow with the pass-phrase: “Gure Gauza”. 
  F.  
  Two Guardian Bots 
  Armor Class 3 
  No. Appearing 2 
  Hit Dice 36HP 
  Saving Throw 12 
  Attack Bonus +7 
  Movement 30 
  Damage 
   
  Cutter Rifle: 1d12*, 
  Monoblade 1d8+1 
  Morale 
   
  12 
   
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  6. Stasis Chambers 
  This region is poorly lit, and carved out of the slate and obsidian. It is spooky. The smaller crypts contain 
  ossuaries of dead Intimates. Each have the Intimate symbol carved into them. A small ossuary with the remains 
  of Madav Hutton, the leader of the Intimates, inside it also contains a security override key that will allow 
  whoever uses it to have complete control over Ringshadow Station, and its Lava Hall trap. The station’s power 
  system is malfunctioning, so complete control is no longer possible. 
  By the time the PCs get here, the Watcher should be right behind them. 
  A. Main Stasis Chamber: This is where the commanders of the Intimates (such as they are) are in cold 
  sleep. TWO Guardian Bots stand in silent vigil over them. They are keyed to attack anyone who is not 
  an Intimate of Ringshadow Station. They will attack immediately. 
  Two Guardian Bots 
  Armor Class 3 
  No. Appearing 2 
  Hit Dice 36HP 
  Saving Throw 12 
  Attack Bonus +7 
  Movement 30 
  Damage 
   
  Cutter Rifle: 1d12*, 
  Monoblade 1d8+1 
  Morale 
   
  12 
   
   
  B. Stasis Controls: here each stasis pod can be revived individually, or en masse. There are two ways of 
  reviving the Intimates. The first is to do a “slow thaw”, which will take about a day, and gently awaken 
  the slumbering cultists. The other way is to initiate an “emergency thaw” which will crash the system 
  and revive the Intimates in 30 + 1d6x10 minutes. Rooms off of this chamber contain basic supplies. A 
  Pretech roll here will grant access to the pods. 
  C. Medical Supplies: The motherlode of medical supplies is located in this chamber. 
  a. HoloLibrary: A TL5 holographic display for Tech/Medtech skill training, up to level 3. 
  b. Bioscanners, Instapanels, Medkits (Pretech), Lazarus Patches (SWN 42) 
  c. System Reset Inductor (SWN 57): 3 doses. 
  d. Redivivus Sheaths: 6 packs (SWN 57) 
  e. Stims: Integrity 12, and 2d10 others, to GM’s taste. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  7. Power and Life Support 
  Dark and gloomily lit, this is the main control section for power and life support in the Intimates’ facility. All the 
  hallways are lined with pipes and conduits. It is possible to hack the facility’s computer system here, but it’s also 
  possible to really hurt yourself while doing so. 
  By the time the PCs get here, the Watcher should be right behind them. 
  A. Lounge: a few bits of junk, and some food. This place is surprisingly mundane. 
  B. Engineering Controls: This room is lined with displays, controls, and everything needed to run a scary 
  facility such as this one. There are lots of rooms here filled with various life support machinery, 
  monitors, and systems. There are backups in the smaller rooms as well. This place was built to last. 
  a. It is impossible for the PCs to completely power up the station. There has been too much 
  damage from seismic tremors to bring the power back online. However, on a successful 
  Computer skill check (10+), enterprising PCs will be able to gain access to data logs about the 
  Flame of Prometheus, the Order of Prometheus, as well as sensor and security information 
  from all over Ringshadow Station. 
  C. Geothermal Energy Storage: This is where the station gets it power from. Massive batteries that 
  occasionally automatically suck up more geothermal energy from the lava flows below the station. It is 
  all advanced, TL5 stuff, but the principles are pretty similar to a Type-B cell, or a capacitor. 
  D. Workshop: There are at least two tons of spare parts for whatever mischief the PCs would like to get 
  up to with their own workshop back on their own vessel. 
  i. There is enough here for 1d10x10000Cr for parts for a ship upgrade. 
  E. The Engineering Equipment Room: This room, behind a secret door, is home to some swanky more 
  advanced maintenance gear. The GM is invited to fill this room with wondrous and useful technical 
  devices and toys. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  8. Lava Hall and The Ashes of the Fire 
  This is the heart of it all. Here, the Prometheans’ Emergency Flame Units sit, waiting to be picked up. Of 
  course, not everything is what it seems. By now, the players should hopefully understand that the Intimates 
  valued deception and illusion. Their principle means of preventing anyone from discovering their true nature 
  and their horrible crimes was to set up elaborate myths, lies, and facades. 
  The Trap: The Lava Hall is still designed to kill anyone who is not an Intimate. They clearly have trust issues. 
  Unless the Trap is disarmed via the Control Room (F), the moment a PC (or any living being) crosses the force 
  field in section A, they will set off the trap. Throwing a rock through the containment field will NOT trigger 
  the trap. The culprit has to be a living entity. 
  The Trap: a lava dam opens, and will not-too-slowly flood the entire Lava Hall. The doors to sections 5 and 7 
  will close, and will be sealed behind blast doors and unopenable. Only the Emergency Exit behind the secret 
  door in section C is available! 
  A. Artifact Containment Force Field: What’s behind here? A giant “Pretech” orb that glows and hovers. It 
  is utterly fake, but only a Computer roll will determine this. 
  a. The Force Field: the orb is supposedly the “Heart of the Flame”. But it is behind a force field, 
  which is actually just a magnetic pressure field, designed to trigger the trap. 
  B. Empty Flame Reliquary 1: Not enough survived the MTD Javadi crash to fill up everything here. 
  C. The Secret Airlock: The secret doors are difficult to detect: Computer (Sensors) or Perception, or 
  having some knowledge of the Intimates might help. There are little glyphs. 
  D. The Reliquary 2: This area does have all the treasure that isn’t really exotic: 
  a. Shear Pistols (3): Enc. 1, (2d8*Range 30/100, Ammo 10) +3 to hit (energy weapon bonus 
  included)   
  b. Stealthed Thermal Pistol (2): two settings: normal compad, or bracelet, 5 shots. 
  c. Stims: 3 dozen stims of various types. 
  d. Grav PDW (3): 2d6+2* Enc 1, +2 to hit, Ammo: 15 Range: 30/100 
  e. Gyrojet Sniper Rifle (1): 3d8, 1000/2000, Ammo: 3, +1 to hit, low recoil (Enc 2) (24 rounds) 
  f. Armor: 6 Combat Field Uniforms with integral Vacc Skins, AC3, Enc 1 (Each worth about 3000Cr) 
  g. Technical Devices: Pretech toolkits, and high tech versions of TL4 stuff (15000Cr worth) 
  h. The Flame, Extinguished: The Flame of Prometheus was lost during the MTD Javadi crash. 
  Plain and simple. However, the Prometheans had completed a major project: the Emergency 
  Flame Units. These small 10cm cubes were designed to be extremely rugged, uniquely 
  adaptable, and very useful. There are 16 of them in a crate with the Promethean Fire Sigil on it. 
  They are inconspicuously stored with all the other utility items. 
  They contain all the basics of TL4 society: 
  i. TL4 Spike Drive and spacecraft technology to Spike-3 
  ii. TL4 industrial processes 
  iii. TL4 Medicine 
  iv. TL4 Electronics and Computing 
  v. TL4 Military technology, including Quantum ECM technology. 
  vi. A rudimentary and incomplete history of humanity and of Karta Sector, up to June, 2664. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  81 
   
  vii. A set of the most up-to-date nav charts from 2664, as well as an incomplete databank 
  entry for each system mentioned on the nav charts. 
  viii. Firebringer Paredes’ message. 
  E. The Lava Bed: This whole area is now caked over with cooled lava. However, it is still quite warm. If the 
  trap is sprung, the hidden dam will release more lava, and the whole bed will churn and swell with hot 
  lava.  
  a. The lava will begin rising, and first pour down the stairs towards section D. This will take 1 
  minute! It will burn through the open windows of section A in 3 minutes. In eight minutes, it 
  will have spread about as far as it can go before beginning to cool, blocking off the main 
  corridor between B and F (and map 5). There will effectively be no escape at that point. 
  Whoever is here is trapped until they run out of food or oxygen. 
  F. Control Room: This room is the only place that can deactivate the trap if you are not Hutton and his 
  immediate acolytes. There are biometric voice recognition devices, and all sorts of lovely trips and 
  traps. This feat will require a Wisdom/Security 10+ roll, but can be aided by Computer. It will also go a 
  lot easier if the PCs have been hacking most of the computer terminals that they’ve encountered in the 
  Main Hall (#5) and the Power and Life Support (#7) maps. That will give a +1 bonus. Speaking the pass 
  phrase “Gure Gauza” will provide another +1 bonus. 
  G. Reliquary III—Weird Stuff: This reliquary contains the strange stuff that the Firebringers had 
  encountered, but was not of human origin. It had come into the Promethean’s possession through a 
  variety of honest and not-so-honest means. The Intimates have no idea what any of this stuff is, but 
  they keep it nonetheless. There are four lots in four boxes.  
  a. A Necklace/headpiece from a Chained Lord of Maera. Touching it, or putting it on, will result in 
  at least three subsequent nightmares about being trapped in a massive prison moon, being 
  chased down by monsters. 
  b. A sample of Alien Script A from Camros on a black 60cm rod. The lettering is golden and 
  shimmery at all times. 
  c. A Nort’a Shamanic Mask. This two-foot-long stylized spider mask was used in rituals by the 
  Nort’a and clandestinely collected by Terran researchers. It is actually a piece of psi-tech, but 
  little-understood by the Prometheans, and unusable by humans in any regard. 
  d. Biotech Enhancement Devices (4): Four small stones (Blue, Red, Violet, Orange). These are 
  pretech devices that when activated will painfully burrow into a person’s skin and within 
  minutes insinuate itself into the subject’s nervous system, increasing all sorts of biological 
  functions. The stones grant a +1 ability modifier to one attribute, and the corresponding bonus 
  effect described below. There is a price, however: the subject suffers from +1 System Strain per 
  activation (a free action), the duration of which lasts for 5 minutes. As well, while the subject is 
  using any attribute-related skill or combat ability, the enhanced nerves/muscles will glow on 
  the subject’s skin. This might be problematic at inopportune times. 
  i. Strength (Blue): The PC gains the ability to make 3m high (or 10m long) jumps, as well as 
  sprint at 60m/round (Physical saves will be required if sprinting is done for more than a 
  few rounds at a time). The character also gains 2 points of Stored and 2 points of 
  Readied Encumbrance for the duration. 
  ii. Dexterity (Red): The PC can climb, balance and perform acrobatics and parkour with 
  stunning ease. Athletics skill checks involving acrobatics and timing are rolled with 
  1d6+8 while the device is active, and can be re-rolled (and take the higher roll). 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  iii. Intelligence (Violet): The PC gains a perfect eidetic memory with total recall. Anything 
  learned during enhancer’s 5-minute duration can be perfectly recalled later when the 
  device is re-activated. The information can be retrieved when the device is not active, 
  though not at the same level of detail. Memories gained prior to the enhancer’s 
  installation are a little more difficult to access (Mental Effect save). 
  iv. Constitution (Orange): in addition to the temporary HP bonus, the PC gains the ability 
  to weather hard vacuum for the duration, as well as automatically pass one Virulence 
  Physical save to avoid/recover from poison or disease. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
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  Upon Touching an Emergency Flame Unit: 
  [A holoprojection of a middle-aged woman with olive skin and black hair appears seated before you.  She is 
  wearing the blue and gold robes of the Prometheans. Her face is kindly, with a gentle smile and wrinkles. She 
  has glasses on the tip of her nose.] 
   “Greetings sentient beings.  I am Firebringer Paredes of the Flame of Prometheus of Prime Station. You have 
  activated an emergency Flame unit we Prometheans developed in the event that something terrible happened, 
  and much knowledge was lost on your world. If this is the case, let me offer you my condolences.” 
  [The effect of listening to Paredes’ voice is strange. At first, she’s coming at you in every language you’ve ever 
  heard, and some that you clearly do not understand, but by the time she finishes her introduction, you’re all 
  hearing her in your most fluent language. It’s the audio equivalent of seeing a 3D movie without the glasses, 
  only to have the image resolve for you anyways.] 
  “If you do not understand what I am talking about, do not be afraid. I am not a god, or a ghost, or any sort of 
  spirit. I was once a person, but now I am a message, from the past, and I am here to bring you knowledge to 
  improve your lives, lessen your suffering, show you where you came from, and how you got to your world. 
  “Within this Flame you will find all the knowledge you will need to rebuild your society to the point where it can 
  rejoin interstellar civilization. We have included as much technical information as we could in such a limited 
  device, as well as practical knowledge about the history of human civilization, and a variety of virtual cultural 
  exchanges in order to familiarize yourselves with the rest of humanity. We have also included a location of our 
  central Flame in this sector, which will contain countless artefacts and even more information to help you. 
  Now, I must apologize for the great burden I am about to place on you. If you have found this artefact, it is your 
  responsibility to disseminate the knowledge you have found to everyone.  The Flame in your hands was created 
  to preserve, and if need be to save, human civilization.  And it was constructed in the spirit of cooperation and 
  understanding that transcends all of the artificial boundaries we put between one another.  Disseminate the 
  contents of this Flame to your world and beyond: use this knowledge to help humanity reclaim the stars. 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  84 
   
  The Emergency Flames themselves: 
  The Flame of Prometheus was destroyed when the MTD Javadi crashed into Solozanos. Whatever remained was 
  secreted away by the surviving Intimates to their hidden base. Fortunately for the PCs and for Karta Sector, the 
  Prometheans had developed “Emergency Flames” designed to help a planetary society recover independently 
  from a large scale catastrophe. These Emergency Flames did survive. The Emergency Flames are ingenious 
  devices that use the latest in holo-imagery and meta-linguistic psi-tech to provide guidance in the form of virtual 
  Prometheans in nearly any language possible. They are highly durable cubes not ten centimeters to a side, and 
  contain all the knowledge required to bring a society to tech level-4 within a few generations. Twelve such 
  devices survived the crash, and were unwittingly taken to the Intimates’ base in a non-descript crate. 
  What’s in an Emergency Flame? 
   600-year-old sector map, with 600 year old course rudders for Spike Drives. Not every system is 
  accounted for. 
   An overview of known systems and worlds in Karta Sector, complete with highlights. 
   Plans for spike-3 drives, given efficient TL4 construction techniques. 
   TL4 industrial specs and plans. 
   TL4 bio-knowledge, medical knowledge, etc. 
   Enough knowledge to get the basics of TL4 society going pretty quickly, given a solid TL3 base. 
  Everything is here, from weaponry to quantum ECM and organ cloning. Most of the information is 
  technical and focused on infrastructure, but there is much in the way of art, music and other “civilizing” 
  aspects of human knowledge and experience. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  85 
   
  Order of Prometheus Star Chart, with Drill Nav Routes (December 2664). 
  This Star Chart is contained in the Emergency Flame Units found in Ringshadow Station. Note that the names of 
  the systems may have changed to reflect 600 years of linguistic drift. The Drill Navigation Routes are all very old. 
  Using them to plot a Drill incurs a -2 penalty to the Navigation skill check. Note that even the Prometheans had 
  not fully explored all of Karta Sector. That task is left to the players and GMs. 
  Red Ring indicates the Jump Gate (now lost) at Basajaun. 
  Purple Ring indicates a Drill route to another sector at Maera. 
  Yellow Suns are flagged for Promethean investigation 
  Red Suns are flagged as restricted by the Terran State 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  86 
   
  Appendix: Logs and Other In-Character Clues 
  Holo-log files found in the Prime Station Order of Prometheus Flame Computer 
  January 13, 2664 
  Promethean Kristof Singh, Personal Log. 
  Holo-playback: 
  [Singh is a portly monk in his mid-50s, with receding black hair, blue eyes, and a slightly 
  misshapen nose. He has no chin to speak of.  The robes he wears are the dark blue and gold 
  of the Prometheans.He smiles tightly at the recorder, and then begins speaking.] 
  “Finally. We have negotiated a long-term contract with the Merchant Guild here on Prime 
  Station. They have agreed to house the Flame of Prometheus for the next hundred years, 
  with the option to renew for another hundred years. Abbess Paredes is quite pleased, and I 
  can’t say I blame her. The terms were quite generous, though the goals of the Guild quite 
  neatly match our own, so I can’t say that I am surprised, either. 
  In other news, my subordinates on Abreia and Enke have finally sent their quarterly report 
  back via independent courier. The establishment of smaller Flames of Prometheus in those 
  two systems goes well. The Abreians have had no complaints. The Enkens are naturally quite 
  eager to learn as much as they can about aquaculture, now that their floating colony cities 
  are operational. 
  The Lurians remain remarkably stubborn in accepting an Flame. Then again, their colony is 
  considerably older than most in this cluster, and they made a point of fleeing before the 
  Terran State's social engineering structures could be implemented on their world.” 
   
  February 21, 2664 
  Promethean Kristof Singh, Personal Log 
  Holo-playback: 
  “I am pleased to report that the compiling of technical data for safeguarding and anti-
  decivilization protocols has been put in place. Our Flame is now lit for all eternity.   
  The signing ceremony cementing the contract between the Guild and us was a beautiful 
  affair. I must find out who catered the event. I had thought it impossible to locate Tromarian 
  Greenfish caviar in this sector, but there it was, calling to me.” 
   
  May 9, 2664 
  Promethean Kristof Singh, Personal Log 
  Holo-playback: 
  “The Merchant Guild is mourning the loss of Consul Picurna to sudden illness. The Flame is 
  joined in mourning. It is a difficult time. 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  87 
   
  However, everyone was surprised to learn today that Mahdav Hutton, a recent arrival and 
  relative unknown in the Merchant Guild, has become the new Consul. A few eyebrows were 
  raised, but then shoulders were shrugged, and things got back to relative normalcy.” 
  October 12, 2664 
  Promethean Kristof Singh, Personal Log 
  Holo-playback: 
  “The Guild has formally accused the Prometheans of not adhering to the terms and conditions 
  of our contract with them! We are all very surprised, and the Abbess is quite distraught. I 
  have reassured her that the accusation must be a misunderstanding, or perhaps even a 
  frivolity. She looked grim. I have been working with Firebringer Paredes for two decades, and 
  I’ve never seen her like this.   
  I have volunteered to lead a full investigation into Promethean activities in Karta Sector, and 
  this cluster specifically. I am sure we will uncover the truth to these allegations and set things 
  right with our hosts the Guild.” 
  December 25, 2664 
  Promethean Kristof Singh, Personal Log 
  Holo-playback: 
  “Flamekeeper Paredes has been taken into custody. Armed security from the Guild has been 
  present on Prime Station--a clear breach of protocol. I have filed a protest, and it has made 
  it across the jump gate back to the Core.” 
  December 26, 2664 
  Promethean Kristof Singh, Personal Log 
  Holo-playback: 
  “The Guild has betrayed us!  They’re hunting us down and slaughtering us in the halls!  The 
  Great Hall has been painted red. The Heart of the Flame. Red. They betrayed us!---No…no…. 
  [ZAP!]” 
  [Promethean Singh falls to the floor, a laser hole burned through his head and chest. Two 
  figures approach the holo-recorder, muttering in an unknown language. They are dressed in 
  combat armor, and their weapons are advanced. They poke around the body, and realize that 
  a holorecorder has caught them in the act. They shoot the recorder, which goes blank.] 
  March 15, 2665 
  [A younger man with pale skin, dark eyes, and a scar down the left side of his face, from 
  temple to neck, appears in the hologram. He is wearing dark blue and gold robes, and has a 
  worried look about him.] 
  “Something terrible has happened. We’ve lost contact with the Core worlds, and even with 
  Basajaun. The Jump Gate has failed. We are moving the Flame to a more secure location on 
  Artume, aboard the MTD Javadi.” 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  88 
   
  Abbess Master Paredes Personal Log 
  October 12, 2664 
  The Merchant Guild has betrayed us. I have been summoned before the Guild Consul in an 
  hour. They accuse us again of breaking the contract. We have done no such thing. But this 
  new Consul… is different. A darker power is at work here…We are vulnerable, but we do not 
  dare part with our Flame.  I do not know what will come of all this, but I fear we have been 
  taken by surprise. There is little time. 
  December 24, 2664. 
  It was all a ruse, and we fell for it. I am not sure who to trust anymore. I had sent Brother 
  Singh away, hoping that he would be able to get to the bottom of all this, but now I fear that 
  I had denied myself my last remaining trustworthy lieutenant. They were insidious, and they 
  assumed control. 
  By the looks in their eyes, I can tell that my Firebringers are terrified. Whoever has carried 
  out this corruption has succeeded. What their aims are, I cannot ascertain. But I can only 
  guess at what comes next for me and the Promethean Flame. 
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  89 
   
  MTD Javadi Logs: 
  [The man at the holo-recorder is older, roughly 50 or so. He has three tattoos of 
  unrecognizable origin on his face, silver hair, and is wearing the blue robes of the Merchant 
  Guild. His eyes betray fiery energy, and his beard is trimmed neatly.] 
  December 27 2664: The purge is successful. Prime Station is now under our full control. 
  The Promethean’s Great Flame is ours! We will begin its dismemberment for transport. We 
  took them by surprise. The Head Firebringer has been less than cooperative. I have tasked 
  Sorgin Pietros to get her kantu. 
  February 17 2665: The MTD Javadi is suitable for our needs, and we have obtained it as 
  Guild agents. The ship is slow, with only Spike-1, and Cloway, our sorgin navigator insists 
  that we take no risks, given the nature of our cargo and mission. In other news, I have been 
  forced to reprimand three of our erakund. Lagantz James will have the services of Sister 
  Zhitan. Her flouting of our rules regarding kanpotar and sorginkeria was the final straw. She 
  will remain on Prime Station in hibernation. 
  Our departure is in four days. 
  March 14 2665: We have arrived at Artume, after a particularly grueling journey aboard a 
  vessel that should have been condemned a century ago. Still, all is not lost, as we are entering 
  orbit around the moon. We have contacted the erakund on Nestor and Ringshadow. Their 
  buru has told me that they are ready to receive shipment for transf— 
  “HUTTON!” [A voice off-camera screams, and the man recording the log, his face reacting as 
  if he has heard his name, whips around.] 
  “Cloway, what are you doing here?  Shouldn’t you be oversee—” 
  [A loud noise interrupts Hutton, who begins yelling in an unknown language. He shrieks 
  suddenly, as the holo-recorder films his head melting into his shoulders. Another loud bang. 
  Someone is cackling in the room amidst shrieks and wails. Across the room a man is lifted 
  by an invisible force and smashed repeatedly into a bulkhead until his skull cracks open. 
  There is more cackling, and screaming in the unknown language. 
  Then a man approaches the holo-recorder. He is in his twenties, with black hair and a sallow 
  face, smeared and splattered with blood, brains and gore. His eyes betray the fact that he is 
  a psychic: they are glowing red, and he looks quite unhinged] 
  “Gure Gauza, Gure Gauza, this thing is our thing!  Two triangles in the circle!  We will be 
  ready for them! They’re coming!  They’ve shown me the way!  They’re burrowing through the 
  holes!  I know what to do!” 
  [He laughs, licking blood from his fingers.  He smiles.] 
  “This is Sorgin Cloway, coming to you live from orbit over Artume!  The Gure Gauza are 
  waiting for us on the surface!  We’re going to take it all there!  And then we wait!  Except that 
  we won’t have to! They’re coming!  Sooner, later, time is meaningless to them!  We’ve only 
  delayed the inevitable, Rumar Varga, whoever you are! You won’t win! Not against what is 
  coming. They’ve shown me.” 
  [His face becomes serious, his mad eyes still glowing.] 
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  90 
   
  “I’m going to do the ‘right thing’!” 
  [He turns and pushes his hands forward, upwards. The cabin ceiling bends, and then rips 
  open like a tin can. His cackling echoes for a moment before all the air, bodies and Cloway 
  himself are sucked out into the vacuum of space. The recording continues, soundlessly. After 
  a few minutes, the ship begins a slow dive towards the airless moon’s surface. Slowing down 
  the playback makes it possible to see what the MTD Javadi is heading towards: a massive 
  habitation dome on the planet’s surface. The playback lasts for another thirty seconds, and 
  then goes blank once the ship hits the dome…] 
   
  GM Translation Guide for Gure Gauza/Intimate Terms: 
  Sorgin: A psychic. 
  Kantu: Confession, intelligence debriefing. 
  Erakund: a Gure Gauza or Intimate cell. Usually referring to a specific operation or group. 
  Lagantz: Lieutenant in the Gure Gauza. 
  Kanpotar: The rules and traditions regarding extreme secrecy in the Gure Gauza. Outsiders are rarely, if ever, 
  permitted into any Erakund, except as low-level pawns. 
  Sorginkeria: The rules and traditions surrounding Gure Gauza and Intimate psychics. The Sorginkeria is 
  particularly strict, as psychics in the Gure Gauza are considered especially valuable resources to the organization. 
  Buru: The local Gure Gauza chieftain, usually a ruler of an entire system’s worth of organized crime operations. 
  The Buru has a number of Lagantz’s overseeing operations. 
   
   
   
  
  Lurian Trailing Cluster – Book 2 
   
  91 
   
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