The Grand Tapestry

The PCs are back to the Marnharnnan 'Megadungeon', a subterranean emergency colony of the Ancients. In the past, an endless stream of Runners (fast zombies) would emerge from a tunnel into the initial site, but since the Orthodox Wodic priests have been brought on site, that problem has been brought under better control.

After escaping from the underground complex (and losing three personnel), the PCs and their squads returned home to Xudorn. Plans were set into motion to cordon-off the doors and set up a fort around the entrance. Forty tower-sites from the Ancient base to Xudorn are in varying degrees of scouting and building, to be used as a network of Aldis Lamp signals. Zeppelin-platform craft are in the works to be used as both aircraft carriers, as well as bombers. The first true aeroplanes are in production, leaving the ornithopters to be used as training and scout craft.

War with the Vrun Colonies has primarily consisted of a winter offensive of guerilla warfare, with Fort Greenpennant starting its own 'Hardpoint' cantons/mini-forts, and saboteurs introducing a blight to Xudorn's hydroponics lab. The Black Crown has shared the forging process of the Bright Metal, in exchange for a leg-up on Zeppelin technology. The local tribe of Abbekqorru have been fully integrated into Xudorn, and a ship load of Durn have immigrated to her shore as well.

It is now Midsummer, NC 548, 16 months (one year) from Xudorn's founding, and the population now stands at 2,500+ (including the Abbekqorru). A Guild Council crime syndicate active in Xudorn from its inception has either been killed in a large gun battle which destroyed a storage depot, or were apprehended, interrogated, and executed by firing squad.

The Church of St. Rel has swollen to the hundreds, with the initial adherents receiving activation of their Vrun Imperial Bloodline powers (Immortals, Dream Navigators, Emitters, Psychic Healers, Revivifists, Power Emulators, and Machine Heads). The 50 count coin, minted in the Bright Metal, depicts St. Rel on the face, and the Lady's Tower on the obverse.

The Centre for Positive Development is the Church's technological branch, and using empowered Creative Visualisation, is using devotions to engineer a series of minor changes in potential future outcomes, bridging them into a unified reality stream that permits tiny Xudorn to remain a free and independent nation, neither yoked again to Vrun, nor beholden to the Black Crown. Dream Navigators, working in conjunction with Data Specialists are restoring damaged or missing pages from technical manuals.

Descent into the Ancient architecture's lower level turned out, in fact, to be the highest floor of a tower which had snapped off, and plunged top-first into the karst topography of the area, while the rest of the tower had its foundation buckle under liquefaction. This all suggested a seismic event in the dim past had been the culprit, but I'm not telling.

Opening the 'hatch to the roof', now in the floor of the lowest level, caused Raylyss and Osyl to be sucked down into the grotto beneath them.

While that was transpiring, NPC'd Zalder was teaching Syl (the eldest of the three girls) some basic swordplay toward making her more capable of helping in the defence of her younger siblings.

Also at the same time, Phlavius was battling a Half-Abbekqorru Bone Shaman, winning the melee against his foe, and ultimately discorporating his Shadowform, and collecting the thing's Shadow Bloodstone.

Raylyss found a device that Osyl was guided to by Lady Arctise, and he brought it up to a watery outcropping. Phlavius and Osyl then each began pumping in a steady supply of their respective Elemental Blood/DP. While that was occurring, Raylyss noticed a sound coming from the trunk containing the two large eggs. He witnessed the creature's attempts to break the now leathery shell, and decided to pump four DP into the chick.

I had four days transpire as he motionlessly crouched over the egg and aligned the 'chick' to himself. During this time, both Fire and Frost still heeded their Elemental Leader's and pumped in a total of 120 DP. This device was some sort of Elemental-tech Cooling/Heating engine, and their cyclical generation of hot and cold air created over this period, with them outside in the storm for the better part of those four days. When they had reached that point, they disengaged and the F6 tornado within the eye of the Cat 5 land-generated hurricane, sucked the engine up into storm and began moving away to the NW -- where both the Vrun army had marched, as well as the lay of Qajwl's (the Monstrous Being) lair.

The party had eaten and slept, and then they explored nearby ruins partly uncovered in the aftermath. A long, linear mall was explored and found to have been pretty well looted, but there were plenty of black-slime zombies (shamblers) and neo-zombies (runners) to deal with. To their initial surprise, robotic gunners were apparently charged with Anti-Z duty, entirely ignoring the PCs and the girls.
--A tall, slender, pale creature (Aelbaan) was chased out into the access corridor behind the shops and doubled-back on swift Phlavius before contacting his/her? people and beaming out of there before their eyes.

The PCs were eventually led to the Supervisors, Ancient Sleepers who were awakened in shifts, and had been operating in this fashion as a closed society, largely unaware of the outside world. These folk were surprisingly tolerant of the Aberrants, and a group of Bioscience personnel and three Athletics & Recreation Instructors or Survival Trainers joined the party in exploring the surface.

A find: Bent metal door impervious to virtually anything (many points of Void damage only caused monofractures at the molecular level). That night the entire group dreams of an Ancient or Imperial shuttle pilot's struggle to safely land the vehicle, and its subsequent crash.
--They agreed to investigate further and found it smashed like an accordion. Much Elemental shenanigans transpired in the destruction of one of the Water Nodes in the Grinder, causing a geyser that helped loosen the craft from its earthen casement. Nothing much useful was stripped, but a nice vane on an intake was very crudely fashioned into a buckler of sorts.

The group then was attacked by shadowy half-Abbekqorru and/or anthropomorphised Shadow Wolves. Osyl's revolver (3d6 x 3 damage) again proved itself deadly nearly each shot, especially on the happy head-shot. One creature was felled by her triple-strength Void Blast, and its discorporation was then seemingly caught in a micro-singularity, and quickly began to draw-in local particulate matter and grow into a dirty snowball spinning and hovering in the moist air.
--An explosion caught the gun-crew from the Sleeper Arcology and lightly damaged a PC or two. Making their way up the plateau, the party saw a fully Shadow-fied Qajwl killing Vrun troops. As each one died, a screaming face was added to a black, totemic pole erected in the centre of the ring.

We held it there.

:: Painting costs 3 shots
:: Rotary/Long costs 2
:: Pulse costs 1 shots

KVadrXveim ('Artifice - Specialist - LASER')
* Type: Multi-Frequency Multi-Beam Painting LASER Rifle
* Effect: Explosive/Heat 5d6x5 Painted; Explosive/Heat 3d6x5 Rotary-only; Explosive/Heat 2d8x5 Pulsed
* Range: 2,000 Yards Optimal Terrestrial Environment; 200 Yards Realistic
* Ammo.: 10-shot (5d6 Shot-Life, ea.) Cyclode with 10-Round recharge-rate (1/Round offline)
* Weight: 10 Lbs.
* Frequency: R

:: Following the development of the low-power energetics project to a fieldable weapon system, designers sought to replicate the light and elegant found Grand Ancient beam weapons in a contemporary manner. The Xveim is the result of that broad period of global development, and stands not as an individual weapon, but a host of national and factional standards and their hoards of sub-variants and mission-specialised versions. Resembling the basic pattern of the KMH rifles, their ergonomics proved intuitive for anyone familiar with the KMH class of arms, and they are able to work the essential controls, including eject/load new cylinder and basic diagnostics. This purposeful move insured a swift adoption of this class of weapon, and furthered the depth and breadth of the global human arsenal.
:: Painting comes from putting multiple laser beams onto the same point on a surface. The early rifles were not painters, nor pulsers, but 'long beamers' of a single frequency. This proved inefficient, and the projects around the world were stymied. Groups of dispersed civilians solved the problem through a variety of solutions, one of which is the 'Rainbow Painter' which sets multiple and diverse single frequency laser beams on a spinning cylinder mounted on a track manually positioned by the firer to overlap in one spot on their target, and then powering-up to full intensity and fire all of the beams in unison, or pulses of the same multi-chromatic energy frequency. LASER wounds are explosive internal steam catastrophes, and not the simple tiny hole drilled through one's body-scenario often imagined.


KVadrXveimum ('Artifice - Specialist - LASER Pistol')
* Type: Multi-Frequency Multi-Beam Painting LASER Pistol
* Effect: Explosive/Heat 3d6x5 Painted; Explosive/Heat 1d10x5 Long-beam; Explosive/Heat 1d8x5 Pulsed
* Range: 1,000 Yards Optimal Terrestrial Environment; 100 Yards Realistic Outdoor Dry Maximum
* Ammo.: 15-shot (4d6 Shot-Life, ea.) Cyclode with 03-Round recharge-rate (5/Round offline)
* Weight: 7 Lbs.
* Frequency: S

:: The pistol version of the painting LASER is a sonar/radar-ranging auto-painter, although the rotary feature is absent, and the number of frequencies is reduced to three (low-mid-high) beams. Their wounds tend to blister and disrupt unevenly due to the trinary beam pairing two frequencies with wave overlap.
:: The higher fire to recharge ratio was a primary goal in the development of this class of weapons, and as a result, the shot-lifetime of each cylinder is lower. Subsequently, only officers and independent specialists tended to be issued these sidearms. Rifle and Pistol cyclode cylinders are not usually interchangeable, although some examples of field conversions and prototype adapter units exist.

Weapons of the Ancients-

KVadrXtsayukd ('Artifice - Specialist - Low-power Particle Gun')
* Type: Low-energy Particle Beam
* Effect: Lethal 3d6x10, Fire/Heat 2d10x2 10'x20x10' VoE behind target
* Range: 0-85 Yards at Full Effect, 86-267 Yards at Half Effect/VoE
* Ammo.: 15-shot Cyclode with 5-Round recharge-rate (3/Round offline)
* Weight: 18 Lbs.
* Frequency: T

:: A 48" hard-chromed cylinder connected by a single large cable to a hip or backpack mounted cyclode generator. The generator is fuelled by Eiadu (Aether-infused clay) vapour mixed with purified antimony, tin, and other metals. This mixture comes in a slender cylinder roughly 7" in length, and each contains enough breeder material to donate one shot's-worth of matter for the cyclode. There are fifteen such cylinders in a hip-mounted cyclode.
:: When a shot is available and fired, a quantum-plasma of neutrons is created as the relatively dense matter sheds its electrons and protons within the target. The effect is essentially the same as large-calibre ballistic damage, minus the entry and exit wounds, and carries a fair amount of imparted physical impact at the reaction site/wound-path. Figures nearby a target will suffer flash effects from the flare-up of light particles, and this can easily affect electronics in the 2,000 cubic feet Volume of Effect behind the target.
:: Backpack mounted cyclodes have twice the number of shots, and can fire a quick follow-up shot at +2d6 (Lethal 5d6x10, Fire/Heat 2d10+2d6x2), but this also adds 15 Lbs. to the weight. Generally, anyone armed with this weapon had only a knife and sidearm with them due to the weight and bulk of this unit.

* Hip: 15 shot battery, regenerating 3-shots per Round of inactivity (for a full recharge in 5 Rounds of inactivity).

* Backpack: Twice the number (30) & 6-Shot regen. per Round of inactivity (still 5-Rounds for full recharge).

:: Each cylinder has a 10d6-shot-lifetime.

The grenade-rifle-

KMerThayk ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Throwing Device')
* Type: Grenade Rifle
* Effect: Varies by Grenade-type, but grants a +01 Combat Bonus to use
* Range: 675 Yards on level ground
* Ammo.: 25-Stick, 72-Drum
* Weight: 3 Lbs.
* Frequency: K

:: This stand-alone weapon duplicates the capabilities of under-barrel grenade-launcher systems common to the Yaeshani ranks of the Far East, but is set into a stout and utilitarian wood or synthetic stock-set, making a rifle-length grenade-launcher of incredible utility and precision both in Direct and Indirect (arced) Fire modes.
:: It is a magazine- (stick or drum) fed system with an additional single-feed port for spur-of-the-moment opportunity shots with a particular grenade type not loaded into the magazine. Some heavy Arctic versions found are dual- or multi-feed magazine systems and are built for sustained rapid-fire in -120*F weather. Those particular weapons were found smashed or slashed open.
:: Skilled Grenadiers were the bane of enemy units, and were a frequent high-priority target, which necessitated of the Grenadier to quickly adopt the best scout tactics and skills. Heavy Urban units consisted of an equal mix of Grenadiers to Riflemen, so effective their support capability compounded by their precision as a primary shooting unit.

KXem|K| ('Artifice - Portable Computer - Mechanical')
* Type: Hardened Mechanical (non-digital) Processing Unit
* Strength: H (81%)
* Power Requirement: 0 -- Accessories may require Power
* Weight: 22 Lbs.
* Frequency: D

:: A wonder of PicoEngineering, this entirely mechanical computer is capable of any equivalent digital-electronic computer programme, but is entirely hardened against electromagnetic burst attacks which would otherwise neutralise their circuits. Interface cables to powered peripheral devices require powered adaptors, each adding weight to the setup.
:: Ultra-thin metalloid plates Pico-Etched and magneto-scribed with hard-coded analogue processes allow the computer's configuration to be changed or upgraded with a minimum of effort, although upkeep and maintenance are more specialised.
:: When paired with a KSkermAm (Radio), its memory can be written to and accessed by the Xem|K|, even altering the computer's command plates programmes. When plates/units are found in the field, the most frequent data discovered is Operational and Map Data, with battle recordings a close third. Each region exhibits different keyboard and function key layouts, as well as particular variations ranging from brightness of electroluminescent backlighting to Interface Standards (making them incompatible with foreign Standards).

I am beginning to run low on standard hard-tech examples of Ancient technology without simply enhancing stuff we have in our present toolbox, while still preserving them in a 'useful to Player Characters' context.
--Unless I receive requests for specific types of gear, this is likely to be among the last of the HardTech doohickeys I'll present.

That said, here is the super-radio:

Gear of the Ancients-

KSkermAm ('Artifice - Radio - Portable')
* Type: High-power VLF Pulsed Laser-Phasic Radio Communications System
* Range: Line of Sight and over Horizon
* Power Requirement: 01 Unit per transmission to maximum range, less at shorter distances
* Weight: 4-6 Lbs.
* Frequency: M

:: Due to its Very Low Frequency waves and its pulsed nature, the carrier wave is capable of excellent transmission (wave propagation) over bodies of sea, brackish, and fresh water, while drier earth and dense jungles reduce the range to roughly 8.1 miles (at which point the curvature of Urutsk prevents LoS). However in such unfavourable terrain, other factors, such as the extensive and pervasive ionisation of the atmosphere can begin to degrade propagation as early as 4-6 miles.
:: While near instantaneous, there is a discernible delay at extreme ranges, such as from sea to sea transmissions which travel beyond the horizon. The data is compressed, with a multithread factor of 10, and on military models can utilise a ternary/trinary-qubit rough-equivalent of 16,384-bit encryption. Storage memory on most common models exceeds 100 Terabytes.

Armour of the Ancients-

KMerYulx ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Vest')
* Type: Battle Vest
* Class: Medium/+2/-
* Protection: 2d6x3 Torso (Abdomen [L5] and Chest [L6] only)
* Power: n/a
* Weight: 2 Lbs.
* Frequency: H

:: A bioglass/polycarbonate articulated shell, its main distinguishing factor is that of customisable/configurable integrated load-bearing 'webbing' (e.g., a place to put helicoils, combat blade, sidearm holster, hydration pack, etc.)
:: Cannot be worn over anything heavier than KMerM(A-Y)l (E-Sheath).


KMerAuhd ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Heavy Infantry')
* Type: Battlesuit
* Class: Heavy/+3/+4 v. Physical AoE CT (see)
* Protection: +3d6x3
* Power: 15/Hour + 45 Emergency
* Weight: 20 Lbs.
* Frequency: R

:: A metalloid-foam-enhanced bioglass/polycarbonate battlesuit capable of 10 weeks of sealed operation (submarine or vacuum) without maintenance or re-supply thanks to several mycelial and lichen cultures operating throughout the structure of the armour. These cultures not only process wastes (gaseous, liquid, and solid) but produce food and breathable air for the occupant, although air quality does begin to degrade toward the end of the tenth week, and the derived food leaves much to be desired by most palates' standards. Like the KMerSmou, myomer and mycelial systems produce electrochemical power available for internal systems as well as external gear demands.
:: In addition to the above features, suits of this sort have mounts for mission-specific ancillary systems, such as automated targeting acquisition units, EVA manoeuvring jets, or the far more frequent jumpjet packs. The wearer's functional strength is also increased by 20% (i.e., the wearer's Body score is increased by roughly +2).
:: These battlesuits were the pinnacle of 'hard-tech' personal military gear for over a century, although refinements and variants are found throughout that period, as well as ethnocentric design specifics that easily distinguish one example from another. Specifically, units of this sort found throughout Yaeshan almost invariably evoke mythic warrior and monstrous qualities, while those of polar climatic origin tend toward baroque elegance, incorporating Black Metal-suffused Auric ('Dark Gold') details.


KSvardXudem ('Artifice - Specialist - Armoured Power Frame')
* Type: Armoured Power Frame
* Class: Vehicular/+2/+2 v. Physical AoE CT (+)
* Protection: +4d6x5
* Power: 100/Hour (x5 if stationary)
* Speed: 30-35 MPH (290'/Round)
* Weight: 1500 Lbs.
* Frequency: Z

:: This is a vaguely humanoid vehicle with squat, heavy, near-pyramidal legs which, while articulable, are motivated primarily by knobby treads. Its arms are based upon hydro-pneumatic actuators enhanced with bundles of myomer fibres within laminated metalloid casing. The torso is the control servo and accommodates the operator in a seated position with the limbs operating the arm and leg actuators in real-time. These units are generally 'open-air' with clear polycarbonate screens, as the fumes of both fuels are toxic in high concentrations.
:: Powered by five dual-stage engines (the fifth articulates the torso servo) operating simultaneously off a form of Vetiver-like biodiesel, and vehicle-grade Polymethylhexanol pellets injected by a regulator system tied into the parallel exertion-ramp controllers of the actuators. This system determines whether the biodiesel vapour combustion will provide enough power to the actuators, or if the injection of a PMH pellet is necessary for additional stroke compression. The arm strength (each) is in excess of 1,000 Lbs. making melee strikes roughly x10 damage.
:: When found as an artefact in the field, it will be unpowered (both the biodiesel and PMH will have degenerated into respective sludges). However, restored units may be found in the possession of political entities ranging from metropolitan militias to national armies. Biodiesel will then be the primary fuel, with any intact PMH reserves kept for only the most important unit-operator ranks (generally elite heavy infantry, or mechanised cavalry). The Power value listed may be used to operate other devices/systems, such as search lights, radios, and weapons.

Armour of the Ancients-

'Class': The first value (Light, Medium, Heavy) is to determine proficiency. The second value is the bonus to Defence (for DAC users, simply apply this as a minus from 8 or 10, or whatever your rules set uses as the base, although GMs may wish to multiply the value by 2). The last value is a modifier to Critical Tests (Saving Throws) of an Area of Effect nature, including fireballs, dragons breath, etc.


KMerMoul ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Field Suit')
* Type: Camouflaged, Insulated, Water-proof Jumpsuit and retractable hood
* Class: -/+0/+1 v. Physical AoE CT
* Protection: see
* Power: n/a
* Weight: 1 Lb.
* Frequency: B

:: Just as stated, this is the most ubiquitous piece of military protective gear precisely because it offers so little additional benefit, beyond its insulated water-proof capability.
:: With the hood pulled over the head, the wearer not only receives the +1 on Physical (including Bio/Chem) Area of Effect Critical Tests, but reduces any damage sustained in such an Effect by 1d6 points.


KMerM(A-Y)l ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Environmental Suit')
* Type: Camouflaged, Self-sealing Protective Suit
* Class: Light/+1/+3 v. Physical AoE CT
* Protection: 2d6
* Power: n/a
* Weight: 2 Lb.
* Frequency: K

:: This type of protective gear was commonly referred to as 'E-Sheath', and once developed, became the standard under-armour and un-armoured covert operations suit for decades.
:: It is an extension of the previous Moul-type suit, but of a much more sophisticated weave and material which clings to the wearer's skin via an chemo-electrostatic field generated by the occupant. This degree of form-fitting insulation is further augmented by an inner layer of mycelial (fungal) cells that process the wearer's waste products and provide remarkable protection given its light weight.
:: With the hood pulled over the head, the wearer not only receives the +3 on Physical (including Bio/Chem) Area of Effect Critical Tests, but reduces any damage sustained in such an Effect by +1d6 (a total of 3d6) points.


KMerSmou ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Scout Suit')
* Type: Camouflaged, Self-sealing Protective Suit
* Class: Medium/+2/+3 v. Physical AoE CT
* Protection: 2d6x2
* Power: 10/Hour
* Weight: 5 Lb.
* Frequency: L

:: Composed of a thin (.67") bioglass-polycarbonate laminate, this chitin-inspired suit type offers significant protection at minimal weight. More impressive, however, is its faculty to convert a fraction of the wearer's movement and store it in a special myomer layer as electro-chemical energy, off of which its internal processes (air and water filtration and circulation [including stored air-supply], temperature regulation [+/- 30*F], integral sensors and Heads Up Display [HUD], camouflage circuitry, and data/gear/weapons port power) operate.
:: Archaeological evidence suggests that this style of suit was used almost exclusively by the Ancients who dwelt upon the Marnharnnan continent, as caches and battlefield finds are most ubiquitous there, with very little in the way of variation over decades if not centuries, although identical suits have been found on virtually all other landmasses in the same configurations, especially in the dense Lhoman jungle expanse (in great numbers, along with specific makes of KMH and KMSV weapons). Similar suit types are apparent in other regions, but none exhibit all of the above listed features, and many were tailored to meet specific environmental applications (cold weather and low pressure atmosphere, amphibian mode, urban, etc.).
:: This suit is worn over the E-Sheath, and is factored in with its protection. Without the E-Sheath, the v. AoE effect is reduced by 2.

Weapons of the Ancients-

* Additional ammunition types for the KMH (Carbine/Rifle, and Sidearm) weapons:

Skey' ('Anti-personnel')
* Type: KMH Ammunition
* Effect: Piercing 2d6x5 DP in a (Range * 0.2 sq. Feet) Area of Effect
* Range: roughly 750 Yards
* Frequency: N

:: This ammunition type is composed of a 'hive' containing roughly 20 individual flechettes, each of which produces the above listed damage. Everyone within the Area of Effect is susceptible to a strike, up to and including 30 potential targets, due to over-penetration of the flechettes: Attempt an Experience (Petrification) Critical Test for 1/2-damage.
:: Considering the above deals only with a single round fired, burst and full-auto fire earns the ammunition type its literal translation ('Subtle Artifice for Breath Termination').


Ehlx ('Electrified')
* Type: KMH Ammunition
* Effect: Blunt 1d6x5 DP + Electrical 3d6x5 Stun; Health CT for half-Stun
* Range: roughly 250 Yards
* Frequency: Q

:: Essentially a pre-charged micro-capacitor, this type of ammunition has less than half standard range due to its shape and mass, yet its powered state delivers a significant electrical jolt proven effective in less-than-lethal operations where the target is to be captured intact.


SokAqmlk ('Dosed')
* Type: KMH Ammunition
* Effect: 1d6x5 + Health CT v. Condition One
* Range: roughly 350 Yards
* Frequency: S

:: Depending upon the content, this sort of ammunition can be used to deliver a chemical/biological agent into its target's system, provided armour penetration.
:: The Referee is encouraged to concoct all manner of dose-loads, ranging from Tranquillisers to Toxins to BioWeapons. Antidotes or cures would be helpful, but by no means necessary.

Weapons of the Ancients-

KMerXhob ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Monoblade sidearm')
* Type: Power-assisted Monoblade
* Effect: Edged 2d6x5 DP (2d6x10 if a Charge is used)
* Reach: Medium Melee
* Power: 2d20 Charges per Power Cell
* Weight: 2 Lbs.
* Frequency: J

:: A 30" cultured monomolecular wedge of bio-glass composed of pearl and spider-silk, permeated with a bacterial laminate acting as both the substrate and outer coating of the wedge, and which maintains the fidelity of the single-molecule edge. It is translucent in varying degrees, but has multiple iridescent patches throughout the wedge.
:: This wedge is only sharp at the finest edge, and is mounted via three clamps, to the housing of the power-assist handle. It is this unit which uses electromagnets and high-tension springs to retract the blade in preparation for a strike. The stored mechanical energy in the springs launch the chisel-like blade into the target area at great velocity, but stops in its normal position for a follow-up non-powered strike.
:: With or without the power-assist, this is a deadly weapon: any strike against a limb or the head results in a Sever result if the damage past armour is equal to the figure's (Condition 3) value or greater.


KMerHiaysk ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Ballistic sidearm')
* Type: Assault Pistol
* Effect: Standard Ammunition: Lethal 1d6x10 DP
* Range: roughly 500 Yards
* Ammo.: 40/88/128
* Weight: 2 Lbs.
* Frequency: M

:: Like most other projectile weapons of the 'Kinetic Era' in the Ancient past, the assault pistols of this period are of a bullpup design, with the ammunition and action placed behind the pistol grip of the weapon, and are supplied by a helicoil magazine of varying size based upon capacity. Many were built to fire rifle-calibre projectiles, and these accept carbine/rifle magazines.
:: Accessory rails and power ports are generally a few iterations removed from their contemporaries' developments in longarms, but near the mid-point of this period, most pistols sported the same military specifications and were built to the same exacting standards. As such, many enlisted personnel would purchase these sidearms through the Corps Distribution markets, while ranks of [Lt.] or higher were issued these at their option.


KMerEkhl ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Electrified Striker')
* Type: Powered Compliance Baton
* Effect: Electrical Stun 5-15, by setting; Compliance v. Control CT (5 + Effect)
* Reach: Small Melee
* Power: 5d20 Charges per Power Cell
* Weight: 1 Lb.
* Frequency: P

:: This is a variable current electrified prod used in gaining physical compliance in times of Civil Unrest, or in the processing and transport of prisoners of war. Its Effect is applied against Alertness and when appropriate, whether or not compliant at that point, the individual goes unconscious.
:: This item is standard issue to all [Sgt.] during times of war or overseas deployment.

Weapons of the Ancients-

KMerThmix ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Thrown Device')
* Type: Ultralow-frequency High-dissipation Explosive
* Effect: Lethal 2d6x10 DP in a 30' Radius
* Range: Rigged, Thrown or Launched 675 Yards
* Weight: 1 Lbs.
* Frequency: P

:: These devices create a powerful Ultra-low frequency sound burst as the primary mechanism of wounding, and any shrapnel from the item's destruction is coincidental and already factored in to the Effect.
:: Due to the nature of these waves, their destructive power quickly dissipates in Urutsk's thin atmosphere, while they travel extraordinarily well through denser media, such as stone, water, and earth. This advantage is employed in a localised collateral damage strike, such as demolishing a reinforced door, overturning/destroying cover, and in eliminating clusters of adversaries.
:: The phantasmal images of the Ancients show some Grenadiers so proficient with the time-settings of this class of grenades, as to clear entire rooms with a thrown handful of the 1" diameter, 4" long cylinders. Launched and ricochetted off of multiple surfaces, these same Grenadiers could reach otherwise inaccessible foes. Demolitions Specialists also appeared to appreciate the versatility of these devices.


KMerThmixAi ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Thrown Device - Fireball')
* Type: Fuel-air Grenade
* Effect: Fire 2d6x10 DP in a 60' Radius
* Range: Rigged, Thrown or Launched 675 Yards
* Weight: 0.5 Lbs.
* Frequency: R

:: This class of weapon is primarily utilised to inflict maximum casualties with a minimum of (initial) structural damage. It is a morale-testing weapon design, and soon necessitated the use of fully sealed Environmental Armour, and later, the E-sheath lightweight suit.
:: The fireball fills a volume of over [900 thousand] cubic Feet.


KMerThmixEi ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Thrown Device - Electrical burst')
* Type: Conductive aerosol Electrical/Low Power Plasma Grenade
* Effect: Electrical 3d6 DP in a 60' Radius + Fire/Heat 6d6 in a 45' Radius
* Range: Rigged or Thrown
* Weight: 2 Lbs.
* Frequency: X

:: A gallon-sized, cubic solid with one upper corner acting as a throwing handle. This weapon, when armed, produces a strong chemical adhesive and diamagnetic alignment of all six faces so as to adhere to virtually any machine, from Armoured Assault Frame to Strider Galleon, delivering its powerful electro-phazic effect. Its intended purpose was to destroy or disable any but the most hardened vehicle or fortification.
:: A much rarer, squat cylindrical version has been noted which has the same values, but rolls d12s instead of d6s, and three times (3x) the Radius, weighing 4.5 Lbs. This version must be fastened by its base, and has actual ferromagnetic material as the constituent of its casing which becomes electrified upon priming. This dates the period to roughly 5k years before the Early Autumn Era.

JDJarvis wrote: "cool, gyrojets are always a fun and funky sci-fi weapon. They also beg for specialized ammo with payloads one isn't likely to see in a conventional firearm."

KMSV Ammunition and Payloads-

Isahey' ('Writhing - Speciality load - Anti-personnel')
* Type: Hydrokinetic Penetrator /Shaped Explosive
* Effect: Lethal 3d6x5 DP + Explosive 1d6x20 15' Radius
* Range: roughly 2,000 Yards
* Frequency: T

:: The term writhing is derived from the in-flight motion of the elastic, fluid-filled payload, once released from the gyrojet sabot. The properties of the combination of the elastic casing and the hydrokinetic fluid contained within increases the round's ability to penetrate light vehicular armour, as well as the heavier powered augmentation suits employed during this and later eras.
:: Once the elastic casing yields to impact stress or is shredded passing through a hard surface, a micro-fuze detonates two half-cylinder incendiary shaped charges, affecting personnel in much the same way as White Phosphorus munitions: a spinning shower of white-hot non-soluble fragments easily burning completely through human tissue and bone.
:: If a target is stuck within 1,000 yards, only the initial Effect is delivered, and the ordinance neutralised.


Tanheles ('Gliding Observer')
* Type: Robotic Surveillance Drone
* Effect: Intel 3d6+3 in a 180* arc out to 1 mile for 1 Turn (10 minutes)
* Range: roughly 3.5 Acres directed glide area, 6,000 feet altitude
* Frequency: V

:: Once launched (usually at a 45* angle), the remotely controlled drone can terminate the gyrojet sabot at any point past 25 Yards and begin assisted gliding at the designated altitude for use in real-time audio-visual and other sensor data transmission.
:: The ease with which these recon drones could be used later created a need for selective disruption of the enemy's drones while not affecting 'friendly' units in the same theatre, but those anti-recon drones have an X frequency, as they came late in the era.
:: Non-hostile uses included the recognition of fallen troopers 'IDSigs', as well as GPS-marking no-artillery zones which were fed-back to the automated guns to help prevent friendly-fire incidents.


Tsiumhx ('Aerial Insertion Mine')
* Type: Indirect-fire Anti-personnel Mine
* Effect: Explosive 2d6x10 10' Radius
* Range: roughly 800 Yards
* Frequency: S

:: More common than many other speciality munitions for the long-range rifles, these were employed in area-denial operations, such as covering tactical retreats as well as channelling the enemy into unfavourable terrain.
:: Once fired (usually 45* angle) the parabolic arc carries the insertion unit three-quarters of the way before the sabot is discarded and the projectile penetrates soft ground cover. On hard surfaces, most units are destroyed rather than leaving intact mines. Some nations or factions did produce hard-surface versions with limited degree of success, but most groups instead utilised grenade launchers with purpose-built ordinance.
:: Colour-coded with alternating bands of black and red on a green body, these ordinance are noticeably heavier than virtually all other gyrojet munitions.

Thank you for the Reactions feedback.

KMerShiamVadr ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Long-range - Specialist rifle')
* Type: Precision Rifle
* Effect: Lethal 3d6x10 DP
* Range: roughly 2,800 Yards
* Ammo.: 01 (bolt-action)
* Weight: 6 Lbs. without optics

Many variations of these weapons exist, but all are long, heavy-barrelled sharp-shooter weapons utilised by highly trained and esteemed specialist troopers supported by a spotter and a guard to monitor the safety of the shooter/spotter team.
:: These weapons use larger and heavier projectiles of a gyrojet discarding sabot nature to accelerate the projectile over 3,000 fps. However, the necessary burn-time of the rocket makes this weapon less than effecient at ranges under 500 Yards, doing one-half rolled damage. At intended ranges, these weapons were employed in an anti-materiel and anti-officer ('sniper') role.
:: The optics for these weapons varied significantly, from small multi-laser bank 'painter' arrays, to large analogue high-fidelity scopes in the 2.8x48mm objective lens range, complete with UV filtration and glare polarising screens.

:: These items are scaled to Metamorphosis Alpha/Gamma World/Mutant Future:

I will wait to gauge reactions/input before proceeding with additional offerings.

Weapons of the Ancients-

KMerHiayt ('Artifice - Standard Issue - Ballistic Hypersonic')
* Type: Carbine/Rifle
* Effect: Lethal 2d6x5 DP
* Range: roughly 1,000 Yards
* Ammo.: 50/100/300/case-fed
* Weight: 3 to 5 Lbs.

Many nations and honour-allegiances fielded variations on these weapons, each with slightly different mechanisms, ammunition(s), performance values, and specific applications, ranging from short-barrelled commando versions to long, heavy-barrelled sharp-shooter weapons.

:: For those that prefer more detail:

Of these, different eras within the same basic 'family' line demonstrate the Ancients concern for ever changing applications and an apparent desire for the 'ultimate' version of each such, as there are so many different sorts found in caches and the like. Most were caseless designs with independent propellant charges that could be 'hotshotted' by doubling-up the spheres of highly compressed chemical filaments. Ignition was generally through the use of a simple mechanical trigger advancing a diamagnetic ring/sleeve around the propellant chamber of the barrel which caused the bonds of the propellent sphere to loosen, explosively expand, and force air under great pressure against the projectile, launching it down the length of the barrel and along its trajectory.
:: In general the ammunition is a small synthetic or metalloid projectile so aerodynamic in design so as to exhibit virtually flat ballistics out to the maximum range, whereupon friction with the atmosphere results in the destruction of the projectile. The velocity of these projectiles varies with make and model, propellant charge, and projectile design and composition, but averaged over 4,000 fps (feet per second).
:: Although the velocity certainly accounts for most of the deleterious effect upon its target, the projectile designs, in general, were crafted to create elastic deformation of surface tissues to roughly the mid-torso point before fragmenting into two separate wound channels, almost invariably one pitching high and exiting at near vertical angle, while the second exits slightly lower on the target than the impact plane, and demonstrating considerable yaw.
:: Hydrostatic compression is the primary 'knockdown' mechanism with a secondary effect of explosive tissue disruption throughout the wound channels (at impact through fragmentation, and the subsequent secondary channels). Blood loss is correspondingly high depending on penetration depth, cross-sectional density of tissues (whether a limb or the torso were struck, etc.), and angle of incidence. In short, if body armour is defeated, the target is likely incapacitated.

:: Referees of a particularly insidious bent may wish to occasionally confound characters with incompatibilities between weapons and ammunitions, helicoil magazines, and of course, different accessory rail, and power-port standards.

(c) 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights Reserved

Ancient Wonders, Technical Skills, and Aberrations-

What once were the commonplace tools of living and leisure for the Ancients are now considered archaeological treasures and great boons.

While both Intelligence and Wisdom must certainly play a role in determining the type of item, and diagnosing its condition, with a strong argument that high Dexterity may illuminate additional features on most purely-mechanical devices, surely experience itself is a great teacher? So far we have something like this:

• Base Percentage Chance (BPC) based upon the item's Utility (01% -- 100+%, with higher being better). Simpler, or more 'user-friendly' items are easier to activate in their intended manner than similarly complex items with lower Utility.
• +/- 5% per Modifier on Exp, Wis, Int, and Dex
• Condition modifies the Threshold: Irreperable +100, Badly Damaged +75, Minor Damage -0, Superficial Damage -05, Display Item -10, New In Box -25, NIB still in Crate -50
• Remove Traps to Disarm/Make-Safe, Diagnose Condition, and effect Repair
• Open Locks to Diagnose and Clear Correctable Malfunctions/Reset
• Technologians have the correct skill set to perform these procedures, and receive a flat +20% bonus in addition to their rolls
  
• Certain Aberrations provide specific bonuses at various stages in the Identification/Diagnosis/Repair process
  

The Referee then rolls the dice and determines whether the character has discovered how to operate the item, provided it were working properly, and had whatever power needed.

Clearly, a series of steps are necessary to take an artefact and bring it back to operational level. To speed things along, I've come up with this procedure:

1. Spend an amount of coin on diagnosis and any possible repair at a cost equal to the item's XP value. A rush job will cost at least double (1d4+1x), and subtracts 25 from the item's Utility until the first six times it is used, decreasing by 6% each time until only 1% has degraded until the minor repair is performed.
2. Spend the XP for the Armour/Weapon Proficiency or Open Locks +%s necessary to operate the item in the field
3. Pay 1/2 the XP value of the item (if discovered, it may be a 'free cost')
   

That's it. Now the figure has legally purchased full operational usage of an Ancient wonder.

In the words of Chevy Chase, "I LIKE IT!"

The sketch with preliminary characters/figures has me very excited and feeling very positive about the final product.

Peter Mullen's cityscape in the immediate background is such a great contrast the the foreground elements that it really conveys the difference between the time of the Ancients and the contemporary period.
One of the two characters I was most interested in seeing, was among the three depicted in this sketch-state. She is already showing the sort of fine detail Peter is known for that separates him from some of the old guard demigods. Simply the fall of her gathered tresses, not to mention the tome from which she is reading to the party as they observe the city --these details, so early in the project just warms my heart.

I am now gathering images to couple with succinct notes for interior illustrations.

I'll have to see if he feels comfortable drawing maps.

(c) Copyright 1998, 2000, 2006, 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights Reserved

WARGAMING URUTSK-
: Autumn Garden


I - Overview
II - Colour Logic
III - Constructive Dice Pool Basics
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IV - Unit Data
V - Squad Structure
VI - Cohort Rules (Attached Units)
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VII - Formations & Distributed Assets
VIII - Command & Control
IX - Poor Order, Disarray, & Route
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X - Terrain & Movement
XI - Darkness, Weather, & Circumstance
XII - High Energetics & Magical Effects
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XIII - Optional Complications
XIV - Roster of Forces
XV - Scenarios
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XVI - Postscript



I - Overview
II - Colour Logic
III - Constructive Dice Pool Basics
----------------------------------------

I - Overview-


Daqhtshal:Ikarentes-Yahannl
<"I am a dutiful, trained soldier: Proud First Wave Air Cavalry, a Devastator">

No, knowledge of the Vrun language is not necessary to use this rules-outline, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. In fact, you may be surprised at just how much of it you will learn through the process of reading these pages.
I took the opportunity to illustrate the manner in which Vrun structure their divisions, and the idiomatic manner in which, in this instance, the Resth Clan Confederacy name their companies.

When the Ancients, the First Parents, fell from the sky in the War in the Heavens, they brought with them a diverse range of martial traditions dating from millennia before, and millions of worlds amid the infinite Empyrean.
Because of the haphazard manner in which they tumbled to Urutsk from the great heights of the Space Beyond the Sky < Aya 'Eye-Ah' > , the variety of troops and armed units became so dispersed that individuals or detachment-sized remnants of squads and larger groups simply became associated with enclaves of other survivors.
From this jumble of civil servants, constabulary, home guard from dozens of environments, to elite and specialised warfighters, isolated societies cobbled together their individual tables of organisation, training, and deployment as Black Winter set in with its scouring celestial wind of space debris and plasma storms.

In some locales, due to the distribution of more favourable geographic features, limited surface activity was possible over the time-forgotten span of the Scourge. However, the vast majority of the scattered Imperial cantons were forced literally underground and expanded their holdings over the centuries.
It was not long before the tunnelling unearthed and awakened long dormant creatures and monstrous civilisations as recent as their own, also escaped to Urutsk. These wars, The Onyx Battle < Yuon Hakar >, never truly ended. It was only the gospel report of the Scourge's cessation that allowed Humanity to flee the Stygian depths for the sunlit world of the surface.

While certain kingdoms and other cultures did meet during that long period, few had the resources to maintain larger communities and had often kept the contact secret from their constiuents. Now upon the surface, the enclaves and empires of thirty or more generations removed cousins gradually were reunited.
The grand traditions of the Imperium made the re-integration of the disparate colonies more easily possible. Of course, there were those who desired no part of the resurrected behemoth that had created the Cataclysm, and from these 'deserters' came the first intra-Human wars.
But Fate was kind to renew the enmities with the non-Human, and in some cases, also the Allied Peoples (human-like aliens). More often than not, Human enemies were brought past their bickering and resource grabs to unite briefly against their common foes.

Through these various organic mechanisms of transmission and re-implementation, there became a great commonality to Human military endeavours that was retained as various groups spread out to seed the barren planet with animal and plant life from their long-destroyed homeworlds and others once held within the Imperium's grasp.
From the hereditary melange that had defined the Core of the Imperium ('The Sphere of Suns'), as had been recorded in myths of the long vanished past, Humanity became a species of multiple peoples. As the Human pool of bloods split and refined, specialised, and re-introduced other groups, the ethnicities of Urutsk came into being in only a few hundred years. With these divisions, martial procedures changed and were lost to time and replaced with more ideal methodologies and practical measures as suited each group's particular needs.

As the planet grew lush and green, as the rains fed the multitudes with blue and white-tipped marsh grains and fattened game animals, in many cases the non-human races began to find more ideal conditions above ground and expanded rapidly -- often out-breeding humans by several generations.
These groups usually fell upon each other as readily as upon Humans, but in some cases, great bands or more subtle confederacies were formed, and these both were a thorn in Humanity's side for much of the Mad Spring.