Some Imperial Armortech

Imperial Armortech

Armors

Type                     AC adj                  rules                              special

Vac Suit	+3	6 hours of total life support in tanks ;  Suit rupture on 1 or opposing critical.	Most come with radio, full environ controls and plugs for gear/interface.
Environmental suit, light	+2	16 hours of atmo  support/ryclcle in tanks; Suit rupture on 1 or opposing critical.	Generic survival suit for Nitrogen/Oxy Humanoids et. Al..
E-suit, armored	+5	Ruptures only on opposing crit. 6 hours operating time before recharge.	Paramilitary; often mod’ed illegally Agil penalty -1
Powered Explorer suit (Exo suit)	+6	16 hour recycling use/breathing before 1 hour rest;  perpetual battery Ruptures only on opposing crit.	Civilian ‘Scout armor’ Go-to for hostile world exploration; Agil penalty -2
Reflec ‘armor’	Does not affect armor class at all; Reflec is archaic but still in use on many low tech “Lasers are Nifty” planets.	Damage from all laser/light based attacks are reduced 4 steps on the dice chain; Shooter must make REF DC 14 save or laser rebounds in random direction.	You are a giant mirrorball that sounds like walking tinfoil.  Stealth is impossible. Armor becomes useless after the wearer takes actual damage as it has cooked off in large areas by that time.
E suit, Desert (Stillsuit)	+4	Recycles and captures moisture and most other waste products to aid survival to +2 weeks.	No Agil penalty
Aquasuit	+2	4 hour battery and atmo support life; Movement 35’ in water, 5’ without effort	Dedicated E-suit for liquid media.
Aquasuit (dense atmo rated)	+4	4 hour battery and atmo support life; Movement 30’ in water or other dense liquid medium; 45’ in normal aqua-dense conditions. Comms and plugs for gear and interface.   Wearer adds +2 to fort saves while the rebreather is active.	Dedicated E-suit for dense liquid media.  Also aids in breathing dense atmo when instructed. Agil penalty -1 out of water.

Vac suits and light E-suits recycle/reuse as much gaseous, solid, and liquid waste as possible, they are run by high efficiency interface computer that does nothing more than constantly keep the suit running as efficiently as possible to keep wearer within certain variances. (Which can be reprogrammed if desired.

Armor, Uncommon & Milispec

Type                                       AC adj                                    rules                           special

Hard light Armor	+4 to +8  generally appears as radiant glowing armor pieces overlaid over the “wearer”  some can be tuned to x ray or IR light	Armor moves with character.  Can be destroyed by targeting the GenBee  projector (AC 25 - requires ultravision or quality UV filter)	Expensive as hell. also energy intensive as hell. Nobles wear this.
Sirimet body glove	+7	Memory armor has limited ability to self repair and self maintain.   Easily worn under other armor.  Waterproof when sealed.	Standard issue for Imp intel. and certain ‘opertatives’ also those fearing murder. No Agil. penalty
Personal Shield	+12 (nobles) to +6 (rare private citizen or imperial commander)	Provides no defense whatsoever against unpowered melee weapons.   Only effective v. missile weapons, slug throwers, most energy weapons,	A small disc, worn as clothing. Noble stuff.  Expensive. The Imperium frowns on anyone really being able to shrug off blaster fire.
Ceramic Clamshell	+7 AC bonus Medium armor (+4 as partially configured, light armor)	Basic load out for deployed imperial armed forces.   Can be worn in partial configuration (light armor, weighs less)	Helmet often fitted with transmitter, tac blocs and harness allow fitting of additional d15 small items at no enc. penalty.  Can be fitted with respirator for E suit use.
Imperial Command & Control Armor “Colonel’s Chrome”	+12 AC bonus Levitate at will Non-reductive reflec properties (includes ImpTAcac)	Secure comms & storage up to 39 others; Flight up to 360’ Sealed environment for 28 hours without discomfort.	Shiny chrome, kind of a designated target; can be fitted with micro Ansible relay with authorization (which is seldom given.)
Legionnaire armor, Scout	+8	Assisted movement 40/60 Limited flight 90’ (indefinite hover; hover is silent)	Standard loadout is Forward Observation Sensor package and limited ability to communicate at short range in bursts.  Some outfitted with chameleon field
ImpTacPac (Messiah Pack)	50 hp force field when active. +6 AC v. energy weapons, slug throwers, anything guided or programmed.	Imperial Tactical Pack; ECM/master-comms generator & force field maker. Allows secure comms & info xfer with up to 12 others.	Officer loadout for hostile field landings. Standard ‘blackbox’ brick lodged deep inside when Legion issued.
Impermasuit*	+12	See below	No way you start with this.

*Impermasuits -  the ‘ultimate form of  wearable hidden protection’; Made of advanced gel APFI but as “an incredibly advanced form of personal armor that is skin tight and basically invisible” it does not restrict movement (or anything else. one can have sex in it) protecting the wearers from radiation, the weather, heat or cold attacks, poison (unless imbibed, electricity, or acid.  IT also absorbs some of the damage the wearer would receive as kinetic energy which helps it retain its charge; likely the armor is at least partially *made* of force fields; mentioned for high level gams and an idea of what Imperial science is routinely capable of. Just remember if the nobles of the core can afford it, you and your world’s GDP pro’lly can’t.   You want some exotic tech?  QUEST FOR IT!

A few more weapons

Just a few more weapons before we move onto some armor. 

Non-Imperial or non-standard/ethnic weapons

Bolt Caster	3d6 ea	8/16/28	Recoilless; 2H weapon
Polonium tipped explosive bolts for ‘	2d8 + poison (DC 18 fort save) Success an additional 2d6 Failure additional 3d6, then 2d6, then 1d6	7/15/27	Super illegal, Radioactively hot A weapon of desperation and excess
Slaver Whip	DC 20 Fort save or blisses out for 1d5+pers bonus unable to violently resist.	Melee (1H)	Not illegal but very frowned upon in Imperial space Class C weapon (Coercion)
Bait’leithe (the two handed axe-sword)	1d10	Melee (2H)	Cannot be used without proficiency  Crits as sword.

The Bolt Caster is a large handcrafted weapon that would make gongfarmers think of a crossbow.  It fires superheated liquid metallic bolts that hit their targets with tremendous force.   The ‘bolters’ make a very loud sound when they are fired.  Weapons are ideal for microG use as they are recoilless.

The slaver whip is a wicked black and green bio-construct design-grown for the control of imperial humanoids.   While the technology pre-dates the current regime, it is not in common use.  (Also of note – the slaver whip does not inflict pain.  It is a contact reliant tasp.  Being hit by one of these things is, in addition to everything else, probably embarrassing.)

The Bait’lethe is the favored weapon of several clades of imperial humanoids; the ‘blade of forgetfulness’ will help you forget things a la Madame Guillotine. 

Proscribed Weapons -only real criminal scum (just owning these in imperial space is often a death sentence)

Item                           Effect                         Dmg               range                         notes

Napalm Pistol	Fires a liquid stream of burning fuel gel.	5d6 (bare flesh) 3d6 (covered) REF save (DC 15) for half.	6/12/15 (yds.)	Continues burning 3d5 the next round, 2d4 the next, and 1d3 finally.
Paint Gun (bulky and heavy pistol for what it is.  Lots of doodads on it)	A weak beam laser pistol used to drive a jacketed particle beam.  Nasty.	1d3 (laser) + 2d5 (particle beam) + 1d4 (radiation) Note radiation damage is modified by the AC bonus provided to target by armor worn.  (a target in plate mail would roll 1d4+8 for radiation damage)	5/8/11	Fort save (DC points taken in radiation damage) to avoid developing cancer or similar in 1d4 years.
ISARC batch KR-3 (all such marked with the black pyramid of the Imperial Science Academy) Each individually mole stamped with ident number.   Note batch officially still is listed as on site in storage per Black Pyramid records.	Illegal experimental needle gun loadout	DC 25 Fort save Failure subjects target to experimental reality warping drug.	As needler used	Drug use is potent and indefinite.  Fort saves (DC 20) can be made weekly to snap out of drug’s effects. Note:  Criticals and Fumbles alike have the same effect;  both induce a quantum tunneling effect in the KR-3, where the target slides into a Splinter universe where their hallucinatory experience is there real.    Weekly saves to throw off drug’s effects as normal; on success, target returns to prior universe (or home universe, if prior universe is not their native. )

The Song of the Doom Star

The Song of the Doom Star

Discovered early in the nebulous dawn of history called the First Empire, Cassius 193 B has been known as a harbinger of and place of great doom for many tens of thousands of years.

Navigators can feel the ‘song’ far further than most, several lights distant, and all know to avoid this region of space entirely.  One presumes they are as subject to the siren song as anyone else.  Maybe more so.

The Cassius 193 system (it has never in current history been assigned a contemporary catalog reference) is long dead.  There is a planet of the yellow-orange star Cassius 193 A with intact but deserted cities, only now starting to show the wear of entropy.  Long ago, whatever people settled on that world departed, en masse, without exception, for the weird dark purple star  that is it’s B companion.  

Doom Star

The danger of the Cassius 193 B system is this - the star itself,  a bizarre as to be unique phenomenon, constantly emits a particular sub-etheric/electromagnetic signal, strong but along a very specific wavelength.  Those who jump into the system will find that this mysterious ‘signal’ will broadcast from the star itself; while the (itself quite potent) EM component of the signal is quite strong, it may be blocked or tuned out by modern starship screens and technology.  The true threat is the etheric component of the signal;  it (much like the wavelength of the EM aspect) seem curiously tuned to the etheric body and CNI of particular sentient beings (Imperial Humanoids are among the most susceptible) - some of strong will or the psychically gifted (or psionically equipped)  may hold off for a while but inevitably, the strange droning ‘call’ of the star will seep into the consciousness of even the strongest of wizards, navigators, or legionnaires.  Within a standard day, and usually much much less, the mindless, moronic hijacking of sentient consciousness will be total and the ship will invariably set it’s controls for the heart of the singing weird sun.

Myths:

1. The Black Sirens of Cygnus are believed to have their origin as a telling of an early encounter with the Doomstar.
2.  Beware the Navigator that speaks of the Doomstar; too easily the Song becomes their obsession and then their doom.  Travel not with Navigators who speak of the Doomstar.
3. The inhabitants of Cassius A-2 created the Doomstar; one day it shall begin expanding, a new and hostile universe poised to consume our own dying one.  
4. The Doomstar is an active, aware, and malevolent God of the Void, and it watches and sees everything in all directions in several lights.   One night far in the future, it will proclaim judgement and then nightmares become real.
5. Notorious ex-Imperial Science Academy Dhanekynn exclaims that the Doomstar, which it calls Hol’mi’biru is on a bizarre sub-ether course that will bring it directly through the core systems in about 50,000 years.  He is also wanted on at least two counts of sabotage at ISA archeological sites for destruction of xenotechnolgy and inciting anti-Imperial sentiment (“There are things we are not meant to know!” is an anti-Imperial sentiment, when convenient;  the Empire is very progressive that way.)

Historical Theory

The C star is a class II Hazard /Unstable Dwarf;  believed to have been a yellow-white star of some long stability, it is theorized that a passing black hole or neutron star, moving at significant comparative velocity, ripped away a large percentage of the star’s mass, leading to several thousand years of instability and thus to its current, tiny yellow flare dwarf, state.  

Some go further and suggest that the Doomstar is the intruding object, drawn into a trinary orbit and cooking slowly in whatever conflict masses it has absorbed.   

Story Hooks

1. The world of Cassius A-2 is completely uninhabited;  a small planet mostly covered by super-tech, spherical cities that reach as high as they do wide.  Entropy is know to be somewhat retarded there for reasons even Imperial super-science cannot explain.  Further, the orbit of Cassius A takes it far enough away from the Doomstar that there is an 18 month period where landing on the planet is believed safe.  An entire planet full of supertech just waiting to be looted.  What could go wrong?
2. A non-aware dumb-matter probe has returned speedily to the Imperial Science Academy - a small yellow orb, possibly some sort of magnificent transdimensional eye, is presently in close orbit around the Doomstar, seemingly oblivious to its effects.   The ISA immediately puts together a team of mind-blind explorers, all seemingly immune to psi and psychic contact, to investigate the alien phenomenon, with haste they are equipped and thrown into the action.   Likely their survival is not considered a priority.
3. THe misjump was bad. But then Navigator has disentangled herself from the interface tub and gone catatonic.  Now you have 20 scrubs on their first space voyage staring blankly and speaking monotonously while trying to bust their way into the command section.  How badly do you need the new crew?  To confuse matters further, if the entire ‘loyal’ crew goes down, pick one of the mutineers at random and assign one to each player.  Inexplicably their heads have cleared (and only theirs) … but they have control of the ship.  What do they want to do?
4. Surrounding the Cassius 1493-B is a LARGE ring, the ring is made entirely of spacecraft that have been placed in a parking orbit or manage to somehow avoid ‘successfully diving into the sun.’  In any event, over 80.000 semi to intact spacecraft exist in a tight, ‘narrow’ ring, very close in to the star itself.  Such a salvage run would be extraordinarily challenging but almost anything could be found in those ships.  

Game effects

Every game hour spent in the Cassius B system subjects all sentient minds to a once hourly DC 15 Will save.  Those who make the save find themselves feeling edgy and tense but that’s all.   

Those who fail the Will Save are constantly being bombarded, psychically and, through some means, sonically by a warbling high pitched tone that fluctuates wildly and seems to ‘throb’ or thrum.  Constantly distracted, they are actually slowly having their wills broken down though it should not at first be apparent what is happening.  

An hour after the first Will save is failed, the target of the Doomsong must make a second will save (This time DC 20) or they will give into their highly stimulated death urge and attempt to take the helm and direct the ship’s course toward the star.  Those who fail this second Will save take on the Doom Song condition.   

The Doom Song - the signal stimulates the kirrillian-aetheric body as well as the CNI of the subject, and does so constantly.   By the time they can audibly (mentally) ‘hear’ the ‘song’ it is because their brain or equivalent has been stimulated sufficiently to begin poking the ‘death urge.’

That is what the obsession is.  The ISA is close but they have misidentified the phoneomenon.  IT is essentially a naturally occuring (?) perception hack; it stimulates the death urge until finally the subject gives in.  And so they set their controls for the heart of the sun, the source of the signal.  

Only removing the subject from the presence of the signal at this point can free them of its effects.    Subjects so ‘stimulated’ are operating on a kind of autopilot, and their sense of self is both absent entirely and a small flitting moth drawn to the weirdly shadowed purple star.

Commonly, the weaker willed go first.  Mutiny or mass violence ensues; eventually there is a constant struggle for the control of the ship until either the craft passes into the star’s corona, or the vessel manages to escape (usually by jumping out system)

Once removed from the effects of the signal, the mania remains but becomes less intensive.   IT will not begin to fade during sub-ether transit;  only after returning to material space (and away from the doomstar) will the urge begin to fade, manifesting as a general mental disquiet and disturbing dreams for 2d7 days thereafter.  

Machine-life characters may very well think they are immune but they are not.   Machine-life characters clever enough to remote access one of the unawakened probes (via gear, magic, psi, or whatever) will find to their horror that this serves only to expose them remotely to the signal.  And who then will expect the ship’s goldenrod protocol droid to then go reset jump coordinates back into Doom hell?  No one likely.   

Exceptions

In instances in which a target has no innate death urge (Judge’s option) a differing part of the brain should be stimulated; either whatever the clade equivalent is or some other random part of the brain - make it interesting.   A reptilian species might, for example, be motivated to put the ship in the closest orbit possible and then lay as many eggs as possible.  

“This article is reproduced in Apocrypha Obscura – Transmissions from the Dreaming Gynoid, available  (drive thru link)  

  and (itch.io link) 

Weapons for the Galaxy Crawl part one

Weapon tables - melee (nonlethal)

Item                              Dmg & effects        Type/Range           notes

Antipersonnel Tasp (Standard Imperial Security Nonlethal Loadout (v. citizens and above)	1d4 + 1d8 sta and 1d12 pers	3/6/9 (short range weapon) Useless on AC 18 or higher	Reduction to 0 sta = reduced to drooling giggling moron Reduction to 0 Pers = restraint and bladder control go out the window. You wet yourself and come on to everything.
Neuronic Whip	1d6 + 1d3 Agil damage (dc 12 fort save to resist localized paralysis)	Melee + 5 feet	Reduction to 0 Agil means unconsciousness for 1d6 hours.
Sick Stick	DC 20 Fort save or power puke	Melee Useless v. AC 15 or higher.	Power puking can do nothing but convulsively vomit; all actions are at-3 steps on the dice chain
Sticky Rope	REF save DC 20 or be enmeshed in glue like colloid that tightens as they struggle for d5 minutes or broken down by spray	Melee
Sticky Net	REF save DC 20 or be enmeshed in glue like colloidal net that expands as it tightens, trapping as many as 4 human sized sentients;   that tightens as they struggle for d16 minutes or broken down by spray	Melee

Weapon tables - melee (lethal)

Item                              Dmg & Effects       Type/Range           Notes

Galvanic Sword “Spark Blade”	1d8 + 1d6 shocking	Melee	Showy Second Empire Era weapon; hilt grounded.
Vibro Dagger	5d6 when used on a living target	Melee	Rapidly oscillating force field in the shape of a knife blade.
Vibro Sword	6d6 when Used on a living target	Melee	Noisy, hard to look at.  (Can trigger vertigo in combatants who fumble.)

Weapon tables – ranged
Item                              Dmg & Effects       Type/Range           Notes

Lighter (laspistol)	2d5	2/5/9	Damage is at -1/die at long range
Heater (las rifle)	2d7	5/13/23	Lights flammables for additional 1d4
Neuralizer	Pen shape fires small white cone shaped ray -3d4 temp int	1/3/9	Blanks the subject, washes the prior 6 hours of memory, leaves them -2 to will saves for d3 hours after.
Needle Gun	1d3 to 2d4 (varies)	3/6/12	Varies by load
Tingler (paralysis pistol)	Fort DC 20 or go numb for d5 hours	1/3/13
Jet pistol	Fires single gyrojet round 2d8	30/90/180	Can vary by rocket loadout
Spinner rifle (Rocket Gun)	Heavy & programmable multi gyrojet rifle 2d8 min.	23/79/230	Often features Variety loadout.
Sonic Anti Personnel Gun	2 settings - 1d5 temp hp + unconsciousness (resist with Fort save DC 15) Or Suppressive Wave A 15’ cone that creates vibrational waves that immobilize and demoralize organic attackers. (Fort DC 25 or total brown note)	Range is 10 or 15 depending on setting.

Rocket gun ammo   Dmg & Effects          Type/Range             Notes

Hi Explosive	3d6	+2 to hit AC 16 or higher	Do not Fumble. (Magazine explosion likely) Illegal as hell in space
Foe seeking	3d6 exploding shell that pursues target for d5+1 rounds	+2 to hit AC 14 or lower.	Do not fumble (will target wrong person)

Gunfights tend to be over…quickly.  This is part of why

Most Rocket guns and related tech are not allowed in spacecraft for a variety of reasons.  (And all of its’ ammunition must be stored in ship’s locker)

Needle gun loadouts

Name                              effect                    damage                 notes

Yellow no. 5 aka Drug-a-thug	Fast acting CNI suppressant	1d4+ Fort (DC 15) save to resist 1d3 hours sleep
Babble Juice	Social disinhibitor and muscle relaxant	1d3 + Fort (DC 20) Successful Fort save allows DC 20 will save to avoid ‘being led’	General inability & disinclination to tell the truth.   Elicits a search for approval.
Hijack dart (Trimatrix dart)	Fires dart - head is injectable microseeker that creates transmitter & interface in target’s forebrain & spine	Target entitled to Fort save (DC 20) Success indicates probe has not released seeker. Otherwise sensory hijack to pre-programmed datalife location in d3 rounds.	Transmitter range is 2,000km;  any sub-ether or pandimensional activity will immediately interrupt signal.
Kaleidoscope	Brain stimulant & hyper-Ox hallucinogen	Fort save DC 20 Failure -Target trips balls. Psi or magically active target trips Dave Bowman acid bath balls. And for additional level + int bonus hours too.	Lasts 30-Sta hours;  may seem to last d12x that long to recipient Note - used on targets with int below 12; fumble or critical will add d3 points to Int; these are permanent and can only be received once.
Coagulator	Blood toxin	1d3 + REF save DC 15; failure means bad news.	Death in d5 rounds by cellular suffocation
Blue Glass	Psychoactive	1D3 + TRIPPY Fort DC 17 to resist)	Freakish light show and simple mindedness for d3 hours.
Neuro-9	Neurotoxin	1d3 + Fort save DC 25 or die. If successful take 7d6 damage anyway	Immediately begins breaking down on contact with biology, save on a fumble.
Lights Out	Sense deprivation drug; numbs sight, sound, taste, touch, and hearing.   Psi abilities unaffected.	Fully blocks 5 common physical senses 1d3 hours.	Can be, and often is, mixed with other, more psychoactive drugs to induce particular terror states.