Transcendent and Terrible Tales of the Distant Future

   Is the universe dark and terrible or bright and wonderful?  It depends entirely on whether you are telling the story of those who perished or those who survived.

The Transcendent Age
   In these times so distant from mankind’s origin on the humble cradle of Earth technology shapes worlds and even starts to the will of man.   Engineering and genetic projects are measured in millions of years.  Life spans extend and time contracts at humanity’s command.

Zah Zhen Zharr
   The capitol is a world ship ten thousand kilometers from stem to stern, her glistening spires shine with the radiant waste heat of a massive fusion core.  Hurtling through space at the very verge of the speed of light, her course slowly circumnavigates the realm’s core over ten thousand years.

The Empty Throne
   At the base of the stern spire sits the high court with its ten kilometre span and kilometre high roof.  The terraces are adorned with exotic flowering plants making the high court as much a garden as a seat of government.  At the focal point of the terraces sits a great seat devised by the oracles.  Here is the symbolic throne of imperial unity.  Millions have died seeking to claim ascendancy by mounting the throne.  No one has ever survived the disintegrator field it projects should one be found unworthy by the oracles who maintain that a worthy ruler would be spared though none has ever been found.

The Grand Hall of the Fluttering Petals
   The most glorious of all the delights of the great houses spans ten kilometres lit by luminescent, jewel-like plants and fountains of narcotic vapours.  The acoustics of the hall allow the orchestra stand in the centre to be heard to the very edges.  Iridescent birds flutter through the air singing in harmony to the music.  Among the attractions that surround the vast dance floor are grottos and pools, whirling swings and rotating chair rides.  Banquet tables, piled with exotic delicacies are arranged along the edges. The floor is of polished rainbow glass that reflects and distorts while having a lustrous depth which seems to be as deep and ancient as the universe itself.  The floor is very easy to clean and random violence is regarded as a delightfully spontaneous addition to the endless revels.  Here the scions and maidens of the great houses resort to see and be seen to mingle with the strange and bizarre offshoots of far flung humanity.  The Grand Hall of the Fluttering petals is a symbol of unity and as such has also been a target of those seeking to sow disorder or strike at their rivals.

The Font of Endless Torment
   Not far behind the high court is a sombre chamber which opens out to seven passages.  In the centre of this chamber is a pit above which hang a network of restraints and pulleys.  The pit itself is a low yield disintegrator which slowly erodes the bodies of those immersed therein.  Thus immersion in the vat is the slowest and most excruciating death ever devised.  It is to burn within and without over long years with constantly conscious and aware.  The cries echo down the long corridors past the cells where the love ones of the victims are imprisoned until the punishment ends.  There is no need to deal with the body as the process destroys it utterly.  The font is seldom used and at times has been closed off and deemed as too horrible a fate for even the worst offenders yet it is felt that the very presence of it deters offenders.

The Great Houses
   The lawless think themselves free but there is no freedom without security.  Communism and capitalism are but the hot blooded dreams of anarchists.  In every recorded case, no matter how high minded, they revert to aristocracy in a few short generations.

   The ancient and traditional factions of the Eternal Polity are ordered as noble houses which encompass many families with no small amount of infighting for the preeminent position of Hiearch.  The traditions, cultures, and technological properties of these houses are widely varied but with a few broad alignments regarding the philosophy of governance.  The particular orthodoxies of these houses are enforced by proctors who head departments of compliance.

   The genetic and physiological form of the subjects of the great houses are often dictated by the passing trends of fashion.  Grotesque houses have so manipulated their bodies and genetics so as to be unrecognizable as human.  Chimeric houses have taken on some aspects of their house totem animal for both recognition and fashion.   houses have held to the human form and frown upon outward and even inward genetic modification.

   The political alignments shift with fashion over the long generations but there are a number recognizable, lasting ideologies.

   Essentialists believe that the universe is as it should be and see no value in changing the status quo.  For the essentialist houses there is no crisis or lack of resources that cannot be overcome by expansion.

   Catastrophists view the present circumstances as unsustainable.  They point to the fact that even hundreds of millions of years are but an instant in the lifespan of the universe.  Further there may yet prove to be some great polity to match the human dominated milky way (as it was once known on Earth long ago) galaxy and conflict will be inevitable as both seek to control resources and territory.

   Expansionists believe that the status quo is forever on the verge of collapse and can only be maintained through constant growth.  The expansionists believe that the growth of the human race will eventually collapse as a matter of statistical certainty but the chance of the species surviving increases as the distribution of human population increases.  The expansionists have funded a number of incredibly expensive extra galactic expeditions.

Knightly Orders
   Each house maintains a standing force of warriors equipped with the best shielded and refracted powered armour suits, energy weapons, and of course, swords.  These sworn elites are trained in the arts of war from a young age as the houses often move against one another in formal conflict for resources, power, and honour.  Knights are recipients of bonded bloodware as a matter of course, ensuring loyalty and protecting their delicate metabolizims in equal measure.


Chained Stars
   The greatest technological achievement of the transcendent age are stars that have been bound by a series of rings which are manuevered to manipulate the stellar activity.  This method can be used to generate thrust, lengthen or shorten the star’s lifespan or even generate solar flares as a weapon of terrible power.

World Ships
   The greatest of vessels are the size of planets.  Built around a controlled hydrogen fusion mini star contained by strong magnetic fields, world ships are far less dense than a natural planet.  The primary structure is a layer of carbon sixty fibre web five hundred kilometres or more deep.  Above that revolves the platform on which most of the habitats and ecosphere exist.  Above that rise the glistening angular spires where the machineries, weapons, and fuel are stored.  

Creche Worlds
   With immortality and temporal retreat making engineering projects that stretch across millions of years, many living worlds have been created by moving dead rock into the appropriate orbit, ensuring sufficient materials, introducing primitive life forms at various stages and waiting.  The people of these worlds are seen as long term investments and are generally allowed to progress and develop their own technology and societies with a little interference here and there to achieve desirable results.

Prosaic Worlds
   Most of the worlds of the galaxy rely on simple, analog, mechanical technology.  In part this is the policy of the essentialist and catastrophist houses viewing advancement as a threat to the status quo or as a source of conflict and disorder.  Prosaic worlds pay a tithe of recruits to the legions and provide their arms and armour.  Transcendent legions are seldom used to combat prosaic foes as they are needed to guard against aggression from the other great houses.

Emergent Worlds
   Given the time and distances involved in governing a large portion of the galaxy, worlds occasionally develop beyond prosaic technology and begin to explore their immediate stellar neighbourhood.  Depending on the house which claims the world, and the nature of the newly outbound society, this can be seen as anything from a fantastic success to a terrible threat to the status quo.  In any case these budding young empires tend to be a bit arrogant and are generally shattered to discover just how insignificant they really are.

Retreat Worlds
   The long term nature of planetary and stellar engineering have made it necessary to create worlds which have a longer time frame than the base time line.  As such world ships are occasionally accelerated to relativistic velocities that carry them into a tight orbit around a black hole, thus allowing the inhabitants to observe the progress of creche worlds and chained stars at a comfortable rate.

The Infosphere
   While the ecological metaphor is often used to explain the ecosphere, it is only apt in the most basic sense: there are predators and there is prey.

   Computational devices of all shapes and sizes are a ubiquitous part of transcendent technology.  The radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic field is alive with radio traffic and data flow.  While physical conduits provide vital foundational infrastructure there is an entire information based ecosystem with its own share of predators.  

The Oracles
   The lords of the Infosphere are known as the oracles.  These powerful information based life forms dwell in the persistent cloud of low level computing that forms the physical basis of the Infosphere.

Information Based Life Form
   Any polity or structure of information that is capable of consistent decision making and interaction is considered a life form in its own right.  Some exist fully in the radio spectrum flow, as disassociated bits of data spread across the vast open processing power found in every fixture, appliance, and item.

Hardware Redoubts
   Many information based life forms prefer to shelter themselves in dedicated servers with limited and carefully guarded links to the dangers of the  infosphere.

The Strictures
   The laws which govern The Eternal Polity are neither complex nor unclear.  The power to act is the right to act.  Property is the right of the strong.  Every living being has the right to defend its life and posterity to the death. Life is the reward of the loyal.  Death is the reward of the traitor.  The punishment must always exceed the crime.   Those who seek death should be granted what they seek.  There are no innocents nor victims, only assets and resources to be spent or held.

The Necessary Cruelties
   The cultural apex of the great houses imposes heavy burdens and punishments on their people.  Torture and deprivation are acceptable means of punishment and are used as a matter of course.  The threat of destroying a family is an acceptable means of ensuring loyalty.  On the whole death in battle is seen as preferable and cleaner than any inquiry or trial.

Trial By Combat
   If it be of no consequence to the whole, yet it is found by the aggrieved parties to be worth killing or dying for, it matters not to the whole should they so chose to resolve it thusly.

   Absent any external interests, many disputes among the aristocracy are settled with duels.  The long sword is the weapon of choice buy longstanding tradition.  There is no illusion of divine providence or justice in these duels, only the simple and pragmatic acknowledgement that “to the victor go the spoils.”  In practice the parties set a time and a place and failure to arrive is seen as forfeiture.  A suitably open space with a floor that is easily cleaned is nominated and the parties arrive with a sufficient supporters to ensure a fair fight.  The winner is expected to deal with the body respectfully and the supporters are expected to accept the results.

Technology
   It is as if the creator itself bars the way.  Though we can create matter from absence, bend time, and manipulate gravity there is as of yet no way to surpass the speed of information.  No way to reset the arrow of time.  No way to reject the harsh laws of thermodynamics.  As easy as it is to think ourselves gods: creators of worlds / givers of life.  There are realities which bind us to our course beyond our wills and our words.

Battle Airships
   The principles involved in vacuum floats are also used in creating vehicles.  The aerial warships of the great houses are built around a web of carbon 60 fiber which enmeshes hundreds of thousands of small vacuum floats.  The armour and weapons of such craft are heavy enough that they still require vectored thrust lift which is generally supplied by plasma vortex impellers.

Bonded Bloodware
   Molecular level machinery is a mixed blessing.  It can fortify the blood against toxins, speed recovery, and bind the will.  All technology is prone to outside control but bonded bloodware is particularly tk in that it is used to ensure the loyalty of its recipients, allowing them to be paralysed and even killed with a coded signal.

Bubble Spiders
   The shadowed nooks and crannies of world ships and battle airships harbour these gossamer little robots.  Bubble spiders float on the vacuum buoy in their and thorax.  Their tiny processor is insufficient to control even their own simple mechanisms.  Instead they are controlled almost entirely by the household server.  They gather up dust and perform minor maintenance but their primary function is surveillance.  Subverting control of the ubiquitous bubble spiders to call down a terrifying swarm is a common trick of the infomancer.


Familius Implants
   Animals are often equipped with a node implant which allows their master to see through their eyes and issue commands through the infosphere.

Fetch Ware
   A human can be linked into the infosphere by a glistening web of sensors inside their skull.  These two sighted individuals can act in the infosphere and the physical world at the same time.  They can even project their mind into the infosphere, abandoning the locational limitations of their bodies to pass through nodes and servers.  While so ‘projecting’ their thoughts their body would lie in a stupor if not for the fetch, a simple routine application that prevents unwanted falls and moves away from danger at a safe walking pace.

Hologlobe
   Transcendent technology is largely voice or signal controlled and most interactive devices are smart enough to parse out simple gestures and orders.  Where more direct control is required, the most common control is a clear sphere plamagram receptacle.  A three dimensional image or control object floats in the hologlobe.  The surface of the globe is touch sensitive and the pressure of the touch moves the pointer inward and outward.  A small socket on the back of the device fits to a control arm or bench clamp to prevent it from being dropped or lost in the middle of critical manoeuvers.

Node Implant
   The subjects of the great houses often have a node implant the size of a grain of rice which serves as a communicator and location device.  To be a subject is to be constantly watched and directed.

Pinion Grafts
   Wings are a common mark of high station.  The symbol of feathered wings are found in coats of arms and formal attire.  The most prestigious wings are living symbiotic chimera that are grafted to the notable’s spine.  There are mechanical fabrications, of course, but true, living wings are the crowning glory of the tk.

Plasma Vortex Impellers
   The battle airships used by the great houses are light and streamlined but they are also fast.  Powered by plasma turbine jets that superheat the air that passes through them and spin it out behind them.  This makes the aft arc of an airship a very hazardous area for winged attack craft.  The environmental hard caused by these engines is well known but is seen as an acceptable price for a faster vessel.

Plasmodic Actualizers
   Nanotechnology uses very small machines to manipulate matter at a molecular level.  Plasmodic technology creates very large machines out of plasma fields.  The architecture of these machines is a flowing wonder of twisting eddies.  Plasmodic actualizers are the devices used to create decorative patterns on stars or transition the consciousness into transcendence within a star.

Powered Armour
   While examples of hydraulic and electric armour exist they are clumsy and vulnerable compared to the current state of the art.  The armour of the knightly orders strongly resembles that of their namesakes from ancient earth.  The highly articulated armoured shell is composed of thin layers of laminated materials to provide structural strength and resistance to a wide variety of armour piercing munitions.  The armour itself is worn over an under suit composed of micro hydraulic capillaries which provides enhanced strength as well as resistance to gases and vacuum. The armour is supplemented with a protective field and a physical shield that mounts a ranged weapon system.

Protective Field
   True “force fields” are beyond even Transcendent technology’s grasp but nano technology and plasma provide a functional alternative.  Protective fields consist of a power supply, emitter, and a holding tank.  When activated the emitter spins out a lattice of nano fibres that contain plasma generators that fills out the spaces with cold plasma.  The resulting field is highly effective against plasma weapons and ferrous gauss projectiles and less so against lasers and firearms.

Regenerative Bloodware
   Immortality is possible at a price.  The human mind’s storage capacity is known and measured.  Thus immortals tarry but do not progress.  Due to accidents, suicide, and violence immortals only live a thousand years on average.  Some immortals manage accumulate sufficient wealth to achieve transcendence as a plasmodic information based life form on the surface of a star and far more attempt to transition into the infosphere though the survival rate is low as the human mind is insufficiently sophisticated to escape predation for long.

Shimmering Robes
   While force shields provide excellent protection against physical impacts, they must be transparent if the wearer is to see, thus laser weapons pierce them without disruption.  As such the preferred defence is reflective optic mesh which can disapate laser fire as well as spreading out the force of impacts.  The higher classes wear such garb as elaborate robes and gowns that gleam and flare in prismatic glory.

Swords
   As prosaic a weapon and yet a powerful symbol of war and power.  Swords are fashionable weapons.  Many of the greatest blades have edges made of exotic materials that bend and shatter force shields and frictionless surfaces that will penetrate any armour.  While such additions are found in projectiles such munitions are expensive and expendable and thus vanishingly rare.

Vacuum Floats
   While the law of gravitation is as inviolable as the laws of thermodynamics, advanced materials have made it possible to produce lighter than air floats that contain nothing more than the occasional quantum fluctuation.  These are used extensively to lighten loads or lift airships as they provide excellent lift with no risk of explosion.

Wrist Needlers
   A common weapon consists of a magnetic accelerator and rack of needles in a cuff or bracer.  Such needles penetrate ballistic defences to deliver drugs or poison.

Prosaic Technology
   The most common level of technological development found on client worlds and new foundings is analog mechanical devices.  These are simple, robust, and inexpensive to manufacture from naturally occurring materials.  Internal combustion engines and simple wheels, tracks, and wings are found across untold trillions of worlds, driving simple economies.
   
Character Creation
   Characters are created using the standard Galaxies in Shadow rules but the initial Savings roll is instead an open ended Status roll.  That is to say that rolls of ninety to one hundred are re-rolled and added to the first result.  While creche worlds and prosaic worlds belong to great houses they are seldom even aware of the fact.

01 - 20   Creche World
01 - 18   Commoner
19 - 20   Noble
21 - 50   Prosaic World
21 - 35   Poor Family
36 - 48   Average Family
49 - 50   Wealthy Family

51 - 150   Declining House
51 - 100   Declining Family
101 - 148   Rising Family
149 - 150   Ascendant Family

151 - 300   Rising House
151 - 225   Declining Family
226 - 298   Rising Family
299 - 300   Ascendant Family

301+      Ascendant House
301 - 450   Declining Family
451 - 598   Rising Family
599+      Ascendant Family

It's a bit funny how this idea came about.  I've been reading Dune to my son recently and I had an idea for a Romeo and Juliet story in the Warhammer 40000 universe but I don't own that universe and honestly, I don't think GW would want a Romeo and Juliet type story in their universe very much.

So, I started fiddling with ideas for a universe that had the rigid aristocratic society the story needed and lacked the skulls and chaos gods.  at the moment it's a more or less hard, transhumanist sf setting without ftl or antigravity.  I might put in quantum entanglement teleporters which could technically be faster than light once you moved the information from platform A to platform B at the normal C limited velocity because knights marching out of gates would be neat.  The force shields are actual cold plasma bubbles or possibly nanotech bubbles.  Really they should combine the two, a lattice of nanotech with cold plasma fields filling in the openings.

I'm not really worried about limiting the effectiveness of ranged weapons though.  Swords are affection of the aristocracy and an outlet for trial by combat.

Trial By Combat
   If it be of no consequence to the whole, yet it is found by the aggrieved parties to be worth killing or dying for, it matters not to the whole should they so chose to resolve it thusly.

   Absent any external interests, many disputes among the aristocracy are settled with duels.  The long sword is the weapon of choice buy longstanding tradition.  There is no illusion of divine providence or justice in these duels, only the simple and pragmatic acknowledgement that “to the victor go the spoils.”  In practice the parties set a time and a place and failure to arrive is seen as forfeiture.  A suitably open space with a floor that is easily cleaned is nominated and the parties arrive with a sufficient supporters to ensure a fair fight.  The winner is expected to deal with the body respectfully and the supporters are expected to accept the results.

Relevant to my interests. Love it.

Emergent Worlds
   Given the time and distances involved in governing a large portion of the galaxy, worlds occasionally develop beyond prosaic technology and begin to explore their immediate stellar neighbourhood.  Depending on the house which claims the world, and the nature of the newly outbound society, this can be seen as anything from a fantastic success to a terrible threat to the status quo.  In any case these budding young empires tend to be a bit arrogant and are generally shattered to discover just how insignificant they really are.

Battle Airships
   The principles involved in vacuum floats are also used in creating vehicles.  The aerial warships of the great houses are built around a web of carbon 60 fiber which enmeshes hundreds of thousands of small vacuum floats.  The armour and weapons of such craft are heavy enough that they still require vectored thrust lift which is generally supplied by plasma vortex impellers.

Bubble Spiders
   The shadowed nooks and crannies of world ships and battle airships harbour these gossamer little robots.  Bubble spiders float on the vacuum buoy in their and thorax.  Their tiny processor is insufficient to control even their own simple mechanisms.  Instead they are controlled almost entirely by the household server.  They gather up dust and perform minor maintenance but their primary function is surveillance.  Subverting control of the ubiquitous bubble spiders to call down a terrifying swarm is a common trick of the infomancer.

Plasma Vortex Impellers
   The battle airships used by the great houses are light and streamlined but they are also fast.  Powered by plasma turbine jets that superheat the air that passes through them and spin it out behind them.  This makes the aft arc of an airship a very hazardous area for winged attack craft.  The environmental hard caused by these engines is well known but is seen as an acceptable price for a faster vessel.

Powered Armour
   While examples of hydraulic and electric armour exist they are clumsy and vulnerable compared to the current state of the art.  The armour of the knightly orders strongly resembles that of their namesakes from ancient earth.  The highly articulated armoured shell is composed of thin layers of laminated materials to provide structural strength and resistance to a wide variety of armour piercing munitions.  The armour itself is worn over an under suit composed of micro hydraulic capillaries which provides enhanced strength as well as resistance to gases and vacuum. The armour is supplemented with a protective field and a physical shield that mounts a ranged weapon system.

Protective Field
   True “force fields” are beyond even Transcendent technology’s grasp but nano technology and plasma provide a functional alternative.  Protective fields consist of a power supply, emitter, and a holding tank.  When activated the emitter spins out a lattice of nano fibres that contain plasma generators that fills out the spaces with cold plasma.  The resulting field is highly effective against plasma weapons and ferrous gauss projectiles and less so against lasers and firearms.

Wars Within And Without
   The polity is never truly at peace.  There are rebellious emergent worlds, conflicts between great houses, renegade houses, and even strife within the great houses themselves.  Then there are the external threats, alien empires, renegade houses, and strange and lawless offshoots of humanity so alien as to defy reason.

Cyphers
   A growing pestilence along the rim of the polity is slowly gaining ground and gathering momentum as it gnaws at the frontier holdings of several houses.  Hordes of cyphers, naked, faceless and genitalless creatures without fear, pain, or sense of self preservation have overrun hundreds of worlds.  While they craft nothing themselves, the cyphers can use weapons and vehicles.  Individually cyphers are human genome based nanotech biomes.  The first stage of infection passes to an ordinary human male from an infected male.  When that male impregnates a human female a cyst like litter of cyphers develops in the and once mature they begin to claw their way out, growing rapidly on the flesh of their mother.  The infected males fare no better as the infection eventually transforms them into a cypher as well.  The problem has resulted in the quarantining and purging of entire worlds but the vector for the gestation period of the infection can be as much as ten years.  Cypers ‘see’ with the entire surface of their bodies and hunt in packs, absorbing blood through their skin for nourishment.

House of the Raging Baboon
   One of the legendary atrocities of the last million years was the slaughter of the attendees of a fancy dress ball on Zah Zhen Zahrr where the flowering youth of many great houses had come to celebrate the Festival of Bounteous unity.  The proctor of the House of the Glorious Mandril led a force of wardens into the Grand Hall of the Fluttering petals to cut down and slaughter the dancers while other units secured the exits to ensure that none escaped.  It was soon learned that the entire house had gone renegade, fleeing the capital on their ships while the slaughter took place.   The proctor and his men were exterminated with extreme prejudice, with a few officers and the proctor interred in The Font of Endless Torment.  It is unknown what motivated the atrocity but with the resources of a great house fleeing the polity to form their own empire on the fringes, which harries the frontiers unto this day, the name change seemed apt.

The Grand Hall of the Fluttering Petals
   The most glorious of all the delights of the great houses spans ten kilometres lit by luminescent, jewel-like plants and fountains of narcotic vapours.  The acoustics of the hall allow the orchestra stand in the centre to be heard to the very edges.  Iridescent birds flutter through the air singing in harmony to the music.  Among the attractions that surround the vast dance floor are grottos and pools, whirling swings and rotating chair rides.  Banquet tables, piled with exotic delicacies are arranged along the edges. The floor is of polished rainbow glass that reflects and distorts while having a lustrous depth which seems to be as deep and ancient as the universe itself.  The floor is very easy to clean and random violence is regarded as a delightfully spontaneous addition to the endless revels.  Here the scions and maidens of the great houses resort to see and be seen to mingle with the strange and bizarre offshoots of far flung humanity.  The Grand Hall of the Fluttering petals is a symbol of unity and as such has also been a target of those seeking to sow disorder or strike at their rivals.

The Font of Endless Torment
   Not far behind the high court is a sombre chamber which opens out to seven passages.  In the centre of this chamber is a pit above which hang a network of restraints and pulleys.  The pit itself is a low yield disintegrator which slowly erodes the bodies of those immersed therein.  Thus immersion in the vat is the slowest and most excruciating death ever devised.  It is to burn within and without over long years with constantly conscious and aware.  The cries echo down the long corridors past the cells where the love ones of the victims are imprisoned until the punishment ends.  There is no need to deal with the body as the process destroys it utterly.  The font is seldom used and at times has been closed off and deemed as too horrible a fate for even the worst offenders yet it is felt that the very presence of it deters offenders.

Hologlobe
   Transcendent technology is largely voice or signal controlled and most interactive devices are smart enough to parse out simple gestures and orders.  Where more direct control is required, the most common control is a clear sphere plamagram receptacle.  A three dimensional image or control object floats in the hologlobe.  The surface of the globe is touch sensitive and the pressure of the touch moves the pointer inward and outward.  A small socket on the back of the device fits to a control arm or bench clamp to prevent it from being dropped or lost in the middle of critical manoeuvers.

So long as one of our soldiers remains, they have not won and their claim remains invalid.

Transcendent Worlds
   There are worlds of light and glory that grace the heavens with their beauty.  At the apex of civilization, it is not enough for a world to be safe and comfortable, it must be beautiful.  The transcendent worlds are key strongholds in the holdings of the great houses.  Each world is unique and reflects the idiosyncracies of its patron house.

House of the Lumbering Gnat
House of the Wasting Shadow
House of the Trilling Worm
House of the Gagging Mule
House of the Pustulant Stage
House of the Dour Finch
House of the Joyous Beetle
House of the Merciful Aligator
House of the Scandalous Wedding
House of the Gentle Massacre
House of the Peaceful Battle

   The tangled threads of the house’s holdings and client states are distributed along the sweep of their world ships with worlds lying towards the galactic rim being more valuable and those lying towards the core being less desirable due to higher levels of background radiation.  There is an inner perimeter to the polity’s influence as the galactic core is simply too hot and active to allow life to flourish.

The Prognostiarchs
   The future is the daily business of the great houses.  The greatest limitation of living at relativistic velocities is the rate of interaction.  Compounded with the limited rate at which information can propagate, so much can happen, so very fast and so very far away that governing is a difficult task at the best of times.  There is always great interest among the hierarchs in the latest statistical models and even fortune telling superstitions.   The tarot and i-ching are both consulted with some regularity by frustrated managers and intelligence officers.  Out of this vital need a class of soothsayer’s has arisen.  Data gathering, management, and statistical analysis are given the sheen of authentic prophecy through ritual and obfustication.

Steed Units
   Knights tend to fight as autonomous individuals and their support structure supports this.  Each knight rides into battle on an armoured robotic platform with heavy legs and a well armoured front faring through which a heavy weapon is mounted.  While animal motifs are popular, steed units most resemble a cross between a jet-ski and a rhinoceros.  The steed has sufficient power to operate for a week non-stop and a large storage unit full of ammunition, food, and medical supplies.  Steed units are not fast as armoured vehicles go and they are often dropped close to their target by tenders.

Here is the current version of Galaxies In Shadow character creation.

CHARACTERS      
   
   The game universe is populated with characters, but the vast majority of these need no description or characteristics as they will never actually be making an appearance.  They are the faceless masses that keep the economy running, crew massive star cruisers, and support interstellar despots in rigged elections.  Their race is automatically the norm for the region they are found in and there is nothing else in their appearance that would draw anyone’s notice in a crowd.
   Should an individual be singled out from the crowd by the players, a simple d100 roll will suffice to provide any necessary characteristic or skill value.  Those in professional capacities can simply be assumed to have met the requirements for their career.  Competent individuals will generally have skill ratings equal to their aptitude rating making it possible to reduce a minor character to their characteristic scores and a description of their profession.
   Only major characters, such as those used by the individual players in a roleplaying game, their allies and foes need to be created using the following method.   A fully developed character will have ratings for twelve characteristics, a number of skills, a pool of background points, some social connections, and a list of their possessions.  Characters can be created proceeding from their youth or at their present age and role and working backwards.  This allows the generation of new player characters of any degree of experience in a moment and the growth of their past as a part of game play.

Characteristics
   Your character's innate abilities are rated for ten Characteristics that provide Default ratings and Maximum Ratings for your character's skills.

Agility indicates the ease with which an individual can move through their environment including balance, grace, and lightness of foot.  It is used for physical feats like climbing and dancing.
   
Class is a measure of the individual’s wealth, fame, and station.  While it has little bearing on skills or actions undertaken it opens up access to higher class connections and provides funds all of which can open the doors of opportunity.

Dexterity provides an indication of the ease with which small objects can be manipulated and controlled.  It is used to fire small arms and work with tools and devices.

Endurance is a measure of cardiovascular fitness and muscular conditioning. It is used to resist injuries and overcome hardships and exhaustion.

Knowledge is a measure of memory and study.  It is used to remember information and recall details.

Logic is a measure of problem solving and recognizing disinformation.  It is used to test new ideas and deduce solutions to problems.

Perception is a measure of general awareness and sensory acuity.  It is used to notice clues and ambushes.

Reflexes is a measure of reaction speed and alertness.  It is used to determine the sequence in which actions are resolved and to drive vehicles.

Strength is a measure of overall size, build, and muscular development.  It is used to lift objects, bear loads, and strike blows.  
   
Talent is a measure of creativity and originality as well as general interpersonal sensitivity.  It is used to originate concepts and ideas .

Willpower is a measure of discipline and resolve.  It is used to persevere and impose one’s orders on others.

Appearance
   There are two primary factors to consider when creating a character’s description, their general aesthetics and overall reproductive viability within their own species.  A human may see a horse or an eagle as beautiful but not as sexy.  Aesthetics lean towards symmetry and colouration, while reproductive viability is largely indicated by physical fitness and bearing.  As such, one might average their Agility, Strength, Endurance, and Willpower to find a general guideline to their attractiveness within their own species but such a number is not required, nor used at any point in the course of these rules.  One can apply the art skill Fashion to enhance their general aesthetics within their own species and culture but such knowledge is of little use outside of these.

My Character Lacks Charisma
   Some experienced role players will probably observe that there are no purely social characteristics.  In part, this is because there are already social aspects to Class, Logic, Knowledge, Perception, Talent, and Willpower.  Just as no physical characteristic dominates combat, no single mental ability dominates social interaction.

Generating Characteristics
   While the one to one hundred range may provide the broad scope of human ability, the more average human range can be simulated by adding thirty to rolls under thirty and subtracting thirty from rolls over seventy.  Exceptionally heroic individuals such as player characters can be generated by adding forty to rolls under forty.  Finally, genetically engineered individuals can be generated by dividing five hundred and fifty points between the characteristics and genetically optimized characters can be generated by spending six hundred and fifty points.

   Base Characteristic Rating
   Average   d% + 30 to rolls under 30, -30 to rolls over 70
   Heroic      % +40 to rolls under 40 + Racial Modifier
   Engineered   Spend 550, maximum 100
   Optimized   Spend 650, maximum 110

Figured Characteristics
   Mass = 80 x (Initial Strength2 / (Agility x Endurance))
   Free Load = Strength2
   Monetary Units = Savings x Technology Level
   Background Points = 48 x Age -12 x Age / Age of Maturity.

Improving Characteristics
   Only Experience Points can be used to improve Characteristics.  Background Points are already spent on skills it’s just not yet determined which skills they were spent on.

Sundry Points
   Background Points, Experience Points, Characteristic Ratings, and Skill Ratings are all compatible and largely interchangeable.  In the course of a character’s life Background Points will be used to purchase skill ratings and Characteristic Points will be lost to age and injury leading to their transfer back into the Background Point pool.  This fluidity serves to minimize the time and record keeping invested in character creation as a character need not be fully developed when play begins.  Much as with a novel or movie the characters can unfold and grow in the mind as the action moves forward.  In general, older characters will have higher skills and fewer background points and younger characters will have higher characteristics and fewer skills and background points.  It is, however quite possible for young characters to be highly specialized and competitive as can be seen in international sporting events like The Olympic Games.

Skills
   If you take a look at the Skill List, you'll probably wonder what the various skills do in game terms.  All skills increase your character's chance of succeeding when they do that sort of thing.  They don't have any other effects.  Galaxies in Shadow is a sufficiently complex game that it really doesn't need a bunch of special case rules hiding in the skill descriptions.

Italicized Words In Skill and Category Names
   Race Medicine is one of many skills that has part of its name in italics.  This means that it is a "Cluster Skill" and that actually covers many skills.  These skills are created by substituting a specific word for the italicized part of the name.  For instance Dog Medicine, Gryph Medicine, and Human Medicine are all appropriate Race Medicine skills.  Note that CULTURE is a group of categories, that aren't related to each other.  French Culture may give you some help in cooking French dishes or knowing French customs but it really doesn't help much with Chinese cooking or Chinese law.

Aptitudes
   Each skill has a Characteristic or Skill shown in parentheses after it on the skill list.  This determines how many Background points can be spent on it at any given time and thus its maximum rating.  Due to their primary education, and general cultural influences a character can, at any time, purchase a rating equal to half the Aptitude in every skill that is found in their culture with Background Points.  Some skills are so common or simple that a rating equal to their Aptitude can be bought at any time with Background Points. These are called Fundamental Skills.  Skills that are based on another Skill are more difficult to learn and represent advanced training.  Other skills can only be learned through training and study.

Untrained Potential Ratings
   Fundamental = Aptitude
   Normal = Aptitude / 2

Related Skills
   The skill list is arranged into Skill Groups, which serve as headings.  Due to shared knowledge and proficiencies there is an overlap between these skills.  As such, it is possible to use them instead of the normal Aptitude if there is an advantage in doing so.  This is mainly useful if a character’s normal Aptitude is weak and they have a Fundamental Skill related to another Characteristic in the Skill Group.

Closely Related Skills
   An individual will often possess a skill that is very similar to another, for instance, a large truck is easier to drive if one already knows how to drive an automobile.  In game terms these are the italicized skills in the skill list.  This allows the other skill to be purchased up to the value of the closely related skill with Background Points at any time.  To qualify, the skill must be from the same Skill Group.  As each culture is a separate skill group, languages do not qualify unless they fall under the same culture.  For example, in modern Europe: French, Spanish, and Itallian might be considered to fall under the Modern European Culture rather than a single language specific culture.

Careers
   In most advanced societies one cannot simply decide to be a doctor one day and put up a shingle.  The career system serves a number of purposes: it provides benchmark ratings for generic non-player characters thus freeing the referee from a great deal of book keeping; it provides starting points for characters, thus allowing them to be set up and brought into play quickly; and it provides requirements to strive for when creating a character from the bottom up.  For a character to claim a career they must buy the skills required by that career, rolling for events as necessary, they then obtain the gear and the title specified for the career.  Rank and position may be modified by random events.  

Atrophy
   In the real world, highly skilled individuals need to study or train constantly to remain at the apex of their abilities.  Losing points on a regular basis isn’t much fun in a game, so Atrophy exists as a way to transfer points from a skill to other skills or Background Points.  Only two points can be transferred each month for twenty four points per year.  If a skill is used during the month no points can be transferred.

Racial Details
   Every race provides a description of its native habitat, physical form, ecological role, reproductive strategy, traits, and base characteristics.  It is generally simple to create a non-human character as everything else works the same for them.  Particularly developed and detailed races may have their own lists of fundamental skills and careers.

Prior Experience
   There's no need to start playing your character as an inexperienced youth.  They can be skilled and educated adults with past experiences.  The price of playing an older character is quite simply that they're older.  They have more standing commitments and less time to keep at the top of their game, their joints start to ache, they may even suffer serious injuries that impair their abilities.  It’s important to remember that aging represents the effects of failing to train when life gets busy just as much as it represents physical deterioration due to age.

Training and Certification
   Each year of prior experience gives the character forty eight experience points to spend.  Education also provides professional certification which can be used to obtain employment.  It doesn't matter what your skill rating is, without that piece of paper you can't work in the field, though it may be possible to earn a living as a freelance consultant.  Of course, an education costs money rather than earning it.  There is a provision to borrow the money but in the end, education must be paid for.  One of the great advantages of upper class characters is that they will have the money to get an education without having to earn it first.

Gear
   Each profession has a list of equipment a character in that field can be reasonably expected to posses.   Some items will have a skill prerequisite listed in parentheses which must be met to obtain them. The rest are automatically gained after the character finishes their first year.               

Aging
   Every year after your character's racial Age of Maturity they lose one point from each Characteristic.  After their age is double their Age of Maturity they lose two points and after it is  triple their racial Age of Maturity they lose three points from every Characteristic, every year, and so on.  Of course, like Atrophy this isn’t much fun so it is assumed that the character is making a constant effort to maintain their abilities and thus the number of Experience Points awarded each year is reduced instead.  If the player would rather have the points they can accept the decline and the lost points are transferred to their Back Ground Point pool.

Age of Maturity   Points Per Year
x1 to x2      48 - 12 = 36
x2 to x3      48 - 24 = 24
x3 to x4      48 - 36 = 12
x4 to x5      48 - 48 = 0
x5 to x6      48 - 60 = -12
x6 to x7      48 - 72 = -24
   
Event Roll
   Each year the player must make a roll.  The usual catastrophe is loss of their job or expulsion from school with sufficient prejudice to ensure they’ll never get into an equivalent position again.  Each career skill required for the next rank adds one point to the roll.  Each career also has a career specific event.

   Event Roll
   1   Catastrophe
   2 - 3   Lose Job
   4 - 6   Just the Usual Grind
   7   Life Event
   8   Career Event
   9   Career Benefit
   10+   Promotion +1 Rank

   +2 requirements for next rank met

Random Events
1   
2   Gain a random Connection
3   Lose a random Connection
4   Lose a Family Member
5   Gain a Family Member
6   
7   
8   Lose Savings
9   Gain Savings
10

Random Connections
1   Patron
2   Mentor
3   Follower
4   Student
5   Ally
6   Disciple
7   Stalker
8   Rival
9   Nemesis
10   Enemy

Promotions
   In military and corporate careers a character must pass through officer or management training or get a “Promoted” event to exceed rank ten.

ARTISTIC
Cinematography (Talent)
Drawing (Perception)
Painting (Drawing)
Photography (Perception)
Printing (Logic)
Sculpting (Perception)
Writing (Language)

ATHLETIC
Astronaut (Agility)
Climbing (Agility)
Diving (Swimming)
Jumping (Strength)
Parachuting (Willpower)
Riding (Reflexes)
Running (Endurance)
Stealth (Agility)
Swimming (Endurance)
Swinging (Agility)
Shipping (Strength)
Tumbling (Agility)
Weight Lifting (Strength)

BIOLOGY
Biochemistry (Chemistry)
Botany (Knowledge)  
Ecology (Knowledge)
Genetics (Logic)
Race Physiology (Knowledge)
Race Gene Therapy  (Genetics)
Race Forensics (Race Physiology)
Race Surgery (Race Physiology)
Race Medicine (Race Physiology)
Zoology (Knowledge)

CULTURE
Accounting (Logic)
Business Law (Language)
Cooking (Perception)
Criminal Law (Language)
Diplomacy (Willpower)
History (Knowledge)
Military Discipline (Willpower)
Streetwise (Knowledge)
Language (Knowledge)
Leadership (Willpower)
Lying (Talent)
Management (Willpower)
Salesmanship (Talent)
Teaching (Willpower)

DRIVING
Air Cushion Vehicles (Logic)
Flotation Vehicles (Reflexes)
Legged Vehicles (Reflexes)
Powered Armour (Agility)
Tracked Vehicles(Reflexes)
Wheeled Vehicles (Reflexes)

ENVIRONMENT
Survival (Knowledge)
Fishing (Willpower)
Foraging (Knowledge)
Navigation (Logic)
Tracking (Perception)
Trapping (Willpower)

MELEE WEAPON
Arm Lock (Grapple)
Choke (Strength)
Grapple (Agility)
Kick (Agility)
Punch (Dexterity)
Sweep (Grapple)
Tackle (Strength)

Axe (Strength)
Blunt (Strength)
Knife (Dexterity)
Spear (Dexterity)
Sword (Dexterity)

PERFORMANCE
Acting (Perception)
Choreography (Dancing)
Compose Music (Logic)
Dancing (Agility)
Oration (Talent)
Pickpocket (Dexterity)
Play Instrument (Perception)
Singing (Perception)
Stage Magic (Dexterity)

PHYSICS
Astrophysics (Newtonian Physics)
Atomic Physics (Chemistry)
Chemistry (Mathematics)
Geology (Knowledge)
Mathematics (Logic)
Newtonian Physics (Mathematics)
Quantum Physics (Statistics)
Statistics (Mathematics)

PILOTING
Fixed Winged Aircraft (Reflexes)
Anti Gravity Vehicles (Reflexes)
Rotary Winged Aircraft(Reflexes)
Space Craft (Newtonian Physics)
Submersibles (Logic)
VERTOL Vehicles(Reflexes)

SMALL ARMS
Energy Pistol (Dexterity)
Energy Rifle (Dexterity)
Pistol (Dexterity)
Rifle (Dexterity)
Support Energy Weapon (Strength)
Support Weapon (Strength)
Weapon Autofire (Weapon)

SOCIOLOGY
Advertising (Talent)
Anthropology (Psychology)
Archeology (Willpower)
Criminology (Perception)
Economics (Logic)
Embezzlement (Accounting)
Politics (Willpower)
Psychology (Perception)
Strategy (Talent)

TECHNICAL
Architecture (Drafting)
Ballistic Gunnery (Reflexes)
Communicators (Logic)
Computers (Logic)
Computer Programming (Computers)
Construction (Strength)
Demolitions (Dexterity)
Drafting (Dexterity)
Energy Gunnery (Logic)
Forward Observer (Sensors)
Intrusion (Dexterity)
Machinist (Computers)
Missile Gunnery (Reflexes)
Sensors (Computers)
Survey (Logic)
System Engineer (Appropriate Physics)
System Technician (Knowledge)












ARTISTIC
These skills allow a character to produce aesthetically pleasing, lasting works of art.

Cinematography (Perception)
   The character is skilled in the filming of events while getting the best lighting and angles.

Drawing (Perception)
   The character can produce recognizable monochromatic illustrations in pencil, ink, and charcoal.

Painting (Drawing)
   The character can produce detailed colour work in water colours, oils, and pastels.

Photography (Perception)
   The character can take photographs that make good use of available lighting and camera angles.

Printing (Logic)
   The character can reproduce images using etchings, screen printing, and lithography.

Sculpting (Perception)
   The character can create recognizable three dimensional works in clay, marble, and more exotic materials.

Writing (Language)
   The character can structure ideas in written form making them clear and entertaining.

ATHLETIC
   These skills represent training in a variety of physical feats.

Astronaut (Agility)
   The character is skilled in manoeuvring in free fall and using extra-vehicular-activity apparatus such as space suits and thruster units.

Climbing (Agility)
   The character can scaling steep heights and knows how to use ropes, pitons, and climbing harnesses to do so.

Diving (Swimming)
   The character is trained in the use of SCUBA equipment, wet and dry suits.

Jumping (Strength)
   The character has trained to increase the height and distance they can jump and is also familiar with pole vaulting techniques.

Parachuting (Willpower)
   The character has trained in jumping out of aircraft with a parachute and landing in one piece.

Riding (Reflexes)
   The character has learned to ride domestic animals usually with horses but in a science fiction universe the variety of mounts can be staggering.

Running (Endurance)
   The character has developed a peculiar addiction to bone jarring impacts, shortness of breath, and
the smell of sweat.  As with most addictions, the character builds up resistance over time and requires greater doses to get their fix.

Stealth (Agility)
   The character has learned to hide and otherwise make themselves inconspicuous, usually by not dressing like a bat.

Swimming (Strength)
   The character is a skilled swimmer and able to safely manoeuvre in deep water for extended periods.

Swinging (Agility)
   The character has trained with trapezes, ropes, and uneven bars and is able to leap from one to the other and perform feats of aerial acrobatics.

Shipping (Strength)
   The character has worked in a warehouse moving boxes.  As well as bulking up, they can also use cargo loading equipment such as fork-lifts and cranes.

Tumbling (Agility)
   The character is skilled in vaulting and able to do hand springs, cartwheels, and somersaults.




Weight Lifting (Strength)
             The character has become adept in using weights to tear down their muscles and an esoteric dietary regime to build them back up so they can tear them down again.  It's more habit forming than you might expect.

BIOLOGY
   These skills represent the study of nature, medicine, and life in general.

Biochemistry (Chemistry)
   The character has studied the complex chemical reactions that occur in living beings.  A high Biochemistry rating is required to practice as a pharmacist or physician.

Botany (Knowledge)
   The character has detailed knowledge of plants and their properties.  This is also the skill used to grow crops.

Ecology (Knowledge)
   The character has studied the delicately balanced relationships that exist between species in nature.

Genetics (Logic)
   The character has studied the transferal of inborn traits between generations as well as the make up of genes.

Race Physiology (Knowledge)
   The character has studied the biology of a specific species to better be able to treat and diagnose trauma and diseases.

Race Gene Therapy  (Genetics)
   The character is trained in the medical application of gene manipulation to overcome congenital defects.

Race Forensics (Race Physiology)
   The character is trained in surgically determining the cause of a person of a given race's death.

Race Surgery (Race Physiology)
   The character is trained in treating injuries through potentially life threatening invasive measures.


Race Medicine (Race Physiology)
   The character is trained in curing diseases and treating wounds.  Low ratings in this skill indicate first aid training while higher ratings indicate professional medical training.

Zoology (Knowledge)
   The character has studied animals and their behaviours.

CULTURE
   This is really a group of skill categories in which one exists for each culture.  Sometimes
there will be similarities with skills that serve the same purpose in other cultures, but don't count
on it.  No amount of Chinese will let you speak French.  Generally speaking there is one of each
of the skills in this category for each culture.

Accounting (Logic)
   The character has studied the culture's standard methods of financial record keeping.

Business Law (Language)
   The character has studied the culture's laws as they apply to business transactions.

Cooking (Perception)
   The character is skilled in creating tasty meals and treats from raw ingredients.

Criminal Law (Language)
   The character has studied the culture's laws as they apply to crime and punishment.

Diplomacy (Willpower)
   This skill aids the character in gaining the advantage in supposedly  mutually advantageous negotiations.

Etiquette (Knowledge)
   The character is familiar with the what the culture consider's appropriate behaviour.

History (Knowledge)
   The character has studied the events that lead to the current culture.


Military Discipline (Willpower)
   The character has Military Discipline and is better able to face the stress of combat as well as understanding the chain of command.

Streetwise (Knowledge)
   The character is experienced with the culture's criminal element and knows both how to find criminals and how to stay out of their way.

Language (Knowledge)
   The character can read and write the language chosen and has a basic grounding in the culture.

Leadership (Willpower)
   The character is able to get others to follow their orders and accept their ideas through a combination of force of personality, manipulative flattery,  and enthusiasm.

Lying (Talent)
   A character with this skill is experienced in fabricating conceivable and functional deceptions.  Obviously a character can't develop the Lying skill and have the Honest personality trait.

Management (Willpower)
   This skill is used to get a group of people to work together efficiently as well as  maintaining and improving the skilled individual's position in the hierarchy by taking credit for the performance of the whole group.

Salesmanship (Talent)
   The character has learned to convince others to purchase items they never really needed or wanted.

Teaching (Willpower)
   This skill is used to help others to learn new skills.  Naturally one's ability to teach is restricted by their skill in the subject matter as well as their skill as a teacher.









DRIVING
   The skills in this category allow a character to operate vehicles that can manoeuvre in only two dimensions.

   Air Cushion Vehicles(Logic)
   Flotation Vehicles (Reflexes)
   Rotary Winged Aircraft(Reflexes)
   Tracked Vehicles(Reflexes)
   Wheeled Vehicles (Reflexes)

ENVIRONMENTAL
   The skills in this category deal with survival and travel in the wilderness.

Survival (Knowledge)
   The character is familiar with environmental hazards and able to prepare for them and can  improvise solutions when caught unprepared.

Fishing (Willpower)
   The character knows how to catch fish with a line and hook or a net.

Foraging (Knowledge)
   The character knows how to determine which plants and animals are edible.

Navigation (Logic)
   The character can determine their direction and chart a straight course through unfamiliar territory.

Tracking (Perception)
   The character is adept at following tracks, fumets and other signs of the passage of animals through an area.  Any idiot can follow truck and tank tracks.

Trapping (Willpower)
   The character is skilled in laying traps ranging from simple snares and dead falls to sensor guided sentry guns.













MELEE WEAPON
   The character has learned to fight with a weapon or their bare hands.

   Arm Lock (Grapple)
   Choke (Strength)
   Grapple (Strength)
   Kick (Agility)   
   Punch (Dexterity)
   Sweep (Grapple)
   Tackle (Strength)
   
   Axe (Strength)
   Blunt (Strength)
   Knife (Dexterity)
   Spear (Dexterity)
   Sword (Dexterity)

PERFORMANCE
   These skills are mainly used to entertain others for the sake of earning money.  Note that
these skills represent the technical aspects performing.  Talent is a key factor in producing great
and original performances even though none of these skills are based on it.

Acting (Perception)
   The character is skilled in performing various roles convincingly on the stage.  They can also mimic other people and may even pass for them if their appearance can be matched.  

Choreography (Dancing)
   The character is skilled in planning elaborate dance routines for stage shows.  Most stage combat is essentially a dance routine.

Compose Music (Logic)
   The character is able to write original music.

Dancing (Agility)
   The character has practised moving in time to music in a pleasing fashion.

Oration (Willpower)
   The character is experienced in speaking to a large audience and delivering speeches in a compelling manner.




Pickpocket (Dexterity)
   The character is skilled in snagging bags, wallets, and small items from store shelves without being noticed.

Play Instrument (Perception)
   The character has practised playing a musical instrument and may even be able to produce music from it.

Singing (Perception)
   The character has trained their voice in order sing beautifully.  Note that this skill isn't always necessary to succeed as a singer.

Stage Magic (Dexterity)
   The character is able to misdirect an audience and perform elaborate tricks and illusions.  Most of these are totally dependant on the angle of the audience to a person on the stage and require elaborate equipment but a few simpler tricks such as producing coins and handkerchiefs.

PHYSICS
   The skills in this category involve the study of the physical world through experimentation
and Logic.

Astrophysics (Newtonian Physics)
   The character has studied the motions of the planets and stars and can accurately calculate their future positions.  This is the skill used to navigate in space.

Atomic Physics (Chemistry)
   The character has studied the interactions of atomic particles.

Chemistry (Mathematics)
   The character has studied the
chemical interactions and can produce explosives from raw materials.  Oh come on, you know that's all you really cared about.

Geology (Knowledge)
The character has studied rocks in great detail.  As oil and precious metals are often found in big piles of rocks the character has some familiarity with those as well.



Mathematics (Logic)
   The character's understanding of the fundamental workings of numbering systems is key to a wide variety of other skills.



Newtonian Physics (Mathematics)
   The character has studied the properties of objects in motion and can predict their path given the application of various forces.

Quantum Physics (Statistics)
   The character has studied the relationship between subatomic particles and statistics but still couldn't tell you why it all eventually adds up to platypuses.

   Statistics (Mathematics):
   the character has studied the relationship between events in terms of the probability of things happening.

PILOTING
   The skills in this category allow the character to pilot vehicles that are able to manoeuvre in three dimensions.

Anti Gravity Vehicles (Reflexes)
Fixed Winged Aircraft(Reflexes)
Rotary Winged Aircraft(Reflexes)
Space Craft (Newtonian Physics)
Submersibles (Logic)
VERTOL Vehicles(Reflexes)

SMALL ARMS
   The skills in this category allow the character to shoot people with a specific class of modern or advanced ranged weapons.

   Energy Pistol (Dexterity)
   Energy Pistol (Dexterity)
   Pistol (Dexterity)
   Rifle (Dexterity)
   Support Weapon (Strength)
   Weapon Autofire (Weapon)

SOCIOLOGY
   These skills are involve the study of human nature and it's application in society.



Advertising (Talent)
   The character is skilled in designing media copy to sell people things they didn't need.  If this wasn't a dark enough it's also very useful for selling people leaders and policies nobody in their right mind would ever want.

Anthropology (Psychology)
   This skill represents the study of other cultures on a broad academic scale.

Archeology (Willpower)
   The character is experienced in excavating and analysing the ruins of ancient cultures.

Criminology (Perception)
   This skill is used to solve crimes by means of deduction and forensic science.

Economics (Logic)
   The character has studied the mathematical representation of economic activity and is able to make useful predictions on their course.  Which is to say that the character is basically a soothsayer making a living on predictions of doom or demagogue advancing their own politics.

Embezzlement (Accounting)
   This skill is used to get away with transferring money from legitimate economic endeavours where-in the character has a position of trust, into their  own pocket.

Politics (Willpower)
   This skill is like Lying but without the need for plausibility or reasoning.

Psychology (Perception)
   The character has studied the workings of the human mind with an aim of helping those who didn't know they needed it.

Strategy (Talent)
   This skill is used to formulate effective methods of overcoming opponents on the battlefield.  It can also be used against business rivals to a lesser extent, just don't start mounting their heads on pikes outside of your office.



TECHNICAL
   These skills are used to operate, build, and repair devices.

Architecture (Drafting)
   The character is skilled in designing large stationary structures.  One odd effect of this skill is that at higher levels the buildings designed generally get less and less functional and look weirder.

Ballistic Gunnery (Reflexes)
   The character is skilled in operating heavy projectile weapons mounted on vehicles and fortifications.

Communicators (Logic)
   This skill allows the character to operate advanced communicators as well as translation and encryption software.

Computers (Logic)
   Any character from an advanced society can operate a computer to do a variety of tasks relating to their other skills.

Computer Programming (Computers)
   This skill is used to program computers and hack into their software.

Construction (Strength)
   The character is skilled in building large stationary structures and translating the scrawlings of the madmen who designed them.

Demolitions (Willpower)
   This skill is used to blow stuff up using explosives.

Drafting (Willpower)
   The character is skilled in producing detailed technical drawings and plans.

Energy Gunnery (Logic)
   The character is skilled in operating heavy energy weapons mounted on vehicles and fortifications.

Forward Observer (Sensors)
   This skill is used to provide accurate coordinates for indirect and orbital weapons fire.

Intrusion (Coordination)
   The character is skilled at breaking into buildings without setting off alarms or being caught on camera.

Machinist (Computers)
   This skill is used to fabricate parts from raw materials.

Missile Gunnery (Reflexes)
   This skill is used to fire and guide missiles and remote controlled vehicles.

Sensors (Computers)
   The character is skilled in operating a wide variety of advanced scanners and detection devices.

Survey (Mathematics)
   The character is skilled in measuring and mapping terrain for technical purposes.

System Engineer (Appropriate Physics)
   This group of skills is used to design specific types of devices.  For most devices the "Appropriate Physics" skill is Newtonian Physics, however faster than light drives and teleporters are based on Quantum Physics.  Similarly force fields and nuclear reactors are based on Atomic Physics.

System Technician (Knowledge)
   This group of skills is used to repair and maintain specific types of devices.

Systems
   The following systems are available in any setting, force-fields, anti-gravity, artificial gravity and other hypothetical
technologies can only be learned in settings where such technology exists.

Anti-Gravity*
Airframes
Ballistic Weapons
Computers
Energy Weapons
Faster Than Light Drives*
Force Fields*
Jets
Life Support
Power Plants
Reactors
Rockets
Sensors
Suspensions
Teleporters*

* if available