Falkus
Explorer
After a combination of rereading several military science fiction novels annd rereading the entire archives of Schlock Mercenary, I came up with a brilliant idea for a d20 Future mercenary type game.
In the year 2765, mankind has spread out among the stars. For five, glorious centuries, mankind and half a dozen other species were united in the Alliance. It was a golden era, thousands of systems were colonized and held together in a loose federation, and there was near universal peace among the member planets. The only conflicts were intermittent raids and border disputes with other species that had refused membership. The only true threat had been the Sathar, who had invaded alliance space three times, but each time, they were defeated soundly. The last time was a 150 years ago, and resulted in the complete destruction of multiple Sathar fleets.
And then, after this golden age, the Alliance collapsed. Like all such historic empires, it was not brought down by an invading force or cosmic incident, but rather, from the inside by corruption, petty politicks, and national disagreements. In the century that has passed, the Alliance has collapsed down into hundreds of separate nations, and powerful corportations. Many of these nations have resurrected the most time honored method of sorting out disputes between each other. Open warfare.
Meanwhile, the corporations, freed from the restrictions of the Alliance on pesky little things like fair trade laws, restrictions on human experimentation and rules against blowing up your competitor’s headquarters, started doing all those things and more, all in the name of the almighty credit, the one remnant of the Alliance. Its currency.
Into this galactic background comes you. You are mercenaries. Soldiers motivated by profit, working for one of the most famous mercenary companies in the galaxy. Alexa’s Avengers, lead by Major Alexa Brandern.
But you aren’t just as any mercenaries. You occupy a special niche in the Avengers. You are commandos, a small squad of highly trained and experienced soldiers capable of infiltration of enemy territory, and causing massive destruction to the enemy. Whenever the Avengers take a contract, you’re there ahead of the rest of the men, preparing the territory for their arrival. Camouflage, infiltration, sabotage, demolition, assassination. You clear the way for the regular troops to do their jobs. Its hard work, and extremely dangerous, but it pays very well.
Submission rules: I want a decent sized character background, description and personality before I get a character sheet. Feel free to make up planets, religions, societies, wars, etc. It’s a big galaxy, plenty of room for whatever you want.
Sources: d20 Modern, d20 Future, non-magic stuff from Urban Arcana, d20 Cyberscape, d20 Modern Companions 1 and 2, New Heroic Aliens and VRNet (both available on the Wizards website).
32 point buy and the leveling bonuses, character’s start at 10th level (with 52,000 exp). Starting wealth is 12 + occupation bonus + windfall + ranks in profession. See below for a list of permited races.
Progress level seven.
Progress level eight gear may be purchased at a +5 modifier and with my EXPLICIT permission. Ask before you do.
Piece of your soul cybernetic rules (lose ten times the purchase DC of implant in EXP every time you get a new cybernetic implant (but not when replacing a dmaged or broken one). You pay twenty times the purchase DC in EXP if you exceed the maximum number of implants you’re allowed to have). Cybernetics, nanotech and wetware are allowed from d20 Cyberscape. Subcutanous armor and alligator hide are banned.
Psionic classes are allowed, but only for Fraal or Dharmin.
1 (Squad leader, rank: Lieutenant):
2: Kathrine Ananodel (mOoEyThEcOw)
3: Carlos Fensk (Festy_Dog)
4: John (Paste Pot Pete)
5: Austin Summers (Azaar)
6: Llewellyn "Llew" Jacoby (kingpaul)
More campaign information:
Powergroups: There are only two real governmental power groups in existence now that have influence over more than six or seven systems. The United Terran Planets (UTP), which is a group of several dozen systems, centered around Earth. They’re trying to restore the former glory of the Alliance. They’re loud and ineffectual. They have a strong military, but not strong enough to wage an offensive war, which severely curtails their ability to rebuild the Alliance, since most of the former Alliance systems have grown to like independence. The other governmental powergroup with a sizable number of systems under its control is the T’Sa empire, which is detailed below.
The megacorporations: The megacorporations of the Alliance (especially the Vrusk run ones) weathered the collapse of the Alliance. They took advantage of a vacuum of power, and seized it for themselves. Never before in the history of mankind have major corporations existed with so little governmental oversight. The corporations are, essentially, what you would find in any good cyberpunk novel. Amoral entities devoted only towards the bottom line, and willing to trample over human dignity and rights to get there.
Alien races
Dharmin: The Dharmin are a slave race, their home planet controlled by the Medurr Empire beyond the edges of known space. As a result, they are very, very rare in old Alliance territory. Despite this, there are a handful of escaped Dharmin slaves living in this area of space who disagree with their race’s view on destiny. Allowable as a PC Race, but will require one hell of a background.
Drasalite: The Drasalites have colonized, throughout known space, about a dozen planets, but have no real united government. There are also small communities of Drasalites on most human planets as well. Not much really changed for them as a result of the collapse of the Alliance.
Fraal: The Fraal had been key members in the creation of the Alliance. After it fell, they returned to their nomadic lifestyles, traveling between systems in their giant, self-sustaining colony ships. The few Fraal that aren’t on these ships are either from small societies that were set up during the time of the Alliance, and whose members decided to stay when the Alliance collapsed, or Fraal who have grown bored with life on a colony ship, and want to explore the galaxy on their own.
Humans: You, me. Not much has changed in seven hundred years, except we've gotten much better at killing each other.
Medurr: The Medurr empire is on the edge of known space, and presumably covers a significant area. Ever since the collapse of the Alliance, they’ve begun launching attacks on old Alliance territory, capturing numerous planets to expand their slave population. Currently, the joint security and mercenary forces of half a dozen Megacorporations have stalled their advance, as the corporations have realized that military action, despite it’s high cost, is necessary to stop an enemy you can’t bribe. The Medurr also have numerous small bases throughout former alliance space, where they launch raids on civilized worlds to gather slaves to bring back to their empire. Not allowable as a PC race
Sathar: The Sathar haven’t been seen in a century and a half since their defeat in the Third Sathar War. They’re a relic of the history books, and nobody really thinks about them anymore. Everybody pretty much assumes. Fringe planets, that were devasted in the Sathar Wars, generally aren’t so easygoing about it, but even they aren’t as worried. Not allowable as a PC race
Sesheyan: The Sesheyan are a still a primitive race in this universe. They were discovered shortly before the collapse of the Alliance. When the alliance collapsed, the megacorporations moved in and started ruthlessly and forcefully exploiting the native populace of the Sesheyan home planet, as opposed to the more genial and manipulative exploitation that the Alliance was planning. Sixty years ago, the Medurr moved in. They launched a vicious assault on all the corporate facilities on the planet, and razed them to the ground in a matter of days. The Sesheyan celebrated this event for all of thirty seconds before the Medurr announced that all the Sesheyan were now slaves of the Medurr Empire. Virtually all Sesheyan who are not slaves of the Medurr are escaped slaves.
T’Sa: The T’Sa control a region of space consisting of about thirty systems, making them one of the most powerful factions in known space. There are also small groups of T’Sa living on various planets throughout space. The expansion of the T’Sa empire, which had stopped after being integrated into the alliance, is being started up again, and will no doubt provide for plenty of mercenary work in the near future.
Vrusk: The Vrusk have about two dozen systems to their name, but unlike the T’Sa, these systems are not united, but rather, controlled by a variety of corporations. Vrusk corporations are among the most powerful in the galaxy,
Weren: The Weren species had only developed FTL travel a few centuries previously, giving them only a handful of systems under the control of the Weren government. However, Weren warriors and soldiers are prized among the galaxy for their skill at fighting. Very rare is the planetary military that doesn’t have a Weren advisor working with them for Special Forces purposes and combat training.
Yazarian: The Yazarians, like the Drasalites, were not particularly affected by the collapse of the Alliance. They control five systems under one government, and have settlements and people living on most other populated planets in the galaxy.
Communications: Intrasystem communications is handled by subspace transmission. The specific details of how it works are rather scientific, and irrelveant. Suffice to say, it allows instantaneous communication within a range of 1000 AU, and can easily be fitted into a device that can fit in your ear.
Hyperspace communication functions much the same as subspace, except it requires a hyperspace repeater to boost the signal, allowing instaneous communication over a much greater area of space. Technically, it only has a range of two hundred lightyears, but in actual practice, you can communicate just about anywhere in civilized space, since there is pretty much always another hyperspace repeater within two hundred light years to boost your signal again. Hyperspace repeaters are large devices that are usually mounted on space stations, or built into heavily secure ground facilities. Most civilized planets have at least one, and often more, depending on the amount of communications traffic they have to deal with.
VRNet and the Hypernet: VRNet is as described in the rules, a virtual reality network similar to the internet. The collapse of the Alliance didn’t affect communications, so it’s still possible to connect just about anywhere in the galaxy, as long as you’re within range of a hypernet repeater.
FTL Travel: FTL travel is done by hyperdrive. If you want to know how it works, ask someone whose got more PhDs than I do. A good one can go ten light years in a day, a very good one can go twenty. Most civilian vessels use drives that can go about five light years a day.
Mercenary Company information:
Alexa’s Avengers travel on a refurbished Javelin Class Alliance Navy Strike Cruiser, called The Angel. Its painted gold and green, with the symbol of the Avengers, a black hawk in a red targeting reticule, painted on the bow. It’s powered by two gravitation mass reactors, and it has hyperspace drive can travel ten light years in a day. It’s well armed, and capable of holding on its own against most similarly sized vehicles. It doesn’t do so well against battleships and bigger.
Alexa’s Avengers include 113 mercenaries at this time, who are fairly well trained and equipped for ground operations. Another 12 mercenaries crew the four M-300 hover tanks that the company owns. There are also 32 crewman on the Angel, responsible for piloting it, maintaining its systems, and handling it in space combat. Finally, 16 pilots handle the fighter wing of the Avengers.
The Avenger’s pride themselves on providing competent, skilled military force to their employers, whether they be corporation or government. Each member of the company has a monthly salary, and receives op bonuses for each mission he or she takes part in.
While a mercenary company is less formal than a military outfit, Major Alexa Brandern expects her men to obey the chain of command, and follow the rules. Disobeying orders will probably get you kicked out. Committing war crimes will usually result in on the spot execution.
Notable characters in the Avengers:
Major Alexa Brandern: Major Alexa Brandern is the commander of the Alexa’s Avengers. She stands at 6’2”, has close cut blonde hair, green eyes, and a fairly sturdy build. She looks like she’s in her late twenties, but with geriatric techniques, cybernetic replacements and gene tweaking, she could be anywhere from thirty to sixty. You don’t know much about her past, aside from the fact that she used to be an officer in the UTP Marines, but quit a number of years ago for unknown reasons.
She’s a capable combatant, but her strength lies in her strategic and tactical thinking. She prefers to direct operations, rather than get personally involved in the fighting. When she does get involved, she uses a heavily modified plasma rifle. She’s a very good commander, and the main reason why most of the mercenaries in the company have chosen to stick with her. She gets high paying jobs, cares about the men under her command, and never wastes lives needlessly.
Alexa is a driven person, though nobody in the company exactly knows why or what her goals are. There’s speculation, but the only solid fact that they know is that Alexa can reliably plan and run profitable operations, and has a knack for keeping the men under her command alive. Oh, and she only takes jobs that she agrees with morally, and has hiring practices that reflect this. She won’t claim to be a saint, but, as she lives, her company will not target non-combatants or engage in acts of terrorism. She’s stretched, bended, twisted and even broken the law to complete a job, but there are some things she won’t do. Nobody knows anything else about her.
Captain Dantar: A large Weren with dark brown fur and scars nearly everywhere on his body, Dantar is in charge of the infantry company of Alexa’s Avengers. A born warrior, Dantar was living an unsatisfying life as a member of a corporate security force, when Alexa lured him away with the promises of a larger salary, and to work in a combat team run by a military officer, rather than a vice-president. He signed on in a heartbeat, and was in charge of the ground forces in the field after six months in the company.
Captain George Harian: Captain Harian is in charge of the armored division, consisting of four M-300 hover tanks. He stands at five foot exactly, with blonde hair and brown eyes. Tends to wear combat armor, and can usually be found in the hanger with his tanks.
Dr Jarak Thune: A Yazarian with white fur who stands at six feet, the most distinctive feature about Jarak are the four cybernetic tools extending from his back. The company’s surgeon and mechanic, he can patch you together when you get shot up, as well as fix your gun and armor when they get shot up. He’s also a highly skilled cybersurgeon, which is his primary calling. For a premium price, he’ll happily install any implant in a mercenary who wants it. The only complaint about him has been his bedside manner. He doesn’t have one. He treats people like machines to be repaired.
(Mechanical affects: Using Jarak for cybersurgery adds five to the purchase DC of the implant, but guarantees success)
AMIG7-Alpha: Alpha is the company’s AI, who handles communications, and tactical analysis. Alexa claimed she got the AI from a black market dealer in computer components. Alpha’s avatar is wildly inconsistent, the AI choosing to change it very frequently, and the AI itself seems to be highly erratic and eccentric. Given to quoting obscure generals and philosophers, you would swear that Alpha’s gone rampant, if it wasn’t so useful.
New Equipment
Powered Armor
Johnson WeaponsTech Grade VII powered armor: The latest word in power armor, the WeaponsTech Grade VII provides full body protection, a contained atmosphere and life support unit allowing survival in all environments from the vacuum of space, to the surface of Mercury. It contains a full communication suite, including a subspace communication with a standard range of 1000 AU.
Functions as a vacuum suit with enough oxygen for one day. Reduces the severity of radiation by two steps. Will automatically stabilize the user if he drops to -1 hit points. When the wearer is damaged, hit points are removed from the bonus hp first. If he loses all of his bonus hit points, the suit has been breached, and has it hardness bonus halved, and loses its vacuum suit ability until the suit has been repaired. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Type: Powered
Defense: +8
Bonus HP: 40
Hardness: 8
Strength bonus: +4
Speed: 20/15
Max Dex: +1
Penalty: -6
Buy DC: 32
Restrict: Mil (+3)
Weight: 80 lb
Johnson WeaponsTech Grade IX Stealth Armor: Similar to Grade VII Powered armor, this suit of power armor sacrifices defense and toughness in favor of speed and stealth.
The armor penalty does not apply to move silently and hide. Functions as a vacuum suit with enough oxygen for one day. Reduces the severity of radiation by two steps. Will automatically stabilize the user if he drops to -1 hit points. When the wearer is damaged, hit points are removed from the bonus hp first. If he loses all of his bonus hit points, the suit has been breached, and has it hardness bonus halved, and loses its vacuum suit ability until the suit has been repaired. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Type: Powered
Defense: +5
Bonus HP: 30
Hardness: 6
Strength bonus: +4
Speed: 30/20
Max Dex: +1
Penalty: -6
Buy DC: 34
Restrict: Mil (+3)
Weight: 65 lb
Rainor Military Technology Powered Assault armor: Similar to WeaponsTech Grade VII armor, this provides all of the same features, but in a package that shrugs off nearly all enemy fire. This is used by people who do not care for subtlety. It’s cumbersome, unwieldy, and certainly not stealthy. But a single man in set of Powered Assault Armor can level a base. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Functions as a vacuum suit with enough oxygen for three days. Reduces the severity of radiation by four steps. Will automatically stabilize the user if he drops to -1 hit points. When the wearer is damaged, hit points are removed from the bonus hp first. If he loses all of his bonus hit points, the suit has been breached, and has it hardness bonus halved, and loses its vacuum suit ability until the suit has been repaired. Allows the user to wield a huge weapon. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Type: Powered
Defense: +8
Bonus HP: 80
Hardness: 12
Strength bonus: +8
Speed: 15/10
Max Dex: +0
Penalty: -10
Buy DC: 36
Restrict: Mil (+3)
Weight: 200 lb
Devastator Support Plasma Minigun: The latest design in multibarreled support weapns, the plasma minigun shoots thousands of plasma bolts towards the unfortunate target marked for destruction. Generally only found on vehicles, or as turrets, some people have been known to carry them around while using heavy powered armor.
Proficiency: Exotic firearms profiency (heavy machine guns)
Damage: 5d10
Critical: 20
Damage type: Fire
Range increment: 70 ft
Rate: A (25 rounds for burst, 50 rounds for autofire, which hits 20x20 area, and forces a reflex save of 20 instead of 15)
Magazine: Power backpack (gives enough power for 5000 shots)
Size: Huge
Weight: 40 lb
Purchase DC: 28
Restriction: Military (+3)
Tarian charge: A powerful, chemical explosive, this is the most common explosive used in the galaxy by military forces. Multiple charges can be linked together for simultaneous detonations. Each extra charge used increases damage by 3d6 and the blast radius by 5 feet. Is sold in fifty gram blocks
Damage: 6d6
Damage type: Concussion
Burst radius: 10 feet
Reflex DC: 20
Size: Small
Weight: 0.5 lb
Purchase DC: 14
Restriction: Mil (+3)
In the year 2765, mankind has spread out among the stars. For five, glorious centuries, mankind and half a dozen other species were united in the Alliance. It was a golden era, thousands of systems were colonized and held together in a loose federation, and there was near universal peace among the member planets. The only conflicts were intermittent raids and border disputes with other species that had refused membership. The only true threat had been the Sathar, who had invaded alliance space three times, but each time, they were defeated soundly. The last time was a 150 years ago, and resulted in the complete destruction of multiple Sathar fleets.
And then, after this golden age, the Alliance collapsed. Like all such historic empires, it was not brought down by an invading force or cosmic incident, but rather, from the inside by corruption, petty politicks, and national disagreements. In the century that has passed, the Alliance has collapsed down into hundreds of separate nations, and powerful corportations. Many of these nations have resurrected the most time honored method of sorting out disputes between each other. Open warfare.
Meanwhile, the corporations, freed from the restrictions of the Alliance on pesky little things like fair trade laws, restrictions on human experimentation and rules against blowing up your competitor’s headquarters, started doing all those things and more, all in the name of the almighty credit, the one remnant of the Alliance. Its currency.
Into this galactic background comes you. You are mercenaries. Soldiers motivated by profit, working for one of the most famous mercenary companies in the galaxy. Alexa’s Avengers, lead by Major Alexa Brandern.
But you aren’t just as any mercenaries. You occupy a special niche in the Avengers. You are commandos, a small squad of highly trained and experienced soldiers capable of infiltration of enemy territory, and causing massive destruction to the enemy. Whenever the Avengers take a contract, you’re there ahead of the rest of the men, preparing the territory for their arrival. Camouflage, infiltration, sabotage, demolition, assassination. You clear the way for the regular troops to do their jobs. Its hard work, and extremely dangerous, but it pays very well.
Submission rules: I want a decent sized character background, description and personality before I get a character sheet. Feel free to make up planets, religions, societies, wars, etc. It’s a big galaxy, plenty of room for whatever you want.
Sources: d20 Modern, d20 Future, non-magic stuff from Urban Arcana, d20 Cyberscape, d20 Modern Companions 1 and 2, New Heroic Aliens and VRNet (both available on the Wizards website).
32 point buy and the leveling bonuses, character’s start at 10th level (with 52,000 exp). Starting wealth is 12 + occupation bonus + windfall + ranks in profession. See below for a list of permited races.
Progress level seven.
Progress level eight gear may be purchased at a +5 modifier and with my EXPLICIT permission. Ask before you do.
Piece of your soul cybernetic rules (lose ten times the purchase DC of implant in EXP every time you get a new cybernetic implant (but not when replacing a dmaged or broken one). You pay twenty times the purchase DC in EXP if you exceed the maximum number of implants you’re allowed to have). Cybernetics, nanotech and wetware are allowed from d20 Cyberscape. Subcutanous armor and alligator hide are banned.
Psionic classes are allowed, but only for Fraal or Dharmin.
1 (Squad leader, rank: Lieutenant):
2: Kathrine Ananodel (mOoEyThEcOw)
3: Carlos Fensk (Festy_Dog)
4: John (Paste Pot Pete)
5: Austin Summers (Azaar)
6: Llewellyn "Llew" Jacoby (kingpaul)
More campaign information:
Powergroups: There are only two real governmental power groups in existence now that have influence over more than six or seven systems. The United Terran Planets (UTP), which is a group of several dozen systems, centered around Earth. They’re trying to restore the former glory of the Alliance. They’re loud and ineffectual. They have a strong military, but not strong enough to wage an offensive war, which severely curtails their ability to rebuild the Alliance, since most of the former Alliance systems have grown to like independence. The other governmental powergroup with a sizable number of systems under its control is the T’Sa empire, which is detailed below.
The megacorporations: The megacorporations of the Alliance (especially the Vrusk run ones) weathered the collapse of the Alliance. They took advantage of a vacuum of power, and seized it for themselves. Never before in the history of mankind have major corporations existed with so little governmental oversight. The corporations are, essentially, what you would find in any good cyberpunk novel. Amoral entities devoted only towards the bottom line, and willing to trample over human dignity and rights to get there.
Alien races
Dharmin: The Dharmin are a slave race, their home planet controlled by the Medurr Empire beyond the edges of known space. As a result, they are very, very rare in old Alliance territory. Despite this, there are a handful of escaped Dharmin slaves living in this area of space who disagree with their race’s view on destiny. Allowable as a PC Race, but will require one hell of a background.
Drasalite: The Drasalites have colonized, throughout known space, about a dozen planets, but have no real united government. There are also small communities of Drasalites on most human planets as well. Not much really changed for them as a result of the collapse of the Alliance.
Fraal: The Fraal had been key members in the creation of the Alliance. After it fell, they returned to their nomadic lifestyles, traveling between systems in their giant, self-sustaining colony ships. The few Fraal that aren’t on these ships are either from small societies that were set up during the time of the Alliance, and whose members decided to stay when the Alliance collapsed, or Fraal who have grown bored with life on a colony ship, and want to explore the galaxy on their own.
Humans: You, me. Not much has changed in seven hundred years, except we've gotten much better at killing each other.
Medurr: The Medurr empire is on the edge of known space, and presumably covers a significant area. Ever since the collapse of the Alliance, they’ve begun launching attacks on old Alliance territory, capturing numerous planets to expand their slave population. Currently, the joint security and mercenary forces of half a dozen Megacorporations have stalled their advance, as the corporations have realized that military action, despite it’s high cost, is necessary to stop an enemy you can’t bribe. The Medurr also have numerous small bases throughout former alliance space, where they launch raids on civilized worlds to gather slaves to bring back to their empire. Not allowable as a PC race
Sathar: The Sathar haven’t been seen in a century and a half since their defeat in the Third Sathar War. They’re a relic of the history books, and nobody really thinks about them anymore. Everybody pretty much assumes. Fringe planets, that were devasted in the Sathar Wars, generally aren’t so easygoing about it, but even they aren’t as worried. Not allowable as a PC race
Sesheyan: The Sesheyan are a still a primitive race in this universe. They were discovered shortly before the collapse of the Alliance. When the alliance collapsed, the megacorporations moved in and started ruthlessly and forcefully exploiting the native populace of the Sesheyan home planet, as opposed to the more genial and manipulative exploitation that the Alliance was planning. Sixty years ago, the Medurr moved in. They launched a vicious assault on all the corporate facilities on the planet, and razed them to the ground in a matter of days. The Sesheyan celebrated this event for all of thirty seconds before the Medurr announced that all the Sesheyan were now slaves of the Medurr Empire. Virtually all Sesheyan who are not slaves of the Medurr are escaped slaves.
T’Sa: The T’Sa control a region of space consisting of about thirty systems, making them one of the most powerful factions in known space. There are also small groups of T’Sa living on various planets throughout space. The expansion of the T’Sa empire, which had stopped after being integrated into the alliance, is being started up again, and will no doubt provide for plenty of mercenary work in the near future.
Vrusk: The Vrusk have about two dozen systems to their name, but unlike the T’Sa, these systems are not united, but rather, controlled by a variety of corporations. Vrusk corporations are among the most powerful in the galaxy,
Weren: The Weren species had only developed FTL travel a few centuries previously, giving them only a handful of systems under the control of the Weren government. However, Weren warriors and soldiers are prized among the galaxy for their skill at fighting. Very rare is the planetary military that doesn’t have a Weren advisor working with them for Special Forces purposes and combat training.
Yazarian: The Yazarians, like the Drasalites, were not particularly affected by the collapse of the Alliance. They control five systems under one government, and have settlements and people living on most other populated planets in the galaxy.
Communications: Intrasystem communications is handled by subspace transmission. The specific details of how it works are rather scientific, and irrelveant. Suffice to say, it allows instantaneous communication within a range of 1000 AU, and can easily be fitted into a device that can fit in your ear.
Hyperspace communication functions much the same as subspace, except it requires a hyperspace repeater to boost the signal, allowing instaneous communication over a much greater area of space. Technically, it only has a range of two hundred lightyears, but in actual practice, you can communicate just about anywhere in civilized space, since there is pretty much always another hyperspace repeater within two hundred light years to boost your signal again. Hyperspace repeaters are large devices that are usually mounted on space stations, or built into heavily secure ground facilities. Most civilized planets have at least one, and often more, depending on the amount of communications traffic they have to deal with.
VRNet and the Hypernet: VRNet is as described in the rules, a virtual reality network similar to the internet. The collapse of the Alliance didn’t affect communications, so it’s still possible to connect just about anywhere in the galaxy, as long as you’re within range of a hypernet repeater.
FTL Travel: FTL travel is done by hyperdrive. If you want to know how it works, ask someone whose got more PhDs than I do. A good one can go ten light years in a day, a very good one can go twenty. Most civilian vessels use drives that can go about five light years a day.
Mercenary Company information:
Alexa’s Avengers travel on a refurbished Javelin Class Alliance Navy Strike Cruiser, called The Angel. Its painted gold and green, with the symbol of the Avengers, a black hawk in a red targeting reticule, painted on the bow. It’s powered by two gravitation mass reactors, and it has hyperspace drive can travel ten light years in a day. It’s well armed, and capable of holding on its own against most similarly sized vehicles. It doesn’t do so well against battleships and bigger.
Alexa’s Avengers include 113 mercenaries at this time, who are fairly well trained and equipped for ground operations. Another 12 mercenaries crew the four M-300 hover tanks that the company owns. There are also 32 crewman on the Angel, responsible for piloting it, maintaining its systems, and handling it in space combat. Finally, 16 pilots handle the fighter wing of the Avengers.
The Avenger’s pride themselves on providing competent, skilled military force to their employers, whether they be corporation or government. Each member of the company has a monthly salary, and receives op bonuses for each mission he or she takes part in.
While a mercenary company is less formal than a military outfit, Major Alexa Brandern expects her men to obey the chain of command, and follow the rules. Disobeying orders will probably get you kicked out. Committing war crimes will usually result in on the spot execution.
Notable characters in the Avengers:
Major Alexa Brandern: Major Alexa Brandern is the commander of the Alexa’s Avengers. She stands at 6’2”, has close cut blonde hair, green eyes, and a fairly sturdy build. She looks like she’s in her late twenties, but with geriatric techniques, cybernetic replacements and gene tweaking, she could be anywhere from thirty to sixty. You don’t know much about her past, aside from the fact that she used to be an officer in the UTP Marines, but quit a number of years ago for unknown reasons.
She’s a capable combatant, but her strength lies in her strategic and tactical thinking. She prefers to direct operations, rather than get personally involved in the fighting. When she does get involved, she uses a heavily modified plasma rifle. She’s a very good commander, and the main reason why most of the mercenaries in the company have chosen to stick with her. She gets high paying jobs, cares about the men under her command, and never wastes lives needlessly.
Alexa is a driven person, though nobody in the company exactly knows why or what her goals are. There’s speculation, but the only solid fact that they know is that Alexa can reliably plan and run profitable operations, and has a knack for keeping the men under her command alive. Oh, and she only takes jobs that she agrees with morally, and has hiring practices that reflect this. She won’t claim to be a saint, but, as she lives, her company will not target non-combatants or engage in acts of terrorism. She’s stretched, bended, twisted and even broken the law to complete a job, but there are some things she won’t do. Nobody knows anything else about her.
Captain Dantar: A large Weren with dark brown fur and scars nearly everywhere on his body, Dantar is in charge of the infantry company of Alexa’s Avengers. A born warrior, Dantar was living an unsatisfying life as a member of a corporate security force, when Alexa lured him away with the promises of a larger salary, and to work in a combat team run by a military officer, rather than a vice-president. He signed on in a heartbeat, and was in charge of the ground forces in the field after six months in the company.
Captain George Harian: Captain Harian is in charge of the armored division, consisting of four M-300 hover tanks. He stands at five foot exactly, with blonde hair and brown eyes. Tends to wear combat armor, and can usually be found in the hanger with his tanks.
Dr Jarak Thune: A Yazarian with white fur who stands at six feet, the most distinctive feature about Jarak are the four cybernetic tools extending from his back. The company’s surgeon and mechanic, he can patch you together when you get shot up, as well as fix your gun and armor when they get shot up. He’s also a highly skilled cybersurgeon, which is his primary calling. For a premium price, he’ll happily install any implant in a mercenary who wants it. The only complaint about him has been his bedside manner. He doesn’t have one. He treats people like machines to be repaired.
(Mechanical affects: Using Jarak for cybersurgery adds five to the purchase DC of the implant, but guarantees success)
AMIG7-Alpha: Alpha is the company’s AI, who handles communications, and tactical analysis. Alexa claimed she got the AI from a black market dealer in computer components. Alpha’s avatar is wildly inconsistent, the AI choosing to change it very frequently, and the AI itself seems to be highly erratic and eccentric. Given to quoting obscure generals and philosophers, you would swear that Alpha’s gone rampant, if it wasn’t so useful.
New Equipment
Powered Armor
Johnson WeaponsTech Grade VII powered armor: The latest word in power armor, the WeaponsTech Grade VII provides full body protection, a contained atmosphere and life support unit allowing survival in all environments from the vacuum of space, to the surface of Mercury. It contains a full communication suite, including a subspace communication with a standard range of 1000 AU.
Functions as a vacuum suit with enough oxygen for one day. Reduces the severity of radiation by two steps. Will automatically stabilize the user if he drops to -1 hit points. When the wearer is damaged, hit points are removed from the bonus hp first. If he loses all of his bonus hit points, the suit has been breached, and has it hardness bonus halved, and loses its vacuum suit ability until the suit has been repaired. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Type: Powered
Defense: +8
Bonus HP: 40
Hardness: 8
Strength bonus: +4
Speed: 20/15
Max Dex: +1
Penalty: -6
Buy DC: 32
Restrict: Mil (+3)
Weight: 80 lb
Johnson WeaponsTech Grade IX Stealth Armor: Similar to Grade VII Powered armor, this suit of power armor sacrifices defense and toughness in favor of speed and stealth.
The armor penalty does not apply to move silently and hide. Functions as a vacuum suit with enough oxygen for one day. Reduces the severity of radiation by two steps. Will automatically stabilize the user if he drops to -1 hit points. When the wearer is damaged, hit points are removed from the bonus hp first. If he loses all of his bonus hit points, the suit has been breached, and has it hardness bonus halved, and loses its vacuum suit ability until the suit has been repaired. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Type: Powered
Defense: +5
Bonus HP: 30
Hardness: 6
Strength bonus: +4
Speed: 30/20
Max Dex: +1
Penalty: -6
Buy DC: 34
Restrict: Mil (+3)
Weight: 65 lb
Rainor Military Technology Powered Assault armor: Similar to WeaponsTech Grade VII armor, this provides all of the same features, but in a package that shrugs off nearly all enemy fire. This is used by people who do not care for subtlety. It’s cumbersome, unwieldy, and certainly not stealthy. But a single man in set of Powered Assault Armor can level a base. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Functions as a vacuum suit with enough oxygen for three days. Reduces the severity of radiation by four steps. Will automatically stabilize the user if he drops to -1 hit points. When the wearer is damaged, hit points are removed from the bonus hp first. If he loses all of his bonus hit points, the suit has been breached, and has it hardness bonus halved, and loses its vacuum suit ability until the suit has been repaired. Allows the user to wield a huge weapon. Cannot be used at all without armor profiency (powered).
Type: Powered
Defense: +8
Bonus HP: 80
Hardness: 12
Strength bonus: +8
Speed: 15/10
Max Dex: +0
Penalty: -10
Buy DC: 36
Restrict: Mil (+3)
Weight: 200 lb
Devastator Support Plasma Minigun: The latest design in multibarreled support weapns, the plasma minigun shoots thousands of plasma bolts towards the unfortunate target marked for destruction. Generally only found on vehicles, or as turrets, some people have been known to carry them around while using heavy powered armor.
Proficiency: Exotic firearms profiency (heavy machine guns)
Damage: 5d10
Critical: 20
Damage type: Fire
Range increment: 70 ft
Rate: A (25 rounds for burst, 50 rounds for autofire, which hits 20x20 area, and forces a reflex save of 20 instead of 15)
Magazine: Power backpack (gives enough power for 5000 shots)
Size: Huge
Weight: 40 lb
Purchase DC: 28
Restriction: Military (+3)
Tarian charge: A powerful, chemical explosive, this is the most common explosive used in the galaxy by military forces. Multiple charges can be linked together for simultaneous detonations. Each extra charge used increases damage by 3d6 and the blast radius by 5 feet. Is sold in fifty gram blocks
Damage: 6d6
Damage type: Concussion
Burst radius: 10 feet
Reflex DC: 20
Size: Small
Weight: 0.5 lb
Purchase DC: 14
Restriction: Mil (+3)
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